Marquis La Feuille Taru Kai Noir

I have not posted for a while, not because I follow Ocsober, but because I am in Japan and mainly drink Sake here. But there is, of course, a significant still wine industry here as well. The 2015 Marquis La Feuille Taru Kai Noir took my fancy, because I did not understand anything about the label.

When it comes to food and drink, the Japanese like to use French terms, as it is associated with quality. The winery is also known as Maruki Winery and is Japan's oldest, founded in 1891. La Feuille is a label. I have no idea what Taru stands for. Kai Noir is a Japanese grape variety, a crossing between Black Queen and Cabernet Sauvignon. Black Queen is a crossing itself, and it gets too complicated here for this blog. The grapes are quite large, with a thick skin and a low tannin structure. Quite the opposite to Cabernet Sauvignon, obviously.

This is a light to medium bodied wine , with a light Pinot Noir like colour 🍷 . The fragrant aromas are quite appealing and the wine is finely crafted. However, there is not much happening on the front palate. Black cherry describes it best. This wine does not have much body nor mouthfeel. It is growing towards the back palate with an attractive smooth finish. This wine goes well in support of many Japanese foods, even sushi or sashimi.

Score: 87/+

Bass Phillip Ultra Premium Pinot Noir

A few days ago, I had an opportunity to taste the three 2015 premium Pinot Noirs which stand at the top of the Bass Phillip tree. They were extraordinary.

The 2015 Bass Phillip Issan Pinot Noir comes from a relatively new vineyard not far from the estate vineyard. I think it was planted in the early 1990s. It is very densely planted and cropped at low yields. Phillip Jones links its characteristics to Chambertin in Burgundy. This vintage is by far the best of this wine and moves it beyond the standard Estate wine. The dark cherry fruit is intense, but the key feature is the minerality on the back palate. This wine has great texture, enticing tannins and a very long finish.

Score: 95/+++

The 2015 Bass Phillip Premium Pinot Noir, matured in 100% new oak (as is the reserve), is simply sensational. The wine has a beautiful aromatic nose, very intense rose aroma. The flavours are multi-layered. There is cherry, spice, cinnamon, even black olive. The oak is hardly noticeable. This wine sings on the palate. It is powerful and has great drive. The tannins are as silky as and the flavours expand on the finish. This wine is already approachable, but will reveal its full potential in 5-7 years. One of the best Pinot Noirs ever made in Australia.

Score: 98/+++

The 2015 Bass Phillip Reserve Pinot Noir is a strange beast. It is a high quality wine, no doubt, with intense and multi-layered flavours. It is more closed at this point than the Premium. The shape of the wine is quite round, as opposed to driving down the palate. Phillip Jones says this wine will need a lot of time, but will ultimately outshine the Premium. I am not so sure. I went back to taste the Premium after the Reserve, and normally when you taste backwards, the 'lower' wine will fall short. That was not the case this time. Having said this, the Reserve is an excellent wine, with velvety tannins and a long finish. But then, it is $650-700 per bottle - not for me.

Score: 96/++

Margaret River 50th Anniversary Tasting

Let me get my frustrations out of the way first. I do not attend many region tastings anymore: too crowded, too many ordinary wines. I thought this would be a bit special, given the title, however, it was just a new releases tasting with leading players Leeuwin, Moss Wood, Cullen missing. Also, the small tasting glasses were a joke. Anyhow, once there, you persist. I tasted the two signature varieties from Margaret River, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon and blends.

Amongst the Chardonnays, the 2014 Clairault Estate Chardonnay and the 2015 Cape Mentelle Chardonnay were the favorites (94 points). These Chardonnays had the best drive or line on the palate. The 2015 Flametree SRS Wallcliffe (flinty, smoky), the 2016 Vasse Felix (yeasty, Burgundian) and the 2015 Hohnen Burnside Vineyard (tropical fruit) were also good (92 points). I thought the 2013 Devil's Lair 9th Chamber Chardonnay had a dull finish. In general, new oak took a back seat, with mainly between 20 to 40%.

On the Cabernet front I enjoyed four quite different wines (all 94 points). The 2014 Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon displayed a very dark and dense blue colour with pure and intense blackcurrant and mulberry fruit and a long finish. Woodlands continues on its road to excellence. The 2014 'Margaret' Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Malbec is an elegant wine, at peace with itself and quite approachable now. In contrast the 2014 'Matthew' Cabernet Sauvignon is more reserved and closed, but the fruit is excellent and the well integrated oak will deliver a very elegant wine in due course. Even more restrained was the 2013 Vasse Felix 'Tom Cullity' Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec, the newly labelled flagship wine. It is quite a savoury wine, very long. It needs decanting.

