3/8/2024 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Come on people, let the world begin! How can you not feel some ignition in your soul when you have a bottle of wine with a rhinoceros on the label? Does no-one care for Ionesco in these heathen, 40 characters equals literacy days?

My own label would no doubt feature the polecat, the warthog or the stinkbug, but this has a rhinoceros, and you know it has to be good. Even if Zero Mostel isn't pouring for you.

'Oh yes', you mutter, rivetted to the concrete as always, 'get on with the wine you spastic f*^ker'.

Well, the wine pours (are you happy now?) with the usual Neb mix of cherry and a hint of brick and it is translucent as it should be. There is still some sparkle and that says 'I am alive'.

The nose and palate on day 1 are a little truculent but there is varietal cherry, a little strawberry on the finish and the middle is all cranberry goodness. There is some rose perfume and the tannins are a small tidal wave, ripe and fine, but perhaps lacking that element of nuttiness and sweetness in amongst the bitter that separates the good from the fine. Intensity is excellent but the length pulls up a bit. It is a Langhe people, so keep that in mind. If you were paying Barolo prices, riot and pillage, but this wine is a fairly priced Langhe and you gets what you pays for, but you also get a rhinoceros.

This wine really hums on day 2. You start to get those lovely, candied fruit aspects in addition to the above characters. The finish remains a touch short. However, the rhinoceros keeps you believing.

I keep thinking 'How can anyone not think that this is a far more complex grape than Pinot?' Apparently, they do, though and I guess that is good, because Neb from Piedmont is costly enough. Imagine if the Burg wankers really got onto the real thing. I believe the rhinoceros will keep them at bay and that is why, anytime you see a label with a rhinoceros, you should buy it, you should love it and you should feel some joy to be alive.

Of course, Ionesco's rhinoceros was a more sinister thing. It is thriving today. Those who are not of the Ionesco rhinoceros are happy little organisers of the trains.

8/12/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

I find this wine to be intriguing - in the best sense of the word. I love Marsanne and Roussanne, so this is all to the good and Clape is one of my favourite makers, so more in the plus column before the cork is yanked out.

From a warm vintage the colour (white gold, or even just gold) tells you to expect a mouthful of flavour and it doesn't let you down.

The nose does not give me a lot of honeysuckle, but it does give me floral notes, along with something approaching pineapple, almost a kind of fermenting pineapple, definite tropical fruits, baking pastry smells; in the mouth it is almost low acid (but don't misunderstand this - it finishes clean and fresh), there is some flintiness and a very long finish with excellent intensity.

This wine screams for time in the cellar but, by Jove, it appeals now as well.

The longer you give it to open up the more it will respond - at first, I was wondering if this wasn't a vinous equivalent of Lana del Rey; superficially deep, yet enjoyable for its joy in being superficial (I am thinking the splendid 'Mariner's Apartment Complex'). Some hours later I am know that there is that aspect, but it seems to sit so well with Leonard Cohen that I think we have to accept it is a very serious wine indeed, yet with dark humour - "If thine is the glory, then mine must be the shame..."

2/24/2024 - Rote Kappelle wrote:

This wine is as pleasurable as reading or listening to John Mearsheimer, a right-wing American nationalist but also a chap with a sense of humour, erudition, a sense of history and a developed capacity to look objectively at what is, not to invent what he would want to be. This is also how we should approach wine.

I really needed a boost and this wine, plus a fine Clemens Busch provided it in spades, along with a brace of fine (but rather small) steaks.

So, what do we have here? The colour is quite deep, there is some brick but not much more than there would have been almost at bottling. It is under a fairly non-descript cork, so you will get a lot of variation because of this ancient form of closure that is the equivalent to preferring the horse to the car, because there is more romance in the horse - especially cleaning up all that horse...

The nose brings out my inner Flashman, singing a few hearty 'Nyaws' as I disrobe any number of well-built lasses who just want to be nice to me. The only thing better than fighting well in battle is avoiding fighting in battle at all.

The characters I get, apart from the risk of fainting from the never ending stiffies caused each time I 'schniff der wine' are that initial hit of dried herbs (this is the Red Hot Momma from Louisianna- surely a prescient reference to Stormy), then waves of jube like dark fruits, with just a hint of amaro (Ted Nugent's neo porn background music - Stranglehold) and a mouthfeel that is really what you cellar wine for; tannins are nearly resolved, fine and a pleasure in their own right, sweet and bitter and nutty (rather like me), the intensity is at Gonzo Level 12 and length is the trajectory my life never really took - onwards and upwards forever.

You can argue about whether this is 'Excellent' or 'Outstanding' but for mine it crosses the line because it is the exemplar of what Brunello is, or should be. The balance is exquisite, there is finesse, yet lustiness and it is hard not to keep going back for more. And that last one is, I think, the ultimate thing with wine. If you can't stop drinking it, then it has done something great, however it got there.

I sometimes think that the Riservas of Brunello wines can be a case of too much of a good thing and that it is the relatively humble standard Brunello, or even the Rossi, that give you the best expression of the grape, the region and why Sangiovese should be considered a Noble Grape. The Riservas can be more about the winemaker than anything else. That isn't bad but ...

2/23/2024 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

5th generation winemaking family in Volnay, winemaker has wide experience in and out of Burgundy, 1er Cru in an AOC historically regarded as the best in the Cotes de Beaune and Chevret is adjacent to the greatest of the 1er Crus in Volnay. A very fine vintage and Volnay tends to be ready to drink earlier than many AOC’s so the whole package looks pretty good.

The wine doesn’t let you down. It is good drinking from the moment the cork is hauled out and on day 2 it remains very good. Colour is on the darker side. Fragrant red berry but with depth, almost jube like and then some spicey oak.

Complexity is not a strength at this time but that may come. Great length and intensity. Easily in the excellent range.

Yet again, however, I am asking myself ‘what is Pinot’ and ‘why?’. I really like the variety. I like Red Burg. However, if I think about aromatic reds, I think of Pinot, Sangiovese, Grenache and Nebbiolo. Why is Pinot one of the handful of ‘Noble varieties’ and the others not, when to me it is the least complex of the four grapes I have listed? Would it have the position it has today if it were not for its ability to ripen in colder climates, colder epochs and in a region that by an accident of history enjoyed shelter under a series of relatively stable and powerful regimes and traded with England, a power that established a long-lasting cultural hegemony? If Italy had been more proximate to England would that have changed the reputational balance?

What is Pinot? Is it the more extracted, dense, wines increasingly fashionable since the late 1980’s and does it need new oak to give it complexity that other varieties inherently have in the grape itself? Does that matter?

The complacent answer inevitably tossed out by life’s drones is that you have to drink the best of Burgundy to understand it. But I think I have had a fair exposure to many of these. The same answer could be given to any question about any variety. It's the moron's invitation to share their intellectual cul de sac.

Another response trotted out is ‘just look at the market’ (it is always right, apparently, except when it isn’t), or the related ‘just look at how many of the greatest wines are from Burgundy’. But what actually is the criteria for ‘greatness’? At what point do tradition, reputation, marketing and prestige cloud the picture and the ability to assess in an objective way?

My criteria for ‘nobility’ would be the ability of the grape itself to produce complexity without oak, to produce length, intensity and mouthfeel and to enhance food, not drown it out in a vinous version of the wall of sound production style. On those criteria, I think Pinot would struggle. It wouldn’t struggle to make a lot of wines I like (and love), but it would battle to make my grade for a grape that is in and of itself a clear cut above the rest. Sangiovese and Nebbiolo would romp home. I am not sure about Grenache - my own taste preferences put Pinot aromas and flavours ahead.

As I have a palate that would struggle to climb above the very low bar of my skill as a lawyer, I am not pretending to pass judgement. I might not even be raising questions that merit discussion, except in my own ‘village’ or 'crus bourgeoise' level mind.

2/22/2024 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

I know not why, but somehow of late I have lost my mirth. If you find it, please send it to me post haste. This wine did help break the bonds for a moment.

In case you know as little of Aglianico as me, ignorant swine that I am, I read that it is, with Sangioslammer and Neb widely regarded as forming the trio at the top of the Italian red wine tree. Much as I like this wine, I will reserve judgement on that one. It is a late ripener, inclined to be tannic and acidic but producing full bodied wines. Pliny the Elder thought its wines rocked, and he would know because that cat really could swing.

More than Pliny, this wine brought to mind the devil may care attitude, verve and dash and integrity of General de Brigade Carlo Balabio, one of the many northern Italians who give the lie to the idea that Napoleon's great enterprise was a French despotism. That my friends, is one of those myths that only survive because it is repeated. Even a cursory reading of the period shows that across Europe progressive elements were staunch allies of Napoleon.

Featuring an almost inky depth of purple red colour, this wine shows none of its 9 years. Balabio was the son of a family of bankers and the colour resembles the rich life of his family.

The nose and palate are a complex riot, just as the life of a true hussar like Balabio should be. There is blackberry, dark plum, some mocha, smoke (Carbonari?), spice and loads of tannins but they are delicious and become a point of pleasure. They are the sometimes hardness of the life of the Hussar that leads ultimately to the romping and stomping.

Balabio stayed loyal to the cause and so does this wine. It has years ahead but is a pleasure now. It makes me think of Amarone and that is just fine. I think Balabio's finest moment came when at the Battle of Valls his 'Napoleon's Dragoons' smashed into a desperate charge by the Spanish cavalry and using those mighty, straight sabres they thrust their way through the Spanish, killing General von Reding and routing his men. This wine puts you in that frame of mind.

1/26/2024 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Australia Day 2024. My difficult relationship with this country sees another year amidst deep sadness and yet also affection. I guess that is how love affairs tend to be. So it is with Australian Rieslings and I.

In truth, my relationship with Leo Buring Riesling is less complicated. I adore them. Even when I have lost a lot of my taste for Oz Rieslings, my old and deep love for them continues. In a long marriage there may come a time when the physical enthusiasm wanes, or perhaps even dies, yet the love for something else, the spirit and soul of the person burns as bright as it ever did, maybe more so. I am wedded to the tradition of Leo Buring. To the sheer gift for survival. To the unending commitment to Riesling and making truly regional and varietal wines.

I still remember my first Leonay with pristine clarity, like the wine itself. It was 1992 and the wine was a 1988 Leonay Clare Valley. I was entangled in a doomed but intoxicating affair that was probably the defining physical relationship of my life.

This wine is under the gorgeous screw cap of destiny. It pours a lovely sparkling clean gold. The colour speaks of age but the brightness says it is not tired.

The nose and palate are classic Oz Riesling. Kerosene, lime and lime zest, in the mouth there is also lemon, ripe and with that engaging combination of sweet and sour, a little butter and toast. The kero dominates the nose but the palate is balanced and delightful. Better still, the acid is not that piercing Oz Riesling acid that I just can't deal with but it is still fresh.

I guess one might say the kero is some of the things I struggle with, summed up by the meanness of spirit referred to in Paul Kelly's 'Land of the Little Kings'. Yet the rest of the package is the stuff I do like - informality, a view that respect is earned not inherited, a willingness to take on a challenge and a stoicism that I both love and hate, as I do the philosophy. In the wine this is the sweet Meyer lemon, the purity of the fruit and the indomitable spirit of Leo Buring.

The finish is long and the intensity is like the sun here; bright, burnishing and strong.

The kero factor is something a drinker needs to allow for. Some hate it, some love it and some, like me can live with it if there is more to the wine.

12/22/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

I found this to be rather a wizard wheeze. Sadly, for the most part Champagne leaves my flinty Protestant heart rather cold; perhaps I am predestined to be miserable?

