Wine

Attentive Winefronters will know what I mean when I declare that this wine is far more Knoxinus than Walsh. It is Yarra Valley syrah / shiraz to its core. 50 percent whole bunches. Spicy and not-at-all sweet-fruited. (*Picture is of the pinot noir, not the syrah, but it’s a good indication of how it’s packaged.)

White Wine FederationWhen the Shepherd Gets Going... The Flavors Get Flowing!This Sunday, only on Pay-Per-View, get ready for WhiteWineMania! Many will enter the ring, but only ONE will exit, and brother - it’s gonna be me! Because when The Shepherd gets going... the flavors, they get a-flowing! So all you other white wines out there better get ready, because you’re going DOWN! A lot of my opponents have been saying that they’re gonna bring the flavor, but they ain’t tasted NOTHING like The Shepherd! You smell that? That’s lime, kiwi, and gooseberry, sucker! And when you get a whiff of sweet pea and jasmine, you KNOW you’ve been SMACKED with pleasing, bright aromas! My mouth may be gentle, but brother, the flavor is rich. Get ready to have your palate SLAMMED with lemon, grapefruit, and lychee! You’re in MY cellar now! You think The Shepherd’s done with you? Think again, brother, because I’ll be finishing you off with citrus, mineral, and spice! And when I’m through with you, that championship belt will be MINE. Because when the Shepherd Gets Going.. say it with me... The FLAVORS GET FLOWNG!

Stu Hordern of Brokenwood says of the 2013 Hunter Valley harvest, ‘belting!’; emphatic. ‘Best vintage since 2006 for semillon, very warm and dry, and consequently we could get full flavour ripeness, you’ll see the alcohols are a little higher, up to 12s, great lime juice and fruit acid balance. Fruit was really good, we had [...]

Another wine day has come and gone and I did my bit part by celebrating #ChardonnayDay with two of the Finger Lakes finest. Also cemented my feelings about what is considered the world's most popular white grape varietal. Of course, those that know me, know that it means forget the oak with it's buttery, toasty, vanilla, butterscotch and creamy profile and give me Chardonnay aged in stainless steel or just a touch of acorns. I've now come to realize why Chardonnay was not near the top of my favorite white wines. It actually sat well situated on the very bottom of my list. It's also a bit surprising that I would not favor well oaked Chards when I do have a liking for oaky red wines. Someday, I may write a post about what I think the reason is, but it may be a two or three part series and I'm just not ready for that, yet and I'm no Evan Dawson. Oh, by the way, let me plug his book here. Title is "Summer In A Glass" - The Coming of Age of Wine in the Finger Lakes. This past September the book was named International Wine Book of the Year. Contains great stories about wineries and the winemakers that have made the Finger Lakes a producer of world class wines. Now a little bit about the two Chardonnays I opened for today's celebration.Early afternoon, after finishing my duties in lawn care, I opened a Ravines Wine Cellars Chardonnay 2011 ($18). I recently tasted this wine at our Keuka in Bloom wine tour. As I very often do, anything I like in the tasting room, comes home. Sometimes, especially with Chardonnay, that does not always come out the way I thought it will, but this time I think it was better. Ravines has won recognition as a quality-driven winery dedicated to producing crafted and elegant food-friendly wines. The winery has won numerous medals in international wine competitions, received great reviews in major wine publications and can be found in many wine shops and fine restaurants throughout New York state.This Chardonnay was aged for a short time in oak, but as I stated above, lightly oaked is passing the grade. Aromas were full of apple, citrus, some peach and melon with very small hints of toast. More peach in mouth, a little citrus and some slate like taste led to a smooth finish, leaving long taste of citrus and slate. Aromas and taste did not suggest any real oak influence and that is OK by me. I was forced to pair this with left over mild BBQ chicken, but found the match was excellent.For a second choice, I had to pair a Heron Hill Ingle Vineyards Chardonnay Unoaked 2011 ($16) with Shirley's 20 minute turkey meatloaf. This wine, I did not taste, on our last tour. I had made up my mind weeks in advance that I would bring this Chardonnay home. Don't ask why, the wine just intrigued me. After all, it does say UNOAKED and I have never been disappointed by wines from Heron Hill.Heron Hill gets most of its grapes from 12 acres of grapevines onsite and from the owner’s Ingle Vineyard, where there are nearly 20 acres of vinifera grapevines. Located on Seneca Point, on the west side of Canandaigua Lake, Ingle Vineyard is the only vinifera vineyard on that lake. Varieties grown include Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Pinot Noir. The vineyard is located on the home property of the Ingles, who maintain the vines themselves and with their staff. Sustainable methods are utilized and have been for nearly 40 years.Color was more like a Sauvignon Blanc or Vinho Verde, very light with just a greenish like tint, but the aromas were very powerful. Lots of pineapple with some grapefruit and a little melon and floral aromas on the nose. In the mouth was more of the same with some added peach and clementine. A hint of honey like sweetness and a silky mouthfeel leads to a medium to long crisp finish with a little added lemon and mineral.Today was an excellent day to discover Finger Lakes Chardonnay. Both wines excelled and are Very Highly Recommended.

