December | 2014 | Cellared

This wine was a generous gift from a friend. I swapped a baby seat for this and a bottle of Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir (not yet drunk). Based on the Riesling alone I definitely got the better end of the deal.

The friend who gave this to me is not a particularly big wine drinker. However, unlike a lot of people who get slightly freaked out by my outside the norm interest in wine – and who promptly spend a fortune on giving me things like flowers, he did the sensible thing.

It might be a bit late to be handing out wine gift buying advice now but if you are buying for a wine lover (any time of year) don’t be intimidated by what you perceive to be either their knowledge or enthusiasm and buy them something other than wine. Even wine paraphernalia can miss the mark (seriously, do you know how many corkscrews we have? more than one for every room and that includes my favourite one which lives in my handbag). But a bottle of wine will ALWAYS hit the mark.

What you need to do is set yourself a budget and head to a serious (and most likely independent) bottle shop. You need to be in a wine shop where all the staff are enthusiasts and who will know their stock – so now is the not the time to head to the local.

The chances are you already know something about what the recipient likes or doesn’t like when it comes to wine (if you really have no idea then a voucher from the bottle shop might be the best idea but you can always ask the recipient for a few favourite wine suggestions) and armed with this, the bottle shop staff should be able to point you in the right direction.

And so … my good friend arrived with two classy bottles of wine. If the second is anywhere near as good as this, I am in for a treat!

While most of us have formed an association between Austria and Grüaut;ner Veltliner, it is hardly surprising that it should also produce quality Rieslings. I can’t pretend to be familiar with aged Austrian Rieslings but any lover of aged Riesling would be happy with this wine.

A striking pale gold in the glass with a pronounced nose.

The oily, rubbery, kero characters of older Riesling dominate the nose, but there are very subtle floral characteristics, including a touch of rose water.

The palate shows off more of the floral characters, along with a slight honeyed characteristic with a ton of acidity which pulls through a crisp, tart green apple, almost sherberty finish. Definite green apple skin, with plenty of texture, lovely mouthfeel and good length. A very moreish wine that delivers plenty of interest and very much a style of Riesling that I enjoy.

Most people will detect a hint of RS (I couldn’t find any tasting notes for the 07 which specified this) but this is more than balanced by the stunning acidity. In a sentence – green apple skin with a touch of honey and rosewater.

A gift – but it is available from East End Cellars where it retails around $70.
Screwcap.
I failed to note the alcohol content of the wine but the internet suggests it’s 13.5% abv which I find surprisingly high. So don’t quote me on that one.

Prosecco suffers from an image problem – even worse than that suffered by Cava, in my opinion. There are a lot of reasons for this – and the biggie is that because it’s a sparkling wine people immediately compare it with Champagne and Champagne it isn’t. Prosecco has a few different classifications in Italy – the most widely recognised is perhaps Prosecco di Valdobbiadene DOCG (promoted from DOC in 2009). You may also see Conigliano, Valdobbiadene-Conigliano or even Cartizze. Cartizze is a high vineyard of just over 100 hectares and is considered the granddaddy (or ‘grand cru’, if you will) of Prosecco.

Aside from being the classification, Prosecco is also the name of the grape which constitutes the bulk of what you will find in the bottle. However, to avoid ‘confusion’, the grape Prosecco was ‘renamed’ in 2009 to Glera. You will still see plenty of Australian sparkling wine made from Glera labelled … Prosecco.

Pretty pale straw in the glass, with fine, persistent bubbles. The nose is restrained but shows some fresh lemon and ripe pear. The palate is a little one dimensional – the pear is very apparent and a touch confected. Although the Carpenè Malvolti tasting notes indicate that this wine is dry you could be forgiven for thinking there’s a touch of residual sugar (RS) present. There are also floral notes and a slightly sherberty finish.

While the wine isn’t unattractive, it’s a touch short on acidity and doesn’t offer much in the way of complexity.

I’ve not been able to track down an Australian retailer for this particular wine but others from the same stable look to be around the $20 mark, which is fair, but not brilliant, value. Given the wine’s confected character, I’d recommend drinking this at afternoon tea, with a slice of lightly toasted pandoro, dusted in icing sugar. Or use it in a Bellini or Buck’s Fizz.

This wine really wasn’t my cup of tea – too much apparent sweetness (I’ve been unable to find the wine’s actual RS anywhere) and not enough savoury characters or complexity. This wine is less apéritif and far better suited to dessert than canapés.

Not readily available. This was a prize.
Cork.
11% abv.

Cellared

Month: December 2014

Loimer 2007 Langenlois Terrassen Riesling

Carpene Malvolti 1868 Cartizze Prosecco