OZ WINE TOONS: THE SKETCHES AND OUTTAKES

Oz Wine Toons recently celebrated its 50th incarnation, so I thought I'd take a momentary break from its madness, to slightly open the vault on what goes on behind the scenes...

When I first started Oz Wine Toons, I used to just go straight from my head onto the computer screen. But then, one day, I did a quick sketch first...

My first ever Oz Wine Toon draft was born out of the question; 'how do you draw a caveman?' I was so impressed (and surprised) by my ability to translate an image from paper to screen, that I kept going.... (this particular toon remains one of my personal favourites by the way).

Similarly, the second sketch was born out of the question; 'how do you draw a guy squished into a wine bottle?'

Looking at these two images, now, I'm not sure this toon actually required text.

Perhaps because this toon was directly inspired by a fellow blogger, the original sketch here says 'Wine Front', which eventually became 'Halliday' in the finished version. Likewise, #eatwithbacon was corrected, because wine is something we're much more likely to #drinkwithbacon.

I completely changed my mind on this toon. The original shows Jesus presenting his own wine at a tasting, which I changed to an image of The Last Supper, just because I wanted to try and draw something with a bit of class for once, where it ended up taking longer to complete than any other Oz Wine Toon. The joke didn't actually change, just the scene, and the sketch here shows several punch line alternatives I was playing around with.

Oz Wine Toons at its absolute crudest. In the finished version, I wasn't happy with the character's aim, as it looks like he's missed the bottle (completely unintended by me), so I inserted the text 'Dang, missed!'

One of my personal favourites, for its simplicity and bluntness. I wish I could come up with toons like this more often.

This toon is merely an exaggeration of something I experienced in real life. With a salesman, of course.

The original sketch here depicts a crashed plane in the background, which I removed for several reasons. Firstly, I didn't think it was necessary. Secondly, I felt the plane made it look like they'd only just arrived on the island, but most importantly, I just couldn't be bothered to draw it. Not sure what happened to the coconut though...

The image in the corner shows how I had to use a reference point for getting Ronald McDonald's colour scheme right. No such problems with Grimace though.

The original sketch here shows God thinking to himself; 'Hmm... think I'll go... blizzard this time', which I later changed to 'alien attack' because it sounds a lot sillier. I was also concerned this toon might look un-p.c. if an Australian vintage is actually destroyed by a blizzard one day...

It's rare that I think a finished, digital toon looks better than its original sketch, but with this one, I did.

Additionally, I often like to sneak sly images of some of my favourite Australian wines into Oz Wine Toons. This toon depicts Karra Yerta Riesling - a real 'blogger's favourite' in my opinion, hence its appearance on a blogger's bedside table.

This one just never made it. The finished toon would've shown the diners absolutely covered in overblown sparkling red.

Another one that didn't make it. Without the text, you can't actually tell what's going on here. I remember I was going to use it on Christmas, but a little too much Christmas cheer last year led to me doing a Boxing Day toon instead...

THERE'S GOLD IN THAT THAR VAT!

Tyrrell's 2005 Vat 1 Semillon. A modern day show winner of almost embarrassing proportions. Wholly deserving though.

SO, WHAT'S A ZORK THEN?

Basically, Zork (or Zork Spk in this case) is an alternative closure I've seen predominantly used on some of Australia's not so expensive sparkling wines, where retention of fizz from first glass to last is desired, although there is a Zork available for still wines as well. The idea behind Zork is to deliver a resealable and taint free closure, like the screwcap, albeit one which retains the 'pop' wine drinkers have come to love when extracting cork. As a consumer, I can say the 'pop' is present and it reseals well (almost all my Currency Creek note was scribbled on day two - the freshness and effervescence had barely changed), but I feel the romance has been lost somewhat. It looks rather bold and manufactured compared to the more natural look of cork.

Despite its ungainly appearance, it's actually quite user friendly and serves its purpose well, and I'll probably hold onto mine, because it seems to be reusable and transferable across Australian sparkling wines. Time will tell how long I hold onto it for.

L: Screwed tight and sealed. R: Unscrewed and ready for popping.

Black Shiraz? Zork? Nah, I just put it there. Nice fit though.

And Pol too? Nope. No such luck. Clearly there's some cultural differences at play. Fits like an elephant into a Porsche.

SMELL CHECK: PEARS AND PINOT GRIS

Here's the first of what will hopefully become a regular series of posts on this website. It's another idea I've had for a while but a recent comment helped speed up its introduction.

