Thursday, 11 November 2010
Two boxes after two years, but more to come
It may have taken close to two years from the time we visited the winery before I managed to get an order over to Pikes, but I suspect I'll be back there between now and Christmas, or early in the New Year. The delay was as much about the Pikes buy two cases and you're in wine club as it was about phone calls and other offers that kept relegating a two case purchase out of the current priorities. For a start, once we'd made it back from South Oz I had to get in touch with Rockford for a dozen Alicante Bouchet, and looking at the Wine Purchases spreadsheet (current long term average $10.33/bottle) there were special offers from Jim Barry and Kirrihill, orders to push The Wine Society purchases over the freight free threshold, Rockford reorders, shipments from Brown Brothers and assorted other factors that pushed Pikes onto the back burner. But that's all in the past. Now the first order has finally gone in and we're qualified for the 20% discount we'll be back on a regular basis.
To make up the two case order I could have gone for a straight two bottles each of half a dozen whites and the same in the reds, but various factors had me opting for two threes and three twos, which meant that the white case had triples of the Traditionale Riesling and the Valleys End SSB along with doubles of The White Mullet, Luccio Pinot Grigio and Impostores Savagnin (their spelling, not mine). On the red front I went for threes of the Luccio Sangiovese Blend and Sangiovese Rose. The original plan had included doubles of The Red Mullet, The Dogwalk Cabernet Merlot and The Hill Block Cabernet, but the boss had taken the remaining stocks of the Cabernet off their hands a matter of hours before I placed the order, so it ended up being three bottles of each.
I'm still working my way through the contents of the two boxes, and I expect I'll have something on each in the November 2010 Tastings notes. At the very least we'll be back for The Red Mullet and The White Mullet, which look like joining the Tahbilk Cellar Door Reds and Whites as preferred everyday drinking options. At $15, less the 20% discount we'll still be up for freight (currently $21.60/case) but at $165.60/dozen or $13.80/bottle that's good value. I was also impressed by the Valleys End, which attracted a Halliday rating of 94 (not bad, RRP of $18) and Sangiovese Rose, so we won't just be looking to hook a Mullet.