Yellow Tail, or [yellow tail] as they write it, is one of those brands that many people view as the epitome of cheap wine.  In fact, when I tell people about this website I’m often asked if I drink a bunch of Yellow Tail.  Actually, I don’t.  This is the first time we’ve reviewed a Yellow Tail wine.  It’s not out of spite for the brand or anything like that, there’s just sooooo many different wines out there to choose from that we haven’t gotten around to a [yellow tail]… until now.

I have to admit, that Australia isn’t on the top of my list when I’m shopping for sparklers.  With so much good Italian Prosecco, Spanish Cava, Alsatian Cremant and Californian bubbly out there, I’m just not that likely to make it to the Australian section.  But why not?  They make some great wine in Australia!  They can probably make some great bubbly too.

This one has a fairly tight nose, with slight apple aromas.  The palate is off-dry with slightly sweet yellow delicious apple flavors.  It’s fairly simple, but it’s pleasant tasting.  The bubbles in this wine feel like those from a soda.  The bubbles might come from a gas injection method versus the traditional fermentation in the bottle method.  I could not find any statement about their method anywhere in their literature, so I don’t know for sure.  Regardless of whatever method they used, it has some bubbles but the texture of those bubbles isn’t quite cutting it for me.  It finishes with more apple flavor and a touch of lemon.  While I wouldn’t say this wine totally knocked my socks off, it was still enjoyable and a bargain for the price.

One thing that I did love about this wine is the cap.  It came with a resealable, plastic cap.  This allows you to cap the wine if you don’t want to drink the whole bottle in one evening.  And the cap will fit most other sparkling wine bottles too, so you can keep it and use it over and over with other bottles of bubbly.

Wine: Yellow Tail
Variety: Sparkling wine
Vintage: Non-vintage
Alcohol: 11.5%
Rating: 84
Price: $10.00

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Want another opinion?  Here’s what some other’s thought of [yellow tail] Bubbles:

• First Pour Wine
• Twilight Wines
• Detroit News

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

When you think of wine from Australia you probably think of Shiraz first, as well you should.  Shiraz is Australia’s most planted variety, and it ranks second to France in shiraz/syrah in vines under cultivation.  But I’d be willing to bet that when Australian wine gets mentioned, the last varietal that you think of is pinot noir.  I mean, when was the last time you had a pinot noir from Australia?

The challenge of growing pinot outside of Burgundy has been well published, and Australia is no exception.  The southern portions of the country are very well suited to hardier varieties, such as cabernet sauvignon and the aforementioned shiraz, that aren’t as picky about climatic conditions as pinot is.  But Aussie wine-makers are becoming a little more adventurous with this variety, particularly in the cooler, southern portions of Victoria, like Yarra Valley and Mornington Penninsula.

But The Little Penguin is not sourcing their pinot grapes from these regions.  You have to head a little west from Victoria to the state of South Australia to locate their plantings.  The real estate there may not be as prestigious as in southern Victoria, but the conditions are similar, and I’m sure the lower rent helps The Little Penguin keep such an attractive price.  We’ve reviewed their 2006 offering, and while we weren’t that enamored with the 2006, the 2010 vintage came recommended by one of the trusted wine shops I frequent.

The nose of this wine is actually quite pleasant, if a bit jammy for a pinot.  It’s a far cry from the 2006, and that’s a great start.  The nose offers rich ripe strawberry and rhubarb, with hints of vanilla and allspice.  While I wouldn’t exactly say that The Little Penguin hits the mark in varietal character, it is certainly an enjoyable nose.  On the palate the wine offers light, yet smooth strawberry fruit.  Through the mid-palate the wine maintains it’s soft fruit and transitions abruptly to rich acidity, bordering on actually being slightly sour in the finish.  But it doesn’t upset the balance or the experience.

Overall, I enjoyed this simpler expression of pinot noir, even if it isn’t the most complex of wines.  But to be fair, at this price point, you would be hard pressed to find a better value in pinot, in my opinion.  So give this pinot-on-a-budget example a try.

A  Salute!

Wine: The Little Penguin
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2010
Alcohol: 12%
Rating: 85
Price:  $5.99

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Muscat, also know as muscatel or moscatel, is a varietal that is produced in many of the major wine growing regions around the world. In Italy the varietal is know as Moscato, and can be produced in either a still or sparkling (frizzante) style. Moscato is used predominantly to make sweet dessert wines that can be crafted to compliment dolci (sweets) or served as dessert itself, or as a milder alternative to other after-dinner liqueurs. In many cases the wine is fortified with additional levels of alcohol to enhance the wine’s intensity.