It was surprising to find this on the list of a sensationally awful bottle shop but I had read some good things and so after a quick bit of embezzling of funds (God wants us to be rich and happy, ergo he don't mind a spot of well directed criminality - the prosperity gospel really gets to the heart of the Sermon on the Mount and it really is the driving theme in the Gospel of Luke) this was had.

Nice notes of brioche, lovely white peach and nectarine fruit, not a grapefruit in sight and some bready autolysis stuff. Hint of almond. Lovely clarity and bead. I have to say that this was worth every penny I stole. It also provided a really nice way to welcome in the Festy Season and celebrate finishing a long, hard year and clearing the decks so that I have a fighting chance of a few weeks of unmitigated bliss before the damnation sets in again.

12/2/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Yes, fellow Trackers of the Cellar, I hear your plaintive cries and the torment of your souls. 'Why?', 'Why? Oh why?' you cry out, rending your garments and plucking the small hairs of your noses. 'Why does not one review make reference to the Byzantine Emperor, Nikephoros Phokas?' How I share your pain. But be placid now, rest easy, be as the lamb of God, for I am here and bring His message, via Nikephoros' greatest supporter, his help-meet I might say, Liutprand of Cremona.

This Comte d'Armand vintage is, of course, a special one. Like Nikephoros, it comes into crisis and struggles mightily. Its efforts are crowned with success, yet some lingering (admittedly small) doubts remain.

Unlike Nikephoros, it is unlikely that you, gentle drinker, will be murdered in your sleep with the connivance of your wife. Unless it be that you hold stocks of this wine and decline to share them amply with my good self, doubling in the role of the honourable John Tzimiskes.

Like the thundering cataphracts of Nikephoros reconquering Cilicia and routing the locals, or raiding deep into the Saracen held lands around Nisibis (in the course of which he earned the rather charming sobriquet 'White death of the Saracens'), this monopole is of an unusual scale. Not only it is a premier cru in its own right, it is situate in an area replete with wonderful vineyards.

As we all know, Pommard means wines with a pleasing combination of aromatic lift married to considerable heft and power. Sometimes, however, the power puts one more in mind of the Clibinarii (camp ovens) description of cataphracts - a little rustic, rough hewn and the tannins tending to mean and even ugly. Here, however, we have the heavy cavalry as they should be - proud, powerful but also skillful and even graceful.

Nikephoros was one of the great warrior-monk Byzantine emperors. After the early death of his wife he swore an oath of chastity, which must have been interesting when he married the wife of his predecessor as Emperor. Her late husband had allegedly died as a result of his debauched, over sexed lifestyle and his wife was seen as sharing many of his libidinous tendencies. Did she poison Romanos II because he was a bit useless, as alleged? Who knows?

Liutprand described Nikephoros in the following flattering terms after his incredibly successful visit to the court in the 960's:

"a monstrosity of a man, a pygmy, fat-headed and like a mole as to the smallness of his eyes; disgusting with his short, broad, thick, and half hoary beard; disgraced by a neck an inch long; very bristly through the length and thickness of his hair"

This description, doubtless incredibly accurate, bears little resemblance to descriptions by others at the time, nor does it resemble pictures of the Emperor, but if JJ Norwich accepts the views of a fellow European who are we to argue? Other depictions are of an aesthetic looking man, not notably ugly. Which does this wine resemble?

Across two days decanted this wine shows little change. It is deep of hue, showing few signs of age. The nose is aromatic - macerated strawberries, cinnamon, some yoghurt like aspects, a little spice. Very heady. The palate is powerful, long and intense, with tannic grip in balance, although I think we do see the presence of a fair amount of well-handled oak. much like the heavy armour of the cataphracts. The fruit is there to handle it. I have to say that this is almost classical Burgundy. It hews closer to the pictorial evidence of Nikephoros than it does to Liutprand's description.

Like Nikephoros, you may have to engage in considerable economies at home to support the effort of making war/seizing stock of this. In seeking it out I urge you to be as ruthless, as relentless and as willing to overcome initial set-backs as Nikephoros Phokas. Like him, earn a title like 'White Death of the Hoarders of Comte d'Armand'. I also encourage you to be suspicious of Papists, but go one step further than Nikephoros and loathe all religion with a truly Catholic breadth.

'Nikephoros' as we all know translates roughly as 'Bringer of Victory' or 'Herald of Victory'. Our man earned the name. Yet his murder was not unpopular, although his replacement by another military man, his nephew, has a certain irony. Tzimiskes was also deeply religious in his way of life, not just at Sunday service.

Nikephoros handled the expansionist plans of the Germans in Italy roughly, he reconquered strategically important territory like Crete, Cyrus and the Cilician gates and he achieved great success against the dread Saracens.

So, why a nagging doubt about him? Well, as with this wine, one wonders whether the driving force behind the power is sustainable and whether there is incipient over-reach. Here it is, for me, a slight question about the oak. This is not a wine where you must wade through the oak to find a quivering, delicate and dying piece of fruit. But the oak is not a small part of the picture. I tend to the view the wine will continue to grow and continue to soak it up but...

With Nikephoros, it was really about the capacity of the realm to fund the endless wars and the willingness and capacity of its people to endure the hardships of endless war. Within a century the successes were swept away, by the Normans in Italy and Sicily and by the Seljuk Turks at Manzikert. Well before then, the armies had become dependent on mercenaries to a degree unheard of and the rulers and people had become the kind of lame, dope-smoking, slacking little suckers so familiar today.

Drink this wine and channel your inner Nikephoros, or Tzimiskes. Like the wine and the emperors, feel the power and live the life, but do watch the wife.

8/23/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Jancis Robinson once described the wines of Cornas as 'obdurate', but this is a rather expressive and almost elegant wine. Whereas the 2019 was a cuirassier, this is a dashing and elegant type - perhaps of the Empress' Dragoons of the Imperial Guard, or a figure like General Vandamme.

Like Vandamme, this is a wine of the darkest dye - purple red and clearly brooking no silliness.

Vandamme was a notorious character but also extraordinarily brave, loyal to Napoleon and a competent commander. Napoleon said of him "If I were to lead a campaign against Lucifer in Hell, Vandamme would lead the vanguard". There is a play on words here, or a double meaning, because Vandamme was almost legendary for his looting (especially of churches - how much one wishes he were here today) and corruption; at one point Napoleon had also said of Vandamme "If I had two of him the only solution would be to have one hang the other".

The nose and palate of this wine deliver, like Vandamme. This is not as big, upfront and potent as the 2019 but it does not lack its own type of power; it is sleek and the finish powers on. It takes a while to open up, so either decant and leave for a few hours, or open the bottle and leave in place for 6-8 hours.

The fruit moves through a spectrum of at first slightly reserved dark plum and some dark berries. Over time a definite note of blueberry comes in and is almost intoxicating. I think a pairing of the 2019 and 2020 Cornas from Clape will make for fascinating drinking at any time, but especially as they get some age. I am put in mind of 1989 and 1990 in Bordeaux, or even 1982 and 1983.

Like Vandamme, there is also the usual Cornas stench of corruption - roast meats, smoke, black pepper and charcuterie. I don't think it is incipient Brettanomyces and I don't find it unbalanced, but with these characters, everyone has different tolerances.

Something I like about Cornas is that it is what it is and it is not afraid to speak its truths. When Vandamme was captured (after a hell of a fight) and brought before Tsar Nicholas I, the Tsar, appalled by this ruffian who had risen from the ranks to become a general, berated him for his rapacious character, to which Vandamme, staring insolently at Nicholas snorted 'That may be so, but you are not the person to accuse me of anything. At least I did not murder my father.' To add insult to injury there was no recognition of the Tsar's royal person - no 'your highness' etc. Needless to say, Vandamme was not well treated and, unlike many other Napoleonic generals, there was no amnesty or restoration to military rank under the Bourbons. His cards were marked.

I sometimes think that those who belittle Cornas are a little like those who complain about Napoleon's character and call him a tyrant. Compared to...? Tsar Alexander who was at least complicit in the British funded murder of his father Paul? The King of Britain, possibly mad but certainly locked up and maltreated by his son, of whom a senior aide wrote in his diary "A more contemptible, cowardly, selfish, unfeeling dog does not exist ... There have been good and wise kings but not many of them ... and this I believe to be one of the worst."? A kingdom that pursued policies of political assassination and at home near genocidal treatment of the Irish? Perhaps the Spanish royal family - so appallingly inbred that the Spanish patriot and artist Goya depicted them as morons in his works?

One need not necessarily like Cornas, one can acknowledge its challenging aspects, but let us also admire its clear qualities. Like Vandamme, it is a thing of many parts. I admire character and Vandamme, like Cornas, has it in spades - do you?

10/7/2023 - Rote Kappelle wrote:

I have belatedly discovered the joys of 'Stoner Rock' from the 1990's. I am especially taken by Monster Magnet's 'Powertrip'. It occurs to me that this Trediberri is rather like Stoner Rock. It gives you the basics with a certain verve but there are rough edges and like Stoner Rock bands, there isn't the complexity, virtuosity or light and shade of the best of the 'originals'.

2013 was a good Barolo vintage that offered much more early drinking pleasure, without compromising ability to age. This shows the vintage with the expected deluge of tannins, but they are quite succulent and ripe; oh yes, this is Fu Manchu, the guitars tuned down to D and plenty of wah wah and Crown fuzz box. The fruit is a little one dimensional and lacks the lovely scent and light of the better Barolos - less the relatively capable playing of Fu Manchu and closer to the more basic riffing of most of the other Stoner Rock bands. However, tar and roses there be, along with some cherry. Length is excellent and intensity is also very good. You get a lot for your dollar here.

This gives me the same pleasures I get from Stoner Rock; it reminds me of better stuff but it is joyfully what it is. I grew up with weed smoking parents who listened to lots of the stuff that Stoner Rock drew on - Steppenwolf, Blue Cheer, MC5, Bruce West Lang, Cactus, Vanilla Fudge. I find it interesting that other 70's weed music, such as Robin Trower and Mahogany Rush doesn't seem to feature in the iconography of Stoner Rock - I suspect that the virtuosity is beyond them and it may also not be what they seek. Like the Trediberri, take it on its own terms and enjoy it for what it is.

10/7/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

There are few things in life better than the breaking of wind that relieves a gut ravaged by stress.

Drinking mature, classical Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the few things that just might be better. But why not do both? Be a Boozing Buddhist and honour the Ying (wind) and the Yang (Cabernet). Share both with a friend if you will, or be like me, a solitary farter and drinker.

Stonyridge make a superb Cabernet, year after year that is very true to the classical left bank Bordeaux style. I would struggle in a blind tasting to pick this was not a Pauillac or Haut Medoc.

The wine pours with a deep, almost inky colour (perhaps a depth that suggests it is not Bordeaux) and it is showing age - brick and scarlet.

I note that this wine puts on depth and gains fruit over 5-6 hours open, rather than losing weight and fruit. I think it is accurate that this is a mature wine but vagaries of cork allowing, it is far from being on the decline.

The nose and palate deliver notes of olive, juniper, some silage and red-currant. Tannins are still present but are very close to fully resolved. Acid is in balance, providing freshness. Length is outstanding and this is about as close to a perfect expression of the style as you can get. The red fruits are definitely the least strong of the characters I have noted, as one might expect from a wine so venerable.

I have had to fight myself in true Calvinist style not to guzzle this; the Papists be damned. This wine deserves disciplined drinking. As another volley of wind breaks out, reminding me of WW1 rolling barrages, I smile and feel the gut tension ease. Good Cabernet does that. Journey's End. Soon it will be all quiet on the western front.

