Basic Juice - the wine blog for my generation

Basic Juice Top Ten

Yellow Tail wine's recent ad campaign displays this slogan: "Have you spotted it?"  Through a secret source, I have smuggled the top ten rejected ad slogans, out of YT HQ.  I think a few of these were definite winners..

From the Home Office in Beaver, Utah..

Top 10 Rejected Yellow Tail Wine Slogans

10. Plonk* 'R' Us

9. Yellow Tail - Because we gotta glut of wine, and you Yanks will drink anything with a cute critter on the bottle

8. Our label is in English

7. Throw a 'roo on the barbie

6. We sell most wine before its time

5. Cheaper than a gallon of gas

4. Now with Mega-Purple!

3. Not French, like what those lefty-liberal-tree-hugging-gay-hugging-readin-writin-feminazi-Prius-
drivin-wine-snob-commies drink!

2. Pairs exceptionally well with the McRib

1. A nutritious part of this healthy breakfast

*"Plonk" is also used in British English as slang for cheap, low-quality wine (from the French word "blanc" for white wine)

Technorati Tags: top ten, wine, yellow tail wine

Is it/Isn't It?

Let's do something a bit different for WineBloggingWednesday #30.  This month's theme is new world S[hi]yra[z]h.  My entry is most definitely new world.  But, the 100-Shiraz question is this:

Is this single-varietal wine a Shiraz or something else?

 The Entry: An old-vines (allegedly really old vines) 2004 red w/screwcap from Australia's Barossa Valley.

This deep, indigo wine offers initial scents of cedar chips and bacon fat.  However, rather quickly, these nasal treats are overtaken by big, burly berry scents of blackberry preserves (some may say, "jam") with hints of black pepper and asphalt.

In the mouth, this red Aussie wallops the tongue with hearty, shrivelly fruit flavors coupled to coffee and vanilla accents.  Even though body-wise the wine is a big-un, it still possesses fairly balanced acidity (a nifty trick) and semi sandpapery tannins.  All in all, as new world reds go, this wine is actually hospitible to food - the right food of course.  Try it with mashed potatoes slathered in truffle butter and a medium rare, dry-aged slab of steak.

So what say you, S[hi]yra[z]h or no S[hi]yra[z]h?

Reminder: SLC folks can taste more wines like this at next week's, "Wines of the Future" class/tasting.  Don't forget to sign up.  It's only twenty-bucks!

The Aussie Signature?

I may be crazy..

It seems every red Australian wine carries a typical scent signature.  Whether it's Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvedre, or any of the permutations of "GSM" blends, I can nearly always sniff out an Aussie.

The tell-tale scent can best be described as, "blackberry preserves, with a hint of pepper and dash of asphalt."  Yes, asphalt isn't the most savory of descriptors, but I believe it aptly completes what my nose detects in most any glass of Aussie red.

So the question is this:  Does anyone else detect this Australian scent signature?  Any hypotheses as to what actually causes it?  Or is it just me?

Red, Magenta, Have I Been Drinking?

Red
Hewitson Ned & Henry’s Barossa Valley Shiraz 2005 ($19, Australia) – All sun-loving Aussie Shiraz isn’t simply big and brawny.  Ned & Henry’s Shiraz is an excellent example of winemaking talent from the super sunny southern hemisphere. 

Magenta
Segura di Viudas Brut Rosé Cava, NV ($10, Spain) – Day-glo, magenta-colored bubbly!  Crab cakes are calling.

Have I Been Drinking?

(click to play @ Youtube)

Or is that the best music video ever?

Tail Questions

Readers R & B ask:

"Does Casella Wines [producer of Yellow Tail] add flavor enhancers to their yellow tail wine such as vanilla, almond, or cherry flavoring?"

While I doubt such flavorings are added to Yellow Tail, I don't doubt a number of other flavor/aroma/color additives lurk beneath the smiling 'roo's exterior.  So a question to any & all oeno-goeks (spelling just for Ali): What common additives are normally found in mass produced wines such as Yellow Tail?  Yummy, isn't it?..

