The Auswine Forum

Every now and again there is a great wine........ hang on,has that been copy-righted!! It just sounds so prophetic and I just wanted to use it once,Attila !

Anyway, it's good news,and a serious heads up for a new wine that was opened for me yesterday. Its the

[b]Sabine Diesen Single Barrel Grenache 2002

Golf writer Tom Ramsey is a good friend of Robert O 'Callaghan,who put him onto this little Barossa gem,made by a slightly eccentric German lady who just happens to have some very old,very good Grenache and Shiraz vines.

The labels are hand painted,( Sabine is also an artist)and the first thing you come to on the label is the Alc note, 15.6 %. Uh oh,I say,be ready to have your nose hairs singed and the throat burnt to a cinder. I must say that this is the factor that I dislike the most in stand alone Grenache,the fact that the alcohol always seems so unbalanced and obtrusive.

So I stick my nose in the glass with some trepidation,only to find that it isn't spirity at all,and that gives off quite balanced,harmonious notes of red fruits and subtle savoury nuances. Still a bit closed at this point in time,but very promising nonetheless.
Just a small mouthfull to start with,(gotta make sure my throat can take the heat)but again,and almost unbelievably to me, no real sign of dominant alcohol. A very sleek,stylish wine showing remarkable balance for the variety and its corresponding age. Very little oak influence showing(again,another plus),and fruit driven without descending into jamminess. Very good length and finishes with style too.

There are very few straight Grenache's that I would consider buying,but this is definately one. Unfortunately,it is made in minute quantities and is destined to become even harder to get now that the word has reached Dan Phillips ,who is apparently trying to buy the entire output(there is a shiraz as well). ( As an aside,apparently Phillips is spreading the word in America that the wine is made by Chris Ringland; outrageous,opportunistic stuff. Hope he shoots himself in the foot).


A lovely wine,I hope some of you get the chance to try it. By the way, I'd be very interested to see someone stick it in a blind line up of good Pinot's and see what the reaction was, I think the result would be quite interesting.


Cheers

ANy idea where I could get a bottle? It sounds like a wine for me????????????

The rumor I have heard is that (at least some) Deisen is now being handled by Kysela Pere et Fils. See here. I have to head off to a tasting at the wine shop where I heard this so I'll try to confirm it. They have the 2001 Shiraz (retail $80USD) and the 2002 Shiraz (retail $40USD) and apparently the only reason for the price difference, so they say, is the change from GP to Kysela.

Mike

Reason for the price differences on the Deisen is confirmed. The 2001 Shiraz sits languishing on the shelves! Its always worried me that I can never find a web site listing the wines that the Grateful Palate brings into the USA, let alone their pricing. That makes the retailer the guy who has to defend the prices on some of these wines, and unless you are able to talk to the retailer you may never know who is walking away with all your money.

Mike

A couple of things-

In relation to the original post of 16 months ago, based on info given to me by the person who gave me the bottle, some corrections,

-Sabine Deisen is not German, though she does have German heritage, her vines are not old plantings in the main but are on some particularly good dirt for grapes, and she is simply a passionate, hands on winemaker hell bent on making some creative, artistic wines.

- The 2002 Single Barrel Grenache is long gone, there were only 20 ish cases made.

-The 2003 Single Barrel is now called Autumn Song after someone trade marked the name, and is 16.8% alc and a much more polarising wine than the 02, with intense, vintage port like fruit sweetness and high glycerol, yet still with evident Grenache characteristics.

-The 2003 Shiraz shows a fair amount of vanilla oak and, at this point, some heat on the back palate. I'm not sure just what style the 2001 and 2002 were made in.

-Sabine does have a little wine left for sale, but unfortunately, does not have a listing in the phone book as Telstra spelt her name wrong! She can be contacted though at sabinedeisen@yahoo.com.


Cheers