Er, I think it might be.
It’s an Australian (Margaret River) wine made by some young ‘dudes’ from (if I recall correctly) Portuguese grapes. This years cuvée has a different ‘target’ on the label, albeit with similar nomenclature.
Was nice…
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Looks interesting, I’ve not seen their stuff in any of the retailers on the eastern states. Might track a bottle (or down), cheers.
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Looks like they did a Putin version too. Got to give them credit and nice to hear the wine was decent
How was the 2009 Rod ? I have a couple of cases bought from the WS and haven’t opened any yet . Was thinking of this or 2009 Lynch Bages as part of my upcoming 65th birthday celebrations.
Hard to resist, inn’t it? That’s why we rarely buy one bottle … 
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Yes, I find that many people like younger wines. The ageing process changes the flavour a lot and some of the people that I serve wine to, don’t really enjoy that earthy, darker fruit, cigar box, or whatever, flavour. They prefer a fresher taste and don’t mind the tannins and such, which makes it much simpler to serve them wine.
I did get your, ‘I like my wines young’ joke tho … very droll.
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The 09s are all ready to go now, maybe except the blockbuster firsts. Such a good vintage, no hurry to drink although it was warm, so they will not be for the crazy-long term. Unlike the 2010s which seem to have gone a bit closed down again.
Beychevelle is a lot of Merlot, so it was drinking really well. The 2014 also is a star (despite the Merlot proportion).
We had some more wines to taste during a fun-packed day.
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What about taste - can most of us detect sulfites in food/drink assuming not masked by something else or are some more sensitive than others?
Thankfully China removes the 200% tax on Australian wine.
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Your obviously drinking on that train to Sydney 
No, maybe a beer but more than likely not. One could only imagine the wine they’d serve on board a NSW Transport country link. 
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Yep - crap
The consensus is that people cannot taste sulfites (but we can however taste sulfides - a spectrum from pleasantly mineral/brimstone, to less-pleasant rotten eggs). Sulfites, on the other hand, get bound to other chemicals in the wine (or whatever).
But there are certainly different sensitivities to all these natural compounds. Vis.: ‘asparagus wee’, coriander/cilantro, beetroot and so on.
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The Chateau Clarke is also mostly Merlot, a bit different for the Medoc. My 09 Clarkes are drinking very nicely at the mo. I gifted one to my financial advisor, and another to my dental surgeon. Almost wish I hadn’t with only two left now.
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It’s been a good week for food and wine. The opportunity to visit the Ledbury with some friends on Tuesday evening was an easy one to agree to, especially as all the reports since they reopened after lockdown suggested the third star was deserved.
It’s not cheap and with corkage to match we made sure we took some good bottles. We purchased manzanilla off the list for canapés and starters and it was absolutely delicious. It was bottled 5-6 years ago and was carrying its maturity well. The Yarra Yering Chardonnay has the linearity to handle seafood courses without a hitch and was great with turbot.
The Ornellaia was absolutely stunning - beautiful before the beef but ravishing with it. One of my wines of the year without a doubt.
The 63 Dow was lovely - my friend thought it had gone more like a Colheita - I was just pleased it had survived. It was a match for both desserts and left us feeling we had brought wines to match 3* quality.
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Wednesday lunch was our regular monthly booking at La Trompette and the theme was South African wine.
We had a great lineup with the white flight being perhaps the most enjoyable. Semillon from BlankBottle had complexity and richness. The Hemel-en-Aarde Chardonnay was rich but with good acidity. An excellent Chenin then an amazing Palladius which has an absolutely bonkers blend including Chenin, Viognier, Chardonnay, clairette and Grenache blanc for starters. Would hate to get that in a blind tasting exam @Rod_Smith !
The two red flights were very different. A very familiar Meerlust Rubicon from magnum and nearly 20 years from vintage was pretty much benchmark Stellenbosch Bordeaux blend - black fruit, cigar box - yum. The Tasibosch is mainly Cabernet franc and more approachable than expected - a good sign! The Syrah flight worked so well with our beef - great fun. Then the indomitable Vin de Constance - wine of Napoleon and Jane Austen (allegedly) though this was a little younger. Again working well with salted caramel tart. Such a pleasure to finish with.
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Thanks for the restaurant tip @PistolPeter. We are booked in to Noizé next Friday and very looking forward to it 
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First a sharpener, a Christmas present for my partner from one of my brothers and his wife. Then the pinot with a fennel risotto. Great balance. Oatcakes and Montagnolo demanded something chunkier so I broached a Will Lyons recommended Cahors. The only tragedy is that there is work tomorrow.
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£65 for the EN42 is a steal.
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