Wine reviews

Sauvignon Blanc

LAUREL BANK 2010 SAUVIGNON BLANC $24.00
Expressive, full-on gooseberry, lantana and snow pea aromas before showing a riper tropical fruit richness in the mouth, the palate nicely juicy with good depth and a pleasingly fresh, crisp, tangy finish. 13.0 pc
www.laurelbankwines.com.au

LEANING CHURCH 2010 SAUVIGNON BLANC $26.00
Fresh, zesty, citrus and ripe guava aromas with slightly peppery herbal flavours on a tight, tangy, beautifully weighted and textured palate before finishing long, clean and refreshingly crisp. Lovely, very complete drinking. 12.3 pc
www.leaningchurch.com.au

FROGMORE CREEK 2009 SAUVIGNON BLANC $26.00
A pale, pastel gold colour and a delicious nutty, geranium floral nose, the palate showing intense, concentrated herbal and passionfruit notes on top of developing hints of toast and honey all beautifully balanced with lively acid running to a long, zippy finish. Lovely drinking. 12.1 pc
www.frogmorecreek.com.au

NATIVE POINT 2010 SAUVIGNON BLANC $25.00
Light, bright, tropical fruit nose, clean and zesty in the mouth with ginger and ripe guava flavours on show, the finish fresh, crisp and fruity. 12.5 pc
Phone: 03 6328 1628

Riesling

HOLM OAK 2011 RIESLING FGR $22.00
With lime, apple and bath talc aromas and flavours, this is a richer, subtly complex and finely tuned FGR style with a lovely smooth texture and a wonderful line of citrusy acid balancing and providing a refreshing finishing cut to the 40 grams/litre of natural residual sugar. 7.4 pc
www.holmoakvineyards.com.au

KATE HILL 2011 RIESLING $26.00
Another gold-medal-winner from the very talented Kate Hill with deliciously fragrant crushed lime leaf nose followed by a light, beautifully balanced and taut, mouth-watering palate and a lingering, fragrant yet crisply dry finish. 11.5 pc
www.katehillwines.com.au

KATE HILL 2010 RIESLING $24.00
A multi-gold medal-winner with fragrant aromas of dried flowers followed by a tight, precisely balanced palate showing delicate citrus and flinty, minerally characters finishing long, refreshingly crisp and with just the slightest hint of sweetness. 12.0 pc
www.katehillwines.com.au

BREAM CREEK 2008 RIESLING $22.00
Fragrant lime aromas with hints of honey, the soft, full-flavoured palate too showing some developing honey characters under the citrus and green apple fruit, nicely balanced with a clean, crisply dry finish. Even better given another year or two. 11.9 pc
www.breamcreekvineyard.com.au

WATERTON 2008 LATE PICKED RIESLING $28.00
Succulent lime essence nose with a light delicate palate showing subtle stewed apples and sweet/sour lime marmalade flavours, fresh, juicy and nicely balanced but lacking a little carry with the flavours fading slightly towards the end. 10.6 pc
www.watertonhall.com.au

CRAIGOW 2008 RIESLING $35.00
Simply a fabulous, dry rriesling, beginning to show some wonderful aged depth and complexity and well deserving of its triple trophies and price. Now, I’m told, only available at cellar door. 11.8 pc
www.craigow.com.au

POOLEY 2009 RIESLING $26.00
Lime, herbal, slatey mineral and honey characters on both the nose and palate, beautifully tight, pure and juicy with the mouth-puckering acid just beginning to soften and the palate opening to provide a long, crisply dry finish and a delicious aftertaste. 12.0 pc
www.pooleywines.com.au

COAL VALLEY VINEYARD 2008 RIESLING $26.00
A little age here provides a wonderful fragrant and flavour overlay of honeyed richness and complexity to the citrusy fruit flavours, the palate and finish still beautifully tight, firm, crisply dry and lingering. 12.5 pc
www.coalvalley.com.au

FROGMORE CREEK 2009 EVERMORE RIESLING $38.00:
A love-it or hate-it style where Tassie riesling’s normal light and crystalline-pure citrusy, lime-cordial-like fruit and fresh natural acidity are here complexed by oaky, oatmealy and yeasty characters and a touch of aged honeyness. It’s certainly left-field and comes as a surprise, but I loved it. 13.1 pc
www.frogmorecreek.com.au

GLAETZER-DIXON FAMILY 2010 UBERBLANC RIESLING $24.00
Juicy, vibrant, spicy green apple, ginger and citrusy lime flavours with lovely clean acid providing a sherbet-like lift and freshness, the palate lean, precise and nicely concentrated finishing long, crunchy and refreshingly dry. 11.3 pc
www.gdfwinemakers.com

