While the wine’s still fairly restrained at present (naturally, it’s only a baby) there’s plenty of fruit on the palate, the regular lemon/lime notes and a nice slate/mineral texture to the wine. The acidity gives it a lingering finish and, given a suggested five to twelve years in the cellar there’s going to beimprovement as the wine opens up over time. That means five for the wine fridge and an appointment with another bottle some time around 2012.
Having tried the Springvale, I wasn’t in a hurry to sample the Polish Hill. I’d pencilled in an appointment with the fishmonger or dinner somewhere as possibilities. A phone call in early October changed that scenario. I’d been planning to contact my old flat-mate Mr Dave prior to heading down to catch Elvis Costello in Brisbane but had left it too late. The gentleman (and a true scholar and gentleman he was) had passed away the day before. He was a major influence on my emerging interest in wine in the seventies. Passing through Brisbane in 1979 I’d overnighted at his unit in Herston and had been introduced to his then-current Shiraz benchmark, sourced from Taylors in the Clare Valley and, if I recall correctly, labelled as Hermitage. Reflecting on that on Saturday afternoon I decided the Grosset Polish Hill would be a suitable start to the evening’s dinner proceedings.
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