Yalumba Shiraz, 2011

After a long day, Loz and I feasted on roast vegetables and frittata, and opened this little $20 doozy.

It's easy drinking, with dark fruit like plums, a little bit of black peppery spice, and after opening up a bit we noticed (well, Lauren noticed) lovely brown sugar/muscavado/pascal's chocolate coffee eclair lollies.

The tannins were medium, which I think is good for a wine this age. Acid a little high but dropped away fairly well.

Very nice, I like. Could be improved by another years' cellaring.

g

Cross Country Fruity Lexia... worse than Voldemort

The apple juice of wine, do not let its sweetness deceive you. One can hardly call this wine, however you will get drunk if you drink enough of it. And like the poisonous liquid Dumbledore must consume in order to reach Voldemort's Horcrux necklace, it will make you keep drinking, and drinking, and drinking... until you dry out like some dessicated piece of fruit. The hangover is the worst part- having such a high sugar content makes your metabolism a little nuts. And the sugar headache.. oh my. The wine itself has no remarkable characteristics apart from 'juicelike', and 'grapey'.

Probably recommended for those who only drink alchopop chicks' drinks but can't drink wine, to drink from a wine glass to look like they are consuming real wine. ( I do this with cider for beer, quite useful til someone buys you an actual beer for their round). Or wine-pong. But students can do better. Hardly worth it!

BEWARE THE FRUITY LEXIA!!!!

g.

Katnook Founders Block Cab Sauv 2010

Rainy Saturday afternoon at ma besty's place, enjoying with some pods and 28 Days Later.

Katnook Founder's Block
Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon
2010

Plums, cherries, cassis on the nose

Palate
low acid
soft tannin
medium bodied
sour cherry
cassis
plum
mint

This was a great drop for $20, sitting around for a yarn and a drink without food.
x g

Bress Heathcote Shiraz

This one's been sitting written on hotel stationary as a coaster for about a month now.

Bress Heathcote Shiraz 2010 14% VIC
Biodynamic/organic

Ruby/garnet

aromatics:

Prune
Raisin
Oak (French)

flavours:

At first, a lot of alcohol comes through and makes it seem acidic but this drops away.
Savoury
Cedar
White pepper
Raisins
Cherry brandy turning to subtle plummynedd

Smooth, medium tannins
Beautiful long finish


The oakiness reminds me of a creamy chardonnay.

This is a quality wine which would be wonderful with some lamb, or maybe even goat. I'm a vegetarian but do remember the taste of meat.. mm. We drank this one without food which I think scarcely did it justice.
Go it!

Wideacre-Phillipa Gregory

Well hello there, internet. How are you? It's 6am and I'm sure you're tucked up in bedsies. Possibly with wine/book related hangovers. Mm nice. Anyway I've finally finished a book for you. Hurray!

So I scored a copy of Wideacre by Phillipa Gregory. She's a prolific historical fiction writer who wrote the well-known Other Boleyn Girl, which was made into a hugely popular film and I believe, spurred the Tudors series.

So there's always a lot of intrigue, sexy men and heavy-breathing well brought up ladies who want to GET IT ON! Woohoo! There is a whole genre of books like this, Historical Romance.. less romance and more Rape of History, however we keep Gregory in fiction, possibly due to her film status. Don't get me wrong though, I do love her, as an escapism master wielder of historical poonjuice. Yes that is what I mean. Or is it?

Wideacre is the story of Beatrice, lover of the land owned by her father, Squire of Wideacre. It's a Utopia, with fields and dark woods for 'doing all manner of things'. This is a racy racy book, however it has a lot of substance. I really cared about the characters (something which is very difficult to achieve as a writer), and there were light-hearted moments as well as tragic ones. (I mean really, really sad.) In fact this book made me feel so strongly about what was happening, it affected my life a bit. Giggling workmates in staffroom? Shuttup this book has made me angry! People on the train, Don't read over my shoulder or... :/ um. Just don't look.

Although some of the literary techniques Gregory uses are obvious, and a little trite (
ooh, a storm is coming...), she is quite good at building tension. Sometimes you can guess where the plot is going, but being so connected to the heroine (just tell the truth! Why make it harder for yourself, Beatrice!?), you're along for the ride, sucked into the vortex that is Beatrice's tragic life.


Sigh, I made that sound horrible didn't I. But it really was a rich, imagery laden, sexy, sad read. I give it 3.5 stars.

Til next time!
G.