Wine Wednesday: Down Under Wines

I don’t know what it was. Perhaps the delicious snacks or the company of great friends. Or maybe it was the sweet Australian tannins or the presence of an actual representative from the land of Oz. Whatever it was, last night was one of our most succesfull Wine Wednesday to date…

We started the tasting with two South Australian rieslings: one from Barossa Valley and one from nearby Clare Valley. The 2008 Cat Amongst The Pigeons Riesling from Barossa Valley was medium-bodied, crisp but not overly dry and received an 89 points rating from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. The second riesling, a 2008 Kilikanoon “Mort’s Block” Riesling (Watervale), was a bit drier and received 91 points from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. To wrap up the whites, we tried a South Australian Chardonnay: Penfolds Koonunga Hill Chardonnay 2006, which was very decent wine for its price point.

We eased into the reds with a sparkling McLaren Vale Black Chook shiraz full of bubbly berry flavours. The Black Chook is the bargain brand of the partnership between 2 Australian wine-makers, Ben Riggs and Tony Parkinson, whose wines consistently stand out among good value Australian wines. Moving on to fuller bodied reds, we tasted a pinot noir from Adelaide Hills (2006 The Feral Fox) and a 2006 Limited Edition South Australian Shiraz Malbec Cycle Buff Beauty which had a very elaborate and interesting label! Finally, we finished the night with an excellent 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from Rosemount Estate.

The wines sampled last night all hailed from Australia’s largest wine producing region, South Australia. Eventually, we will strive to taste wines from other parts of the country, but for now, I think we were all quite satisfied with the selection we tried. Stay tuned as we discover another region soon for the next Around the World in 80 Wines.