4/4/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

I am a bit troubled by some of the reviews of this wine and this vintage. It is not because some reviewers clearly don't think much of the wine - like music, if you like it, or don't like it - 'de gustibus non est disputandum'. The negative reviews also clearly make an effort to identify what they are unhappy with and they are not identifying things that are not there etc., so that is fine.

What troubles me, deeply, is what I perceive to be a lack of understanding, or appreciation of what Chianti Classico is and the lineage and stature of this particular maker and this particular wine and vintage.

I do not advocate for some kind of slavish deference to the great and the good. Great wineries make some awful crap from time to time and they should be called out without fear or favour. I also don't advocate for the drinker to not state their preference or subjective feeling about the wine.

However, I perceive, rightly or wrongly, that comments like 'at the end of the day I have to stay with Cabs' (no argument with a personal preference) suggest a total lack of respect for, or knowledge of what is being consumed. As do the comments that the wine is 'kind of boring' or that it is 'austere'.

Chianti Classico should be all about the character of Sangiovese and the soil from which it comes. It should be relatively light bodied, with plenty of fresh but not sour acid, firm but fine and ripe tannins and it should express aromas and flavours of crisp, red cherry, perhaps a little pomegranate, some floral elements (suggestive of roses) and some earth/smoke/tar. It is made to compliment food. This wine has excellent length and intensity as befits the vintage and it ticks all the Sangiovese boxes. I was excited by this wine and its purity.

Now, I love the characteristics of Chianti Classico made to reflect the traditions of the Sangiovese grape; others may not. However, this wine is stunningly successful at providing exemplary Sangiovese characteristics. As such, whether one likes it or not, this should be recognised.

I also loved the fact that this wine is so fresh and almost crunchy fruited despite being from the 2019 vintage, which magnificent as it is, often has one weakness - relative lack of fresh acid. But it still has the ripeness, fleshiness and quality of this year. The wine may seem 'austere' compared to a Chateauneuf de Pape, or an Oz Shiraz, or a Tuscan IGT with a wallop of Merlot and oak, but in a big year, from some of the best vineyards in the heart of Chianti Classico, in its own terms, austere this is not.

Let's also remember that this maker is regarded as one of the brightest stars in the Chianti Classico region, respected for the way they express the typicity of Chianti. This is not Korean Shiraz, or Congolese Pinot or some other surprising and possibly dodgy wine style; this is one of the great wines styles of the world. Again, that doesn't mean you have to pretend you like it but I think it does mean we should show some respect - 'kind of boring'? No issue with saying 'Not really my thing' or similar.

Let's also remember the price of the wine. You are getting great PQR here for a truly exceptional Chianti Classico.

Before I wrote this, I decided to see what other people who know their Chianti had to say about the maker and the wine. Nicolas (possibly nicker less after a few bottles of Classico) Belfrage, MW writes of 'One of Chianti Classico's most illustrious and historic estates' and of the CC he writes of its fruit and fragrance and firm backbone. Nesto, MW and di Savino write of the CC that the way it is made and its provenance 'bring the taster directly into the flavour and sensorial world of Chianti Classico - cherries, refreshing tartness and a sharp edge of astringency'. They are not falling asleep whilst drinking this, or finding it thin and nasty.

The wine does benefit from time open and, whilst I loved the wine from the moment the cork came out, it will put on some body with about 6-8 hours open. It is humming the next day as well.

No-one has to like this, but let's try to understand it. The negative reviews are not wrong, they are not mis-identifying things (for the most part), but I do think they suggest a lack of effort. The reason the wine was recommended by Josh at the wineshop was probably because he understood that this was a superb wine of its kind and worth trying so as to expand one's boundaries. I like Cabernet, too.

9/10/2023 - Rote Kappelle wrote:

Even in a state of desperate alcoholism this wine failed to really ignite for me. Never shall it and I slam together, nor shall it grace the table of that secret society known as the Inebriati (apologies Mitchell and Webb), because it would be a colossal bummer.

This will likely age, as some note, but I doubt it will get much easier to like, as with many other rather mean things - Rishi Sunak, Donald Trump, crap in a septic tank and me. Like me, I suspect it will just get smelly, dry and nasty.

The tannins here are hard and very dry and the wine has a slightly closed off stance. There is some fruit and funk and for a moment I was thinking that I might adjust to the angular and mineral nature of the thing but over time the lack of generosity began to weigh.

I can accept that not all wine needs to be welcoming and that there may be something to be said for a Grenache that behaves like Chablis on a mean streak. I just don't want it at my table. I tried to love this, but it turns out my heart is as flinty as this wine. The one thing I will say is that if you get a chance, try it. The wine has divided CT reviewers and if it works for you, why not? It might be that my palate is more attuned to the Australian fruit forward style and that I am not judging it fairly.

9/9/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Was it the effect of taking a week off drinking (what a stupid thing to do)? Was it the fact that I was listening to Bathory's 'One Rode to Asa Bay' followed by Scatman John? Was it that it was a sunny day and the rugger world cup was on - a sport where one combines the power of the group over the individual, considerable amounts of violence with technical skills and a large quantum of intellectual input?

Or was it that this is just a jolly good wine that happily rides down its enemies and spills their blood to water the vines?

Being a sensible chappy, I think all these things played a part. The tricky thing with wine is that analysed without passion and feel you have a subject deprived of its essence. On the other hand, if you just take it subjectively, you descend to the level of the average League or Soccer/Football (F#*^ed ball) fan, or the average drunken bar room chunder, if you get my drift. I won't even acknowledge diversionary wanks like basketball.

I like the Spanish. I come to this wine with good will a forethought. The Iberians have pride and passion but dismiss their intellectual gravitas at your peril. I find Sherry greater than Port because it engages my mind more. Their table wines are waiting to take off, from a very solid base. I admire the Catalans for El Caganer and the Basques for ETA and rugger and cussedness. I believe they will lead me to a life of crime. This wine is from Toledo and I see it as an inheritor of the spirit of PCE before 1968. There is only one way to win in revolution; you must water the tree of Liberty with the blood of your enemies.

I am a Grenache sceptic. I see it as leaning to right deviationism. There is always with it the risk of Bukharin. However, the basic drive of the grape is well directed - wine purity and freedom. Keep it under a close watch, allow it to flourish but guide it, with extreme prejudice where need be.

So, here we have a lovely colour - bright but not that anodyne aspect of too many New World proto-fascist wines. There is some slightly burnt umber/rust/brick. Human and grape potential unleashed. There is depth here, promising some real substance on the palate. Woody Guthrie stirs.

The nose combines the sweet, candy naughty things that rub the wrong way with my Calvinist and Communist soul. However, it combines with some roast meat, spice and earth and that works nicely. These are the hairshirt and ashes. At heart Bukharin was a good sort. Raise the Jolly Roger, fly the red flag, bring together hammer and sickle; these are the secondary characters in wine.

The palate delivers the goods, comrades. I will start with an objective aspect - the finish is very long. The intensity is excellent. Tannins are firm, but natural feeling and though they might be finer they work. They are honest and well balanced. Tom Joad would understand. We have the Hegelian dynamic in operation.

The other aspect of the wine dialectic is wonderful; fruit is strawberry and raspberry, but it is driven by earthiness and roast meat. Rivera and Sotelo and Molo have watered the tree, against their will - this is good.

This is a serious wine with a lot of character. I would not chill this, despite what I read. I would, in fact, serve it at about 18 degrees (room temperature - unless you are a pansy). My advice is to shoot anyone who suggests otherwise. Then find the other fascists and deal with them. You have to work off a firm base, as this wine does.

Let's be clear - is this great wine? No.

Is this dashed good wine? Yes.

Does it give more than the average lolly water, dilute port Grenache? Abundantly yes!

This machine kills fascists. El Caganar points their way with his least desirable aspect.

A bottle of this and we march, the Ebro is ours, Thalmann escapes. First, we take Manhattan (a very good cocktail, by the way), then we take Berlin (Neu Kolln and raze the rest). This is Rote Kappelle, what else do you expect?

And yes, we run closet Tories out; bye bye Orwell. I will take the Lincoln Battalion, Thalmann Battalion and even Hemmingway - they understood. Orwell fiddled and made tidy, artificial empiricist distinctions, whilst ignoring the advice of his Spanish comrades in arms because he was a little Englander and knew better than them. A bullet in the chest so he could smoke a cigarette. Of such things neither wars nor revolutions are won.

It isn't Animal Farm or 1984 that was right but Brave New World. Orwell was like Edmund Burke - when confronted with a chance for real change he got frightened, engaged in little distinctions and his reflexive reactionary nature came to the fore. Nothing of the mind, just the mind led by the pusillanimous heart.

Now ask yourself this - is it good wine that provokes all this, even if you hate what I write? I think the answer is yes. You might come to a different view on the politics, you might even come to a different view on the wine, but this is a wine for 'Tender is the Night', or 'Blood of My Enemies', for strong emotions and the beauty of belief.

Could Orwell write? Of course, the answer is yes with 42-point capitals in red and ten exclamation marks. Was he a courageous man? The answer again is yes; objectively yes. Was he right? Well, on that we can disagree, passionately, as the cause deserves and this wine (and others like it) might enable people to cross the divide.

I believe this wine will lead me to a life a crime; for whom the bell tolls? Like Greece in 2013, the Spanish should have taken a bottle of this and told the bankers to shove their loans up their...So many roads... 'Who do you think has it easier? Ones with religion or those just taking it straight?'

12/24/2022 - Rote Kappelle wrote:

I depress myself. There could be many reasons advanced but one of them is that try as I may, I just don't get much stiffy from Champagne. Objectively, I can appreciate it but there is no emotional engagement.

This is good stuff. I think it has positive development ahead over the next decade. It is vibrant, intense, with a long finish and some complexity. If that doesn't sell it, I don't know what will.

If you like Champagne, I think you will love this. I see it as great value and there is a nice mix of complexity and passion. Sadly, for me, for whatever reason there is just no zing. it is not about the maker it is just something idiosyncratic that extends to all sparkling wine. Not Calvinist enough?

8/5/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

This wine puts me in mind of Marshal Grouchy, because like the Marshal it is an example of excellence in its work, from an ancient family (the winery dates back to the 1500's) and is not always well understood or properly assessed.

Grouchy was a first rate commander, a cavalryman who was very capable in handling all arms (from artillery, to infantry, to the different types of cavalry). Beaucastel use most and sometimes all of the 53 million permitted grape varieties in Chateauneuf du Pape and they deploy them beautifully.

Beaucastel typically is made up of about 30% Grenache, 30% Mourvèdre and 10% Syrah/Shiraz and then the other bits and bobs. The Syrah component is sometimes aged in oak, some of it new French, but I have not ever noticed a strong oak component in their wine and, given the rest is fermented and aged in concrete and/or huge old oak barrels (over 1000 liters), I have to say I am surprised to read people noting a strong vanilla oak character. I wonder if they were interpreting some of the riper blackberry and ferment aspects as vanilla?

I found this to be a highly engaging, very enjoyable wine (characteristics not generally associated with Grouchy). Blackberry, plum and Grenache 'portiness' are to the fore. On the first night open (no decant), there was also roast meat and some charcuterie. I also got significant amounts of garrigue and especially lavender. Grenache seems to me to be the dominant grape at this time, with its perfume and that port aspect. The Mourvedre is providing some tannin grip and I like the tannin structure of this wine - for all the alcohol slipperiness, there is grip but it is not chunky.

Negatives for me are largely around the high ABV - 14.5% (at least) and, for me, a sense that this lacks the balance of the 2019, which added just a bit more muscle. It will come down to personal preference.

