Ironstone Pressings on NYE 2006

The first in an occasional set of entries about interesting wines we drink whilst we're down here. Having spent rather a lot of money over the years on good Aussie wines such as the D'Ahrenberg Footbolt Shiraz, I thought I'd write about some of the more exotic things we come across. These are probably really boring for most people, and probably only of interest to Martin W and myself, but hey, I probably have too much time on my hands anyway (did you think Helen would be writing these bits?)

So the first wine of interest we came across was a D'Ahrenberg. New Year's Eve, and we'd just left the smelly hovel of Murramurang, and arrived at the luxury of a Medina two bedroom apartment in Canberra. Even though we weren't in Sydney, we thought we'd go look at the fireworks after dinner, so our plan was to cook dinner using the excellent facilities of our apartment (do you think they'll throw us a bung for all this hype?). I wandered out to the local supermarket, an IGA, which I think is the Oz equivalent of the Co-op. Now Australia Capital Territories have different licensing laws to NSW, and I was surprised to see a range of wines on sale. Even better, when I looked closely, there were some very fine wines in a locked glass cabinet, which looked as though they hadn't
been touched for years. I scanned with eager eyes through the possibilities, trying to find something to match the pancetta and scallops, then the fillet steak planned for the family meal. And then I saw a bottle that I had many a time coveted in Oddbins, a bottle of D'Ahrenberg Ironstone Pressings , but had always refused to buy since it would have broken my rather arbitrary limit on wine prices. However, here the price was a rather more reasonable $54, which immediately became better value when I saw it was a 1997, rather than a 2003 or 04 which are normally on sale. I grabbed it with eager hands and carefully carried it up to the counter. I was rather put out that the checkout person didn't treat it with due reverence. How do they train these people nowadays? But I was rather happier to find that the price had dropped by another $7 to $47.

Our plans to see the fireworks were somewhat stymied by the fierce thunderstorms which broke the seven year drought over Canberra. Weather warnings ran across the bottom of Groundhog Day on TV, so we thought it might be serious. Instead we concentrated on enjoying the wine.

The scallops were mostly eaten with the D'Ahrenberg Olive Grove Chardonnay (what else), and then we turned our attention to the Ironstone. This is a Shiraz whose first taste brought forward aniseed and fennel, but after resting in the glass and tasted with food we found a round richness of cocoa and blackcurrant, with a long throat enveloping finish. Every glass was enjoyed as we anticipated the year
ahead, the big Wakeman-Moss adventure in Australia.