TN: Bunch of notes from July

[GraemeG]

• 2015 Bleasdale Cabernet Sauvignon The Iron Duke - Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, Langhorne Creek (31/07/2024)
  {screwcap, 14.5%} Showing some age in the hue. Evolving nose of stewed blackberry, soy, raisin, balsamic. Medium full weight, warm, with flavours tracking the aromas. Mild tannins, soft acid. Big mouthful of flavour, not a long finish, ready to drink now.
• 2018 Badiola Rioja Viura de Cabezadas - Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alavesa, Rioja (29/07/2024)
  {diam3, 12.5%} I wrote - Remarkably pale for a six year old wine. Slightly muted, developing nose and palate of grapefruit and lychee mix. No oak. Dry, slightly furry texture, with just enough medium acidity to hold it up. Develops a hint of smoke about it, especially on the nose. Not much more than light-bodied, with a hint of stoniness. Short/medium length dry finish, quite even across the tongue. Decent bargain at sub-$A20; given how relatively well it drinks at seven years old, seems like it could go longer.
• 2021 Craigow Pinot Noir - Australia, Tasmania, Coal River (28/07/2024)
  {screwcap, 13%} Pale, watery garnet, hardly aged, correct colour. Mild nose - and palate - of gentle rose petals and strawberry fruit. Very new world pinot, but light on the oak, with medium acidity. Fresh and vibrant, light-body, almost medium length finish without a lot of complexity but plenty of freshness. Minimal tannin, medium acid. Could probably use a few more years cellaring, in the hope of more dimension appearing.
• 2019 Houghton C.W. Ferguson Cabernet Malbec - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Frankland River (27/07/2024)
  {screwcap, 14%} Ruby/black colour. Just past primary, with a mass of black currant fruit leavened with a (presumably malbec-derived) coca-cola aspect which blew off with a bit of time. Dense but not overwrought palate, medium/full in weight, with low/medium dusty tannins, low/medium acidity. Decent wine, will peak inside ten years I reckon.
• 2018 Cascina Pugnane dei f.lli Ghisolfi Dolcetto d'Alba - Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Dolcetto d'Alba (24/07/2024)
  Slightly earthy Italian red. Nothing wrong with it, just generic red fruit, medium weight, acid, tannin; dry, not too fruity or alcoholic. Can stand some more time in the cellar if needed. Might have been a natural cork - that'd be my only reservation!
• 2022 Lethbridge Wines Chardonnay Ooh LaLa - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Geelong (22/07/2024)
  {screwcap, 13.1%} Just Victorian, the label is not more specific than that. Mid straw yellow. Mildly developing nose with a little oak, some malo/butter, hint of grapefruit and rockmelon. Workaday sort of palate, in keeping with the label essay which justified the aviodance of "too much..." everything that chardonnay gets lumbered with in the winery. So it's dry, just medium weight, but can't quite shed a sense of humdrum somehow. Rich buttery finish, medium acid, fairly even on the tongue. Sound chardonnay ready to drink. I know this note sounds picky, but you could do a lot worse for the price.
• 2019 Famille Bougrier Chinon - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon (20/07/2024)
  {screwcap, 13%} This was a modest barely-$20 locally, and although hardly the greatest wine I've tasted, it might just win the value-for-money award. Lots of genuinely spicy red franc flavour, gentle fine tannins, medium acid, not sweet, medium weight, with a medium length, sound-if-not-exciting sort of finish. Rare to find such a well-balanced wine at this price point.
• 2020 Meurgey-Croses Mâcon-Uchizy - France, Burgundy, Mâconnais, Mâcon-Uchizy (19/07/2024)
  {diam3, 13%} Mid straw/yellow. Developing nose of spongy oak, slightly rancid butter (in a good way, kind-of), and browning rockmelon fruit underneath. Low acid palate, a bit greasy, but dry, savoury with mild yellow fruit. Almost medium weight, short/medium finish. OK wine, if its cheapish. No cellaring.
• 2020 Cave de Tain Crozes-Hermitage Les Nobles Rives - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage (17/07/2024)
  {cork, 13%} Solid bottle of spicy shiraz, red-fruited, with nicely judged balance of grape flavour, fine medium grainy tannins and refreshing acidity. Might seem a little dilute by, say, new world standards, but there's a decent amount of savoury blackberry richness without obvious oak seasoning. Medium weight, short/medium length dry finish. Around $30 here in Oz, which is pretty decent value. No need to keep.
• 2018 Crawford River Cabernet Sauvignon - Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Henty (16/07/2024)
