It's the night before I jet off to Portugal and we have friends coming over, so that means I have to pull out some of the interesting stuff from the cellar - that usually means some of the newer stuff, I hate serving the old stuff if it's too old (if you know what I mean). Our guest bring a couple of bottles but those don't appeal to me as much as what is in my head for the night's festivities. We start with a bottle of bubbly from Spain, a Cava by Codorniu called Seleccion Raventos - the wine has a story about it being a family reserve enjoyed only by the members of the Codorniu / Raventos family and a sticker proclaiming it's the 150 anniversary of the wine - but you can forget all that if you just remember the Raventos part of it, and to go get a few bottles. This is one lovely bubble with exotic flavours, some grapefruit pith and citrus notes throughout, it's also got a fantastic finish and for under $15 it is an absolute steal - guests will think it the real stuff from you know where - just don't show them the bottle.
Next up was a bottle of Tapestry 2009 BG & V Shiraz from Australia ... another bottle with a bit of a story - the majority of the fruit comes from the Baker's Gully Vineyard - and I find this is a Shiraz with some real finesse. There's blackberry and spice, which is pretty typical for Shiraz, there's also chocolate and black pepper with hints of vanilla - again not uncommon; there's also some raspberry notes that seem to dominate the nose. But what makes this really good is its seam of acidity that keeps this wine feeling more refreshing than the usual heavy and alcoholic Shirazes from this part of the world.
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