1999 Penfolds St Henri – wow, what a red!

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Steve Shipley

This is one of my all-time favorite red wines. I started drinking it almost a decade ago and it was great then, and is even better now. This wine has a few more years before it starts to fade, but I only have two more bottles left, so not a worry. But if you have some of it in your cellar, you should drink it soon, at least in the next three years.

I had a funny introduction to this wine the first time. I was in Dallas in 2004 on a business trip with some very senior banking executives and trying to a very large IT contract extension. There were eight of us eating at a fancy steak house as you can only find in Dallas! One of my team was a Frenchman, so the client asked him to order some fine wine. Well this particular Frenchman did not do a very good job ordering the first bottle, and I looked at the one of the key client’s face when he took a sip and could tell he was not happy with the wine. I took the wine list and while not familiar with the Penfolds St Henri of any vintage at the time, I figured a Penfolds red in this price range would be a pretty good wine without me spending several times as much for a Penfolds Magill Estate or RWT. I ordered a bottle, could tell the client thought I had made a great choice (the smile and thumbs up were evidence enough!), and subtly pushed the bottle the Frenchman ordered down to the other end of the table to be consumed. And six bottles of 1999 Penfolds St Henri later, we left the restaurant very happy!

I then introduced my wife, DAZ in the Kitchen, to this particular wine about a year later when I found it on the wine list at a restaurant in Sydney. She loved it and it continued to be a favorite choice for a few years when eating out during the mid-2000s. And upon returning from Qatar in 2009, we bought some to keep in the cellar as you could no longer find it in restaurants. This weekend is our 12th wedding anniversary, so we are celebrating by opening one of our last bottles and enjoying tonight and tomorrow night (if there is any left!).

This is not the best vintage, but still an excellent vintage. The 1996 vintage would have been slightly better and also will last another decade longer, so if you read this review and want to secure some St Henri, either buy the 1999 and drink it soon, or buy some of the 1996 or 1998 which you can drink now and lay some down for later.

The1999 Penfolds St Henri is a lively, fruity wine with blackberry, boysenberry and tart plum flavors. It also has a lot of spice and goes extremely well with chili infused dark chocolate. I know that from previous wine / chocolate matching events, but more importantly I know that as my mouth is currently filled with this wine after eating a square of the Lindt Chili dark chocolate! Wow – what a combination!

The wine also has big tannins and is moderately heavy on the palate. It is 14% alcohol, but certainly not over the top. It is a complex wine with a lot of nuance. It has the mouth feel and slight odor of wet leather. The finish lasts a long, long time.

We will be making a rice with seared beef dish tonight to have with the wine, but frankly, we will probably finish off the bottle before dinner. We are two-thirds the way through it already. It just goes down so easily!

James Halliday has mentioned that compared to the Penfolds Grange, that the St Henri is certainly under-valued given what a great wine it is. This is a perfect example of wine economics. I would always take eight or nine bottles of the current vintage St Henri over one Penfolds Grange and that is the current exchange rate between the two wines. Frankly, it’s a no-brainer to go with many bottles of St Henri over Grange.

I will finish this post the same way I started it: wow, what a red!

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, out early 2014. Published by InkIT Publishing
© 2013. Steve Shipley
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Red wines from secondary grapes to be discussed on Food in Focus with Natascha Moy!

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Steve Shipley

I once again have the privilege of being a guest on Natascha’s great food and wine show, Food in Focus. It will be on Saturday, 18 May at 4 pm Sydney time. If you are dialing (does anyone truly have a dial on their radio anymore?) in, it is 89.7 FM in Sydney, Australia or can be found and heard over the Internet as Food in Focus.

Natascha is always great fun and mixes it up well. The first time I was on the show, we talked about party wines. The next time, we sampled and discussed Rieslings. This time we are going to be discussing wines made from secondary red wine grapes. The four primary red wine grapes are:

Cabernet Sauvignon
Shiraz
Merlot
Pinot Noir

A majority of red wine is made from these primary grape sources. Yet, I have fallen in love with the different mouth feel, textures and variety of the so-called secondary grapes. They are only secondary when referring to the volume of grapes sold as wine. They make some great, great wines. Examples of secondary wine grapes include:

Sangiovese
Zinfandel
Tempranillo
Durif
Barbero
Grenache (is considered by some to be a primary red wine grape)
… and many more!

