Two Bucks? Shucks!

by Martin Field

Or, ‘If you can’t be with the wine you love, love the wine you’re with…’ Billy Preston and Anon.

Dan Murphys’ recent two dollar a bottle cleanskin wine promotion received wide media coverage and the punters loved it, buying shiploads of the two wines on offer.

Tony Leon, general manager of Dan Murphy’s, told me, ‘We’ve sold almost one and a half million bottles and had thousands of back orders for the wine. Customers asked me “What’s it like?” I told them, “For $1.99! Buy a few bottles, if you don’t like it bring it back.” They didn’t bring it back. Of course we hoped the cleanskin customers would buy other wines but if they didn’t that was okay.’

I asked Tony if such cheap wine was good for business. ‘After taxes and transport costs are accounted for there’s not much profit in a $1.99 bottle. But the turnover is good. Even our staff were buying it.’

I’ve also been asked often enough what I thought of the $1.99 wine and whether it’s worth the money. My answers have been along the lines of ‘Whaddya want for a miserable two bucks a bottle? It’s cheaper than some cask wines.’ Anyway, I lashed out four dollars and bought two bottles.

Here, for what its worth, are my notes. I thought the 2005 WE2 Chardonnay was the better of the two. A pale wine, it showed a fruity fresh tropical fruit nose with a hint of oak. The off-dry palate exhibited juicy flavours of ripe peaches and apples and finished with mild acidity. The 2006 WE3 Cabernet Merlot was light-bodied, with sweet grapey, berry aromas. On the palate it had youthful fruit, softish tannins and an edge of sweetness. A perfectly acceptable everyday quaffing red.

Overall I thought they were terrific value for money, and much better than the general run of casks.

Posted by Martin Field at 12:50 PM
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Len Evans RIP

by Martin Field

Len Evans, that great man of Australian wine, died last week aged 75 years, of a heart attack. Len was a true ambassador and friend of the Australian wine industry here and overseas, a wine educator of note, a leading wine judge and an important wine writer.

I’m thankful to Len to this day as he was indirectly responsible for my early wine education. His Complete Book of Australian Wine (1973) was my most useful reference source when I began to take wine seriously. Back then I found it highly instructive to look up his tasting notes for nearly every wine I tasted, to better understand the wines I bought.

I met Len a few times over the years and he always had a joke or amusing anecdote to relate and always insisted on opening and sharing a bottle of good wine.

It seems appropriate to leave with one of Len’s many quotes: To make the most of the time left to you, you must start by calculating your total future capacity. One bottle of wine a day is 365 bottles a year. If your life expectancy is another thirty years, there are only 11,000 odd bottles ahead of you.

Posted by Martin Field at 12:09 PM
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Wasabi or not Wasabe - read the label

by Martin Field

Wine lovers will probably know that under Australian labelling laws a wine can be called by the name of a single grape varietal, for example, cabernet sauvignon, if the bottle contains at least 85 percent cabernet sauvignon.

I was reminded of this legal requirement whilst reading the ingredients listed on a bottle of S&B Wasabi Sauce I purchased recently. It contained not 85 percent of Wasabi (or Wasabe), not 33 percent, not 5 percent, but a miniscule 0.1 percent!

The ingredients, in order of descending proportion, were: water, rapeseed oil (contains antioxidant 306 - tocopherols concentrate, mixed), sugar, tapioca starch, horseradish (4.5 percent), salt, corn starch, vinegar, egg yolk, emulsifier (475 - polyglycerol esters of fatty acids), flavour, thickener (415 - xanthan gum), wasabi (0.1percent), spices, acid (330 – citric acid), flavour enhancers (621 - monosodium L-glutamate, 635 - disodium 5' -ribonucleotides), colours (102 - tartrazine, 133 – brilliant blue FCF).

NB. In case you were wondering, I have translated the mystifying number codes into the names – in italics - of the mystifying chemicals they represent.

How can this be? Don’t ask. But I expected, naively perhaps, that I was buying wasabi sauce and that it would contain a significant amount of that ingredient. I would have been similarly annoyed if I’d bought a bottle labelled tomato sauce and found that it contained only 0.1 percent tomatoes.

Posted by Martin Field at 12:03 PM
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Oz tasting notes

by Martin Field

Miceli Iolanda Pinot Grigio 2005 - up to $20 - \_/\_/\_/
Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. Grassy, lemon nose. Citric characters dominate the palate leaving a mid-weighted pleasant tang.

Hungerford Hill Hunter Valley Semillon 2006 - up to $23 - \_/\_/\_/\_/
New South Wales. Aromatic passionfruit, and citrus bouquet. Dry, elegant style showing kiwi fruit and passionfruit – almost sauvignon blanc flavours. Lovely acidity leads to a dry finish. Use as aperitif or with entrées.

