The following morning's Weekend Australian had the Tahbilk 2000 '1927 Vines' Marsanne in Halliday's Hundred, which was a pleasant discovery bearing in mind that we'd just received two bottles in the Marsanne Trophy pack, but Saturday night saw me opting for a Grenache from the Straight Rhones dozen.
Grenache is a relatively new addition to the estate-grown Tahbilk range, as the vines that they'd planted in 2005 are coming into production. Previous releases featuring the variety had used fruit sourced from McLaren Vale. The 2007 is a classy number (not that you'd expect anything else given the consistency of the Tahbilk range) with pleasant varietal fruit flavours and the hint of savoury pepper usually associated with the grape. A very easy drinking style that promises good things to come as the vines gain a bit of maturity.
Having visited the Southport Markets the following morning I needed something to go with oven-baked chicken breast with grape tomatoes, capers, olives and garlic and the Mediterranean flavours suggested that something out of the Straight Rhones dozen might be appropriate. I ended opting for the 2009 Viognier, and it turned out to be a great choice. As noted elsewhere, I'm quite partial to a varietal Viognier, and this one was very good drinking. A bit young, perhaps, but from the first whiff of the bright yellow liquid I was a very happy chappy indeed.
There's a pleasantly intense fragrance on the nose and plenty of citrusy apricot flavours on the palate with a crisp acid backbone delivering a lingering finish. It may well develop over the next year or two, but it's such a good drink now style right now that I don't think there'd be too much left if I were to invest in a dozen for summer drinking.
And ordering a dozen, or throwing a couple of bottles into a mixed dozen is a distinct possibility.
I'm not absolutely sure that dozen would be likely to include the 2009 Roussanne, though. Madam and I were both quite taken with the variety when we sampled it at the winery, but this was the first chance I'd had to try a subsequent vintage.
The variety is apparently difficult to work with in the vineyard, though you wouldn't guess that from the tropical fruit and acidity that combine to make a very drinkable drop.
A straight dozen? Don't think so at the moment.
Part of a mixed dozen? Depends what else we're looking at (apart from the 2009 Viognier, which would be in there already).
A batch of my favourite sugoi! sugo alla bolognese seemed like a good excuse to crack a bottle of the 2006 Shiraz, which was very much in the traditional mode, both in terms of winery techniques and what's on offer in the glass.
It's a really deep rich red in the glass, a bit more restrained on the nose and soft tannins and complex balanced berry and spice flavours make for a very easy drinking style. Almost predictably, another very classy offering from a winery that's remarkably consistent in quality of output and almost invariably provides excellent value for money.
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