Lindemans Bin 35 Rosé

"The one purpose of wine is to bring happiness" said Henry Lindeman in 1843. Well he's certainly hit the nail on the head there. Wine does indeed bring happiness, it just depends what sort of happiness you mean! Well I've found a wine which certainly cheered me up, so I'm going to tell you all about it. It's a little Aussie temptress called Lindemans Bin 35 Rose'.

THE WINERY

Henry Lindeman discovered winemaking whilst travelling through Europe during the 1830's. He became fascinated by the medicinal qualities of wine (see I told you it was good for you), especially in light of the large quantities of hard liquor being consumed at the time in gin palaces and similar establishments. On returning to Australia in 1843 with his new wife, he set about planting 330 acres of vines on his Cawarra Estate in the Hunter Valley. His wines gained almost instant recognition for their quality and by 1863 he was exporting to the UK and Europe.

His son Charles and then grandson Eric continued to run the company until it became a plc in the 1960's. Sadly there are no Lindemans now involved in the companies running, however the Lindeman tradition of quality wines has been maintained.

THE GRAPES

Grenache is a red grape variety which is said to have originated in Spain, where it's called Garnacha. It successfully spread to France and other parts of Europe in the late 18th century and reached California and Australia some 100 years later in the second half of the 19th century. Along with Zinfandel it not only makes outstanding red wines, but some stunning rose's too.

WHERE CAN I GET IT ?

When I initially proposed this wine to Ciao it was on special offer in Morrisons / Safeway for £3.99 (down from £5.99) per bottle. Unfortunately that was almost 3 weeks ago and whilst the product proposal acceptance was in transit to me by carrier snail, it's reverted back to full price. Even at the higher price though, it's still well worth a try, as I'll explain later.

A couple of local off licences also stock this, but as of yet I've been unable to track it down on the web anywhere.

IS THIS SHEILA A LOOKER ?

Coming in a clear glass bottle, with a pink and white label which is blunt and to the point. It simply says 'Lindemans Bin 35 Rose 2003'. Sheila's not a natural blonde either, so to speak, more of a peroxide blonde. This is because she has a synthetic, rather than natural cork closure. However, don't mess with her, as you're well and truly warned that she contains 12.5% ABV (alcohol by volume).

ALL LOOKS AND NO SUBSTANCE ?

Far from it. Upon pouring the wine has a pale salmon pink like colour, which despite being pale has a vibrancy to it. It's certainly a sight to behold in the glass, but not for too long.

This wine smells gorgeous too. There are strong hints of cherry and freshly picked strawberries to attack your nostrils upon sniffing. There's perhaps some floral undertones as well, but these come and go and I'll not dwell upon them too long, lest I become too pretentious in an Oz Clarke / Jilly Goulden sort of way.

Anyway I've looked and sniffed for far too long, now it's time to drink. Well this is one of those wines where the smell and taste do match each other. The immediate taste sensation as this wine hits your tongue is cherries, however, not wanting to be left out the strawberries show up nanoseconds later. The mid taste is where the dryness of the grenache grape comes through, but not overly dry, quite soft in fact. This is followed up by a surprisingly clean, crisp finish. The nature of the finish probably stems from the fact that this wine hasn't been anywhere near an oak barrel and therefore, doesn't have the buttery, vanilla like finish often associated with oaked wines. So if you like your wines clean, crisp and oak virgins, this could be the one for you.

BEST SERVED

I usually prefer my whites and rose's well chilled and the same goes for this one. Unlike many though this one actually tastes nice at room temperature as well. Chilled wins the argument narrowly, but only just.

IS IT EASY ?

Well it'll go well with most things if you ask me, but then again I'm no wine snob. The bottle recommends seafood, salad and white meats and I wouldn't disagree. However, I found this wine to be particularly pleasant drunk on its own.

STAMINA

For once a wine that tells me what I want to hear. To quote the Lindemans web site; www.lindemans.com

"this wine has had no contacts with oak as it's for early consumption"

Well that's music to my ears. Get it home and get it drunk and let it never see a wine rack

I'M OFF NOW

Even at £5.99 per bottle I'd highly recommend this wine. Packed full of fruity flavours with a dry middle and clean crisp finish you won't go far wrong. It comes mightily close to toppling my favourite Californian Zinfandel Rose's from their perch, but not quite. Maybe the 2004 version will succeed ?