Sunday, March 8, 2009

O'Leary Walker

Last week, I tasted the recent releases of O'Leary Walker. These were excellent wines.

First was the 2008 O'Leary Walker Polish Hill Riesling. This wine was outstanding. It tasted of stone fruit, was very fresh and showed the typical minerality and slate characters of the Polish Hill region. It finished very dry. In fact it was quite similar to the Grosset, for half the price. This wine will live for more than a decade.

I liked the 2008 O'Leary Walker Watervale Riesling a lot less. This wine showed a much broader palate, bigger upfront fruit, mainly lime. No doubt, it has its appeal for some people. I for one like my Rieslings as steely as can be.

The 2006 Shiraz was very fruity (but good). It showed some eucalypt flavours and also some licorice on the back palate. This wine is a blend of of McLaren and Claire. It would be a very good barbeque wine.

The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon was quite different in character. It was much drier and quite tannic.

The best part is that all these wines sell for about $20/bottle. Wines for our times!

No comments: