Cape Mentelle Trinders Cabernet Merlot

 

Trinders is the second or maybe third level of red wines at Cape Mentelle. Therefore, when the 2017 Cape Mentelle Trinders Cabernet Merlot was opened, I did not expect too much. Indeed, the wine was friendly, easy to drink. I did not think too much about it, but decided to review it on the second day of opening.

And what a revelation it was. The dark fruits on the nose were pure and of medium intensity. This translated perfectly onto the palate. Blackcurrant, blackberry, mulberry notes, tobacco and some gun powder created a great mouthfeel. It is more characteristic of Cabernet Sauvignon than Merlot. This is a medium- to full-bodied wine, very harmonious. The firm tannins lead to a long finish: beautiful.

Score: 93/+++

PS: This wine and a note that a Taylor’s Chardonnay had just won a major competition made me reflect on the show awards system. Here, the first impression counts. This mostly translates into very fruity wines with a lot of oak. The Trinders reviewed above would not have had a chance. Does this mean avoid medal winners like the plague?

Cullen vs. Moss Wood Mini Vertical

For some time, I wanted to pitch the two leading Margaret River Cabernets against each other. The time was right after socialization became possible again in NSW. The rules were simple; 4 pairs of one Moss Wood vs. one Cullen, going from 2015 to 2007. Some friends had to identify the producer.

 Cullen Diana Madeline 2015, 2010, 2009, 2007

MossWood 2014,2010,2008,2007

The four major overall conclusions were:

1) These two wines have distinctive styles. The Cullen wines were very pure and pretty, red fruits and capsicum were dominant flavours. The Moss Wood wines had firmer tannins and a more robust structure. Black fruits characterized these wines. As a result of these distinctive features, 90% of the voting was correct.

2) Cullen is the feminine wine, Moss Wood the masculine. Interestingly, the older Cullen wines were not that far from Moss Wood, structurally. But then the tannins became quite fine and soft, and the wine more feminine. The Moss Wood profile did not vary much over this time.

3) Moss Wood won the wine of the night convincingly, with the 2007, 2010 and 2008 in the top three spots. All wines showed really well.

4) It was felt the 15 and 14 wines were not ready to drink yet, in particular the Moss Wood, whereas the older wines showed excellent integration. This goes to show that top Margaret River Cabernets should be cellared for 10 years at least. The 07s had many good years in front of them.

In more detail: 2015 Diana Madeline: ruby colour, very pretty and elegant, feminine, red fruit, cassis and dried leaves (95 points)

2014 Moss Wood: more violet colour, bigger, more sumptuous, more acidic, stronger tannins, longer finish, good potential (95 points)

2010 Diana Madeline: colour more purple, a little cloudy, perfumed, elegant, capsicum notes, slight dip on the mid palate, but lovely overall, lacking a bit of bite (95 points)

2010 Moss Wood: glorious nose, very aromatic, blackcurrant, cassis, liquor, concentrated, a little sweetness, but great mouthfeel, complex (98 points)

2009 Diana Madeline: firmer tannins than the previous two Cullens, interesting flavour profile of red berries, pomegranate, and capsicum, stem influence?, good acidity (96 points)

2008 Moss Wood: quite dark, blackcurrant, plum, and bramble, multi-dimensional and complex (96 points)

2007 Diana Madeline: a brighter colour than 2010, red berries and capsicum, more generous in the mouth (95 points)

2007 Moss Wood: a big wine, yet velvety, dark fruit, cedar, mocca, a musky flavour, high tannins, tannins and oak well integrated (97 points)    

Chateau Pieuré-Lichine

Significant vintage variation is alive and well in Bordeaux. After the outstanding 2009 and 2010 vintages, collectors had to wait until 2015 to experience another good vintage. In all this discussion, previous good vintages seem to get forgotten. And they are the important ones now as far as drinking is concerned. As I have mentioned many times before, cellaring Bordeaux wines for a minimum of 10 years is really required to get the best from these wines. The last strong vintage before 2009 was 2005.

