E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône

 The Guigal Côtes du Rhône may well be the world's greatest quality value wine. It is also the greatest equalizer: not too big, not too skinny; not too sweet, not too savoury; structured, but not too tannic.

I once observed aspects of the production of this huge volume wine at the Guigal facility. The secret may be that the family manages to pay as much attention to each production step, and in particular the blending, as they do to their premium wines. 

So what is special about the 2019 Guigal Côtes du Rhône? The wine is full-bodied. The Grenache element stands out with its red berry flavours, bu down the palate the wine gets darker and delivers almost a mushroom character. There is considerable complexity in this wine. The finish is dry, savoury  

and with a tannic backbone.

Everybody should have this wine in his/her cellar for enjoyable drinking and as a benchmark for Grenache/Shiraz blends 

Score: 93/+++

Yangarra New Releases, Part 1

 It makes a difference when one has an opportunity to drink a whole range of a winery's wines. You start to really understand the style. This happened to me lately when I tasted the Grace wines from Japan, and now also when I tasted the new releases from Yangarra. Let's start with the white wines.

The 2021 Yangarra Blanc is the entry level wine. It includes 5 Rhône varieties, with Grenache Blanc being in the majority. It is not a very detailed wine, but very clean, with white peach flavours, pear, and a whiff of hazelnut, although  it does not see any oak, to my knowledge. The wine is texture focussed, with a satisfying, light mouthfeel. It lingers delicately on the palate. Much more than a quaffer.

Score: 90/++

The 2021 Ovitelli Blanc is a step up. It is a blend of Grenache Blanc and Roussanne.  50% of the wine has spent more than 100 days on skins, yet the colour is quite pale. According to Peter Fraser, the winemaker, this is because the wine sees no sulphur at this stage. While sulphur is meant to purify wine, it actually binds skin colour to the wine, which is why many wines on skin are quite deep in colour. This wine is very clean and light, yet with a bigger mouthfeel than the Blanc.

Score: 92/++

The final white wine is the 2021Roux Beaute Roussanne. Minus the Grenache Blanc, this wine sings at a lower octave with more apricot flavours. Otherwise, it has the same skin treatment and  a similar feel; clean, with a good line, and a saline component. This is not a fat wine, as Roussanne can sometimes be. This is an excellent white, if you had enough Chardonnay.

Score: 94/++

The white wines have great purity and are excellent examples of texture based wines. Grenache Blanc, seldom seen in Australia, plays an attractive role.

 

Vieux Télégraphe Chateauneuf-du-Pape

 On of the wine trends I find annoying is that new and unproven wineries and wine ventures decide to charge the same prices that wineries who worked for decades to establish and refine their styles have managed to command. It is therefore always a pleasure for me to grab a bottle of a well known producer where I know what I will get. This has certainly been the case with the 2016 Vieux Télégraphe Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

This wine is full-bodied and quite ripe, with the grapes grown on the famous pebble field of La Crau. The fruit flavours are raspberry, but also dark mulberry, often coming from old vine Grenache, which dominates this wine. The big mouthfeel includes savoury flavours of mushroom and earth, which add to the complexity of this wine. Persistent tannins balance the flavours of this big wine, which finishes relatively long and soothing.

This wine has a long life ahead. It is a bit early to drink now and will develop further complexities and nuances down the track.

Score: 95/++ 

Domaine Santa Duc Le Pied De Baud Chateauneuf

 This 2015 Domaine Santa Duc Le Pied De Baud Chateauneuf-Du-Pape is a bright wine. Home for them is Gigondas, but they have this plot in the northern part of Chateauneuf. The soil is a mixture of sand, clay, limestone and pebbles. I believe clay dominates. The vines are 90 years old, on average. The wine is Grenache dominant (80%).

The winery aims its wines squarely at the American market. So this is full-bodied, ripe, but also quite energetic. The palate is an attractive mix of cherry flavours, earthy characters, and spice. The finish is long and persistent, but the alcohol is distracting.

Score: 92/+ 

Day Two: McLaren Vale, part 1

 Yangarra is a very fortunate winery. It has great terroir, its winemaker, Peter Fraser, is very talented, and the owner, the Jackson Family, has very deep pockets. It is a curious ownership situation. The mothership, Kendall-Jackson, is a mass producer, in particular of Chardonnay. But then, the family has many other winery projects around the world where the pursuit of top quality is the number one priority. Some examples of the deep pockets can be seen here.

