Wild Duck Creek Estate Reserve Shiraz 2006

Wild Duck Creek Estate has been producing wine for a while now but generally I think they fly under the radar.  Predominately their wines go straight to the mailing list customers and even though they got great press from some U.S. wine scribes they don’t export to the country.

Wild Duck Creek Estate Reserve Shiraz 2006

There are some nights that I just feel like a fruit bomb but what I got with this was a wine with a degree of elegance and a hell of a lot of pizzazz.  It’s what my mates would call a reserved fruit slut.  Even though it’s the big end of town you get vibrancy from the acidity which keeps everything together and the fruit bounding out entombing your tongue. Plush flavours of plum, spice and eucalypt hide the pervasive fine tannins giving me the impression that I opened this way too early. 

Alcohol: 16.5%
Price: $70
Rated: 92 +
Drink: 2016-2026 

Cirillo Semillon 2009

Now my mate served this to me against the 05 Tyrrells HVD Semillon (93 pts) and asked me to judge them so here it is.

Cirillo Semillon 2009

This wine is very different from what I expected from Cirillo as they normally are amongst my favoured Barossa wines. What I got was a mix of fish sauce, dog hair, limes, crushed ginger and bath salt on a very long palate.  To tell you the truth I struggled with the flavours not the texture or the length and I hope this is a bottle that is not representative of the norm.

Alcohol: 9.5%
Price: $17
Rated: 81
Drink: now

Chardonnay ferment

Today I decide to read a book on conventional wine making that I bought a few years ago.  Since I’ve been making a chardonnay this year I thought I should see if I’ve been doing it by the book.

De-stemming – yes

Addition of pectin or pectolytic enzymes – no

Temperature control – no

No skin contact – no

Use of starter yeast – no

Pump over – no

Fining – no

Stabilisation – no

Prevention of oxidation – yes

Maybe I’m mad but all I’m doing is tasting the wine and saying when I think it is ready.

I think it will sit in barrel for another week or two, them pressed and back into barrel but we will see how we go.

Cave De Tain Crozes Hermitage Blanc 2009

As with a lot of quality producers in France, Cave De Tain is a cooperative. The produce the entry level to the big boy end of town wine and after this wine it is a producer that I would like to get to know more.  

Cave De Tain Crozes Hermitage Blanc 2009

I’ve not had too many straight Marsanne’s so I was looking forward to the introduction. A bang of lemon balm, hickory smoked almonds, white peach and tinned pineapple juice bursts onto the scene on a vibrant twang of acidity.  My notes say an exotic wine with control, good value 

Alcohol: 13%
Price: 8 euro
Rated: 87
Drink: 2011-2015

Château Les Ormes-de-Pez 2002

I love Bordeaux bottles! They tell you absolutely nothing about the wine, google helped me out on that one, which happens to be a 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 20% Merlot blend.  Even though the wine ranks on the 9^th level of the cru Bourgeois classification I’d be happy to serve this anytime.

Château Les Ormes-de-Pez 2002

What I first notice is the wine has very good length and bright fruit, well you can’t really call tobacco, green capsicum and gravel fruit but you get what I mean.  There is a sense of crushed violets, chalk and coffee beans coming into play, mixed with tart plums, which is only let down by a watery finish on the back palate.

Alcohol: 13%
Price: 18 euro per half bottle
Rated: 89
Drink: 2011-2016 

Le Club Des Sommeliers St-Emilion 2009

I've never heard of this winery buy it sounds like sommelier brings a certain air of sophistication to the wine.

Le Club Des Sommeliers St-Emilion 2009

Grand Vin De Bordeaux

This is the sort of wine that sneaks up on you as it is only medium weight.  I love the wines that don’t reveal everything on the first date as I want to become more intimate with them.  The wine brings dirty leaf and spicy red fruit to the table with a little plum skin action on a persistent front palate and fluffy tannins finish

Alcohol: 13%
Price: 9 euro
Rated: 85
Drink: 2011-2013 

Coriole Soloist Shiraz 2009

When I think of McLaren Vale the first thing that pops into my head is grenache blends.  They are what I regard as the best performing group of wines from the region but I must say tempranillo, sangiovese and sagrantino are making their mark. So what did I reach for… a shiraz.  Now to the producer, Coriole first started 31 years ago, planted sangiovese 28 years ago and now has expanded into what I consider the next exciting movement, fiano.

Coriole Soloist Shiraz 2009

The wine feels like the first time I watched my 15 month old daughter meet a stranger.  It almost is aggressively shy, if you can say such a thing, but it is much better for it.  The wine is only just full bodied with very good length and flavours of bourbon soaked plums and chocolate covered liquorish, slowly meandering its way around my mouth.  I would say it’s most probably the best Coriole shiraz I’ve tried but it’s in need of a rest in a cave.

Alcohol: 14%

Price: $40

Rated: 91
Drink: 2015 -2025