I’m actually a big fan of Moscato, both in still and frizzante forms, and recently I had the opportunity to taste a couple of new world offerings from Jacob’s Creek (Australia) and Motos Liberty (California).

Jacob’s Creek

The Jacob’s Creek is a frizzante, or sparkling style, but compared to other sparkling wines the Jacob’s creek would be considered mildly ‘spritzed’. The color of the Jacob’s Creek was very light and from a distance, the wine could easily be confused for something other than wine (like water) once it’s fizz dissipates.

The nose offers traditional hints of honey, peach and pear, along with mild mineral and slightly metallic notes; although, I would consider the nose of this wine to be a touch faint. On the palate the wine offers a very nice balance of effervescence and acid, along with honey and pear.

I sampled both of these wines by themselves, as well as with some dessert – it just so happened to be my mother’s birthday so we had some homemade New York style lemon cheese cake and some very delicious Smores Cupcakes after dinner. Both desserts offered some very rich and challenging flavors for a dessert wine to tackle, but the Jacob’s Creek was certainly up to the challenge. In fact, I preferred the Jacob’s Creek with dessert. At 8% alcohol and with the well-crafted acid levels, that’s exactly what this wine was designed to do.

Wine: Jacob’s Creek
Variety: Moscato
Vintage: 2010
Alcohol: 8%
Rating: 84
Price: $8.00

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Motos Liberty

The Motos Liberty is a still, or non-sparkling Moscato. Where the Jacob’s Creek may have lacked in forward fruit, the Motos Liberty offered up a rich caramel and honey. The Motos has a bit more alcohol at 10%, which undoubtedly helped in intensifying the nose and front palate. However, where the Jacob’s Creek excelled in structure and acid, the Motos fell flat, literally. But, again, this is by design. The Motos is really meant to stand-alone. That said, it’s caramel and honey flavors were a nice complement to the Smores cupcakes, with its blend of graham cracker and marshmallow.

So what you have here are two examples of an old world varietal produced in the new world, but achieving very different results. I couldn’t help to think that together they would have made the perfect dessert wine. While I prefer the fresher effervescent style of the Jacob’s Creek, both wines are worthy of consideration for your next dessert wine pairing.

A Salute!

Wine: Motos Liberty
Variety: Moscato
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 10%
Rating: 84
Price: $10.99

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Disclosure: These wines were received as a sample.

In the wine world, everything is relative.  Case in point, I present to you Jacob’s Creek 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve.  The term “Reserve” is typically utilized for the best juice of the vintage, often seeing a little more time in the winemaker’s best oak.  But one winemaker’s best juice is another winemaker’s jug wine.  And not all oak barrels are made equal.  So while a winery may use the term “Reserve” to describe their best effort for the vintage, it simply may not measure up to another winery’s table wine.  So how does Jacob’s Creek measure up?  Well, the answer is relative.

When you’re presented with a wine with deep rich color, and heavy oak with strong tight tannins, it’s easy to get impressed with the wine’s “big-ness”.  But if you spend some time really concentrating on the depth of fruit, integration of tannins, and overall complexities in what the wine is offering, you can pick out the posers from the real-deals.

The Jacob’s Creek Reserve certainly fits the aforementioned description, but is it a poser or the real-deal?  On the nose, it initially serves up blueberry and hints of tropical notes, turning to cassis and then pine and cedar.   The color is a deeply opaque violet.  On the palate there’s more cassis and cedar, and the wine finishes with tight, and slightly bitter tannins.  As the wine begins to open the tannins subside slightly and become better integrated with the fruit.  But the wine continues to remain a little tight.

So what’s the verdict?  Is this reserve cab a poser, or the real-deal?  Well in this price range, I’d say the Jacob’s Creek Reserve is certainly no poser.  But compared to other well-crafted, well-integrated higher end wines, the Jacob’s Creek can’t be called the real-deal.  But if you’re looking for a big wine at a value price, check out this wine.   Again, it’s all relative.

Salute!

Wine: Jacob’s Creek Reserve
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating:  87
Price: $12.99

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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

Over the years I’ve been fortunate enough to have tasted many barrel samples with some really experienced winemakers.  With almost every visit I’ve gained some valuable perspective to help me identify what wines are revealing, and more importantly what they have the potential to reveal.

