The facts:
2007 Cat Amongst the Pigeons – Alley Cat
Region: Barossa Valley, Australia
Winemaker: Mark Jamieson
Variety: 61% Grenache, 39% Shiraz
My take:
I ended up tasting this wine because I was lambasting Australian wines. (In general, I am not a fan of new world style wines - I prefer old world style wines.) Seeking out a glass of wine after a conference and before a dinner meeting, I went to New Heights restaurant, in Washington, DC. After perusing their reds by the glass, I opted for a Spanish wine and started talking with the bartender about wine.
After talking some smack about Australian wines, which I typically find too bold, too fruit forward, and too jammy, the bartener insisted I try the Cat Amongst the Pigeons. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. So much so that I made Jonathan come back to New Heights with me the following week to check it out.
The wine is much more mellow and subtle than I ever expected from an Australian wine. The wine smells a bit red (you’ll see after reading some of my reviews that I tend to smell in colors), maybe a bit dark or slightly on the purple side. Anyway..., it’s a soft, mellow wine. It’s not too dry, not overly tannic, has some depth in the middle, and has a relatively long finish.
It makes a good sipping wine for sure, but it also pairs well with food. I’ve had it with various cheeses and with steak and in both cases feel like it paired well. All in all, it’s one that I’ve sought out since I first had it – and I never thought I’d actually go looking for an Australian wine in a wine shop. If you’re looking for something unexpected, I highly recommend checking it out.
Price point:
After doing a quick search online, it looks to be between $14 and $20 a bottle.
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Cat Amongst The Pigeons - Opined By Jonathan
The facts:
2007 Cat Amongst the Pigeons – Alley Cat
Region: Barossa Valley, Australia
Winemaker: Mark Jamieson
Variety: 61% Grenache, 39% Shiraz
“So I had a good Australian shiraz”
The words still reverberate through my skull…and quite possibly the echoes even might be heard from space one day. A good Australian wine? Is that possible? Sure, I understand on an intellectual level that people:
A: Like Shiraz (who am I to Judge)
B. Like Australian wines (I mean…I’m sure they are good…I mean, when I think of wine, visions of koala bears and platypuses are the first thing that comes to mind)
So given that you could see that, in fact, I was more than a tad dubious. I agreed to go check it out. In general, I’ve never been a fan a Shiraz, maybe a petit syrah (Concannon…. I’m looking in your general direction....) but a Shiraz? Good…sounds a bit strong to me.
“But it was” she said with conviction.
Now with that level of certainty in her voice and a good excuse to go drink some wine, I decided to give it a go. So we hauled ourselves up to New Heights to have a glass.
I asked for a glass of the Cat Amongst the Pigeons, and the bartender starts to wax poetic about it as well. Now I knew something was up, either the pod people had taken over or there was something to this wine.
He poured, I drank.
I’d like to now take a moment and apologize (well…somewhat) for the last 200 words besmirching the honor of this good wine. I was actually fairly impressed. Is it from the northern Rhone, no, is it a good wine, yes. The first thing I noticed was a nose, that while robust, didn’t punch me in the face with the smell of fruit. I thought it had a decent balance of scents, with and undercurrent of subtlety that certainly prompted me to explore it further.
Where this wine really shines for me is in the mouth (as it should). Pull a decent sip, and hold on to it for a moment, letting it wash over your taste buds. Its not particularly tannic, nor seemingly too young. What it has a nice rich velvety texture, but not enough so to write sonnets about, but certainly worth a haiku (minus the effort of getting the syllabic count correct).
I had two glasses of it the first night (for scientific reasons of course) and have subsequently bought another three bottles. For me the bottom line, is: Its tasty and drinkable. It’s a good drinking wine, pleasant; upfront what you see is what you get. Is it exotic? No. But it has a place in our limited wine fridge and is fantastic with tenderloin. Buy it and drink it proudly. This one doesn’t aspire to be anything its not, and certainly calls me back for a second or third glass.
2007 Cat Amongst the Pigeons – Alley Cat
Region: Barossa Valley, Australia
Winemaker: Mark Jamieson
Variety: 61% Grenache, 39% Shiraz
“So I had a good Australian shiraz”
The words still reverberate through my skull…and quite possibly the echoes even might be heard from space one day. A good Australian wine? Is that possible? Sure, I understand on an intellectual level that people:
A: Like Shiraz (who am I to Judge)
B. Like Australian wines (I mean…I’m sure they are good…I mean, when I think of wine, visions of koala bears and platypuses are the first thing that comes to mind)
So given that you could see that, in fact, I was more than a tad dubious. I agreed to go check it out. In general, I’ve never been a fan a Shiraz, maybe a petit syrah (Concannon…. I’m looking in your general direction....) but a Shiraz? Good…sounds a bit strong to me.
“But it was” she said with conviction.
Now with that level of certainty in her voice and a good excuse to go drink some wine, I decided to give it a go. So we hauled ourselves up to New Heights to have a glass.
I asked for a glass of the Cat Amongst the Pigeons, and the bartender starts to wax poetic about it as well. Now I knew something was up, either the pod people had taken over or there was something to this wine.
He poured, I drank.
I’d like to now take a moment and apologize (well…somewhat) for the last 200 words besmirching the honor of this good wine. I was actually fairly impressed. Is it from the northern Rhone, no, is it a good wine, yes. The first thing I noticed was a nose, that while robust, didn’t punch me in the face with the smell of fruit. I thought it had a decent balance of scents, with and undercurrent of subtlety that certainly prompted me to explore it further.
Where this wine really shines for me is in the mouth (as it should). Pull a decent sip, and hold on to it for a moment, letting it wash over your taste buds. Its not particularly tannic, nor seemingly too young. What it has a nice rich velvety texture, but not enough so to write sonnets about, but certainly worth a haiku (minus the effort of getting the syllabic count correct).
I had two glasses of it the first night (for scientific reasons of course) and have subsequently bought another three bottles. For me the bottom line, is: Its tasty and drinkable. It’s a good drinking wine, pleasant; upfront what you see is what you get. Is it exotic? No. But it has a place in our limited wine fridge and is fantastic with tenderloin. Buy it and drink it proudly. This one doesn’t aspire to be anything its not, and certainly calls me back for a second or third glass.
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