SHARMANS 2010 RIESLING $22.00
Classic lime and citrus aromas and flavours, the palate a little fleshier and fuller than some previous years with beautifully crisp acidity running to a wonderfully long, refreshingly juicy finish. 12.3 pc
www.sharmanswines.com

BREAM CREEK 2008 RIESLING VGR $24.00
Beautifully aromatic, deeply flavoured and lushly textured with the medium fruit sweetness now enriched by attractive aged honey and caramel characters, the palate and finish still wonderfully fresh and tangy. Delicious wine. 11.8 pc
www.breamcreekvineyard.com.au

Pinot Gris/Grigio

DEVIL’S CORNER 2010 PINOT GRIGIO $19.00
Pale straw colour with attractive cut pear, spices and traces of honey on the nose, the light-weight palate showing more cut pear and green apple flavours lifted by fresh acidity and a popular touch of sweetness towards the finish. A very pleasant slip-down drop. 13.0 pc
www.tamarridge.com.au

HOLM OAK 2010 PINOT GRIS $25.00
Pale straw colour, mild, pot-purri aromas and green apple and pear flavours on a mid-weight, creamily textured palate that has good depth, length and a firm, refreshingly clean finish. 13.0 pc
www.holmoakvineyards.com.au

DERWENT ESTATE 2010 PINOT GRIS $26.00
An attractive coppery blush with freshly cut hay and spicy ripe peach notes on the nose and in the mouth, the palate fresh, light, intense and silkily textured with a nice tangy, food-friendly lift running through to the finish. 13.4 pc
www.derwentestate.com.au

STEFANO LUBIANA 2010 PINOT GRIGIO $28.00
A pale golden tinge and slightly closed nose before musk and pear flavours show on a beautifully balanced and wonderfully subtle palate that is richer, less primary fruit-driven and more textured than previous Lubiana releases. 13.5 pc
www.slw.com.au

STEFANO LUBIANA 2009 PINOT GRIGIO $29.00
Good varietal aromas of freshly sliced Nashi pear, the palate deliciously lean and focused, faintly spicy and musky with a lovely crisp, savoury-dry finish and aftertaste. 12.5 pc
www.slw.com.au

Chardonnay

FROGMORE CREEK 2008 CHARDONNAY $30.00
Subtle nutty, oatmealy and caramel/toffee nose and flavours on a lean and tight, beautifully balanced palate that is just beginning to fill out to show delicious butterscotch flavours and a long, silkily textured finish. A wine of exceptional finesse and few more years in the cellar should be well rewarded. 13.7 pc
www.frogmorecreek.com.au

FREYCINET 2009 CHARDONNAY $30.00
A fuller, more forward and, at this stage, more generously flavoured style than the Frogmore with complex nougat and malty richness underpinning tangy grapefruit and ripe melon flavours, the palate smooth, vibrant and long, gain with the promise of even better years ahead. 13.5 pc
www.freycinetvineyard.com.au

BREAM CREEK 2008 CHARDONNAY $25.00
Attractive green/gold colour with fragrant aromas of citrus and ripe peach followed by a beautifully weighted and balanced palate showing grapefruit and delicious lemon curd flavours with the citrusy notes providing a long, crisply refreshing finish. Lovely drinking and exceptional value. 13.7 pc
www.breamcreekvineyard.com.au

DALRYMPLE ESTATE CHARDONNAY $35.00
From specially selected vineyard blocks, this is a creamily textured, full-flavoured drop with ripe fig, stone fruit and toasty hazelnut notes, the richness beautifully balanced by lovely tangy acidity making for a wine of real character and finesse. 12.5 pc
www.dalrymple.com.au

Other Whites

BREAM CREEK 2009 SCHONBURGER $23.00
Sweet lychee and crushed lantana-leaf nose, the palate more tropical fruity with persistent musk stick, ripe custard apple and lychee flavours nicely balanced and cut by fresh, cleansing acid. 12.9 pc
www.breamcreekvineyard.com.au

Dessert Whites

CRAIGOW 2008 DESSERT RIESLING $19.00
Gold/green straw colour and a wonderfully aromatic nose suggesting mandarins, limes and honey, the palate rich and luscious in true dessert style with those lovely citrusy/honey flavours carrying through to the shortish finish. 9.2 pc
www.craigow.com.au

FROGMORE CREEK 2010 ICED GEWURZTRAMINER $26.00
A gold/straw colour, the nose and palate a delicious combination of gerwurz’s varietal spice, lychee and rose water characters filled out by the muscat-like sweetness of dried fruits and fresh lemon zest with lovely, youthful freshness, intensity, length and balance. 10.0 pc
www.frogmorecreek.com.au

