This Weeks Mix Bag Picks of the week is off to the Clare Valley, for what we think is one of the best unknown Rieslings in Australia. Our journey then takes us to one the best whites we tasted this year, an amazing single vineyard aromatic dry white from the home of ‘Dracula’.  Next is a white blend from across the ditch inspired by one of our Tasters Club members (Thank you Gai!!). 
The Reds start off with a grape variety that is very famous in the Piedmont region of Italy, but made locally by one of Australia’s best.  Marq Wines shows us an ‘Amarone’ style Shiraz and we finish off with a great little red blend from the south of France. 
As always Grapes & Lager is about discovery and offering our members something a little different. These packs are designed for you to sit down with family and friends, read the tasting notes and discover something new and hopefully ‘Be Surprised’. 
We also encourage you to share your experience with us and all your friends (even your Facebook ones) and provide us with feedback on the wines we have selected. 
But most of all just enjoy :)

Cheers 

The Wine Guy 

So The Wines……..
 
Clare Wine Company ‘Watervale’ Riesling 

Clare Wine Co was established in 2008 by the owners of Kaesler Wines, Barossa Valley.
Winemakers from Kaesler, Stephen Dew and Reid Bosward are responsible for producing the wines under the Clare Wine Co brand. The company focuses on the three most successful varieties of the region: Riesling, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. 
 
Riesling excels in Watervale, the Shiraz and Cabernet comes from Polish Hill and all represent some of the finest fruit found in the region. The oldest vines are 43 years old. 
 
The nose shows fresh limes with hints of stone fruit notes such as nectarine, with a palate that is quite rich for a younger wine. Nice citrus flavours, lychees, hints of clove on the palate with a bit of sugar, Just to take the sting out of the acid. Mouth filling, and well structured. A great easy drinking style so get the friends together for BBQ lunch with fresh salads and seafood.

Carmele Recas ‘Sole’ Feteasca Regala DOC  

You know when I first smelt this wine it dragged me in with the wonderful aromatics and then when I tasted the wine is just all melded together with intense fruit and soft spicy mouth feel and great balance. I was seduced and relished that after drinking the first glass just it was a great dry white wine that you could just sit there on a warm day and enjoy. It also reminded me just how amazing the wine world really is.
Feteasca (Fete – Asca) Regala (Re – Gala) is an indigenous variety of Romania and is widely planted. The name means ‘royal young girl ‘ and was first observed in the 1920’s in Transylvania. It’s believed that local nurserymen of the region developed it by crossing two other indigenous varieties.
The Recas Winery is situated in Banat region of Romania, where the first records of viticulture date back to the period of the Roman invasion of Dacia, in their century AD. Earlier legends tell of the god of wine ‘Bacchus’ spending his childhood there. More recent history shows that the vineyard of Recas were already renowned by 1447 when the lord of Severin Mihail de Ciorna purchased the vineyards in Recas from Ioan and Ecaterina Magyar, for 32 Hungarian gold florins.
Today the winery controls over 600 hectares in the region and the winery over the last ten years has been completely modernized, an Aussie and a Spaniard head the winemaking team.
I really hope you enjoy the wine, as for what to eat with it, well it went down pretty well on its own, but I reckon Thai or Vietnamese inspired food. 

$16.65 a Bottle - Reduced from $19.99

Te Whare Ra Toru (Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gerwurztraminer) 2013

Well the pick of this wine actually comes from one of our tasters club members, and I realized that it is exactly what we are about, ‘sharing our experiences in the world of wine’. I also realized after further investigation, that the wine is a blend that was made famous in the Alsace region of France. On top of that, I drink frequently a similar wine from another producer from the same region at my favourite seafood restaurant at the South Melbourne Market, so it just had to be added to this month’s pack.

 
Te Whare Ra (TWR) is a small vineyard and winery located in the Marlborough sub-region of Renwick, owned by winemakers – Anna & Jason Flowerday. The 11 Ha vineyard which has predominantly loam over clay soils, is one of the oldest in Marlborough, originally planted in 1979. Yields are kept low, the vineyard is managed with a combination of organic and biodynamic practices and all the fruit is hand picked and hand-sorted.
 
The wines are made with minimal intervention in a small winery, which has been specifically set up for small batch winemaking. TWR produces Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, and an aromatic blend called Toru, Pinot Noir and Syrah.
 
TORU – which means “three” in Maori, is an aromatic blend they have created and is made from three varieties – Gewürztraminer, Riesling and Pinot Gris. They are passionate about these classic Alsatian varieties and they spent a great deal of time coming up with the right proportions in the blend. They were aiming for a wine that displayed the essence of all three varieties whilst creating a distinctive and interesting wine in its own right. It has the aromatic spice and weight of Gewürztraminer, the structure and length of Riesling, and the great texture of Pinot Gris. The TWR Toru is Certified Organic.

$22.15 a Bottle - Reduced from $26.50

 
Kaesler Barbera d’Anunda 

Kaesler is a privately owned wine company that produces estate grown wines from vineyards as old as 1893. The Kaesler family were pioneers who settled in the Barossa Valley in the 1840’s. In 1891 they bought a parcel of land and in 1893 planted their first vines. Today Kaesler wines are made from these ancient, dry grown vineyards, by the third owners of this magnificent property. 

I have a confession to make, I love the wines from Piedmont in Italy’s north and Barbera is such juicy medium bodied wine and is one of the best. 

This wine, whilst not from northern Italy nails the style and drinks so well.

Aromatic’s of lifted floral notes and red berries, with taste of dark plum and red berries, combined with savory spicy notes with just a hint of tartness.

It’s an Italian grape; drink it with Italian inspired food.

$24.55 a Bottle - Reduced from $28.70

Marq ‘Cut & Dry’ Shiraz 

drinking.With over two decades experience in both the Swan Valley and Margaret River Mark began his career at Lamont’s before moving south to work at Happs where he has been since 2003. As a contract wine maker he is now responsible for over 70 different wines throughout the region and has gained multiple awards for his work.The ‘Cut & Dry’ Shiraz is inspired by the 

Amarone style wines of Veneto, Itlay. This is where the grapes are picked and dried on straw mats to create more concentration of flavour. The nose show 

aromas of raspberries, jibes and dark fruit, with a very full bodied palate of intense sweet fruit and dark cherry combined with cedar oak and strong tannins.

 
Acanthes Cotes Du Rhone Rouge
 

The Cave des Vignerons de Tavel is in the purest Provençal style. It was built in 1937 when Tavel wines were labeled AOC. It is to date the only winery to be opened by a President of the Republic – Albert Lebrun in 1938. Cave de Tavel produces half of the Tavel AOC wines, as well as Lirac, Côtes-du-Rhône Villages and Côtes-du-Rhône. There are 140 producers, all involved in the day-to-day life of the winery and they have their say in the investment decisions for making wines which frequently win medals and are regularly mentioned in wine guides. Cotes du Rhone Rouge is a blend of Grenache, Syrah(shiraz), Carignan & Mourvedre, which is a classic blend for this medium bodied red wine. 

The nose has powerful aromas of red fruit and spice, with a palate of rich red fruit and spices, but soft and mellow with a long finish.

$12.50 a Bottle - Reduced from $14.99

Enjoy :)