PETER’S PASSION FOR THE AUSSIE PRODUCT

Wc16Sep13

David Ellis

THIS Merlot will make a marvellous
marriage with tomato-based Italian dishes.

PETER Logan is a passionate Aussie, and the more-so when it comes to the product of our own home-grown wineries, because as he says, "with some of the most interesting, excellent value, and even quirkiest wines around, why go looking abroad for something to stand out from the crowd?"

His own Logan label made from fruit from Mudgee and Orange in the Central Ranges of NSW provides great examples of what he is talking about. A 2011 Logan Weemala Merlot, for instance, at just $18 is a wonderfully quaffable drop with all the necessities to team-up with a whole range of food choices – especially tomato based Italian dishes.

Aussie wine drinkers, as Peter says, are becoming increasingly educated and adventurous with their wine choices, and 'imported' doesn't necessarily mean more exotic, nor does it necessarily equate to 'better.'

This 2011 Logan Weemala Merlot brims with forward plum, mixed berries and thyme flavours and has an enjoyably long finish. At $18 match it with your favourite Italian dishes, or individual-serve Mediterranean herbed chicken en papillote.

TUCK away for rewarding cellar development,
or enjoy now with chicken, pork, fish or

   seafood dishes.

ONE TO NOTE: ANDREW Margan has crafted a ripper drop from fruit off 70 year old Hunter Valley dryland vines for his 2011 Margan White Label Semillon, a wine that's a power-house of wonderful fruit flavour  and which, having been made in the traditional low-sugar manner, will ensure rewarding cellaring and development over the next 10-20 years.

Worth the $35 asking price for enjoyment now with a whole range of chicken, pork, fish or shellfish dishes, this is a Semillon with crisp citrus characters on the nose that follow through beautifully on the palate, which in turn is balanced, crisp and clean. Time in the cellar will see excellent intensification of these fruit characters as this wine matures in typical Hunter Semillon style – so maybe it's worth investing in a bottle for now, and one (or two) for down the track?

NEED A FOOD/DRINK IDEA? Check out  http://www.vintnews.com )