The 2009 Spring Vale Gewurztraminer is a terrific wine. It is a brilliant example of what is possible with this variety. Frankly if you are not drinking Gewurztraminer you are not a wine lover and if you don't smile when you drink this wine you have no soul. Yes it's that good. 

The intense creamy vanilla flavour makes this wine robust enough to drink on its own as well as being a great life long buddy of food.

The last time we tried a Gewurztraminer this good we were in Alsace and they know a lot about making this type of wine over there. Is Dave Cush taking lessons from a friendly Alsacian?

We have a confession. We admire Andrew Pirie a great deal. He is a highly skilled winemaker who has contributed enormously to the Tassie wine industry. However we've tended to stay away from his wines. It is probably a bit of reverse snobbery. We've always favoured  smaller wine labels and Andrew's is ... well .... big. 

No matter how you cut it being a snob is wrong, so it was time to sample a bit of 'big boy' pinot. Our search for a cure for reverse snobbery led us to the 2010 South Pinot. Not a bad choice as it happens. This  is a good solid drop, we liked it. It's the sort of pinot that you can trust. Year in, year out you just know it's going to deliver good flavour, consistent balance and a well made finish.

It's no surprise that Andrew sells a lot of wine and if this pinot is anything to go by it's worth having a look at the rest of his range. "Luke ... come to the big side".

We love having guests for dinner. They often bring wines we haven't, or normally wouldn't, drink. The 2010 Devil's Corner Pinot is a case in point.

Again our small label focus has meant that Tamar Ridge wines don't usually make it to the Winepunters tasting team. Seeing this bottle arriving for dinner made us sit up and take notice. "This will be interesting" we thought "let's see what the big boys have been up to".

The 2010 Devil's Corner Pinot is light, fresh and pretty fruity. It went quite well with the Mexican influenced bolognese that we served. It's a little too light for our tastes but if that's your thing then you are going to like this pinot a lot.

We told you May was a good month, actually any month with two fantastic Gewuztraminers in it is a good month. 

A couple of years on a Gewurztraminer seems to add more depth to its flavour and the 2008 Milton is the perfect example. Drinking this sort of wine is a joy.  

Did you know that there are people out there who don't know that wine can be drunk with, or even instead of, dessert? Sad isn't it. Let's take a moment to think about how miserable their lives must be. Sad, so sad. Is there a charity to help these people? Maybe we'll start one.

These thoughts passed our mind as we drank this beautiful example of a dessert wine, or sticky as it is affectionately known.  The best dessert wines are simply well made ones that have a controlled but noticeable sweet highlight. 

We think that riesling does dessert better than most other varieties and the folk at Elmslie have made an absolute belter with their 2007 Riverview Iced Riesling.

If you haven't tried a sticky then leave your miserable days behind you and try one. The Elmslie wouldn't be a bad place to start.