Red Wine First Drop Mother’s Milk Shiraz 2020. The fun and irreverent First Drop label was founded by Matt ‘Gantos’ Gant and John ‘JR’ Retsas, two friends who spotted a gap in the market for delicious, unpretentious wines made with top quality fruit from Australia’s finest wine regions. Together the duo carefully source grapes from the Barossa Valley, the Adelaide Hills, and the McLaren Vale, blending together complimentary varieties to create easy-drinking yet powerful wines. Their Mother’s Milk Shiraz has a cult following in Australia and was named one of James Suckling’s Top 100 Australian Wines in 2019. The fruit is sourced from just three vineyards in the Barossa Valley with 12 months of ageing in French oak hogshead barrels. The result is a rich and juicy Shiraz which is bursting with crushed cassis, blackberries and wild plums along with undertones of spice, dark chocolate, dried herbs and sunbaked earth. On the palate there’s a generous full body, firm tannins and a well-developed structure which will respond well to a few more years in the cellar. If you’d rather drink it now, pair with a hearty rabbit stew, barbecued ribs, a rump steak, or even fresh pasta served with a wild boar or beef ragu.
2020
Red Wine First Drop Mother’s Milk Shiraz 2020
Red Wine Gaja Ca’ Marcanda Promis 2020. In 1970 Famed Italian winemaker Angelo Gaja took over the running of the family winery which was founded back in 1859. Proud of his family’s winemaking past and determined to lead the estate into the future, Angelo brought with him a passionate determination to produce top quality wines that would become benchmark examples of the noble Nebbiolo grape. His pioneering vision was to create Italian wines that could stand up to the finest wines being produced over in Burgundy and Bordeaux. Angelo began his ambitious plans by replanting much of the family’s vineyards and investing in stainless steel tanks with temperature controls that would allow him to carefully control the winemaking process. He also caused controversy locally by mimicking top winemakers in Bordeaux and California in bringing in small oak barrels to age his wines. At the time most local producers were still using huge chestnut wood casks called botti. Promis is a great example of Angelo’s groundbreaking approach since it is made from fruit sourced from Bolgheri near the Tuscan coast in a Super Tuscan” style using international grape varieties. The blend is primarily composed of Merlot along with a smaller proportion of Syrah and Sangiovese which thrive in the local terre brune or dark soils and hot summer days cooled by sea breezes. The result is a rich, voluptuous red wine which is bursting with dark berry and plum notes and subtle spiced notes from the 12 months of ageing in oak barrels.
2020
Red Wine Giodo La Quinta 2020. No need to decant it but best to open it half an hour before serving. Podere Giodo is a small winery born between 2001 and 2003 from the great passion for wine of Carlo Ferrini, an internationally renowned winemaker. Their vineyards extend for five and a half hectares at 300 meters above sea level in the southwestern area of Montalcino. Carlo Ferrini planted his ideal vineyard here, personally selecting the Sangiovese clones with great care. The production is artisanal and limited: the Brunello di Montalcino is produced in very few examples and receives huge awards from the greatest critics in the sector. La Quinta wine was named after the vineyard, the fifth in order of time, planted by Carlo Ferrini, thinking precisely of this wine and its particular characteristics. It is aged in large wooden barrels for 12 months and elevated in cement, acquiring an impressive maturity. This is an intense and elegant Tuscan wine with a clear, luminous and almost transparent ruby red color. On the nose, it is subtle and expresses a bouquet characterized by delicate hints of violet, aromas of morello cherry, small red berries, ripe cherries, nuances of spontaneous shrubs of the Mediterranean scrub and soft spices. The wine is smooth and full-bodied in the mouth, with mature tannic texture and fruity aromas of great fragrance and finesse, leading to a fresh, savory finish with good gustatory persistence. Have it with mushroom lasagna or grilled red meat.
2020