Thomas Wines

Not many get excited about Hunter Valley wines these days, and some reviewers virtually ignore them altogether. This is not so surprising given many winemakers focus on the tourist trade. However, some wineries are serious producers and they can deliver truly unique wine styles. One such winery is Thomas Wines. Andrew Thomas focuses on Semillon and Shiraz. Not all wines are pure Hunter, some are blends with South Australian grapes.

The other day, I tasted the current line-up. The 2009 'Two of a kind' Semillon Sauvignon Blanc consists of Hunter Valley Semillon and Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc. The wine is fresh and zesty, with lime flavours and aromatic fleshiness. It is quite elegant, really different from NZ Sauvignon Blanc, has good mouthfeel and some length. Excellent lunch wine and value for money (92 points). The 2009 Braemore Semillon is the winery's showcase white wine. It has traditional citrus flavours and is quite delicate and smooth. The wine has excellent texture and some acidity on the finish, which signals good aging ability (94 points).

The parallel entry wine of the red wines is the 2008 'Two of a kind' Shiraz, a blend of Hunter Valley and McLaren Vale fruit. It shows lively and fruity plum flavours and is a little bit broad on the palate (89 points). The big Hunter Shiraz is the 2007 'Kiss' Shiraz. This wine is quite rich and concentrated, with big plum and fruitcake flavours. The texture is a bit syrupy, but the mouthfeel is round. The tannins are bigger than a traditional Hunter Burgundy style (91 points).

Thomas is a winery to watch with particular strength in the white wines, based on this tasting.

Pierro New Releases

I was impressed by the new Pierro wines.

The 2008 Pierro Chardonnay is quite a delicate wine, mainly tasting of white peach, quite removed from the bigger fruit salad Chardonnays of ten years ago. The wine is very smooth and has great balance, moving to a lengthy finish.

Score: 94/++

The 2007 LTCF Cabernet Merlot is an easy drinking style red, with nice berry flavours and a balanced structure. Good value.

Score: 91/++

The 2005 Pierro Reserve Cabernet Merlot was the real surprise for me. I always classified Pierro as a white wine company, but this is an outstanding red. The predominant flavour of this medium to full bodied wine are the redcurrants, which have quite a bit of depth and fill the palate. The Merlot component is elegant, and the wine finishes with silky tannins. This is a real step up for Pierro with this variety. What would move it into the absolute top tier would be more flavour complexity.

Score: 94/++

The portfolio of these wines delivers a common theme: European heritage and elegance combined with sun-drenched Aussie fruit concentration, without being too ripe. Well done!

Craiglee Shiraz

Craiglee tends to be not a hyped up, but quite dependable producer of cool climate Shiraz. However, the 2000 Craiglee Shiraz was a disappointment the other day.

The wine tasted of sour cherries and game, and the grapes seemed to have been either somewhat green or very ripe. The mouthfeel was not very round. The unattractive flavour lasted through to the acidic finish.

Score: 86/--

Wynns Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon

Wynnsday does not create quite the excitement it used to, but for me, the Black Label Cabernet remains an iconic wine for a couple of reasons. I like the fact the label has been around pretty much unchanged for 50 odd years. I also like the fact that this wine at its price point is made for long term cellaring. Not many wines can do this at that level.

Last night I had the 1998 Wynns Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon. 1998 was a stellar vintage in South Australia and this wine has certainly gone the distance. It displays the classic redcurrant blackberry cassis profile of Cabernet, with earthy flavours now coming into the picture. Its mouthfeel is not as full as I would have liked, and the wine has dried out a bit, but it still shows good length and fruit on the finish. Good value for money.

Score: 92/+

Greenock Creek Alices Shiraz

A little while back I decided to buy a selection of Greenock Creek wines. Those who have visited the property will know that the vineyards are absolutely stunning. I think the winery has more Robert Parker 100 pointers to its credit than any other Australian winery and the average score of all wines reviewed is likely to be higher than any other winery.

The 2005 Greenock Creek Alices Shiraz is the entry level wine, but you would not know it. With a whopping 17.5% alcohol, this is the most alcoholic wine I have ever tasted. Interestingly, the first sip is pretty good. The concentrated fruit covers the alcohol. However, by the end of the first glass, the alcohol dominates. The finish of the wine is sharp, and just not pleasant. It does not invite you for more, unless your aim is to get smashed. You get no varietal characteristics with this wine. It is not a port, but a wine dominated by alcohol.

Greenock Creek does not supply wines to the major Australian wine reviewers, and it is not hard to see why. Best to keep the mystique by keeping things secret.

Score: 84/---

Latest Poll Results

It is no surprise that Tyrell's VAT 1 won the Semillon category. The Sparkling Red was a closer contest. In the end, the one with the name, Rockford's Black Shiraz, won the category. The Joseph came a close second which I found interesting. Seppelt, who originally developed the category, was not really in the running.

The next will be Pinot Noir. It will be hard to develop the choices. How to treat minuscule production? Exclude the very expensive ones?

Henschke 2007 Premium Eden Valley Releases

This heading refers to the Cyril Henschke and the Mount Edelstone, of course. I was interested to see how these wines fared, given the drought vintage in the Barossa.

The 2007 Henschke Cyril Henschke Cabernet Sauvignon has a strong redcurrant bouquet. The flavours are lively, based on cherries and redcurrant - no dead fruit here. Tannins blend in nicely. The wine included some Cabernet Franc, which may be responsible for the slightly perfumed lift in this wine. The wine should age nicely and increase in complexity. A good effort.