An Australian Chateauneuf?

Cigale Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre 2004 ($19)

92 pts Wine Spectator Web Site (1/25/06)
Peter Schell and his wife Magali Gely came to the Barossa from New Zealand, but their hearts are in France, where Gely's family still owns vineyards near Montpellier. Their wine, a dead ringer for a Chateauneuf-du-Pape, is rich and spicy, with a gorgeous core of blackberry, blueberry and plum fruit, shaded with smoky white pepper notes that keep ringing through the long, beautifully balanced finish. Tannins are there but well-submerged. Best from 2007 through 2016.

After reading this review and before sampling the Cigale GSM, I had the following two questions:

1. Is this wine indeed a "dead ringer" for a Chateauneuf du Pape?
2. Is the finish long and "beautifully balanced" ?

The Skinny
Cigale Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre 2004 ($19)

• Imported by the Australian Wine Connection (no Website); 56% Grenache, 26% Shiraz, 18% Mourvedre; 14.9% alcohol; 800 cases made.
• Deep indigo in color with a wide, bright pink rim.  The wine nearly defies gravity by clinging to the sides of the glass after swirling.
• The initial, overwhelming scent is of fresh concord grape juice.  After 15-20 minutes of air time, the wine evolved scents of blackberry jam, dates, hints of Pernod (licorice/anise-flavored liqueur) and notes of black pepper.
• In the mouth, Cigale is very full-bodied and full of cooked berry flavors.  It possesses soft, round tannins that stay in the background due the intense flavor and alcoholic heft.  The finish is indeed long.  However, I found the wine slightly hot (alcohol overpowers acidity) on the finish - not terribly balanced.
• I paired Cigale GSM to a roasted Portobello burger with mozzarella and artichoke aioli.  The wine was a bit too hefty for food.  If you enjoy extraordinarily big, intense Aussie reds, this might be a wine for you.  As to my taste, I found it too overbearing - not recommended.  However, I did notice that this wine was far less overbearing on day two.  One suggestion for these types of wines is to decant them and let them breathe for several hours before serving.
  

To answer my questions:
1. I didn't find this wine to be a dead ringer for C. du Pape.  It does have some similarity to 'modern', youthful C.d.P.s.  However, I didn't detect any meatiness or herbs - which for me is always part of great du Pape.

2. The finish is quite long.  However, I didn't find it to be well-balanced.  It was definitely hot due to the high alcohol-to-acidity ratio.

Other reviews of this wine: Winorama

Technorati Tags: australia, austrian wine, wine, wine spectator, wine review

A is for..

Asshat  ass-hat ( sht ) n. 1.  One who threatens legal action over a less-than-stellar wine review by a well-qualified wine critic.  2.  See also Graeme Miller, wines of

Technorati Tags: australia, graeme miller, wine

History, Screwed

Thanks to Cam of Appellation Australia for providing more details on boutique Aussie wines with screw-caps.  He also provided a link to Yalumba winery's screw-cap history.  In 1970, Yalumba employed its first screw-cap.  It was something called the 'Stelcap.'  The Stelvin (producer of most of today's screw-caps) came along in 1976.  Somewhat ironically, the Stelvin closure was designed by a French company - Le Bouchage Mechanique.  While 70's consumers embraced velour, shag and disco; they were a bit more apprehensive when it came to screw-capped wines (i.e. they weren't buyin 'em).  Yalumba shelved it's screw-caps until the 2000 vintage.  Yalumba's winemaker maintains that screw-caps are the shizzle:

"It offers the perfect environment, providing consistency and not allowing oxygen to influence the wine."

