Tasting Notes - Juniper Crossing Chardonnay 2004 (Recommended)

Slightly old-fashion style; ripe, a little fat with good licks of peachy, tropical fruits, and touches of toasty oak. Mouthfeel is quite soft with winemaking tricks coming into play. Very decent value at $20 and has good claims as a leading entry level 'premium' MR chard.

RBJ Theologicum Grenache Mataro 2000 (Recommended)

RBJ is a side project of sorts headed by Chris Ringland. This GM is a solid effort from a less than stella Barossa vintage.Colour is quite striking...murky, dirty blood red. Could be mistaken for a Bass Phillip pinot. Reasonably subdued nose with some faint hints of ripe berries, but not much more. Tastes like it looks; a touch dirty, funky, with some nice developed rhoney notes. Underpinned by some streaky acid. Good wine but definately on the right hand side of the 'peak', and did fade a little in the glass over time. Drink soon.

Tasting Notes - Wolf Blass Gold Label Riesling 1998

They must have slipped this label in just before EU mandated changes on the use of regional based descriptors. I bought this wine very early on in my wine buying days when Mark Shield's Wine Guide was the business. As it happens in mid 1999 this wine was held as THE budget wine buy of the year.

Medium gold in the glass, looks about right for 7 years. Nice varietal nose, probably an easy pick in the 4 - 7 yr age bracket. No kero, just faint lemon/lime and a sliver of honey. Palate is no real surprise off the back of the bouquet. Very lightly fruited with some citrus notes, clearly fading. Weight is almost dilutive given no classic secondary notes are coming through...doesn't really give me much at all. Pleasant enough, but almost in the curio class (is there a curio class for seeing how cheap quaffers drink at 7 years old?)

Tasting Notes - Wynns Riesling 1998

Medium gold, light in colour for a 7 year old. Aged nose, clearly varietal, but subtle. Subdued in the mouth; the primary fruit has faded but structure is largely intact. Reasonable length. Won't set the world on fire but heh, this cost me $8 on release.

Tasting Notes - The Wanderer Moscato 2005 (Recommended)

Very pale yellow, almost clear. Rich nose; ripe, grapey, sweet. Palate takes the sweetness and richness up a notch with thick syrupy, pure grapey character. Not quite in the dessert wine league but getting close, and perhaps a too much fruit weight to qualify for anything more than a quality apperitif. Good stuff.

Trentham Estate La Famiglia Moscato 2005 (Recommended)

Now I know I wouldn't touch this stuff but as a retailer we have to provide a couple of options (at least) for those punters looking for a Brown Brothers off-dry white.

Sweet nose, fresh, grapey, some sugar, some power. Good translation in the palate, more sugary, grapey notes. Loses a bit of definition in the back palate (ie less obvious moscato) but for $11-$12 you could do worse. Good for what it is.