Another mixed bag this week, but mostly good to very interesting, and more reds than whites to reflect the colder weather. One wine stood out like a beacon: Grant Burge Filsell Old Vine Barossa Shiraz 2010. This wine beat over 700 international Shiraz reds from France, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia to win the Greatest Shiraz in the World title from Winestar magazine.
Not sure it’s THAT good but it’s a very classy number. It’s a classy Shiraz with fragrant sweet fruit and seamless cedary oak. It has also depth and length and surprising finesse. And balance at 14%. Good to drink now but will improve for a few years. It’s a bit over our limit at $28.50 at Dan Murphy’s in a mixed half dozen, but it’s more than worth it. Read the Rest
BUY
Mount Eagle Eden Valley Riesling 2012 – $10 at GLUG
Terrific Eden Valley Riesling with all the class, depth and length of its more expensive neighbours. ‘This is another case of being able to drink the highest quality at a low price,’ says David Farmer. ‘It also vindicates our move to the Barossa Valley as you cannot do deals like this in a Sydney pub.’
Windy Peak Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2012 – $10 at Dan M’s
Soft and round, with ripe fruit the driver. Nothing too fancy but about as good a Chardy as $10 will buy.
Evans & Tate Metricup Road Margaret River Chardonnay 2011 – $13.65 at Vintage Cellars
The big retailers drive us nuts, as I keep saying. I ducked into the local Vintage Cellars to buy some Hewitson Miss Harry 2010 GSM for $18 and found one bottle on the shelf at $23. Turns out the special price is an EOFY online special only, yes it said so in the fine print when I checked.
I checked on other options and found the E & T 2011 as a clearance item for $13.65 (single bottle). The website doesn’t know the 2011 but lists the 2010 for $18. Drive you nuts, they do.
I like the 2011 better than the 2010. There’s a bit more to it, some nice hints of white peaches and cashews, and a nice line of lemon acid running through it for balance and length. Not a huge amount of mid-palate flavour and depth, but I think it will grow with a year or two in bottle (it did after a day in the open one). I think for <$14 it’s a really good deal; at its normal price close to $20, I’d go for the Hoddles Creek.
Paul Jaboulet Aine Cotes du Rhone Parallele 45 2009 – $12 at McGuiresCellarsOnline
My mate Reg gave me a bottle of this, I loved it and searched everywhere. Cracka wanted $22 for it but didn’t have any (why do they pop up on every web search six times when they rarely have the wine in question, Google?)
A final desperate search turned up this super special in Brisbane. It’s $15 shipping for an AusPost e-parcel of six but it’s still worth it since this is almost the perfect CdR IMHO. Lovely red fruits with a touch of slate and a hint of dust. Medium bodied, elegant, seductive.
Madeleines Nangkita Vineyard Shiraz 2009 – $18 at Kemenys
Never heard of Madeleines? Neither had we. It used to be called Vincognita, and it’s a boutique winery in McLaren Vale with vineyards in several locations. The fruit for this wine came from the Nangkita vineyard on the Fleurieu Peninsula, and the wine is quite different from McLaren Vale or Barossa Shiraz. It’s more elegant, more fragrant and the fruit is more refined suggesting cooler climate origins. A gentle touch of warm oak (American?) rounds out this lovely wine. $13.9%
Mike Press Adelaide Hills Shiraz 2012 – $13 at MyCellars
The wine is kind of compact, a bit like Mike is built, with a good concentration of red fruits on the middle palate and a touch of soft oak. It’s barely a year old but drinkable already, yet with plenty of headroom for growth. It’s not huge but it’s not exactly subtle either. Tyson Stelzer gives it 94 points, so does Campbell Mattinson at the Winefront. I saw it more as a 91/92 point wine, which is pretty good for the money. You can order direct from the winery as well, which makes sense if you live in Adelaide because the freight is minimal.
Crabtree Watervale Shiraz 2010 – $20 at MyCellars
Another boutique winery, this time in the Clare Valley, bought in 2006 by a Sydney couple making a sea change. The winemaker is Kerry Thompson of Wines by KT fame; in the early naughties, she made the wines at Leasingham. Crabtree wines are small production, hand picked and handmade and it shows: this red is a knockout.
