I like the idea of a wine called the Hedonist, especially at present when the nearest I get to hedonism is drinking the wine. We are expecting to hear from the government tomorrow on when any kind of social activity may once again be permitted without the need for intermediary technology. In my family February is a month of post Christmas celebration, including as it does Valentine's Day, at least two birthdays and a wedding anniversary, and this year there has been an addition to the family who I would dearly love to meet before he starts school, so I hope the news is good.
Until we know when normal life beckons I will continue to enjoy what can be enjoyed which this week:
I learn from the producer's website that the grapes for this wine were harvested almost exactly three years ago on 18th Feb 2018. For various reasons that I won't type out just for the sake of it and you can read here they describe the vintage as 'standout'.
Various portions of the juice spent a year in different sized oak fermenters before the final blend was assembled. Blend in this case means the mixing the same juice that had been treated differently, rather than putting together the juice from a number of different grape varieties.
The result is certainly enjoyable. The bottle has a little sticker proudly displaying the Gold Medal from the Decanter Wine Awards. I'm not always persuaded that wine competitions are a reliable barometer of a wine's quality, especially at the lower levels where there is a suspicion that just turning up and not being faulty gets a Bronze, but this one seems well-deserved.
It is a full bodied, smooth feeling and well-structured wine, bursting with the kind of fruit you should expect from South Australia without being jammy and unbalanced. There is some acidity to match the fruit, the tannin is smooth and the flavour profile is not just all kinds of black and purple berries, but also has some spices and liquorice hints. It packs a punch at 14% and went very nicely with the slow-cooked Ox cheeks, which I suspect I have mentioned before.
I bought this on the same day as some Italian Primitivo that a friend recommended as a bargain being sold by Aldi at £4.99 a bottle. It was a good call as that turned out to be a very easily drinkable red, even if it was a little one dimensional. This was three times the price and worth it but I probably shouldn't get into the habit on those days when I just fancy a glass of TV wine.
I have tried this wine at least once before. That was back in 2013 when I presented it as part of a 'wines of South Australia' tasting for a U3A group in North London. They liked it, too. I liked them and hope that they are all still sipping away despite the pandemic and look forward to seeing them again one day.
Buy again? Yes.
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