Rockford Basket Press Shiraz 2007

Barossa, South Australia. Shiraz. 14.5%. Cork. Approx $A40 for a half.

I wonder in this age of supposed austerity and restraint, whether there will be more half bottles on offer.

A very tight cork. . . It's wonderful to watch this transition from sun drenched and slightly harsh, to something meaty, serious and disarming. You can smell the warmth of the vintage; raisins and chocolate, vanilla and sweetly spiced oak. A swirl releases shellac and varnish and later still it becomes more meaty, brooding and faintly mercaptan scented. Big and soft in the mouth, a warm enveloping embrace, I'm melting, creamy, rich and filling with more than a suggestion of Port.

Older and larger

A dinner with old friends and the inescapable though impolite observation would be that some, myself included have grown in girth. What once was harder and tighter has become soft and loose. . . Curiously the wines consumed on the night were also old friends; labels and vintages that I'd tried and liked before. Like human bodies they too had changed and matured. The 2004 Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay is still buxom and tanned and though I'm more ambivalent now, it is hard not to the notice its poise and refinement. The 2008 Luke Lambert Syrah still smells of root vegetables and stems and the mouth feel is suitably Twiggy. 10 years older, the 1998 Wynns John Riddoch is unmoved and unfashionable. Cedar, shellac and hard edges, I thought it had started to unravel by nights end, but as I interrogate the dregs with a clearer head, I can see that it was my focus and palate being unwound by tiredness and a few too many glasses of the Alvear 1927 Pedro Ximenez. The bottle is sticky from too many clumsy pours and a soaked stopper; the liquid smells of warm raisins and fish sauce, while in the mouth it is slippery and unified.

Baklava:

• 150g shelled pistachio - rinsed under water to remove salt
• 250g walnut
• 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons of nutmeg
• 1/2 cups of caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons of fine semolina
• Filo pastry
• 200g of melted butter

Syrup:

• 1.5 cups of water
• 3/4 cups of sugar
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 2 cinnamon quills
• 6 cloves
• 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice

How? The two most time consuming tasks are shelling the pistachios and lining the tray with filo and butter. Once you have enough pistachio nuts - rinse under water to remove salt and then place on a tray with the walnuts and roast in a oven set at 170 degrees C. Remove after 3-4 minutes, to leave the nuts longer will mean they become dark and bitter. If this happens - start again. . . Blend in a food processor until suitably fine, aiming for 2-3mm pieces. Add the spices, sugar and semolina and mix well. Now line your baking tray with filo. First brush the tray (27cm x 17cm) with melted butter and then position a layer of filo and paint this more butter. Repeat this for 12 - 16 layers. Now place 1.5 cups of the nut mixture onto the filo base and smooth out before creating another 6 - 8 layers of filo. Top this middle layer of pastry with the remainder of the nut mix and top with another 10 - 12 layers of pastry and butter. Cut into the desired shapes - for me - 8 squares which are bisected to form 16 triangles. Bake at 170 degrees C for 35 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure the pastry does not become too dark.

Make the syrup by adding all the water, sugar, honey and spices to a small pot, bring this to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the spices, add the lemon juice and cool slightly. When the Baklava is just out of the oven and still bubbling and squeaking - pour the still warm syrup over and around the pieces. Don't flood the tray, but make sure there is enough liquid to bath the pieces. There should be some left over syrup. . . Leave to cool and set for several hours, don't refrigerate.

Whisson Lake Piccadilly Valley Bowhouse Vineyard 2010

Adelaide Hills, South Australia. Pinot noir. 14%. Diam. Approx $A40.

The archetype of Burgundy, replete with its beauty, prestige and intricate terroir is impossible to replicate and yet impossible to ignore. As a drinker your frame of reference is already determined and I suspect, despite protestations to the contrary the same Burgundian frame encapsulates and informs many vignerons. Whisson Lake (the surnames of Mark and Bruce) suggests something Burgundian with their label; the typography and the absence of grape, the rectangle around the year. . . Sadly the wine tastes like an hot Summer's day. Faded and pale, it seems disjointed, abrasive and the concluding blast of heat does not make this fleshy, slightly fatty, confected and char flavoured wine any more appealing.

Take 3

Three tasting notes for the same wine, each evenly spaced in time. Disturbingly the appeal of the wine seems to diminish for me, with each tasting. . .

Is it the fickleness of my palate or has the wine just grown coarse and spotty?

Dry River Pinot noir 2008

Martinborough, New Zealand. Pinot noir. 12.5% (tastes bigger). Cork. Source: Cellar.