It has that extra quality that lifts it above most Aussie reds, the way the French oak is integrated with the lush fruit. This wine is seductive yet quite complex too; it’s Clare Shiraz in exceptionally capable hands. A lot of SA Shiraz is dense, chunky and lumpy IMHO, but this is different. It’s a terrific food wine, for one thing, perfect with a slow-cooked lamb shoulder. Could hold its own against any Shiraz several times its price. Real bargain. JH gives it 95, and I’ll raise him one point.
Rosabrook Margaret River Cabernet Merlot 2011 – 2 for $22 at 1st Choice Liquor
Pretty much par for the course Margaret River Cabernet Merlot, soft and plummy with some dried herbs thrown in, fine acid and a touch of drying tannin. Lacks a little in the depth department but that’s being really picky in an $11 wine. Bargain.
Cape Mentelle Cabernet Merlot ‘Trinders’ 2010 – $20 at Kemenys
I wasn’t impressed with the 2010 and was very much the odd man out at the time, yet I reckon 2011 was a superior vintage in the west. This wine is more proof. It’s hard to imagine a richer, more perfumed, more velvety red in a medium-bodied format, with depth and length and lots of interesting touches. There’s a bit of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot thrown in to make it more interesting. Dollars cheaper here than elsewhere. Another bargain.
NOT CONVINCED
Evans & Tate Metricup Road Margaret River Chardonnay 2010 – $16 at Winestar
Just a week ago I said this: ‘I’m prepared to stick my neck out on this one because we had the 2009 on the weekend, and I wish I’d bought more of it. The 2010 was rated 96 Points and awarded a Gold Medal at Royal Queensland last year, Bert Werden at Winestar tells us. This opened the door to the National Wine Show – ‘the Grand Final of wine shows.’ Here it won the top Gold Medal and the trophy for the best Chardonnay against all comers including the usual suspects at 4 times the price.’
I should’ve waited. This isn’t bad but it’s nowhere near as good as the 2009. Quite elegant, perhaps too much so as it’s bordering on bland. Good length, nice mouth feel but not a lot of flavour. Maybe it’ll fill out get a lot better. The 2009 improved over a year or so. Right now, I’m not convinced.
Madfish Bay Golden Turtle Chardonnay 2012 – $14.25 at Dan M’s
I didn’t think much of this last time I checked, then saw Gary Walsh at The Winefront give it a great rap – excellent Margaret River chardonnay at an exceptional price – and 92 point. Gary has a pretty sharp palate and doesn’t throw points around so I thought I’d better have another look. What I found was exactly the same as the first time around: no strong Chardonnay character, this could be a blend of other white grapes. Didn’t like the slightly sweet-and-sour oak either.
Pierre Amadieu Cotes du Rhone ‘Roulepiere’ 2010 – $20 at Cremorne Annadale Northbridge Cellars
I wanted to like this one, and it has pretty nice fruit and depth in a medium weight package. The problem is that there’s too much of that earthy character. I love hints of dust and slate but it’s burnt earth in this case. Shame.
Robert Oatley McLaren Vale Shiraz 2011 – $17 at MyCellars
This wine won a trophy & gold medal at the 2013 Decanter International Wine Challenge, for Best Australian Rhone Style. It does have a hint of that earthiness about it, but it’s not as good as the Paul Jaboulet above. You’d be hard pushed to guess where this wine came from, but it’s obvious that it was made by a skilful young Turk in the modern Aussie idiom. Larry Cherubino, I think , now under contract to Bob Oatley, or is it Robert – even the label is confused.
Karrawirra Barossa Valley Shiraz 2010 – $9 at GLUG
Just to prove that not every wine from David Farmer’s boutique set-up in the Barossa is a winner. This is big and ripe and without obvious faults. It’s also without charm: It’s a bit lumpy, a plodder not a dancer. IT’s OK for the modest price is the best I can say for it.
AVOID
Waipara Hills Pinot Gris 2012 – $15
After the tour de force that was the 2011, this was a real disappointment. If most of the 2012 KiWI Savvies lack acid and length and structure, this Pinot Gris is flabby. The flavour is all over the shop as well and not authentic by my definition of either the ripe Pinot Gris or the leaner Pinot Grigio style. This wine is a disaster from a winery that usually puts out pretty decent wines.
Kim