Out Of The Bottle
With David Ellis
2009 Margan Family Winegrowers' & 2010 Brookdale Reserve Pinot Gris
Great Drop With Winter Stews Or Casseroles
Wintry weather calls for hearty beef stews of casseroled lamb chops, and just
right to enjoy with either is a good Merlot.
One particularly nicely-flavoured and well-priced drop for just such
pleasures is Margan Family Winegrowers' 2009 Merlot from their red volcanic soil
vineyard at Broke Fordwich, in the Lower Hunter Valley.
Merlot vines in this vineyard grow on their own roots, rather than having
been grafted onto a root-stock, producing small berries with soft tannins and
concentrated ripe-fruit flavours - plums and mulberries coming foremost to mind
on tasting, and also delicate spice and suggestions of vanillin oak.
Pay $20 and enjoy now with one of those great winter-time stews or
casseroles, or if you prefer, partner it with chicken and grilled Mediterranean
vegetables such as zucchinis, eggplants and peppers.
While this is a wine that maker Andrew Margan has created to enjoy young,
put it put it in the cellar for a few years to develop typical Hunter
complexities.
ONE FOR LUNCH:
New Zealand's Toi Toi Wines produces some exciting and nicely-priced wines
from its quite unusual vineyards in the Marlborough Region's Omaka Valley, a
place with a unique micro-climate created by the valley being open to full-sun
from the north, but enclosed by mountains on all other sides, and where days are
warm and the nights cool.
Toi Toi's 2010 Brookdale Reserve Pinot Gris is the product of
intensely-flavoured fruit from this micro-climate, with upfront classic Pinot
Gris spice and pear flavours, and good acidity.
At $17.99 it's a good match with poached salmon and boiled or steamed Kipfler
potatoes.
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