Wine thread

[horrie hastings]

Whats your favourite tightarse $15 to $20 quaffing red?

I love a pepperjack shiraz. I know the majors flog it a lot, but just a great richness. Seems to have been a recent price drop of late.

Dont mind the black chook. Always seems better the 2nd day though.

You can't beat the Pepper jack shiraz when it's on special at any of the majors. Liquorland seem to have a habit of bundling it with another semi decent red and selling the both together for $ 30 which gets the people in.

 

[Scott Gourley's Lovechild]

D’Arenberg Stump Jump GSM, and you can get it for around $10-12 in most places.

 

[Lambretta]

Whats your favourite tightarse $15 to $20 quaffing red?

I love a pepperjack shiraz. I know the majors flog it a lot, but just a great richness. Seems to have been a recent price drop of late.

Dont mind the black chook. Always seems better the 2nd day though.

All the wines I buy are $15 to $20 bottles of red. I just cellar them and drink them years later.

By the time I drink them, they're $50 bottles.

 

[Scott Gourley's Lovechild]

Teusner Reibke goes pretty good for $20 too.

 

[Bazal]

Whats your favourite tightarse $15 to $20 quaffing red?

I love a pepperjack shiraz. I know the majors flog it a lot, but just a great richness. Seems to have been a recent price drop of late.

Dont mind the black chook. Always seems better the 2nd day though.

Mate I could go on for hours. There is incredible value at that price point in Aus these days.

Although full disclosure, I haven't rated Pepperjack since the 2006 vintage.

Anyway, my go-to wines around $20 both to drink and sell back in the day before I succumbed to the APS life were (and bearing in mind prices may have changed since;

St Hallet Faith Shiraz
Teusner Riebke Shiraz
Langmeil Hangin' Snakes Shiraz
Earthworks Shiraz
Yalumba Patchwork Shiraz
Mount Langi Billi Billi Shiraz
Brown Brothers 1884 Heathcote Shiraz
Penny's Hill Cracking Black Shiraz
Thorn Clarke Shotfire Shiraz or Quartage Blend
Grant Burge Miamba Shiraz or Cameron Vale Cabernet
Brands Laira Blockers Shiraz or Cabernet
Penley Estate Phoenix Cabernet
Blue Pyrenees Shiraz or Cabernet
Ring Bolt Cabernet

You won't go wrong with any of the Wynn's base range either.

I could probably walk into a wine store and remember another 20+ labels too...

 

[Scott Gourley's Lovechild]

Coolangatta Estate Tannat 2013. Still heaps of tannin which is a hallmark of Tannat, which included an hour of decanting. Sour cherries, very herbaceous, but a reasonably quick finish. Not bad.

 

[Bazal]

Anyway, 2009 Joshua's Fault Cabernet, Canberra

2009 was a CRACKING vintage down here, and Cabernet is a hugely undervalued grape locally. IMO the Cabernet here and further south in Victoria beats the snot out of Coonawarra.

This is a belter, taking ten years in stride without a worry. Very French, think Left Bank Bordeaux. It's not cassis like a lot of Aussie cabernet. More rich, wild blackberry on wet stone, and something earthy and damp like the French stuff, really clean tannins at the finish. Balance is great, zero mid palate hole, long finish, got through the bottle way too easily.

 

[Bazal]

Oh and it also must be said after what @Scott Gourley's Lovechild siad on FB....was lucky enough to grab some pre-release Lerida Estate Rieslings. Both 2019, one in the white label estate range and the other the single vineyard Cullerin range.

White Label-Reminds me a lot of the Jim Barry Watervale Riesling, except twice as good in every way. Tending to off-dry, but it's got this unbelievable body almost like a pinot gris. Crisp ripe apple and honeysuckle. One of the most drinkable rieslings you'll ever find.

Cullerin-The perfume is magic, properly aromatic. This is a much cleaner, more pure riesling. The nose almost comes off like a gewurtz but the mouth is all riesling, cumquat and finger lime, classic Canberra expression, steely and lean on the end. Absolutely f**king fantastic.

 

[horrie hastings]

Petersons House sparkling Cabernet Sauvignon reserve 2010, wow, just so velvety which is slightly peppery afterwards, I was in heaven drinking this, had it at a friends place tonight and so glad that I checked my Petersons collection when I got home as I have one hidden away in the cupboard.

 

[horrie hastings]

Mate I could go on for hours. There is incredible value at that price point in Aus these days.

Although full disclosure, I haven't rated Pepperjack since the 2006 vintage.

Anyway, my go-to wines around $20 both to drink and sell back in the day before I succumbed to the APS life were (and bearing in mind prices may have changed since;

St Hallet Faith Shiraz
Teusner Riebke Shiraz
Langmeil Hangin' Snakes Shiraz
Earthworks Shiraz
Yalumba Patchwork Shiraz
Mount Langi Billi Billi Shiraz
Brown Brothers 1884 Heathcote Shiraz
Penny's Hill Cracking Black Shiraz
Thorn Clarke Shotfire Shiraz or Quartage Blend
Grant Burge Miamba Shiraz or Cameron Vale Cabernet
Brands Laira Blockers Shiraz or Cabernet
Penley Estate Phoenix Cabernet
Blue Pyrenees Shiraz or Cabernet
Ring Bolt Cabernet

You won't go wrong with any of the Wynn's base range either.