There might be over 1,000 different wine grapes now. What I love about the secondary grapes is that they have real character and sense of terroir. They uniquely reflect the region where they are grown, more so than primary red grapes. The primary grapes have been replanted so many times and so far around the world and have been groomed to reflect the strength of the varietal. Secondary grapes have far more diversity and different characteristics based on where they are grown. This is not to say that primary red wine grapes do not reflect their terrior – they certainly do. And they make some great wines. But the secondary red wine grapes make wines which are all over the place, picking up the local climatic and soil traits and the influence of various wine makers not yet familiar with the grape, and therefore, can sometimes take on unique characteristics which make then truly special.

I am not sure exactly what bottles I will be bringing tomorrow. I am still figuring that out this evening and tomorrow morning. But as always, it should be a great show. Tune in if you can!

Vavasour Pinot Gris with Zucchini Soup

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Steve Shipley

As we move into the winter months Down Under (yes, mate, Australia is where I am writing this from!), my wife, DAZ in the Kitchen, and I enjoy making more soups for dinner. We try a variety of soup recipes and have had some spectacular soups from Sibel Hodge’s A Gluten Free Soup Opera which provides gluten-free soup recipes which are easy to make, flavorful and healthy. Sibel’s soup recipes are powerful and flavorful with chick peas, lentils and a lot of different spices.

We also like to make creamy vegetable soups such as pumpkin, broccoli, cauliflower and others. Recently, we were the benefactors of a 2.5 Kg zucchini and had to figure out what to do with it! We made a lot of zucchini bread muffins (see recipe in last DAZ in the Kitchen post) and a lot of zucchini soup (recipe has not yet, but will be, published soon in DAZ in the Kitchen). In fact, we had so much zucchini soup, we ended up freezing several servings. And tonight we are taking two servings out of the freezer for dinner.

I have tried Riesling with creamy vegetable soups and I have also tried Verdelho. Both work. However, many Verdelhos are too soft and tepid and many Rieslings are too acidic. I have found for my taste, I like a Pinot Gris with a creamy vegetable soup (other than tomato). A young Pinot Gris still has a bit of acid and slight metallic diesel and mild citrus edge to match up well with the vegetables, but also a soft mouth feel to go with the creaminess. The 2010 Vavasour Pinot Gris is such a wine.

This is a great wine for the money. We paid $15 per bottle for this. It is a New Zealand Pinot Gris from the Marlborough region. It has pear, apple and grapefruit flavors. The wine is surprisingly well balanced and integrated for such a young wine. I love the mouth feel and tannins that provide a puckering on the inside of my cheeks. I would call it off-dry or juicy dry.

This wine is great value for the money and it goes beautifully with creamy vegetables soups. It has consistently been rate 93/100 or 94/100. This wine will not cellar for more than a couple of years. It is drinkable immediately and drinking very well now. The 2011 is also rated very high and much more available than the 2010.

Some of the Italian Pinot Gris I have tried are a bit more elegant, but also much more expensive. They go well with a variety of food choices. But if you are making a simple creamy vegetable soup and possibly having a bread roll to go with it, a New Zealand Pinot Gris like the 2010 Vavasour will do the trick nicely.

French versus American Oak – is there a winner?

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Steve Shipley

I have noticed recently a bit of wine competition going on. Of course, living in Australia and having a place in The Hunter Valley, I have my favorites and will defend them to the death. But I am a pretty open-minded guy who loves to continue to taste new experiences and continuously learn about new and different things.

Next Friday I am going to a ‘Best of USA versus Australia’ wine tasting and four-course meal in Melbourne. What a great night that will be! Its only $150 per head and the 13 wines and food look magnificent. If you are interested, I would love to see you there. Contact Top Australian Wines or just order tickets online.

And this weekend, I will be watching the movie Bottle Shock, which is the 1976 competition between French and Napa Valley wines, which is entitled as it is because of the shock that the Americans came out on top.