Basically, born out of my personal search for calibration, 'Smell Check' will be spent comparing the scent of various fruits, foods, etc, with a wine style they're commonly associated with. Its purpose is to see whether I can actually draw myself a correlation, whilst getting better tuned to what it is I'm writing about here. There will be nothing scientific about it - no solutions, distillations, titrations - nothing of the sort, just the simple apparatus of my own, human nose. As we know, however, the human nose itself is subject to great subjectivity. Comparison of taste will not come into Smell Check.

Like everything on this blog Smell Check is a work in progress, and any feedback in regards to how it may be improved will be greatly appreciated.

For the first Smell Check I've gone with pears and pinot gris. I've selected a trio of pears; your basic packham, a rather old green nashi pear that seems to have gone yellow and a brown nashi pear. To me, due to their water-like nature, nashi pears are the style I typically associate with pinot gris.

The pears are chopped up into small segments, placed into a wine tasting glass, then if required, they are gently muddled, with a drop of water or two added to help release aroma (neither was required here).

Then, I compare aromas; pear vs gris. For the record, Climbing's 2011 Orange region Pinot Gris is the wine, and yes, it does say on the back label it contains notes of pear.

The comparative results

Packham pear: Were this a blind sniffing I might just call this apple, as there's something rather green and crisp about it. It's clearly pear though, yet it has a much sharper (and livelier) aroma than the softer smelling gris. Honestly, I'm not drawing a huge (if any) correlation here.

Brown nashi pear: Immediately softer and juicier than the packham and conversely, smells much more like the gris. There's also a sweetish edge here, which I also find in the gris. A similar intensity too. The likeness exists, without having to use too much imagination. We could be onto a winner here...

Green nashi pear: Has a funkier edge and not as aromatic as the brown pear, which could just be its age. It does however, have a dirtier scent, robbing it of crystal clear water-like clarity, which is common to the gris. Definitely some similarities here.

In conclusion

I must say colour alone has something to say here (look at the photo), but it's easy to see why people draw a line of similarity between the scent of pinot gris and pears. There's a similar softness, juiciness and intensity, and of course, character. This particular pinot gris drew a far greater resemblance to nashi pears, especially brown, but I can see how other, less worked pinot gris might smell more like other members of the pear family. Nashi pears and gris? It's there for me!

A SENSORY ENJOYMENT GRAPHICAL ANALYSIS: JACOB'S CREEK RESERVE CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2009

Those who hate the use of numbers when analysing wine will probably cringe at this, but I've been toying with this chart for a couple of months now. Previously, I've never seen fit to publish it, because too many times the analysis resembled a straight line with only minor deviations. Unfortunately for the good people at Jacob's Creek, their 2009 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is the first wine I've encountered where the graph illustrates its point quite well. We're clearly shown how a wine can present so much initial promise, yet fall apart badly with deeper inspection. In a visual way, it sums the wine up nicely I think.

I actually sampled this wine not that long ago, towards the end of an all night binge of drinking Coonawarra reds, and was enamoured (enough for a Jacob's Creek Reserve wine anyway), which is why I bought one. Clearly, in a drunken haze, I was attracted to it more by its packaging and aroma then I was by its palate (of which, mine was probably shot by that point of the night).

As for the chart, I've purposely chosen 'packaging' instead of 'appearance' or 'colour', because I find I get more of a sensory thrill from a wine's label than I do its physical appearance (although I do fall for a sexy, unfiltered pinot...). Additionally, I've messed around with the idea of changing it from a score of 0-10 along the y-axis to a score more relative to the 100 point scale, e.g. 85-95 or something like that. It might be more comparable.

But be warned, this chart may return! So if anyone has any hints/tips/ideas on how it could be improved, I'd be MOST appreciative. To say it's in its infancy would be an understatement - I don't even know how to use it yet!

1965: WHEN BLACK BECAME THE NEW BLACK

Wynns' famous 'Black Label' Cabernet Sauvignon actually wore a white label until 1965, the same year in which it went from being called Cabernet to Cabernet Sauvignon.

[Image courtesy of the book; Reflections: 50 Years of Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon]

MANY YEARS AGO...

The label of Taylors' 1975 Clare Valley Hermitage, a champion of Australian wine shows in its day. In addition to the 3 gold and 4 silver medals mentioned here, Taylors' 1975 Hermitage also acquired one additional silver medal and 7 more bronze babies. For all its proudly flaunted achievements, notice the lack of 'bling' on the label here.

[Image courtesy of the book; 'Winemakers of the Clare Valley'. Published by Decalon, 1978.]

