Ulithorne ‘Flamma’ Sparkling Shiraz 2005

Winery: Ulithorne

Region: McLaren Vale, South Australia

Vintage: 2005

Style: Australian Sparkling Shiraz (dry)

Alcohol: 14%

Review

Blood-and-deep-purple appearance with a light pink mousse and a medium to medium-full body. An excellent nose: raspberry, plum, a bit of port, touch of liquorice, and something floral there too… one of the best aromas on a sparkling shiraz I’ve had. Great mouthfeel with light bubbles. It’s very dry, and deliberately so – everything the recent ‘dry and tart’ cheapies should have been. Has a certain earthiness to it too. If this were nornally about $20 I’d snap a few up, but it’s overpriced at $35+

Deliberately dry was a nice change of pace: 3/5

Bought from Vintage Cellars (Balgowlah) for about $40 | Winemaker link: Ulithorne

Winefront | Cloudwine

Pairing

Candyman Soundtrack – Philip Glass

Candyman (1992) is based on a short story by Clive Barker called The Forbidden, adapted and directed by English director Bernard Rose. It’s stylish and moody, and touches – lightly – on a few issues (including urban folklore in the underclass, urban decay and madness). It benefits from keeping it’s tone deliberately dry, and Rose’s involvement (following on from his psychological horror film Paperhouse) and request for scoring was enough to entice Philip Glass to write a gothic score for it driven by a chorus, pipe organ and piano.

Unfortunately, at some stage of production, Rose was removed from the the project, possibly because the film did not contain enough explicit gore. This is a disappointment to fans of the film that feel it never quite realised its potential, as it was to Glass. According to Glass’ Music of Candyman CD producer Don Christensen, “[Glass] felt that he had been manipulated. What was presented to him as a low budget independent project with creative integrity indeed became a low budget Hollywood slasher flick”.

Despite the shortcomings of the final film, Glass’ score stands out as one of the most effective and haunting soundtracks in recent horror film history. That should be no suprise, given Glass has created many excellent soundtracks including The Truman Show (1998) and the experimental Koyaanisqatsi (1982), the latter of which you may recognise from this episode of The Gilmore Girls.

Alternative

Not in the mood? A complete opposite from the Ulithorne’s dryness would be the Kopparberg Pear Cider, which you can get just about anywhere these days. Sweet (but not sickly so) and refreshing!