Lancefield Macedon 11.7% Screwcap $24-Tasted 25/4/09
Back to maligned varietals, but first may I digress? (and lets face it, who’s gonna stop me) A few years back I was enrolled in a wonderful Southern Queensland Institute’s Sturt Affiliated Wine Science degree…well, I still am, I’m just so disillusioned with it all that I haven’t bothered to study any subjects for two semesters. It’s called a Bachelor of Technology (Wine) as of this year and is perhaps more accurately described as a Bachelor of “Oh, I just thought wine would be such a lovely career choice and way to own a Chateau” or “Wow! Wasn’t Sideways a Romantic Film” or from a teacher’s perspective, “Well the Students don’t give a fuck, so why should I, let’s just ditch the unimportant things like specialty soil electives and turn a buck concentrating on hospitality and marketing”.
One of the actual pleasures of the course was the intermittent arrangement of “sensory education” via tastings at a cool little restaurant in Toowoomba named Veraison. During these tastings I struck up a friendship with co-owner/sommelier Andrew (well, no other students ever really bothered coming, so we would sit and chat whilst getting pissed) and he offered up this advice- Never open one bottle Jeremy, always open two. This was by way of commenting on what was to be gained by the comparative study of wine, but I took it to heart in a different way. To get through the mostly poorly run and structured subject I had ever undertaken at a tertiary level (and it was Statistics for heaven’s sake, how can you fail to structure Statistics!) I would often open two bottles of Curly Flat Pinot Noir from different vintages at the end of each day on the computer in an attempt to be able to start again the next day. I was developing a relationship with Curly Flat and their lovely co-owner Jeni Moraghan at the time and was doing heavy “research” into their product.
So, with a friend’s imminent arrival upon me, I cracked a bottle of this wine to taste alongside a 2007 Blue Poles Viognier, for contrast (ahem)…and I did not get what I was looking for. Aromas of spicy stone fruits, rockmelon, some white peach and a hint of varietal pear were on display. This sweetish fruit entry made its way into my mouth in a rather unstructured way, lacking the necessary acidity to make Grigio really work. There was a bit of pear and some seaspray on the underwhelming exit, just to remind that the wine was Grigio I think. I had really enjoyed the 07 version and this was flat out disappointing, lacking focus and much of a mid palate, just decent fruit at the start. I like Grigio, I think it can be structured with acidity and minerality, but despite the coolest inland climate in Oz, and the low alcohol, acid was lacking. Indeed, if anything, the slightly defined fruit opening led to another creamy textural experience in my mouth and that frustrated me. I love Curly Flat, I did not want to be disappointed, let alone harsh! Oh well, my friend will enjoy it, I thought (she ended up drinking G&Ts).
The next day I noticed there was still a couple of glasses in the bottle and decided, for the sake of scientific enquiry, to shove it back in the fridge. Two days later I had cause to pull it out again, as my tasting of a Merlot had been rudely interrupted by the wafting of grainy pre-mix concrete floating underneath my door and into my nostrils. Merlot in fridge, Grigio out. And blow me down, not only was the wine still alive, it had turned into a really nice Gris sans residual sugar and alcohol warmth. Spicy fruit with lychees and some length and structure for a Gris, more palate weight too. Righteo, that pretty much covers that wine. Leave it alone for couple of years and you’ll have a perfectly good Gris to enjoy on a hot Brisbane day. Score? As a Grigio- 85 As a Gris- 90
Winery Website- http://www.curlyflat.com/