My Only Friend, Linoluem

I was winding up for a rant this week, but I think that having the Pope around has had a calming effect on me, so like all good things, it’ll have to wait.
I was also going to offer a competition up for a name for the blog, but in a moment of sheer genius, I think I’ve got it. I’ll run it by my wife and if she disapproves then I know that it’ll be perfect. It’s so easy to act like your twelve sometimes.

Before writing this weeks post, I asked myself that if I can’t spell Gewurztraminer properly, should I be able to write about? Well, I can’t spell much correctly and since Bill Gates gave us spell checkers, it doesn’t really matter.
I’ve tried a couple of times to best describe how unique Gewurztraminer is, how it’s hard to spell, even harder to pronounce, and how for a myriad of reasons including the ones above, it’s not on everyone’s list when they head to the bottle shop. Australia’s not famed for its Gewurztraminer either, although I’ve had a couple of decent examples, the Delatite 2005 Gewurztraminer being a good one, so I was quite excited when I read good things about the Pewsey Vale Eden Valley Gewurztraminer 2007. While it’s not going to have Alsace producers saying rude things in French, it’s decent enough, although drier and steelier than it’s French cousins. It’s got the classic characters of rose petals and Turkish delight, along with a flavour of lemonade. While it’s balanced with good acidity, it all feels a bit angular, as if it’s been bolted together. Maybe it’ll come together after a couple of years, maybe not. Even so it’s still a good example of the variety, as well as a good introduction for newcomer to the wonderful world of Gewurztraminer.

Also tasted this week was the Pizzini Sangiovese Shiraz 2006. I admit that I’m a bit biased toward Pizinni; I haven’t tried a whole lot of their wines but I like that they’re trying to create their own piece of Italy in Victoria’s King Valley. Some good Italian varietals like the straight Nebiollo and Sangiovese (a good review of the 2006 can be found at Winorama here: http://www.winorama.com.au/tasting-notes/pizzini-sangiovese-2006 ) as well as high end Super Tuscan and Barolo clones.

The Sangiovese Shiraz has bright red cherries and raspberries from the Sangiovese with the Shiraz softening and adding some black fruit. At $15 or so, it’s a simple, medium bodied wine that as they rightly state, is a wine to be drank now. What I like about this is that it’s an everyday wine with character, rather than something that’s solely been made please a mass market. I’ll be visiting Pizzini in the next couple of weeks, until then have a look at http://www.pizzini.com.au/

I was going to say something about drinking wine on planes, but it can wait. So for now, I’ll be seeing you. Oh, and if anyone knows how to add pictures properly to these shitty blogs, please contact me.