Wine Reviews

This wine live up to the old adage that its hard to get good Pinot for less than $30 a bottle. Fleshy fruit flavours with quite strong meaty and farmyard aftertaste. A flavoursome but simple wine that comes a distant second to famed Sabre Pinot Noir from the same maker.

Drinking this wine now proved the advantages of cellaring Riesling. Given what it cost nearly 10 years ago, it has been a good investment. It still has all the typical Riesling flavours of lime and citrus, but the acidity has mellowed and it is a much easier and more complex drink than it would have been when young. There are now hints of honey and sweetness to go with the citrus, and the wine is fuller than it would have been . Well worth the wait.

A big rich McLaren Vale Shiraz. At first I thought this was a bit past it, as it tasted a bit porty. But as it breathed it got better and became the true Shiraz that it should have been. Rich, mouthfilling, plum and berry flavours tending to chocolate and liquorice. Not a wine for the faint hearted.

While Capel Vale is based north of Margaret River at Geographe, the grapes for this wine are from Capel Vale's Margaret River vineyard. This wine joins a list of eminent Margaret River Cabernets such as Cullen, Moss Wood and Vasse Felix. It is herbaceous on the nose, but refined. On the palate it is plush, mouth filling, strong fruit flavours and smooth tannins. A beautifully complex and big wine that has plenty of time left to develop further.

This wine is a little unusual in the desert wine stakes in that it is made from Viognier. It is a sweet rich wine with strong apricot flavours standing out. A complex wine that is quite structured for a desert wine. Once opened its hard not to finish the whole bottle.

A pleasant mid range Pinot Gris. Pear and tropical fruits, a little sweet, but soft and luscious, a nice drink.

Rockford Basket Press is one of the Barossa Valley's more famous wines. It is made in the traditional way from old vines. It is a plush mouthfilling wine full of rich black fruit and savoury tannins, with a superb long finish. This wine is very hard to find outside of South Australia, but it is worth the effort if you can find it.

Sangiovese is one of the lighter Italian red varieties. Flavours of black cherries, spice and savoury tannins. Sangiovese is usually considered a good food wine, but this one has more flavour than most and is very drinkable on its own. One of the best Australian Sangiovese.

Pirathon wine is made by Troy Kalleske, from the renowned Barossa family. Pirathon is an ancient word for pinnacle, which is what this wine aspires to. And it does pretty well, with flavours of blackberry, chocolate and liquorice it is full bodied, sweet and rich. AN excellent wine, especially at this price.