Buying American wine in Australia, or anywhere else for that matter, is always a difficult value for money equation. Peay Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is somewhat of an exception. The wine is priced like a blended wine from purchased fruit, but in this case, it is all Estate fruit at relatively low yields. The vineyards are only 4km from the coast. The grapes benefit from frequent fog and overnight cooler temperatures, and avoid the heat spikes further inland.
Friday, December 6, 2024
Peay Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
Saturday, November 30, 2024
Château Pontet-Canet
In the last post, I talked about a surprising Barolo. Today, it is about a surprising Bordeaux wine. I experienced the 2004 Château Pontet-Canet.
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Azelia Margheria Barolo
There is probably no other type of dry wine which achieves almost always reviews of 90+ points than Barolo. This is probably due to the combination of aromatics and tannin structure which can hardly go wrong. Yesterday I tasted the 2013 Azelia Margheria Barolo. The Margheria vineyard is in Serralunga. A number of leading producers source wine from here, including Gaja. Massolino's Vigna Rionda is just below the sizable Azelia holding. This is a vintage in which many great wines were made. Let us see how it went.
Saturday, November 23, 2024
Delamere Pinot Noir
I have mentioned a number of times that Tasmanian Pinot Noir is tricky. The marginal climate can be attractive. However, there are many subregions in Tasmania with quite different conditions. What is very suitable in one year may not be ideal in another. It is therefore difficult for Tasmanian wineries to establish a solid track record over a number of years.
Monday, November 18, 2024
Barossa Valley, Part 2
Two more wineries to visit on this short trip to the Barossa; Phase III Wines and Alkina.
The name Phase III refers to the third stage of Ben Kelley's life, when he decided to move to the Barossa to grow truffles, and then wine. However, he has been associated with wine for a long time and along the way got to know Fraser McKinley, the winemaker of Sami-Odi fame. His influence is obvious in a number of ways, for example the port shaped bottles and including wine from more than one vintage.
Thursday, November 14, 2024
Barossa Valley, Part 1
Then on to the Barossa, where I wanted to taste the 'new' or 'alternative' Barossa. My first stop is at Agricola in the Eden Valley. This is a small operation (700 cases per year) by Callum Powell, the son of ex-Torbreck winemaker David Powell. His wines are nothing like Torbreck, though.
Monday, November 11, 2024
McLaren Vale, Part 3
The tasting at perhaps McLaren Vale’s most iconic winery, Yangarra, was very extensive.
I will only report on the five wines, which impressed me most. Others were still outstanding, in particular the 2022 Ovitelli Blanc. So let us start with the Grenache range. On layer three is the 2023 Yangarra Old Vine Grenache. This is simply a joke. This wine is superb. The wine has great purity, and a fragrance which leads to an elegant mouthfeel (95 points). The 2022 Yangarra Ovitelli Grenache is quite different. It is still a fresh wine, but the fruit expression is quite dark. The wine is also quite tannic, but balanced overall (95 points). I found the 2021 Yangarra High Sands Grenache, the top of the tree, controversial. It is an elegant wine, with more fruit intensity than the others. There is a bit of Grenache sweetness in the core. The issue I have with this wine is that it wants to be fresh on the one hand, and deep and profound on the other. These ideas seem to almost clash on the palate (94 points).
Shiraz is the second major leg of Yangarra. I found the 2022 King’s Wood Shiraz very appealing. It is a bright and elegant wine, red fruited, but also quite savoury, helped by 75% whole bunch (96 points). The higher priced 2021 Ironheart Shiraz is a bigger wine, quite plush and long on the finish (94 points).
This tasting proved that Peter Fraser, the winemaker, is on top of his game. These wines are sophisticated, yet quite easy to drink. Perhaps with the exception of the Ironheart Shiraz, I would be happy to drink a second or third glass of all of them.
These three tastings had quite a focus on Grenache. They showed a particular upper McLaren Vale Grenache style which is fresh, aromatic, but not sweet, and quite acidic. One could argue this is because of the recent cooler vintages, but all winemakers emphasized they liked the low ph levels of, say, 3.0 to 3.2. They are somewhat higher in the Barossa, and we will see what difference this makes. This is where I go next.
Saturday, November 9, 2024
McLaren Vale, Part 2
The next stop was at SC Pannell. Stephen Pannell is a highly regarded winemaker, but the wines from the home block have always been disappointing. Then everything changed when he managed to purchase the Koomilya vineyard in 2013. He has always been keen on this, as the wine he won a Jimmy Watson trophy with at Hardys came from this vineyard.
I had the privilege to walk through this sizeable and very isolated vineyard while tasting its wines along the way. The core wines are the Shiraz from three different blocks; the DC block, the GT block, and the JC block.
Looking down the GT Block, with some Touriga vines in the frontThe first wine is the 2021 SC Pannell Koomilya DC Block Shiraz. The vines are 49 years old. The wine has quite lifted aromas, but on the palate, you are hit with power and punch. Red and black fruits vie for attention; cranberry, boysenberry, black cherry. There is also some charred meat, eucalypt, and black tea. The firm tannins bring the wine to a powerful close.
