The Contentious Character 2020 Christmas Gift Guide
When looking for wine gifts and local Canberra produce gifts, Contentious Character have got you covered for your 2020 Christmas gift ideas. Make it a day with your Christmas shopping and book a wine tasting at our cellar door in Wamboin or order online (we ship Australia-wide).
Here are 8 Christmas present recommendations, brought to you by us Contentious Characters:
For the guzzler of reds and ONLY reds
The perfect wine gift for the red wine drinker is a bottle (or case - imagine that under the tree on Christmas Day) of our 2018 Merlot. This is a full bodied wine with dominant plum and black cherry flavours with hints of graphite and earthy undertones. (PS. Our 2018 Merlot also makes for a respectable corporate gift for your colleagues and clients.)
For the one who can never make up their mind
Red wine? White wine? There’s always one mate who can’t decide. They’re ‘Between A Rock And A Hard Place’ which so happens to be the name of our 2020 Rose. This Rose throws flavours of strawberries and cream with hints of vanilla and a touch of sweetness. This is the wine we’ll be sipping on Christmas Eve to get ready for the big day.
For the one who likes to push the envelope
Our red bubbly is an intriguing blend of red vintages from 2008 to 2014, fermented in oak barrels and freshly carbonated. It’s ‘A Mongrel Of A Dog’ and is definitely for those who love something different (but damn delicious). This sparkling red will get the party started these holidays (and it’s also a great one for Christmas morning before the mother-in-law arrives…).
For the one who puts tomato sauce on everything
On steaks, on pies, on bread. On everything including whatever you’re feasting on on Christmas Day. Our Cabernet Ketchup is housemade, big and rich and imbued with our red wine. Our Classic Ketchup is a great all-rounder. Both available in full-size at 10 dollars or in a gift pack for 20 dollars (which also includes our Apple Ketchup which goes deliciously with pork).
For the one who loves a good wine label
‘Redhead And A Lightweight’ is our 2017 Shiraz/ Pinot. We love it for its red fruit with spicy overtures on the nose and its fruity mouthfeel with good grip and length. But LOTS of our customers simply love the name and label. If you’ve got a redhead in the family, this one is a must-have for Christmas day laughs and conversations.
For the one who will drink anything (and a lot of it)
It’s BEEN a year. And we wouldn’t have gotten through it without wine (and each other, of course). Gift a mixed case of our newest wines as a Christmas present; 3x 2020 Riesling, 3 x 2020 Rose, 3 x V Red Bubbly and 3 x Reds (1 each of 2018 Merlot, 2017 Shiraz/Pinot Noir and 2018 Pinot Noir) and receive 15% off, free shipping AND a bonus Trio Boxed Contentious Ketchup Gift Pack. That should keep them happy!
BUY NOW WITH DISCOUNT, FREE SHIPPING + BONUS
You don't need to add the bonus Gift Pack to cart- we'll do that all for you when getting your gift ready!
For the one who’s always after novel experiences
Treat your loved one to a day in the rolling hills of Wamboin. We offer three experiences;
- Private Tasting with the Winemaker himself with a 3-course Lunch; tour the winery with a premium tasting held by the winemaker himself before a sumptuous 3-course lunch AND take home two of your favourite bottles
- Indulgence Tasting; 12 wines paired with a gourmet cheese board featuring our housemade condiments. Some vintages here are up to 15 years old!
- Vintage Wine Tasting with 3-course Lunch; taste a range of recent and aged vintages followed by a 3-course meal for two with a glass of paired wine
And the gift of choice...
And of course there’s always that tricky family member who you can never find the right present for. Give them the gift of choice with a Contentious Character Gift Card that can be spent at our cellar door, shop, restaurant or online.
2020’s been unprecedented (is that the millionth time that word’s been used this year?) so all the more reason to love on and spoil each other this Christmas. We wish you a safe and happy holiday season and we thank you for supporting local this year and beyond.
01/12/2020 at 5:07 PM
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Cabernet Sauvignon: The happily blended family of CabSav
There are four of us at Contentious Character and, in some ways, we’re like a blended family ourselves. The two couples bring their own special qualities to the blend. And, unfortunately, also some traits we’re not quite so proud of but it keeps things interesting here at our vineyard in the Canberra region.
Cabernet Sauvignon is a happy blended family of grapes - but it happened all by itself. Back in the 1600s, the Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc had a dangerous liaison in Bordeaux and produced a child. If someone had not thoughtfully taken a cutting, the blend would have disappeared altogether. And what a shame that would've been; a world without the 'king of grapes'.
