August Drinking.

I have decided that I will use my monthly tasting notes post to provide a short review of each of the wines I have sampled in the month, and expand a bit more on the higher rated wines. Of this months top 4, 3 of the wines were consumed at my belated birthday celebrations with my family. 

Thomas Wines DJV Shiraz 2010 - 95 ($35 - online)

Beautiful aromas of berry, spice and meat. Before tasting, it is evident that this wine will drink beautifully young. The colour is crimson-red with fantastic clarity. The palate is elegant and smooth, no overt influence of tannin or oak, both integrated seamlessly. The wine is lifted by a 9% semillon verjuice component, which gives it a bright, acidic spine that allows the fruit to shine through. Red berries a-plenty. Perfect example of the progressive nature of modern Hunter shiraz.

Hammer Time.

Being a fairly new wine collector, it is hard to gain an appreciation for the characteristics of properly aged wine. I have no great cellar to draw from, the oldest current release wine I’ve purchased is from 2004, and retail outlets that do offer museum wines and ‘cellar releases’ are typically well over-priced and the bottle sit on the shop shelves for an undetermined amount of time, giving you no guarantees with regards to cellaring quality, temperature and light conditions.

There are a number of tenants to effective cellaring, and every connoisseur has the method they swear by. The most commonly accepted are that the temperature should remain constant (anywhere between 12 and 15 degrees is optimal), the exposure to UV light should be negligible, humidity must be in the medium to high range to prevent corks drying out and bottles should always be laid flat to ensure the corks remain wet. If you get these things right, you shouldn’t go far wrong. Contrary to commonly held belief, bottles should not be rotated in the cellar (bottles don’t like vibrations and movement). Home collectors have had success with cellaring in commercial climate controlled cellars, just as some have had success with terracotta pipes in their wardrobes.

July Top 4.

While I haven't posted in the last month or so, I thought I would maintain my reviews for my top 4 in the previous month. I am currently chipping away at posts about the wine auction process, enjoyment enhancing products and a few others that I will try and finish in the coming months. Uni comes first.

So July was a month of whites for me. Mainly owing to a thoroughly overly indulgent night in June that saw my wife and I need a break from red for a few weeks. 2 rieslings, one from the 2012 Canberra vintage, one a slightly off-dry style, one vintage champagne and, of course, a medium-term aged semillon.