A mostly dry week, preoccupied with work and family and to a much lesser extent, books and chess. . . As I drink less I greedily want an epiphany with each glass. I suppose it is possible, but more than likely it leads to bankruptcy and corruption of the soul.

As Bloom puts it, on the subject of literary greatness: The question we need to put to any writer must be: does she or he augment our consciousness, and how is it done? I find this a rough but effectual test: however I have been entertained, has my awareness been intensified, my consciousness widened and clarified? If not, then I have encountered talent, not genius. What is best and oldest in myself has not been activated.

The wine in question has talent and I suspect its appeal will grow, but for me, no epiphany or desire for more. It's dark and fragrant, the nose has a certain depth and beauty, but it is also cola like along with the scent of whole bunches, spice and earth. If blinded I would have thought Central Otago. . . Silken and frontal there is an initial creamy softness and shortness, but later it lengthens and becomes more sappy and char accented.

Tangled up in blue

Unrelated tasting note: Samuel's Gorge Shiraz 2007. McLaren Vale, South Australia. 14.5%. Cork. Approx $A120 from restaurant list. Deep and round. Milk chocolate and berries, cream, abundance and softness. A gentle giant. It's hard to escape the sense that you are slowly, but surely drowning in a warm, disarming liquid. . .

A Swan Valley tasting plate

from Riverbank Estate, 126 Hamersley Rd, Caversham.

The food is comforting and well done, Modern Australian, eclectic and slightly haphazard in the combination of flavours, with nods to Asia and the Mediterranean. The pork belly tastes like it has been poached in a masterstock it comes with two cubes of frittata and when ordered as a main, cabbage flavoured with bacon and Tianjin pickled vegetables; the salad with the tempura prawns has fried shallots, there are two Thai fish cakes with a potato salad, a small plate of cacciatore sausage and another of olives. Eclectic, but effective. . . The setting is simple, tables with crisp white tablecloths over looking a lawn and vines, the appeal augmented by the beautiful light and the cloud free sky.

I tried three of the whites (Verdello and Chenin blanc) from the cellar door before settling on the Riesling (made from Mt Barker fruit). Perhaps it's the age (the wines were from 08 and 09), or perhaps it is a conscious decision, all the of wines seemed more notable for their texture than freshness or fruit. 'Food wines' with a hint of savouriness and flesh.

Bouchard Meursault Les Genevrières 2007

Meursault, Beaune, Burgundy, France. Chardonnay. 13.5%. Diam. Half bottle.

Though from the same commune and separated by only a few kilometres, this is starkly different from it's slightly less esteemed relative. Where the sibling was spindly and awkward this is immediately likable and fully formed at the open. The flesh is softer, creamier and the shape more pleasing and familiar; it's less confrontingly angular. Which explains why in minutes the half bottle was no more. . . Stonefruit, matchstick, almond meal and baking spice, a comforting amalgam; the volume is appropriately restrained but the content is clear and defined. Rolling and flowing, this is a lovely example of the grape and site. 95. Now - 2016.

Image: Michel Bouchard's 1730's textile sample book complete with wine scribble. It's not hard to imagine how might have used his textile merchant's brain to think about the wines and soils of Burgundy.

Bouchard Le Corton 2007

Corton, Beaune, Burgundy, France. Pinot noir. 13.5%. Diam. Half bottle.

I think I can discern what sets this apart from it's brother, but in truth the differences are minor and my confidence may be misplaced. Slightly larger and fleshier, life perhaps has been easier, it certainly seems more manicured and relatively less sinewy. Still, there is an impression of minerals and rocks, assertive structure and mid palate spice. It's bold and imposing, you get the impression its arms are crossed. . . Dried herbs, aniseed, rosewood, cherries and charcuterie, it smells meatier, older and less pretty than its sibling, perhaps for all these reasons, I prefer it. . . Excellent. 95. Now - 2021.

Bouchard Meursault Les Clous 2007

Beaune, Burgundy, France. Chardonnay. 13%. Diam. Half bottle $A45

How to change wine into words and scribble into clarity. . . My glass has been washed and stored, the bottle waiting in the laundry for disposal and I've a page of messy words and the lingering taste of wine in my mouth. To begin the liquid seems unresolved and prematurely woken, it's certainly not immediately enjoyable; the elements are pronounced and awkward, wrapped in a fog of gun smoke and flint. It seems sappy and astringent, a mouth full of rattling stones. Over the course of several hours (during which I had a meal, went for a drive, bathed the kids) it improves and blossoms. It remains stony and hard, but the edges have rounded and the bristle has purpose and direction. The contradictory seams of sappy, mineral acidity and softness (honey, peanut skins, the slightest suggestion of cream) have started to make sense. 90-93. 2013 - 2020.