Pinot Noir

DELAMERE 2009 PINOT NOIR $40.00
Lightish purple/red with ripe plums and savoury smoke, spice and meat stock aromas and flavours, the palate mid-weight, tight and elegantly structured and only just beginning to open up to show the depth and promise of delicious things to come. Give it plenty of air now or another 18 months or so and you’ll have a beauty. 13.5 pc
www.delamerevineyards.com.au

HOLYMAN 2009 PINOT NOIR $45.00
Darker, fuller and fruitier than the Delamere with floral, ripe cherry and plum eau-de-vie aromas, the palate intense, softly rich and deeply layered with touches of spicy oak and a firm, dry tannic finish promising a rewarding future. 13.0 pc
www.stoneyrise.com

RESOLUTION VINEYARD 2008 PINOT NOIR $20.00 (CD)
Aromatic cherry nose and an invitingly clean and fresh, cherry-essence palate, balanced, supple and silky smooth with fine, ripe tannins providing a savoury note to the finish. 13.9 pc
www.theresolutionvineyard.com

HOLM OAK 2009 PINOT NOIR $32.00
A powerful complex and yet elegantly structured wine with appealing char and wild earthy elements backing the cherry and black-plum-like fruit, the palate intense, fleshy, nicely balanced and beautifully silky with superfine tannins rounding out the finish. 13.5 pc
www.holmoakvineyards.com.au

GREY SANDS 2008 PINOT NOIR $40.00 (CD)
An appealing earthy nose, the big, richly textured palate too showing more savoury depth and funky complexity rather than straight, simple fruit, with flavours intriguingly suggestive of slightly mephitic game, mushroom and undergrowth before plum and dark berry fruits make their appearance towards the finish. An out-of-left-field style that many true pinotphiles will love. 14.6 pc
www.greysands.com.au

WINSTEAD ESTATE 2007 PINOT NOIR $30.00 (CD)
A deep, black cherry colour with complex aromas and flavours of dark plum, spice, wood smoke and hints of earthy undergrowth, the smoothly textured, mid-weight palate a wonderful meshing of power, elegance, depth and intensity with the flavours building in the glass to a dry, savoury, firmly tannic finish and a long, lingering aftertaste. 13.5 pc
www.winstead.com.au

BREAM CREEK 2009 PINOT NOIR $34.00: A lovely, perfumed and pure-fruit flavoured pinot, soft and silkily textured with glace cherries and floral notes on top of more savoury characters, the finish long, soft and beautifully balanced. A young wine that’s already very much together, one that no doubt will age and develop but is now drinking at its freshest best. 13.6 pc
www.breadmcreekvineyard.com.au

ELMSLIE 2007 PINOT NOIR $42.00
Spicy black plum nose mixed with smoky, foresty complexities and a deep, underlying French-like earthiness with similar flavours on a silkily textured, harmonious and fully mature palate, the finish intense, beautifully balanced, succulent and lingers for ages. Beautiful drinking. 13.2 pc
elmslie@bigpond.net.au

FROGMORE CREEK EVERMORE 2007 PINOT NOIR $65.00
The palish colour doesn’t prepare you for the quite wonderful depth, multilayered flavours, refined power and elegance of this wine which, despite its age, is only now beginning to hit it’s straps and still has many years ahead of it. A cracker. 13.5 pc
www.frogmorecreek.com.au

THREE WISHES 2008 PINOT NOIR $35.00
Deep cherry plum colour and nose, the palate more savoury and complex with sweet plum fruit backed by toasty, eau-de-vie-like characters, full and smoothly textured before a finish that pleasingly long and full. 13.5 pc
www.threewishesvineyard.com.au

Cabernet and Blends

SHARMANS 2008 CABERNET MERLOT $25.00
A deep, still youthful black/purple colour with spiced plum and varietal blackcurrant aromas and flavours, the mid-weight palate smooth, balanced and firmly structured with good, savoury tannins drying up the finish. 13.8 pc
www.sharmanswines.com

Other Reds

GREY SANDS 2006 MERLOT $35.00 (CD)
Not as plump or fruit-driven plummy as many merlots, instead it’s elegant, mid-weight and finely structured showing its cool climate credentials in the purity and depth of its herbal/minty, black olive-like fruit, the drive and freshness of its balancing acid and the wine’s delicious life, vitality and food-friendliness. This is what a food wine is all about and, while great drinking now, it still has plenty of time ahead of it. 13.7 pc
www.greysands.com.au

GREY SANDS 2009 ROMANESQUE $35.00
An unusual blend of shiraz, petit verdot and the Portuguese variety touriga francesa resulting in a balanced, full-bodied palate where the ripe fruit is underlined by a wonderful spicy and savoury earthiness, less herbaceous and minty than some previous releases, and the more food-friendly for it. 13.7 pc
www.greysands.com.au