One of my favorite mid-tier producers, and flying somewhat under the radar, is Chateau Pieuré-Lichine. As I opened a bottle of the 2005 Chateau Pieuré-Lichine,  and after two hours of decanting, a beautiful bouquet rose from the glass. I smelled blackcurrant fruit, even a bit of peat.

On the palate, this is a medium bodied wine of a lot of complexity and harmony. Blackcurrants, forest berries, mushroom, pomegranate, smoky flavours, and in particular tamarillo combine to an elegant and smooth mouthfeel, which drops off a little bit on the mid palate, before soft tannins pick up the flavours for the finish.

Score: 95/+++ 

Chateau Pontet-Canet

I thought I compare the Clerc Milon mentioned in my last post with another wine from the Pauillac subregion, the 2002 Chateau Pontet-Canet. Pontet-Canet has jumped on the Robert Parker bandwagon perhaps more than any other Bordeaux winery. Their detractors see them as an exponent of the 'Bordeaux on steroids' movement. The 2002 vintage was much cooler than 2003, so this could be an interesting comparison.

It turned out to be quite remarkable, actually. The colour was still very dark. On the nose and palate, the wine was astonishingly similar to the Clerc Milon: perhaps a little more elegant, perhaps a little leaner, but essentially the same, with a firm tannin structure on the finish. Pauillac very obvious in both wines.

What is the lesson here? It might be a good idea to buy a wine from a leading exponent of 'bigger is better' and 'strong tannins' from a cooler and generally less well regarded vintage. This would be much cheaper and give you a well made, mainstream wine. Also, you could actually drink such a wine after 10 years.

Score: 93/+

Chateau Clerc Milon

I reviewed the 2003 Chateau Clerc Milon a couple of years ago, and was not that impressed. Was I wrong or has this wine improved so much in the last couple of years? I am not sure, but it seems this is a different wine.

Clerc Milon is the second wine of Mouton Rothschild. It comes from a separate vineyard, neighbouring the Mouton vineyard. The treatment in the winery is similar, although oak is applied more conservatively. The colour of this 12 year old wine is still dark purple in the centre, but garnet along the rim points to the age of this wine. The blackcurrant fruit is concentrated and ripe, but still lively. The wine sails down the palate nicely and evenly, but does not feel in the mouth as well rounded as it could have been. The tannins are firm and dry, and dominate the finish in a typical Mouton style. It helps to match this wine with protein.

Clerc Milon needs airing to open up, even after 12 years. It is an example of a Bordeaux wine, which needs many years of cellaring, before it comes into its own. This Clerc Milon is certainly a strong second wine.

Score: 93/+

Four Excellent, But Very Different Reds From Margaret River

2007 was hailed as an outstanding vintage in Margaret River. The vintage was hot, the fruit riped beautifully, and the harvest was early.As it turned out, it was the first of an unprecedented run of great vintages there. I decided to buy Cabernets from four leading producers at the time and wait. Over the last three days, I tried them for the first time.

On the first night, it was the 2007 Howard Park Abercrombie Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2007 Voyager Cabernet Merlot. Same vintage, but totally different wines.

When I opened the Howard Park, I was slightly worried. The colour was quite a developed garnet. The nose was beautiful, though: a fragrant bouquet with smells of soft berries. This continued on the palate. Soft forest berry fruit and hints of chocolate were well integrated with smooth tannins. This was a very feminine wine, near its peak.

Score: 95/+++

The Voyager was totally different. The colour was still dark purple. The nose was not as lifted, and on the palate, it was all about blackcurrant and cassis. The fruit of this full-bodied wine is concentrated, and the mouthfeel stays the same until firm tannins take over on the finish. The French would call this a masculine wine. It has depth, just a shame it is not as elegant as the roses in front of the winery. I have seen quite a few vintages of this wine, and this one certainly bears the typical character of Voyager Cabernet Merlot.

Score: 94/++

One of the unusual aspects of this comparison was that the bigger wine was the Merlot blend, and the more elegant the Cabernet Sauvignon only version.

