I receive a fair amount of samples from wineries, importers and distributors for review but this sample was a bit out of the ordinary. It seems that wine bloggers these days are mostly approached by small wineries looking for some online exposure but in this case the winery providing the sample was one of the mega Australian brands known on these shores as “The Little Penguin.”

I’m not sure is this brand is sold in it’s native country but if it is I’m sure most consumers look at it much in the same way we in America look at Gallo. Sound wine at very reasonable prices. I know that most of what I review here is somewhat removed from this price segment but I took a page from Gary Vaynerchuk’s book and decided to review this wine.

Before I get to the review itself, a bit of disclosure. The winery sent this wine as a sample for review with a bunch of summer items (see photo). As a wine marketing guy I scrutinized the additional items and came to the conclusion these should not be considered into the review. I mean, what are they thinking sending some sunglasses, flip-flops and suntan lotion? I’m not sure how this would effect my appreciation for the wine but maybe I’m just too critical of these things. Suffice it to say that such additional packaging doesn’t add to this, or any, wine one bit. The towel was nice, however

Tasting Notes:

The Little Penguin, “Summer White”, Chardonnay-Riesling, South East Australia 2006 ($8/sample) - Light straw-green in color with aromas of grapefruit and pineapple. Light bodied and easy to drink with green apple, peach and citrus flavors finishing off-dry and clean but on the short side. Seems more like a straight-ahead Chardonnay than the summer quaffer it’s billed as and could use a bit more acidity.

Synthetic cork closure
Score: 82