There's the rub.  While I love that screw-caps will prevent a smelly, frustrating corked wine situation, I'm somewhat apprehensive that hermetically sealing wine will slightly alter the ageing process.  Cork is semi-porous, thus allowing some oxygen to make contact with wine as it matures.  Of course, 90-plus percent of wines aren't really aged - they're made for drinking now.  But what about wines such as Barolo or old school Rioja that are traditionally aged several years prior to release?   I wonder if the discerning Penfolds enthusiast could tell the difference between two 10-year old bottles of Grange - one under cap, the other with cork?  Of course, were the following to happen, the difference would be dreadfully obvious:

"The group of people I was with at dinner on Saturday certainly enjoyed the romance of pouring $600 odd worth of two corked bottles of wine (one '72 Grange and one '86 Mount Mary) down the drain." (email exchange with Cam Wheeler)

Tags: australian wine, screwcaps, grange, wine

Wine: No License Required

Our foodie friend, the Abstract Gourmet, from Western Australia (Perth, to be exact) has dipped his toe into the wine review pool.  Matt's post on Red Knot Cabernet goes to show that one needn't be a 'licensed' wine expert to articulate the wine drinking experience:

"My take on the wine would be definitely a full fruit flavour. Lots of cherry/blackberry flavours hit you in face as soon as you take that first sip, and linger until you’re ready for the next. It’s definitely full bodied. Not the kind of wine that you can drink nonchalantly… It’s big flavoured and makes you sit up and take notice. The subtle nuances and flavours of the wine are lost on me I must admit, and being an avid coffee drinker/roaster, I didn’t pick up on the roasted coffee flavour as described in the wine makers notes."

In fact, I found Matt's review of this wine quite informative and refreshing.  He's not playing to the wine geek crowd.  Rather, he has simply written about something he enjoyed drinking.  What a concept!  Cheers, Matt - and keep the wine reviews coming.  Also, seeing as how you live in Western Oz, perhaps you might introduce us to some of the wines from this region?

tags cabernet sauvignon, red wine, wine

Shinglebacked!

The 'shrinking violet' Christian of Turn the Screw sinks his teeth into a new sparkling offering:

Shingleback Black Bubbles Sparkling Shiraz

Just keep in mind, we are in the midst of an Aussie wine glut, so all the marketing stops, including creative critters, are going to be trotted out.  Prepare to be bombarded by clerverly named & labeled wine that must be sold!

(FYI a Shingleback is a nifty-looking skink with a blue tongue)

Tagged with: wine +shingleback + australian wine

Red Knot Shiraz

I just put aside my wine snobbery and downed two glasses of Red Knot Shiraz from Aussie.  The label says it best:

"Rich in flavour"

"The Knot" is a simple, fruit forward-y wine that tastes & smells, well - rich.  No individual scent or flavor stands out.  This Shiraz reminds me of Bubble-Yum; great for a few smacks and bubbles, but not something to chew all day long.  I had it with delivery pizza and it was bueno.

By the way, Red Knot uses a Zork closure.  Opening the bottle made me feel like I was yanking a loose thread from my sweater.

Downunderwineblogs

Hi there.  When I want Australian wine news I can trust, I turn to the fine wine blogs of Australia:

Appellation Australia - Cam knows from Barossa.  He reviews many Australian wines each week, with the occasional Vouvray thrown in

Vinosense - Dave taste more wine than you can shake a stick at.  He also adds in Aussie/NZ wine news and a few random wine-related tidbits.  Some yahoo even suggested naming a child after the Portuguese wine grape Bastardo

Vinodiversity - If your Australian wine vocabulary is limited to "Shiraz", check out this blog. For example, did you know the Aussies are making wine from dozens of non Shiraz varietals in the Hunter Valley?

Pinot Island - Tasmania, aside from devils, produces some great Pinot Noir.  But don't forget the Riesling.

Now, I dare you to knock this battery off my shoulder

Apples, Onions, Cheddar & Miss Harry

I took one look at Stephen's apple, onion, and cheddar pizza and new I had to try it.  Ever the generous chef, Stephen emailed me an alternative version of the recipe posted on Stephencooks.

"for extra decadence with that pizza, replace the walnuts with bacon, as follows: sauté three strips of lean thick-cut bacon until crisp before you sauté the apples...drain the bacon on paper towels and then cook the apples in the bacon grease instead of butter and drain well...then crumble the bacon and scatter over the finished pizza when it comes out of the oven (instead of the walnuts) ... I love the walnuts version but the bacon version is even better, it just happened that I was out of bacon the other night..."

