In the shadow of Grace. The 2015 Henschke Hill of Grace was recently released with much fanfare. Good vintage conditions and one of the truly great single vineyard wines of Australia, it deserves the high praise. At over $700+ AUS, it certainly commands high value. Today is a throw back to Henschke’s other great wine,…
2013 Woodstock Botrytis Semillon
The noblest of rot. History can be hazy when anomalies turn to gold. At some point in wines long and experimental history, grapes covered in mould, botrytis cinerea, were fermented and the result was a literal liquid gold. It was likely an accident, regardless, every wine region in Europe is claiming the glory. While most…
2014 Proprieta Franceshi Il Poggione Brunello Di Montalcino
The unforeseen benefits of a poor vintage. I have ranted throughly on the 2014 vintage in Chianti, it is enough to say that Montalcino shared the same fate. There are silver linings if you can find them. A perfect example is the Il Poggione range of Sangiovese. Their flagship wine, the Brunello Montalcino Reserva Vigna…
2014 Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Le Volte Toscana IGT
The second wine from the Italian departure lounge. The Vietti notes can be found here. Part 2 – The dance with Merlot continues. I rarely step out of the Sangiovese comfort zone of Tuscany. Maybe it is the price of the Sassicaia, Tignanello and their ilk. Strange, by all reports they are amazing wines. Perhaps…
2017 Vietti Barbera d’Asti Tre Vigne
Two wines in the Italian departure lounge. Our work colleague and good friend Keleigh O recently secured a teaching position in Northern Italy. We had her over last night to celebrate the next step in her incredible journey. Italian wine for and Italian adventure. Congratulations, you will have a ball. I am only a little…
2013 Massolino Langhe Nebbiolo
We didn’t dip our toe in the Piedmont pond, we leapt in, and splashed about. Maybe it was the likeness to the Pinot Noir grape and our love of Burgundy that tempted us? For me, it was Kerin O’Keefe telling the tale of Elio Alatre taking the chainsaw to his fathers old barrels in frustration….
2011 Curly Flat Pinot Noir
There is something entirely pleasurable about a wine that defies a vintage. These outliers that impress despite natures attempts to bring them undone. It is even better when critics pan a wine and it responds by blossoming into something special. The 2011 vintage was considered a disaster in Victoria, the Macedon region no exception. Record…
2010 Domaine Bruno Clair Morey-Saint-Denis En la Rue de Vergy
Part 2 of the 2016 Melbourne throw back. If the Moric Blaufränkisch was a a rarity, it is fair to say we were well and truly down the Burgundy rabbit hole. These Bruno Clairs’ were imported by Bernie Smith at Two Ducks Fine Wines. Impressed with 1er Crus we grabbed a few bottles of the En la…
2010 Moric Blaufränkisch Reserve
Throw back to Melbourne, 2016. One weekend we decided to open the Blaufränkisch and Burgundy side by side. No real reason other than the 2010 vintage as a comparison. At the time I had no knowledge of Austrian wine and had never heard of the Blaufränkisch variety. I remain ignorant of Austrian wines and have only tried Blaufränkisch…