Printhie Orange Pinot Gris 2007

“Orange by name but wine is the game”

Orange is the region where this winery is located, there are no oranges in the wine. Orange has a higher elevation than the Hunter Valley (around 863 metres above sea level), and has often been referred to as New South Wales’ Adelaide Hills.

Its cooler climate lends itself to white varieties such as Sauvignon blanc and of course Pinot Gris. Rather than get into the debate over whether the grapes are Pinot gris or Pinot grigio lets just simplify. Pinot is the grape family, gris is French for Grey, and Grigio is Italian for Grey. If a wine is labelled Pinot Grigio then is it has been made in the Italian style which is lighter, crisper and dryer, where as Pinot Gris will have more fruity characters and a deeper tinge in the colour and more pronounced aromatics.

So here we have a Pinot gris (French style) which is more suited to the Orange region. Its fruity, fruity, fruity! Think fruit salad on the nose with lots of big stoned fruit dominating. The flavours are Peach, Apricot, Nashi pear, apple and toffee, and some nutty characters coming from some French oak. This is the hallmark of a good winery, and a winemaker that gives a damn – well done Robert Black. Many winemakers will choose to omit oak from the wine because it’s cheaper that way. We like the subtle touch of oak in this wine as it gives an extra dimension making it a really good match with Chicken in steamed figs.

Usually sells for around $18.00, I picked it up for $15.99 – Bargain! Perfect warm weather drink, don’t keep for more than 3 years as its best to enjoy the lovely fruit characters while they are young and vibrant.

Grant Burge Barossa Valley Reserve Shiraz 2008

“The Baron’s new stableboy – but what was he doing on my cruise?”

Grant Burge is known as one of the Barons of the Barossa, and for making some chunky long living wines.

This is a new wine to his stable and has been made for the wine society rather than the greater trade. Methinks it’s for this reason that it’s a little like a pretender rather than a contender for the title.

It smells of Barossa Shiraz – rich sweet plums and fruitcake which does follow onto the palate along with vanilla from the oak and some fennel and licorice. It has fine tannins but is a little short on the length. The fruit is sweet up front but is more of a promise of thinks to come than an avenue.

It’s a nice enough wine, but for the money there are some better wines around at the moment. Grant Burge is a great guy and should stick to making the big wines he is famous for rather than putting wines together for a price for a vendor, even one as benevolent as The Wine Society. In fact, we ran into Grant Burge aboard P&O’s Pacific Dawn 18 months ago. He was there promoting his wines by way of a tutored wine tasting. We joined in and sat next to the big guy and his lovely wife. We had our fill of some lovely wines, and the night before even purchased a bottle of his Holy trinity to go with our dinner. That is a great wine, a blend of Grenache Shiraz and Mourvedre, which the Barossa is famous for. We love it when you make these wines Grant. Please continue Sir.


Available exclusively through the wine society for $15.99

Voyager Estate Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2000

"Ground control to Major Tom"

This beautiful Dutch inspired winery in Margaret River owes its name to the Wright family’s original farming company rather than the satellite of the same name.

This is their premium red blend and is made to cellar for the medium to long term. It is a dark inky colour even though it’s now 10 years old. It has a rich nose of green tea leaves, plums, eucalyptus, mint and blackcurrants.

There are no shortage of flavours in this wine and everything that is in the nose follows through to the palate. There is bacon fat, green tea leaves, eucalyptus, mint, blackcurrants, plums, and nutmeg. However, the fruit does taste a little green and under ripe.

Even with the negative this is a pretty decent wine. The question is however, in the vintages since the 2000, have they improved on the wine? The answer is yes. I was at their cellar door in 2008 and tried their 2004 vintage and it was definitely looking riper in the glass. Problem solved.

I paid $30 for this in 2004, current vintage 2005 Sells for around $60.

Is the wine worth it? Margaret river wineries are often accused of having a chateau mentality whereby they make massive art filled mansions for cellar door and surround it with impeccably planted rose gardens. Voyager has all this, but it is bloody nice. The point is, are these Margaret River grape stompers funding a lifestyle with overpriced wine, or are they making good value wine and giving it a deserving place to be housed and tasted before you by it. The answer is, some are overpriced, and some are on the ball. Voyager is on the ball. Buy the current vintage and leave it for a decade, then you’ll think it truly was a bargain considering what you paid for it at the time.

Gotham Langhorne creek Shiraz 2008

“Holy cow Batman, what a bargain!”

We’re back at Langhorne Creek again, which goes to show how popular wines from this region are starting to become. Not that it was every any secret, Otto Wolfgang Blass (Wolf Blass to his mates), used fruit from this region for years to give depth to his wines, especially in his super premium wine the Black label.

