australian tasting notes

The tasting at Nabil's was a lot of fun. Before I get to the notes, I wanted to mention the Distributor. The distributor doing the pouring was a good guy to talk with. He was not pretentious or stuffy in any way, and you could tell he had genuine love for the wines he was pouring. Ben and I were among the first people there at 1pm (sorry for the time change--it was snowing and all my plans were thrown off), and at one point I suggested he change the order of which he was tasting the wines. Some people doing tastings would have scoffed or been snooty about this. Having a friendly and approachable person doing the tastings is a big plus in my book. I wish I remembered his name so I could give a proper shout-out.

Anyway, on to what I thought:

2006 Black Chook VMR "White blend" - I didn't look too closely at the blend, but this is a decent white if you have to drink one. The price point was just right at about $12. Chook is Australian for Chicken, in case you were wondering.

2006 Catalina Sounds Pinot Noir - Ben refused to taste this one on principle. I tasted it solely on principle ("never turn down free wine"); it was fine. It was a pinot. If you like pinot, you'll probably like this. Not my thing. Also note, this one is from NZ, not AU.

2005 Kaesler Stonehorse Shriaz - A smooth and well-made wine. At about $20, this is a great wine to have and to drink. This isn't you classic ginormous, jammy, earthy, Aussie Shiraz. This is, as Ben said, "more like a French wine." It's incredibly approachable and anyone could enjoy this wine. I'd give it 3.5 / 5.

2004 Glen Eldon Dry Bore Shriaz - This is you classic Aussie Shiraz. This wine is dry as hell and gritty. I loved the dark, full-bodied taste. Again, at $20 you can't go wrong. For fun, get one of these and one of the Kaesler's and treat your guests. This is the wine that I suggested the order change for--he was originally tasting this before the Kaesler.

2005 Delisio Krystina - A classy wine. This is more like the Kaesler than the Glen Eldon: smooth and approachable. It's the best $30 Aussie I can think of right now. It's at least as good as some wines that are much more expensive (such as certain wines made by Sarah and Sparky). It actually reminded me of some Delille wines. I'm not sure I could pick this as an Aussie wine in a blind tasting.

2005 Amon Ra Godolphin - This is what brings the kids out to the tasting. This is, perhaps, a canonical example of a Shiraz. A great wine, but still young. If I was going to drink now, I'd pick any of the above three over this one.

Overall, a great tasting.