AUSTRALIAN WINE JOURNAL TOP DOZEN 2010/11

Before this website gets caught up in the midst of reviewing a whole host of new season's wines, I thought I'd post the first of what will hopefully become an annual Australian Wine Journal Top Dozen.

To make the list, wines must've been reviewed in the 'full' Australian Wine Journal treatment -that means no samplings, tastings, restaurant/socially consumed wines or wines drunk without a tasting note - and all must've been reviewed within the past 12 months (or close to in one case) on the website.

Additionally, the Australian Wine Journal Top Dozen isn't just a simple compilation of the 12 best, or highest scoring wines I've reviewed in the past year. Of course, to be included in the dozen, wines must've been brilliant in my eyes, but they must've ticked that box at the end of the line as well - inspirational. I was looking for wines that genuinely stirred up inspiration within me at the time of drinking. Wines that made me think to myself; 'f#ck I'm glad I'm an Australian wine drinker!' The sort of wines I wanna passionately stand up for and fight alongside in a bar brawl with. The sort of wines that drag out the type of beverage related inspiration only a wine drinker could understand. Whether it be something original, eye opening, ahead of its time or even something fantastically cheap and unique, the key here is that the wines needed to be a little more than just plain outstanding.

As I look over the list, it appears I've inadvertently selected at least one wine from each of Australia's 5 major wine producing states. It just goes to show, that in the face of some pretty trying recent vintages, it doesn't matter where you look around this outstanding wine producing country - there's exceptional wine to be had everywhere!

AUSTRALIAN WINE JOURNAL TOP DOZEN 2010/11

DAL ZOTTO L'IMMIGRANTE PROSECCO 2008 (King Valley)

I'm sure there might be a few traditionalists out there sneering at the thought of a bottle-fermented Australian prosecco, but if wines like Dal Zotto's 2008 L'Immigrante are the results of such labours - then bring them on I say! It's an elegantly complex, spotlessly clean, nutty and savoury sparkling wine, beautifully sculpted into place by a wonderfully linear, dry, tight backbone. If Australia's on the verge of a prosecco boom, then this is the ready made wine serious drinkers should look to.

KARRA YERTA RIESLING 2010 (Eden Valley)

The first time I tasted Karra Yerta's 2010 Riesling I felt it was like the Eden Valley equivalent of Grosset's Polish Hill - in other words - the dry riesling I've been waiting my entire wine drinking life for! Marie and James Linke's 2010 perfectly marries the stunning purity of regional characters Eden Valley enthusiasts seek, with sumptuous depths of flavour and texture, as well as unrelenting, penetrative structure and length. Alongside any number of spectacular wines emanating from Australia's small winery class at the moment, Karra Yerta's Riesling proves how size of production isn't really that important when it comes to making world class wines.

GROSSET POLISH HILL RIESLING 2010 (Clare Valley)

Okay, so we all know how brilliant Grosset's Polish Hill is, so why the inspiration? It's Jeffrey's relentless pursuit of perfection. Perhaps no other Australian winemaker comes as close to achieving perfection year in, year out, as Grosset does with his Polish Hill. But Grosset is never one to rest on his laurels. He tires away endlessly in the vineyard every year, constantly looking to improve what is already a near flawless Australian wine. The results are there to be seen in the 2010 which is classic Polish Hill - it's all about power, depth and a blisteringly dry finish of spectacular length.

SAVATERRE CHARDONNAY 2008 (Beechworth)

As a lover of Australian chardonnay it saddens me somewhat to see so many makers moving towards an ultimately leaner, perhaps overly refined style in recent years. Australian chardonnay isn't riesling, or semillon (or Chablis for that matter) - it's chardonnay - and ideally, it should be complex, textured, rich and stylish. The best examples in this country exhibit these qualities, alongside refinement and balance, and Beechworth's Savaterre hit the nail on the head with their 2008 release. With bright, genuinely ripened chardonnay fruit complemented seamlessly by superb texture and none-too-shy, complex winemaker inputs, it's precisely the sort of wine I wanna being drinking from chardonnay when I reach for more than a fifty from my wallet.

DOMAINE A PINOT NOIR 2006 (Coal River Valley)

When I first stuck my nose into Domaine A's 2006 Pinot Noir, its combination of herbal scents and dark, meaty fruit aromas actually had me thinking of cabernet sauvignon, but once it entered my mouth, there was no doubt as to what variety I was dealing with. If feel and textural complexity are the keys to exceptional pinot noir, then Domaine A smashed it out of the ballpark with their 2006. It's supple, fragile and delicate, yet its adorably complex, darker pinot noir flavours are backed up by one of the most spectacular, expansive pinot noir structures I've ever encountered from the Island State. If you still believe Tasmania isn't capable of world class pinot noir, then check this beauty out.