  {cork} Two bottles over dinner – nicely consistent, and both immediately decanted. This is polished cabernet, with herbs, basil, currants, black fruits. Plenty of acid is good, and there’s a prickly warmth on the medium-weight palate. For me it lacks tannin – there’s just a faint grittiness that doesn’t really satisfy. But the fruit ripeness is beautifully judged and overall it’s a good mouthful of wine with a little dip in the mid-palate but a medium length finish otherwise. So close! Better to drink soon I think. A very expensive $170ea at Cafe Sydney.
• 2022 Shadowfax Chardonnay Macedon Ranges - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Macedon Ranges (16/07/2024)
  {screwcap} Lots of oak. Really old school. Vanilla, butter, malo – the whole box and dice. Barely overt fruit – it’s a chardonnay-as-blank-canvas-for-the-winemaker wine – yellow tropical is the nearest I could come. Not overtly sweet though, despite the oak, full in weight, slippery palate texture, and a big, warm, medium/long finish of classy French oak. Drink now I reckon. A big $120 at Cafe Sydney.
• 2020 Camin Larredya Jurançon Sec La Part Davant - France, Southwest France, Jurançon Sec (15/07/2024)
  {cork, 13.9%} Deep yellow/verging on gold colour. Sweet-smelling nose of honeysuckle, pineapple, light honey, vanilla bean. Palate is sweetly-fruited, yes, and tastes much like the nose, although there's not much sugar-sweetness; it has a medium weight and finishes dry. Like sauternes without the botrytis. It's actually almost thick in some ways, helped by the low acidity, and I wonder that it is intended for drinking at younger than four years, but still it's a decent mouthful full of flavour. Dry finish, even on toungue, quite long too. Interesting.
• 2019 Monchiero Langhe Nebbiolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Langhe DOC (14/07/2024)
  {screwcap, 14%} Pretty dry and dusty for five years old, I must say. Bricking colour - fine for the grape. Leathery nose, dry rose leaves. Ripely fruity, even sweetish aromas, but the palate is a much more austere, astringent experience. Medium acidity, medium weight, dominated by chalky, faintly gritty tannins, Short/medium finish. Really needs food, which tames the raspy edges. Might be better on release, before the fruit fades.
• 2020 Carlo Revello & Figli Barbera d'Alba Superiore - Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Barbera d'Alba (12/07/2024)
  {diam5, 14.5%} Sweet raspberry nose, bright red fruit, little oak apparent. Only a little off primary, as you'd expect. Juicy, sweet and ripe palate, raspberry/cherry fruit, low grape-skin tannins, medium acidity. About medium weight, quite intense, with brilliant red fruits on the finish, followed by a hint of anise. Patchy on the tongue, short/medium in finish; went better with food, a drinker not a keeper.
• 2012 Bird in Hand Merlot Nest Egg - Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Adelaide Hills (10/07/2024)
  {screwcap, 14.5%} Bottle no 3404 of 3800, so something of a 'rare bird'. All its years are visible in the brick edge of the browning garnet colour. Nose is quite lovely, although it's a lot of leather and oak, rather than sweet plummy merlot fruit. Also a distinct mix of vanilla bean and spearmint penetrates into the palate also. Medium/full weight, with medium acidity but medium/high chalky tannins (given the age) resulting an a fairly astringent finish and only medium length, patchy on the tongue, that suggests a bit too much raisiny ripeness was present. Think this might have been better before its first decade was out, to be honest. It's still OK, and way better than a lot of the (crap) merlot this country makes, but it's way short of justifying its ~$100 release price, I must say. Drink now I reckon.
• 2023 Lethbridge Wines Fiano - Australia, Victoria (9/07/2024)
  {screwcap, 13.2%} Surprisingly deep yellow, shot with green and grey. Upholstered sort of nose, vivid with grey/green characters, seashells, brine, hint of lime, rockmelon. Like a blend of albarino and pinot gris. The palate is dense, if no more than medium-bodied, oak-free, with a sweet-tinged furry character, kiwifruit flavours, green tropical fruit (not yellow), medium acidity, and a quite even palate, leading to a juicy-but-dry, medium length finish. Very satisfactory. But I think it's a drink-on-release effort. Lethbridge are usually quite precise about region on their labels, and this just says 'Australia,' so who knows whence it hails?
• 2018 Tyrrell's Shiraz Old Hillside - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (8/07/2024)
