Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Pinot noir

One of the wines I love, when it is in fine form, is pinot noir. This is poetical wine with definite feminine traits. Pinot has never been regarded as an Australian specialty though the quality has improved dramatically in recent years. I made some expensive recommendations here. But with the current wine glut some amazing less expensive options are appearing - fantastic wines at more reasonable prices.

Boccaccio Cellars in Kew currently has a cleanskin Pinot Noir made at the Hoddles Creek vineyard that they sell for $10. The regular pinot Hoddles sell is $16-99 and I reckon the wine mentiond here is a bargain even at the latter price. It is glorious wine - the nose is pure feminine, seductive pinot. Then great flavor of blah rose petals, blah cow dung, blah, blah, blah, violets in a blah, blah, blah. Sorry but I don't have the technology or deceit to adequately publicise the greatness of this wine.

Its a great drop for this kind of money - and I am not getting a kickback from Boccaccio. An indication of how consumers gain in a glut at the expense of unfortunate suppliers. Give it a try if you can and let me know if you agree with my assessment or can identify similar bargains in the wine world. We will publicise such here as economically sensible approaches to quality boozing. Help us boozers, such as fxh and others.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Harry,

There is no such thing as a good OZ pinot

hc said...

I guarantee a bottle of this delectable plonk would change your mind Homer.

FXH said...

Thanks harry. I'm not very taken with pinots. But I'll be off down to Kew either tomorrow or saturday. My yobbo bro-in-law who is a big pinot fan is away in france for 3 weeks so I'll have to slurp it myself.

FXH said...

aah I didnt really notice - Boccaccio Cellars - not even really Kew, just down near Belmore Road / Burke Road. I might pop down tonight - would a bottle go with watching the Bogle Chandler case on TV?

hc said...

fxh, I am interested in your honest view. I reckon good stuff.

hc said...

That's good news Nicholas as some of my favourite pinot comes from Tasmania (Ninth Island, Moorila Estate) and from Yarra Valley (Coldstream Hills, the wine under review above) which are claimed to provide lots of the anti-oxidant Resveratrol.

In a quick Goggle tour I found it is produced in abundance in cooler climate areas with high rainfall. It is an anti-fungal agent that is supposed to make us live longer.

Surely something that tastes this good can't also be good for you!

Anonymous said...

Given the complaints about junk food here, I'll just point out that if you are really interested in getting the health benefits of red wine, then I'm sorry to say that a simpler and healthier way is just to drink red grape juice (or eat red grapes, for that matter).

Its interesting the French live so long, but another reason they do is that they have a really good health system, which is surely the number 1 reason but never seems to get a mention.

Anonymous said...

The only decent Pinot Noir is Bannock burn but that is vastly over-priced as is almost every Pinot in Australia.

Try the Kiwis.

Big Bodied Reds is what Australia does best.

hc said...

Homer, I've had some wonderful Bannockburn pinot - also ages well. Now about $50 I think.

Conrad, the French are thin too. (Although getting fatter in recent years). You get the health benefits from red wine plus consumption pleasure.

Anonymous said...

Overpriced pinot is as bad as bad quality pinot!

FXH said...

harry - two of us have just knocked off a bottle of the Pinot this arvo while watching the extra DVD of Bob chucked in with Modern Times.

I had all of the clips before on bootlegs but not in as good quality. I'm sure they censored the Sick of Love clip from the Emmys or some awards where the guy in the no top and "Soy Bomb" written in big texta across his chest comes out. That makes it pathetic. All the more so because if you imagine you are watching it live, the anxiety level is sky high, thinking some idiot has got past security (true) and might harm or even kill Bob. [This isn't hysteria or hyperbole if you think of Lennon, Reagan, and Bob's place in the world] That Bob goes on regardless, and delivers one of his best performances of Love Sick, is an important moment, signaling that Bob would give his best to the music and fans, even if he was about to die. Leaving it off the DVD means that even his record company doesn't understand history or Bob. [perhaps bob insisted it was deleted, then bob doesn't understand himself and his importance]

Oh I forgot about the Pinot. ;-)

I've never been a fan. Nothing wrong with this one, and as they go, in my limited and unenthusiastic opinion, it's possibly one of the more "interesting" at $10.

But I'm more excited about looking forward to say tomorrow or even later tonight and slurping up "THE BRUTE" shiraz for the same price, with my Chorizo Sausages, Lentils, Tomatoe, Onions, Garlic, Cumin etc bakeup dish I have in the oven right now.

FXH said...

THE BRUTE clocks in at about 16% - phew

hc said...

fxh, I've got to get Bob's latest. Don't you find that those high alcohol wines burn a bit! I notice this with some of the 15%'ers from Rutherglen.

Beer needs lots of alcohol - wine I am less sure of.

FXH said...

I cansee what some people see in Pinots but they don't grab me much. I tend to think that theres a normal curve in tastes with small tails. I'm right down the sour / bitter end of the scale other peopel up the sweet end and most people in the middle.

given the choice between a pickled onion / kimchi or similar and a block of chocolate or a dessert dish I would and do prefer the sour onion, others a block of chocolate or sweet.

I'd say with wines its a bit the same - pre-defied to a large extent by ones palate.

As to alcohol content - I like the taste of beer on a hot day, and especuially like a beer with a sandwich on say Saturday lunch - I'd be happy for that beer to be non-alcoholic - if that were possible. I tend to Boags lite and Cascade lite - whatever their names are.

With wine - its my understanding that big bodied = big alcohol - ??

I was told that in USA over 13% is considered hard liquor and restricted as to where it can be sold.