Tasting : Hanging Rock Rich Reef Shiraz 2012

I've visited Hanging Rock at their cellar door once before out in the cool climes of the beautiful Macedon Ranges region and loved their sparkling so was pretty keen to try this Shiraz of theirs outside of the shadow cast by its more famed and top performing effervescent cousin.

It is in no way a "cool climate" wine with the fruit coming from their much warmer Heathcote vineyards and in turn providing a generous and honest Victorian Shiraz with still enough interest for the easily distracted oenophiles out there. 

The wine shows us a nose of ripe dark plum, stewed dark cherry, licks of vanilla oak characters and faint white pepper and I may be clutching here but as I dig deeper I do pick up some faint christmas cake. 

Yummy and fairly bold in the mouth, characters of plum again but this time with mulberry too and some more savoury characters with touches of black pepper. Drying and somewhat chewy tannins help round it out but aren't in anyway overbearing. Top stuff, especially so for around the $20 mark.

You can find Hanging Rock wines in many good bottle shops in Melbourne and for more hit their website here:
http://www.hangingrock.com.au/

Tasting : Finca de los Arandinos, Malacapa, Rioja (Tempranillo) 2012

A quality Rioja without the crazy price tag. Rioja in Spain is best known for its red wines particularly Tempranillo. This temp shows us quite a bit of spice of the sweet brown variety on the nose....red currant red cherry,some  faint nutmeg and some stalk too (but not in a "green" unpleasant way). 

Very fresh medium body style palate with red fruit again, dried leaves and spice characters too and definite fennel seed on nose as it further develops in the glass. Very approachable with a good deal of depth to boot. I've seen this knocking around a few discernible Melbourne wine dealers and its imported by Working Wine.

(RRP $19/$20) 

Cheap & Cheerful : El Nino Pinot Noir 2012

This great value Yarra Valley Pinot is showing us red cherries, stewed rhubarb, hints of beetroot and faint earl grey on the nose.

In the mouth its predictably light with characters of rhubarb and cherry again with some light spicy tonalities too. This isn't too simple at all and retains some good interest enough for wine nerds and quaffers alike. So rare to find a good Pinot under the $20 mark ,so you'd be pretty stoked with this one. 

RRP $15 website:  massoniwines.com

Wine of the Week : Cobaw Ridge Syrah 2010

A few months ago now I went out to Macedon to sample the wares and do a bit of exploring (you can read my full run down on the trip here), and one of the special bottles I took home with me was this lovely Syrah (Shiraz). It's surprisingly taken me this long to open, I don't usually have patience for this kind of thing, hence my cyclic almost non existent cellar.

This cool climate wine from the certified organic Macedon producer shows a restrained nose of dark plum and mulberry with some dried herbs and more purple fruit and prune like characters come out from hiding as the wine opens up with time.

A similar story on the palate with mulberry in the mouth again with a medium body and more savoury earthy characters, that you would expect from a cool climate Shiraz, with some white pepper and dried Chinese herbs. Nicely integrated fine tannin and a good length close the curtain on this lovely performer.

I got this beauty from the cellar door but I have seen it sold in Melbourne at the Organic Wholefoods supermarket on Lygon Street, Brunswick East as well as Aunt Maggies in Fitzroy/Collingwood (with the possibility of it being sold at all their stores).

Cobaw Ridge's website: http://www.cobawridge.com.au/

Wine of the Week : El Castro de Valtuille Mencia Joven 2012

This variety, Mencia, is best known in the Spanish region of Bierzo, but lucky for us there are now quite a few importers here in Oz stocking it in both discerning bottle shops as well as Spanish restaurants.

The wine shows such a nice nose of distinct red roses, dough, subtle icing sugar and purple fruits. 

In the palate we have ripe plum , some blackberry very chalky tannins in the mouth with a savoury almost earthy character in the back. I really like the tannin and oak profiles here, both very well integrated, a good length as well.

Its definitely got a bit of seriousness to it even though it is a "joven"(Spanish for "young").  

Cheap & Cheerful Tasting : Possingham & Summers Malbec 2013

After visiting wine fantasy land and splashing out on bottles like this...  I need to be grounded in reality once again, one in which it's OK to spend less than $40 (or even better less than $20) and still be well and truly satisfied !

A youthful McLaren Vale Malbec that has a fruit driven nose with raspberry, blueberry pastilles and some faint florals too.

A medium body on the palate with blueberry and cassis characters with small amounts of spice and liquorice. As with most of my skint/cheapie wines its an easy going wine and one to quaff, but with that said I think this one will be much more serious given time.

(RRP $14) http://www.possumswines.com.au/

Wine of the Week : Livio Felluga Friulano 2011

Wow. This is an amazing wine. Made from 100% Friulano from Friuli, Italy.

On the nose is pear , citrus, baked white cheese and peach. Digging deeper it shows some honey and nut complexities too.

A rich medium to full body with pink grapefruit and lemon as well as a subtle almond character. This really has lovely texture and the length is exceptional.

(RRP varies between $40-57) Imported by Arquilla.  arquilla.com

Livio Felluga website:
http://www.liviofelluga.com/?lang=en