Chiara Boschis Mosconi

 As regular readers of my blog would know, I have raved about the 2019 Barolos. To get a sense how the wines may develop, I yesterday opened a bottle from the equally lauded vintage of 2010, the 2010 Chiara Boschis Mosconi Barolo. Mosconi, in Monforte, is known for powerful wines. Let's see.

To start with the finish, this is a near perfect wine. The colour is dark, but a little orange tinge gives away the Nebbiolo grape.

On the palate, it starts with orange peel, but then black cherry takes over, cascading into savoury flavours with complex forest notes taking hold. This is quite a big, dark, masculine wine with firm chalky and dry tannins. But underneath this power is elegance and an acidity line holding the wine in perfect balance. The finish is long.

This wine is at the beginning of its sensible drinking window; still youthful, and no doubt with a couple of decades of great drinking ahead. The wine needs attention and also protein. The only quib I have, the third glass is starting to be a bit of an effort.

Score: 97/+++   

 

Mount Pleasant Tasting

 This tasting was a revelation! Mount Pleasant has experienced tumultuous times over the years. Finally, it went into administration and was sold to a Sydney hospitality group about 18 months ago. The first thing they did was turn the tasting room into a glitzy space. It works.

Understanding the offering is not easy. Semillon is straight forward; Elizabeth is the value offering, Lovedale, one of the best Semillon vineyards in the Hunter, the premium offering. Shiraz is more complicated. At the top sits Maurice O'Shea with best berries from the four old vine vineyards, then the single vineyard wines from the Old Hill and from the Old Paddock, then a number of others at the third tier.

1880 Vines at Old Hill

I will briefly comment on the four wines I liked best. The 2018 Mountain A Shiraz is sourced from the 1965 vines at the Rosehill vineyard. The wine has a light colour. Red berries and violets deliver a medium bodied, quite easy drinking wine. The wine is fruity and quite seductive with its elegant mouthfeel (93 points).

Label simplification

The 2017 Rosehill 1946 Vines Shiraz is a step up. Again, this is quite an open wine, with lovely violet and red berry flavours. There is more depth and complexity on the palate and a long finish. The superb elegance is the defining feature, though (96 points).

The 2019 Old Hill 1880 Vines Shiraz is a little different. It is dark fruited, with licorice and very elegant earthy, yet silky tannins. This is a very balanced, medium-bodied wine, where everything in the glass is at peace with itself. This is a classic Hunter Valley Shiraz (96 points). 

The 2021 Maurice O'Shea has great depth of flavour, mainly blackberry and mulberry. The tannins are very silky. This is not a blockbuster, just a beautiful, superbly elegant wine with a very long finish (97 points)  

The transition from the bigger wines previously, started before the new ownership, but it seems will be carried on. These wines offer a third way for Shiraz, not the full-bodied South Australian wines, not the spicy cold climate Shiraz, but red fruited, elegant and silky Hunter wines.

Big changes will be a reduction of vineyard sizes from 120ha to about 50ha of old vines, and a focus on premium wines. Sadly, a doubling of prices (it seems to me) has already been implemented.

Hunter Valley Woes

 A trip to the Hunter Valley a few days ago was my first for quite a few years. A number of discussions revealed serious problems in this wine growing region.

It probably starts with the climate. Nobody would start this up as a wine region today, a number of winemakers told me. It is quite hot in summer, although the peak is not as high as in South Australia. The diurnal range is low, about 15 degrees, with 20 degree nights, which means grapes continue to ripen at night. The summer humidity is high. As a result, pesticides are widely used. This has lead to very poor soil. Most vineyards show naked soil between rows, no doubt devoid of worms or nematodes. It is largely industrial farming, with wide spaces between vine rows and mechanical harvesting.

This has lead to average quality of wines, which was good enough, as the wineries largely cater to visitors, mostly from Sydney. On the other hand, it is difficult for them to get on restaurant wine lists, and even retail shelves in the cities. It is not just a marketing problem. Wine clubs are therefore heavily promoted. 

