- 2019 Jean-Pierre Moueix Bordeaux - France, Bordeaux (30/06/2024)
{diam, 14%} A touch thin at first, but a bit of air in the glass did wonders for this. Dry, crunchy, soft currant fruit, dilute but not unripe. Medium weight. Soft dusty tannins, lowish acidity. It's all a bit short but not unbalanced. A 'small' wine, if you like, for an unpretentious occasion. Objectively more drinkable than the similarly-priced local d'Arenberg red from the night before. At five years old, nowhere to go, but hard to beat for the absurdly cheap A$17 I paid for it. - 2018 d'Arenberg The Sticks and Stones - Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale (29/06/2024)
{screwcap, 14%} Fairly dark garnet still. Odd mix of spanish & portugese grapes from the Vale. Tempranillo & grenache 62/23%. Then touriga N, Souzao and Tinta cao with 5% each. Clearance price of A$18. But, despite the old school fermentation techniques, it still presents as a bit thin and worked, yet warmly over-ripe at the same time. Black fruit, raisins, not much oak but plenty of skin-tannins make up a quite astringent finish. Medium weight, patchy sort of character. Neither worth keeping, nor especially seeking out at any age I reckon. - 2019 Bakkheia The Wonderful Miss Gerry - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Geographe (28/06/2024)
{screwcap, 15.1%} Still a riot of rich jammy fruit at five years old. One of those mixed-berry offerings. Lots of generic red flavours. Warm palate, low/medium grape-skin tannins (little oak evident). Low/medium acid, slightly patchy but warm finish concludes the otherwise medium/full weight & presence. It's not sweet particularly, but I doubt there's value in holding longer. - 2023 Lethbridge Wines Chenin Blanc - Australia, New South Wales / Victoria, Swan Hill (26/06/2024)
{screwcap, 13.8%} Mid-yellow at least; dark for just a year old. Oak-free but intense nose and palate of pineapple, vanilla bean, spice. Medium/full weight. Low/medium acid. Tidy wine, warm and dense, with a dry but rich medium length finish. Better in the shorter term. Nothing on the bottle to indicate any more specific region than 'Australia', I must say. - 2017 Dalwhinnie Cabernet Sauvignon Moonambel Pyrenees - Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Pyrenees (24/06/2024)
{screwcap, 13.5%} Dark-hued cabernet, not too minty. Medium weight, restrained. Fine powdery tannins, minimal oak. Medium weight, black curranty fruit, medium length finish. Wants air, and time I think. - 2012 Deep Woods Estate Shiraz Block 7 - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River (23/06/2024)
{screwcap, 13.5%} Garnet, a little age-appropriate fading at the rim. Not much development on the nose; it's mostly spice and white pepper. Medium weight palate, medium acid and low/medium faintly gritty tannins. Savoury red fruit, dry and spicy but not especially intense. Fading sort of finish that's just a little too warm somehow. Decent enough but doesn't quite hit the spot. Can keep, but I doubt it'll get better. - 2020 Craggy Range Te Kahu Gimblett Gravels Vineyard - New Zealand, North Island, Hawke's Bay, Gimblett Gravels (22/06/2024)
{screwcap, 14.1%} Lots of garnet/blue colour. Big plummy and liquorice nose. Seems to lack the polish I recall from earlier vintages. Ripe but not sweet palate. Lowish acid, low dusty tannins. Mild oak. Medium weight, short-medium finish. Fair, but worth neither seeking out nor keeping especially. - 2013 Andrew Thomas Wines Sémillon Braemore - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (21/06/2024)
{screwcap, 10.8%} Even at a decade it’s pale straw with a flash of green. Oaky and toasty nose, with straw and cut grass. Some lemon too. Palate is broader, befitting its age, with low/medium acidity but still light weight. It’s quite low key, despite being even on the tongue. What seems like a prickle of spritz fades fast, then the broad citrus fruit cuts in. Not the least suggestion of oak on the palate. But the final dry finish is only barely medium length, and hardly complex. Not sure the structure is really here to make it a twenty year prospect either. Keep more in hope than expectation. - 2017 Lyrarakis Plyto Psarades - Greece, Crete (20/06/2024)
{diam3, 13%} Fairly deep yellow. Muted, aging nose of pineapple, mango, melon. Faint oxidative quality. Palate is mature, light/medium in weight, dry, oak-free, with a similar set of flavours to the nose, but with a very short finish. Fairly muted wine overall - would have been better younger I expect. Soggiest diam seal I've seen in a while too; three-quarters soaked, and also covered with little tartaric crystals as well. But it held just long enough. - 2005 Lethbridge Wines Hugo George Reserve - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Geelong (19/06/2024)