We stumbled across this wine by chance, and I was sorely tempted to hire a Batman or Joker costume for the tasting. There was one problem with that, (apart from the fact that I might be labelled Fatman by the guy in the costume shop), and that was the Lady of the house wouldn’t agree to dress up as Batgirl, Catwoman, or even Robin. By the end of the discussion I would have settled for her dressing up as Arthur the butler, but by then it was a moot point.

So one evening we opened the wine at stately Wayne Manor, with the Batphone nearby in case of emergency, and the curtains drawn so that a shiny bat signal could be spotted from the corner of my eye.

With a familiar tune going through my head and images of omnamatapoeia swimming through my mind such as Kapow and Blam, there wafted an aroma of cracked pepper, chocolate and prunes. Holy Cow Batgirl, it’s coming from my glass! Da na na nana na na nahhhh…

The palate was very generous in weight and offered sweet plums, cloves, menthol, redcurrants, and aniseed. There was a nice layer of oak, both American and French, which added some coconut and sawdust flavours to the wine. The tannins were soft and balanced nicely with the sweet flavours. I looked at the batphone – still silent. The wine was opening up nicely in the glass and went down beautifully with a bird in red wine sauce – I think it was penguin.

I looked at Batgirl, she liked it too, and I asked if she was reconsidering the costume bit, she wasn’t. Nevertheless, Stately Wayne manor was full of lip smacking enjoyment and that ever present need to listen for the phone or look to the skies. In the end, there was no need to fire up the BatMazda so we settled in and noticed that we had also acquired a Cabernet from the same producer. To be continued next time, same Bat time, same Bat Channel. Da na na nana na na nahhhh…

Price normally $17.99, but my friend the Riddler picked it up for a steal at $13.99. This is the current vintage, and it will drink well over the next 3 years. It isn’t a long term keeper as its real beauty is in its honest and unmistakeable primary flavours that abound in its youth.

Peter Lehmann Barossa Valley “Seven Surveys” Shiraz Mourvedre Grenache 2007

“Its winter - time for a Barossa Cote”


Seven surveys is a tribute to the early settlers of the Barossa who brought vine cuttings from Europe in the 1870’s.

Peter Lehmann recently stepped down as chief of Peter Lehmann wines and these days is owned by the multinational Hess group (85%), as well as The Lehmann family (10%) and the rest is distributed amongst other shareholders.

This wine has been made in the style of the Cotes du Rhone wines of Southern France. The three grapes are traditionally used in the Rhone valley and coincidentally are the oldest and most established varieties planted in the Barossa valley.

These three grapes marry in nicely giving a warming wine that has some funky barnyard flavours, spice and some sweetness from the Shiraz, gamey and leaf characters from the Mourvedre, cherries from the Grenache. Just ignore the upfront sweaty socks aroma as this will only put you off. This is a hallmark of the style and nothing to do with stinky feet crushing the grapes, especially as that task was done mechanically.

It is soft on the palate, medium bodied but with good length. The wine is a good winter dish, goes fairly smartly with a beef casserole. Drink over the next 2 years – not one for long term cellaring.

Paid $16.00 but shop around as its often on special.

Cartel Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

"Soft cartel"

The cartel venturing into Cabernet? Well, perhaps (really), they shouldn't.

Coonawarra is renowned for Cabernet Sauvignon, it is also famous for producing some really big styles for an equally big price. This wine is neither.

It is an easy drinking style of Cabernet with alludes to what can come out of the region with hints of the big dusty plummy wines but lacking all the length as well as having a degree of sharpness and tartness that has come from over extraction – read: squeezing the hell out of the grapes, which were also pretty young, based on the lack of body.

This typical easy drinking style means you get what you pay for. The lesson here is definitely don’t buy it just because it has Coonawarra on the label as there are great wines for the same price from lesser regions that will take this wine out like Mike Tyson took out Evander Holyfield’s ear.

It doesn’t really like food, as it’s too easily overpowered. So drink it like you are on a diet and have it with some water crackers or a carrot. Don’t wait too long as age won’t be of benefit. Buy it on a Monday and drink it by Friday.

No more can be said about this wine. Available exclusively through the wine society for $9.99.

Casa Santos Lima Bons Ventos Vinho Tinto Regional Lisboa Portugal 2008

“A mouthful"

You deserve a drink after saying that! Yes it’s a mouthful I know, but so is the wine. This is a Portuguese red wine (vinho tinto), made by Casa Santos Lima called Good winds (Bons Ventos).

It is a typical red wine from this region consisting of several grape varieties; Castelao, Camarate, Tinta Miuda, and Touriga Nacional which is often used in Port.

