Sunday, February 27, 2022

Tertini Wines

 Tertini is located in the Southern Highlands, NSW, and it deserves more recognition. I visited 18 months ago, and have now come back for a second look. Last time, I reported that the strength of this winery is in Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir. This turned out to be the case in this tasting as well. 


The 2019 Tertini Riesling has 8g of residual sugar. It delivers a bit of sweetness, but essentially adds more interest to the palate, which delivers citrus and some honey flavours. The wine remains crisp, with well balanced acidity and a dry finish (93 points).

The 2019 Pinot Blanc is a clean wine, texture orientated, and a good food wine. The finish is a little flat (90 points).

I tasted their two Chardonnays, which provide an interesting contrast in styles. The 2018 Tasmanian Chardonnay is very fresh, citrus focussed, and very dry. This is a typical modern Australian cool climate Chardonnay. I found it a bit lean, but well made (92 points). The 2019 Southern Highlands Chardonnay in contrast goes through 100% malolactic fermentation and sees 40% new oak. This is a  wine with a rounder mouthfeel. Citrus, melon, and pineapple flavours deliver complexity on the palate (93 points). 

The 2019 Southern Highlands Pinot Noir is an attractive wine with a light touch. There is a small amount of whole bunch (12%) in this wine. Red cherry, five spice, mushroom, and forest floor flavours deliver a typical good quality Pinot Noir flavour, on a light frame in this case, defying the 13.1% alcohol (94 points).

The other red varieties I tasted, a Nebbiolo from Hilltops (very Pinot Noir like), a Corbena Amarone, and a Lagrein (Northern Italian variety) create some curiosity value, but do not reach the quality of the other reviewed wines. 



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