THREE VARIETIES THAT END IN O

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WayWood Wines McLaren Vale Nebbiolo 2010
$28; 14.5% alcohol; screw cap; 85 points
A little raw upon release, this wine has come on nicely after a few more months of bottle.  I’m not sure that Blewett Springs, just over the ridge from where I live, is the best place to grow this grape from the Italian Piedmont, where it snows, and there’s none of the Blewett gullies’ wind-blown sand or ironstone, but the constant seaside humidity of McLaren Vale plays a vital assisting role, and the wine is pretty and easy to drink in a rounded, smoothing sort of way.  It smells of smoky cherries and forest floor with mushrooms of the oyster and enoki types, and its flavours are soft and comforting, with a cloud, a nebbia, of extremely fine tannin hovering above the fine, gently acidic finish.  I haven’t tried it, but I love the idea of winemaker Andrew Wood: drink it with homemade gorgonzola gnocchi with burnt butter, crispy sage and caramelized walnuts.   

WayWood Wines McLaren Vale Montepulciano 2012
$35; 14.1% alcohol; screw cap; 92+ points
Grown on the piedmont at Willunga, this is the first serious, if not quite full Monte, I’ve tasted from McLaren Vale.  Andrew thinks it's the first.  It has dark 6B pencil carbon and painted shavings in its alluring bouquet, below pleasant teases of summery hedgerow berries, red currants and maraschino cocktail cherries.  It smells really wholesome and healthy, like a yoghurt smoothie made with all those fruits and maybe a few slices of banana.  It’s disarmingly comforting and entertaining to drink, with a lovely round reassuring softness and a hint of preserved figs before an appetising finish where neat acid and tight tannins draw the juices of the mouth until your lips smack and you start looking around for something scrumptious to eat. Soft dried figs and a Sicilian Pecorino Stagionato with a drip or two of Tasmanian Leatherwoood honey will set it off like a real slow aromatic deliciousness best had near a bed.     

Oakridge Over The Shoulder Yarra Valley Pinot Grigio 2012
$23; 12.5% alcohol; screw cap; 93 points
Several Yarra Valley vineyards at various respected sites have contributed to this bonnie belle’s dishevelment.  It smells like buttery Bosc pear, pure and simple. With maybe a whiff of that furry skin of the quince, and a tiny acrid edge of cordite to prickle the nostrils and set the salivaries dribbling with curiosity.  Said belle’s been surfing and dried off in the sea breeze, sand all over her.  The texture’s modestly viscous, but alluring nevertheless, tasting pretty much along the lines of the bouquet.  Then comes a gentle rise of acid, and a very firm but fine line of tannin that intertwines tidily with that slightly syrupy texture.  It’s a really good wine at the price, and will sit very prettily with pumpkin soup or a mild yellow pumpkin and sweet potato curry with plenty of fresh black pepper ground on the top.  I also tried it with poached quince and fresh – not thickened – cream, and felt more or less like the friggin’ King.  Good.