Spirit Hawk; 2009 Pinot Grigio, USA – California

Glaring off with the Eagles stern dead lifeless eyes, a duel is set. A veteran wino bellowing laughs of triumph over naught but a flabby hollow and over branded grape. Well that’s how this scene was set in my head, yet, god knows the world loves an underdog. By god was the earth good to this one. In my wine journey I had encountered one Pinot Grigio, which had turned heads, mine included, now this was an ever interesting thought and I felt that the review at hand might not see the light of empty, and another wine might fail to have merit found in it. 

RRP €9.99

Chablis, Risk, Betrayal, Revenge; The Important StuffJ. Moreau & Fils, 2009, Chablis

A long overdue review and return to an old favourite for me occurred last night. I had a little date with RISK and wanted to numb the sting of rent week, so off to my now empty “cellar” (Thanks to two oxidised wines in one night), and fumbled about my stock, a Geil Pinot Noir (Review sometime soon I hope), an Alsace Pinot Blanc, a Segada, a Cluzan, a port and finally the last of my stock an interesting looking Chablis. 

So as we set off to conquer the world, the cards were dealt, dice rolled and cork popped. No sooner than I had my arse handed to me and had been kicked off half the globe did the whack of a clean cut, mineral laden pear extravaganza. Suddenly it didn’t matter that I was banged up in Australia. Suddenly that choke point on the board which meant I could hang on until the wine was gone and then break out and head for France for more in was looking a whole lot better. However something was bothering me, maybe it was the big blue army amassing in South and North America, maybe it was everyone else’s desire to avenge failings of their own lives on me, nope, it had to be something else. It was. It was a taste that was bugging me and not showing me who it was. I began to concentrate on other things, like the beautiful notes of peach, violets and apricots washing up and down my tongue in a wave and receding back to give way to room to the finish much like, a crisp acidic finish of lime and the length was as long as it took me to get back into the game (Which was rather long). 

Artificial Decantation

I managed to follow this wine over three consecutive nights by accident. My busy schedule and a missing vacuum seal had left me relying on my trusty robot bottle stopper. So what were the consequences of this? Well the wine itself was left exposed to the elements, the main one being Oxygen.

Decanting allows a wine to be exposed to a large surface area of Oxygen. This is done to help the wine show its true potential, by mellowing the wine and allowing it to express hidden aromas. A well made wine will always benefit from an hour decanting. A wine that was closed and not up to much when first opened should be jumping out the glass ... unless it needs more time in the decanter or is rubbish to begin with. This isn't much help is it? Ok rule of thumb, if a wine has enticing aromas, but is somewhat elusive, give it some time.

So why so serious, or why are you banging on about this decanting so much? Well if you have stuck with me this far I will tell you why. I opened up the bottle over to the left on Saturday night and had two glasses. The wine displayed nice tight aromas of red fruits and nutmeg. Still slightly closed i left it with trusty Mr. Roboto.

Palha Canas, 2007, €13.95

Seeing as this week has been wine filled I felt it was okay to treat myself to something I personally had tucked away for a month or so waiting to open. Why was that such a treat? It’s coming from one of those few wine countries that I have always felt I get a bargain from, Portugal. Now dust off the images of port and Christmas for just a second. Because what you can be exposed to in this gem of a region if you simply take that first leap is truly quite astounding.

 

I could rant and rave for an extended period about why this is; however there is a better way - to let you read about my little treat for the week.

Let’s start popping the cork on this review, nose of a valop styled cherry assault the nose but not aggressively offing more of a velvet blanket to fall head first into. Things left curious by an underbelly of thick plum. This entire nose starts to take a berry like-structure and the juice of the wine can literally be detected vividly on the nose. Vanilla begins to start puncturing the fruit so prevalent on the nose. This is where in my experience of Portuguese wine, things liven up and they begin to distinguish themselves from the pack.

Berry notes started to become more distinct and developing into a riper red currant. Now excitement gets to me and the nose starts to dance with my fancies,. A mature cheddar giving grain to the nose, and a cider box smell that I am sure one of the team is obsessed over. The ashy tobacco lingers for a while, giving away the great depth this wine is hiding, and in a final swoop the wine already steals my heart, a new appearance on the scene blackcurrant evolving and existing alongside the redcurrant.

Swirling the glass, I finally pulled myself from the nose and was rewarded with a silky smooth cherry dominating the palate and having the nose mimicked with plum forming a core to the wine. The spices started to dance on the palate now too- cinnamon, a dominant one, its presence adding a wood sweet life across the palate. The tobacco developed and cheery filled the voids at the edge of the palate, vanilla began to cream up the alongside the notes of cinnamon.

A mild tannic structure had been forgotten as the fruits and sweet spices danced the palate fixating.

A textbook bargain from the Portuguese. Giving itself away at €13.95, from the Mill Wine Cellar. Something that tickled my tastes, and that I strongly advise tasting.

Score: 79


Rob

Ferngrove, Shiraz, €12.99

 

So enter another Auzzie poised to steal me and my little old world heart away to the great down under. Punching in at €12.99 this little wine offers a tight entry level to the world of austrialian shiraz, or so it seemed.