Sampling the Jacob’s Creek brought me back to one tasting in particular.  That day I heard the winemaker use a very interesting term to describe his barrel sample.   As he dispensed the wine into my glass with the thief, he enthusiastically offered up a prelude to what I was about to experience, with one very interesting caveat.   He said his barrel sample was “still a bit angular”.  With one eyebrow now standing firmly at attention, I replied “angular?”  He said, “yea, angular”.  He went on: “sometimes young wines, particularly ones still in the barrel, offer up a lot of complex fruit and nuance, but the elements are not integrated yet”.  I knew exactly what he meant, but I had never heard wine described as having any rectilinear qualities.

So as I was tasting the Jacob’s Creek and determining what the wine was offering, the term angular came right back into memory.  On the nose the wine is more integrated, initially offering hints of banana and other tropical notes, turning to rich plum and ripe cherry.  On the palate, the wine is quite jammy, offering loads of plum and cherry.  There is some mild pepper and spice, but I was a little disappointed that these typical shiraz traits were not as prominent in the Jacob’s Creek.

But what had me comparing this wine to other young barrel samples was the way the wine offered up it’s flavor nuances.  The wine shows it’s fruit in chunks, and then offers up other details in not so subtle ways.  This wine hasn’t integrated yet.  A mature, well integrated wine is a lot like a well-conducted orchestra.  No one musician or instrument stands out.  You just hear beautiful music.  It would be fair to expect these traits right out of the barrel, but not after a few years in the bottle.  Which makes me wonder what a little more time will do for this wine.

Now, all that being said, I still rated this wine a very respectable 85.  There is some very potent fruit, that is currently overwhelming any spice or pepper.  I would actually suggest laying this wine down for maybe 6 months to a year.   It’s not built to age over the long haul, but I think it would benefit from just a little bit more time.  Time for the conductor to do his thing.

A  Salute!

Wine: Jacobs’ Creek
Variety: Shiraz
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 14%
Rating:  85
Price: $12.99

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Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

You won’t see much marketing for Crane Lake wines out there, but you will find them in many supermarkets.  Crane Lake is another label from cheap wine mogul Fred Franzia and his Bronco Wine Company.  These are the same folks behind the legendary Charles Shaw (aka Two Buck Chuck) that you’ll find in Trader Joe’s stores.  The Charles Shaw label is exclusive to Trader Joe’s, and so Bronco Wine Company produced Crane Lake wines as a label to sell at similar rock-bottom prices at other stores.

I’ve seen Crane Lake around for a few years, but this is the first I’ve seen of the “Down Under by Crane Lake” label.  As you could probably guess, this wine comes from Australia (while most Crane Lake wines are Californian).

My general rule of thumb on this site is to only review wines priced between $5-20.  While I’m a fan of paying as little as possible for my wine, I’ve found that I’m generally dissatisfied with those under $5.  So, I usually avoid them.  But I received this $3 bottle of Down Under as a sample, so I threw it in the mix during my blind Chardonnay tasting to see how it would fare.

My first impression of this wine was that it was just an oak-heavy chardonnay. I was put off by the oak, but as I dug into it I found some interesting elements. The nose is filled with oak layered over buttered popcorn, honey and lime aromas.  The palate has quite a strong, crisp apple flavor, along with peach and lime.  But I do get punched in the mouth with the oak in the mid-palate and into the finish.  It’s not very elegant in that way.

While it didn’t wow me, it also didn’t turn me off as much as I would expect for a $3 bottle of wine.  If you like a lot of oak in your Chardonnay and aren’t as much of a snob as I am you might be OK with this wine.  In fact, my wife liked this one.  And for $2.99 it’s definitely cheap.

Wine: Down Under by Crane Lake
Variety: Chardonnay
Vintage: 2008
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 80
Price: $2.99

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Last month we reviewed the McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate Shiraz which was a good Shiraz—especially for the price.  And today we’re giving the Merlot from this brand a try.

Like the Shiraz, the grapes for this Merlot come from the New South Wales region in Australia, and more specifically the Riverina region within New South Wales.  Riverina is produces 60% of the wine grapes from New South Wales and the first vines in this region were planted at Hanwood Estate by John James McWilliam in 1913.  So, you could say that McWilliam’s has a few years of experience producing wine from this land.

I mentioned in the Shiraz review that McWilliam’s Wines tout themselves as “Australia’s most awarded winery,” and this particular Merlot has gotten a number of awards.  It has recieved at least 10 silver, gold or double gold medals from various wine competitions—and that is specific to this vintage of the wine.

While not incredibly powerful, the nose from this Merlot is very enjoyable.  It’s a little bit smoky, a little bit black cherry, a little bit vanilla and a little bit licorice.  Although the intensity is rather soft the complexity is very good, which makes it interesting.

