2004 Schonburger - impression by PJ - August 2008

This wine is sneaky, it lulls with its laid back approach and just when you think "it's good but it's not great",  you try it with food!

I have heard a few times over the years about how this or that wine 'comes alive' when tried with food and I have to say I was always a little sceptical.  I mean, shouldn't you be able to enjoy a wine without having to eat something in order for it to realise it's full potential? 

I still think that, by the way, but since Fred Peacock (the owner of Bream Creek) had assured me that this wine was damn near a perfect food wine I thought I had better buy a bottle.  I mean if you can't trust Fred then who can you trust?  

I had the opportunity to do this recently when I was having lunch with 3 other wine lovin' punters at Mussel Boys on the Tasman Peninsula and I noticed that Schonburger was on the wine list. Since my lunch companions have high standards when it comes to wine I thought this was the perfect opportunity to see if it could live up to Fred's recommendation.

What does the winemaker say?

Before I bang on any more lets hear from the winemaker.  According to the label, the Schonburger is an "elegant wine with a bouquet of tropical fruit salad mingled with aromas of ripe fig. The palate is soft and persistent with abundant tropical fruit characters good length and a clean finish".

What do we say?

I agree with the winemaker about the bouquet, the length and the finish but when I tasted the Schonburger my first thought was 'this is a good but not a great wine'.  By that I mean there was no doubt that it was a quality wine but I wasn't sure I would have picked it over a similarly priced Riesling.  But then the food arrived and what stunned me was how the impact and taste of this wine improved.  I don't think I had experienced anything quite like it.  The impact wasn't just felt by me,  all of us said something like "oh hello!" or something a little more classy in the case of my companions.  

Interestingly the others all had fish but each was done in a different style and yet they all agreed that the schonburger was an excellent wine.  So far so good, we know it goes well with fish.  What about other food.  Well I had pasta with venison and the schonburger delivered on that as well. 

Since that day I have tried the schonburger at another restaurant (Barilla Bay) and this time I tried it with a seafood lasagne and, as I expected, I was impressed.  The beauty about this time was that I was eating dinner with a different group of people who had a range of different dishes and yet the shonburger impressed them as well.

If you are on a diet maybe give the shonburger a miss, this wine will turn you into an eating machine as you try to see if there is any food it doesn't handle.  But if you're like me and diet isn't in your vocabulary then as they say in the trade fill yer boots.  

To sum up lets answer the Punter questions:

Should you buy this wine?

It's not a cheap wine - you will pay at least $36 for it in most restaurants although you should be able to get it cheaper from other outlets.  But overall I think the experience is well worth the expense.  So yes go and buy this wine, in fact go do it now.

What will it taste like in a real situation?

This isn't the best wine for drinking on it's own.  But try it with food and, trust me, you won't be able to help yourself you will start thinking "that PJ sure knows his wine" (oh good grief - Ed).

Will the object of your desire be impressed?

If you have taken the desired one out to a good restaurant and had him, her, it try this wine and they are not impressed, then it's definately time for someone else in your life. 

What do you think? Send us a comment