Confessions of a Wino

“Serve this Pinot Noir cool (my emphasis) in a big glass to fully appreciate……” so said the label on the back of this wine.  So why are most bloody restaurants so bloody determined to serve me red wine so bloody warm????

I realised recently, that I had been ignoring Oz wines (sorry Edward!), and that I have not visited Majestic in ages so, on the way back from a Saturday morning haircut recently, I dropped in to see if I could combine these two shortfalls by asking what the inhabitants of Van Diemen’s land could do with the sex kitten of grapes.  Majestic came up with this gem at a mere £9.99. 

When you live in the northern hemisphere, it is easy to forget that in Oz, the further south you go, the closer you are to a frozen pole.  So maybe Tasmania is the Pinot Noir friendly Bourgogne-u-like to Clare Valley’s Cabernet Sauvignon friendly Bordeaux-wish-it-was?  I have a different theory, as you might expect.

Firstly the wine.  A strange ugly colour, like cherryade, disguises a beguiling strawberry and boiled mushroom compote.  Nice acidity and at 13.5% alcohol, very tasty without being overpowering.  I really like it, but at £9.99 per bottle (and that’s only if you buy two or more) there is a decent benchmark to be met.  Decent quality Pinots from New Zealand of this age go for about £10 to £15.  On this basis, this wine is at the lower price end, but almost as good quality as the higher.

My theory?  This wine is tangy with loads of compensating fruit.  Could this be the red equivalent of NZ Sauvignon Blanc?  Well Priced, a little top heavy but tasty, a bit like Jordan?

This entry was posted on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 7:16 pm and is filed under australia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.