Geelong 13.0% Screwcap $45 Source- Retail
Some may be asking of late: “Why do all of your recent reviews say the wine is good or better than good?” Simple answer is I’ve been too busy to write up the bad ones. So, if it helps, I’ll just mention that I thought the 2008 Vinea Marson Rosé from last week was not at all good. Nick Stock can keep it to himself. Terrible judgement of residual sugar for the style. All of which has nothing to do with this wine.
It’s really, really good and should get much better. Smells of pears, limes, grapefruit and freshly baked bread. Upon opening, its entry was gentle, layered and rounded before the minerality & acidity took it in a more linear and pure direction. But with some air the acidity integrated without the wine losing any of its real backbone. Sweet spice and nectarines became more apparent as it warmed up. Some flirtation with struck match funkiness and even oatmeal too. The breadiness never moved an inch towards cheese and the finish was extremely penetrative.
It’s just the sort of wine I was wanting to drink yesterday. Balanced, nuanced and structured.
Winery Website- http://www.mooraboolvalley.com.au/estate
Funny, people have said the same thing to me re my reviews Jeremy, so it's good to not be alone
I generally tell 'em; "You do realise I pay for practically every wine I review, don't you? And you do realise I'd never purposely pay for a bad wine, right?"
Kind of common sense really, but I say that while sitting over an $8 bottle of Sir James fizz……
Cheers,
Chris P
$8 Sir James CP? My sincere sympathies
I'm still thinking about what Andrew Jefford said about "The Savage Critic" recently and how bad reviews of wine were, in his opinion, needed and missing from our realm of criticism.
It's a tough question, and I'm not close to finding an answer. But at this stage I can play a straight bat and just say, with honesty, that I don't have enough time to write up all the good wine I get to drink let alone the bad stuff.
Look forward to reading about the Sir James
cheers
j
Chris,
Can I second Jeremy's comment re the Sir James.
On the topic of bad reviews, I still remember all the fuss created by a bad review Cam Wheeler wrote some years ago, when he gave a wine a score of 50. The lowest possible on the Parker scale.
Most of us (wine bloggers) are part timers, doing this out of love and irate calls and emails from producers and threatening letters from lawyers are generally something most of us would prefer to avoid.
May I just let it be known that I have the utmost respect for Nick Stock and was just using a difference of opinion to make a point