As the pizza was baking, the pungent scent-combo of apples, onions, and cheddar caused the words, "Aussie Shiraz" to pop into my brain.  Sadly, and embarassingly, I had no Shiraz in ye olde wine fridge.  I decided to crack open Miss Harry.  Ms. H. is a blend of Grenache, Shiraz, and Mourvèdre.  The producer, Hewitson, touts its dry grown and ancient origins (hey, 80 year-old vines are fairly ancient!).

Il Briccone: The Puzzler

As I stood preparing risotto, utilizing all the mental horsepower I could muster, I took a sip of Primo Estate's Il Briccone (the rogue) 2001.  Everything came to a screeching halt.  I damn near scorched the leeks!  I placed the wine glass out of reach so I wouldn't suffer a second risotto incident.

Once the risotto was conquered and thoroughly taste-tested, I devoted my full attention to Il Briccone (keep in mind, I'm a guy - my brain can't handle two things at once).  I sniffed dried cherry, plum, and a bit of licorice.  I double-checked the label; it was indeed from Oz.  I took a sip.  The wine was tannic but not chewy.  It was incredibly restrained - not fruit-forward, but downright old world-ish.

Finally, I broke down and read the back label (you don't want to be lost with me):

"..then keeping them [the Italian grape varieties] from new oak."

Mystery solved.  The 2001 Il Briccone is a Shiraz-Sangiovese blend; peppered with Barbera, Nebbiolo and Cabernet Sauvignon (the current release, 2003, is a blend of Shiraz and Sangiovese spiced with Nebbiolo & Cabernet).  This is an atypical Aussie blend (and that's saying something) vinified in an atypical manner (no new oak).  Both factors, combined with the wine's maturity, contribute to making Il Briccone seem less big & bold and more rich & layered.
The verdict: ***.5 (3.5 stars out of 5)

By the way, Primo also does a unique white wine.
I'm also interested to know if Cam, of Appellation Australia, has any opinions on Primo Estate.

The Risotto Incident

A couple of years ago I delved into the world of risotto.  Up to that point I had occasionally ordered risotto in restaurants and it was hit or miss (this was during lean grad student years so I wasn't exactly eating at three star joints).  Then one autumn evening I deided to make my own risotto at home.  I made a simple mushroom risotto and promptly became a risotto junkie.  I started making the stuff every other week.  Then it happened.  I made bad risotto.  I was in a rush on a Friday evening and wanted to make something that wasn't delivery pizza for movie night. I don't know exactly how it happened, but the end result was a nightmare.  Crunchy uncooked rice grains intermingled with mush.  This was, 'the risotto incident.'  And I never made another batch...

Until yesterday.  I was doing my daily food-blog skim and stumbled upon Stephencooks' risotto cake recipe.  And who can say no to roasted butternut squash, Italian sausage, and leeks?  I decdided to go for it.  I forced myself to concentrate, go slow, and cook carefully.  Eureka!  My risotto was (close to) perfect; firm. creamy and flavorful.  In fact, I decided against making cakes, and simply made a tasty risotto dish with the aforementioned ingredients.

Check out Stephen's risotto recipe - it is delightful.  I made one minor modification to the ingredient list - I mixed my dry red wine with 1/4 cup Verdelho Madeira (a slightly off-dry madeiera with complex flavor and crisp acidity).

Of course there was the wine selection, which was one of the oddest Aussie reds I've ever sampled.  More on that later...

Wine Anatomy 101

It’s that time of year.  Leaves are a-changing and new textbooks are a-cracking.  You see; I never thought I would admit this.  But I miss school.  I long to purchase several hundred dollars’ worth of textbooks in September, spread them out on a table, and peruse their pages.  In case you hadn’t noticed; I’m a geek.  But wait.  I get geekier: My favorite classes in college were entomology and herpetology.  I liked learning about bugs and frogs – where they lived, how they behaved, what they ate.  I really enjoyed studying insect anatomy.  Let’s see.  You’ve got the head, thorax, and abdomen..

