Welcome

Welcome

This is a resource for people who want to buy an interesting bottle of wine on a budget of about $20. If you get lost between Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon and have access to a Dan Murphy's or Vintage Cellars (or Aldi, as of 2015!), you've come to the right place. Where possible, wines are listed with their single-bottle price from DM/VC/A and the winery's home page.

A good place to start is the 'Index', or if you know what type of wine you want, head straight to the 'Recommended Reds', 'Worthy Whites' or 'Stunning Sparklers' that only show 4 & 5☆ wines.

Your experience will be different to everyone else's, which makes wine such a pleasure. The same vintage wine at different ages will be distinct, as will the same aged wines from different vintages. What the glass holds is a unique parcel of time that should be enjoyed as such.

Saturday, 22 October 2016

(S) Petaluma: 'Croser' NV, from Adelaide Hills, SA, Australia

Appearance
Pale gold, with a very faint rose tinge & showing consistent small bubbles.

Smell
Floral & fruity! Plenty of peaches & nectarines, with apples, orchid blossoms, some tangelos and a hint of bitter almond.

Palate
Dry, with some decent acidity, well integrated alcohol (13%) & a surprisingly full body. The flavour profile is unique! Dominant flavours are lemon tart, slightly unripe apples, followed by tart strawberries & raspberries. Frothy mousse (bubbles) & a moderate length finish.

Tale
This year (2016) Petaluma has celebrated their 40th birthday, having been founded by Brian Croser in 1976. The winery was established with a view to harvest site-specific grapes and produce terroir-specific wines, which was way ahead of the trends for Australian winemaking in the 70s. The early days of Petaluma focused on the established wine regions of Clare Valley & Coonawarra in SA, plus an adventurous foray into Adelaide Hills, which was yet to be discovered as a significant wine region.

Within the Adelaide Hills region, the Piccadilly Valley is planted with the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that go into the Croser NV, which is named after the winery's founder. The current winemaker Andrew Hardy focuses on minimalist wine making to allow the fruit to express where it comes from (the terroir). Croser is made in the traditional method (aka. Méthode Traditionnelle/Champenoise), which means it had a secondary fermentation in the same bottle you buy. It's the most expensive way to make fizz & essentially the same method as used for as Dom Pérignon/Cristal/Bollinger, or any French Crémant or Spanish Cava. If you've got a more generous wine budget, look at their Late Disgorged option for ~$50, as it's got more than a decade of age on lees & I'm sure it would rival most Champagnes.

This is a nice bottle of bubbles & it's got a bit of a different taste to the rest of the sparklers that have been reviewed for Spring. It's easy drinking & definitely worth the $17 Dan Murphy's is asking (maybe not the $25 Vintage Cellars wants though).

Price: $17
Quality: ☆☆☆
Value: ☆☆☆

www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_339355
www.petaluma.com.au/our-wines/croser/croser-non-vintage/croser-adelaide-hills-non-vintage-sparkling.html


Drank by

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