The following night I drank the 2007 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon. This took it up one more step in size: the biggest Moss Wood I have ever tried. The blackcurrant and mulberry flavours are intense, as are the mocca notes. This is a dense and ripe wine, yet more elegant than the Voyager. However, the strong tannins stand aside of the fruit. This wine has not fully come together yet. I have to say, it is too early to drink. Many would say, if it is not right now, it will never be. I am not so sure. The 2001 is drinking beautifully since a couple of years, and this wine is bigger and under screw cap. It is not perfect now, but I would give it the benefit of the doubt.

Score: 94/++

And finally yesterday, I tried the 2007 Cullen Diana Madeline. Again, the colour is deep purple, and the style of this wine is quite different from the way this brand has developed over the years. Vanya Cullen has made the wine more delicate over time and lower in alcohol. This one has 14%. The intense blackcurrant fruit is pure and elegant, and the wine sails down the palate like a super-maxi at 15 knots (sorry about this). There are no holes, and the finish is long and intense, supported by an exquisite tannin structure, which also speaks to excellent oak treatment. I can understand why Vanya Cullen has gone the way she has to increase the vitality of the wine, but this is a beautiful example of a full-bodied Cabernet-Merlot from Margaret River.

Score: 96/+++

I have no regrets about buying these wines from the 2007 vintage. What an excellent group of Margaret River Cabernets.

 

Wantirna Amelia Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot

Wantirna is one of the best wineries in the Yarra Valley, yet it flies under the radar. Maybe this is because it is now engulfed by Melbourne housing rather than the Yarra. However, it still makes excellent wine. The 2010 Wantirna Amelia is proof.

This wine is medium bodied with 13.5% alcohol, yet the fruit is fully ripe. There is an excellent purity in the redcurrant and red plum flavours. This wine is an excellent example how Merlot can complement Cabernet Sauvignon. There is no hole in the mid palate. This wine is seamless from beginning to finish, when finely grained tannins complete the taste.

This wine is super pretty, and I don't want to hold this against it! The Yarra can produce terrific Bordeaux style wines.

Score: 95/+++

Margaux subregion

The following day I was off to the Margaux subregion. The first stop was at Chateau d'Issan, where I tasted the 2010 and 2011 vintages. The new oak was pared back to 50% in the weaker 2011 vintage. The wine consists of  69% Cabernet Sauvignon and 31% Merlot. There is a strong blackcurrant aroma in this wine, but on the palate, the fruit is overwhelmed by tannins and acidity (86 points). The 2010, from a strong vintage, is much more closed. The blackcurrant is a bit more intense, but the wine is also quite acidic. It is definitely too early to drink, and may be more elegant in the future (88 points). Overall, I felt these wines lacked balance.

Château d'Issan

One of the (unexpected) highlights of the Bordeaux part of my trip was the tasting at

Chateau Prieure-Lichine, a chateau not known to me. The three wines tasted had similar proportions of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot. We started with the 2007 vintage. This is a feminine wine, with perfumed and aromatic flavours and a complex blend of blackcurrant, mulberry and mushroom flavours. The secondary flavours are starting to show. This is not a big or tannic wine, but the harmonious structure delivers a lifted finish. Great to drink now (93 points). The 2009 has much more intensity. The blackcurrant fruit is more dominant, but the wine is elegant, with a great balance and very silky tannins on the finish. This is an excellent expression of the Margaux terroir (96 points). Finally, the 1998. This wine has a similar mouthfeel to the 2009. It is a very harmonious wine, but the secondary flavours stand out more now, in particular mushroom. The tannins have softened and deliver a very satisfying finish.

Haut-Brion and Pessac-Leognan

The next day it was off to Pessac-Leognan. This is still the Left Bank, but south of Bordeaux. I tasted the 2007s from La Mission Haut-Brion and Haut-Brion. 2007 is considered a weak vintage, and most wines are earlier drinking style. The two Chateaux have the same owner and are made in exactly the same way. The properties are across the road from each other. This should be interesting.