Grouchy provided Napoleon with 2 decades of splendid service. He has borne some pretty unjust criticism for not marching to the sound of the guns at Waterloo, where his presence may well have changed the outcome. However, he was following his orders and, in that sense, he was very much a known quantity. If Napoleon had wanted a commander who was going to be more instinctive, he should have appointed someone else. Grouchy won the last French victory of the campaign, at Wavre and then led a very effective fighting retreat into France.

I think that, like Grouchy, this wine should be taken for what it is and appreciated as such. I prefer the 2019, more of Le Pic or Nansouty, but this wine has its place, as did Grouchy.

8/5/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Where is the love for this wine you pack of dour b#$%>rds?

Admittedly, the notes are more or less on point, but apart from the chap who admits to guzzling when in no condition to appreciate (sir, you are a true Hussar!), I do think that this is a pretty enjoyable drink and the sensual and intellectual joy of grand Neb from Barbaresco and Barolo should be painted in bright colours.

From a very fine, though hot, vintage, let us remember that Montestefano wines should be angular, textured but also bold. I think this is almost textbook Montestefano. I drank it over two days and there was not a great deal of change in that time.

The tannins are present in great surging waves and the usual types will be put off by them - good, we need no pansies drinking our Barabaresco. I found the tannins to be fine, nutty and delicious, but they take no prisoners and many a fine sphincter will be utterly laid waste by them.

The nose and palate deliver those gorgeous Nebbiolo paradoxes - sweet, delicate fruit married to a brute (those tannins). There is some blackberry, the more typical cherry and some glace fruit and I also get no shortage of tar and some clove/anise. Intensity is at 75, even though the dial only goes to 11 and the length is like a West Indian quick off a 70-meter run in who has just heard the batsman mutter something seriously racist.

Something about this does make me want to shout 'I love Fidel Castro/Nebbiolo and his beard!'. But then folks already think me pretty weird.

The only thing that holds me back from scoring this as outstanding is that the fruit does get kind of truncated by the structural aspects and if I think that I want near perfection before I score a wine as 'Outstanding' then this is a fingernail short of that. My heart does say 'Outstanding'.

I drink Neb out of a Riedel Vinum Bordeaux shape. Bear that in mind because the glass type makes a huge difference. I had my first sample about 4 hours after opening and I had it at about 18 degrees. All these things play a big part in any wine, but I think especially in wines like Neb.

8/3/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

This is like holding the bewitching (but, today, doubtless somewhat smelly) Vivien Leigh in one's arms and thinking 'Rhett, old cheese, how can you do anything but ravish this creature?' Part of you knows that another line, apparently delivered to Frank (O'Hara), "My dear I don't give a yam" would be what you should say, but hell, we live but once and pleasure must be taken wherever it is to be found, as often as possible and especially when the object is so gorgeous, whenever it can be found.

On the set of my sprawling film about the nobility of the slave economy 'Strong, like my wind' this wine was being consumed in huge quantities. The only thing that is thirstier work than making propaganda is helping slaves understand how good slavery really is for them. They can be a bit ungrateful.

This wine not only asks to be ravished and enslaved, it demands it. The acid that marks the 2021 Rieslings from the land of Arminius of the Cherusci creates something truly magnificent here. I loved the Spätlese from Prum, but this is a step above. Pineapple, mango, lemon blossom, acid cut that defies all but the moronic to call it sweet, length of finish and intensity all put this in the 'Outstanding' category.

This is great now and it will, like all the true beauties, only get better with age. This wine is gorgeous. If the choice was Vivien or this, then it would be this and consolation with Mrs Palmer and her 5 daughters for me. 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a slam'.

7/17/2023 - Rote Kappelle wrote:

I felt a desire to expand my limited knowledge of Spanish wine. I like the food, I like Don Quixote and Lorca and I especially like Caganer and Tio de Nadal. I admire Basque separatists and Catalan separatists. I love Sherry, being something of a dry sack, myself.

This maker appealed to me, as it was something that promised to be a little different - not more of the usual Rioja, or Priorat, with which I have a nodding familiarity (but no more). This is a cooler vintage of wines influenced by the brisk Atlantic climate of Galicia and said to speak of the slate on which the vineyards are sited. It is also, unfortunately the birth-place of that murderous runt Franco, but I prefer to think of Veiga and Andrade.

This is a single vineyard wine, old vines, using a mix of indigenous grape varieties. These include 90% Mencia (once thought to be related to Cabernet Franc) and small amounts of Garnacha Tintorera, Brancellao and others. I pretend no real familiarity with the varieties, but I gather that Brancellao is used for aromatics of red fruits and spices, GT is used mostly for colour and perhaps providing some depth and Mencia provides lifted red fruits and often quite pronounced capsicum, leaf and earthy notes.

The Ribbiero Sacra, from whence this maker hails seems to be an area that is gaining recognition for fine wine.

Whilst there are things to admire in this wine I think I made a fundamental error in buying this vintage. A cooler year is always going to be a challenge with a wine made predominantly from a grape that just loves to toss out lots of green elements, even in warm years.

The wine has a nice ruby colour, quite bright and with some depth (thank you Mr GT). The nose is interesting, with some very attractive red fruits, a lot of perfume lift but then also some definite leaf, capsicum and earth and something almost like a sour Chinotto.

The palate is shorter than I would expect from quality wine, although intensity is ok, whilst it lasts. Tannins are there but not oppressive in their weight. However, they are quite hard and unripe. The wine is light on its feet but sour and hard to love. There is a balance issue here. I love some green characters in my wine, to add complexity and avoid fruit juice syndrome. This has way too much greenery and it is hard work drinking this, even with food of the fatty, casserole variety that I decided might give it a chance to shine.

I really would like to score this higher, but I just don't see how. Arguably, I have been over generous. I might try a vintage from a warm year, when I think it might really come into its own but 2021 just took all the nasties and magnified them. What a pity. The song for this would be "You Want It Darker' with its refrain of 'We kill the flame'.

7/14/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

It's a big, bouncing, baby boy!

I bought this off the back of a review that heaped praise on the wine and the description, more importantly, appealed. The price, for a relatively unknown wine and winery seemed about right, for what is something of a reserve wine for them. 'Reserved for, or from what', I hear you mutter. My answer is 'reserved from shits like you lot and reserved for arses like me'.

The wine is under the screw cap of love. It pours dark for Grenache, which is medium dark, nice and bright but without that shiny aspect that over-clean wines sometimes seem to have. Ruby colour and it looks inviting.

The wine you see also delivers in the wine you smell and taste (or is that guzzle?). Aromas of blue fruits and strawberry and very much varietal Grenache fruit but what I love is the roast meat and iron undertones. There is a slightly cedary aspect that I thought must be oak, but the winery swear they use 7-8 year old American oak barriques and don't seek to impart oak character (so, presumably no shaving and re-charring, which could allow 'old oak' to impart oak characters). There is alcohol (it is 14.5% ABV admitted) and you can question whether it is leaning into 'porty', but that isn't my take.

The palate is a charm because of the texture. It is smooth, but with fine, sandy tannins to the finish. The finish is very long, indeed and the intensity can't be faulted. The texture, with that almost creamy aspect did make me wonder again about oak, but perhaps it can be achieved through other means (a bit like politics). This delivers depth, without losing the quick feet and poise that Grenache should have. With its perfume, varietal fruit and sandy tannins, this wine speaks of its origins in Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale and I like that. You wouldn't think CdP but you would think it nods in that direction.

I think if you find it too much, too exuberant, I can see that, without agreeing. I love it for providing great pleasure but with some complexity. I consider the wine is very fairly priced.

Splendid with a massive piece of Scotch Fillet (for the Americans, I think this is whatever you call beef from the rib area- I call it beefy heaven). Afterwards, a Negroni and then a competition to see whether human fed by cow, or cow can contribute most to Greenhouse gases. I win. Not even close. Manser and beef powered farts raise the local temperature by 20 degrees and everyone wants to be my friend. This is life in the Lynehamsas badlands at its best.

7/7/2023 - Rote Kappelle wrote:

This wine is from Hawkes Bay in the land of rugger - Hawkes Bay is one of the premier wine regions in NZ for Cabernet based red and Chardonnay and has a building reputation for its Syrah styles. The reds can start off a bit mulchy and even ashy and be rather unpromising before casting off this nasty shell and building very elegant and complex fruit. I mention this to provide a counter to what is a fairly negative review; it might be a case of the wine will get a lot better.

The maker also seems to be something of a rising star with recent vintages of their wines getting more and more praise from critics. Again, something to keep in mind.

Finally, I quote the review of one of NZ's seminal wine-writers (and possibly their first MW), Herr Campbell

"Quite a complex, elegant and appealing syrah with raspberry, plum, pepper and savoury dried herb flavours. Well-structured with peppery tannins that promise longevity without compromising accessibility."

So, how does this very well priced red end up with an 85 from me?

Well, my bottle was under screw cap, so I am ruling out variation that might occur under cork and I am ruling out batch variation given this is a relatively small producer.

What I got was a wine with youthful and quite deep colour. The nose was quite funky, with prominent cedary oak, mown grass, compost and some spice. At times I also thought I could detect some rather pure raspberry fruit, but it was elusive. The palate was fairly long, but moderately unpleasant for those who feel wine should involve some indication that it was made from fruit, as opposed to dishwater that had been rinsed through barrels and then the compost heap. Texture was ok but felt like it was getting some hard tannins and was also washing out a bit in terms of flavour.

Given a very good vintage, I just don't know what to make of this wine. I found it hard to drink and stretching it out over 3 days was really easy. It never really bloomed as I hoped it might, although it didn't collapse either.

I note that Campbell's review was written in 2020, so it might be that the wine is in a mute phase now, before emerging from malignant chrysalis. Alternatively, it may be that the wine is going to hell in a handbasket, having succumbed to under-ripe fruit. Were it not for professional reviews I would have scored this below the 'Good' rating. Yours in perplexity, mixed with disappointment and a degree of existential angst.

2/25/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

I really loved this wine and if I rated just for pleasure it would surely be rated as 'Stormy Daniels' on the Schtiffie Grippe Sliding Scale of Wine Onanism. In translation, one feels it loses something, as we look to the more prosaic CT scale. I think it deserves to be on the cusp between 'Excellent' and 'Outstanding'.

The wine comes from a relatively high altitude site and uses only traditional Chianti varieties - overwhelmingly Sangiovese but with some Mammolo, Colorino and the very well known Foglia Tonda (yes, you cry out 'not more Foglia Tonda! We are sick of drinking nothing but Foglia Tonda.'). This is beautiful, elegant wine that speaks to me of all that is best in Chianti. Oak doesn't seem a big presence, although the wine is given time in small oak botticelli - I suspect the oak is not new or high char.

This is also one of the best 2019 Tuscan's I have had. The vintage, being warm, always risks losing some definition but the higher altitude perhaps came to the rescue. The tannins are beautifully ripe, the cherry fruit is crunchy but not sour and the acid defines the wine but does not make it stern.

I am still trying to sort out my thoughts on Chinati Classico DOCG, Toscana IGT and so on. I can't help but wonder if the Italians are the same. This IGT is perhaps the most quintessentially Chianti wine I have had for some time, which makes it feel odd that it is not DOCG Classico. But the complexities of all that have to be the subject of a doctoral thesis, probably unreadable.

6/18/2023 - Dr S Likes this wine:

A sumptuous cool-climate classic, fully developed and ready to roll. The first Cka Syrah. Easy to forget that this came off new vines, only 7-8 years old.

Brick rim, dark centre with burgundy hue.

Deep charcuterie, gamey nose. Spicy, smokey sandlewood overlays plum, strawberry compote. Heady aromas to sit with in your favourite chair with a good book (perhaps ‘Spinoza’s latest’ to cite Bertie Wooster, although that did take a rum turn) or to pour for friends and other undeserving souls to show why you cellar wine.