Today, Cabernet Sauvignon is probably the most loved and popular red variety in the world (merlot drinkers might like to contest that).
The beginnings of cabsav in Australian wine
Cabernet Sauvignon first graced Australian soil in the 19th century with the oldest surviving vineyard being the Penfolds Block 42 in the Barossa, planted in 1885.
It is known affectionately in Australia as 'cabsav', even though cabsav sounds like a taxi with GPS or a dish with red sausages. The important thing is that we all know what we mean by it; it’s a 'big, full-bodied bold red'.
The characteristics and profile of Cabernet Sauvignon
You may have heard of the Cabernet 'donut'. This refers to cabsav hitting the front of the palate with its fruit flavours before skipping to a lingering medium acidity and tannin on the back of the palate.
Here are some other words to describe cabsav (besdies "big, full-bodied bold red") at your next wine tasting so you can flaunt your oenophile knowledge:
COLOUR: typically darker and deeper than a Merlot
FRUIT: Black cherry, black currant and blackberry
OTHER: Black pepper, cedar, licorice, tobacco, vanilla
OAK: Loves 9-18 months in French oak.
TANNIN: Medium
ACIDITY: Medium, can linger on the tongue
BLENDS: It blends well with Bordeaux wines Italian Supertuscans
And in fact, the style of Cabernet Sauvignon depends on how ripe the grapes are at harvest:
- Unripe grapes are high in pyrazines, so they taste more like green capsicum and vegetation (and actually, cool-climate wineries like those in the Canberra region are known to produce cabsavs with this profile)
- Ripe grapes are fruity with blackcurrants and black cherries and when overripe, can taste jammy
“What does cabsav go with?”
Many people will say that cabsav begs to be paired with food, because it is heavier wine. If you’re sharing our view from here in the Canberra region, we think it pairs well with our woodfired mushroom pizza (add tomato sauce for a REALLY good time). Cabernet Sauvignon also goes with a juicy marinated ribeye steak.
This is because cabsavs are generally quite complex wines so they go well with foods that are high in fats and that 'umami' flavour which roughly translates to a 'pleasant savoury flavour' (hence why mushrooms and red meat are our go-to's).
Which wine regions are known for their Cabernet Sauvignon?
This happily blended family is the world's most widely planted grape. This is likely due to its strong, hardy nature, thanks to its thick skin and the fact it ripens later in the vintage to avoid frost and rot. It is an adaptable grape that even grows well in a desert (though we'd never call the Canberra region that!).
Look for cabsav from South America, Lebanon, Long Island, New York and Chile. When it comes to Australian wine, you can find complex and subtle cabsav in the Coonawarra, Margaret River, Hilltops in NSW and, of course, Canberra (specifically in the rolling hills of Wamboin).
The most expensive cabsav would have set you back a cool half-a-million US dollars at auction. It’s a Screaming Eagle 1992 from the famous Napa Valley. One wine connoisseur described it as “exceptionally impressive”, and we are sure he meant the wine...
One contentious character was actually served cabsav at his inauguration. We’re talking about none other than Donald Trump. He was fortunate enough to be poured the Delicato Black Stallion 2012 Limited Release (again from the Napa Valley). But it was wasted on him: Donald Trump, like George Bush, is teetotal.
Unlike Trump, Cabernet Sauvignon is a variety that can age gracefully for many decades.
At Contentious Character, we’ve taken our blended family a little further. We blend our cabsav with Merlot (and evenwith a hint of Shiraz) and our latest release makes for quite the sumptuous drink. So the next time you're in the Canberra region, come out to the rolling hills of Wamboin and enjoy a tasting at our cellar door (wine tasting menu here).
As we publish this, Christmas is next month. *Jaw drop*. It feels like we literally just took down the tree but then again, it also feels like we're stuck in March so who really cares! What we should care about are the Christmas parties. More than any year before, we all need a Christmas party that'll get us feeling jolly and that'll warm our hearts and stomachs. Well, look no further. We're ready to have you.
01/11/2020 at 9:54 AM
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Sparkling Reds: As Australian as…
Imagine a glass of sparkling wine on your table, and there’s something uplifting and chirpy about it. But not all that glitters is the colour of gold. Thanks to a Melbourne parliamentarian and a clever French winemaker, the first Australian sparkling burgundy found its way down Australian throats as early as 1881.
Since then, wine lovers all over the world now recognise sparkling red made with Shiraz as a true blue Aussie invention. Aussies didn’t actually invent sparkling red wine – we can thank the Italians for giving us yet another pleasure for the senses. Particularly famous Italian sparklings are Lambrusco, from Emilia-Romagna or Lombardy and Brachetto d’Acqui, from Piedmont.