I could probably walk into a wine store and remember another 20+ labels too...

Yes to the St Hallet Faith Shiraz and Mount Langi Billi Billi Shiraz especially. A shame Liquorland stopped stocking the Mount Langi Billi Billi and also Penley Estate Phoenix you mentioned. Get sick of seeing Earthworks Shiraz at $10 or $12 at Liquorland though, hard to get enthused over it when they just about throw it out on special every month. Do have a couple bottles of the Ring Bolt Cab Sav left which hasn't moved for a long while, may have to write those off soon

 

[horrie hastings]

Ring Bolt Cabernet
.

Found 3 very dusty bottles of 2013 Ring Bolt Cabernet sitting on the bottom shelf of my Liquorland shop, I can honestly say in my 5 years at this shop I cannot remember selling one.

 

[Bazal]

2016 Escarpment Martinborough Pinot Noir.

Look, I couldn't believe the winery came up for sale a while ago. I could believe even less that for so long it had zero buyers. Story for another day, but I came within about 150k of raising the funds to have a crack myself with a few others.

Point is I've always loved their wines. This is the first pinot I ever truly "got". I was beyond stoked when Torbreck, another favorite, bought them and said they would change absolutely nothing about the on ground crew. Larry McKenna is Martinborough pinot, there is no one better.

It pours as dark as some shiraz. Nose is soft, simple, almost muted. Not the wildly aromatic pinot you often get from NZ. It's still there, don't get me wrong. Wild and bunchy, cherry seed and ivy.

This is not a pinot that's about elegance. There are Premier Cru Burgundy wines that can't hold a candle to the power and the depth of this thing. Cherry, clove, pepper, that wild leafy blackberry character, a little leather, thyme or maybe Tarragon. It's rich and intense, silky and hugely dense, but the finish is almost red apple crisp with acid.

I don't think there is a pinot like it in the world and I genuinely think it should be counted among the great new world examples.

TLDR hook it to my veins

 

[Bazal]

Found 3 very dusty bottles of 2013 Ring Bolt Cabernet sitting on the bottom shelf of my Liquorland shop, I can honestly say in my 5 years at this shop I cannot remember selling one.

Send em my way! The 13 was a ripper and should theoretically be gorgeous right about now

 

[Bazal]

2018 Whitton Farm Corvina. Hilltops NSW

This is one for @Scott Gourley's Lovechild and @Drew-Sta (and anyone else who wants a serious and seriously different option)

For the non-wine wankers, Corvina is an Italian variety that's mostly used to make Valpolicella. They claim this is from the only known planting in Australia, although unless they sell it to three winemakers I'm not sure that's true.

Anywhom. This is everything I like in a wine. Ripe red fruits, a dark kind of fig and olive core, amaretto, sour black cherry and slightly tart plums, just a touch of savoury pancetta or something, maybe even something kind of lavendery? Loads of acid as you'd expect and really grippy, tight tannin.

Really, really impressive wine. And the colour is almost worth the purchase all by itself....If you can find it, buy it.

 

[Bazal]

2017 Paulmara Estates Syna Shiraz

Decided to give this a crack at a new local shop. Tbh it's not a wine I know a lot about. I know it's a boutique winery and the fruit is the best of the best they grow at Marananga, but beyond that I'm not familiar.

Everybody should get familiar because holy shit you guys. This thing is massive. Anyone who wants a top shelf, old school Barossa shiraz should be all over this. Not cheap, mind you, at about $40-$60....but it drinks like a $100 red.

Huge, weighty fruit...plums and cherries and rhubarb. There's a surprising subtlety in the way the wine expresses spices; cardamom, anise, cinnamon and caraway. Masses of oak, chocolate mostly, but it's well managed and not at all intrusive. It's almost creamy, but there's enough tannin at the back to keep it from being too over the top.

Brilliant wine. Will go back and get a 2010 when I get a chance...

 

[horrie hastings]

Haven't tried it yet but Liquorland clearing out the Audrey Wilkinson 2017 Chardonnay, down from $20 to $9 a bottle, so I cleared out what stock we had for my wine cupboard.
Peter Lehmann Portrait Eden Valley Riesling down from $19 to $11 also seems like a good bargain.

 

[Bazal]

Haven't tried it yet but Liquorland clearing out the Audrey Wilkinson 2017 Chardonnay, down from $20 to $9 a bottle, so I cleared out what stock we had for my wine cupboard.
Peter Lehmann Portrait Eden Valley Riesling down from $19 to $11 also seems like a good bargain.

What?

$9 f**king dollars? I know where I'm going tomorrow, that's a ripper wine

 

[horrie hastings]

What?

$9 f**king dollars? I know where I'm going tomorrow, that's a ripper wine

Yes I had to do a double take when I printed the tickets out this morning, we had 8 bottles in stock and now they are safely at home with me, worked out nicely at $8.55 a bottle with staff discount.

 

[horrie hastings]

What?

$9 f**king dollars? I know where I'm going tomorrow, that's a ripper wine

Glad I got them yestetday, they made a mistake with pricing, now back to $19

 

[myrrh ken]

Actually I agree pepper jack has gone down in years. Still vintage cellars are flogging them with a saltram 1859 or whatever it is for 30 bucks at the moment