Deep Woods Hillside Chardonnay

                                            

If you have the Fogarty Wine Group as an owner, and Julian Langworthy as the talented wine maker, it is no surprise that Deep Woods made a lot of gains, and is now regarded as one of the top wineries in Western Australia. This can really be put to the test with their entry level Chardonnay, in this case the 2022 Deep Woods Hillside Chardonnay. The fruit comes from a number of vineyards, mostly at somewhat higher elevation. Despite being an entry wine, the wine sees some new oak and is made in a modern style, with indigenous yeast used for wild fermentation and minimal fining.

The wine has a pale, slightly green colour. The clean palate delivers subtle stone fruit, mainly white peach, and also green apple. Fresh acidity delivers good balance in the mouth. This is a well crafted wine, though a little boring. It provides great value at $20-25 per bottle.

I suggest to drink this wine now or within two years.

Score: 90/0

Joshua Cooper Doug's Vineyard Pinot Noir

 Doug's vineyard is at the outskirts of the little town Ramsey, in Macedon. I previously reviewed Cooper's other Macedon Pinot Noir from the Ray-Monde vineyard, and waxed lyrically about it. I will not do it quite so much about this wine, the 2019 Joshua Cooper Doug's Vineyard Pinot Noir. The wine spent one year in oak, before transferred to stainless steel for four months, still on lees. No fining nor filtration, and low alcohol at 12%, similar to its brother. 

Red and black cherry fruit with good intensity feature on the palate. Savoury and herbal notes are there as well and deliver a pleasant and elegant mouthfeel. This wine is quite soft and lacks some bite. I found it a little plump against the backdrop of light tannins. The medium finish does not reveal anything new. 

This style might suit some, but the wine could have been more.

Score: 91/+ 

Premium New Zealand Chardonnays

New Zealand Chardonnay is nothing like Australian Chardonnay. A closer comparison could be made with Napa Valley, although this is hard as well, as there are so many different styles in both regions. In general,  premium New Zealand Chardonnay is often quite rich (get away from the Sauvignon Blanc image?), and flavours are often stone fruit based as opposed to the citrus profile of the majority of Australian Chardonnay. The other day, I tasted four interesting examples. 

  

The first wine was the 2021 Tony Bish Skeetfield Chardonnay from Hawkes Bay. Tony Bish is a leading figure of the area, known for modern experimentation. He is biodynamic, likes ceramic eggs, you get the picture. 60% new French oak is applied as well. This Chardonnay is opulent and rich, with yellow peach and buttery flavours, and a creamy mouthfeel. No doubt he uses 100% malolactic fermentation. Despite this richness, this wine achieves some elegance on top of its mild acidity (94 points).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                The second Chardonnay is the 2021 Church Road Tom Chardonnay, also from Hawkes Bay. Wow! This wine makes an entry. It is incredibly smoky on the nose - a huge salvo of gun powder. On the palate, it is not different. This is another very opulent wine. It was not clear if the gun powder flavours are the result of the oak treatment or sulphur. It did not change in the glass. Would the smoke reduce with age? Hard to say. I have never tasted a wine as flinty as this. Below the flint, there is some banana and cream, but it is not what this wine is about (90 points).

The third wine is the 2020 Pyramid Valley Chardonnay from North Canterbury. The original international owners settled on this special location after a 15 year search in 2000. The vineyard they planted is at high altitude, very rocky, with vines planted in groups on the site. 

However, this wine comes from three vineyards going back to 1982 (the oldest Chardonnay vineyard in the country). The wine has been on lees for a full year and is matured in 25% new oak.

This is a very balanced wine, with floral aromatics and honeysuckle flavours building an attractive mouthfeel. The wine is quite ripe, yet retains freshness. The creamy aspects are due to the winemaking and lead to a rounded texture. Saline acidity delivers a lifting finish (94 points).

The final wine in this line-up is the 2013 Neudorf Moutere Chardonnay from Nelson. This is a tropical and rich wine, quite oily and buttery. The wine is complex, with stone fruits, such as mango and peach complimented by hazelnut and biscuit flavours. The wine still feels quite young after 11 years. I found there was a bit too much going on in this compote of flavours (92 points).                                                                                                                                                                                             Overall, these wines provided a fascinating mix of flavours and techniques.