Concrete amphorae, made in Australia 

                                                      Terracotta amphorae from Italy

New foudre barrels

Another advantage of deep pockets is that Yangarra managed to hold back quite a bit as museum stock. In order to balance demand with the low yields of 2019 and 2020, some of it will be released over the next couple of years. My tasting reflects this strategy.

A straight Roussane can sometimes be a bit fat, but the 2016 Roussane is a clean and very fresh wine. True to the variety, it is not fruit oriented, but textural. The 2019 Noir is the absolute value for money wine. Rather than a standard GSM, this Grenache dominated blend includes also Cinsault and Carignan. It is a fairly light wine, juicy, round, and soft, with fine tannins. This is a delicious blend (92 points).

The hero variety of Yangarra is Grenache. The 2019 Old Vine Grenache is fragrant, with dark fruit and savoury notes. The tannins are quite firm - another very attractive wine and a step up from previous vintages (94 points). I could compare this with the 2011 Old Vine Grenache. The colour of this wine is still good, and the flavours quite intense. The wine has developed some earthy flavours (93 points).

The 2016 Ovitelli Grenache, from a special block of 75 year old vines, saw cool fermentation and maturation in amphora. As a result, there has been no oxygen exposure (the newer terracotta ones allow for some oxygen exchange). This is an elegant and very polished wine. It is savoury and fresh, and at peace with itself. The finish is very long (96 points).

On to the Shiraz. The 2018 Estate Shiraz is quite ripe, with dark fruit and mocca flavours. Peat and iodine add complexity to the elegant palate. The 2019 Kings Wood Shiraz, in its third vintage, has been matured in 2500 litre foudres, 50% new. It includes 20% wholebunch. Plum and blueberry flavours dominate. The tannins are fine, but also grippy. 

The 2017 Ironheart Shiraz comes from a north facing block, and according to Peter works really well in a cooler vintage.  The intensity of the blackberry fruit delivers a powerful wine, which is not sweet, quite an achievement. Again, the tannins are firm, and the finish very long (97 points).

There are some characteristics which cut across all these wines. Elegance is present in all of them. There is an emphasis on savoury flavours, without overdoing this, and as one moves up the 'pyramid', elegance is paired with power. 

 

Priorat Granacha Blend

The 2017 Blai Ferré Billo is a great introduction to the schist terroir of Priorat. The wine is a blend dominated by Grenache and Shiraz. 

This wine has a ruby colour. The wine is fresh, aged in stainless steel. On the palate, it has fruit characteristics of raspberry, red cherry, and plum. The fruit weight of this medium-bodied wine is good. Mocca flavours on the back palate, minerality and smoky notes, typical of the low vigour terroir, add to complexity. Medium acidity and tannins deliver a balanced and elegant mouthfeel before finishing dry.

This wine is quite easy, as perhaps indicated by the label, yet serious drinking and has settled better on day two after opening.

Score: 90/++ 

Chateauneuf du Pape 2016

This is a report on a brief tasting of only four wines from the region. I regard the first two at entry level wines, but I was curious how they would look in a vintage such as the great 2016.

The  2016 Font du Vent CDP shows pretty fruit, raspberry and red cherry flavours. There is also some licorice. This is an easy, medium-bodied wine to drink, with a slightly harsh finish (88 points).

The 2016 Pierre Usseglio CDP has a similar fruit profile, but more intensity. There are also some chocolate flavours. This is a fresh wine with a relatively simple finish (91 points).

Frankly, I would prefer to go for a Cote du Rhone blend at a third of the price.

The third wine was the 2016 Vieux Telegraphe CDP. I must admit, I am a big fan of this estate. There is great integrity in the wines, savoury flavours are always prominent, and the wines are never overblown. This wine tastes of red and black cherries, and it is savoury as expected. The wine is very silky and elegant, but the power is evident on the long finish. I rate this wine 95 points now, but it could go higher in a couple of years.

