We hope you enjoy,

The team at Wine House
 

The Tasting's Top Grenache!

Grenache is the warm climate pinot noir with light tannin structure, cherry fruit and gentle oak handling all typical and essential for good examples. The last point, oak handling, is something that stood out on the grenache tasting with the use of French oak, like that used at Clarendon Hills, allowing the fruit to express itself. Rich American oak was used in some of the wines, good for big rich wine lovers, but was deemed overall too overpowering of the herb, confectionary, and berry fruit flavours that make elegant grenache so wonderful. The 1997 Clarendon Hills Old Vine has this wonderful elegance but also outstanding smoked meat characters making it the benchmark for grenache.

Hardy Eileen Hardy Shiraz 1995 (Old)
Jeremy Oliver Rating 95! 1996 Jimmy Watson Winner!

A trusted customer informs us that this is drinking very well and close to Jeremy Oliver's tasting note of "...ripe plummy fruit is accented with mint, flowers, cassis and a hint of eucalypt. Sumptuous, soft and supple, richly textured, firm and astringent, it finally departs with a taste of dark Swiss chocolate and wild berries."

Tyson Stelzer 94 points! James Halliday 96 points!

We are re releasing this highly acclaimed and sought after shiraz from Howard Park. Better than "Old Adam"? This little gem scored 96 points from James Halliday's 2008 Wine Companion making it one of the best reds to come out of the 2008 ratings and is now available again but but only in limited quantities.
$26.96 in a dozen | $29.95 per bottle

Old is a comparative thing. Most wine stores will only have the current vintage of this Canberra District wine available but we are fortunate to still have some of this lovely 2004, James Halliday describes it as "...long and intense stone fruit and citrus; lingering finish, lemony acidity; subtle oak." with 94 points to boot.

Lots of time is spent at the tasting table finding the next wine stars and Mac Forbes will be one of those stars. Campbell Mattinson is also a fan of MacForbes and his Yarra Valley Chardonnay "...with lemon and grapefruit driving through pear and peach. It finishes linear and long." It's one wine he, like us, has a fondness for.
$22.46 in a dozen | $24.95 per bottle

Tigress Pinot Noir 2001 (Old)
Value aged pinot!

The wine industry policy is the Australian pinot noir is not an age friendly wine but this is an exception to the rule. Light and easy drinking pinot with rich aromatic aged pinot noir characters of rhubarb, mushrooms, dried cedar and Italian herbs. A good wine for matching to a dinner of coq a vin.

Heathcote shiraz is all the rage at the moment and this is a ripper at a rare bargain price! James Halliday described the fruit as "...savoury and spicy; long, fine tannins give the wine outstanding structure, firm but without hardness of bitterness." and that is a perfect tasting note for a great drinking shiraz.
$17.96 in a dozen | $19.95 per bottle

Moss Wood Semillon 2000 (Old)
Jeremy Oliver 92 points!

Aged semillon is one of the wine industry's greatest treats. A nutty cameral effect develops with age to complement the "...the intensity and weight of this wine's lingering and fleshy expression of passion fruit, pineapple, melon and tangerine flavours." - Jeremy Oliver.

Jeremy Oliver 91 points!

Like MacForbes we think Tomboy Hill is a wine on the rise and their pinot noir is a star in the true Burgundy earth and fruit weight that Jeremy Oliver wrote as "Smooth and viscous, its palate reveals both meaty and herbal, capsicum-like influences. Framed by silky tannins, it reveals an unusual, rather fragile and ethereal orange rind-like expression of pinot noir." Just four bottles remain!
$43.16 in a dozen | $47.95 per bottle

Granite Hills Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 (Old)
Special price!

We tried this recently and while the tannin had almost gone the good drink that remained had nice capsicum and mint youthfulness with a bit more aged cedar and new leather. Normally $22.95 but on special for under $20 you can get some nicely aged cabernet instead of tannin and closed fruit.

$19.50 special price | $22.95 rrp

Single Vineyard!

The normal Mt.Difficulty pinot noir was one of our biggest sellers of last year! As a result the winery gave a limited amount of their single vineyard wines, the Long Gully and Pipeclay. The Long Gully is New Zealand Central Otago pinot at its best with layered cherry fruit, dense herbs and velvety tannins. The complete pinot noir.
$99.95 per bottle

Penfolds St.Henri Shiraz 1996 (old)
James Halliday 96 points! Great Vintage!

"I am singularly unconvinced that St Henri should be one sixth of the price of Grange, particularly with a classic vintage such as this. Piquantly ripe and fragrant, it is fruit-driven from start to finish (still matured in large, old oak vats), with a smooth and supple fresh berry palate and plush tannins." - James Halliday.

$110 per bottle

Mark Squires 95 points! Wine Spectator 95 points!

Six bottles of this wine made it's way into Australia, we have one available. Constantly rated among the top Portugese wines by Wine Spectator the 2004 vintage Crasto Vinha Ponte was the overall best Portugese wine in a recent Wine Advocate tasting. Extensive tasting notes available via bottle link.
$250.00 per bottle
 

McLaren Vale versus Barossa  FREE!

Saturday 11th August - 2:00pm to 5:00pm

A clash of the big Aussie reds! Strap yourself in and enjoy the shiraz and cabernet from two of Australia's favourite wine regions.

The tasting, like the learning, is free.

Wines on tasting include:

: :  Barossa Valley Estate Ebenezer Shiraz 2003

: :  Chapel Hill Shiraz 2003

: :  Glen Eldon Cabernet Sauvignon 2001

: :  Kay Brothers Amery Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

: :  Arakoon Sellicks Beach Shiraz 2005

: :  Langmeil Valley Floor Shiraz 2005

We look forward to seeing you this Saturday!

 

Last week's question was...

Can you name three wine facts associated with "three wise men" member Balthazar?

And the question repeats for this week. One part of the answer is that the name Balthazar is also the name of a South Australian wine company. There are two more wine facts which use or have the name Balthazar to be found. Good luck.

For your chance to win a $30 Lunch Special at the Brasserie, or a $30 voucher at Old & Rare Wines, email your correct answer to sales@winehouse.com.au! Extra consideration is given to detailed answers where many correct replies are received in a short time period.

 

If you send your wine orientated question to us and we publish it, you will receive a $30 Lunch Special at the Brasserie, or a $30 voucher at Old & Rare Wines! 

Guidelines: the question must have a wine focus and it shouldn't be 'googleable' ie it must require some research.  Send questions to sales@winehouse.com.au