Time To Stock Up

The Age

Tuesday July 10, 2007

Jeni Port

We have been spoilt rotten. We have enjoyed bountiful harvests - actually, three of them - and we have sipped some great-value $5 chardonnay and $8 shiraz, but it's all coming to an end.

Melbourne's main cleanskin outlets report that they will no longer be able to buy good-quality wines at too-cheap-to-be-true prices.

Sure, cheap prices will continue (the Australian Cleanskin Group still has a $2.50 bottle of wine on its shelves) but the quality of the wine at those prices will now properly reflect the price.

During the next six months we will see a transformation in the quality of our cleanskins, so consider stocking up.

Similarly, wine stores that deal in stock liquidation and cancelled export orders will also start to notice fewer offerings from Australian wine companies.

Here's a pick of what's out there now:

McLaren Vale 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc/Merlot, $7.99

Lifted dusky rose petals with spring flowers, cinnamon and nutmeggy spice. Not big in the usual McLaren Vale way but gentle, spicy and succulent with subtle sweet oak. Great mouthfeel and length. An outstanding buy.

Dan Murphy's stores.

Leongatha 2004 Chardonnay, $10.95

Highly fragrant with the smell and taste of summer stone fruits, with an attractive thread of minerality and slight nuttiness on the palate. Well-made, fresh and delicious.

Swords Select, Clifton Hill, Melbourne, North Melbourne, South Melbourne.

Yarra Valley 2006 Chardonnay, $9.99

Excellent value; clean, fresh and well-made. Possibly unwooded, it has aromas of grapefruit, lemony citrus and nectarines followed by more of the same fruitiness on the palate, along with marked acidic backbone. Tight and almost lean.

Australian Cleanskin Group, St Kilda, Collingwood, Richmond, South Yarra.

Mornington Peninsula 2005 Cabernet Merlot, $9.95

Hard to believe there is still peninsula cabernet being made - let alone one that can reach 14 per cent alcohol. Deep cerise, sweet raspberries, fleshy plums with a cherry-like dry astringency. Merlot seems to dictate the direction of this wine: the smoothness, the upfront plummy richness.

Swords Select, Clifton Hill, Melbourne, North Melbourne, South Melbourne.

Oakover 2005 Margaret River Cabernet Merlot, $12

Quite an elegant, medium-bodied red, with aromas of dried herb, raspberry and blackberry. The herbal thread continues on the palate and there's an attractive smooth, textural quality.

Wine Clearance Warehouse, Brunswick East, Fairfield, Seddon, Niddrie.

Silvan Hill Estate Blocks B&C Yarra Valley 2004 Shiraz, $9.50

Definite cool-climate shiraz characters dominated by a leafiness and strong peppery-ness. At 12.2 per cent alcohol it could be judged under-ripe but lovers of over-the-top white pepper will buy it by the bushel.

Wine Clearance Warehouse: Brunswick East, Fairfield, Seddon, Niddrie. -- JENI PORT

© 2007 The Age

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