Then there was one wine from the Gigondas, the 2016 Domaine le Pallieres Terrasse du Diable. This wine has quite a different flavour profile. Red and black fruits are wound up in earthy notes, and the acidity is considerable (91 points).

Australian Grenache Tasting

Grenache is a difficult variety to get right. It ripens late and needs a hot climate. Picked too late, and it is overly alcoholic, picked too early, and it is green. The best picking window is small. Doing a straight Grenache is particularly hard, as this variety predominantly expresses fruit, mainly raspberry, whereas acidity and tannins are lacking. Then there is the issue of balancing the fruit with savoury flavours through appropriate treatment in the winery.

This  blind tasting involved seven Grenaches, four of them straight, three as the dominant variety in blends. They all came from the two main growing areas, McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley. They were
- 2014 Henschke Johann's Garden GMS, BV
- 2014 Teusner Avatar GMS, BV
- 2016 Kay Brothers Griffons Key Grenache, MLV
- 2015 John Duval Annexus Grenache, BV
- 2005 Torbreck Les Amis Grenache, BV
- 2016 SC Pannell GSTouriga, MLV
- 2015 Toby Bekkers Grenache, MLV

The format was that a number of wine enthusiasts had to rank the wines from 1 to 7. The wine with the lowest score was the winner. These were the outcomes:

1) The three McLaren Vale wines came out on top. It is often said that the best Grenache comes from there, but the Barossa has quite a number of very old Grenache vineyards.

2) Everybody scored the Torbreck Les Amis last. Too alcoholic and a bit herbal at the same time.

3) The winner was the Kay Brothers Griffons Key Grenache, a highly acclaimed wine. I did not score it quite so high, as I thought the tannins were a bit sharp. However, it certainly has the fruit/savoury mix right.

4) I thought the Henschke deserved a better rating than fourth. I enjoyed the elegance, mouthfeel and finish of this wine.

Overall, it was an interesting tasting, where all wines had something slightly different to offer. However, the quality would not have matched a similarly put together Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz tasting (which we have done in the past).

Spinifex Le Chemin

Drinking this 2009 Spinifex Le Chemin a day after the Duval just reviewed, it is astonishing how different these two wines, both from the Barossa, similar age, and Rhône varieties, are. I will give both wines the same score, but for totally different reasons. This is a good illustration that the descriptions say a lot more than points.

The Spinifex has a bright ruby colour as opposed to the Duval's almost black colour. This blend of five common Rhône varieties is vibrant and fresh at eight years of age. This is clearly due to the wine's high acidic backbone and the grapes' early picking. The wine is very spicy, with white pepper in particular. Herbaceous flavours are stronger than the raspberry fruit. Grenache is the dominant grape here, but the wine is not fruity. This wine is almost anti Barossan in style, and while I understand the sentiment, I would have enjoyed more harmony in the mouth.

Score: 92/++     

Chateau de Saint Cosme Gigondas

The wines of Chateau de Saint Cosme are widely available around the world. They are based in the Gigondas, but also produce a Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and have a negotiants business with wines from the Northern Rhone.

The 2010 Saint Cosme Gigondas comes from their core vineyard holdings. This is a rich, full-bodied wine, more in the style of a New World wine, rather than French. The main grape component is Grenache, followed by Mourvedre, than Shiraz and Cinsault. There is the expected hint of raspberry on the palate, but the wine is more black-fruited, with blackcurrant and plum flavours. The wine is dense, rather than lifted. The components are well integrated, with Mourvedre making its mark. The tannins are firm, leading to a long finish.

This is a quality wine, but at 14.5% (maybe more?) alcohol not for the faint hearted. It needs protein.

Score: 94/+  

Domaine Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf Du Pape

Chateauneuf-du-Pape is such an attractive wine style when it is well executed: probably the most seductive, yet serious wine we know. The 2006 Domaine Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf-du-Pape fits this category.

The colour is dark, showing signs of mellowing. There is a full spectrum of berries on the palate: raspberries, blackberries and other wild forest berries: quite complex. The secondary flavours are coming through as well, with mushroom and forest floor. They are in perfect balance with the primary fruit. The earthy characters become dominant on the back palate, in an elegant, almost aristocratic style. The oak supports and the tannins are quite soft. This wine is about fruit flavours maturing in a harmoneous fashion.

Score: 95/+++