This wine smells a little like wet socks taking a herb bath – yummy I know. Yet get past the nose and there is a very savoury style of wine here that is dry with lots of Japanese tea flavours along with Briar, and a touch of dust from the oak.

It doesn’t have a lot of length and is fairly medium bodied but sits pretty neatly in the easy drinking style of wine along with some cheese and crackers.

Sells for around $12.00, it is the current vintage and don’t bother putting it in the cellar. Drink it now! Unlike port, it’s more of a summer red than a winter one, as it is only 12.5% alcohol, it doesn’t have the warmth of a big Barossa red nor the body to go with those bigger hearty winter dishes.

Bleasdale Frank Potts Langhorne Creek 1998

"the Reverend wants a drink"

Bleasdale is the second oldest registered company in South Australia, therefore it has history by the bucket load. Twenty one year old former British sailor Frank Potts, the founder and first winemaker arrived in Adelaide in 1836 aboard HMS Buffalo alongside the State’s first Governor.

The winery is named after Reverend Bleasdale who gave the family a great deal of solace in those tough early days by preaching the virtues of wine.
Frank first learnt shipbuilding as his trade in his new country working with Australian red gum timber which he later used to build the winery. It still has a massive red gum lever wine press which is made from an entire tree. His love of red gum also inspired him to build his own coffin from it, which he used to store apples until he was ready to use it himself.
Frank also built flood gates on the Bremer river next to his vineyard and these 100 year old flood gates are still employed to deliver the rich alluvial silt from the river to the thirsty vines.
Five generations on, the Potts family still own this winery and make all the wines. The wines are indeed rustic and old fashioned but that’s certainly nothing to be embarrassed about.

This wine is their flagship and is named in honour of Great, great Grandfather Frank. We opened this wine after 10 years, OOPs! Cellaring recommendation was only 5-6 years but I think winemaker Michael Potts was erring on this side of conservative caution.

This is a true Bordeaux blend comprised of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Petit verdot, Merlot, and Cabernet franc. The nose is fruitcake and port. The palate is smooth, with flavours of chocolate and Christmas pudding, and some vanilla from the American oak. It is full bodied, with a tongue kissing texture that finishes with cinnamon and eucalyptus, (maybe it’s red gum).
This wine is good stuff, dressed with a hat (on Frank’s head), and 3 gold medals at the time of purchase in 2001.
Price at the time of purchase was approximately $24.00 , current vintage 2006, retails for around $30.00 . A great example of why it pays for families to maintain hold of a business. The passion and desire to maintain family traditions definitely shines through on their wines and the winery has recently been refurbished complete with a little museum. Well worth a look.

Metala Langhorne Creek Shiraz Cabernet 2007

"the prodigal son returns"

Metala is an iconic Australian wine brand, and was the winner of the first ever Jimmy Watson Trophy in 1962 with their 1961 vintage shiraz cabernet. That wine was made by Brian Dolan, and in later years his son Nigel took over the winemaking reins and won his own Jimmy Watson trophies in 1992 and 2003 under the Saltram label (part of the same company).

This wine is a return to that old fashioned earthy style of wine that has helped make Langhorne creek famous, as well as confirm Shiraz Cabernet blends as a truly Australian style of wine.

Langhorne creek is located 70 Km South East of Adelaide, and this vineyard like many in that region are on rich alluvial soils alongside the Bremer river. Periodic floodings of this river deliver ancient silt into the vineyards that flavour the grapes with a dark chocolate earthiness which makes them quite unique.

Even though this region can get fairly warm, the breezes off nearby like Alexandrina cool the grapes and stop that cooked sensation coming through to the wine, not unlike the cooling ocean breezes that deliver God’s air conditioning to the Mclaren vale region down the road.
If you like an old fashioned style of red wine that will keep led in it’s own pencil, then this one is for you. It has a big 15% alcohol content but rather that tasting over the top, it just delivers a mouth filling desire to drink more.

The wine is meaty, and earthy on the nose, with the meat and leather flavour coming through on the palate. It has a virtual spice rack of white pepper, nutmeg and cassia, along with flavours of blackcurrant, eucalyptus, mocha, and licorice. Even though the wine is big and brutish, the tannins are soft, a bit like your big rugby mate with a heart of gold. The length is impressive for a wine of this price, and even though it is now part of the massive Fosters corporation, this wine seems to have become less homogenised then most in their stable and has remained true to form. Even the labels have remained fairly similar to those made in the sixties.

This wine is normally priced around $19.99 a bottle, and there are still stocks of the 2007 vintage around which you will regularly find on special. Buy a dozen, drink a bottle every year till it runs out, and watch this wine evolve into a great wine at a bargain price.