Score: 95/++
It is really important to see how this wine ages. The 2013 DC Block Shiraz helps to explain it. The fruit profile is similar. The ironstone effect from the soil comes through a bit more, as savoury flavours are strong. The tannins have softened. I believe 10 years maturing is a minimum to really enjoy this wine.
Score: 95/++
The 2021 SC Pannell Koomilya GT Block Shiraz comes from 33 year old vines. Curiously, the vines are grafted on Gewurztraminer planted 50 years ago. The fruit of this wine is softer, maybe due to the grey slaty siltstone. More raspberry flavours emerge, but also cedar and other savoury notes. This is a fresh and energetic wine with silky tannins.
Score: 95/+++
The vines of the JC Block are also 49 years old. The fruit is darker in this wine. There is a lot of ironstone rubble in the soil. The 2021 SC Pannell Koomilya JC Block Shiraz shows complex fruit flavours; dark cherry, mocca, black pepper. However, it is a softer expression of Shiraz. Having said this, the finish is very long, flanked by firm tannins.
Score: 95/+++
There is also a small volume of 2021 SC Pannell Koomilya Cabernet Touriga from this vineyard. The Cabernet Sauvignon does not ripen every year and is likely to be pulled out. However, I found this wine very attractive. This is a fresh wine, caressing fruit on display. The Touriga grape lifts the wine adding some fruitiness to the wine, which is otherwise still quite tight and astringent. I think in a few years, this will be a great wine.
Score: 94/+++
Overall the impressions from this vineyard are: freshness, no sweetness on the mid-palate, and firm tannins.
Leaving this vineyard, I am moved to the centre of Blewitt Springs to taste the three single site Grenaches. This is the other strength of SC Pannell. The 2022 SC Pannell Smart Grenache comes from the famous 67 year old bush vines of the high altitude Smart vineyard. The acidity is very prominent in this wine, maybe a bit too much for me. However, the raspberry and red cherry fruit is perfectly ripe, before the wine finishes with firm tannins.
Score: 93/+
The 2022 SC Pannell Little Branch Grenache is the first release from a newly acquired 30 year old vineyard. The tannins are not as strong as in the Smart Grenache. This is a slightly more friendly wine at this stage, still with a focus on freshness.
Score: 93/++
These two wines are based in Blewitt Springs at some altitude. The third Grenache is closer to the ocean at only 80 meters of altitude. All are on sandy soils, of course. The 2022 SC Pannell Old McDonald Grenache comes from an 80 year old vineyard. It has more of the characteristics of the flats of McLaren Vale. This is a gentler wine with some fruit sweetness on the mid palate, but clearly held in check. Good winemaking here.
Score: 94/++
Overall, this tasting wiped out some less exciting SC Pannell experiences of the past. The 2021s and 2022s tasted here come from cooler vintages, and it shows. The wines are fresh, but also quite acidic.
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
McLaren Vale, Part 1
A brief trip to South Australia plans to first of all explore the northern parts of McLaren Vale, Clarendon and Blewitt Springs. First stop is Bekkers, a boutique producer of high end wines. You have to be brave and confident to start pricing from $90/bottle. Is it justified?
Bekkers focusses on three red wines, as they say, from the hero varieties of McLaren Vale. The 2022 Bekkers Grenache is red fruited, singing the high notes. There is some spice as well. The key to this wine is its texture, defined by the silky tannins. Acidity is quite high (more on this in later posts) and the finish is long. This is a very harmonious wine.
Score: 95/+++
The 2021 Bekkers Syrah sees 47% new oak. The dark fruit flavours are intense, but more significant are the savoury flavours, its salty and liquorice notes. This firm flavour profile is matched by soft and silky tannins. This is a very seductive Shiraz.
Score: 95/+++
Then there is the 2022 Bekkers Syrah-Grenache. This blend is 75% Shiraz, 25% Grenache. I find it less convincing. The colour is dark, showing the Shiraz dominance. Vegetable flavours add to the dark fruit flavours. I did not find much of the alluring Grenache flavours in this wine. The blend is not so convincing.
Score: 92/+
I could also taste the 2017 Bekkers Grenache to understand how the Grenache evolves over time. This is a very aromatic wine. The acidity stands out less. It almost tasted like an aged Nebbiolo; very gentle, but with a solid structure and red and black berry flavours.
Score: 95/+++
Overall, a very promising start to the McLaren Vale exploration.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Giant Steps Single Vineyard Pinot Noirs
Giant Steps received great accolades for its 2023 Single Vineyard Pinot Noirs. To see how they develop, I opened a couple of these wines from 2021.
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Swinney Farvie Grenache
The large Swinney vineyards near Frankland River in the south of Western Australia have been a significant source of fruit to the royalty of Margaret River for many years. The obvious question is, why not make wine ourselves? When the Shiraz and Grenache wines launched some years ago, they were welcomed with some fanfare, given the pedigree of the old vines. But how do they really stack up? I tried to find out with a bottle of the 2019 Swinney Farvie Grenache, the second vintage of their premium wine.
Friday, October 25, 2024
Cakebread Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon can be magic: boysenberry flavours, smooth mouthfeel, silky tannins. Unfortunately, these wines, particularly from the valley floor, are often overripe. In response, a number of wineries headed for the hills. And then you have the opposite issue. Enter the 2019 Cakebread Cabernet Sauvignon.