{diam, 14.5%} Merlot-dominant Bdx blend. Nicely burnished colour reflecting the age. Aging leathery nose. Hint of cigar maybe, but always tinged with a new world richness and ripeness. Mix of malt and liquorice. Palate is medium/full in weight, aging but ripe, with fading dusty tannins and medium acidity, looking towards its end - you can see the volatility to come. It's no 05 Bdx, but it's very enjoyable, with a medium length finish of some complexity. Tidy wine at peak. - 2015 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Black Label - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra (16/06/2024)
{screwcap, 13.8%} Currants, leafy herbs, ripe black fruit - right in the slot. Some development and burnishing of both colour and aromas. Low dusty tannins, medium acid, loose and easy palate, medium weight, and a gentle, almost-medium length finish. In the traditional of the label. Drinking nicely now. - 2016 Majella Cabernet Sauvignon - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra (15/06/2024)
{screwcap, 14.5%} Malt, iodine, blackcurrant. Dark and forbidding. The palate is sort of patchy, very black-hued in inky flavour, with quite something of a mid-palate hole. Soft dusty tannins, lowish acidity. Then the alcohol adds a layer of warmth. It's far from beguiling, I must say. Medium weight, but not really developed in any way, despite its eight years. Almost harsh, warm, short finish. Like one of those strobe lights in its effect on the palate. Flicker, flicker. Hard to like. It'll keep, but the risk (likelihood!) is that it won't evolve in any worthwhile way. - 2019 Bakkheia The Wonderful Miss Gerry - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Geographe (9/06/2024)
{screwcap, 15.1%} Repeat the nose from 2023. Fresh and jubey. Vibrant ripe fruit, managing 'just' to transcend the high alcohol. Chewy grape tannins, plenty of acid, medium weight but lifted with heady ripeness. Dry, medium length finish. Quite the crowd-pleaser, best over the next few years I reckon. - 2016 Gérard Courbis St. Joseph Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph (8/06/2024)
{cork, 13%} Mid garnet, some age. Restrained, faintly developing nose of peppery spice, gentle tobacco, earth. Ripe but gentle. Palate is smeary, in that the vague red-and-spice fruit is reticent, acid is medium, tannins are soft and gently dusty. Flavours are like a kind of alcoholic musk taste. Main impression is of a general diluteness though. Medium weight at best, savoury and dry-verging-on-skeletal for the medium length finish. Drink up I'd say. - 2018 Clyde Park Shiraz Single Block E Bannockburn - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Geelong (7/06/2024)
OK, no change to last June's note. Reserved, iron-like flavours, dark-hued fruits, medium acid and body, lowish fine-grained dusty tannins. Even palate, medium length finish. All about the promise of what's to come. Keep five years is my advice. - 2021 Baileys of Glenrowan Shiraz Organic - Australia, Victoria, North East (7/06/2024)
{screwcap, 14.5%} Peppery-edged, savoury, yet quite ripe and alcoholic wine. Medium weight, lowish acid, mild faint tannins, gritty sort of texture. OK, no rush to drink, but don't expect magic either. - 2017 Caillard Shiraz - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley (6/06/2024)
{screwcap, 14.2%} Rich and ripe, with chocolate and raspberry flavours. Softening palate, low/medium powdery tannins, medium acid, medium finish. Not too different than two years ago, although I don't think there's a need to keep it longer. Will hold easily though. Fine shiraz - 2018 Helm Riesling Premium - Australia, New South Wales, Southern New South Wales, Canberra District (3/06/2024)
{screwcap, 11%} Pale straw yellow; very youthful hue. THe nose is neither aged nor especially developed, it has elements of talc, musk, vague lime and sherbert. The palate starts with some spritz - indeed the screwcap left the bottle almost with a faint 'pop' - but then settles, to a dry, medium weight wine, tasting per the aromas, but with a watery purity to it. There's perhaps a little more browning age here, with a hint of stewed apple too, always dry, with a medium length finish which remains enjoyable, even though it doesn't really sing or dance. Can be kept, although I'm not sure that further complexity will be forthcoming. - 2022 Fattoria La Striscia Chianti Bernardino - Italy, Tuscany, Chianti (2/06/2024)
Plenty of deep garnet colour. Bit of a stretched nose; pepper and dust, as is the way with basic chianti. Palate offers some hard bright cherry flavour, more pepper, medium/high acid, low/medium finely gritty tannins. No more than medium bodied, and with a shortish finish. Cries out for food, and is better for it. At an astounding $21/glass at Chiosco, Mosman; I assume the vintage is right per the list as I didn't see the bottle.
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