The Press Gang

Foreign wine with Balls!
Unless you drink Amarone, Barolo or Chateauneuf du Pape, the titular reality is one that you will rarely find- especially with respect to a skinny acidic variety- like Sangiovese usually IS!!
This is different… and im quite shocked at how good it IS.
It has FRUIT, lots of it and straight away and up front and its brightness is juxtaposed with and counterpoint to the sourness that one normally experiences - replaced by a fabulous tension between fruit ripeness , juicyness , and youthfulness kept in perfect orbit by the lavender and herb aromas, measured acidity and balance ..all with ‘full Australian styled body and intensity’

Plum and cherry skin meets red beery compote with herbal florals- DELICIOUS
Its not gonna make it to tomorrow this one- it’s already gone. … tellingly, Ninfato in Italian , means Nymph .
IGT is kinda like 3rd division usually.. this is 1st Division, threatening Premier League .. for less than $25.
Takemymoney.

Sensi, Ninfato, IGT Sangiovese, 2023, 14.5%, Tuscany 🇮🇹 Italy.

OTTO by White Gate.
2022, 13.5%abv, Grenache/ Mataro/ Cabernet Sauvignon , $23.

;Aesthetically pleasing from the start, it only got better!
Before the bottle is even open, you know you’re ‘not in Kansas anymore Toto’.
The odd-looking port shaped bottle , the artistic character of the label, the enigmatic nomenclature, the cork ,all create atmosphere before its even opened.
On pouring, the rustic rusted brass colour and clouded opacity suggest an uncharacteristic unfiltered unfined homemade massale, ..this was the second obvious ( and pleasant) clue , Toto.
Something is going on here!
🧐
Something really interesting, something cool, something delicious and something something…
.🙌..
[_sorry i was trying to male-multitask.. and ask , my wine providore if there was any more- No, you have it All . (all 3).. . before i press full SEND on this, you see?! .. sed Dr Seuss😳🤡]
- This is more. like a actual Wizard of Oz!

The important stuff;
Garrigue-esque aromas float
with creamy red/blue berries , and walnut shells inviting the tastebuds, adding dark plums and chocolate beetroot, to over-browned toast char and some lovely chewy tannins courtesy of ‘Only in Australia’ varietal blend in play.

Whoever swapped Shiraz ( which needs no help from You).. with Grenache/ Mataro ( aka Mourverdé, Monastrell ).. the ‘M’ in GSM blends.
- Deserves an Award . A big one to stick beside THIS nuanced full body and savoury fruit leather denture/ mouthjoy of a wine!

MMm, Mm, Mm, Mm, Mmmmmmm
(read;) : that was yummy’ .. or.. the ‘sound of s*x ’.. Mmm
Either way the sounds of enjoyment , especially with your mouthful, supersede, outrank and heavily trump anything that ‘Actual words even have in their hand. ‘.. ( to , ahem, further ‘extend’ the metaphor).. …
What a Fantastic 3-way!!
I dunno who these guys are, and nobody I know seems to either.. ; Hi-6* to you guys. 🫶🙌
*xinawhile.

* Hi-6,(ie. 5+1).. 😎😆

Flowstone, Moonmilk, 2024 Shiraz/ Grenache /Viognier, Margaret River,
;A bright bit of fresh, floral and fruity fun.

French wine varieties and blends such as Shiraz / Viognier from Cote Rotie and Viognier from Condrieu are two of my earliest ‘vinous foreign affairs’ and remain equally so-loved today.
Initially, that was because curiosity had been kind and my early wine excursions had lead me to find Yalumba Viognier.
Later when I tasted other Rhone valley (France) varietals and blends , they clicked perfectly with my Australian love of Barossa shiraz and (later) grenache , which came as a response to meeting GSM blends from France.. which id found at Vintage Cellars- while looking for French examples of Chardonnay and instead found Rhone Viognier.