TAPANAPPA FOGGY HILL VINEYARD PINOT NOIR 2009 (Fleurieu Peninsula)

Brian Croser raised a few eyebrows with his inaugural 2007 Foggy Hill, sourced from a region barely associated with top shelf Australian wine, let alone pinot noir. Then, with his follow up from 2008, Croser showed the capabilities of his special site with a wonderful release. But it's the 2009 which has really declared the winemaking legend's intentions of taking on Australia's very best exponents of the closely followed genre. With the exception of some of Ashton Hills' very best wines, I've never had a South Australian pinot noir so cleanly fruited, savoury, under spoken, beautifully made or astoundingly complex in its youth. Is it the future of South Australian pinot noir? I think so.

CULLEN MANGAN 2009 (Margaret River)

In addition to the use of a new mistral blower on the sorting table and a return to basket press, Vanya Cullen's commitment to bio-dynamic wine production has seen increased levels of subtlety, elegance and feminine charm in her premier reds, which already sat at the more subtle, elegant and feminine side of high end Australian wine anyway. The 2009 Mangan bares these qualities and displays it in a very similar fashion to its much more lauded 2008 Diana Madeline stablemate, but it does it at around half the price and without the use of the Margaret River's primary red grape; cabernet sauvignon (the Mangan is a 63/27/10 blend of malbec, petit verdot and merlot). The attractively complex characters Cullen achieves at modest alcohol levels, is, quite simply, amazing in this country. In terms of both style and varietal composition, I'd love to see more Australian reds like this.

WOODLANDS RESERVE DE LA CAVE MALBEC 2010 (Margaret River)

As Australians scramble to make new wines from new varieties, there remains a number of grapes which have been sitting in our vineyards for some time, which have perhaps been overlooked. Woodlands' Reserve de la Cave Malbec is a benchmark for what can be achieved. It's simultaneously authentically varietal and deliciously Australian, with an undeniably perfumed and plush accent of deep, silky black and purple fruits driven with great direction by an extremely precise structure. Sat next to its cabernet franc sibling it's distinctly different in style, but picking a better wine between the two proved impossible for me. I'm usually a cabernet franc man too.

WOODLANDS RESERVE DE LA CAVE CABERNET FRANC 2010 (Margaret River)

Woodlands' 2010 Reserve de la Cabernet Franc displays a more piercing, pristine varietal expression than the malbec, which doesn't necessarily make it any better a drinking wine on release. The combination of cabernet franc, with its green-edged, herbal perfume, and the Margaret River's Wilyabrup sub-region, which is so well known for perfumed, dark fruited, toasty/smoky, dusty cabernet, seems such a perfect fit, and it's played out to perfection in the 2010 Reserve de la Cave. There's a wonderfully elegant density to the wine as well, which of course, is drawn down the palate to great effect by the typically fine-grained and assertive structure Woodlands has become synonymous for.

FREEMAN AGED RELEASE RONDINELLA CORVINA SECCO 2004 (Hilltops)

There may be any number of technically better reds around Australia at the moment than Dr Brian Freeman's 2004 Secco, but in terms of ingenuity and value for money, this most unique of Australian reds stands out on a limb. It's aromatically lifted, richly textured, deeply flavoured, savoury and rather over the top for a wine of its price, but a few years bottle age have seen all of its elements sink together like a cat on a bean bag. Delicious only starts to explain it. Kudos to Freeman for planting rondinella and corvina in NSW's Hilltops region. Kudos to Freeman for blending them together. Kudos to him for being creative enough to partially dry the grapes in a prune dehydrator. Kudos to him for pulling the whole crazy experiment off, and perhaps most importantly, kudos to him for having the patience and generosity to issue a bottle aged release, without any increase in price. $30!?

WENDOUREE CABERNET MALBEC 2008 (Clare Valley)

With an early March heatwave spanning 15 straight days of 35+ degree heat, 2008 was hardly a classic year for Clare cabernet, but Wendouree's fine effort with their deep, beautifully ripened, supple and savoury 2008 Cabernet Malbec (achieved at under 14% alc) shows us just how important well managed old vineyards are in the most trying of circumstances. It's probably not the most sensational Wendouree of all time, but the 2008 Cabernet Malbec remains testament to what an irreplaceable resource that spectacular vineyard is.

