dandelion

It’s always handy to have a guide to good drinking over the Christmas period. Here’s my pick for the best bots to crack this Chrissie.

Bird in Hand Sparkling It’s an unusual wine this one with enough fruit and sweetness to keep the occasional wino happy and enough quality fruit to shift curmudgeonly wine snob from miffed to mollified. Pleasures best on its own but suspect it would be all over the turkey if given a sniff. Most accommodating Sparkling. Dandelion Vineyards Rosé 2011 A delight from its light pink hue to its delicate, near dry ending. The fruit in this is sourced from an 85-year-old bush-grown Grenache vineyard. Unusually the wine was left to wild ferment and stored on a bed of dead yeast in old barrels for a bit. The result is a superb texture with pristine and bright Grenache flavours and a whip crack of acidity that made me stand up and pay attention. Sugar is very low at four

Dandelion, Sister’s Run, Heirloom Vineyards, Cien y Pico

Elena originally hails from Lyaskovets, Bulgaria, a small town famous for its wine. She is a qualified winemaker, BSc (Oenology) Adelaide and has made wine for various Australian Wineries as well as being a consultant winemaker to a number of leading wine companies in Spain, Italy and Bulgaria.

Born to a MIG Fighter Pilot and Helicopter Mechanic (both of whom happened to be involved in the wine industry in Lyaskovets), Elena's interest in winemaking stemmed from time spent translating for Australian Winemakers Stephen Bennet, David Norman, Dylan Rhymer, Kym Milne MW and others, who worked at her mother's winery between '93 and '98.

With Stephen Bennet’s support and her family’s encouragement, Elena made the move to Australia and started studying winemaking at Adelaide University in 1998, graduating in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science (Oenology). (Elena’s mum was keen on this

We Wine Directies have done a bit of wine judging in our time. And writing, for wine mags and others. We love it. The downside - we reckon it's high volume, high pressure and usually conducted in a sterile environment. The emphasis is often on concentration and notation than relaxing and regaling. Because of this, big, oaky, tannic wines tend to dominate subtler (and sometimes better) wines. You can end up ignoring the stunner while eyeing off the blocky 'roid ragers. Much better to judge similar wines at home, with a good feed, company, and enough time to watch the wine open up and say g'day. Check out the following video of Philip White talking about the Mountadam and Dandy Rieslings:

Chuck in some comfy chairs, good grub and swap the winery shed for a lounge room and there’s a natural shift from genuine intellectual appreciation to ahhhh. Thats how