An acquired taste
Bombay Sapphire Gin and Tonic Double Serve, 250ml can, 10%, $29.99 for a 4-pack.
Does the gin you drink say something about you? Like or not, it probably does. Bombay is a well-known traditional brand, with a distinct look (blue bottle) and feel. It also has a different process, using vapour infusion to release the aromas of the botanicals, in its London dry gin. But hey, for some, it's just a matter of, "would I like to be seen drinking this?". Of course, once out of the bottle, 99 per cent of gins look the same in a glass full of ice. For me, a ginamateur, I find the Bombay Sapphire cocktail very dry. Added lime doesn't change that. Maximum ice doesn't change that. It's just the way it is. I'm just going to say, this is gin for an adult, and an acquired taste. And keep drinking it.
Jim Kellar
Compensatory sub-titles
Cellier des Dauphins 2019 Les Dauphins Rose; $20; 4 stars (out of 6).
With the $90 billion sub snub there isn't much French-Australian entente cordiale these days. And France has been devastated by a spring frost, flood and disease-plagued 2021 vintage down 24% to 30% below normal and rated the lowest since 1970. Happily for Francophile Aussie wine lovers our bottle shops have plenty of Gallic roses like this one from the southern Cotes du Rhone. A blend of grenache, shiraz and cinsault (aka blue imperial, oeillade), it has 13% alcohol, light coppery hues, passionfruit scents and crisp blueberry front-palate flavour. Grapefruit, kiwifruit and flint elements show on the middle palate and steely acid refreshes at the finish. At singlevineyards.com and independent bottle shops and drink now with waldorf salad.
John Lewis
Grenache mutations show
Paul Mas 2020 Rose; $19; 4 stars
This zesty French rose provides a small tutorial on the grenache grape. The back label says it's a blend of 40% grenache gris, 20% grenache noir, 20% pinot gris 10% caladoc and 10% cinsault. The grenache noir is the red grenache grape so familiar in South Australia, but grenache gris is a pinkish-grey mutation of the red and a cousin of grenache blanc. The wine is from fourth-generation winemaker Jean-Claude Mas of southern France's Languedoc-Roussillon Region. It has 12.5% alcohol, pale salmon pink hues, scents of violets and zesty strawberry front-palate flavour. The middle shows quince paste, apple and cloves characters and a slatey acid finish. It's at Dan Murphy's stores and danmurphys.com.au and drink now with leek and dill frittata.
John Lewis
Purple's deep past
MiataMiata (DDH-IPA); The Veil Brewing; Richmond, US; 6%; $14.
It annoys God if you walk by the colour purple in a field (or indeed a fridge) and don't notice it. Being at the far end of our visible spectrum, purple is a rarity in nature and is often associated with royalty and nobility. Thanks to it being so scarce, purple is expensive to use as a dye to colour clothes. Purple was once worth more than its weight in gold, which is why very few countries use the colour in their flags. Meanwhile, miata is an old High German word meaning reward or prize. MiataMiata is, in fact, not purple, but rather a hazy, pale gold, featuring fleshly flavours of peach, pineapple, and astringent pine.