Always had a soft spot for Paxton's wines. They are a bit nutty there, playing with horns and manure, dancing dynamically under a full moon, and just generally doing things in their own super organic way. The thing is though, they seriously care about their vineyards and wines, unlike the conglomerates who see wine as just a commodity.
I first tried this as the Adelaide Cellar Door Wine Festival, and it was one of the few that really stuck out as something special, mostly because of it's intensity of flavour and impressive length. All the more impressive as I'd been tasting for nearly 2 hours by then, and it takes something special to stand out.
A deceptive wine, it's really not that much above medium bodied, but quite flamboyant on the palate whilst retaining a fair bit of class and style. Silky tannins, great acid balance, lovely complexity and just pretty damned yum.
I breathed this for 2 hours and it's just getting better the longer it's open, so do yourself a favour and give this wine a good bit of air if drinking it anytime soon. The rest of mine will be going for a 10 year sleep.
Rating: Excellent++ and ****
Coincidently, Philip White happened to discuss biodynamics the other day:
ReplyDeleteDrinkster: A Scientist's View of Biodynmaics
Just makes good sense that you try to keep a vineyard as close to natural as you can. That kinda goes for the planet too.
*Whilst the Jones Block vineyard is not yet biodynamic, it's on it's way.