Monday, 13 July 2009
Brown Brothers 2008 Sparkling Cienna
Brown Brothers 2008 Pinot Grigio Rose
While it’s possible some nice marketing manager might run across this site and decide Hughesy needs to receive a pack of the winery’s latest releases (for review purposes, you understand), I’m not holding my breath. In lieu of that unlikely event, I’ll inevitably end up scanning the material that arrives in the mail or (increasingly) in digital form looking for things that might be of interest.
A recent email from Brown Brothers, for example, alerted me to the emergence of a couple of new styles from their Kindergarten winery. Since they fell into existing areas on interest, I thought it was worth shelling out for half a dozen on the world’s first Sparkling Cienna ($79) and the same of their new Pinot Grigio Rose ($89). We’re gradually building up a selection of reds that can come out of the fridge on a North Queensland summer’s day, particularly wines that can be opened at lunch time without leaving the drinker severely stonkered later in the afternoon.
The resolution of a long standing internet issue and a bowl of Thai curry seemed a good excuse to try the 2008 Sparkling Cienna, which according to the advance publicity was suited to a broad range of dishes including spicy Asian. Thai curry fits into that category, and we had a situation where bubbles seemed to be indicated, so why not? More particularly, a 7.5% alc/vol wine with lunch isn’t going to put the kibosh on your afternoon activities, so if the quality was there we were looking at a likely starter in the Summer Drinking Stakes.
Our visit to Brown Brothers at the end of 2006 is far enough back to have relegated memories of what was sampled to a dimly-remembered past, but there’s every chance I’d tried the standard Cienna back then. It’s meant to be soft and juicy with cherry flavours, natural acidity and tannin structure, best enjoyed young and well chilled, so you’d expect the sparkling version to be more or less the same. Which it is, tasty and refreshing, an almost perfect summer lunchtime drink, a very good food wine with the hint of celebration that comes with a bit of fizz in the glass. It’ll fill a handy niche in the fridge, lighter than the Rockford Alicante Bouchet, it’s a wine you could approach as something akin to a slightly classier version of Lambrusco.
Having tried the Sparkling Cienna, I was hopeful about the 2008 Pinot Grigio Rose. Research for my Various Vinous Varieties pages suggested that the concept of a rose produced from a white wine grape wasn’t as odd as it might sound, since clusters of grapes with varied colours aren’t unusual and wines from the variety can vary from golden yellow to copper or a light pink. The PR material pointed out Brown Brothers gave the wine a kick along in the colour department by throwing some Cienna and Ruby Cabernet into the mix, which I thought was fair enough under the circumstances. Presumably we’re talking a light pink that needed some beefing up.
The colour, as a result, is fine, but, to me, there’s something missing in the wine. There’s every chance I’m wrong in that department, of course. After all, one man’s fish is another man’s poisson, and Brown Brothers have put a fair amount of effort into what I was looking at. In other words, the pear and watermelon on the nose, along with the delicate flavours on the palate may well go down a treat with some sections of the market but unfortunately I don’t go for wines that taste like two-thirds of not very much.
The Sparkling Cienna - wonderful, ideal for a summer lunch. I’d like to be able to keep a bottle more or less permanently in the fridge for the foreseeable future. Pity about the Pinot Grigio Rose.