Remember bubbles are not just bubbles. Frizzante describes a bubbliness of 1-2 atmospheres of pressure in a bottle, compared to Champagne with 7 atmospheres and Lambrusco with 3-5 atmospheres.
LAMBRUSCO
Lambrusco is a name good enough to sing from a gondolier and describes both the grape and the wine. You may drink it sweet (dulce) or dry (secco), depending on your appetite. Dry Lambrusco is more rhubarb and sour cherry, and goes with meaty fare, like hamburgers or pepperoni pizza. Sweet Lambrusco tastes of boysenberries, blueberries and strawberries, so goes down well with a dessert of berry pie or waffles.
BRACHETTO D'ACQUI
Brachetto is the grape, coming from the d’Acqui region of Piedmont. Tasting of raspberry, blackberry, spice and cherries, it is sweet and, unlike our Australian red sparklings, low alcohol. If our sources are correct, it is best drunk with chocolate!
With a pile of Easter eggs, truffles and sundry bars leftover from Easter, this may be the time for all contentious characters to test that theory.
AUSTRALIAN SPARKLING SHIRAZ
While Shiraz is not an Australian grape, we can certainly claim sparkling Shiraz as our own. Instead of a mountain of berries, look for the spiciness of pepper and liquorice, with brown sugar and just a little blackberry.
Sparkling red is a great choice for breakfast with omelettes, fried eggs, beans or pastries. It’s also a great accompaniment to a barbecue, but these days the famous Aussie barbecue is an endangered species. Remember its alcohol level is quite high and we don’t want you drinking too much by yourself. (Drink contentiously. But responsibly.)
Contentious Character can supply you with A Mongrel of a Dog for your next intimate dinner. Our NV Red Blend Bubbly is an intriguing blend of red vintages from 2008 to 2014, all fermented in oak barrels to make a full-bodied red that’s rich in complexity. It has a balance of sweetness and acidity which pairs well with your favourite spicy foods, and dark fruity flavours which pairs well with chocolate and coffee, all for a mere $30.
Put the sparkle back into your life. Better red than dead.
Our cellar door is open from 11 am to 8 pm Thursday to Sunday. Pop in and browse our exclusive cellar door deals, or order online through our website.
Our restaurant is also offering takeaway and dine-in options. Try the Founders Museum Wine and Feed Me Series, an unlimited tailored wine and food experience for 2hrs, bookings at 11:30, 2 pm, and 6 pm. $150 pp with discounts for locals and club members.
You can also dine in on our takeaway menu if seating is available. Call first to check. Walk-ins will be seated on first in, first-served basis. Takeaway will also still be available to order via the 'Book Now' tab on our website.
16/05/2020 at 5:10 PM
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The Story Behind the Names
Murder Fifty Shades of Merlot in Your Cakehole
I COULD MURDER A MERLOT
Merlot is the biggest grape variety in all of France and 67 million French can’t be wrong! Yet some people are still living in the dark ages of 2004. If you saw Miles in Sideways protest that he ain’t gonna drink a fucking Merlot, you know what we mean. Merlot has come of age and, just like us, it really is time to grow up. Next time you thirst for a titillating, surprising glass of wine, then go ahead and murder a Merlot. Our Merlot is so delicious, like murder, it ought to be illegal.
CRISP IN YOUR CAKEHOLE
We were talking about some of the big mouths in the wine industry and how no one knows everything about wine, not even middle aged men. Everyone’s opinion is valid as long as we agree with it. But rather than say something crisp like, “shut your cakehole!”, we decided to put something crisp into your cakehole. The obvious crispy wine is Riesling - with all that lemon and lime on the palette and nose, it’s not contentious. But it’s got to be the crispest wine for your cakehole.
FIFTY SHADES OF GRAPE
When we say, “fifty shades”, we could mean a wine that is very nuanced and subtle, or just our winemakers’ heads. Our Pinot Gris has shades of white, red or blue grey, depending on whether you look at it first thing in the morning or after a few glasses. The 2015 erotic movie Fifty Shades of Grey, inspired us to name our very first Pinot Grigio, but we cannot guarantee the same effect.
A Note re Pinot Gris / Pinot Grigio - We often explain the origins of Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio, its Italian counterpart in our cellar door. We will typically pick the version of the name that invokes the style of the wine, and in this case we decided this was our first Pinot Grigio.
21/02/2020 at 10:50 AM
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