What are you buying (and drinking) in October 2023?

It’s that time again. Time to inspire me to spend more money on drinks, even though the WineArk cabinet can’t be closed properly and the Amex is maxed out.

So, what have you been buying and drinking this October 2023?

I had to remove wines from said WineArk cabinet this month just to make room for the annual Bollinger magnum allocation, so I REALLY shouldn’t be buying things. Drop the credit card, Andrew! But I relented, with a few bottles of 2021 Kumeu River Mates Chardonnay heading home anyway, because I love that wine.

What about you? What did you buy this month?

Mrs Ozwinereview’s birthday landed in the final days of September, and I’m including the wines we emptied in her honour in this update because they’re too good to miss (a bit like Mrs Ozwinereview).

We returned to one of our BYO faves for that birthday lunch expedition, with the always great Chiosco lobbing up a generous splash of Italian charm delivered dockside at The Spit in Sydney’s north. It was sunny, the oysters were great, and the luncheon crowd volume was at ‘no, I can’t hear the waiter either’ levels of excitement.

A good time was had by all.

It was an especially good time for the people at the next table, who were smashing cocktails like they were water, although they might have been just feeling guilty after launching an ice bucket with a stray elbow and unleashing an icy wave across the restaurant floor (much to the staff’s exasperation).

Besides the background entertainment, we enjoyed a pertinent side-by-side comparison of 2010 Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Semillon vs 2019 Kumeu River Rays Road Chardonnay too, with the Tyrrell’s wiping the floor.

Sure, I’m a card-carrying member of the biased Sydney wine trade, but if you want an unbeatable seafood lunch wine then spend all your money on Hunter Semillon. That said, 2010 isn’t exactly a classic year for Hunter Sem and the 12% alc. Vat 1 packed more breadth than some vintages. Thought, that’s also part of the appeal, again reminding that warm years are the best. The 2010 Vat 1 Semillon is in a wonderful place, too, still cut with green fruit, but the layers of toast upping the rich/crisp contrast with glee. Oh yes, this is still a wine of taut appley fruit, but it puffs out on the palate with a little honey nut golden joy. No hurry to drink; you could open now or in another decade. What a luxury.

By contrast, the Kumeu looked pre-pubescent, still fighting to get beyond the backward leanness, with a twist of funk the only real ‘give’. Typically the Kumeu is such an expressive release, but don’t the ’19 now – you’re wasting energy. Come back in two years.

Finally, I slipped in a cheeky half of 2017 Rieussec, and it looked middling. It’s anything but a bad wine, but clearly missing a top gear – you could argue it’s a more subtle style, with subtle lemon/orange rind rather than some apricot custard thing. Less botrytis and less intensity, for sure. I know that lightness is a 2017 trademark, but meh.

Less meh was the non-wine drink of October – the absolutely excellent Anna WCIPA from Mountain Culture x Balter.

I managed not to take a photo (the above is stock) because I emptied all the cans so quickly. Made using a pioneering frozen fresh hops product, it was a wonderfully balanced beer of classic bitterness and this bright fruit expression. It felt like the first bright sunny day after a long wintery spell – a breath of hop-forward, clear beer perfection.

What about you? What drinks did you enjoy this month?