Cherubino Folklore Chardonnay

 When it comes to quality value wines from Australia, historically Shiraz would have been your best bet. But lately, I think, terrific Chardonnay is available for a good price, in particular from Western Australia. The 2022 Cherubino Folklore Chardonnay from Margaret River pushes this further, as a wine below $20 per bottle, at a quality level more typical for a high quality $30 bottle.

This wine is barrel-fermented in used French oak, unusual for this price point, with fruit coming from Pemberton, Porongurup, and Margaret River. The wine is light and refreshing at first, but more substance and complex flavours of white peach, melon and apricot emerge on the mid palate. The wine delivers a satisfying mouthfeel and a medium finish.

Score: 90/+++     

 

34 Pinot Noirs

This annual Pinot Noir tasting in Sydney tends to give a good overview of the state of the nation as far as Pinot Noir is concerned. Unfortunately, this year, a number of the big names were missing. Still, when you have the option to taste 150 wines in a couple of hours, I tend to drift to the better known wines, where I can expect good results. I should do it differently next time and seek out the unknowns who's bottles don't even get opened - sad.

There was one wine which stood head and shoulders above the others. This was the 2014 By Farr Farrside Pinot Noir. This is a very complete wine, with dark fruit, very silky, with soft notes, but a firm finish. This is now the best By Farr wine (96 points).

In the bracket of outstanding wines (93/94 points) were
- 2014 By Farr Sangreal ( quite powerful, with overt cherry flavours, silky tannins)
- 2014 Lerida 'Josephine' (relatively light, strawberry and earth, long finish)
- 2012 Glaetzer-Dixon 'Reveur' (good intensity, mushroom notes, lively)
- 2012 Bannockburn 'Serre' (black cherry, silky, good length)
- 2015 Soumah 'Equilibrio' (strawberry flavours, quite ripe and silky)

In the next bracket (90-92 points) were a number of well known wines. They were good wines, but either had no feature that stood out (like the Curly Flat), or some detracting aspect (like the Paringa Estate). I put in this group the 2013 Curly Flat, 2014 Lerida Estate 'Cullerin', 2013 Stonier Reserve, 2014 Oakridge 864, 2015 Marchand & Burch 'Mt Barrow', 2012 Paringa Estate, 2013 Bannockburn Estate, 2015 Garagiste 'Balnarring',  2012 Savaterre (could have gone in the group above), 2015 Farr Rising, 2013 Brokenwood 'Indigo Vineyard', 2015 Holm Oak (outstanding fresh fruit), 2014 Shaw & Smith.

I rated the following wines a bit below this group (89 points): 2011 Curly Flat, 2013 Yering Station Estate, 2014 Scorpo, 2013 Picardy, 2013 Gembrook Hill, 2013 Moorooduc Estate 'Garden Vineyard', 2013 Yeringberg (disappointing!).

The disappointing wines (85-88 points), given their reputation, were
- 2014 Ashton Hills Reserve (lacking structure)
- 2015 William Downie Gippsland (juice, fault in winemaking or bottle?)
- 2014 Freycinet Estate (fruity)
- 2013 Kooyong Estate 'Haven' (drowning in sulphur)
- 2014 Holyman (unbalanced and thin)
- 2013 Moss Wood (why do they stick with it in Margaret River?)
- 2014 Pooley 'Butchers Hill' (too sweet)

A caveat to these rankings: the tasting was in a crowded room, the glasses were small and there was not much time.

With a couple of exceptions, there were no lolly water Pinot Noirs. These times are thankfully over. Given the line-up, I had expected a few more examples of truly outstanding wines with great personality. Usually, in large tastings like this, I do a taste-off with my three or four favorites. I was not inspired to do that this time. Power in the Pinots has been scaled back, which is a good thing, but now that many winemakers have mastered the art, they seem to go for 'safety first'.    
      

Marchand & Burch Villages Chardonnay

Staying with the village theme. Marchand & Burch is a high quality brand, based on the partnership of successful wine producers, bringing together Burgundy practices and Western Australian vineyards. Some wines from France are made as well.

The 2014 Marchand & Burch Villages Chardonnay is an attractively priced entry level Chardonnay. The wine is fruit forward, but with an attractive mix of grapefruit, melon, peach and guava flavours. This is a fruit profile which is rich, yet pure, and has no butterscotch elements. It is quite typical for Western Australia. The wine is very clean, not overly complex, with a rounder profile and mouthfeel, rather than linearity. I would call it a high quality quaffer.

Score: 92/++

Houghton Jack Mann Cabernet Sauvignon

I still remember when the 1998 Houghton Jack Mann Cabernet Sauvignon came on the market, it received rave reviews for its intensity and being so powerful. There was general surprise that a wine company focused on high volume commercial wines could produce such a wine. The advice was to put it away for 15 years. This is what I did with the two bottles I purchased.

This premium wine is named after Jack Mann, who was the influential winemaker for decades. He introduced the famous White Burgundy in 1937, and died in 1989. So he had no hand in this wine.

I was astounded that on opening the bottle and pouring some wine, its colour was still ruby, definitely not garnet. The aroma is still very intense, smelling of beautiful pure blackcurrant. This translated onto the palate. There is also some eucalypt, but not as a dominant flavour. This wine is very varietal and very Western Australia. It is full-bodied, but not over the top. The wine is elegant and well balanced. The firm tannins are still noticeable, but have softened considerably. The wine finishes dry. The 17 years wait was worth while, for sure, but I would advise to drink the wine now.

Score: 95/+++

Pepperilly Wines

There are still many new wineries trying to make it in Australia and quite a few deserve a chance. From Western Australia comes Pepperilly, no it is not from Margaret River nor the Great Southern. Pepperilly is based in the Ferguson Valley, overlooking Bunbury i.e. north of Margaret River.

I recently tasted two of their wines. the 2010 Pepperilly Purple Patch is a GSM, with a very dominant Grenache component, maybe a bit too much. The flavours are very clean, with raspberry dominating. The Shiraz provides some darker flavours on the back palate. The wine has fine tannins on the finish. Overall, this is a well made wine; it is pretty, quite feminine. The high 14.5% alcohol is not noticable, which points to sufficiently intense fruit.

Score: 91/+

The 2011 Pepperilly Rose looks quite French, with its pale pink colour. It is based on Cabernet and Shiraz. Again, the flavours are very clean and crisp. I find the wine a little sweet and to me it is - all the prejudices coming out here - a ladies wine.

Score: 89/0

How much value is in the label? Well, these wines look very stylish and at less than $20 per bottle, they represent excellent value.