JOSEPH MODA CABERNET SAUVIGNON MERLOT 2008 (McLaren Vale)

Like the Wendouree, Joseph's 2008 Moda was hardly born out of a wonderful year for McLaren Vale cabernet, but this time, I feel Joe Grilli's freakish winemaking abilities have helped carve out a magnificent wine every bit as much as the choice of his vineyard site and its management. In fact, McLaren Vale's suffered through a few less than perfect cabernet vintages lately, but Grilli's time proven ability to make deliciously rich, hedonistically smooth, ripe and dusty cabernet merlots using the Italian Amarone method of drying grapes on racks after harvest, has once again produced a stunning take on McLaren Vale cabernet. As with Wendouree's 2008 Cabernet Malbec, I don't actually feel the 2008 Moda is one of Jospeh's very best vintages, but it still serves as a benchmark as to what can be achieved in unbelievably hot, dry seasons.

A NOTE FROM ANOTHER BEVERAGE

Although I've recently vowed to significantly cut down my own coffee consumption, I've still enjoyed the modern approach to coffee promotion undertaken by a new cafe at Adelaide's old Reserve Bank site.

At the shop, coffee's sold proudly with an emphasis on region of origin, but what really grabs my attention is the detailed tasting (cupping) notes used to promote their 'coffee of the week', displayed to the public via sidewalk billboards. Every time I read one I feel more educated about coffee, without even having to drink the stuff!

In the Nyeri Tegu cupping note, I particularly like, and can relate to, the 'long hard candy dissolve in the finish' line (I wonder how sugar effects it though), but either I'm going to need more experience tasting coffee, or broaden my mind a bit, to pick up a 'punch bowl of currant, cranberry, cantaloupe, ripe cherry' in my coffee. Cantaloupe most notably. I am looking though!

CAPE MENTELLE: AN EVOLUTION IN DESIGN

YES, IT GROWS ON TREES YOU KNOW

The following images are of a Thick-skinned Cork Oak, or Quercus suber, planted in Adelaide's Belair National Park during the early 1900s.

Although one of the finest specimens in South Australia, the Thick-skinned Cork Oak is introduced to this state, and as such, this plant may not be replaced when it dies.

The plant is native to the temperate regions of Europe and northern Africa, where it can grow up to 20 metres high and reach up to 200 years of age.

Its thick bark is softish and spongy on the absolute exterior, yet much harder on the inside. It's particularly strong, solid and tough, and challenging to break off even the slightest piece.

MARKETING BOUTIQUE BEER TO THE DISCERNING WINE DRINKER

Now I'm just waiting for the wine that claims to be the

'Low-Carb Beer of wines!'

:)

WANT

Kitty might want a partner to mate with, but he definitely wants food. Meanwhile, my own list of wants is far more complex and much less driven by a simple need to survive.

As a passionate consumer of Australian wine, what I want is for Australian wine to be more popular, but more importantly, to be understood better by the masses who drink it.

But how?

What I want is for Australian wine to get a small sip of the gigantic cup of television coverage currently being beer-bonged down by the food industry.

Sure, Australian wine has had recent spells on TV - Wine Lover's Guide to Australia and Wine Squad come to mind - two shows which are all good and interesting if you're a wine fanatic, but rather useless if you aren't. I mean, if I rocked up to a mate's place with a nice bottle of red and a DVD box-set of Wine Lover's Guide to Australia, I wouldn't be allowed anywhere near the DVD player, but they'd still drink my wine.

What I want to see is an Australian wine show which is entertaining first, and informative second. It could be fictional even.

What immediately jumps out to me is the feature film Sideways. Sideways was a fictional movie, doubtlessly entertaining (even I enjoyed it and I generally hate 21st century Hollywood cinema), about two guys who take some time off to go and cruise up to California's wine country for a bit of wine drinking related malarkey. As wine lovers, we've all been there. The combination of the two main characters - one wine savvy and the other not - made for some interesting viewing, with subtle bits of wine information littered throughout the film, within the dialogue. Just look at what a little information, delivered to the public through an entertaining format, did for merlot's credibility. Some might say Sideways 'killed' merlot in some respects. Imagine what the reverse of this effect could do.

Oz Clarke and James May have provided a similarly styled duo of wine expert and wine beginner, in their Big Wine Adventures, which has gone on to become a reasonable success, by successfully combining entertainment with information. Unfortunately, although aired in a prime time spot by SBS, the show has so far only promoted French, American and English wine, not Australian. But as Australians, we can not sit around and wait for the English or Americans to come up with a show promoting our wine. It must be done by ourselves.

The Australian shows I mentioned previously definitively fall under the informative first, entertaining second category (my apologies to Big Blind Mike!), which essentially makes them quite dull to your 'average' wine drinker without industry experience or a 1000 bottle cellar. The internet video clips of people sitting around assessing wine are also unlikely to appeal to an audience outside of wine circles; just as this blog.