But the focus of this blog post is the comparison between wines stored in French Oak and wines stored in American Oak. The difference is mostly two-fold in terms of the effect it has on wine. French Oak is a tighter grain with the American Oak being courser. And American Oak has twice to four times the amount of lactones, which provide sweeter and stronger, yet different vanilla overtones. I had a rare opportunity to compare the exact same wine using the same grapes and from the same vintage stored in both French and American Oak, the wine being the 2008 Rothvale Chardonnay. Both wines were magnificent! If I remember correctly, I spent about $22 per bottle for these wines and only bought four of each. This is the first time I have tried either one as I had been waiting for the right moment to compare both. My bride, DAZ in the Kitchen, felt the wines would go well with a cheese platter this afternoon and also go well with the mushroom soup we are making this evening.

We sampled and greatly enjoyed both wines. They are truly spectacular and drink like $50 – $75 bottles of Chardonnay. Both wines have some similar characteristics:

Exact same ingredients and stored in respective oak barrels for 9 months
Both have a smooth mouth feel, almost velvety
Both are bright yellow, turning golden in color
Both are very easy to drink and of extremely high quality

Yet, there are some noticeable differences. The 2008 Rothvale Chardonnay in French Oak was:

More elegant and beautifully balanced
Edgier, and slightly more acidic, more lemon citrus flavored
Purer, subtler vanilla taste
Taste like a typical Montrachet

Whereas the 2008 Rothvale Chardonnay in American Oak was:

More in-your-face vanilla flavoring but courser
Sweeter, honey-like taste plus smoked almond taste as secondary flavors
Richer, more robust flavor overall, but not as integrated or balanced as the French Oak

I would have to give a slight nod to the 2008 Rothvale Chardonnay in French Oak as the better drinking wine today, but I am pretty certain that the 2008 Rothvale Chardonnay in American Oak will drink better in several years time. I just hope I have a few bottles of each left by then to prove the point! I am definitely stopping by the winery tomorrow to see if there is any of the 2008 Chardonnays left or if there is an even better vintage since where the Rothvale Chardonnay has been stored in both the French and American Oak.

I have limited experience with great Montrachets, but have certainly been drinking more of them recently and truly enjoy a great Montrachet. I was under the impression that the characteristics of the individual Montrachets had to do with the locale and soil conditions and I have noticed the differences between a Puligny-Montrachet and a Chassagne-Montrachet. I thought the difference characters unfolding in the wine were mostly the results of the grapes being in different locations. But after comparing the Hunter Valley Chardonnay in both French and American Oak, I can understand how impactful the French Oak is in making any Chardonnay (of very good grapes) taste like a Montrachet.

I greatly look forward to drinking both of these wines with the mushroom soup we are making this evening to see if either goes better than the other with the soup. Hats off to Rothvale on making great wines using both French and American Oak!

Wonderful wine gift of Inniskillin from in-laws

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Steve Shipley

I suppose now that I have you reading this blog post, I could tell you the wine gift my in-laws provided was their daughter, my lovely bride, DAZ in the Kitchen, who shares in good food and wine with me. And I do thank them every day for that gift, one which you can not put a price on (even though my father-in-law tried to during his speech at our wedding. Something about transferring a liability from his balance sheet to mine!).

No, I am referring to a beautiful half bottle of 2002 Inniskillin Vidal VQA Ice wine from Canada. This is a real gift. Embarrassingly, I left it sit on the counter for six weeks before even looking at it. I assumed it was just another dessert wine and I had a few already in the fridge and the Vintec, so I figured in due time I would get around to storing it. There was no ceremony or exclamation of bringing me such a nice gift. The in-laws were back from a long time overseas and we had not seen them for a while, so had them and my wife’s brother and his wife over for dinner.

The in-laws came in, we shook hands and hugged, took their coats and then my mother-in-law says, “Oh yeah, here’s a bottle of ice wine.” I said, “Thanks,” and we left it at that and proceeded to talk about things and then sat down to dinner. No explanation of why they decided to pick that bottle to give me or what a special bottle it is. (I wonder if they knew?) Therefore, I thought nothing of it and laid it down on the counter. I figured it was a current vintage and had a screw top, but fortunately, I laid it down horizontally as a matter of course. And a good thing I did, as it was neither a current vintage or under screw top: It was a 2002 vintage under cork.

