Eleven-thirty on a late December morning in Queensland is definitely something over ice time, and a dash of mineral water was going to be helpful with an aperitif style that's kicking in around the 16% alc/vol mark. Soda water might have been better, but Madam's views on that subject are quite definite. Watered down over ice, it made for a pleasant drink before dinner there wasn't anything that'd make you want to go out and start breaking down doors looking for more.
I sneaked a sample into a separate glass au naturel, and while it was quite OK it wasn’t the sort of thing that I’m likely to go for, but as a fun, easy drinking over ice style, I’m not part of the demographic it's aimed at. I suspect I’m about thirty years wide of the mark. Given the current state of the industry wineries need all the customers they can attract, and if Seriously Pink ($19.50 Wine Club $17.55) brings a fresh wave of cashed-up mid-twenties clients to the cellar door it’s not a development to be sneezed at. Handy to have sitting in the fridge if it's included in a future C2 pack, but hardly a serious contender for our next order.
Boxing Day provided a chance to try the 2005 Merlot with dinner, and I found myself thinking it was just as well I'd done what I'd done and put in the summer reorder before I'd tried the rest of the box, because the '05 Merlot is a very classy drop indeed. Most wineries seem to see Merlot in the drink now category (actually, all the volume-based players in the market see just about everything in the drink now category) I thought the wine was a n example of what’s possible when you give the variety a chance to develop a little bottle age. Four years isn't a lot when it comes to cellar time, and there's always the matter of suitable cellar conditions but it's enough time to allow the wine to soften out into a smooth rounded style with plenty to offer as it passes over the palate. At $25 (Wine Club $22.50) it's above the price point I've been favouring over the past few years, but if it's still in stock when we head into what we laughingly refer to as winter, the 2005 Merlot will be a short-priced favourite in the Inclusion Stakes.
If I needed reminding I need to be more punctual about opening bottles in these dozens it was the discovery (after I'd sampled the single bottle of Pfeiffer 2006 Shiraz in the wine rack) that the winery had moved on and the current vintage on offer is the '08. In other words, if I was interested in reordering, sorry son, too late. The horse has bolted. Pity, because I really liked the '06. Maybe not to the point where I'd be looking at a dozen for medium-term cellaring (both the winery and Halliday suggest 2015 as a drink by date) but it's a definite option when it comes to filling out an order for a dozen or two.
Very pleasant fruit notes on the nose, with pepper and spice characters on the palate that delivered a wonderfully warm and rounded style that made for contented savoury sipping once the evening's big hairy T-bone had been demolished. Part of that may well be due to the extra bit of bottle age, and if I'd taken the chance to upgrade to the three-times-a-year C3 option I may well have had more than a single bottle to sample and may have arrived there sooner. Another very strong argument for constant vigilance when it comes to what's sitting in the wine rack.
If I'm not as enthusiastic as I might be about the 2008 Riesling it's probably got something to do with about four dozen bottles of quality Riesling scattered between the wine rack, the wine fridge and the bar fridge. When your stocks run around that level and names on the label include Grosset and Leeuwin Estate you're not going to be in the market for much more in the Riesling line. Not that there's much wrong with the 2008 Pfeiffer version. I'd be quite happy to crack a bottle any time, preferably in conjunction with fish or Thai, but it'd be a quite acceptable summer quaff on its own. It doesn't have the Eden Valley/Clare Valley minerality, but there's some lurking under the lime notes on the nose and across the taste buds. There's a clean acidity tas well, and you could definitely do a lot worse, but it's not quite up there with the Thorn Clarke, Jim Barry, Holm Oak, Grosset and Leeuwin Estate versions already ensconced on the premises. Reorder? Sorry.