Grenache and mataro, not merely blended but fermented (wild) as one. The mataro is from Sellicks Hill and the grenache from the Shirvington vineyard. No new oak (indeed, all five-year-old). 244 cases.

Brash Higgins has hit the ground running over the past few years. It has fast become a key producer in the quality reputation of modern McLaren Vale.

Today I gave a talk on social media and the wine industry at a conference in Logrono (Rioja) organized by DIAM, the closure company. Also speaking was José Penin, author of the respected wine guide, chosen to represent the existing media. I was chosen because I have made a reputation with more modern media. As well as the talks, there was a panel discussion that we both took part in, and a tasting. This was conducted by Antonio Palacios, an enologist and wine scientist, and consisted of five rather different wines from around the world that were all sealed with DIAM. La Scolca Gacvi 2012 Piedmont, Italy Great concentration of flavour, this is fresh, tight and crisp with fresh apples and lemons, and a hint of anise, as well as some stone and herb notes. A good example of Gavi 88/100 Le Domaine de La Cave du Village Raoul Cruchon Viognier 2011 La Côte, Vaud, Switzerland Fresh, crisp and rounded with smooth texture and nice weight, showing lovely pear and white peach fruit. Great precision, with a subtle herbal edge to the smooth bright fruit. Quite serious. 92/100 Bergolt Merlot Cabernet Dorio Trocken 2010 Pfalz, Germany 13 months in oak, one-third of which is new. Sweet, creamy and slightly oaky on the nose with some vanilla. But the dominant theme here is bright, vivid berry fruits with some spiciness. Lively and berryish with cherry freshness and a bit of peppery bite. Fabulous fruit quality. 92/100 Levet L’Amythyste Côte Rôtie 2010 Northern Rhône, France Two years in oak. Quite powerful and backward with subtle notes of roast fruit, mint and medicine alongside the spicy, peppery, vivid berry and black cherry fruit. Some warmth from the oak, but overall a tight, dense, quite youthful wine with a good future ahead of it, currently in the vice-like grip of firm tannins. 92/100 Clos de Los Siete 2009 Mendoza, Argentina Sweet, ripe, perfumed nose with some slightly jammy berry fruits but also some pleasantly fresh violet floral characters. Ripe, supple palate has well balanced fruit but also a bit of warmth and some distinctive, firm, rather drying tannins. 90/100

I can’t find any notes of this 2011 but in Walsh;s review of the 2009 he quotes Timo Mayer thus: “So it’s a macerated, high solid wild barrel fermented Riesling Kabinett trocken. It’s not how the folks do it over there but it’s what I like, textural and voluptuous.”

From €7.80, £11.99, 18 Swiss francs Find this wine Some of the worst wine I have tasted since I started writing about wine was what was available the one time we went on holiday to the far-eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus in 1983. The whites showed the most old fashioned of faults,.

The day after my Faro tasting I was picked up from Messina by an elegantly clad lady who greeted me with a radiant smile while introducing herself as Enza La Fauci. She is the proprietor of a small estate of the same name in the Faro DOC. La Fauci does not show her wines at the annual Assovini.