This morning I decided to finally do something with the bottle and that was the first time I looked at it since they gave it to me. It was then I noticed it was a 2002 vintage and that surprised me. I then looked at the alcoholic content (10% which is nice for a dessert wine and a good way to finish off an evening) and was high in residual sugar so I know it is going to be a sweet dessert wine. I kept looking for the grape used wondering if it was Semillon or Riesling. Even though the word Vidal was prominently displayed on the bottle and box, I though that was some sort of brand name, not a grape name. However, Vidal is the name of the grape used.

Some study provided me with background on the Vidal grape. It is a hybrid grape (Trebbiano and Rayon d’Or) with a very thick skin. It was originally intended to be used for production of Eastern Canadian brandy. However, it proved worthy of being used to make great Ice wine. The grape is now grown in Eastern Canada, upper state New York around Niagara Falls, and in selected locations in the US Midwest region.

Further study showed me that this wine is difficult to source in Australia, and I can only assume my in-laws got it when in London or some other major metropolitan city around the globe. It is an expensive bottle of wine. The 1992 vintage is one of the very best. I greatly look forward to drinking this bottle in the right setting and context. This wine matches up well with several cheeses and with a pear tart or dessert with caramel sauce – I like the sound of that! I might bring it along for one of our spectacular lunches at Bistro Molines in the Hunter Valley. Robert (Molines) does great things with caramel and I could call ahead and ask him to make a special dessert for us.

I am gob-smacked that they gave me such a unique and special bottle of wine. I have no idea about where they got it and why they decided to give it to me (but will now find out), but I am thankful and greatly anticipating drinking this special bottle. I can only hope it lives up to my anticipation, but from everything I have read, it should! Thank you, in-laws!

2005 Pepper Tree Grand Reserve Tannat – Top Notch? – Think Not!

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Steve Shipley

I bought a six-pack of the 2005 Pepper Tree Grand Reserve Tannat several years ago and set it in the cellar. I just opened my first bottle yesterday. I was making a chirizo and chickpea soup with lots of flavor including chili, paprika, smoked paprika, mushrooms, black olives, lentils and rocket lettuce. I just wasn’t sure what wine to serve with this soup. And knowing there would be some left over to go with lasagna this evening and having already matched up some nice Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon wines to go with the lasagna previously, I decided to give this wine a try with both the soup and lasagna.

The 2005 Pepper Tree Grand Reserve Tannat comes from Wrattonbully, a great wine region for Cabernet Sauvignon and some other fine wines. When my wife first tried this wine at the cellar door several years ago, her reaction was “I can’t describe this wine, but I love what it does to my mouth!” Maybe that was all the description necessary.

When opening the bottle yesterday, and trying my first sip, I noticed the wine to be quite lively, almost fizzy, like a weak sparkling wine on my palate. It also had large tannins and was a bit gritty. I was expecting this wine to provide a ‘punch in the mouth’ in terms of flavors, but it did not. The fruit was lively enough and it tasted of berries, but more like raspberries and a bit weak overall. I searched hard for secondary flavors and only found the smallest trace of chocolate.

It has an interesting mouth feel, being high in tannins and with the fizzy feeling going on. This settled down the second day the bottle was open and while it was still gritty, it was smoother and less active on my palate. However, this wine is a disappointment overall. It just lacks any type of finesse or complexity. The berry taste is flat and the secondary characteristics (except for that trace of chocolate) missing. To self-categorize this wine as a ‘Grand Reserve’ seems almost deceptive. And coming from Wrattonbully, I was expecting better.

I have had a recent love affair with secondary red grapes, including my affection for Grenache, Tempranillo, and Malbec, but this wine does nothing to put a Tannat in that group. This is the only Tannat I have ever drank, so I am not sure if the limitations are in the grape itself or the wine making process for this particular brand and vintage. I need to try a few more Tannats to find out.

Looking back, I thought this might be an interesting and different wine to occasionally serve up, but I was wrong. Fortunately, I have a leftover glass of the 2007 McWilliams Mount Pleasant Maurice O’Shea Shiraz to go with my lasagna tonight and I just got the call for dinner, so will enjoy that instead of the Pepper Tree Tannat. It is not a perfect match, but will have to do.

