Seriously, if you’re looking for a good value, consistent, high-quality white with cellaring potential, you should be giving Tahbilk Marsanne a serious look (assuming you haven’t already).
The 2007 has the usual rich palate, depth of flavour and balanced acidity. In a word, wonderful.
The final shelf-stocker was the D’Arenberg The Stump Jump GSM, a big rich red in the glass, deeply aromatic from the first sniff and the soft rounded mouth feel that you look for in the GSM (Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvedre) blend.
Give it a good hour to open up before you look at it seriously, though taking a glass off the top when the bottle is first opened can be justified on several grounds.
First, it’s a bloody good wine.
Second, taking a glass full out of the top provides a greater area of liquid to interact with the atmosphere in the breathing process. While the same effect could be obtained by decanting, if you go down that road you miss out on...
Third, being able to contrast the first glass with the remainder of the bottle an hour later is a salutary reminder of the benefits of breathing.
