Stick To What She Does Best

Judy Gifford of Darling Park is by far and away one of my favourite Chardonnay makers.
My only problem with Judy as a wine maker is her Pinot. I'm not too sure where she goes wrong but boy is her Pinot wrong. I'm not here however to rip through wine makers I am here to express my thanks for what they do well
Judy's Chardonnay offers so much for such great value. Her wine making style is one of intelligence and finesse. The 2007 Chardonnay displays a intense tightness which allows it to wrap around your whole mouth, displaying good length of fruit with a delicate acid balance. Judy's knack for seducing good citrus flavours with a tight structural balance, It shows all the encouraging signs of nectarine and the typically enjoyable melon flavours. The Influence of the barrel fermentation shows excellent wine making restraint, (unlike many of her colleges).
Judy's intelligent use of all the winemakers array of tricks such as whole-bunch pressing Malo-lactic fermentation & less contact have all made this wine very enjoyable, with several of her Chardonny's put away in my cellar i'm sure we will be enjoying them at there best in 3 to 4 years...
92 Points Drink Now till 2014
$28


http://www.darlingparkwinery.com.au

A Very Very Long Lunch

I thought i would just run you though a long long lunch that I had as a result of a friend leaving to head overseas to explore NZ.
The day was meant to be a Single bottle style lunch, each person was to bring there favorite bottle of vino and something to cook to accompany it. As you will discover via the amount of reviews that will in time appear on this blog I and a self confessed Pinot Phreak. I adore the complexity of the grape. So naturally i decided that for SJ and my contributon to the lunch would be a Jeroboam of Coldstream Hill's "Pinot Noir" (2000) to which i would cook pork belly which was filled with green apple & crumbed water crackers sauteed in burnt butter and sage, topped with pecorino cheese and trussed into a roll and baked in the oven.
The pork turned out stunning and blew everyone away and the the Coldstream Hill was a stunning with good complexity and nice acid structure. The day/night saw some amazing wines drunk. i will try to upload some of the pic's so that you can all see what we got through.
Next up I'll Start Reviewing some Vino...