Gibson Wines ‘Discovery Road’ ‘Il Minestrone’ 2019
- 93
- $25
- Drink by: 2021 - 2026
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Terrific value red from the Barossa – $25 is almost giving this away. Really liked it, but it is a curious thing. I have no idea what the coloured weird label is supposed to represent. Perhaps an Italian tablecloth (que Billy Joel in the background)? This is a real fruit salad style, a blend of shiraz, tempranillo, montepulciano, nero d’avola, merlot and grenache that spent 16 months in a mix of hogsheads.
Colour is opaque with purple hints. A dense, coiled, brooding style of your traditional big red from the Barossa. A hearty, rich dish would be ideal to bring out the flavours of this wine, hence the name. The wine offers notes of mulberries, chocolate, dried fruits, but remains fresh. Bold, full of flavour and with a future, but I’d suggest that a big steaming Italian feast should be in that future.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
