Penfolds Koonunga Hill

Penfolds Koonunga Hill is a solid, dependable big operation winemaker shiraz. This is the kind of wine that I think of when I think of Australian wines: a massive producer that makes oceans of decent tasting, moderately priced red juice. Nothing earth shattering, but something you can pull from the wine rack knowing that it will be decent.

Judging from the team's score cards, no one was blown away by this wine. And I think that because of familiarity with the wine, no one was going to be surprised. Still it delivers on a level.

Structure tends to break down quickly. Still, it has a nice balance with a fruit back taste and a little bit of spiciness.

This wine is dependable, and at $8.99 that accounts for a lot.

RATING: 2 Screwcaps
LABEL: Penfolds Koonunga Hill
GRAPE: Shiraz
PRICE. $8.99

Kalbarri

This 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from Southeastern Australia was another fairly high scoring wine. After the long string of Shiraz based wines, the group found the cab sauvignon wine a lot smoother and more easy going. This was a wine that would go well with food but could be enjoyed on its own.

The tasters found the nose to have a soft fruit hint like cranberry with some lavender. They also detected a taste that they agreed could only be described as "sweet tarts" - meaning the candy sweet tarts.

I missed a lot of the conversation as I was putting my son to bed( my wife and I host these tastings in our apartment), but I gathered that this wine although not blowing anyone's mind was definitely a crowd pleaser. One person wrote on their note card "love it."

I think this wine came from Ralph's grocery store - which always seems to have a hit or miss selection - so good job to Brown Bag agents James and Heather for bringing this find in.

Extra credit for the price. Both since it is below eight bucks and the decimal is so odd - .59.

RATING: 3.15 Screwcaps
LABEL: Kalbarri
GRAPE: Cabernet Sauvignon
PRICE: $7.59

Yalumba

A blend of Shiraz and Viognier, the 2006 Yalumba earned some really high marks. Again, this was a wine showing some really dark fruits like plum and boysenberry. It was also part of a string of dark, fruit forward wines at the Australia night tasting. What the tasters found, however, with this wine was that it was round in the mouth, balanced, and smooth.

Some found some tart cranberry and crisp pear on the nose - possibly because of the Viognier blended in.

At the end of the night, I took an informal poll, and three of BBS tasters voted it their favorite of the night - even though overall the Gemtree shiraz rated number one. And for those who didn't vote Yalumba their number one, they nominated it second station.

And for a shiraz that has a silky almost elegant finish - what's not to like?

RATING: 3.75 Screwcaps
LABEL: Yalumba
GRAPE: Shiraz/Viognier blend
PRICE: $10.99

GEMTREE TADPOLE SHIRAZ

The Gemtree Shiraz was the winner of the night. From the McLaren Vale Region, this is a wine that likes to tell you its story. The label of the wine( great design by the way) explains how the owner/operators of Gemtree are committed to the building of a wetland in the middle of the their vineyard along with the planting of native trees and vegetation in a larger push to green Australia.

And that's great. The wine also happens to be good - and that makes their push to make Australia a greener pasture even that much better.

After two powerful, heavy shiraz wines, the 2007 Gemtree Tadpole Shiraz proved to be a smooth and balanced wine.

This wine had a great peppery nose with hints of leather and blackberries. Unlike the Winner's Tank and the Boxhead, however, its dark fruits had been tamed. This wine was really balanced and drinkable.

Now red-staters might think that the high rating the group gave this wine is because we're Hollywood crackpots with a soft spot for some Australian vineyard claiming the badge of eco-friendliness because they're building wetlands for some nearly extinct frog. This is not the case. Peer reviewed, this was the highest scoring wine of the night.

I also feel that this was the easiest drinking wine of the night - because it was so smooth. The rough edges of the other shiraz wines had been rounded and polished in the Gemtree. And right in the $9.99 sweet spot for the BBS group.

All in all, Gemtree Tadpole Shiraz is a great buy.

RATING: 4 Screwcaps ( wetlands restoration or no this is a good wine)
LABEL: Gemtree Tadpole Shiraz
GRAPE: Shiraz
PRICE: $9.99

2008 BOXhead Shiraz

Here's a wine with a great label and some decent taste. One of Silver Lake Wine's( on Glendale Boulevard in Silver Lake) 13 bucks out the door specials ( a 13 dollar wine seems to be a recurring theme from Silver Lake Wine when our Brown Bag agents ask for a great wine for 12.99 or less), this was the second of a string of powerful Aussie reds we tasted that night. With a big alcohol nose and a bigger alcohol content of 14.5%, this juice could have powered Mad Max's V-8 Interceptor across the wasteland and beyond Thunderdome( sorry - had to inject a Mad Max ref at some point in a series of postings about Australian wines).

