Maitre Renard Burgundy Chardonnay 2008

Maitre Renard Burgundy Chardonnay 2008

A great little wine that represents superb value and one that newcomers to imported wines will feel comfortable with. For starters it’s sealed with a screwcap….it’s also varietally labelled and has a distinct lack of confusing guff on the front label and back labels.

The wine is from winemaker Bernard Schurr who has applied his previous experience in Bordeaux and the South of France to fruit purchased from Marsannay and the Haute-Cotes de Nuits. The wine goes through a partial barrel ferment with battonage and 25% will see six months in new and older oak barrels while the remainder settles in stainless steel.

In the glass the wine is pale straw in hue and displays forward fruit aromas of melon, nectarine and white peach with a touch of grapefruit. There is a light dusting of soft spice, white flowersd, minerals and noughat but the appealing feature here is the bright, generous stone fruit characters on display.

In the mouth the wine again displays, lovely, clean, generous stone fruit characters with peach and nectarine the most obvious and some citrus flourishes. The are hints of white flowers and spice and the wine is balanced with the supple fruit nicely set off by the wines minerally acidity.

There is a lot to like here and a wine like the Maitre Renard provides a great introduction to the wines of France and a stepping stone for a deeper investigation of the subject. As a pouring wine in a bistro…..this ones a no-brainer.

Rated: Very Good
Value:
RRP: $24
Alcohol: 13%
Closure: Screwcap
Drink: 2010-2011
Tasted:December 2009 Open Label
Importer: Fourth Wave Wines

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Lis Neris Fiore di Campo 2007

Lis Neris Fiore di Campo 2007

Here’s a fantastic, idiosyncratic wine produced from Fruili’s native Tocai Friulano variety……although this will soon be labelled just Fruilano….Australia isn’t the only country with EU labelling law issues.

The Les Neris estate lies in San Lorenzo…..a small village on a plateau within the Isonzo DOC….way up near the Slovanian border. Lis Neris have 45 ha under vine here…..the soils are limestone-rich with a healthy dose of gravel and the plantings are a mix of Fruilano, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio.

Pale straw in colour with aromas of grapefuit and lemon zest with a healthy serving of funk…..lots of nettley, sulphidy goodies with floral flourishes and hints of freshly sliced fennel, toast, almonds and marzipan.

There is quite a lot of substance on the palate…it’s well weighted and flavoursome with a great line of vivid, minerally acidity that is sparkling clean and begs another mouthful.

Again… zesty citrus fruits with hints of nettle, cream, white flowers, fennel, toasted almonds and marzipan. Plenty of character and personality here with lovely clean fruit, unencumbered by oak….it’s balanced, taut and refreshingly good to drink.

Rated: Very Good
Value:
RRP: $40
Alcohol: 13.5%
Closure: Diam
Drink: 2010-2014
Tasted: 23/11/09 Open Label
Importer: Negociants

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Piedmont, the complete package

There is a time and place for everything and every place has its time.

For Piedmont that time is late Autumn.

Piedmont is a place that wears brown well. Burnt umber, burnished bronze and tarnished copper too.

Don’t get me wrong, Piedmont’s pretty darn speccy at any time and I first fell in love with the place in spring when the vines have full foliage and blossom bursts from the trees.

But Autumn just seems so right here, the contours of the landscape fully exposed, bare vines running up steep slopes to medieval hilltop towns, a gentle chill in the air.

Vineyards in Piedmont

It looks right. It feels right. And it sure as hell tastes right.

For a start it doesn’t hurt that it’s white truffle season. More than enough funghi-erotic writing has been inspired by the glories of the white truffle and I don’t intend to add to the gushing torrent here other than to say you haven’t lived until you’ve eaten a bowl of handmade pasta in a medieval Piemontese castle that’s had a truffle the size of a cricket ball shaved all over it.

But even more importantly it’s a time when it just seems right to be drinking nebbiolo.

It’s a time when you turn to you glass looking for substance and depth, for tar and earth and a touch of floral lift, for beautifully etched dark fruit flavours and tightly woven tannins.

There’s something deeply satisfying about these great Barolos and Barbarescos, a completeness to them that makes them truly special.

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Pra Staforte Soave Classico 2005

Pra Staforte Soave Classico 2005

A step up from the Pra Soave Classico and if you tilt your head just right….one that could be stylistically compared to a Hunter Semillon with a bit of age under its belt.

Sergio and Graziano Pra are the men behind this 20ha estate near Monteforte (one called Staforte in the Middle Ages….hence the name) in Veneto’s Soave Classico district.

100% Gargenaga, matured in stainless steel….the tanks actually have paddles on the base which turn to keep the fine lees in suspension….this takes place for 6-8 months before bottling.

Light, pale gold in colour with aromas of pear, grapefruit and stone-fruits with hints of toast, hay, soft spices, hazelnut and minerals…it is a quite rich smelling wine with flashes of marzipan and nougat in the ofactory fringes.

The richness on the nose flows onto the palate which shows and fantastic, creamy texture from the lees work, lovely palate weight and an incisive drive across the palate. Again, citrus and stonefruits predominately with soft spice, almond and hazelnuts, white flowers and a clean line of minerally acidity.

The wine shows great harmony and finishes with a lingering vapour tail of toastiness….superb stuff….would be awesome with grilled Coffin Bay Scallops.

Rated: Outstanding
Value:
RRP: $60
Alcohol: 13.5%
Closure: Cork
Drink: 2010-2016
Tasted: 23/11/09 Open Label
Importer: Negociants

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Brezza Barbera d’Alba 2006

Brezza Barbera d'Alba 2006

The name Brezza is best known for their brilliant Barolo’s they produce…..Bricco Sarmassa, Cannubi, Sarmassa, and Castellero…. from their 22 ha estate.

The vineyards here date back to 1885 and Giacomo Brezza bottled the first wine in 1910…..95% of the wines here are red….all authentic, robust, good value offerings and one of the pleasing thing about the wines is the estates willingness to adopt an alternative closure for our market…namely vino-lok.

Again….DOCG laws forbid the use of some closures so the Barolo’s will remain under cork for the time being but we can get the Nebbiolo d’Alba, Barbera d’Alba, Dolcetto d’Alba, Langhe Freisa, and Langhe Chardonnay under the Vino-lok which is a great thing….it’s a slow process.

This particular Barbera vineyard was planted in the Barolo commune in 1968 at 200m altitude on silty,sand soils with underlying clay. Hand-picked and de-stemmed the wine spends one year in large Slovanian oak before bottling and another six months in bottle before release.

Deeply coloured with inviting, savoury aromas of plum, blackberry and cherry with hints of spice, tobacco leaf, licorice with a hint of truffle.

Lovely weight in the mouth with a distinct savoury lean….again lots of red and dark fruit characters….cherry, plum and the like….there is a shrill acidity here….that probably sounds a bit harsh and in no way should put you off as it is characteristic of the variety.

It’s clean as a whistle, laden with spice and earth with a smattering of mahogany, bitter chocolate and truffle and is a wine that cries out for food rather than a solo effort. The oak sit’s nicely in sync with the fruit and the finish shows good balance…..it’s lovely stuff.

Rated: Very Good
Value:
RRP: $50
Alcohol: 14%
Closure: Vino-Lok
Drink: 2010-2020
Tasted: 7/12/09 Open Label
Importer: Deja Vu Wines

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