OZ-FEST!! A Trio of Australian Riesling

Where have I been all this time!!??

The answer, working alot, and planning the wedding, which is drawing ever nearer! T-minus 6 weeks now. 

The new job is going well, selling lots of wine, and hopefully getting a few people into new wines they wouldn't normally have gone for. Particular highlights were a tasting I did at Christmas, of sparkling wines, the real winners for me were a duo from Stellenbosch, a Hungarian born winemaker called Pongracz. A white and rosé, both using the same Champagne grapes, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Really delicious, light wines, with good biscuity aromas and huge, delicious acidity. Great wines and really good value.

The wines here are from a tasting I did two weeks ago at the Lincolnshire Poacher, for the Nottingham Wine Circle. My first ever, that I have hosted, with wines from my own collection. Here are a couple.....

Paulett's Polish Hill River Riesling, 2011, 

Clare Valley

Wow! This wine kicks you in the face a bit!! The nose is lightly perfumed, with faint aromas of petrol, apples and lots of lemon, both candied and fresh. There is some sulphur too underneath adding richness. It has your mouth watering before you even taste it. 

The palate is really zingy, more of that lemon zest, with a slightly oily texture. There is a faint tang of sweetness that is so familiar to Riesling, but such huge acidity, that is synonymous with Clare Valley Riesling. A really delicious wine, a proper food wine, and perfect for the summer. But not this summer, keep it for a few more years and it'll develop much richer petrol and lemon aromas. Really delicious, and atypical of what I normally go for. The start of a new interest.

Monsters, Monsters Attack!! Some Young Punks, Riesling, Clare Valley 2010.

A wine for punks!!! Apparently.
SYP are a producer, also based in Clare Valley, but make wine from grapes sourced across Barossa and Eden too. They market themselves as a flashy 'punk scene' winery, with awesome, quite OTT labels. I love them!
Although the label is less than serious, the wine inside the bottle is  pretty impressive. The fruit in this comes from two sites in Clare, Watervale and The Slaughterhouse Road Vineyard just outside Clare town itself.
What a delicious nose, full of ripe pear, some melon, lime and petrol. I've mentioned ripeness, there is such sweetness in the nose, that also appears in the palate. Flavours of pear and apples, a little smoke, and sweet candied lime. It's not all sweetness and light though, there is still that Clare Valley acidity, that keeps the palate fresh and zingy.

Bay of Fires Riesling, Tasmania, 2006
The fruit here is sourced from the South of the island, form the Derwent River and Coal River valleys, expressing Bay of Fires' cool climate style Riesling.
The nose is packed with petrol aromas, and smoke with some tangy lemon underneath. There's also a very slightly oxidative quality.
This wine is probably slightly past it's best, but there's still some really pleasing qualities, richness and great whacks of acidity, plus just a little sweetness in the form of ripe pears, and some bracing lemon bite. Not bad, and nice to try a Riesling from a slightly more unusual region.


The tasting as a whole went down pretty well I think, we try so much superb Old World wine at the wine circle, it was nice to offer up something different. I'll definitely look into getting more of this Australian Riesling. I love their bright lemony acidity, the smokey sulphur, the petrol ever increasing as the wine ages, which it will do, all in all, I LIKE RIESLING!!!!!

Wines of late

I've been useless in the last month, a combination of music festivals and work and general tardiness have meant that I have been nowhere near this blog, but at least I have still been sipping nice wine.

Recently I spent a week at Latitude festival down in Southwold, Suffolk. It was a bit of a bus-man's holiday really, I was a bar manager for a good cause that goes by the name of 'Workers Beer Company'.

They're predominantly a trade union organisation that supports similar causes as well as other social enterprises and charities through volunteer fundraising. The bars are staffed by volunteers who work a number of hours each day over the weekend and donate their hypothetical wages to their chosen good cause. In return they get to go and experience the rest of the festival free of charge! A pretty good deal with some fundraising thrown in.

It was a fun weekend, seeing friends I haven't seen since the previous year's festivals. I also got to see some good music during my down time, notable acts include The Tallest Man on Earth, Kraftwerk, I am Kloot and a great set from Bloc Party. The whole week was great fun, just very tiring!

Right. Wine. I've had a few nice things recently, chance purchases, bottles I've had my eye on for a while and finally got round to buying, and a couple of things I'd intended to drink from my cellar that were possibly in their latter stages of life.

It's been a bit of a New World fest of late, so that's what I'm going to write about.

Evolution 15th Edition, Sokol Blosser, Dundee Hills Oregon.

First up is this interesting and quirky white. Technically a non vintage, but instead an addition, the second from latest in actual fact. It has quite a list of grapes inside that funky bottle, listed in their entirety, they are: Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, Semillon, Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner, Muscat Canelli and Muller Thurgau.

Quite a list.

This sort of diverse blend creates quite a complex wine, with very contrasting and in some ways contradictory flavour profiles.

On the nose there is lots happening, ripe citrus, limes and grapefruit, as well as white fruits, peach, apricot and some pears too. There is a floral perfume too, with some spice underneath it.

This all follows through onto the palate, more spice and floral scent, with the citrus and pear showing most evidently. There is some sweetness to, only a little, following with some good acidity.

 It seems the Gewurztraminer has the most effect on the palate, whether or not it's the most dominant grape, it certainly feels it with its floral almost chalky texture on the palate. Overall a pretty interesting blend and a good, approachable wine.

Thornbury Riesling 2008, Waipara, New Zealand.

I've really been into Riesling of late, particularly the steely but ripe stuff from both Eden and Clare Valley. My experience with kiwi Riesling is pretty minimal, but if they're all like this one then i would rest pretty happy. Waipara is on the South Island, below Marlborough, and subsequently a marginally cooler area.

The nose of this wine has some of the same qualities its Australian counterparts possess, a fair bit of petrol and citrus on the nose. After a little while some of that smokey petrol blows off and leaves a ripe, honeyed, limey nose. It smells utterly delicious. 
The palate has some great honeyed melon flavours, a little sweetness alongside a great citrus acidity and brilliant length. I couldn't say how much longer this wine will stick around for, but I only have one left, and I know I won't be able to resist leaving it! Yum.