Plush palate. Texture is king. Gamey, almost a casserole and tawny port mix of savoury and aged vanillin notes. The balance among all components (tannin, fruit, wood and glycerol) is superb.

At its peak and ready to drink now and over the next few years. As much as it gives me plenty of love, the year's main lesson continues to stalk me - drink your maturing wines on the rise. This looked at its grandest in 2020 when last tasted. A bottle taken home to Hawkes Bay elicited the highest accolade from my buddy Geoff (a discerning palate who's tasted 100 year old Bordeaux 1st-2nd Growths) as the best Clonakilla I'd poured him (I think we started with the 2001 or perhaps the 1998 back in 2002). The fruit retained its richness, embroidered with those Rhoney game characters. Now the tertiary elements are taking charge.

But make no mistake. This is a great drink. A demonstration of the virtues of cool climate Shiraz, under the careful hand of a maker searching for the variety's 'warm heart'. And I cannot hold a Riedel burg glass half empty view. Not with 3 or 4 bottles left, and a couple of magnums too. The underserving will be in for a treat.

6/15/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

I have wanted to try a Pontet-Canet with some age for many moons and was delighted to pick up a bottle from a good year at auction recently.

I opened this mid-week to celebrate the fact that I am one of the planet's great toss-pots. I decanted it and drank like a demon over about 8 hours. It was very hard to stop because it was such a joy.

The colour is quite dense and still not showing much sign of bricking. It speaks of richness and power to come and it does not disappoint.

At first, the wine is medium bodied, surprisingly elegant and it takes me back to what I regard as the classic pre-Parker style of Bordeaux. However, there is great intensity and a very long finish.

The wine rapidly starts to put on flesh, somewhat like my unfortunate female soul mates have tended to. In both cases, I am good with this.

After about 3 hours you have a lovely Bordeaux style that has a lot of Pauillac groove and power without losing its identity in putting on weight.

There is a delightful compote of red berries and darker fruits, a sinewy but not hard structure, tannin and acid keeping things fresh and with nice line. There is a little tobacco and some cedar and leaf. Frankly, it is a very complete drinking experience.

I was tempted to score this as 'Outstanding' and I think it could be justified, but I really only like to hand out that level a few times a year. Worth every dollar and I would happily do it again.

They say money doesn't bring happiness, but if that is so, then it does buy a rather splendid type of misery. I think that not spending money is what stops it bringing happiness. The vintners of the world seem to agree, bless them.

4/24/2023 - Rote Kappelle wrote:

Hmmm. There is always something that disturbs me when a maker seems very excited about what they have released and I am not able to share the love. These people know their stuff, they have great fruit and are seen as rising stars and rightly so. The prices are very reasonable and I have loved their 2019, 2020 and 2021 wines.

I just can't get into this wine, even though it is my favourite grape variety. The issue for me is a sour element that I find really distracting and, frankly, unpleasant. We are definitely talking the sour end of black currant here. I love Bordeaux, especially left bank and my favourite period is pre-Parker, so whilst I find myself asking whether I just have an Ozzie palate, I am not sure that can be the answer.

I have a serviceable palate but I am under no illusions that I am MW material, unless MW stands for Mega-Wanker. Perhaps better palates will see this wine differently.

The positives are bright fruit, good varietal definition (leaving aside the sour issue), excellent length and intensity and tasteful use of oak (i.e. no vanilla, coconut or even overwhelming spice and pencil shavings).

I know that 2022 was a vintage in much of Oz that was surprisingly cool and often marked by periods of rain at bad times, although I gather that in most of South Oz rain was not a real issue during the run into harvest and the picking itself. However, I am seeing a lot of wines from this vintage, white and red, that I think are marked and marred by a distinct sour element, despite superficially ripe fruit. It may not bother you as it does me. I was looking forward to more elegant styles, but so far I am not sure that we are talking elegant or just a little acerbic - sort of Somerset Maugham v Saki.

4/24/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Clever people with good fruit sources made this wine. Over 3 days I drank it alongside the Bekker's 2021 Grenache-Shiraz. It came into its own on day 3. The musical theme that came to mind was Dylan's "Po' Boy" - a minor masterpiece from the early 2000's - "Poor boy, never say die, things will be alright by and by...workin' on the mainline, workin' like the devil, the game is the same, it's just on another level"

This wine is like that. Despite what is rapidly becoming a vintage leitmotif (or just a lazy idea) for SA's 2022 vintage, of ripeness combined with sour acid, this po' boy never says die and thanks to the wine maker workin' like the devil they manage to get it so it is alright, by and by.

The attractive aspects are really good indeed - plenty of pepper and spices, some definite charcuterie flavour and aroma and thickness to the texture from well handled oak (and maybe something in the fermentation method and yeast selection?); slightly short of fully ripe blackberry, plum but on the sour side and something that makes me think of pomegranate - again that sweet and sour. Liquorise, or anise at the finish.

The tannins are pretty funky here and if I want to be picky they might be a bit less thick and chunky, but as someone who loves Cornas, who am I to chide thick and chunky? The game is the same, it's just on another level.

Intensity and length can't be faulted, so I guess one comes back to the sour bit. It bugs me less in this wine than in the Cabernet. This is not expensive wine and I really think it is worth a drink - just give it some time and put Bob Dylan on and let your mind wander along into a land that evokes All The Pretty Horses, inflected with Peckinpah and The Searchers (the film not the band of limp wristed tossers - though they did do some moderately good pop tunes). Now I am hearing "A preacher was talkin' there's a sermon he gave, every man's conscience is vile and depraved..." Tootle pip!

4/27/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrgh! I hate it when what you are getting from a wine or a vintage just is not what a lot of people with more expertise are getting. I can't get past a dissonant sourness in a lot of 2022 South East Oz wines, but as reviews are coming out in the press they seem far more positive than me. I feel like the salmon swimming against the stream and better palates are the Grizzly Bears just waiting to feed on me.

The positives with this wine are great price to quality ratio, lovely aromatics and no sign of portiness or that overly confectionary lolly water character that can really mar Grenache. Pomegranate is what I am most reminded of on the palate, there is very good line and length but this finishes sour and I just can't get away from it.

Given other reviews are not troubled by this, try for yourself - it may not trouble you at all.

2/26/2022 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

I had already pre-loaded a gigantic stiffy in anticipation of this wine from the heralded 2019 vintage and I really love to guzzle Crozes -H whilst I wait for the Hermitage to come around.

This note is made on 2nd evening opened, no decant (cursed am I for slackness - actually it is to do with being a solo drinker and wanting to keep the wine in bottle so I can enjoy over several days. And I am a lazy swine). Using the CT scale I score this as 'Excellent', but I could easily have bumped it up to 'Outstanding' based on value, or on merit of the wine alone. The reasons I did not follow.

First, the colour really gets the juices flowing. Deep, verging on inky red-purple and you know this is really going to slam! The aromas of spice, black pepper, dark plums and blueberries come welling up even as you focus on the colour. If this is cavalry, we are talking the cuirassiers and General d'Hautpoul.

As I am sure you all know, the cuirassiers were big men on big horses and they were an elite, used to smash their way through enemy formations. It may be apocryphal, but one reads of a tradition that would be recruits were given 3 horses, 3 whores and 3 bottles of wine. They had to ride 3 courses in a certain time, consume the wine and bed the whores. Presumably, getting this order of things mixed up and riding the whores whilst bedding the horses and drinking the wine would be considered spirited, but poor form and result in you being sent off to the hussars where that sort of thing was more tolerated (they being more imaginative).

The point is, this wine does put me in mind of rather bold, full blooded, take no prisoners sort of stuff. The wine is huge and I mean it is almost Barossa huge. It is at least 22 hands (horse or stiffy, you choose).

I was worried that the 15% ABV might be an issue and it is not, directly. There is enough fruit and pepper and general high cockalorum to handle the punch. There's some pretty dark tannins that are ripe and not chunky holding things together with an impression of black tea, or a whiff of grapeshot. By the way, despite my comment on Barossa huge, you would never think it a Barossa wine, which is not to decry the Barossa and its sturdy heavy infantry and 18lb canon wines.

"So, what is the issue, you effeminate, emigre cavalry type?" I hear you bellow through your moustaches. I think it is this - there is a hint of prune on day 2 that speaks to the 15% ABV. Right now, not so much of an issue, but down the track it may well be, for much though I love the windy qualities of prunes that I eat, I have a certain hesitation about them in my wine. Acid, too, might be a little on the low side.

Be clear, blessed children (and horses, whores and bottles of wine), these are not shocking issues; they are hints, allegations and maybe better palates would say they should be left unsaid.

I am still comfortable that this wine makes me think of the magnificent cuirassier, General d'Hautpoul and, especially, the magnificent, decisive, cavalry charge at Eylau in which they crossed 2.3km of broken ground, into the teeth of enemy grapeshot, at a walk on their horses for all but the last 100 or so meters before charging to break the infantry squares wide open and have their revenge on the gun line beyond. As General Lepic said to his Horse Grenadiers as they moved into the storm of fire, "Heads up gentlemen! Those are bullets not turds."

And so, dear reader, the possible issues with this wine are bullets, not turds. Show no fear. But they do make me hold back from an 'Outstanding' or 'Stormy Daniels Loves Me' rating. Yet, I do love how this wine makes me feel and I am damned sure that with a bottle of this in me, a really filthy whore recently with me and large horse under me, I could breach the bloody squares at Waterloo and history would be a damned sight better for it. Vive l'Empereur! Vive Napoleon! Vive 2019 Jabbers Crozes-H!

9/2/2022 - Dr S Likes this wine:

Young wine tasters, starting out, have often asked me, ‘How do I learn about old wine?’ There are several methods. My own was to discover the Seppelts Reserve Hermitage 1986 when I arrived in Australia in 1989. I bought a six-pack for a song at a closing down sale in 1994 and worked my way through them to see out the C20th. Safer and a lot cheaper than buying a villa on the French coast and waiting for the Wehrmacht to do the rest (apologies to PG Wodehouse, the master, for appropriating this intro).

The 2004 reminds me of that grand 86. Similar spicy nose, mix of Mid East spices with appropriately matched seasoned oak, overlying those deep plum, raspberry and blackberry aromas from the St P vineyard. Possessed of elegantly embroidered tannin through the medium bodied palate, with a long long finish akin to a flowing bridal train. A sense of majesty to the wine.

The 2004 is probably my fave of the excellent 2001-2004 quartet, a purple patch in this wine’s famed pedigree. The 04 looked dialled back on release, as if the winemaking team had consciously worked to temper the fruit, as much to ensure longevity as to style a more elegant interpretation – a ‘Syrah’ along Clonakilla lines instead of mainstream Shiraz. Whatever the thinking behind it, the 04 now looks true to the St Peters tradition as well as stylistically superior to most of the 1990s’ vintages (1998 excepted). And perhaps those that have come since. All good but without the magic of that early 2000s period.

For context, I tasted this a few weeks after sharing the company of the 1998 Seppelts Reserve Shiraz (the lauded 98 St P’s big brother) and the 1998 Bests Bin O Shiraz. Both outstanding. Both amplifying the claim for the Grampians as one of Australia’s premier Shiraz regions. The 2004 has the underlying spicy black fruit of the 98 Reserve, fitted with the bespoke oak seasoning and finer build and line of the Bin O.

And for good measure, the 2004 remains a bargain at auction. For low $60 (less than current releases) you get a classy, distinctive red with nearly 20 years age. Hard to beat. Great now, great over the next 10-20 years.