Hate Rose – always have, always will

Posted on March 30, 2013 by Steve Shipley

Technically Rose can be classified as a wine. It can be made from a variety of different grapes and is usually made from the more tepid white wine grapes with a little bit of coloring coming from red wine grape skins. When reading the process as to how Rose is made, I become nauseated. The process for making Rose appears broken or like a cruel joke, or some sort of wine making challenge. I would rather try to get great taste out of a tea bag being used for the fourth time. Dr Frankenstein did far better creating a human out of leftover body parts. And that is what Rose reminds me of – a wine make out of leftover wine parts.

I am open to trying a lot of different wine. I love wines made from most of the big four red and white wine grape varietals, and even acknowledge that there are a few good wines to come from the Merlot or Sauvignon Blanc grapes. I experiment with the secondary grapes and greatly enjoy them, and am willing to try almost any wine from the thousand different wine grapes from around the world. I drink blends, organic wines, low alcohol Muscato, and drink Ports and Muscats – all with great enjoyment.

But Rose? The last time I had Rose was over 35 years ago. It was in my early 20s, and it was Lancers. (it could have been Mateus – it really would not matter – both are terrible.) At least the Lancers came in a beautiful bottle! I was just graduating from my father’s home made pseudo-wines (made from dandelions, strawberries, bananas, etc.) and Boones Farm wine (apple and strawberry) which cost $0.93 per bottle. (Equivalent to graduating from pre-school to Kindergarten) But as I was introduced to more ‘real’ wine, I quickly came to ignore the ignoble qualities of Rose. Why drink a wine that has lost its flavor, its pop, and is tepid to begin with. It is like taking a bottle of real wine and mixing it with four bottles of water to provide five bottles of Rose.

Given my wine collection and always having a few bottles at hand to consider drinking, the concept of drinking Rose has never become my first option – until today. We were making up an antipasto plate for an afternoon snack, and my wife wanted to have Muscato or Belle Frizzante (a low alcohol blend of Semillon and Shiraz which is far better than it sounds!). However to my surprise, there was not a bottle of Muscato or Belle Frizzante chilled. And also to my surprise the only bottle coming close was a bottle of Rose, which some guest apparently provided as some sort of cruel joke at some point in the past.

I consider myself to be open to many new and different experiences and even adventurous at points. Since it had been 35 years since gagging on my last Rose and knowing there were so many great wine makers who now make Rose, we decided to give it a chance. We opened the bottle, poured it into two glasses and each took a sip. The next thing I knew was that both glasses and the bottle were being drained in the sink and I was scurrying to get a bottle of the nearest Pinot Noir I could find. I decided on an unknown winery (another damn wine gift from someone who does not know better!) as any Pinot Noir was certain to be appreciated over the Rose I just poured down the drain, and fortunately it was!

I will save you the pain of trying to describe the Rose. The first thought that came to mind was it tasted like vomit-infused watered-down Ribena, but then I have to apologize to Ribena as on its own (one part Ribena concentrate and four parts soda water) is a decent drink! And I will not mention the brand of Rose as I am certain this was typical of all Roses. But just look at the color of the Roses in the picture above. I have seen better looking receptacles of used paint thinner! At least Lancers had enough sense to provide their version of paint thinner in an opaque bottle to hide the awful truth inside!

I have considered several times over the last few years trying a Rose as I have heard a Rose Revolution is underway. I have seen Rose tastings advertised and considered going, and I have felt that certainly a wine maker such as Sancerre would only sell wine that would not ruin their reputation. And maybe there is a good Rose out there somewhere. But I will only ever try Rose in the future if it is recommended and shared by one of my small group of friends that I know have a great wine palate. There are about a dozen of you I would trust if you were to recommend a good Rose.

But other than that, I will never, ever consider trying another Rose. I would rather swallow a fur ball the cat coughed up.

[Update 2 January, 1014: Since writing this post, I have tried a few more Rose wines and am starting to enjoy them more, especially as an afternoon drink. The 2012 Rose by McLeish Estate is one of the better ones I have tried since starting to drink Rose again.]

