Marius Symposium Shiraz Mourvédre

Marius is a delicious little winery in McLaren Vale in South Australia. They dry-grow a high percentage of their vineyard, and only minimally irrigate the rest. This leads to cultivation of High intensity, low-yield fruit, and subsequently big wines. This one is a 50/50 blend of Shiraz and Mourvédre, and is very appropriately named. "Symposium", from the Greek "sympotein", meaning to drink together; could there be a better name for an eminently drinkable wine?
This is a wine with flavour. It is thick and clingy, with a reasonably high alcohol content. The nose is packed with berries, fruitcake and chocolate mint. The berry flavours continue in the mouth, along with cherry jam. It is lightly spicy, and gives nice firm but not overpowering tannins. The flavour lingers on and on. This is a tremendous wine, and if anyone invites you to a symposium, you can only hope they have something like this in mind.

Food: Lamb casserole.
Price: About $30 a bottle, rrp.

Ashbrook Verdelho

Ah, Sundays. You think it's still the weekend, but actually, it's a school night, so the hangover the next morning (mostly caused by having to waken at 6ish) is always slightly startling. Still, better than Mondays, I suppose.
Yesterday, B & C came over to house-warm us more thoroughly than the first time - by which I mean that M was actually present this time. We shared a delicious bottle of 2003 Chandon...but I digress. The time came when we got peckish, so went in search of food. We had in mind to try a Thai place we'd seen in the back streets of Petersham, but having arrived, found it closed. Our minds stuck on Thai, though, we retreated to the familiar haunt of Thai Garn in Summer Hill.
To accompany a delicious meal, you need a delicious wine, and this was certainly one. Ashbrook are a small Margaret River winery, mostly selling through the cellar door, and selected outlets. They do not oak the verdelho even slightly, keeping it very fresh and fruity. Like a good verdelho should, it has vivid passionfruit and tropical fruit aromas (think lychees, bananas...), which are followed up by a full-flavoured tropical palate, and a big zesty dose of acidy lemon. This really is a great example of the variety, and while perfectly scrumptious even this young, will last a number of years if you feel like cellaring it.

Food: Lovely with our thai fish cakes.
Price: $22 the bottle, and a bargain at the price.

Marist Pinot Noir

The other night, M and I had our first guest around for dinner at our new place. After G & Ts, and copious appetisers, I cooked up a modest feast and we moved on to the wine.
I am a big fan of Pinot these days. It can take a while to develop the palate for it - it's lighter and more delicate than most other reds, and the flavours can be quite complex. The task is not helped, of course, by the fact that it's hard to get a cheap Pinot. The berries are thin-skinned and require tender care, so usually a good one has to be entirely made (and picked) by hand. This leads, naturally, to higher prices. But it can certainly be worth it.
This example is grown in the Southern Highlands of NSW, where conditions suit the Pinot variety very well. And the vines are tended, I can only assume, by monks, which is an advantage most do not share. I like to think the monkishness is evident in the wine - brown and husky aromas of dark cherry and cloves, and a spicy palate of stewed plum and earthy briar. Of course the Marist brothers aren't the rough-spun wool sort of monk, but a man can dream...

Food: This accompanied our appetisers - crackers and paté, etc, and went beautifully.
Price: A quite reasonable $25 a bottle.