Thursday, 22 October 2009
On reflection, New Year's Day wasn't the best option when it came to dropping by a winery and expecting the associated restaurant to be open for lunch, but we'd mostly pulled the right rein on our jaunt through north-eastern Victoria on the cusp of 2008, so you're entitled to make the odd mistake.
Actually, had Madam been unaware of the existence of Rinaldo's Restaurant there's every chance we would have bypassed Dal Zotto Wines, which would definitely have been our loss.
As it was we sailed past the place first up, and had to make a U-turn to make our way back to the tasting room and cellar door operation, located in the old police station at Whitfield.
Over the preceding days we'd worked our way around some of the best wineries in the area, starting with Tahbilk and Baileys in transit between the Yarra Valley and Rutherglen, worked our way around the Muscat trail in Rutherglen (Campbells, Stanton & Killeen, Bullers, Chambers, All Saints and Pfeiffers) and made our way to Beechworth, our base while we investigated the King Valley and the Alpine Way.
New Year's Eve had seen us make our way up to Bright, visiting Gapsted Wines along the way, before heading back to Brown Brothers. That's a pretty impressive list of names, and when we called in to Dal Zotto we'd already visited Sam Miranda, where I'd also been quite impressed with the range that was on offer.
Now, through that impressive list the buying action to date had consisted of signing up for the wine clubs at Tahbilk and Brown Brothers and ordering a mixed dozen and signing up for the wine club at Pfeiffers.
We'd bought the odd bottle here and there as well, but luggage restrictions were going to rule out anything much in the way of take it with you purchases.
Since we'd worked our way through the range at Dal Zotto and promptly started putting together a mixed dozen to be delivered to the Little House of Concrete it's reasonably safe to assume that we were impressed.
Actually, make that extremely impressed.
The visit provided our first encounter with Prosecco, the result of Venetian-born Otto dal Zotto's determination to produce something on a par with the home-grown product.
The contents of that order were long gone by the time I started recording our impressions of wines we've tried on this site, but it was only a matter of time before another order went in. Along the way we've received frequent updates through the Dal Zotto mailing list, so the delay in placing a subsequent order has more to do with financial and other issues rather than lack of interest or motivation.
The October 2009 newsletter changed that. First off, I could afford to start stocking up, and, more importantly, there was a special offer that would make the task of selecting a couple of tasting dozens a tad simpler.
Half a dozen bottles, with equal numbers of the 2002 Merlot and the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon for $75 plus freight looked like just the thing to boost the red wine stocks at the unit in Southport seeing we'd be there for concerts by Elvis Costello and Ry Cooder in the latter part of 2009.
We got the order in early enough to see the package arrive early in the stay, and we sat down to a bottle of the Merlot over the reheated braised lamb dish left over from the night before.
There was a touch of the ouch about the $16 freight to the Gold Coast (at that figure you can see why we're so keen on places that offer freight free shipping) but nobody's going to argue with a $12.50 price tag on a wine of this quality.
After around seven years to mature, the 2002 Merlot is a deep red, full-flavoured wine with a pleasant complexity, some dark chocolate notes amongst the usual suspects on a rounded palate with silky tannins and a lengthy finish.
Straight out one of the best Merlots I can recall tasting, in spite of ignoring my usual 'give them at least a day to rest after their long journey policy). Even working on a freight-inclusive cost that works out a tad over $15, you're talking remarkably good value for money. Comparing notes with Madam, we reckon it's the sort of wine that you'd happily buy if it was priced in the mid-twenties.
We weren't as impressed by the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. While it wasn't by any means a bad wine, there was a definite sense of something missing, and that tended to lie in the Cabernet character department.
Had we rated the Cabernet at the same level as the Merlot it would've been a case of ordering another half-dozen (at least) on our return to base. As it is, while I'd like more of the Merlot and the price is extremely appealing, even with the extra freight cost for a delivery to Bowen (Qld Far) rather than the Gold Coast I think I'll have to pass on that one.
Pity...