What I would love to see, is an Australian wine related sitcom (do Australians even make sitcoms anymore?). It could possibly be set in a cellar door, or winery, or somewhere similar. It would be funny, entertaining, and drop subtle hints of wine information in amongst the comedic madness. The show would revolve around character development and character interaction (a bit of slapstick, smut and old-fashioned prop comedy goes a long way in my eyes too!), but there'd be enough there to keep the wine savvy continuously tuning in for a laugh, alongside the non-wine loving viewer, whom hopefully, might learn a few things along the way.

It's just something I want.

AN ENOMATIC TASTING

I recently had the opportunity to sample wines from The Ed's Enomatic wine tasting machine, or, the Wine Taster 2000 as it could also be called. :)

For those unfamiliar with the machine, The Enomatic is a wine dispenser, capable of rationing out single tastings, double tastings or full glasses of wine, via 3 separate buttons aligned to each bottle in the display. Prices go up in accordance with the size of the pour, as well as the wine in question. Additionally, and on this day, some pours can be free of charge, however, it's intended for commercial use and not the home (although...).

To prevent oxidation, the Enomatic disperses gas into the bottle as it pours out the wine. In this case, The Ed were using argon, which can apparently keep open wine bottles fresh for around a month, but to play it safe, bottles at The Ed are presently changed over after two weeks. Seeing as single bottles actually last two weeks, indicates to me there might not be too much consumer interest in the Enomatic around Adelaide, just yet.

I tasted my way through the wines available on the day, which included a couple of Australian icons. Leeuwin Estate's 2008 Art Series Chardonnay, Clonakilla's 2009 Shiraz Viognier and Peter Lehmann's 2006 Stonewell were all on hand, but alas, they were also at the end of their two week cycle, as they were getting replaced by a predominantly European selection of off-dry rieslings the next day.

To be honest, I felt some of the wines presented well and some not so well, so no tasting notes were taken. I believe the level of wine in the bottle may have had some effect, as some of the cheaper wines (including Rymill's 'free of charge' 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon) appeared fresher and livelier through the palate. Interestingly, a staff member agreed some of the wines may have been a bit 'flat'. To possibly improve the situation, the next selection of wines are going to be 'prolonged' by a mixture of argon and CO2. It's still a trial and error thing at the moment, as well as the only one in Adelaide if I'm correct. If anyone out there has any experience using these machines, any insight would be appreciated.

To purchase from the Enomatic, The Ed provides the customer/taster with a 'credit card', where credits can be purchased and topped up from the register as you see fit. Knowing the place, I can guarantee there will always be something interesting in their Enomatic, but whether you're willing to pay for it is up to you.

As a rough guideline of pricing, I think the Art Series was $4 a pour, $8 a double and $18 a glass. Clonakilla $4.50 a pour, $9 a double and $20 a glass. You be the judge. Most days I'd be happy to pay $18 for a glass of Art Series or $20 for Clonakilla, but with Enomatic, I just wasn't convinced about the state of the wine's freshness, or the environment in which it's presented (does anyone really want to pay $20 for a glass of wine in a bottle shop?) I'd want to get there early on the rotation next time, although I was told the Art Series was drinking better after two weeks.

The Ed's Enomatic credit card

So there we have it. More innovation from my favourite fine wine retailer. Is it the future of wine drinking? I hope not. But I don't have a problem with Enomatic playing its role at fine wine retailers or wine bars. Sure, the prolonged freshness is a plus and allowing customers to taste wines they otherwise might not buy is good (the first set of wines included Hill of Grace, Grange and Chateau d'Yquem - too many credits for me!), but the Enomatic experience is just too sterile for me, and as a consumer, it also takes away one of my most loved aspects of wine tasting; human to human contact.

For more information check out:-

http://www.enomatic.co.nz/home/

Is there no Australian site?

ANOTHER M3

A VISUAL COMPARISON OF TWO 2010 PINOT NOIRS

Pictured on the left is Wickhams Road 2010 Gippsland Pinot Noir,

and on the right is the 2010 Domaine Lucci Pinot Noir.

WINE SERVICE AND THE [SLOW] WINDS OF CHANGE

I've had Alan Young's 'Australian Wines & Wineries' in my collection for years now. The image here, shows just how well its dust cover's worked. Published in 1983, it presents a relatively comprehensive look at Australia's wine scene of the time, albeit significantly less detailed and comprehensive than James Halliday's 1985 'The Australian Wine Compendium'.