Similar to the nose, I would say that the palate doesn’t have strong concentration but is still very nice.  It is a fruit-forward style Merlot, with abundant ripe black cherry and plum flavors.  Soft, yet rich tannins give a full mouth feel but end up slightly oak-heavy on the finish.

All told, this is a tasty Merlot for the price.  It is well balanced, varietally correct and complex.  I gave it a solid 86 and would have given it a couple more points with more intensity & concentration.  But if you prefer a Merlot that isn’t overly powerful then this would be a great choice.

Wine: McWIlliam’s Hanwood Estate
Variety: Merlot
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 86
Price: $12.00

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McWilliam’s Wines has a long heritage as a family-run winery in Australia since 1877.  They tout themselves as “Australia’s most awarded winery,” and they certainly have earned a number of awards over the years.

McWilliam’s has vineyards in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales—the latter being the area where the grapes for this Shiraz were harvested.  While there are a couple different lines of wine available under the McWilliam’s name, the Hanwood Estate is their entry-level wine in terms of price.

The nose on this wine is beautiful.  It has a nice nutmeg nuance layered on top of blackberry, cherry, toasted oak and black pepper.  The palate is equally enjoyable.  It starts out with a lively spice feature which I would call a combination of black pepper and nutmeg.  Raspberry and blackberry flavors are the next thing you notice, and I would say that the fruit is full, but not jammy.  Some cocoa flavors come to life in the mid-palate and the nutmeg returns on the finish, which is relatively long.

They used both French and American oak barrels in the production of this wine, as well as oak staves.  I know some purists scoff at the idea of using staves, but if good wine can be produced using oak staves and it saves a few bucks on the price of the wine then I have no problems with it.

I’m usually one to avoid Australian Shiraz in this price range due to the fact that it’s often filled with overtly jammy fruit, a whack of spice and nothing else.  But this wine is quite nice, especially for the price.

Wine: McWIlliam’s Hanwood Estate
Variety: Shiraz
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 86
Price: $12.00

The St. Hallett winery resides in the Barossa region in Australia and focuses on producing wines from this region.  They are best known for their Shiraz, of which they release a few different lines.  The Faith Shiraz is their most affordable Shiraz—other than a Shiraz Grenache blend they offer.

The winery was established in 1944 and was named after an early surveyor of Southern Australia.  In 2004, St. Hallett was named “Winery of the Year” by Wine and Spirits magazine.

Faith is a big, fruit-filled Shiraz.  If you’re a fan of fruit-forward Shiraz, you may like this one.  The nose is filled with jammy plum, blackberry and blueberry.  A little licorice, cocoa and black pepper to add complexity to the bouquet.  The palate is jammy, with loads of blueberry, blackberry and black cherry.  The finish continues the fruit theme, but is a little short.  All told, this is a big and enjoyable wine.

Wine: St. Hallett Faith
Variety: Shiraz
Vintage: 2005
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 86
Price: $15.99

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Critters on wine labels is often something that will steer me in another direction because it is often indicative of not-so-good wine. I’m not the first person to bring this up, others wine aficionados also avoid the critter.  But many shoppers are attracted to wine with cute little animals on the label and some winemakers know that critters sell wine.  And I would guess that no wine-producing region puts more animals on labels than Australia.

However, the “avoid wine with critters” rule does not apply when that critter is a Roogle.  What is a Roogle, you ask?  It’s half kangaroo and half bald eagle, and it’s found on labels of wine from Marquis Philips.  This unique icon, which kind of looks like a mythical creature, represents the collaboration between Australian and American winemakers which results in Marquis Philips wine.

Marquis Philips started as a joint venture between American Dan Philips and Australian winemakers Sarah and Sparky Marquis, however Sarah and Sparky Marquis have since moved on to produce Mollydooker Wines.  Dan Philips is still involved with Marquis Philips and is currently partnering with other Australian winemakers to create this wine.

And why is it that the Roogle gets an exception as an acceptable critter on a wine label?  Because this wine is good!

In a way, this Shiraz reminded me of a Zinfandel with a little less spice.  The nose is full and rich with blackberry jam, leather, dark chocolate and oak. The palate has very jammy blackberry with loads of dark chocolate.  There’s also a bit of cherry on the palate and a hint of spice.  And at 15.5% alcohol it is a big wine.  The finish is long lasting and is like creamy dark chocolate melting on your tongue.

Wine: Marquis Philips
Variety: Shiraz
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 15.5%
Rating: 88
Price: $12.98

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