Score: 94/++

The 2007 Henschke Mount Edelstone is a worthy follow-up to the outstanding 2006. The wine is full bodied with quite concentrated fruit. The flavours are typical for a low yielding Shiraz: ripe plum and blackcurrant, a bit of chocolate in the background . Yet at the same time, this wine is quite elegant. The oak is well integrated, and the strong tannins lead to a very long finish. This is a profound Edelstone, and while it is grown near the warmer Moculta, the higher altitude of the Eden Valley provides the freshness and acidity needed for this wine to be lively and long lasting.

Score: 96/+++

These wines are a superb effort by Prue and Stephen Henschke in what must have been a difficult vintage.

Henschke Hill of Grace

I had the privilege of tasting the new, not yet released 2006 Henschke Hill of Grace last night. It is tempting to go quickly into describing the complex flavours of this stunning wine, but the key is probably to step back and look at the true uniqueness of this wine.

Hill of Grace is arguably Australia's most outstanding single vineyard wine. It certainly is a very special expression of the place it is grown. The vines, individually looked after, are on average over 110 years old, the vineyard is still surrounded by general farming, at a higher elevation in the northern and warmer part of the Eden Valley. Its expression is unique. The Hill of Grace is a feminine wine, very well balanced, with a lot of subtle complexity.

The 2006 opens up beautifully (in this quite inadequate tasting glass). There are many berry flavours, redcurrants and many spices, in particular cinnamon. It seems the soil profile is transported into the glass through these old vines. The wine is very elegant, the new oak cleverly woven into the structure. This Hill of Graces lingers on lightly on the back palate before closing on a silky finish. This wine is quite approachable now, but will gain more expression over time. Perhaps the best wine I ever had under screwcap.

Score: 98/+++

Torbreck - The Struie

On the first cold night, it was time to crack a big Shiraz. Initially, I opened a 2002 Charles Melton Nine Popes, but it was badly corked. The other wine I had at room temperature was a 2003 Torbreck Struie. I was not too confident, as this was a hot vintage in the Barossa and I expected slightly dead fruit.

The wine opened nicely, with substantial and pure plum flavours on the palate. As always, Torbreck wines produce good mouthfeel, and some of the cooler climate flavours and white pepper from the Eden Valley component was shining through as well. But on the finish I did get the dried and dead fruit character.

I like the concept of this wine, but there are better years than 2003.

Score: 90/+

Two New Polls Announced

The next two polls are of varieties and styles which are almost uniquely Australian. However, they are not widely appreciated here either. This is why I will run them in parallel. You may be familiar with at least one group.

I am expecting low numbers here, but please vote if you have experience with these wines. There is not much information about perceived quality . Please do not vote if you know the wines through hearsay only. The two categories are Semillon, all from the Hunter, and Sparkling Red.

Howard Park Tasting

Hot on the heels of Leeuwin Estate came Howard Park with a dinner to showcase their new wines, including a first look at the 2007 Abercrombie Cabernet Merlot. The evening was hosted by Jeff Burch, the owner. Now, irrespective of if you like the Howard Park wines or not, if you have a chance to go to an event where Jeff Burch speaks, do not miss it. He tells some of the most amazing wine stories, and in a style which makes you laugh for the rest of the night.

On to the wines. The 2008 Howard Park Sauvignon Blanc was the first white. While Jeff Burch made a big plea to buy Aussie Savvys, instead of those from New Zealand, I am not sure that this is the wine I would turn to. It has some Semillon in it, to help with the mid palate, but the overall effect is a fairly bland wine, however, it will be complimentary to many food dishes (89 points). Then came, as it turned out, the star of the evening, the 2009 Howard Park Riesling. It shows typical citrus and lime flavours, it is dry and finishes with well balanced acidity. The wine has a strong linear profile, going beautifully down the palate, it is very harmonious, with a lengthy finish. While the wine is dry, it is not quite as restrained as some Clare Valley wines (94 points). The 2007 Howard Park Chardonnay was a bit of a disappointment. The fruit appeared quite concentrated, but quickly leaves a hole on the mid palate. This is unusual for this vintage. They take only free run juice for this wine, and maybe stop it too early. As a result, the oak (1/3 new) tends to dominate. The wine does have a decent finish in terms of length and freshness (90 points).

The two Shirazes to taste were the 2007 Leston Shiraz from Margaret River and the 2007 Scotsdale Shiraz from Great Southern. The Leston hits you with an upfront wall of sweet plum and licorice, followed by vanilla oak. This wine does not seem well balance, but is also too early to drink (89 points). The Scotsdale is a much leaner wine, with cherry and peppery flavours. There is too much acidity on the palate and not much length in the finish (88 points).

These wines did nothing to convert me to WA Shiraz.

The 2008 Leston Cabernet Sauvignon was a much better wine. Red berry flavours dominate and there is good vitality in the wine. While the mouthfeel is not as full as a top Cabernet would have it (a bit of Merlot would have been nice), this is a well balanced wine with a lengthy finish (93 points). The 2007 Abercrombie Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot, in contrast, is a much bigger wine, although 70% come from Mt. Barker and only 30% from Margaret River. The flavour profile was unusual: I expected ripe currants, but instead, it tasted more of cassis, tomatoes, cigarbox and indeed some chemical components I could not name. In a nutshell, this wine seemed more an industrial product than an artisan result, which is what you would expect from Western Australia. Still, the wine has a big flavour profile and will satisfy some, but it is certainly not in the top league for the 2007 year (92 points).

Overall, the wines were mixed and a tad disappointing. With so many vineyards to chose from, I expected a better result from vines harvested in these good years in WA.

Tappanappa Chardonnay

The 2008 Tappanappa Chardonnay has quite intense stone fruit characteristics. It is very polished and pleasant on the palate. Good oak integration. The style is similar to the Petaluma Chardonnay, maybe slightly fuller. My problem with it is this: these Croser wines are very clean, but they lack character. This is a good wine, but I would find others more interesting.

Score: 93/0