It wasnt until I learned about ‘co-polymerisation of anyhocyanins’ ,
(which sounds like the name of a Greek tragedy.. )..and similar crazy chemistry that I understood why Shiraz and Viognier ‘Work’ as a blend.
(go look it up) .. the colour intensity increase, the tannin structure , the red/green interplay of acidity and flavours with the terroir. blah blah. I was hooked.

Jump-cut to now .
Fresh, punchy, spiced and nuanced with medium bodied washes of plums n bluish reddish berries , flecked with provençal herbs, maritime-proximal clean earth carbonates and fresh apricots with a smear of stalk and nut kernel paste.
A Joy wine for me, for reasons that you can see, but also a testament to the softly-spoken excellence of both the winemaking and the no-brainer of Margaret River Shiarz in blends, with its original friends, such as here.

(14%abv, < $25) .
take my money.
source : Green street cellars, on Green street Joondana, Perth, WA, Australia , Earth. ! 🙌

‘De-licious ‘… perhaps the best 2 words you could hope for as wine descriptors .
Delicious cold, increasingly more Delicious as it warms up, this has become more captivating the longer it has been open and especially the warmer it became.
Initially colder and tighter with green mango/ granny smith’s apple skin, and sea sand with some slivered almonds, morphing and revealing various melon and stone fruits , limes and limestone dappled with deftly distributed dosage of nut kernel spiced phenolics , tannins and crisp acidity with floral whifs and nuances of mangosteen-esque citrus , dried nectarine and other yellow stuff if it lasts long enough.
De-licious.

; It was due to drinking this a bit warmer today, that I became so enamoured of it, as i currently am, only to find a ‘barely-gargleable-amount’ left in the bottle , frustrating further enjoyment or assessment, for now.

Watson Family 2024, Margaret River Chardonnay, 13%abv, bout $25.
take my money.

Crackin wine .. open it , remove a gargleable amount , replace cork/lid, put in fridge, wait a day for best results!
(or another 2-6 yrs in the cellar )

Casillero del Diablo, 2023 Reserva Privado ( private reserve-oir) Carmenere , Rapel valley , Chile, 14% abv, about $26.
lovely ripe dark tree fruits and whifs of white flowers and charcoals .
De-licious! i wish i werent empty .

Grand Vidure, its birth name, is from Bordeaux, and .. well , full disclosure- you dropped the ball Bordeaux… now Chile ‘OWNS’ Carmenere, like .. Kiwis ‘OWN’ Sauvignon blanc… thats TWICE , just in this one mostly accurate story.
‘Rhone fans, Barolo fans.. lend me your ears’ ( G-rad the Elder).

Wild People doing wild things.
2025 version… its got talent, its got edge, the fruit is drawn from a wider catchment now.. that Ive made them notorious.
Damn… collective awareness equals changes to the organism.
Who knew.
Very lovely dark choc and volcanic vibes , less jubes than the earlier vintages, a bit more charred and Rhone.
getting better every minute.
bbang for $23

Meet my mate… Mũller T/..
Could you imagine being introduced like that in a bored (blanco) generation ,
in the 79s.. pre-rap..?
Mũller was there , olayin and playing Napoleon.. Open Miserè…
(quote me)
Dj Hell would come play here, . thats how cool it is that Uncle MT .. lives with KT. .
💪🏻

Andeluna, Blanc de Malbec, 2023
valle de Uco, Mendoza Argentina.
I…
didn’t know this was a thing, …¡bang.. off its other foot.. past you unto the top corner- didn’t even see it coming!
2:0…
… brought on my no.1 striker, Con Carne de Chille.. it has too much chilli, intentionally… this guy with his thai greens and mangosteens , chivey tropical tree fruits in green n yellow n white… hanging out together tonight. whatever you want that to mean there, is fine with me, and so it was.

its even got red grape character.. blackberry and briary as it warms. a most excellent surprise . perfect with chilli beef beans and rice. 🙌🤚🏻😎 por qué no?
ya beena, whatever language they speak in Argentina, !
this is fabulous.
watch… it get huge!