Seeing as how I’m supposed to be writing a wine column, I’ll move along to wine anatomy.  For today’s lesson, we’ll be dissecting (and wine is much more fun to dissect than some poor critter) two wines:  Salmon Run Chardonnay, 2003 ($12) from upstate New York and Peter Lehman Barossa Chardonnay, 2003 ($11) from South Australia.  Your assignment is to identify the three anatomical components in a glass of wine:  Fruit character, acidity, and body.

Ancient Aussie

It's likely that most wine drinkers, if asked, would place Australia in the New World camp.  Well, what would you think if I told you that our friend Cam of Appellation Australia recently tasted a 100 year old Australian wine?  To whit:

"This was in 1878 and each subsequent year a barrel has been put aside to be untouched for a minimum of 100 years. Wine is bottled only on demand and Seppelt still has unbottled stock for all years back to 1878. This makes Seppelt the only company in the world to have significant stock of unbottled wine laid down in consecutive vintages for what is now 127 years.

Unlike a solera system, where vintages are blended together, the Seppelt 100yo Para is a true vintage wine with 100% of the wine being from the specified vintage.

This particular vintage of 100 year old Para is a blend of Mataro, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache and Malbec."

It sounds like a fascinating experience.  I think I'll start saving up my pennies so someday I will be able to afford a 375ml of hundred year old Seppelt.  At $575AU, it seems rather reasonable....considering.

St. Henri Shiraz

1999 Penfolds St. Henri Shiraz ($40)   
Clear, deep ruby fading to a thin ruby rim. Clean, with an intense, developing nose of caramel, sweet dark fruits, chocolate, leather.  Dry, with medium acidity and medium, ripe tannins. Full bodied, with an intense palate of supple black fruits, chocolate and leather.  High alcohol, with long length and a slightly warm finish. A very good quality, lush shiraz from South Australia. It is drinkable and enjoyable now, but may be drunk over the next 10 years, as the ripe fruit will carry, and the tannins will soften a bit.   

4 Syraz/3 Takes/1 'Ick!'

Generally speaking, when I hear the word, "Syrah," I think of more restrained, old world wine like this.  And When I hear "Shiraz," I think of big, exuberant new world wine like this.  Yet, a recent tasting has completely blurred my perceptions of Syrah/Shiraz.  Perhaps a wine should be referred to as, "Syraz," until after one has tasted it and made the call...

4 Syraz

1. Annie's Lane Clare Valley (Aus) Shiraz, '02
2. Liberty School California Syrah, '00
3. Rust en Vrede Stellenbosch (S.A.) Shiraz, '01
4. EXP Dunnigan Hills (Cali.) Syrah, '02

3 Takes

1. Annie's Lane ($13) - Deep black cherry in color with a distinct pink/red rim; nearly opaque.  Amazingly restrained for an Australian Shiraz (at least per my past Aussie Shiraz experiences). Red & black berries, plums, black pepper, slightly woody, with just a hint of "Aussie Tar" (What I call the unmistakable scent of most baked fruity, nearly burnt Aussie Shiraz).  Well-balanced and quite good with pan-seared steak.  *** (3 stars out of 5).  Verdict:  More Syrah than Shiraz

Bubble-Vin

I just put aside my wine snobbery and downed two glasses of Red Knot Shiraz from Aussie.  The label says it best:

"Rich in flavour"

"The Knot" is a simple, bigass fruit bomb that tastes & smells, well, rich.  No individual scent or flavor stands out.  This Shiraz reminds me of Bubble-Yum; great for a few chomps and bubbles, but not something to smack all day long.  I had it with delivery pizza and it was A-OK.

By the way, Red Knot uses a Zork closure.  Opening the bottle made me feel like I was yanking a loose thread from my sweater.