Much of the information in 'Australian Wines and Wineries' appears unsurprisingly outdated now, but my favourite extract from Young's book, written in the age of cork domination, still sounds relevant today.

On page 188, when discussing wine service, under the heading of 'When Dining Out', Alan writes:-

'If, as diner/host, you are paying full price for a meal (rather than receiving it at no cost) you should expect - and demand - the following services at any good establishment:-

9. Opportunity to taste the poured wine carefully. If not satisfied, do not accept. Pouring is in any case a ridiculous charade, and this is the quickest way to stop it.'

I like it. On many occasions, when I've been presented a 'taste' of (screwcapped) wine when dining out, the (unspoken) thought that comes into my mind runs something along the lines of; "Hmm. This Coonawarra cabernet smells like it needs at least another hour in a decanter. But in an hour I'm going to be eating your coconut mango ice cream, so you better pour up now. So what was the point of that?" However, the words that come out of my mouth are; "Yes, fine..."

But then, on the following page (189), as if to reiterate how some things have changed over the years, Alan writes with further reference to restaurants:-

'A first class establishment will have a wide selection of domestic and imported wines of various vintages, e.g. Penfolds Hermitage, Wolf Blass Grey and Black Labels, Yalumba Signature Series, the grand crus of both Burgundy and Bordeaux. They will not offer current vintage dry reds on their wine list.'

HELLO, WHAT'S THIS THEN?

From Tim Knappstein's website;

"We have noticed that the 2009 'The Sabre' Pinot Noir may throw a deposit in the bottle, which resembles a few small, red coloured matchsticks.

The deposit is tartrate with some red pigment from the wine and is in no way harmful.

It is a result of the gentle handling with minimum intervention that the wine has had during storage and maturation, as it was not cold (tartrate) stabilised and only minimally filtered."

FOUR POINTS I CAME HOME FROM THE BAROSSA WITH ON A SUNDAY NIGHT

1. Shiraz/tempranillo is a blend with a ton of potential in the Barossa Valley.

2. Karra Yerta's Eden Valley Riesling really is one of the best rieslings in Australia at the moment.

3. You don't need meat or seafood to make truly exceptional pizza.

4. Don't spend all your money on food and wine the day before Valentine's Day.

With the exception of Valentine's Day, I'll elaborate on these points in future posts.

SCORING

Many modern, warm-blooded young males will be familiar with the 'Out of 10' system, yet the perhaps more thorough, astute and less hormonal wine critic typically prefers either a 100 point or 20 point system, or a rating out of 5 stars.

Before this new year gets too old there's just a few points I wanted to raise in regards to wine scoring, in particular how I perceive and relate to it. If it's a personal opinion piece you don't wish to read then read elsewhere.....

To some extent, I score wine because I've always been a numbers and stats man, but I also love having a definitive assessment of wine quality attached to my notes, expressed in a blunt, numerical form which I can look back upon. I guess my love of scoring dates back to the 1980s when I religiously read British video game magazines, who used to break down their game reviews into 5 different criteria for scoring, finalised by the most important score; overall. Even today, when I'm at casual gatherings drinking wine in the most relaxed sense, a numerically scored judgement will subconsciously, or perhaps automatically, enter my mind. This could be a problem!

However, this isn't to say scoring wine is either easy or automatic, as I regularly find designating a score the hardest part of completing a review for Australian Wine Journal. On numerous occasions, long after a 'tasting note' has been completed, I'll find myself going back to a wine, time after time, mouthful after mouthful; racking my brain thinking; 'how good (numerically speaking) is this wine?' In these instances I really understand those who use a scoring range, e.g. 88-91pts or 88/89pts, because this broader style of scoring is starting to make more and more sense to me across a number of wines, even though I've always stuck to a single score evaluation myself.

At present I really respect the approach taken by Wino Sapien, who will issue a single score, a score range or sometimes no score at all, depending on what fits best. I consider it; 'scoring without boundaries'. Personally I continue to issue a single score, largely because I can be a stubborn man stuck in his old ways, but also because I hold concerns a scoring range might confuse or narrow an already confusing and narrow scoring system (almost all my reviews fit within the 85-96 point bracket). Or perhaps it would simplify and widen it...

Additionally, there are also instances where I feel a wine requires no score at all, particularly at the lower end, where I'll often leave a note out altogether. Increasingly, it is the wines I would rate at 84 points or less that I find difficult to pinpoint a single score on. This stems from my lack of experience with sitting down at home evaluating highly unsatisfying wines, which itself is probably a direct result of me buying most of the wines I drink myself. Whether a wine is worth precisely 83, 80 or 77 points can be difficult, or perhaps even pointless to conclude, but the bottom line remains the same; don't buy it again Chris!

