Cleanskin - Barossa Greenock Basket Pressed Shiraz 2008

Fark.
Sorry bout the simulated profanity, but I just tried to order another dozen of this wine, only to find that it has sold out.
Shit shit shit.

Easily the best cleanskin I have ever tasted and I should have bought more last week, but I made a stupid new years resolution to only buy once a month. I thought I'd wait, but after trying this tonight I was going to make this my monthly purchase.
It's THAT good.

Thanks to Stephen and Chris I had tried the Norman's Basket Pressed Shiraz and loved it. Only to find it had sold out when i wanted more. So I swooped on this cleanskin from the same region and was not disappointed.

A pleasant nose and mouth full of Strawberry Jam (in my opinion) (in fact it is very much a strawberry jam flavour... despite the tasting notes)
There is a generous amount of wood too. Plus plum.
On the whole it's brilliant for the price.
Damn my stupid resolution. This is worth more.

Rating: 9.3 (would have bought 2 dozen if i could)
Price $10 a bottle (Get Wines Direct)

Ratings System at The Red Pool for 2010

Basically I am going to make things easy on myself and just give a rating of whole numbers.

(with decimals, but they are not as important they will just help me remember just how special it was within that rating)

A rating of 9 will mean that I finished the bottle and either went straight to the computer and ordered more of the same, or straight to the cellar and opened one.

A rating of 8 will be given if it was a damn nice wine, but didn't leave me wanting more immediately.

A rating of 7 would mean that I liked it, but didn't really care either way

A rating of 6 would mean that I didn't really like it but was happy to drink it for the price.

A rating of 5 would mean I just didn't like it and would remember to stay away from that name in future.

Anything less than that would mean that I have probably tasted better wine coming back up toward the porcelain :)

So these rating will be used from the last few posts onwards and may mean nothing to anyone reading, but will help me know what I really thought of a wine, rather than just slap a number from 1 - 100 on it.

If you are reading this, then Cheers !!

Dart River Pinot Noir 2008 (Central Otago)

Now THIS is a nice wine. Possibly my favourite Pinot Noir thus far and unfortunately unavailable now.

The reason I like this wine so much is that it has a very strong and extremely pleasant 'strawberries and cream' flavour to it, whilst maintaining the iconic Pinot Noir sensibilities.

I had heard that Central Otago in NZ was pretty much the best place in the world for Pinot Noir and I can only agree. Dart River is apparently just a label for the wine as it was bought and distributed by Get Wines Direct in Australia.

They wont say which winery actually produced it, so I can't really replace my dwindling stocks. GWD say that it does retail for $55 under it's real name.

I could almost believe it.

I did end up buy a couple of dozen and actually bought the very last stocks from them. Some of which ended up as Christmas presents... Hmm... Lets hope that they were as loved as they are here!!

I have had one pinot that I liked from Tasmania and one from Victoria, but neither really matched this one for overall enjoyment. Please feel free to make suggestions as I am keen to find good Pinot Noir whenever I can.

Price: $18

Rating: 9.2

Witches Falls Syrah 2006 (Granite Belt)

A big surprise this one. A QLD red that ended up being extremely drinkable.

Bought by Jean on our last trip to Tamborine (an obligatory tasting purchase at the Cellar Door), we decided to try this one last night.

I was a bit dubious, because at the tasting it seemed to taste like every other Queensland Shiraz... but by the end of the bottle we both wished we had bought more.

Unfortunately, it comes in at $20 a bottle and I would assume that is the only place it's available at the moment. However, it tastes like a $20 bottle.

It has a nice nose of slightly sweet but oaky black currants. Now I am partial to black curranty tasting wines, so that won me over. It's a little spicy and just oaky enough to smooth it all out with really fine tannins.

With all due respect, I could not believe this was a QLD wine.

Definitely one to look out for if you happen to be visiting Mt Tamborine. It was my first visit to this winery and it will be the first place I go next time I'm there doing photos.

Price: $20

Rating: 9

(basically anything I think I could drink another bottle of straight away will be rating a 9 for me)(the various decimals that follow the 9 will just be there to help separate things)

Devils Lair - Margaret River

Although this was a fair while ago, I had to share this photo.

Taken by my mate Ben, after a long drive to find my favourite winery in the Margaret River... Not only do they have the coolest label, but they are consistently among the best wines in the region.

Devil's Lair also make the 'Fifth Leg' range and although they are considerably cheaper, they are also outstanding wines.

In particular the Chardonnay, of which many bottles were consumed this summer. Cheap (under $10 on special) and among my favourite Chardies ever.

So it was for this reason that I wished to visit my 'Mecca'...

After many dirt roads and missed turns we found it. Only to see this welcome sign.

That was that. No entry :(

At least we tried.

Ballandean Estate Wines White Pearl 2009 (Granite Belt)

First wine back for 2010 and it's appropriate that I look at a white. From QLD.

This was a gift from friends Adam and Ngara and very much appreciated.

As you may already know, I'm not a big fan of white wine, but this one I could drink til the cows come home.

It's definitely sweet, but in no way overly so. It's easy to drink, but not in a 'cordial' sort of way. It has a definite lychee flavour.

A little acidity is balanced by the generous fruit taste making for an excellent mouthfeel.

As this was a gift I'm not sure what it cost. Unfortunately, I have no idea if there is any distribution in place either. So if you find yourself in Stanthorpe... pop in and try some for yourself.

Again, I really... REALLY enjoyed this and I don't usually find many whites drinkable.

I'm keen to hear what anyone else thinks, so please, drop me a comment.

Rating: 9.0

Price: Not sure but I would think they have a website, so check that out.

Back for 2010

After a self imposed hiatus for the majority of 2009, I have decided to get back into this blog.

Thanks to a comment from anonymous that reminded me why I do this...

One reason was that, as a full time student, I have limited my purchases to Grays Online and Get Wines Direct (for the obvious price reasons)

I was reluctant to dribble on about the cheapies all the time, but since I have found a good many great wines under $10... I figured I should.

Also, I have made a decision to aim for quality instead of quantity. This is partially due to health reasons and partially because I prefer drinking for pleasure, rather from habit. A lot of the 'quoffers' that I have had from Grays etc have been cheap, but ordinary. I will write some of these up, but focus my spending on people's suggestions and great deals on good wine.

So we'll see what happens :p