Because of all this, many young people have left the region. The average age of the winemaker is higher in the Hunter than in other regions. No wider scale innovation, as with new varieties in McLarenVale, or fresh Shiraz in the Barossa, or Grenache in both, is apparent. 

Of course, there are exceptions to all of these statements. I will comment on one of them in my next post.    

Dominio De Atauta La Mala

 The third and final single vineyard wine I tasted from this estate was the 2016 Dominio de Atauta La Mala Tempranillo. It is called La Mala (the bad one), because the vineyard delivered low yields to the grower. Now of course, it is the good one. The vineyard is 0.7ha of 130 year old vines. It is one of the highest in Ribera del Duero, at 950m, and facing north. There is only 70cm of poor sandy soil before the roots hit limestone rock.

This wine shows great clean purity. The intense sour cherry flavour delivers a steely mouthfeel. Acidity of this wine is high, as the minerality on the finish is accompanied by firm tannins. This profile clearly reflects the vineyard location, orientation, and soil. I find the flavours are losing out to acidity and tannin structure, but this is a matter of personal preference. The wine is well made. It will benefit from some serious decanting.

Score: 92/+ 

Taste Champagne

 

The Tyson Stelzer extravaganza, with a tasting of over 200 Champagnes, was back this year. Unfortunately, some leading Grower Champagnes were not included, so I decided to focus on the larger Champagne houses this time - maybe with some regret in hindsight.

Before you read my assessment, I should emphasize that I have a particular preference as far as Champagne is concerned. I like complexity on the palate, including some biscuit flavours. Interestingly, there has clearly been a trend to very fresh Champagne, more in the blanc de blancs style.

Bollinger has been a favourite of mine, with its high quality vineyards. La Grande Année 2014 impresses with its fine bubbles. It is soft and smooth, but more in the fresh style. The PN TX 17 2017 is 100% Pinot Noir with more depth, but not as precise. Pol Roger's Brut Reserve is always a go to Champagne. It has a beautiful balance and some toast - a bit broad. The Blanc de Blancs Vintage 2015 is longer and persistent on the palate with some biscuit notes.

Pierre Gimmonet has an excellent Champagne with its Special Club Grand Terroirs de Chardonnay 2015. The bubbles are small, delivering a satisfying and complex mouthfeel. In contrast, I found the 1er cru Blanc de Blancs 2017 less convincing. Billecart-Salmon was impressive with its Brut Reserve. It is quite a delicate Champagne, but with some depth and a long finish. The Extra Brut 2009 is even better, with very fine bubbles, a light but intense palate and a very dry finish. Charles Heidsieck just sneaked into the top group with the Blanc de Blancs NV and the Millésime Brut 2012/13. There are similarities to the Bollinger wines, with a bit less refinement.

Below these wines, and in the second group, I have Deutz, Louis Roederer (Crystal was not on offer), and Taittinger.

Tyrrell's Old Patch Shiraz

 

This is Tyrrell's flagship red wine, from probably the oldest Shiraz block in the Hunter Valley. Yesterday, I tasted the 2018 Tyrrell's Old Patch Shiraz. The wine has beautiful fruit purity. Plum, blueberry, and some emerging leather flavours ask for your attention. The fruit weight is medium. The wine delivers a wonderful and typical velvety mouthfeel. The wine is elegant with good intensity, and delivers a long finish on soft tannins.

Good quality Hunter Shiraz as described above offers an attractive third dimension to the powerful South Australian Shiraz and the spicy Victorian Shiraz.

Score: 96/+++

2023 Penfolds Collection

 What Penfolds presents in August is quite a collection these days: 25 wines in fact. In addition, there is a Chinese wine (not available in Australia yet), and some cheaper wines, such as the terribly named Max wines.