Due to my (fortunate) lack of experience with such wines, bottles like Jorgensen Hill's 2008 Shiraz prove as difficult as any for me to score. At time of assessment I quizzed myself; 'should it be 75, 77 or 79 points?', but I also asked; 'at that score range, does anyone; including me, actually care?'

.............

Onto another note. As I see it, there are four types of wine critic who score wine:-

1. Those who overrate wine

2. Those who underrate wine

3. Those whose scores make little sense to me

4. Those whose judgement seems about right (this isn't to say I agree with everything these critics write, it's just that even when I disagree with their scores I can generally see where they're coming from)

Due to the objectivity of wine reviews, almost all critics are capable of traversing 3 of the 4 categories here, but all the same, there are some critics who seem harder to please than others and some who seem easier to please.

I actually appreciate and enjoy reading reviews from critics whom I might consider to be overrating wine (in certain cases of course). The reason being I can almost feel the enjoyment experienced by the writer whilst drinking, and actually enjoying wine is something very important to the root of its consumption. Whether I unanimously agree with these critics or not, on many occasions their unbridled enthusiasm gained through genuine satisfaction of a wine, relayed to me via text, has put a smile on my face. It's pleasing to read positive news from positive people. Most importantly, critics enjoying wine encourages consumers to enjoy wine.

As for those whom I consider to be underrating wine (compared to my tastes of course), I feel they play an important part to the industry, so long as their criticisms or harshness can be justified. If critics went around saying everything was just great and fine all the time, then more producers would be content to rest on their laurels. It is often the critic who puts down, whether fair or not, that stirs up the motivation within us to improve. As humans we have a natural tendency to remember the negative more than the positive. Although I personally draw some form of satisfaction from most of the wines I buy, I have tons of time for the critics who are willing to publish a wine's deficiencies in the face of other's glowing appraisal. So long as it's appropriate and in no way malicious of course.

As much as I try to keep an open mind about all subjective views, I still encounter the occasional assessment which makes little sense to me at all. Generally, these opinions show a collection of results I'd consider to be both under and overrating wine, as well as grouping wines whose quality might be yards apart (in my opinion) under the same score. To be honest, wine rating such as this rarely comes from individual critics. They are usually the results gathered from large tastings where a panel of judges assess hundreds/thousands of wines in just a day or so. I don't for a second believe my inability to comprehend such results relate to a lack of ability by critics (more likely me!). Rather, I believe summarising these tastings reflect the difficulties of not just trying to assess too many wines in too short a time frame, but also the difficulties of merging a group of people's opinions into one.

As for the final category, those who score appropriately, I obviously feel I fall under this category :), as should all proud critics. I imagine most people who read wine reviews would find the writers whose opinions best reflect their own and stick to them. We're quite fortunate in that as many different points of view there are on wine from a consumer side of things, there are almost as many different points of view from the critics themselves. Find whose opinions are right for your tastes and stick with them. Thanks in part to a commonsensical wine scoring system, the team at The Wine Front has done a wonderful job of connecting with Australia's modern wine consumer, with an approach that is at once contemporary, educational and entertaining.

From a blogger point of view, if there's only one critic you believe to be correct, then it has to be yourself. I don't think too many people out there would be knowingly under or overrating wines. If you're constantly disagreeing with your own opinions, then your mind probably isn't too in touch with your senses (or you're the least lucky person in the world when it comes to bottle variation!).

However, the more I read and compare the opinions of experienced critics to my own, the more a little voice tells me I might be on the overrating side of things. I believe there could be two main reasons for this.

Firstly, I personally buy (or pay for) almost all the wines I review on Australian Wine Journal. I've read enough and drunk enough wine over the years now to know what wines I'll probably like (which isn't to say I can tell if I'll like a wine before I drink it) and funnily enough, I tend to buy them. You don't think I'd purposely buy a bad wine do you? It's also fortunate I have fairly broad tastes...

Secondly, although I attempt to begin every note with a blank palate and clear mind, I actually look to extract enjoyment from every bottle of wine I drink, before I drink it. I enjoy drinking wine and sure as hell intend on continuing to enjoy it. This optimism and positivity could sometimes lead to a (slightly?) inflated score, but if I liked it, I liked it, and that's it. If I ever get to a point where the majority of my notes are harshly worded and matched with low scores, then that'll probably mean I'm not enjoying wine, in which case, I would have to ask myself; 'what the hell am I doing?'