Dalwhinnie Moonambel Shiraz

The Dalwhinnie vineyard is situated at the end of a valley, in a natural amphitheater. It is one of the top three most picturesque vineyards in Australia. Lately, this outstanding winery has been swimming under the radar. It may change in the future, as the Fogerty Group bought the winery a few months ago.

I always enjoyed their Shiraz, because it is not as big as a South Australian monster, but fuller-bodied than most cool climate Shirazes.   

The 2012 Dalwhinnie Moonambel Shiraz delivers concentrated plum and blackberry fruit. This is a medium- to full-bodied wine at an attractive 13% alcohol level. Black pepper and some earthy notes combine to an elegant mouthfeel, but the key feature are the silky, yet firm tannins. This is a very smart wine which delivers a long smooth finish leaving a black fruited and peppery aftertaste. I enjoyed this a lot.

Score: 96/+++

 

Dalwhinnie

I have enjoyed Dalwhinnie wines from way back. But I lost interest about 10 years ago, when the winemaking shifted, in my view, and an attempt was made to make these wines bigger, more South Australian like. As a result, the Shiraz lost its charm.

I can now report that the wines are back to great form. The 2014 Dalwhinnie Moonambel Shiraz shows clean blackberry fruit and is quite peppery. The tannins are fine and silky (94 points). The 2013 South West Rocks Shiraz is more concentrated and a bit ripe (91 points). The absolute star of the tasting is the 2013 Eagle Shiraz, the super premium wine. What bowled me over, were the amazing fruit flavours of this wine. Blue fruit dominates here. Often you have a hint of blue fruit, but this wine has blueberry and mulberry flavours in spades. This is quite a unique palate sensation, and it is backed up by light touch, but persistent tannins. Superb, but also very pricey (97 points).

  

Dalwhinnie Shiraz

Dalwhinnie Shiraz is one of the few wines I buy every vintage of. I drink them at about eight years of age, when primary and secondary characteristics blend together. Yesterday I opened the 2005 Dalwhinnie Shiraz. I was slightly worried because of the drought conditions in that year.

And sure, some of the typical characteristics were there: the blackberry and mulberry flavours and the silky tannins. This is the impact of the special terroir. But the drought is very noticable as well. The fruit is very ripe and tastes somewhat dead rather than fresh and vibrant. The wine is not totally balanced. The earthy and meaty flavours include some sharpness. I still think this is a good wine, but not a great one.

Score: 91/0

An awful Shiraz tasting

This post requires a couple of introductory remarks. Most professional wine writers do not post negative reviews. Why? Because they depend on sample submissions. If they do not like a wine, they simply won't review it. So you never know if the wine was negatively seen or not reviewed. I do not need to worry about this, because I do not rely on samples. You might say, "but you do not have many poor reviews". This is because most of the wines I review come from my cellar which essentially holds wines I enjoy, and even with new releases I pick those which I think I will like (although I sometimes leave out entry level wines - maybe I should not).

The tasting I am reporting on now was a Grange tasting - which is why I went - and included a number of other Shirazes, mostly below $30 per bottle. And it was ugly.

Let's start with McLaren Vale. The wines I tasted were 2008 Chapel Hill, 2008 Kay Brothers Basket Pressed,  2009 Oliver's Taranga HJ Reserve, 2010 Wirra Wirra RSW, 2009 Kay Brothers Amery Hillside, 2011 Chapel Hill The Vicar, 2009 d'Arenberg The Dead Arm and 2010 III Associates Giant Squid Ink Reserve. Some well known wines in this line-up. Some of these wines surprisingly lacked body weight, some were too oaky, added acidity was unpleasant, and generally the wines were not very harmonious. I would not score any of the wines at 90 points or above (other than The Dead arm at 90 points and the III Associates at 94 points). III Associates is three senior wine people from the Vale coming together and producing small quantities of hand crafted wine from old vines. This wine is fashioned in the intense and powerful style, but the fruit is first class, and the structure holds it together.