I taste nine of their new releases at a new event, Penfolds Transcend. The wines are narrated on screen by Steph Dutton, Penfold's red winemaker, who will succeed Peter Gago, in my view. It was efficient and worked well. 

The 2023 Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling is a good Riesling with white flower aromas, and citrus and melon flavours. The wine has good drive and a mineral finish, a well executed, typical Riesling from Eden Valley (92 points).

The 2022 Reserve Bin A from the Adelaide Hills can be funky and spectacular in some years. This is not one of those. Apple blossom notes on the nose are followed by apple custard and pear flavours. This is quite a soft, opulent wine with good length and a wet stone finish (92 points).

The 2022 Bin 23 Pinot Noir is now exclusively made from Tasmanian fruit. There are quite a few flavours on the palate like strawberry, dark and sour cherry, cranberry. The key feature, however, are the firm dry tannins. This wine is not yet quite in the Penfolds DNA (92 points).

Then we come to the 2021 Bin 28 Shiraz, Penfold's workhorse. This is a rich wine with plum and mocca flavours, a bit of five spice as well. The core of this robust wine is quite sweet and juicy (93 points).

The 2020 FWT (French Wine Trial) 585 is a Bordeaux blend, Cabernet Sauvignon dominant. Blackberry, chocolate and licorice are the dominant flavours. There are savoury notes as well. Overall, the mouthfeel is soft and a little lean: more Bordeaux than Penfolds (92 points). 

The Bin 704 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Napa Valley is the much more powerful wine of course. It has excellent blackberry fruit purity. It has great balance between fruit and savoury flavours and finishes on fine grained tannins (94 points).

An absolute highlight was the 2021 Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz. There are layers of dark berries; blueberry, blackberry, mulberry. Roasted meat flavours and spice add to complexity. The wine is seamless between the Cabernet and the Shiraz fruit, and fruit and savoury flavours. This dry wine,  is concentrated, yet can be enjoyed now. This is probably the best 389 I have ever tasted (97 points).  

The 2019 Grange is immediately recognizable. Blackberry and blue fruit, licorice, black olive and charcoal form the core. This is an intense wine with great depth, yet it is fresh and smooth. It is already drinkable. It will probably forever live in the shadow of the 2018, but it is a great follow-up (98 points).

After tasting Grange, the concentration tends to drop. Yet, the 2021 Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon deserves attention. It is full-bodied, with concentrated blackcurrant and tobacco flavours. This is an elegant wine with an extra long finish (97 points).

Tasting a range of young Penfolds wines used to be hard work. Yet this was thoroughly pleasant. The oak influence has been dialed back, and freshness has increased. 

Chenin Blanc Tasting

 Chenin Blanc is grown in many countries, but only in France (Loire Valley) and in South Africa is it prominent. Originally, it is a grape used to make sweet or off-dry wines. However, as dry wines are so popular now, most of the time you can expect a dry Chenin Blanc. This tasting demonstrated the variety is a chameleon, or in other words, terroir and winemaking have significant influence and dominate any inherent grape features. Following are brief notes on five of the wines tasted.

2021 Savage 'Never been asked to dance'(South Africa): White flower on the nose, white peach and pineapple on the palate; an elegant, quite classic wine with high acidity and a long finish (93 points).

2020 Mullineux 'Iron Chenin'(South Africa): Melon flavours, honey, and a slightly oily character; a balanced wine with good length (93 points).

2015 Nicolas Joly 'Les Vieux Clos'. This is quite a funky wine, quite dark, copper colour, a little cloudy, tastes of cut-up apple, apricot; loses some flavour down the palate (91 points).

2015 Domaine de la Taille Aux Loups 'Venise': This is a complex wine, still fresh, with apple and melon flavours; delivers a musky mouthfeel with a long and lifted finish (93 points).

2017 Domaine Guiberteau 'Clos de Carmes': white flower, great purity, elegant and refined with noticeable new oak influence; a bit Chardonnay like (95 points).