WTN: 2005 Taltarni Tache

[Jenise]

We've been buying this Australian sparkling wine on and off for a decade or so now, and have always found it consistently dry with a fresh, little quinine-like bitterness to the dusty fruit. The wine is typically a pale tawny pink--almost beige, and I used to pay $15ish for it.

Well, something happened. The pendulum has swung in the dead-opposite direction. This Tache isn't the Tache we knew--it's a vivid shade of pink and the flavor is super-fruity, bright and strawberry almost-sweet. It's become an outbacked Cerdon de Bugey. As such it's allright, but a total disappointment and overpriced at $20.

Well, something happened. The pendulum has swung in the dead-opposite direction. This Tache isn't the Tache we knew--it's a vivid shade of pink and the flavor is super-fruity, bright and strawberry almost-sweet.

I believe the name is pronounced "Tack-ee"

I wonder if the French have noticed this wine - I'll bet DRC would be after them if they set up a subsidiary called "La" to market it.....

Jenise, ya got to stop drinking sweet pink fruit juice. Or did you just have one of those 'Liberace' moments when it seemed like a good idea?

Seriously, I have tasted quite a few bloody awful sparkling wines, pink and white and red, from OZ, but I have also tasted some really good ones like the E&E Sparkling Shiraz, but I still can't help thinking that it is a waste of grapes that could have been used in a serious still red wine.

I have yet to find anything in a pink or white bubbly that was really good.

I still have a bottle or two of the 1999 Taltarni Brut Tache in the cellar - was the word 'Brut' by any chance missing from your label? No idea if they make more than one style.

[Jenise]

Bill, you got me to wondering so I called the retailer I bought this bottle from and he confirmed that indeed it's still called "Brut Tache". He also said that given his knowledge of my palate, that he was surprised when I chose something that "over the top fruity". He agreed that 'brut' is now a ridiculous misnomer. So there you have it: style change! But on the topic of sparkling ozzies, the best I've had? A sparklng dry red cabernet sauvignon from one of the Coonawarra wineries we don't see here in the U.S. and whose name I can't think of. Maybe David Lole or someone will know--as you drive into Coonawarra from the north, it's on the right side of the highway early on. Fantastic stuff.

As far as Australian sparkling reds go there is only one. The Rockford Black Shiraz made by Rocky O'Callaghan. Not only is this drop the king of sparkling reds but the older the bottle, the better the wine. Bone dry, packed with fruit and long, long, long. A great match with really salty oysters. Hard to get but worth the hunt.

[Jenise]

As far as Australian sparkling reds go there is only one. The Rockford Black Shiraz made by Rocky O'Callaghan. Not only is this drop the king of sparkling reds but the older the bottle, the better the wine. Bone dry, packed with fruit and long, long, long. A great match with really salty oysters. Hard to get but worth the hunt.

Haven't had the wine, Erez, but I've had an 11 year old Seppelt sparkling shiraz so I can appreciate how delicious the wines are aged.

But hey, the Brut Tache isn't red, it's pink. Are pinks popular down under?