  {screwcap, 13.4%} A deep garnet still with a ruby tinge - barely past primary. The nose and palate are a little evolved though, with a mineral, and warm earth presence underpinned with a distinct lick of blackberry syrup. Medium weight, with fine, low/medium dusty tannins and medium acidity, it finishes dry and crunchy, never lean but nicely ripe, medium length. A tidy package with still a decade's improvement left in front of it.
• 2016 Peter Lehmann Cabernet Sauvignon VSV Ruediger - Australia, South Australia, Barossa (7/07/2024)
  {screwcap, 14.5%} Burnished garnet, looking near a decade old. Blackcurrant jam, leavened with soft spicy french oak. Developing, but stilll very fruit-driven. Low/medium furry tannins, medium acidity. Very much warm-climate Oz cabernet, but with a modicum of polish and finesse. Medium/full bodied, though, and finishes no more than medium length, and with a slightly sweet aspect. Enjoyable, but ready to drink.
• NV De Bortoli Muscat Show Liqueur 8 Years Old - Australia, New South Wales (7/07/2024)
  {500ml, screwcap, 18%} Golden tawny colour. Nose of toffee and caramel and molasses. Very rich indeed. Palate is hugely impressive for the price; medium sweet, sure, but for all the rancio flavour, toffee, burnt caramel, etc, it still has a decent spine of acidity, enough to balance out the sugar on the medium long finish. No region mentioned on the label, but I would put this above even any Rutherglen Classic level wine (forget the base Rutherglen at a similar price), and not far short of some Grand labellings. Very impressive.
• 2019 Clyde Park Shiraz Single Block G Bannockburn - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Geelong (6/07/2024)
  Not much change on two years ago. Did seem very sweet on both nose and palate upon opening, but settled to a more savoury-textured medium-bodied wine, with soft tannins and medium acid. Always an undercurrent of ripe blue fruit. Medium/full weight, medium length finish. Yet, the longer it sat the more it devolved into a spicy, earth-tinged wine. Time is still on its side.
• 2020 Old Road Wine Co. Pinotage Fat Man Pinotage - South Africa, Coastal Region (5/07/2024)
  {screwcap, 14%} Pretty good stuff for $20. Solid garnet, hint of meat and stew and some 'pinot' characters, but with more weight and heft as befitting the variety. Plenty ripe, black fruit, hint of vanilla oak, low/medium dusty tannins, low/medium acid. Mediu weight overall, with a dry medium length finish. Hard to beat for the price.
• 2020 Maretti Langhe Rosso - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Langhe DOC (4/07/2024)
  {screwcap, 14%} Black fruit, a touch of earth; nose gets better with air. Palate is dry and savoury, a bit light for fruit richness, ripe, with medium dusty tannins and medium acidity. Rather vague black flavours - doesn’t axa try scream Nebbiolo (which I assume it is). It’s a bit astringent on the medium length finish, but when you allow for the twenty buck price tag it’s very hard to best. Honest quaffed in the best sense, without being really exciting in any way. Best young I think; the fruit at this price point has some fundamental limitations, obviously.
• 2017 Campbells Marsanne Roussanne Viognier - Australia, Victoria, North East, Rutherglen (2/07/2024)
  {screwcap, 13.5%} Mid to deep yellow. Maturing nose and palate; lanolin, lychee, pear, apricot. Dry, and not especially oaky (the tiniest seasoning perhaps?), but resolutely full-bodied, with just enough balancing acidity. Medium length, dry finish. Ready to drink.
• 2023 Jim Barry Assyrtiko - Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley (1/07/2024)
  {screwcap, 12%} Virtually colourless. Faint, primary nose of seashells, minerals, quartz. Distant lychee, maybe, if I was pressed for a fruit aroma. Held some spritz for a couple of hours, though acidity is nicely judged. Watery sort of texture, in a good way, but faint citrus flavours are very fleeting; it seems to be getting by on texture and a light-bodied balance. Dry, shortish finish. Not unsatisfying, but a bit transitory; better with food.

[JamieAdelaide]

If you find Cafe Sydney expensive give nearby Aria a wide berth!

[GraemeG]

Only ever been to Cafe Sydney on company coin.
Never been to Aria!

[sjw_11]

2020 Cave de Tain Crozes-Hermitage Les Nobles Rives

Funnily enough I thought I had done a note on this wine at some point:

12/2/2022 - I wrote: 88 points (Edit)
As always with this marque this is a super clean, super typical example of the region. Plenty of lightly glossy red to dark fruits. Nice balance on the palate. Great value around €12.

[Ian S]

Re: the Chinon, yes for now prices seem generally low for Loire Cab Franc, but there again the oft leafy green-edged aspect of the region's wines suit my tastes. I suspect a growth of interest in the wines will see a steady (but not daft) rise in prices.