The Boutique Wine Lover's Wine Reviews and Wine Related Stories

A big welcome to Protero Wines - Adelaide Hills, South Australia

Protero Chardonnay (2006)

Fringe Festival - Roll up to the performance in our own East End with the 2006 Protero Chardonnay. It's slamming poetry - papaya and exotic tropical fruits leap with lyrical lightness. Dazzling minerality and gentle softness reveal pure genius of form. It's ideal with salt-crusted salmon fillet baked in pastry.

Protero Red Blend (2005)

This is a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. I like Adelaide Hills Merlot and this wine is further proof (or encouragement) that growers should persist or even plant more of it. Pretty and perfumed with ripe plum, berry, licorice, dried mint, camphor and cedary vanilla oak. On the palate medium to full bodied with sweet juicy plum and berry fruit, licorice and dried herbs. It's ripe and creamy with a fresh acid bite, a little warm alcohol, and firm smooth tannins. Finishes with a plum and chocolate aftertaste and a slightly bitter herbal twist. A lovely wine with plenty of charm and character.

Protero Viognier (2007)

This is NOT one of your simple apricot or peach syrup viogniers. Easily one of the best Australian expressions of this generally misunderstood and mismanaged varieties, this pleasantly syrupy, chalky wine is stacked with nuances of many fruits and spices. It's hearty - almost boisterous - but remains elegantly balanced and harmonious, right through to that alluring aftertaste of fine tannin, buttery Anjou pear, gentle limy acidity, and alcohol. Fittingly for a wine with its roots in the sunny south of France, it will accompany many of the summery foods of the Mediterranean coast, like mild artichoke and smoked pork cassoulet, or veal with lemon juice and capers

We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once - Calvin Coolidge