2/18/2023 - Andrew67 Likes this wine:

The fruit is intense but within a medium body frame. Plum and dark cherry with barnyard floor and some herbal notes. Firm, fine tannins hold the backbone. Good length as well. My partner is not convinced, but for me this is top notch pinot.

3/14/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

The reviews to date on this site are pretty much where I land as well. You are getting a classical Left Bank style Bordeaux that takes me back to the best of what I loved in the 1980's and early 1990's. The tannins are quite muscular but the wine is ripe without being fat.

Down in Oz, this style is hard to find in the local product. Yeringberg and Wantirna Estate from the Yarra Valley are pretty much there and in a blind tasting I think I might struggle to differentiate them from the Cissac, even when you look at things like the structure and texture. Coleraine from NZ is also similar but much better (and more expensive) and needs a lot more time to show its best. The Wantirna and Yeringberg are at similar prices to the Cissac, so it is a rare example of Bordeaux in this country that has a decent PQR. Good stuff.

2/18/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

I found this to be the most difficult wine to assess of the three Chianti's that I opened this weekend. It really comes down to style preference. James Suckling, who is neither fool nor servant to corporate power rates this wine very highly indeed - 96 points. Wine Spectator pulls it back to 92. Both have legitimate reasons.

For me, the oak is really too dominant and it is discordant. Pencil shavings and a touch of vanilla threaten to run riot over the fruit. It is really distracting and, for me, irritating. When you manage to push it aside for a moment there is lovely cherry, plum and Cranberry fruit. I don't get a lot of the dried herbs that I love in Tuscan wine, probably because the tidal wave of oak has obliterated them.

Have I mentioned the oak? It is present on the palate in the form of texture. It provides initial creaminess but then you have quite assertive oak tannins to finish and I find the wine lacks balance and polish. No issues with length or intensity or palate coverage, but again, a lot of this seems oak driven.

I can't argue if you love this, because the truth is that the vineyards are beautifully sited and managed, the fruit (when you can find it) is really very good, but where is the regionality when oak is so strong a presence? Where is the varietal integrity? As international wine, speaking English with an Italian accent, it is terrific and merits 96 points. That is also what damns it.

This wine will certainly cellar and maybe the fruit will come up to absorb the oak - that is a distinct possibility. I have had youngish Ornellaia from Bolgheri and found it repellant because of the oak, but we all know what that is like with 15 years or more behind it. Maybe this will be the same and, if so, it is at a bargain price. Perhaps opening an IGT with two Chianti Classico was a bad idea and I have done the wine a disservice. I will look to buy an old vintage at auction this week to get a better idea.

10/26/2022 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

This vintage of this wine seems to have created quite contrasting notes on this site. I wonder if two things are not being fully considered in some of the reviews. Firstly, it is a Chianti Classico, with all that implies and it is neither more, nor less than that. Secondly, the vintage was a warm one that has produced wonderful full-bodied wines with ripe tannins but slightly lower acid levels than usual.

The colour has impressive depth and there is little fading as one tilts the glass - it looks like it will be a substantial wine.

The nose and palate follow through on the colour. This is full bodied by Classico standards. The tannins are drying, plentiful but ripe. If one wants to use the microscope, then the tannins might be considered a little on the blocky side, rather than fine, but I don't find them intrusive given the price, the fact this is a young Classico and the weight of fruit.

The nose and palate deliver true Classico characters of dried herbs, some cedar and cherry with a little tar and perfume. The acid is a little on the low side, though I don't find the wine lacking in balance. If I had a real criticism, it would be that there isn't quite the palate definition I would like in an ideal world and the wine perhaps falls into a difficult mid-spot between being an out and out bargain, or a truly outstanding wine. That said, I think it compares very favourably with similarly priced Tuscans of this year. I slightly prefer the extra cut and definition of the Fuligni and Canalicchio di Sopra Rossos (and I appreciate they are not Chainti but Brunello), for example but I would be very happy to drink this. I think it is more drinkable at this time than the otherwise very good Classico from Fontodi, the standard from Isole e Olena, or the 2nd wine from Ornellaia.

As to whether it would compare well with wines several times its price as one reviewer says, I have to demur. The Fontodi Vigna del Sorbo, or the Isole e Olena Cepparello from this year are clearly far superior wines - they have more complexity, more depth, more intensity and a little more acid. The tannins are finer, even in the Cepparello, which with its fairly lavish oak treatment, is rarely that fine in the tannin profile. But this does not detract from the qualities of this wine. It is what it is and it is very good value and very good fun.

2/10/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Reasonable minds can differ on wine, as in many things, but I have to say that I find some of the reviews here puzzling. This is my second bottle of this wine and whilst it has settled beautifully since I last opened one in May 2022, it hasn't changed that much as to its fundamental characters.

Unsurprisingly, Jeff Leve has absolutely nailed this wine in his write up.

I am mystified by the notes that say this wine was locked up, or lacked complexity, or was all about oak. One might not like the style, or the characters of the wine - all fair enough- but let's at least get the basics right.

Unless you are drinking this during a blizzard in Alaska through a pipet tube, it is not locked up. Unless you are drinking this whilst you blow torch a new oak hogshead, licking the wine off the newly charred oak, you will know that the wine is vinified in stainless steel and then aged in big, old oak barrels - chaps, there ain't no oak! As to lacking in complexity, the note is almost its own prosecution.

Look, I have such a pedestrian palate that unless a friend of mine confirms my views I live in terrible doubt, so I don't actually want to be too tough on the reviews above; 'Let he who is without a flawed palate cast the first cork'.

You can argue about the alcohol, although at 15.5% my take is that this wine has so much power and body that it just gulps up the alcohol.

As to complexity, if you only get primary fruit, I am at a loss. There is iron, blood, a lovely accent of leaf and tobacco and definite pepper and spice. Chaps, none of that is primary fruit.

Locked up? I am writing this within an hour of opening, no decant.

I am very much a Grenache doubter and my stiffy lies north of CdP, but this is a wine that could damned near threaten all that. I also find myself thinking 'is this not just another GSM (Grenache Shiraz Mouvedre) but at about 10 times the price of the local Oz product?' The problem is that the answer is this wine is to the enjoyable, whoring GSM what a night with a syphilitic common prostitute is to a night with Josephine Beauharnais. It just isn't in the same galaxy.

The thing with this wine is that even at 15.5% ABV it is surprisingly fresh and the tannins could be a review in their own right. Forget the fruit, drink for the sublime tannins - smokey and bitter but also sweet and like Pu-erh Tea you just end up falling into them and diving deeper.

This is a huge sweating charger, all of 18 hands and if you are such a timid thing that you can't grip the pommel and swing a leg into it, then I guess you deserve to be trampled underfoot. But the beast is beautifully trained and even an average rider can see how gorgeous the coat is, how nimble is its step, despite size and bulk and thrill to feel the power of the beast as it moves. Or are you dead to sensation?

1/28/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Plabella has nailed the essence in a sentence whilst I labour to do the same in1,000 words. Sigh.

I thought the 2001 was better but this has just a little more vivacity (cork in better shape - cue rant about this shitty closure) and almost all the same flavour and intensity. The combination equals stiffy revolution.

The colour is deep garnet with a touch of brick. Combined with nose and palate we are looking at a wine that is entering its drinking window but with many years ahead.

Nose is glorious, intoxicating and makes you want to turn the amp to 15 million, delay as long as possible, maximum wah-wah, overdrive right up and all those who do not believe in Ornellaia must die by steel!

For the detail types amongst you, I got riotous blackcurrant (but not jam), tobacco and leaf, that Tuscan signature of dried herbs, some cedar and a woodsy, forest floor. It adds up to those who doubt, in their final hours, confessing before they die that they are (and always have been) true disciples of the Ornellaia.

The palate follows through from the nose and you have that dilemma; 'this is so great I want more, more, more!' as against, 'savour this moment of heaven in the hell in which we live'. I mostly seem to end up on the side that guzzles its way to Ragnarok.

You may be surprised to know that the tannins are fine and plentiful, dousing you in their splendour. Here is the thing - I found myself drinking the thing for the damned tannins, not the glorious fruit, because they were so ripe, powdery and tasty. Is that ok, or do I need to seek help, urgently before I do something really daft?

I guess the tannins will put some people off, but they are probably the kind of human lint who don't like the smell of horse and cow, who spend hot days inside with the aircon turned up and who fear strong experience. Sod them.

This is the kind of wine that makes me think of General d'Hautpoul, of noble birth he was a strong believer in the revolution and was active weeding out the filthy royalists in the 1790's. He led his cuirassiers from the front, smashing the reactionaries' centre at Austerlitz in a glorious charge that broke up the dreaded infantry squares.

During the brutal winter campaign of 1807, inflicted on France by the reactionary powers of the Coalition, d'Hautpoul was personally congratulated by Bonaparte and turned to his men saying "The Emperor has embraced me on behalf of all of you. And I am so pleased with you that I kiss all your arses."

As we all know, the next day the progressive forces of Europe and the reactionaries blundered into an encounter battle in the snow and sleet and blizzards of Poland, a land beset by vile weather and Catholicism - one deserves the other. Eylau was a grim, 2-day battle. At one point early on, Napoleon was beset by the enemy raging towards him and said to Murat, his cavalry commander 'Well, are you going to let these characters devour us?' Murat and his men launched a desperate charge and drove the swine back, sabering them.

On the second day, in a blizzard, the capable Augerau lost his bearings and when the blizzard cleared his forces were side on to the massed canon of the enemy. In moments over 5,000 men were mown down by grapeshot, chain and ball. The French centre was open and disaster loomed. The only force available was cavalry but cavalry need infantry to open the way. There were no infantry. This was the way the Light Brigade perished at Balaclava.

The French cavalry commanders understood their orders and the necessity. They would have to cross 2.5km's of open ground under shot, at a walk, before they could charge. Then the charge would be into formed infantry supported by gun lines and reserves. This was death.

As the French walked their forces forward under a hail of devastating fire, General Lepic of the Horse Grenadiers observed his men trying to bend down over their horses to minimise themselves as targets and bellowed 'Heads up, gentlemen. Those are bullets not turds!'

The Empire and its allies launched nearly 10,000 cavalry into the charge. Imagine the sound, even in snow. I think of the tannins in Ornellaia.

The big men, on big horses and even the rascally and diminutive hussars broke open the infantry squares, then charging on they reached the gunlines, slashing down the gunners, some spiking the guns or lashing the trails to drag the guns away. Like the weak drinker, the horse were now blown, unable to charge into the third line, the reactionary reserves.

d'Hautpoul summoned his cuirassiers for a last effort, almost unsupported, grotesquely outnumbered. They moved forward, barely able to trot. Somehow, they broke the reserve line. Cossacks sent in to attack them were driven back, their midgety mounts no match for the 16 hand horses of the cuirassiers. Don't mess with ripe tannins.

The Russian infantry of the broken lines showed much courage. they reformed square, cutting off many Imperial units, including d'Hautpoul and his men. He led a further charge, wounded three times. Smashing through the serried ranks he fell in the centre of a Russian infantry square, alive but terribly wounded.

When the reformed Imperial forces (there were Bavarians, Saxons, Wurtembergers, Poles and many more from all over Europe there) drove the reactionary forces back, d'Hautpoul was recovered, barely alive. The surgeons argued about treatment, deciding not to amputate a mangled leg. The General died of gangrene some days later.

Now, I look on my empty glass of Ornellaia (revolutionaries in their own way) and I feel inspired by a wine worthy of the hope for humanity, the love of dignity, the courage of d'Hautpoul, the Emperor Napoleon and all like them who have dared to dream and fight for a better world. When wine makes you feel this way, surely there can be no higher praise?