The Barossa wines were 2010 St. Hallett Blackwell, 2011 Gibson The Dirtman, 2012 Kalleske Pirathon, 2010 Glaetzer Bishop, 2009 Saltram No.1, 2006 Saltram Journal, 2010 Chris Ringland Reservation. Similarly, only the Saltram No.1 is a 90 point wine for me, even though it is a little sweet and unfocussed. The Blackwell is just in your face, and the Chris Ringland wine sweet and alcoholic. These are wines you only want to drink if they serve as a vehicle to consume alcohol.

Two cooler climate wines were much more pleasant. The 2010 Vasse Felix Shiraz showed vibrant red and black berry fruit. The wine is fresh and peppery. It has some sweetness as well, leading to an overall soft elegance (93 points). This winery is going from strength to strength. The 2010 Dalwhinnie Shiraz impresses with its beautiful blackberry fruit and its typical very silky and fine tannins (94 points).

Then there were a couple of Rhone wines. The 2010 Les Vins de Vienne l'Arzelle from Saint Joseph is quite a big wine, with intense fruit. The wine is not very complex, but pleasant to drink (90 points). The 2007 M. Chapoutier Monier de la Sizeranne Hermitage from the Northern Rhone is a food-friendly wine. It is not about the fruit, but the texture and drinkability of the wine. It is an elegant package, although you might say slightly bland (93 points).  

I did not enjoy this tasting. Most of these wines were not enjoyable to drink. They serve as a vehicle to consume alcohol, in my view, and lack elegance. The French and cold climate examples were much more pleasant than the South Australian wines.

I suggest if you were planning to drink two bottles of Shiraz in a week at $30/bottle, you may get more enjoyment out of only drinking one bottle at $60 per bottle (and it would be healthier, too). - This is a generalization, of course, I am not saying that a good bottle for $30 cannot be found, for example the Vasse Felix.

Chapoutier Tournon

Michael Chapoutier, the doyen of terroir in the Rhone, has been making wine in Australia for 14 years. He is focussed on Shiraz, of course, and picked Victoria as his region. He now has a number of vineyards in the Pyrenees area and Heathcote.

I tried three of his wines, my first experience with his Australian production.

The 2010 Chapoutier Mathilda Victorian Shiraz is a fruit forward wine. They call it vin gourmande, which is similar to table wine, I think. It has an interesting bouquet of red currant and some smokiness which translates nicely onto the palate. This is not a complex wine, but it has some length and is quite harmonious. At under $20 per bottle, this must be the value for money wine of the year.

Score: 88/+++

While the previous wine is sourced from three vineyards in the Pyrenees, the 2010 Chapoutier Shays Flat Pyrenees Shiraz is a single vineyard wine. The fruit is darker and more concentrated. Plum and spice dominate. The acidity is noticeable and will give the wine aging potential, but overall, I find this wine not particularly special.

Source: 89/+

The 2008 Chapoutier Lady's Lane Heathcote Shiraz was clearly the best of the three.Bottle age helped, but it was more the fruit and structure which stood out. The dark berry fruits give the wine a very smooth feel in the mouth. The wine is well balanced, something which cannot be said of all Heathcote wines, with good acidity and palate length. This is an excellent example of a full bodied wine, which is not overbearing and heavy.

Score: 94/+++

Dalwhinnie - New Releases

The 2007 Dalwhinnie Chardonnay is a strong Chardonnay. While it tastes of pear and white peach, this wine is not about its fruit. It has a lot of minerality, also some hazelnut. This is a complex wine, which is somewhat held back by its slightly plump finish.

Score: 92/0

The flagship 2008 Dalwhinnie Shiraz is curiously different from the normal style for this wine. The bouquet jumps out of the glass with berry and plum flavours. The wine is much more open than usual. The same flavours are on the palate in a fairly big and ripe style. This ripeness almost outmuscles the trademark velvety fine tannins and smooth finish. I don't know if this is an exception due to the vintage or if we are seeing a change in style. Personally, I hope it is the former. I would also suggest that it is probably best to drink this wine within five years, although it might last quite a bit longer. Why do Victorian Shirazes try to be Barossan and Barossa wines Victorian?

Score: 94/0

The 2008 Dalwhinnie Cabernet Sauvignon is quite a different proposition. It tastes of red- and blackcurrant, but is really tight at present. The tannins are quite stringent as well. This wine will live for a long time, but I am not sure it has the fruit for an outstanding experience down track.

Score: 90/0