2019 Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz, South Australia Great Southern Land, a masterpiece by Icehouse was released 40 years ago. It is a song that celebrates the vastness and wonder of this land and tells you a story if you listen hard enough. And so too does the classic Australian blend of Cabernet SauvignonContinue reading “Wine Code Breaker #400”
Author Archives: jameskeneally
Wine Code Breaker #399
2021 Mayer Gamay, Yarra Valley, Victoria Pinot Noir gains in popularity and Shiraz maintains its place. What if you could put the two together? One is the dancer, it hails from Burgundy. The other a prancer with origins from Rhone. There is a place in between. It is a place where the prancer’s attitude softensContinue reading “Wine Code Breaker #399”
Wine Code Breaker #398
2021 Ghost Rock Pinot Gris, Tasmania The forbidden fruit can be many things. Your own forbidden fruit appears to depend upon your cultural leanings, educational curiosity and life experiences. Figs, apples, pears, pomegranates and grapes all get a mention. As an aside, it is highly amusing to discover that apple in Latin means apple, butContinue reading “Wine Code Breaker #398”
Wine Code Breaker #397
2019 Bird in Hand Montepulciano, Adelaide Hills, South Australia We first meet Zorii Bliss on the frozen planet Kijimi. Of course, her fame as a spice runner is well known. Her passion for Italian varietals, not as much. During her years running spices around the galaxies, she had been known to drop into the AdelaideContinue reading “Wine Code Breaker #397”
Wine Code Breaker #396
2018 Mount Monument Pinot Noir, Macedon Ranges, Victoria The most famous mamelon is a breast-shaped hillock in Sevastopol. It was made so during the Crimean War of 1853-1856 (a war that is reported to have been started over an argument about a key) due to its strategic location. A less famous mamelon was formed eonsContinue reading “Wine Code Breaker #396”
Wine Code Breaker #395
2021 Bird in Hand Sauvignon Blanc Adelaide Hills, South Australia Cat’s pee can be detected at 50 paces and assails one’s nostrils with such force that no other odour is able to be perceived for days. Poorly made Sauvignon Blanc can do something similar. At its least offensive, it is flabby and insults the senses.Continue reading “Wine Code Breaker #395”
Wine Code Breaker #394
2018 Protero Capo Gumeracha Nebbiolo, Adelaide Hills, South Australia Adelaide Hills is a remarkable region as it seems to have pockets that mirror some of the world’s great wine growing regions. Altitude and valleys create a landscape of microclimates that play with the coolness across the dry ripening periods. Add a bit of fog duringContinue reading “Wine Code Breaker #394”
Wine Code Breaker #393
2018 Frankland Estate Shiraz, Frankland River, Western Australia Frankland River as a wine region is the one closest to a Mediterranean climate in the Antipodes. An inland area that experiences warm dry days and cooling nights. The soils are a blanket of gravel ironstone above the mattress of hills and river valleys. The beds dividedContinue reading “Wine Code Breaker #393”
Wine Code Breaker #392
2019 Ravensworth Hilltops Nebbiolo, Canberra District The 15th of March is an auspicious day on our Gregorian calendar as it celebrates International Stab Someone In the Back Day, figuratively speaking. Harking back to less tolerant times, it is of course the Ides of March when Julius Caesar resigned to the smell of betrayal as theContinue reading “Wine Code Breaker #392”
Wine Code Breaker #391
2020 Passing Clouds Pinot Noir, Macedon Ranges, Victoria Growing grapes in cooler to marginal areas is tricky business. Let’s face it, agriculture is a tricky business where you can be confronted with frost during bud forming, managing light into the canopy to help with ripening and preventing disease in the canopy itself. Add into theContinue reading “Wine Code Breaker #391”
The Unexpurgated Wine Code 