This is a wine exhibiting a lot of dark fruit with a nose of figs, boysenberry, and some serious dirt earthiness it is big, strong fruit distilled into shiraz. Not necessarily a bad thing if you are prepared for it.

The talk back notes I got from the group were mixed. Some people enjoyed it. One of the tasters remarked that the wine was about a 1.5 screwcap rating - but taken with some cheese - the flavor got a boost.

This was part of a series of wines during the night that lead some people to think that maybe they don't like Australian wines. That perhaps the flavor is too concentrated. Too powerful. I do think that if you like wines with strong fruit then you might really enjoy Boxhead Shiraz.

The Boxhead like the Lanhorn Winner's Tank before it, ultimately, might be lacking in balance.

Something which the next wine from the night( which I'll post about tomorrow night), the Gemtree Shiraz really seemed to get right.

Overall... the Boxhead was good, but for 13 bucks.... it didn't make many Brown Bag friends. Which is unfortunate since Brown Bagger Mike has had a string of hits from his local wine shop Silver Lake Wines where he also picked up this bottle of Boxhead.

RATING: 1.75 Screwcaps
LABEL: Boxhead Shiraz
GRAPE: Shiraz
PRICE: 12.99

Langhorn: The Winner's Tank

If the Heartland Stickleback was a divisive white, this shiraz was a unifying factor for the group. It was almost universally hated. Which sucks because this was the wine that I brought. This means that out of three tastings, people have hated two of my selections. Both times, the wines were strong, powerful, and inky.

People found the Langhorn Shiraz to have a highly, highly alcoholic nose - it had a rather high alcohol content of 15.3%. It had a really dark color. Inky. You could barely see through it to the other side of the glass.

With flavors of dried figs, cloves, and even pipe tobacco, I think the group found that this wine was a little much. Did it suffer from following three whites? Maybe. Although I think only my wife and I liked it. It was a pretty unanimous trashing.

Which is unfortunate since in the past, I've found this to be a smooth and wonderfully drinkable wine. I've had it three times now. The first two times it had the same inky color and the same high alcohol content, but it seemed more refined.

At $12.99, I have to say that I would be reticent about picking up a bottle again. If I saw it on sale for maybe $8.99 or $9.99 I would be willing to give it another try especially if I had some cheeseburgers( with blue cheese) or a flank steak grilling.

Regardless of whether or not you like it, this dusty wine is really Australian: dark eggplant color and in your face potency.

RATING: 1.5 screwcaps
LABEL: Langhorn: The Winner's Tank
GRAPE: Shiraz
PRICE: $12.99

Heartland Stickleback

Did I love this crisp Australian White. A mixture of Verdelho, Semillon, and Chardonnay grapes. It had a great nose of straw and a slight citrus with a beautiful pale straw color. With a clean, quick finish, I thought that this crisp wine would be great with buttery fish like Monkfish or a shellfish either shrimp or scallops. I found it refreshing in its own way.

Again, looking at the write-ups that the group gave - tastes do vary widely. They are nearly impossible to account for. Some found it too sweet, even effervescent as if the sugars were causing it to fizz on the drinker's tongue. Ratings ranged from unenthusiastic 5 out of 10s to 8 out of 10.

Now next weekend, we have the next Brown Bag Sommelier meeting. The kill zone for next week is Spain. Three of our weekly attendees have signed up to bring whites. I'll be curious to see how they are received. I know that whites are really out of favor with wine drinkers - at least the ones that I know. It will be interesting to see if choosing some good Albarinos, we'll be able to build a consensus.

Or is there something really broken with the production of white wines? Are they too sweet... acidic... syrupy... etc.,

Again, I really enjoyed the Stickleback. However, it came in at 13 bucks - out the door at the Silver Lake Wine shop. I don't know if I would drop 13 dollars on a wine that so clearly divided the room. I don't think I am willing to gamble 13 dollars on people's indifference to white wine.

Even though in the scheme of things, 13 bucks, is a modest sum, you should still be highly satisfied at that price point.

RATING: 2.75 Screwcaps
LABEL: Heartland Stickleback
GRAPE: Verdehlo, Semillon, Chardonnay
PRICE: 13 bucks out the door at Silverlake Wine