This week, Mark Henderson savours some fine white wine.
I think that the checkout operators at my local supermarket are beginning to wonder about my regular purchases of aluminium foil.
Witty ripostes, such as "foiled, Watson'', tend to go down like a lead balloon and they are probably pondering what I do with it all?
Of course, it is used to disguise the identities of the bottles that my tasting associates McLaren, Collins and I taste blind each week.
This week, the foil hid the identities of six quite tasty sauvignon blancs, which threw up all sorts of interesting flavours.
Price: $20
Rating: Excellent
Fragrant nose; sweet fruited, a hint of bubble gum evolves into Fruit Jubes.
Opens with grassy notes, passionfruit and musk.
Quite complex.
Fresh and zingy on the palate without being aggressive.
Those Fruit Jubes appear again on the palate, allied to a creamy palate entry and a long, persistent finish.
Very tasty.
Price: $33
Rating: Excellent
Burnt matchstick and a smoky note with a lemony citrus undercurrent.
Broad, viscous and textural on the palate with gooseberry and lemon: freshening acidity rounds out the finish.
This really grows in the glass with real intensity and complexity building.
Some semillon here?
Serious, different, but fascinatingly so.
Price: $17
Rating: Good
Relatively shy on the noseat first with spicy notes and a hint of ripe banana.
Cut grass and dried herbs make their appearance.
Rather crisp in the mouth with asparagus and leafy notes.
Rather more traditional in its bracing acidity, making it more food friendly; just a touch underpowered fruit-wise.
Price: $21-$23
Rating: Very good
Sweeter fruit nose in the tropical fruit/fruit salad spectrum with an orange/mandarin touch.
Some musk and bubble gum comes up with aeration.
A tickle of acidity on the tongue leads into a creamy palate with ripe gooseberries on the finish.
An appealing and very drinkable style.
Price: $25
Rating: Very good
Ripe fruit here: tropical fruit, banana, perhaps feijoa?
The palate moves to a cooler-climate spectrum with gooseberry, grapefruit and passionfruit.
Texturally rich, finishing with crisp acidity and green apple notes.
Light on its feet with good complexity; a hint of astringency on the finish just holds it back a little.
Price: $37
Rating: Very good to excellent
Subtle at first on the nose, with orange and lime oil.
With evolution, a perfume of white flowers and jasmine: a little cut grass.
Supple entry with green apple and capsicum: gooseberry coming with aeration.
This remains finely tuned, fresh, and with great persistence and length.
This probablyhas more to give with time.