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, out early 2014. Published by InkIT Publishing
© 2013-2014. Steve Shipley
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Puligny Montrachet versus NSW Chardonnay – too close to call

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Steve Shipley

We enjoyed one of our favorite Montrachets yesterday with lunch, that being the 2009 Bouchard Peres & Fils Puligny Montrachet. This is a beautiful rich, creamy Montrachet yet balanced with ample citrus flavors. It cost us $75 per bottle in Australia. Thinking it sinful to use 100 ml of this fine wine for the mushroom and wild rice soup (see my post on wine math!) we are making this evening, and since there was only enough for one glass left over since yesterday, we opened a 2008 Tamburlaine Reserve Chardonnay made with grapes from Orange, NSW. This fine wine is $30 per bottle and was made organically. I bought a dozen of this wine several years ago, and it is one of the best organic wines I have ever had.

While the Bouchard lost a very small touch of flavor since yesterday, it was still drinking well. The smell of the Bouchard was more evident than for the Tamburlaine, but the color identical. I had my wife do a blind tasting of each and she could not tell the difference, and with a bit of hesitation, pointed to the Tamburlaine and said it was the Bouchard. While I had the knowledge of knowing which wine was which, I also had a tough time deciding which wine I liked better. Except for the more aromatic nose of the Bouchard, I have to say, I enjoyed both of them equally! And for the money, the 2008 Tamburlaine Reserve Chardonnay from Orange wins hands down with regard to value.

The Tamburlaine tastes of orange (how coincidental being the grapes came from Orange!), mandarin and lemon. It starts strong, but does not have quite the finish that the 2009 Bouchard Peres & Fils Puligny Montrachet has. But it still packs a mouthful of flavor! I would highly recommend this wine and all the organic wines from Tamburlaine. They make good use of their Hunter vineyards and their Orange cold-weather vineyards to produce some outstanding wines, and if you are looking for organic, this is my wine maker of choice. I have sampled a lot of organic wines and frankly, have not been impressed. However, I am open to trying more and also giving a number of the organic wine makers another chance. But Tamburlaine is the only organic wine maker from which I have purchased any wine!

While the Hunter Valley is known for Shiraz and Semillon, they are also the fine producer of some great Chardonnays, and so are the colder climates in NSW of Orange and Mudgee. I am becoming a big fan of NSW Chardonnays, whereas previously, I was only drinking Australian Chardonnays from Margaret River. Now I am seeking out and enjoying NSW Chardonnays at a fraction of the cost of the better Margaret River Chardonnays.

It was spur of the moment that I decided to compare side-by-side these two Chardonnays as I thought there was no comparison, but I was wrong and glad for the comparative tasting I did. Both are worth drinking, but for those of us in Australia, being able to buy Tamburlaine organic Chardonnays at a fraction of the cost of a good Montrachet is the way to go!

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, out early 2014. Published by InkIT Publishing
© 2014. Steve Shipley
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A wonderful week with wine

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Steve Shipley

My life does not revolve around wine, but my appreciation and enjoyment of wine is integrated into my lifestyle. I enjoy drinking it, I enjoy sharing in fellowship over a good glass of wine and I enjoy reading and understanding what makes wine so special. I sometimes refer to it as ‘living the wine lifestyle!’

As I look back over this week and forward to the weekend, I reflect on how wine has made my life better. It started last weekend by reading several books on wine and philosophy and making me think about how wine fulfills all five human senses. I have always been curious about which senses are the most important and how they effect our enjoyment of life in general and wine in particular. (Separate blog on this to follow.)

Then Monday after work, I met with a work colleague and client at deVine, one of my favorite wine bars and restaurants. They client had asked a favor and I was glad to help him out which was why I brought my other colleague along. Then after that meeting, my colleague and I caught up on his project status and a few other things. And upon leaving, I saw another contact who is a Partner at a Big Four advisory firm, waved and later that evening received an email from him asking to meet to discuss a large project we may consider doing between his firm and mine. In 90 minutes, that was quite a good amount of business to get accomplished made more enjoyable by a good glass of wine!

I did not drink wine Tuesday or Wednesday as we were going to a Riedel wine glass masterclass Thursday evening which would include tasting, and then out for a big birthday lunch on Friday at our favorite restaurant in The Hunter Valley, Bistro Molines, where we would be drinking some of my wife’s very favorites wines.