 

     

 

A. Rodda Beechworth Chardonnay

 Adrian Rodda has access to some very high quality vineyards in Victoria. The Smith vineyard in Beechworth is perhaps the best. At 550 meters of elevation, it allows for cooler climate wines, where significant diurnal variation is a major feature.

The 2022 A. Rodda Beechworth Chardonnay is quite pronounced on the nose. Pineapple and peach flavours jump out of the glass.

On the palate, a complex flavour profile emerges. Melon, ripe peach and hazelnut are the major components. The acidity is mild, but enough to drive the flavours down the palate, before saline flavours lead to a satisfying finish.

Given the location, you would expect a citrus focussed wine with firm acidity. However, this wine is more sophisticated and full in the mouth. I really enjoyed this.

Score: 95/+++

Pheasant's Tears Goruli Mtsvane

 It is refreshing (no pun) to sometimes step out of your comfort zone, the field of the known, and try something new. It sharpens the senses. I visited Georgia last year, the cradle of winemaking, and was particularly impressed by this small avant-garde winery; organic, white wine on lees, nothing added, no fining no filtration, maturing in underground terracotta, of course; avant-garde for us, but traditional for them. A wine I found from them in Australia was this 2021 Pheasant's Tears Goruli Mtsvane.

Comments about the grape variety are very contradictory, so I won't dwell on it here, other than to say the wine should be drunk relatively young to preserve its liveliness. This is truly an orange or amber wine, as you can see in the image below.

The wine is medium-bodied with an interesting flavour profile of lemon, orange peel, apple and mint. The wine is rich, but not ripe in the mouth. It keeps going on the palate, balanced by some firm acidity.

Orange wines can be out of kilter. This is certainly not. I find this an attractive wine, building on decades of experience, and instead of choosing a white wine for starters and a red for mains, this wine would go well for the whole meal.

Score: 93/++ 

 

 

Vasse Felix Filius Cabernet Sauvignon

 Virginia Willcock, the long standing winemaker of Vasse Felix, has been in the top echelon of Australian winemaking for quite some time. She has raised the quality of every wine in the portfolio year after year. This has recently been recognized by Wine Spectator, when the 2021 Vasse Felix Filius Cabernet Sauvignon has been named the second best value wine in the world of last year. This Cabernet, which has some Malbec blended into it to fill out the mid palate, gets the royal treatment, and this for $25-30 per bottle; wild yeast fermentation and 11 months maturation in French oak barrels.

This is a really enjoyable wine. The red currant juicy fruit shows great purity and depth. Some tobacco and herbal flavours lurk in the background. This is a bright and elegant wine saying 'Look at me'. The wine fills the mouth nicely, and the firm tannins suggest good ageability. The finish is medium, not detracting from the vibrant fruit of the wine.

Score: 93/+++

  

Cirillo 1850 Ancestor Grenache

 I was a bit slow to post, as I was in Asia in hot weather. It was beer time. Now back to drink some great Australian wine. Cirillo claims to own the oldest Grenache vineyard in the world, and it may well be. The vines grow on deep sands on the flats of Light Pass. As other Cirillo wines are released earlier and provide cash-flow, it is great to see that the flagship Grenache is only released at 7 years of age. So the newly released wine is the 2017 Cirillo 1850 Ancestor Grenache.

The harvesting of Grenache fruit is quite tricky, as the grapes take a while to ripen, but then ripen very quickly with baumé levels shooting up fast and risking an overripe wine. Marco Cirillo has been at this game for some time, so he knows how to manage it.

So how does the 2017 shape up? This is a full-bodied wine with raspberry flavours hitting the palate, but immediately put in check by some savoury and herbal notes. These flavours will integrate more over the next 2-3 years. This brand is always dark in colour. At 14% alcohol, it is a very drinkable wine.

This is one of Australia's leading Grenaches. It is interesting to contrast it with Yangarra's approach. The Yangarra wines are meticulously and I would say scientifically crafted. Cirillo's approach seems more intuitive. As I drink this wine, I taste Italian love and family in the glass. I really enjoy this wine. 

Score: 95/+++