Suspicious Riesling

Wolf Blass Gold Label Riesling ('04) seems harmless enough.  3/4 of it comes from the Eden Valley and 1/4 comes from the Clare Valley (of which I'm a fan).  After pouring a splash, I noticed something that made me quite suspicious.  The wine has a very distinct greenish hue (yes, there's a hue).  Yet the scents were decidedly un-green: oranges, blossoms, pears in lite syrup.  But after my first sip, I was not only suspicious, but perplexed as well.  In addition to lush fruit flavors, the Riesling packed a tangy, acidic wallop.  My feeble mind was reminded of lemon-lime soda of the artificial flavor/color variety.

What's going on here?

• Acidification run amok?
• Really ripe grapes mixed with really unripe grapes?
• A bushel of limes fell into the Riesling grape bin?

The Skinny
Wolf Blass Gold Label Riesling, '04 ($13)

• Sourced from the Eden and Clare Valleys
• Light gold in color with unmistakable greenish hue
• Scents of orange, ripe pear, and blossom
• Heavy for a Riesling - quite viscous; yet very acidic with a distinct lemon-lime finish.  Hmm.  Overall, not necessarily bad, but oddly artificial..

** (2 stars out of 5)

I'm curious to hear others experience with this wine..

Bushy Grenache

Grenache appears to be the next 'it' grape from the Aussies (Shiraz is so yesterday).  This grape is found in many Southern Cotes du Rhone vins.  It's also a player in a number of Spanish reds (known as Garnacha).  The Aussies tend to label some Grenache-based reds as, "Bush Vine Grenache."  This is in reference to how the vines are trained.  Yalumba is one of those wineries that likes to wax poetic about its bush vines:

"Yalumba is extremely fortunate to have amongst its growers a resource of very old, gnarly bush vines which produce low yields of concentrated Grenache."

The Skinny
Yalumba Barossa Bush Vine Grenache, '02 ($13)

• From the Barossa Valley of South Australia
• Deep maroon core - fading to dark cherry colors with a thin pink rim
• Intense blackberry scents accompanied by dried herb, sweet spice, date, and a little black pepper
• Medium-bodied in the mouth.  Simple fruit flavors with dried fruit accents.  Slight tannins.  A little out of balance vis-a-vis alcohol and acidity (it finishes hot, which indicates alcohol trumping acidity)

*** (3 stars out of 5)

A bold, flavor-intense wine - it aint nuanced.  Yalumba will clobber delicate foods.  However, it tasted just fine with roast chicken + bread & butter.  For a slightly subtler example of Grenache, try Las Rocas.

Now With No Oak!

This is practically what the label of Wishing Tree Unoaked Chardonnay screams.  It appears as if some of the Aussies (at least Western Aussies) are anticipating the swinging back of the XtraOaked-Chardonnay-pendulum.

It will be interesting to see how many hop on the unoaked bandwagon (Brampton of South Africa did this a few years ago).  In the meantime, enjoy Chardonnay's lighter side.

The Skinny
Wishing Tree Unoaked Chardonnay, '04 ($10)

• From Western Australia
• Medium gold in color
• Scents of pineapple, citrus, and peach
• Medium-bodied wine with simple fruit flavors.  A decent amount of crispness fills out the fresh, fruity character

*** (3 stars out of 5)

Try it with grilled chicken breast, chicken-pesto pizza, or fish tacos.

My New Favorite Aussie

My new favorite Aussie grape isn't what you might expect.  It's not even the color you might expect.  It's the white grape of Portuguese origins, Verdelho.

Why do I like it?

Two reasons:  1)  It makes a nice zesty little white wine that is very food-friendly & food-flexible.  2)  The Aussies are selling this wine at dirt-cheap prices.

My most recent sampling of Aussie Verdelho is simply labeled, "Hope Verdelho."  This wine is made by Hope Estate Family Vineyards in the Hunter Valley, North of Sydney in New South Wales.

The Skinny
Hope Verdelho, 2002 ($7)
Hunter Valley, Australia
Light gold in color
An attractive/exotic nose for a value-priced wine:  scents of lime, yogurt, pineapple, grass, olives
In the mouth it starts crisp and finishes creamy (think: lime spritz giving way to key lime pie)
***.5 (3.5 stars out of 5)
Try it with olive bread/tapenade, smoked poultry, pasta; as an aperitif