This little guy doesn’t have a guilty bone in his body. Neither should you. Here is this week’s $15 or less offering.
No-Guilt Wednesday (NGW) is not about compromising on quality. It’s all about drinking good wine that does not break the bank, eating good food and of course, it’s about sharing with the ones you love.
Western Australia– I am seeing more wines coming from this part of the continent down under. This is a great development in that the ones that I have tasted so far are exhibit a freshness that I sometimes find lacking in many of the mid priced range of Australian wines. Barwick Estates has vineyards in Margaret River, Blackwood and Pemberton.
According to their website, “The cool Mediterranean climate combined with the duplex soils of Margaret River, karri loams of Pemberton and well-drained gravels of the Blackwood provides ideal growing conditions for the selected varieties.” I have no reason to disagree.
The Treenbrook vineyard is located within the Pemberton Region. The 73 hectare vineyard is nestled amongst the karri forests of Pemberton. Don’t know what a karri forest is? Me either, till today. Karri forest is tall open forest of Eucalyptus diversicolor (Karri), one of the tallest hardwoods in the world. It occurs almost exclusively in the south-west corner of Western Australia. But I’m no Gregor Mendel and you should get your botanical information elsewhere.
According to the Barwick Estates’ website, “The vineyard produces the classic red grape varieties of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz, having rich, well-drained loamy soils, gentle undulating landscape and access to excellent water from Treen Brook. Rich additions to these classic reds are areas of Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Viognier and Pinot Gris… Varieties are 21.7 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc, 10.8 hectares of Chardonnay, 3.6 ha of Semillon, 1.1 hectares of Viognier, 10.2 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon, 14.9 hectares of Merlot, 9.1 hectares of Pinot Noir and 2.1 hectares of Shiraz.”
Barwick Estates Pemberton Pinot Noir 2010 ($12). Forget what you may think of Australian wines. This in no Yellow Tail. Who are these guys? A translucent liquid with hints of all spice and florals on the nose. Alluringly pretty red fruit which served as an entrée to a sort of earthiness. Aye, mate, that sounds familiar– a quick perusal of the back label tells me that yes, this is Pinot, but there is 7% Shiraz. I’m not a varietal purist– I’m not proud. Balanced between the fruit, soft tannins and juicy acidity. I have paid much more for Pinots this good. I love the way this wine makes my tongue feel. Grab this when you see it. But beware, when I went to buy more of this, the price had gone up beyond the NGW $15 threshold. Still worth it. Rated ***
This wine turns us on. Sure it’s a young thing. But it’s a Fine Young Thing. As I popped this… correction… removed the screw cap from the second bottle of this thing, I could have sworn I heard some of my female Super Bowl guests (of course there was wine during the S-Bowl) uttering the words from J Cole’s opus, Can’t Get Enough:
She said
“I, can’t get enough, can’t get enough”
“I, can’t get enough, can’t get enough”
“I can’t get enough of what you got
Good God, you hit the spot
Tried to let go but I just could not
So don’t you stop, I need that”
sybaritesauvage 
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