Both the Reidel masterclass and lunch were brilliant and among two of the finest events I have ever enjoyed. Georg Riedel, 10th generation glass maker took us through a brilliant dissertation and tasting on the pleasure of drinking different varieties from different types of glasses and the very noticeable difference in taste and pleasure involved. I have written on this previously (in total in about seven different posts as I am so impressed with Riedel glassware and their impact on improving the wine drinking experience) and will certainly do so again in the very near future! Georg also discussed how the shape of the glass effects our smell and taste senses and reinforced what I had been studying over the previous weekend. It was an amazing two hours spent with a master in like company and was both educational and entertaining.

Birthday wines at Bistro Molines

We then drove this morning to our place in The Hunter Valley and went to Bistro Molines for my wife’s birthday lunch. A pure delight and treasure! As usual, the food and service were impeccable and the wines we drank (too much of!) were my wife’s favorites and truly outstanding. I will be writing a review on the dessert wine, the 2006 Chateau Rieussec very soon. And while Bistro Molines certainly has fine glassware, including Riedel to serve from, I was insistent on bringing our own Shiraz and Montrachet Riedel glasses to make sure the wine was served as perfectly as it could be.

And now onto the remainder of our four-day weekend in The Hunter Valley. I will be reading on wine, writing on wine (I have about 15 ideas for posts and I want to build up an inventory for the next month as I will be otherwise quite busy and it is always good to have a number of posts in reserve), studying a wine appreciation and tasting course and of course, drinking wine.

While my life does not revolve around wine, it certainly is enhanced because of it! Wine helps me with business, friendship, and fuels my thirst for continuous learning.

Is there a better Semillon than the 1999 Tyrrell’s Vat 1? Possibly

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Steve Shipley

There may be and I will get to that in a minute. The 1999 Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Semillon is considered by some to be the best Semillon ever made. It is featured in the book 1001 Wines You Must Taste Before You Die. And 1999 was an iconic vintage for Hunter Valley Semillon.

I love the 1999 Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Semillon and am fortunate to have a little under a dozen left. I also love some of the older (especially the 1992) Waverley Estate Semillon. But let’s stick with the 1999 vintage for a while. This was a great vintage. Meerea Park makes great wines and along with Tyrrell’s and De Iuliis, are my three most favorite wineries in the Hunter Valley. Meerea Park has the 1999 Meerea Park Alexander Munro Semillon which is comparable to the 1999 Tyrrell’s Vat 1 in quality. It is slightly different in style, but both are classic Hunter Valley Semillons and I have faced these two off against each other previously with split results as to which one is better.

Yesterday, I opened a bottle of the 1999 Meerea Park Terracotta Semillon and what a treat that was! While cheaper than the Alexander Munro, this is a magnificent wine with quite a different style to the Alexander Munro or the Vat 1. It is slightly less acidic, tastes of honeyed flavored roasted nuts, caramelized pear with a touch of citrus, and could almost pass as a dessert wine (if it was sweeter still). This would make a great wine to pair up with quiche, fritatta, or anything else with eggs. (As if I really need a ‘breakfast’ wine!)

I had this wine last night with a mushroom risotto and it matched better with the risotto than the Nuits St George Burgundy which I also tried. (I wanted to try both to compare.) Most wine critics would recommend a Pinot Noir with a mushroom risotto, but the 1999 Meerea Park Terracotta Semillon was excellent (of course, I also used 100 ml of the Terracotta Semillon in the risotto!) and matched better than the Nuits St George Burgundy at three times the price!

I tend to like my white wines dryer – as in Riesling, and more acidic and on edge – as with aged Chardonnays, but when it comes to Semillons, I find the slightly sweeter and honeyed toasted flavor to be more to my liking. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the 1999 Tyrrell’s Vat 1 and the 1999 Meerea Park Alexander Munro Semillons, but the 1999 Meerea Park Terracotta Semillon has won my heart as the one to match up with a lot of different food dishes!

This is a great wine for the money and worth trying. Check with Meerea Park or on auction sites to see if you can find some – it is well worth the money.

SAZ in the Cellar

Wine appreciation and enjoyment

Category Archives: Reviews