Jim Barry The Florita Clare Valley Riesling 2005 – up to $45 - \_/\_/\_/\_/
South Australia. Intense lime flower and lemon sherbet nose. Pervading lime juice flavours, steely acid and a very dry lemon zesty finish make for a highly enjoyable dry white. Cellar to 2012.

Tulloch Chardonnay 2006 – up to $15 - \_/\_/\_/$
Hunter Valley, New South Wales. Peachy sweetish nose, hint of oaky vanilla. Yummy ‘apricot Danish’ taste and a smooth and satisfying mouth feel. Long pleasing aftertaste and pleasing acid structure.

Hamiltons Bluff Sangiovese 2004 – up to $18 - \_/\_/\_/
Canowindra, New South Wales. Mid-black cherry hues. Savoury, ripe, spicy aromatics on the nose. Strong elements of blackberry conserve and anise on the palate, supported by soft tannins and a warm alcoholic finish. Would suit well-seasoned main courses.

La Testa Shiraz Grenache Cabernet 2001 – up to $28 - \_/\_/\_/\_/
McLaren Vale, South Australia. Mid-ruby hues. Plums and liquorice and toasty oak on the nose. Developed complex palate of soft integrated tannins supporting dark chocolate, short black, liqueured plums and vanilla. Good dining wine.

Yalumba The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz 2002 – up to $46 - \_/\_/\_/\_/\_/
Eden Valley and Barossa Valley, South Australia. Dense crimson. Attractive lifted nose of blackcurrants and dusty oak. Fine example of premium Barossa sweet fruit: extravagant ripe berries, just right tannic astringency, oaky vanilla and a warm chocolatey finish. Moreish.

Warrabilla Reserve Durif 2005 – I paid $24.99 - \_/\_/\_/
Rutherglen, Victoria. Purple to back in colour. Nose reminded me a little of an Australian vintage port style. A huge soft fruity wine full of blackberry flavours and showing considerable alcoholic (15.5%) warmth. I served the wine masked and the tasters agreed that they’d have preferred more tannin and acid to complement the sweet fruit. Cellar to 2010.

Spitbucket rating system
Five spitbuckets: \_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ - brilliant
Four: \_/\_/\_/\_/ - classy
Three: \_/\_/\_/ - good drinking
Two: \_/\_/ everyday drinking
One: \_/ - spit it!
$ denotes excellent value for money.
Prices in Australian dollars.

Posted by Martin Field at 11:59 AM
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Field trip - sunny winter holidays in Noosa

by Martin Field

We've been on holiday, checking out the Noosa scene. The region is the hub of food and wine activity on the Sunshine Coast and we like it so much we’re planning to move up there in 2007. Not least of the local attractions is the weather. Having experienced one the coldest winters ever in Melbourne we found ourselves on Noosa beach enjoying sunny skies and daily temperatures of 22C.

Mostly we whizzed around real estate offices looking pensively (and apprehensively) at photos of million dollar plus houses. Luckily, however, there seemed to be a few derelict hovels that might suit our budget when it’s time to pack the wine cellar.

There wasn’t much time to do a tour de cuisine but we checked out a few local eateries. Highlights included Gusto Riverfront Restaurant – a bright friendly place on the river waterfront with knowledgeable chatty staff, a separate vegetarian menu for non-omnivores, and super fresh ingredients – their gnocchi was a treat. Gusto, 257 Gympie Terrace, Noosaville, Queensland, Phone: (07) 5449 7144.

It’s a bit of a drive but worth the effort to locate (correct usage) the Spirit House in Yandina; a Thai influenced place set in stunning tropical gardens. The setting is reminiscent of Poppies Restaurant in Kuta, Bali, if you’ve been there, and similarly redolent, with the occasional faint waft from the kerosene lamps that dot the gardens – but without the exotic aroma of clove cigarettes – if I may digress.

None of us coped well with the American-style, semi-formal, ‘sir’ and ‘madam’, ‘Hi my name is Gaston and I’ll be waiting on you today.’ service. But our friends enjoyed their generous serve of Whole Crispy Fish (schnapper) with Tamarind & Chilli Sauce. I was less excited by my Indian Gujarat Vegetarian Curry with spiced Pistachio Panir Dumplings, which I thought expensive at $27. See their menu. Spirit House, 20 Ninderry Rd. Yandina, Queensland - Phone/fax:(07) 5446 8977.

For an old-fashioned beer and snack you can’t go past a balcony table at the Noosa Heads Surf Life Saving Clubhouse. An ice-cold schooner of beer, the sun, the surf, the surfers, the sand. ‘Aaahhh… Stella Artois…’

Posted by Martin Field at 11:52 AM
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