The 2007 La Mission Haut-Brion is made from 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot, and 9% Cabernet Franc. It has a beautiful fruity aroma of blackberry and black cherry. The taste includes forest floor flavours and mocca. The wine finishes on dry tannins. The drawback is that this wine is mainly about upfront fruit, and the intensity is not high (92 points).

                                                          Chateau Haut-Brion

The 2007 Haut-Brion has a similar composition: 44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Franc. The wine has a similar bouquet to the Mission, but is more brooding. It is denser, with interesting flavours of tobacco, forest floor and some smokyness. It is a well balanced wine with a lighter oak treatment than in Pauillac: a good, but not a great wine (94 points).

The next stop is at Chateau Haut Bailly, an up and coming winery. I taste three different vintages. The 2012 consists of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot. It has a clove and oak aroma, no doubt from the wood, but on the palate is quite fruity. The blackberry flavours are not very intense. The wine is clearly struggling in this vintage year, but the wine is very balanced, with a good structure (92 points). The 2007, again from a difficult vintage, is still fresh. Redcurrant and blackberry flavours caress the mouth. Soft tannins lead to a smooth finish. This is not a big wine, quite feminine, wonderfully elegant and delicious to drink (95 points). The 2002 is a bigger wine, based on blackcurrant, with a good mouthfeel. It is, however, a little rough, not totally balanced. The tannins are firm on the finish (92 points).

Haut Bailly is a bit of a revelation. You don't have to be big to be beautiful. Pessac-Leognan is perhaps a region in transition. There is not as much gravel as in the Medoc, and the Merlot component is larger, but not as large as on the right bank. And the slightly smoky flavours of Haut Brion are unique in Bordeaux.

Three Bordeaux First Growths In One Day

For my week long visit in Bordeaux I decided to sign up with the Bordeaux Wine Experience. It would have been difficult for me to get access to the leading chateaux on my own. It turned out to be a good decision. On the first day, we visited the three first growths in Pauillac, Mouton Rothschild, Lafite Rothschild and Latour. I will not report on the visits themselves here, it would take up too much space, but mainly review the tasted wines. The soil in Pauillac is coarse gravel and sand, washed up from the Gironde. This allows the vine roots to go very deep and pick up nutrients from different depths. The gravel reflects the sunlight and heats up the soil at night, helping with the ripening process.

Chateau Mouton Rothschild is a modern, quite showy Chateau, in particular with the gallery of paintings which shows the labels of each vintage since 1945. I get to taste the three wines from the three adjoining properties from the 2014 vintage, from barrell. While I am used to taste from barrell in Australia, it is quite hard in Bordeaux because of the high tannin levels and acidity in the wines. The Chateau d'Armailhac tastes of redcurrant and is quite a fruity wine, not very intense. The acidity overwhelms the fruit (86 points). The Clerc Milon, which is often called a second label, shows more complexity. The redcurrant fruit is more intense, and there is some chocolate on the palate as well. The wine is quite balanced (91 points). While these two wines have 50 and 58% Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, it is 81% in the Mouton Rothschild. The rest is 16% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc. The 100% new oak dominates on the nose at this point. The colour of the wine is dark purple, and the redcurrant and blackcurrant flavours are more intense. The wine is vibrant on the palate, with a sweet core and some spice. It is quite acidic, yet powerful with silky tannins and a long, elegant finish (96 points).

New maturation cellar at Mouton

Over at Lafite Rothschild,it is a different story. Here we taste the 2001 Lafite. It consists of 86.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 13.5% Merlot. The bouquet is much softer, with blueberry and blackberry flavours. The wine delivers a beautiful and very elegant mouthfeel. This is partly due to the wine being 14 years old, but not only. The Mouton tasted before will taste bolder in 14 years. This Lafite is still fresh, but is starting to show some earthy characters as well. I found the wine very balanced between fruit, oak and tannins. The acidity is still strong and the wine feels young at this point (97 points).

