Appellation Australia

Fast Facts: Country: Australia State: Victoria Region: Blend of Tumbarumba, Drumborg, Yarra Valley. Winemaker: Arthur O’Connor Variety: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier Closure: Cork Bought for: $22AU

I’m a firm believer in opening a bottle of sparkling wine whenever the mood takes you, even if the special occasion is nothing more than having made it through another day. As it happens, I opened this after attending an engagement party of a good friend where the sparkling wine served at the toast was a fluoro green, artificially lime flavoured Chilean blight on the palate of wine lovers everywhere. So I decided that I should toast my friends fortune and future privately once I returned home with a bottle of something else.

Tasting Note: Straw-yellow in colour with a fine bead permeating throughout. An appealing citrusy nose with lemon and hints of apples on the palate. Excellent mouthfeel and of a long and balanced finish.

Score: 91 points, with a value rating of Excellent.

Fast Facts: Country: Australia Region: Margaret River, Western Australia Winemaker: Dr Michael Petekin Variety: 50% Semillon, 45% Sauvignon Blanc, 5% Chardonnay Closure: Screwcap RRP: $24 AU

Depending on whom you ask, the LTC in the name of this wine either stands for “Les Trois Cuvee” (translated to “The Three Blends”) or “Little Touch of Chardonnay”. Pierro make one of the most highly regarded Chardonnays in Australia, and with this wine you are given the briefest of glimpses at their famed Chardonnay, at a much lower price.

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Yet again Wine Blogging Wednesday is upon us. The theme this time is “Obscure Red Grapes”. Apologies to Andrew over at Spitoon for the late submission with his interesting theme.

Another red based Wine Blogging Wednesday, just you Northern hemisphere guys wait until it’s your summer and I make my theme something like “16.5% alcohol aged Shiraz from the Barossa Valley on a 100 degree day”!

Still, I was fortunate to find in the cellar a Rosé styled wine that I acquired on a trip to the Barossa last year. To the best of my knowledge Rockford is the only maker of a varietal Alicante Bouschet wine in all of Australia, and even then, it’s only available at the Rockford Cellar Door. So for mine, that makes it rare enough for inclusion.

Read on, for more about the grape variety, about the winery, and of course about the wine itself.

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Australians love supporting the underdog against the favourite, be it in sport, music, business or anything else. How come then, all of a sudden, everyone is riding the Seppelt wave, part of the largest wine company in Australia, Southcorp? Even the champions of the boutique wineries have caught on, with Winefront Monthly doing two articles in subsequent issues on Seppelt.

The answer is rather simple, it’s not because of a huge marketing campaign, or because of a good review from a famed wine critic, it’s because Arthur O’Connor and his winemaking team at Seppelt have started to deliver exceptional quality at an unbelievable price point. The proof is entirely in the bottle so to speak.

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At the bottom of each page on Appellation Australia, there is now a random quote relating to wine in some way.

Do you have some favourite wine related quotes? Please leave a comment and let me know what other quotes inspire or amuse you about wine.

The list of quotes that I have been collecting recently and that are currently displayed follows;

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Fast Facts: Country: Australia Region: Hastings River, New South Wales Winemaker: Jim Mobbs Variety: 100% Chardonnay Closure: Cork Oak: 8 weeks in 3-yo French Oak RRP: $14.50 AU

The second of the promised two Chardonnay notes. A complete contrast to the Briar Ridge wine tasted earlier in the week with a minimal amount of oak treatment…

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Fast Facts: Country: Australia Region: Hunter Valley, New South Wales Winemaker: Steve Dodd Variety: 100% Chardonnay Closure: Cork Oak: 9 months in new French Oak RRP: $26AU

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