Wolf Blass, Joondalup Resort, and Trent Jones Jr

I have before me at the present moment, a glass of Wolf Blass Red Label Chardonnay Pinot Noir.

When you look to buying wines, just don't waste your time consulting these commercial reviews - they are sheer utter rubbish.

On the whole, what they do is go by the price and tell you in purple prose why expensive wines are great and then in two-dollar words why less expensive wines are not.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise - this is
essentially white Burgundy, the greatest wine in the world.

It's frankly, mostly all rubbish.

The big, well-founded manufacturers have tried-and-tested systems and unless something goes wrong with natural conditions in a given year, there is a consistency to what they do that is completely reliable.

Of course if big-headed and otherwise idiotic Texan investment banks get their hands on the wine companies, then for a short while things are liable to go off the rails until they lose their money and piss off taking their brain-dead 'money-saving' ideas with them.

As with everything there are the odd few exceptions where large owners do the right thing by the wineries.

If you consult a common popular wine reviewer on the Wolf Blass Red Label Chardonnay Pinot Noir it says: 'tank fermented; a pleasant sparkling wine with good balance and length; not complex of course.'

Idiots.

There are others around though who speak with a touch more grace as they slowly cotton on to what this wine is.

Often, large manufacturers get their hands on smaller supplies of exceptional grapes that they cannot utilize in their main labels because of volume or even style - and then they either produce a short run of 'unknown' labels or use their entry-level brands; and these wines are nevertheless outstanding.

At ridiculously inexpensive prices.

The Wolf Blass Red Label is supposedly one of these 'entry-level' brands.

As you know, Chardonnay Pinot Noir is THE white wine - it has been referred to as the 'crack cocaine of white wine...'

My wife paid less than ten dollars for this bottle at a major retailer.

The first words I would use to describe this wine would be: 'authentic and a wine of complete integrity.' Which is not something you can say about many huge name brands these days. There is nothing but grape here and the best fruit at that. How do you get 'long and balanced' without complexity - you can't. 

This thing is complex - it runs all the way in your mouth till the end of the glass and then you get the often mythical 'frankincense in the stained glass windowed church' hit that tells you you have been drinking the unicorn.

The opening fruit notes are streamlined, seamless, subtle: mango, peach, definitely melon, some citrus. Soft, crisp, fresh, somewhat creamy. This is wa-a-a-a-y more than just long and balanced - this is LONG and SUPERBLY BALANCED! 

Frankly, it's as good as it gets with this style of wine. Gasp. Yep. It's that good. And why do I say that? Because there's nothing even slightly contrived about it; this is the real thing.

Joondalup Golf Course

I had a big week. I attended a two-day conference at the Joondalup Gold Course Resort (again!) and, again, experienced the best possible service and food and general environment. I observed, this time, that the rich people's cars were all silver or gunmetal grey... All the Ferraris, Mercedes, M-Series BMW's, even the 5 liter Mustangs - all grey or gunmetal.

There were two green cars and one of them was mine.

The golf course, as you know because I've mentioned it previously - was designed by the world's greatest golf course architect of all time, Robert Trent Jones Jr.

There he is, Robert Trent Jones Jr, on the right,
at last year's Ryder Cup