There were a number of other strong wines, the 2013 Fraser Gallop Parterre (fragrant, violets), the 2014 Fraser Gallop Palladian, the 2014 Howard Park Leston (easy drinking, a bit sweet), the 2013 Voyager Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot, the 2014 Xanadu Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, the Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon.

I was not so impressed with the 2015 Flametree Cabernet/Merlot, the 2014 Devil's Lair Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2014 Deep Woods Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2013 Clairault Cabernet Sauvignon.

Overall, nothing particularly new in these wines. Only top producers succeed with 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines. Blends tend to work better, and I note the enhanced role Malbec seems to be taking.

Bass Phillip Rosé

I was interested to taste this new offering from Bass Phillip, the 2016 Bass Phillip Pinot Rosé. I was expecting the unexpected, and I was not disappointed.

This Rosé is a funky wine. The colour is slightly cloudy, which distinguishes this wine immediately from the many others. The fruit is high quality, all estate grown. Flavours of raspberry and strawberry attack on the front palate. This wine has a great mouthfeel. The texture may be volatile, but there is sufficient acidity to hold up the wine.

This wine is delicious, with a great fruit feel, but it is also surprisingly strong and long for a Rosé.

Highly recommended.

Score: 94/+++ 

Silkman Reserve Semillon

Very few new wineries in the Hunter Valley have managed to reach the top echelon occupied by Brokenwood, Tyrells and Mount Pleasant for a long time. The last winery was Thomas Wines. Silkman, however, may get there. The very talented Liz Silkman, who was the successful winemaker at First Creek for a number of years, continues to craft excellent Shiraz, Chardonnay and Semillon.

This is a review of the 2015 Silkman Reserve Semillon. This wine is a bigger style than some others from the Hunter Valley. The wine has good drive, despite the bigger, lime fruited mouthfeel. There is enough acidity to give the wine a solid structure, and the finish is quite long for Semillon.

I suggest to drink this wine while young.

Score: 93/++ 

Penfolds Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz

When Penfolds first released the Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz, it created quite a stir. Not so much because of the quality of the wine, but because this master blender released, for the first time, a wine if not from a single vineyard (although it may have been), from a single sub-region of the Barossa. Of course, I had to buy this first release, the 2008. I believe the wine comes from vines owned by Seppeltsfield and leased to Fosters, but I cannot be sure of this.

A few days ago, I opened my last bottle of the 2008 Penfolds Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz. It is an impressive wine. The concentrated blackberry fruit delivers a big mouthfeel. Vanilla flavours from the new American oak are also prominent, but fairly well integrated. I am normally not too keen on prominent sweetness in Shiraz, but the blackberry/vanilla combination works quite well in this wine. The firm tannins have mellowed and lead to a persistent finish.

While this is no doubt an impressive wine, still I cannot warm to the strong American oak influence. The wine has clearly improved over the last few years, and I would recommend to hold it 2-4 years longer. This wine has the structure to carry itself further for quite some time.

Score: 94/0

Moorooduc Estate Wines

Moorooduc has been a dependable wine producer of the Mornington Peninsula for many years. They would probably just scrape into my top 5 from this region. The latest releases confirm this view.

Interestingly, the Chardonnays are matured longer than the Pinot Noirs. The 2014 Estate Chardonnay shows a deep yellow colour and is quite a big and open wine. Stone fruit and mango are accompanied by biscuit flavours. The acid manages to cut through it and delivers balance (92 points). In contrast, the 2014 McIntyre 'The Duck' Chardonnay is much tighter, while of a similar flavour profile. I would have enjoyed a bit more definition in this wine, but it will open up well in the next couple of years (92 points).

Something unusual is the 2016 'Pink' Pinot Gris - On Skins. This wine has a beautiful bright pink colour, and on the front palate is similar to a Pinot Noir based Rosé. Unfortunately, the finish is disappointingly short (88 points).

The stars are the Pinot Noirs. The 2015 Robinson Vineyard Pinot Noir has flavours of red cherry and strawberry and is a very smooth wine (93 points). The 2015 McIntyre 'The Duck' Pinot Noir is more profound, with a bigger mouthfeel. It is pretty and open, and quite complex on the palate, with mushroom flavours as well. The tannins are silky, and the taster experiences a wonderful expanding finish (95 points).

