AFD's are the reason I can score fifties and you can't
Did four local wineries today for release week. Helm, Four Winds, Clonakilla, Eden Road. Wanted to do one or two more but Ken Helm can talk :lol: (it's always worth it though!)
Helm Premium Riesling 2015: Beautiful balance, lemon/lime, mild acidity, incredible length. Blows any SA riesling of the water I don't care what you say.
Helm Classic Dry Riesling 2015: Very, very dry, loads of acid. Very lean, structural riesling, but absolutely brilliant.
Helm Central Ranges Riesling 2014: Quite Germanic. Soft acid, already slightly developed flavours, fuller body than the others and very citrusy. The 2015 sold out before he could even label it, interestingly.
Helm Half Dry Riesling 2015: Very much half dry, and yet not sweet. Full bodied, candied citrus flavours, insanely fresh and fragrant.
Helm Cabernet 2011: Poor vintage locally, but Ken did really well. Classic cabernet flavours, maybe a little sweet...overcompensation in ripeness for a poor vintage? Still a good wine regardless.
Helm Premium Cabernet 2009: Absolutely brilliant. From an all time great vintage. Very left bank bourdeaux on the nose, riper in the mouth obviously but heading that way.
Four winds we basically went for the pizza
But the riesling was excellent value, as was the sangiovese, and the shiraz was genuinely very good at $30.
Clonakilla Sem Sav Blanc 2015: Weirdly dry, but not in a bad way. Green as anything, sharply acidic, but really nicely fresh and zesty. Probably needs to calm down a little but looks like a good wine.
Clonakilla Riesling 2015: Almost the equal of the Helm Premium, although a different style. Much drier, more acidic and steely. Classic Canberra riesling lime juice character.
Clonakilla Viognier Nouveau 2015: Still manages a medium body despite zero oak maturation. Quality wine. Apricot, soft but still obvious acidity, a hint of nutty complexity.
Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz 2014: Might genuinely be the best Hilltops they've done. Medium body, the prettiest nose of any shiraz I've had in the world. Cherry, pepper, chocolate oak, violet, rose, soft tannins.
Clonakilla O'Riada Shiraz Viognier 2013: I've got a six pack of this already. Happy with how it's going. Starting to approach the perfumed, ethereal flagship wine. Similar body and stucture, just toned down.
Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2014: Just awesome. Cherry, floral, spicy nose. So complex...cherry, pepper, rose, licorice, gamey backbone, very little oak intrusion, beautiful balance. Worth every cent.
Clonakilla Syrah 2013: Outstanding vintage, wow wine. The syrah characters of the SV distilled and amplified, the fruit and pepper especially, with more obvious licks of oak. An unbelievable wine
Eden Road had 20 wines on so I couldn't be f**ked taking too much detail about each :lol: The Via NV Tumbarumba Sparkling was a winner, steely, puckeringly dry but brilliant for it. The Canberra Riesling was outstanding, classic local style. Single vineyard Tumbarumba chardy and pinot were all excellent but the stand out reds were the Canberra shiraz and Gundagai cabernet...
Now I get to go drink aged cool climate wines at dinner
