My wife and I have the pleasure of sharing a birthday week with the HRH the Queen. And while she is a lot older and far more important, and technically it’s not her birthday, we’re the ones who get to enjoy a public holiday. The combination of celebrations and days off means we drink more wine. If one can drink more wine during isolation. It turns out this one can.

It began a couple of weeks ago with two very special wines that cost well over $20, both from WA.

Firstly, Houghton ‘Jack Mann’ Frankland River, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2016, cellar door $137.

I knew Houghton for their White Burgundy. Clearly, WA was keeping the best stuff for itself. While there was nothing wrong with the HWB – it was once one of the most popular dry whites in the country – the ‘Jack Mann’ proves that Houghton is as capable of quality as they are at quantity. It was intense. Layer upon layer of everything you want it to be. Even a little cigar box on the nose. Here’s what they have to say about it.

Next, or possibly before, I can’t quite remember, was a Vasse Felix Heytsbury Chardonnay, 2014. Again, I felt that the Western Australians were keeping their best in the West.

This is what the poets at Decanter had to say about it:

“An expressive, reductive style revealing aromas of buttery ripe apple and melon, intense with a wisp of autumnal smoke. Oatmeal and lemon pith meld with orange box characters, lemon oil and roasted almond notes. There is persistence here, which will see it through for some years to come. Drink 2018-2026”

I have no idea what they mean by a ‘wisp of autumnal smoke’. If there is a prize for the most lyrical descriptions of wine then this deserves to be up there. Perhaps, more significantly they named in no.2 in their most exciting wines of 2017.

At around $90 from Dan Murphy’s it may be cheaper than the Jack Manns, but it is still well over the threshold for this blog, so why are they here? Because you need to drink the expensive stuff to find the great in the cheap stuff.

Which brings me to Shottesbrooke Merlot. The name rang a distant bell. A memory from the late 80s when shoulders were padded and so were the wines. I was expecting something good, and I wasn’t disappointed. Cherries and marzipan, velvet glove on an oak fist. Intense and well structured. And while it wasn’t Jack Manns, it had a lot of the same qualities. For less than $18 at DM’s, it was a bargain.

It certainly cast a long shadow over the Paul Mass Merlot, which DM’s gave a score of 92. For under $10 it’s still a bargain, but a bit too sweet fruited for me. The Irvine wasn’t as good either.

For our actual birthday celebrations, which were spread over a few days so don’t judge, we enjoyed a bottle of Bollinger NV (The Queen’s favourite) and a red Sancerre – yes, red, not something you see very often in Australia. It’s a pinot noir and quite enjoyable, but more like a gamay with some wood. More champagne, pink this time as Charles Heidseick Rose and Taittinger Rose were on special at Vintage Cellars for around $50. The Heidseick is a dryer style, almost orange in colour, while the Taittinger is a lively pink. We had them as an aperitif and then with scallops. Yum. The Main Divid came out with the cheese – an amazing two-year old Comte from Le Petit Marche in Newport. I’m addicted.

A friend of mine was telling me what a bargain the Dan Murphy Under Wraps range is. He’s a studious fellow, with a bit of time on his hands so he’d trawled through the tasting notes of the Under Wraps wines and compared these with other wines from the specific region. Using this method he deduced that the Under Wraps version cost a third of the price of the regular wine. We had a Dromana Pinot that he picked up for $15 and I reckon it was as good as a $30 one. Much lighter than the Main Divide, but a very drinkable elegant style.

The Vasse Felix also made me realise how good a wine the Mermerus was (see April) and I have been enjoying the Main Divide Pinot Noir. Note to self, buy more.