Henschke Mt Edelstone

It is always a pleasure to drink this iconic wine. This 2004 Henschke Mt Edelstone Shiraz has developed an interesting profile at 13 years of age.

The flavour of this medium to full-bodied wine is quite complex. Blackberry and mulberry fruit is matched by aniseed, exotic spices, earth, eucalypt, licorice and bitter chocolate. The wine has mellowed and is elegant with firm, but silky tannins, and the finish is long.

The 100 year old ungrafted vines produce this unique profile, usually bolder than Hill of Grace. For an experienced taster, it can be easily recognized in a blind tasting of various Shiraz wines.

The wine is probably at its peak now, supported by a screw cap closure, and has a number ofgood years ahead.

Score: 95/++   

Wynns Black Label Shiraz

Shiraz has always played second fiddle to Cabernet Sauvignon in Coonawarra, and most of the famous Terra Rossa is planted to Cabernet. Yet, there are some sizable Shiraz plantings as well. It is not generally a go to area for me for Shiraz, but I thought I make an exception for the excellent 2010 vintage. I am not a fan of the Michael (too much new oak), so this a review of the  2010 Wynns Black Label Shiraz. As it turned out, it was no coincidence that this was the first vintage of the 'ordinary' Shiraz which was given the black label status.

The bouquet is strong and beautiful, with an aroma of forest berries rising from the glass. This is a medium to full bodied wine with concentrated blackberry and plum flavours. The wine is nicely balanced, as the firm tannins have softened and are in great harmony with the fruit. The result is an elegant and deeply flavoured wine. Wow! At this price and high volume! The slightly metallic tinge on the finish does not distract too much from the overall impression.

This is a serious wine for a low price. The other thing to note is that more than most others, Wynns wines need to be cellared for a few years before they are ready to drink due to their firm tannin structures. This is a beauty now. If you come across this wine at auctions, go for it.

Score: 92/++

Spinifex La Maline Shiraz

After some disappointments with Shiraz from the supposedly great 2010 vintage, I have been rewarded with the 2010 Spinifex La Maline Shiraz.

This wine is smooth and simply delicious. It is medium weight and elegant. Blueberry and blackberry flavours sit on top of silky and dry tannins, well integrated. This wine used to be a Shiraz/Viognier, and the flavour profile suggests a small component of Viognier is still in this wine. The mouthfeel is perhaps a little lean, but preferable to the overblown and overripe wines I tasted lately from this vintage. This wine has an excellent balance and a very satisfying finish.

Peter Schell has a knack of finding great fruit at reasonable prices for his wines. Vineyard location is important to him (often the higher slopes on the Eastern ridge), but the sources can vary from year to year. He is not wedded to a single vineyard terroir, but prefers to blend to his style of wine. By the way, 'maline' means 'clever'.

Score: 95/+++ 

Vieux Télégraphe Piedlong

As I am waiting for the apparently amazing 2015 Rhône wines, I thought I might wet my appetite with a wine from one of my favorite producers, Vieux Télégraphe. The 2012 vintage was generally not great in France, with the exception of the Rhône. Therefore I was looking forward to the 2012 Vieux Télégraphe Piedlong.

Daniel Brunier, the half owner and winemaker, is a serious and intelligent man. He is modest and not interested in wine fashion trends. His objective is to make authentic wines speaking of the soil the grapes are grown on (I know this sounds like a platitude these days, but it is true in his case.)

The Piedlong comes from the heart of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, just north of the village, from a vineyard with heavy clay and many rocks or pebbles. This wine is full-bodied, with raspberry and blackberry flavours. It is basically dark fruited. Despite the Grenache dominance,  it is a savoury wine showing a lot of minerality and some leanness. The wine is fresh and elegant and has good length.

I liked this wine a lot.

Score: 92/+++

Ariel Dealcoholized Chardonnay

The other day I went into a large liquor store to try to find a low alcohol (5-6%) dry wine. This of course is difficult, as low alcohol means not all sugar has been fermented. The search was unsuccessful. I then saw the isle with non-alcohol wine. I had never tried one, so I thought it is time to select such a 'wine'.

Most attractive seemed to be this Chardonnay from Ariel, based in California. If you look carefully at the picture, you notice that the bottle is still half full. But alas! I did not drink the other half. This wine is disgusting! I expected to taste perhaps grape juice, but this 'wine' tastes of apple juice, a bad slightly overripe one, and is full of sugar. If I had had a magnifying glass, I could have found this out from the back label, but it was hard to read and also to interpret.

There is no point drinking this. Buy a good fruit juice for a third of the price instead.

Score: <70 p="">