7/3/2022 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Clearly this is going to be a lot about your preferences in wine. It is Penfolds, so there will be big fruit and loads of oak. If you don't like 1970's Boogie, don't go there. Ted doesn't play the synth and this brand is all Wang Dang, Sweet Poontang (although I think the race baiting, misogynistic, wacko right wing identity politics are optional). Let's be clear - I love Boogie, I love guitar breaks, I love wah- wah and I am an unreconstructed swine. I love Penfolds, the wine version of true Boogie.

This is a cooler vintage (relatively speaking) and I am not convinced that Penfolds (or Ben Folds, as I like to call them) have got this quite right. The fruit is plummy and avoids jamminess. There's a nice hint of blackberry and blackcurrant. The acid gives a bit more life than is sometimes the case with Penfolds and all of that is great. What isn't so great is the oak. Actually, the oak is fine, it is the oak on top of the oak and then the additional wall of oak, all seemingly at high char and double live gonzo. But this is more a wine that is in the "Together" (from Free For All) vein than the baroque splendour of, say, "Paralysed' or 'Stranglehold". I really wish they had dialed the oak back a bit - had I mentioned the oak? The thing that is distracting to me is that I hate mocca and pencil shaving oak in my wine. I can live with vanilla and even coconut (just).

This wine has years and years ahead of it but after 2 full days open and sampled from both a Shiraz and a Cabernet glass I am sceptical it will ever fully come into balance. Now, that won't matter if the oak doesn't bother you. It is a quality wine - length goers on forever (or the road goes on forever to quote the Triffids), there's all the intensity you could want and if you have steak with this, cook one extra to feed to the wine, because it will just eat it up. I can't do more than a glass at a sitting but if it works for you all power to your arm (and your Gibson ES335 through a Marshall stack). When Penfolds get it right the wines have a strange balance, but in this wine I think it is missing. "I Loved You So I Told You A Lie"?

1/22/2023 - Dr S Likes this wine:

Apart from knowing the variety, I tasted this blind, a sample provided by my fraternal komrade. Two things struck me instantly. One, that it was bloody good.

And two, that I’d tasted it before. But was it a Paralian thanks to the sandy, almost salty characters on the nose and palate? Or did the close to sweetly scented blood orange and red fruits point to Eperosa? The lite medium bodied palate brought back the excellent In Praise of Shadows, and its maker’s wines from Aphelion.

Of course, I got it wrong on all those counts, but did pick it as McLaren Vale over Barossa. And here’s the thing. It’s multiple personalities reveal a multifaceted wine of real class and complexity. The nose takes you on a merry ride, teasing the senses (and memory). The palate’s thrilling. It glides across the mouth, veils of silk but with just the right touch of sandy grip and tingling acid to keep it on point. Spice, black tea and saline notes keep the raspberry and cranberry in check, with a hint of beetroot in there too.

For mine, inherently more interesting than ithe much more expensive 186 ($45 v $100). Not quite the depth of the pricier sibling but much more complex.

I usually rate a wine with a definite eye to its ability to mature. In this case, it doesn’t matter. This is a great drop now. And to answer Komrade Kappelle’s question below, my sense is it doesn’t quite have the fruit weight or length to go long distance, but up to five years should see it take on more savoury characters - if you can keep your mits off it. Salud!

1/20/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

I am scoring this with caution, as it is the classic case of losing objectivity because of the circumstances surrounding my first exposure to this wine and the vineyard. However, try as I may, the only flaw I can find in this wine is that it is inherently varietal and I remain unconvinced that this variety can make truly great wine. I know that certain species of Northern Italian and denizens of Alsace are sharpening their knives, gritting their teeth and seething with indignation as they read this, but it is my take on the grape; excellent wine yes, sometimes even outstanding but truly great?

At any rate, I truly love this wine and the winery. I happened on it by accident, as I used up some time driving alongside the river by which it sits. It was early morning, I had taken the ferry from Victoria to Taswegia and the trip had been fantastic. I was greeted by a superb, misty dawn and then sun breaking through. On a morning like this you can see why suicide might be postponed. I had to wait a few hours before I could inflict myself on the people with whom I was staying. They are not morning people. Parasites should respect their hosts.

The winery is in a gorgeous location and it is quite rustic - really a shed and a converted garage (albeit a large one) under the owner's home. There were people labouring in the vineyard and, the car aside, it felt almost like a scene from a painting by Breugel. Usually, things involving me are more like a scene by a certain Hieronymus, of Brabant.

The owner was on hand and, although she had a somewhat severe exterior, she soon warmed to her work, no doubt because she realised she was in the company of a genuinely harmless fool. I do like to put my strongest suit forward first. She encouraged me to try the Pinot Gris and I demurred; "I prefer to drink real wine, if I may", or something similar.

The wine was not quite a revelation, but it was clean, pure, zesty and it had a texture that avoided the characterless grape juice or slightly slimy extremes of the variety and it had an almost mineral, chalky aspect that grabbed me. The clean fruit was there as well, along with intensity and a wonderful long finish. The acid was refreshing but not as shrill as can be common in Tasmanian wine. This is the only Pinot Gris I have ever been tempted to buy in quantity and I bought a dozen.

Now, nearly 4 years on, the wine is getting some heft and a musky character that I find attractive. It still has youthful vivacity and, by Jove, I swear it still summons forth a vision splendid of swinging breasts. The chalky part of the mouth is still there and it is just a joy to drink. Sometimes those memorable vineyard moments don't survive the transition and you drink the wine you bought and wonder why. This is not one of those times. Worth looking for them if you are in the area. As a very small operation I have never seen their wine in retail.

Really nice people, very good wine makers and viticulturalists. I thank them.

Also, a moment to praise David Crosby for his music and for staying steadfastly atheist. I revere people who stay the course with their ideals, whether I share them or not. As it happens, I just loved one of his last communications, as he was dying, that he thought heaven was over-rated - 'very cloudy'. You have to let your freak flag fly.

1/16/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

As I sit down to write this note, the memory of imbibing last night brings a roistering stiffy into existence. All hands on deck, bosun, hoist the jolly roger!

The colour is golden-amber but surprisingly bright. A good sign. Bugger the colour, though, because you don't really need to look as the aromas come clambering out of the glass like a boarding party with a glint in their eye, having heard that not only be there loot aplenty aboard but also maidens, willing and able. Aaaaarrrrrrhhhh!

The nose is a very potent brew of roasted nuts, toffee, spice, something salty/sea-spray like - I find it intoxicating. The palate is quite bold, a touch astringent at first but finishing smooth and elegant and the length is truly astonishing. Intensity is definitely in 10 cities and full gonzo. Good as the palate is at first, it is after you swallow that the after-taste turns this into something extraordinary. To be honest, 97 points seems a bit mean but perhaps I can justify it by pointing to a slight lack of delicacy on the fore-palate. I do feel this is a bit like criticising a Mercedes Benz E class for being on the large side.

You get layer after layer of taste and texture and it is a wine that appeals both to the senses but especially to the mind.

This was magnificent with Jamon Iberico and cheeses and various nibbly bits (they call them Tapas). Absolute heaven and character combined. That makes it better than a Merc E Class.

In case you are interested, as I have found out, this is a very rare beast indeed. As I understand it starts its life with the usual Sherry grapes and is made in the usual way for Fino and/or Amontillado, but in the process a tiny percentage of barrels lose their flor and start to age oxidatively as Oloroso does. So, what you get is an unusual combination of the characters of both Amontillado and Oloroso. In this we get the best of both worlds and by Jove it is good. Welcome aboard the Black Pearl mistress Cortado!

11/4/2022 - Rote Kappelle wrote:

This note is mostly directed to my fellow gumnuts in the land of Oz, where we like nothing better than to think of Sheilas, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars. Cobbers, save your South Pacific Pesos. Whilst this wine doesn't come the full raw prawn, thanks to our currency being worth less than a jar of Vegemite and our rather savage tax on plonk, this is just really not good value at all - the bastards are farkin chargin' like wounded bulls for this one. Stone the crows.

Better options for getting on the turps exist locally and with far less of a whack at the hip pocket nerve, moit; roit?

Obvious alternatives in this style are Clonal Killer O'Riada (you might call it Clonakilla), Frankland Estate Iso Ridgey Didge (Isolation Ridge) Shiraz - both under $50AUD or 1/3 of the price of this wine- or superb wines like Yazza Y Droi Rid Doing a #2 (Yarra Yering Dry Red #2, a #2 being unfortunately a local reference also to a poo) or Clonal Killer's Shiraz-Viognier, both of which are near the pinnacle of local product, yet still leave change for few pornos and some self-love afterwards.

So, the issue really is that in Oz this wine is grossly overpriced. There is not a lot wrong with the wine if you take it for what it is. In Europe this is Rosty's 2nd wine equivalent and it is very modestly priced, as befits a decent but modest wine.

Bear in mind that 2015 was a great Northern Rhone vintage, so this is about as good as it gets for this wine. It has shed any early assertiveness and is easy to drink, save for a potential issue with some out of balance oak.

Many drinkers won't be phased by the oak, but I was mildly discombobulated and a friend of mine a little more so, giving rise to the following from him;

"Fark me dead, moit, they've laid the farkin' oak on with a farkin' trowel. Do they think we came down in the last shower? What a pack of wankers and bludgers. The proice is a bit stiff too. Are they havin' a lend of me one eyed trouser snake? The farkin' fruit is disappearin' up the rear end of the oak faster than a rat up a drain-pipe. Strewth.' Trenchant, direct, yet on target, like a squirrel grip to the privates.

Yes, my friends, it is different language down here. Recognisable as English derived, colourful, but also somewhat direct and full of quaint allusions, much like this wine with its rather quaint allusions to great Northern Rhone reds.

The flavours are dark fruits, on day 2 a hint of charcuterie, some dark chocolate/mocha oak. The wine is reasonably long and intense and the tannins are generally supportive, though I think they lack some finesse. The wine works well with steak and I am sure it would bring a smile with roast meat. It has freshness and will continue to live for perhaps 5-10 years yet, although I can't see how it gets better and the oak may become more intrusive over time.

This is fine as a mid-week drink, at the right price (because price-quality ratio matters for mid-week drinking) but in Oz I would save your money and go for the La Landonne or Cote Blonde if a Rosty Wallah you must be (and I, for one, must be); otherwise go local for the peppery, more elegant Rhone styles. There are lots of Oz options that will do the job at least as well, at a fraction of the price. And you will reduce the risk of TISM's "Whadare Ya? You're a wanker!" being played at you endlessly.

Now I must away to raise me a crop of lonely dental floss (sorry Frank Zappa, but I miss you), even if I am not in Montanna and I lack me a pair of zircon encrusted tweezers. Tootle pip my fellow drinkers!

12/24/2022 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Twas brillig and the slivey toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe; all mimsey were the bovergills and the momeraths outgrabe.

Clutching my vorpal corkscrew I approached the sleeping beast. One two and through and through! I detached the cork and poured a schlumock.

What a lark this '75 is, as in uffish thought I stood!

Decanted and left to slam for about 3 hours, I drank this from an ISO shape.

The colour is burnished copper. Surely, we are speaking old wine but not over the hill wine (no brown or khaki notes).

The nose is a riot of Saturnalian proportions, all apricots, peach, a touch of lemon twist, creme brulee. More complex wine of this style can easily be found, especially if made from Riesling, but this is like listening to a perfectly tuned motor. There might be faster from 0-100, or better into corners but it is the ride with this beast.

The palate is as per the nose but there is a marmalade aspect that adds to my pleasure and the intensity and length are a thing to behold. You will keep coming back to this. Truly wonderful wine.