                        Old bottles from Chateau Lafite Rothschild

Bordeaux 2010 Vintage

The Institute of Masters of Wine brought their annual Bordeaux tasting to Sydney this year. It was an opportunity to taste and compare 60 wines from the 2010 vintage.

The 2010 vintage was unusual in that acidity and sugar levels were generally high at the same time. One would be hoping for freshness of flavour despite high levels of alcohol. It is a highly regarded

vintage and compared to 2005. My main interest was to see how the differences between the subregions compared to the differences in winemaking. This was made easier, as the wines were grouped by subregion.

My main conclusions:

1) The overall quality of  the wines is high, in particular on the left bank and where Cabernet Sauvignon dominates the blend. Many Merlot based wines were not as impressive.

2) Quite a few wines were quite closed, many very tannic and definitely built to last.

3) In terms of my special interest: I would call it a 50/50 outcome: subregions definitely had different characteristics, but there were also major differences between chateaux's in most subregions.

In terms of the major subregions:

Margaux:
The wines are more ruby than purple. Some are
quite concentrated, but still feminine in character. Overall quality is strong. I liked Chateau d'Issan, Kirwan, Lascombes, Rauzan-Segla.

Saint-Estephe:
Very high quality, but variation. Black fruited, but very elegant top wines, high alcohol. Cos d'Estournel was wine of the night, with pure berry fruit, elegant, balanced acidity and rounded tannins. Montrose almost as good. Quite masculine, but not as big mouthfeel. Calon-Segur not nearly as good.
                                                                                Saint-Julien:
Earthy aromas in these wines. I did not rate these wines as high as Saint-Estephe. Some lacked structure, some fruit intensity. Tasted wines: Beychevelle, Lagrange, Langoa-Barton, Leoville-Barton, Leoville-Las Cases (disappointing!)

Pauillac:
Darkest coloured wines, blackcurrant flavours, strong region.  Wines represented were from top producers: Lynch-Bages, Pichon-Longueville-Barton, Pontet-Canet. Despite the high alcohol, these wines were balanced and elegant.

Saint-Emilion:
Softer wines, chocolate flavours. Chateau Angelus and Figeac were great, with dark fruit and some softness. Close to new world style. Cheval Blanc and Canon disappointing, in particular on the finish.

The representation for Pomerol was poor, therefore I am not forming any views.  

Overall a great tasting, which gave good insight into this significant vintage.                                                                                                                                                                                      

Chateau Clerc Milon

A well known strategy of buying Bordeaux is to buy the second label of a first growth winery in a good year. The theory is that the wine gets all the benefits of first class wine-making, while terroir or viticulture is unlikely to be at that level.

The 2003 vintage was regarded as top notch at the time. Oh well, 2005, 2009 and 2010 came later, how would you know. So I was curious how the 2003 Chateau Clerc Milon, owned by Mouton Rothschild, would taste after 10 years.

This is a medium bodied Cabernet, in fact a Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend. The flavours are typical Cabernet redcurrant, also dried cherry. The wine is quite well balanced, with the oak in the background, but supporting the structure of the wine. However, the mouthfeel of the wine is quite shallow. The wine is not very complex and the finish flat. The grapes simply do not measure up to exceptional quality. So the strategy did not really work in this case. Having said this, the 2003 Clerc Milon is a pleasant wine to drink. It will not get better. If you have it, drink up.

Score: 89/0

Cullen Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot

Interestingly, a couple of days after the 96 Wynns, I drank a bottle of the 1998 Cullen Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot. This was also under cork and prior to the re-branding to Diana Madeline. How did they compare?

The Cullen is a medium-bodied wine, with dominant red berry flavours and some earthy characters in the background.. There is good acidity in the wine and it has amazing freshness for a 15 year old Cabernet Blend. The wine is very elegant and well rounded. Silky tannins lead to a long finish. This is a world class wine.

It is different from the John Riddoch in a number of ways. The Cullen is more fragrant, with less fruit weight, but a more defined and precise definition on the palate.

Score: 96/+++