Rating

Quality: Recommended

Value: Recommended

At a glance...

Complexity/Character: Floral, orrange blossom, spice, cinammon, nutmeg and citrus on the nose. More spice (ginger, nutmeg etc), orange blossom and orange citrus/lime on the palate.

Balance: Good clean, crisp acidity. Fruit lacks a bit of clarity though.

Length: OK.

Region: Clare Valley, South Australia.

Alc/vol: 12.5% alc/vol

Source: approx. $25AU

Tasting Notes:

It's always hard to follow in the footsteps of  previous success - even with Eddie Murphy, Shrek 2 was still a coma inducing yawn - so you've  got to give credit to the team at Petaluma for having a red hot go at replicating the quality of  the tremendous '07 vintage with this wine (especiallly given the trying climatic conditions that the wine was produced in - i.e hot and bloody dry) .

Did they get there? Well... yes and no.  The wine is commendably complex  with a strong acid core, but it lacks the clarity of fruit and the power of the "07.

However, to its credit that's no disgrace at all, and as a delicately floral, orange, lime and citrus kissed refreshment on a really hot day, this wine is still damn hard to go past.

MW

Rating

Quality: Highly Recommended

Value: Recommended

At a glance...

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Tasting Notes

Rating

Quality: Recommended

Value: Recommended

At a glance...

Balance: Nicely balanced acid , tannin and fruit.

Complexity/Character: Smells of vanillin oak, licorice and  plum  - with a hint of menthol/eucalypt and oatmeal (yes that's right – oatmeal  mmmm). On the palate its all sweet vanillin oak, grey wood and luscious plum and cherry.

Length: Finishes long and sexy – unlike most of my nights out.

Alc/vol: a stratospheric 14.5%

Region: Barrossa Valley, South Australia

Price:  $27

Source: Wayne's cellar (aka garage). Or if you can't get hold of  the keys to the Wayne-man's shed, then any good wine store (oh...and probably also Dan Murphy's)

Tasting Notes:

I imagine that this is the sort of wine that Roberto Parkerus gets a great big boner about. Full bodied, lush, fruity, enough alcohol to kill a pig and more vanillin sweetness than a bucket of cherry cola – la la la la lola.

Fortunately, although it is all of the above, it’s not just a big fruit bomb - it has some additional complexity and character as well.

On that basis I’m happy to give this plum tart a (high) Recommended – not bad value too, at $27.00.

MW

Rating

Quality: Average

Value: Recommended

At a glance...

Balance:Reasonable balance, soft tannins support a nice, fruity and spicy flavour profile. Acid is fine..

Complexity: Reasonable, again. On the nose it has an interesting mix of pepper and spiciness (hint of fennel too?) together with some candy/sweet red fruit – seems to be cherry. Smells true to the Shiraz/Grenache combo. A camphor / moth ball kind aroma, too. Taking a gobful is much the same – some sweeter red fruit and spiciness. The American and French Oak treatment adds a hint of vanilla and pencil shaving respectively.

Length: Reasonable

Region: Barossa Valley, South Australia

Alc/vol: 14.5%

Price: $17

Source: Jim's Cellars, Crows Nest

Tasting Notes

For the second time this week, I’ve decided to look at an old favourite. I feel like one of those “golden oldie” radio stations (WS-FM anyone?). A couple of solid gold, long blocks of non-stop classic rock favourites, taking you through to the bottom of the hour and making you feel like it’s still 1973.

But I digress…

I quite enjoyed this wine the first time I tried it (can’t remember whether it was ’04 or ‘05). It was your typical Barossa fruit slushy, but with decent ripe fruit and some interesting secondary characters, like some licorice and spice. This time around, I’m not quite so impressed. It still has the sweet ripe red fruit, pepperiness and spiciness, but it comes across as less flavoursome and complex.

This is an average wine, and to be fair it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. It has more interest than your usual wine in this price range though, and deserves a Recommended for value.

WC

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Rating

Quality: Average

Value: Average

At a glance...

Balance:Good balance between the oak (American) and fruit. Tannins were quite soft – might have been the temperature I drank it at. This wine definitely has some style about it.

Complexity: Not bad. Initially smells inviting - plum, blackberry and a bit of meat on the nose. I found a good swirl brought some charry/oaky aromas to the fore. Quite a bit of pepper, too. Unfortunately swirling also encouraged a plasticky / pool liner sort of odour. On the palate, more of the same. This wine lacks the big, powerful fruit flavour I would have expected from a Barossa Shiraz.

Length: Like Tom Cruise, this is disappointingly short. At least it won't claim that its ancestor came from another planet.  The fruit disappears quickly and you are left with a sort of stalky or green character. that lingers. Not a great combination.

Region: Barossa Valley, South Australia

Alc/vol: 14.5%

Price: $29

Source: WC's cellar

Tasting Notes

Do you know anyone called Ebenezer? I don’t. It’s one of those old-fashioned names, like Agnes, that no one uses anymore. But I reckon you could make some great limericks:

There once was a man called Ebenezer, Whose dog would do anything to please ya …

OK, let’s leave that there.

Matty and I had had to cancel our weekly catch up, but I decided to grab something interesting from the cellar anyway. I’ve had the Ebenezer Shiraz several times before (not the 2002 though), and have really enjoyed it every time. Its big brother/sister is the E&E Black Pepper Shiraz – one of Australia’s iconic wines.

But, I have to say, I was a little disappointed. What I’ve really enjoyed about Ebenezers in the past is the lovely balance between good quality fruit and some more complex characters – one of those Barossa shirazes that gives you good flavour but with nice balance – it doesn’t have to whack you right in the tastebuds with over-the-top über juice.

This particular vintage has really polarised the gurus. It won a Blue-Gold trophy at the Sydney International Wine Competition (a big deal), and received good wraps from James “We’re all going on a summer” Halliday, but it was panned by Jeremy Oliver.

One thing that has me puzzled is several people have raved about how good and ripe the fruit is on this wine. I just couldn’t see it – I thought it was under-powered (and this is coming from someone who prefers balance to über flavour).

A very soundly made wine that just doesn’t deliver. I’m going to have to go Average on this. And if that doesn’t hurt enough, I’ve got five left in the cellar. I really hope this was just a bad bottle….

WC.