8/20/2022 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

It is Penfolds, so it tastes, smells and rolls over the top of you like a Penfolds. Don't bother about the grape variety because it is Vitis Penfoldsera - whatever grape or region is alleged, it is all pretty much the same.

What I will say is that I hated this on day 1, when it was like being keelhauled through a high char new barrique. On day 2 I gingerly put my nose near the glass as though I was about to place it against the oven glass heated to 'pizza' and received a pleasant surprise - there was fruit. This thing was meant to have been outlawed under the Lex Penfold, but there it was like some jaunty recidivist - mulberry, blackberry and rather rambunctious. Naturally it also had a glacis plate of Krupps like face hardened oak (vanilla, pencil shavings) that would put a Tiger tank to shame and there is plenty of alcohol warmth but it works, in much the same way the Tiger did - wasteful and over-engineered but somehow impressive.

If you want a sophisticated evening with wine throw this out but if you feel like whoring around then this will do the trick. Penicillin and a trip to the doctor after.

12/7/2022 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Purchased at auction a year ago, opened because I had no reason not to, decanted (for once I wasn't my usual slack self) into my Riedel 'Horse Penis' shape decanter and, somehow, I managed to make myself drink it over two days and not succumb to full Goblin mode. I share my toys with no-one and you shouldn't either - keep this all for yourself.

There is a strong connection for me with the 1982 that I had on my birthday in 2019, with a group of people who never have and never will open anything of remotely the same level, for either themselves or me. Lesson learned - don't piss your good fortune up against other people. Lack of ambition and imagination can be bad for my health.

Like the 1982, there is the most exquisite cassis, blackcurrant leaf, cedar, a hint of mulberry and tobacco. The way this moves for you is like watching the most perfect woman walk when she cares what you think.

However, this wine has more curve and shape than the 1982, without ever hinting at a spare tyre or flab. For mine, this is even greater than the 1982 and I never thought that could be possible. It is one of the greatest wines I have ever had.

Unquestionably it gets better and better over the time it is decanted. It was tighter, leaner and more about secondary aspects on opening but even then, it was gorgeous. It just put on more hips and breasts over the next 12 hours and was even better for it. The fruit just kept on building.

If you were stupid enough to open this for company, I strongly urge you to do so by decanting at least 6 hours before wasting on the other.

7/26/2022 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Sometimes things just come together. The first suggestions that Spring is intruding on Winter, a sunny day, light breeze and it isn't the temperature, it is a feeling you get. I note the birds visiting my garden think so, too; a few are collecting nesting material. Back inside, although it is a work-day, I can push things aside for a moment and I have some pizza from last night and this bottle that I picked up and really want to try. That quiet, happy noise I hear is the sound of things coming together.

This is under cork, the note made within an hour of opening, no decant. Scored as 'Excellent' on the CT scale, I almost gave this an 'Outstanding' rating.

A hallmark of this vintage is deeper than usual colour. We have that here. Dark garnet. Much darker than usual for RdM.

The nose is lovely Sangiovese. Dried herbs, a slight tarriness, sweet dark cherry and even a hint of something like ripe strawberry. You want to dive in. The palate has great length and intensity and the tannins are fine, supportive and ripe. The initial mouthfeel is almost velvety until the tannins come in. As I get older I get more and more interested in the texture and structure of wine, ahead of the fruit. This meets my needs.

This is superb wine - some reviews have noted that this is very close to Brunello level and I agree, though there is a pleasing elegance that is less usual in Brunello (I say that as one who loves Brunello). My first thought was that it was like a very good quality Chianti Classico. This challenges the Canalicchio di Sopra for bargain Rosso of this vintage. Time for some Keith Jarrett and his strange vocalisations - 'nyaw'.

9/2/2022 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Slammed again for the sheer joy and it continues as before. I believe, when they write that she's electric and I obey. Bliss on a Friday night with a wanky homemade burger, cooked over coals, cancer dialed up to 11, joy to 14.

5/8/2022 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

A pleasant wine from a pretty crappy vintage. I have rated this as 'Excellent', which may be a little generous and I think if someone asked me I would suggest they deploy the money to a better vintage. I bought this because I wanted to see what they did in a weak year and the answer was 'they make a pretty good wine'.

Colour is medium deep, pretty brick red, a bit dull.

Nose is dusty, at first I feared cork taint, but I couldn't smell that tell tale mildew/wet cardboard on the cork. There are some nice mature red smells, fairly generic but quality all the same.

The palate is a little dilute, as befits the year, but the tannins are fine, firm but not tough and impressively ripe for the vintage. It is a nice drink. A bit like some of the lesser but not disastrous Bordeaux years, the benefit of this is that you can drink these while you wait for the bigger years to come around. I would not be cellaring this much longer - it is ready to go and it won't get better, but it may start to gradually collapse in on itself.

I decanted this and the note was made on day 2. I used an ISO/Shiraz shape rather than the Cabernet/Bordeaux shape I usually use for Brunello. In the Bordeaux shape the dilute element in the wine was too prominent, whereas the concentrating effect of the ISO shape showed the wine better.

7/23/2022 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Right, let's get straight to the point. Sell your children, murder your spouse for the life insurance, lose the fiddle playing competition with Lucifer - it really doesn't matter, just do whatever you need to do to get as much of this as you can and start drinking before the consequences catch up with you. In all seriousness, I think this may be the greatest Clape Cornas I have tasted.

The colour is an impenetrable purple-red. There is not a hint of fading at the edge as you tilt the glass.

The nose starts rather stinky but over about 8 hours opens up. The funk remains but there are wonderful fruit aromas of blackberry, dark plum and a lifted perfume of blueberry. Smoke, black pepper and a hint of clove add to the mix. By now I am looking for someone more evil than the Devil with whom to make a pact so I can get more of this.

The palate rolls on like a highway to hell (you know you shouldn't go there but it just looks too infernally good), supple, long and intense. This has the balance to be Malificent drinking now, but the components are all there for a long, long afterlife ahead. It does finish with some fine, drying tannins.

I bet this is what the French at Bir Hakeim were thinking of in 1942; if we can break-out we can guarantee a lifetime of Clape Cornas. By Jove, even a lifelong Flashman devotee like myself would fight for this.

If you are reading this in Australia, my disinterested advice is to save yourself for swill and buy this, buy lots of it, but donate it to the Rote Kappelle Hepatic Foundation. It does such good work.

2/1/2022 - fc1910 Likes this wine:

The problem what to pnp after the first 3 bottles increases,
Cathiard, Tondonia blanco, Hubacker,
again help is on the way from good old Germany!
If you want to outdo a Hubacker you need a jet of energy!
Easily choosing the right one!
what a smell, the spontaneous fermentation notes of younger S-F bottles beamed away by time,
a fresh winter mountain stream emerges, mineral ultra limy nose,
the palate shy in the beginning, but what to testify after one hour aeration?
Could recall some memories from my military time, two starfighters starting with all that noise, tremble one watching them starting,
this one is the pure, clean energy play,
never tried to put one of your fingers in the socket?
and, this one with even more energy than the 2009 Felseneck recently,
a great ultra long finish, and the best of all, ultra young Riesling appearance, **(***), an easy 100 for tonight imho!

Let me explain in some sentences why an 100 for me tonight?
Riesling for me is the best grape respectively for Whites, just IMHO,
and there are only some vine yards that come close to the leader of the pack,
KPK in my view is the most searched for producer for dry Riesling in Europe, here on ct I could recall that asian and american users are not really familiar with him,
in my view Rheinhessen do not have most of the best vine yards, a top producer could fill a really great Riesling, but there are better vineyards elsewhere,
first of all the MOSEl, but I do really prefer them for the classic Riesling style,
so there is Rheingau, Franken; Pfalz and Nahe
Rheingau really is not for me, too often voluptuous bottles drunk,
Franken yes too with pronounced mineral showing but I like them best for their Sylvaner GG s,
Pfalz, great vine yards, the Saumagen, Ungeheuer, Pechstein, Weilberg and so on, a mixture of fruit and mineral style,
finally the NAhe, for me the real play for mineral, ultradry, electric Riesling,
best vineyard without doubt Hermannshöhle, looking into the records of the tax files from Prussia! ;-)
and there are many others, Halenberg, Felsenberg, Krötenpfuhl, Bastei, Pittermännchen, Dellchen and so on,
but there is this small village some 10 Km abroad the Nahe, Bockenau, the father of the present chief from S-F bought most hectars of the Felseneck and Stromberg, evolved the treatment of the grapes, the owner now, Tim Fröhlich, a Riesling visionary,
my top producer for dry GG Riesling is Schäfer-Fröhlich without any doubt! AMEN!

Last fifth of this bottle today, 96 hours later:
very creamy, chalky predominantly now, no oxidation aromas, none!
Creamy limy flow with enormous persistence still!
What a WOW bottle!

12/13/2021 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

I am not normally a great fan of this wine, as I think there is better value elsewhere and if one is going to drink Keller, don't piss about with the entry level, go GG. Why drive an entry level BMW or Mercedes when there are better performers at the money - do it properly and get into the real levels. However, the combination of a fantastic vintage and Keller creates something special here. I think the ratings are too low from other reviewers. I'd agree for other years but not for this one. This is excellent by any definition let alone on bang for bucks. This is the BMW Z3 driving like it was a souped up MX-5.

I agree with reviewers noting a relative lack of complexity but there is something about the purity of wet stone, lemon sherbert and a hint of tropical fruit that gets me weak at the knees. There's no issues with length or intensity and I just can't put this down. At this level i would usually go Robert Weill every time, but this year has something special and it is a close race. Delicious. Svelte. Almost rude. Nyaw!

5/5/2022 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Scored as 'Oh my God, I am going to dump the wife, never touch porn again, pay my taxes, take up religion and elope with a case of this' on the CT Scale. I could score it a point or two higher, but I am mean and nasty, as opposed to 'hot and nasty' (that's for all you Black Oak Arkansas fans). Under the quixotic cork to keep us guessing as it ages. Not decanted, note made the day after opening.

Colour is verging on inky and as you tilt the glass there is little fading to the rim. Powerful vintage, powerful colour and that looks to equal powerful wine; but will it be too much? That's always the worry with the 'big' years and with Grenache it is a fine line between getting ripe tannins and nice perfume, or an over-ripe, very alcoholic port substitute (but without the depth).

The wine evolves enormously over the course of 24 hours. Early on it is potent, Grenache dominant. Then the other components start to well up and I am much happier. Now we get Grenache perfume of raspberry and strawberry, some earth and iron filings, blueberry and something I want to call plum, but that doesn't quite feel right. Oh for a more articulate palate! Tannins are fine, ripe and hold it all together. There is just enough acid to keep it fresh. The finish is long indeed and the wine fills the mouth without coating it and without being flabby. So, this wine escapes the power trap. It is a potent wine but not over-ripe.

This is not a cheap wine, in Oz in pure dollar terms, but it is a cheap wine in terms of what you get. It is substantially cheaper than many of our more expensive 'totem' wines and whilst the comparison is tricky (given our totem reds are Shiraz or Cabernet), I think it is valid in terms of 'value'.

A side note would be that I have seen some comments that there is oak in this wine. I have to say that would (pardon the pun) be my thought as well - the texture suggests some tasteful oak providing some creaminess and there are hints of what I would call oak spiciness on the nose. However, what I read is that the maker is quite averse to oak. perhaps what we have is ripe fruit, concentration and creaminess from the fermentation and time on lees? Maybe it doesn't matter much if the effect is good?

I encourage you to buy this, but do it by forwarding funds (crypto only I think, don't you?) and your account details to me. I promise to not just buy the wine but hold it for you. Trust me, I'm a lawyer.