“Once the theme was launched, we just talked about what we liked about the wines we shared over lunch, rather than get bogged down in why they were interesting,” writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.

I’m a devotee of the TV show QI. The nub is that the comedy panel and the content of the quiz show is directed to being quite interesting rather than being right.

So, three blokes over 60 decided to convene for lunch and the other two embraced my suggestion that we bring a wine that is quite interesting.

As it turned out, it was like when my friend got me an elephant for my room. I said thanks and she said, don’t mention it. 

Once the theme was launched, we just talked about what we liked about the wines we shared over lunch at D’Browes, rather than get bogged down in why they were interesting. 

We started with a Rolf Binder 2019 Eden Valley Riesling. It was straw in colour, a deeper yellow than a more recent vintage. But it had zest and vigour both in the bouquet and on taste.

Chef Damien D’Browe (with whom we shared a taste of these BYO wines) remarked: “This wine is amazing, after six years, it is green still, has a green apple finish.”

The acid lines in the wine remained strong and, rather shelffishly, one of our number had it with oysters and remarked what a splendid accompaniment it was to that mollusc. This formerly family owned winery is now part of the Distinction Wine conglomerate. 

Mate Tom brought a red wine that was also a 2019 vintage: the Olive Hills Estate du Cluse. This Rutherglen winery has blended 15 varieties to make this wine, with a nod to the French Vaucluse wine area.

That area is home to the wine village Châteauneuf-du-Pape where the famous red wine is able to maintain its appellation with 18 red and white grape varieties being approved for use. 

Red and white grape varieties are permitted in both red and white wines of the appellation with no restrictions around the proportions. This Olive Hills wine was a deep red, but on first opening had a strange chemical bouquet reminiscent of acetone.

With air, that aroma disappeared and the wine was full bodied on taste with a mixed berry plushness that, after some time and as the wine warmed in the hand, had almost port-like characteristics. It went well with the veal that two of us had as a main course, although it didn’t match with the fish that one of our number ordered.

The third wine was one from my collection. It was a 2020 Burge Family Winemakers Homestead Tinta Cao-Souzao. In the 1970s these Portuguese varietals were offered to vignerons in the Barossa Valley from an academic source (the spokesperson from the winery didn’t know exactly from where) as a test that the soils were appropriate in which to grow these varietals: this was a free trial by the authorities, and one that stuck.

This blend is usually used in the making of port/fortifieds but this table wine was superb. It was deep red in colour with a white flower and fragrant plummy nose, including a hint of mint. The palate showed soft approachable tannins. It finishes long with cherry/berry fruit and was velvet in the mouth.

The wine is ready to drink now and maybe for the next two years. Ironically, and quite interestingly: there were fewer identifiers with port in this wine than in the other red tasted. Unfortunately, it is no longer available and no longer made.

“An intellectual is a person who’s found one thing that’s more interesting than sex.” –Aldous Huxley