This wine has only been bottled a few weeks, and when I bought it, I even had the sense to ask Adam Hooper when it should be ready to drink. Adam is the winemaker, and hence his opinion on the matter should be considered as good advice. He said maybe 3 weeks. So, I waited a 6 days.
I had tried the wine previously at a tasting with some friends from the Australian Wine Tasting Group, though their name suggests they possibly could be wine snobs, they are actually just unrepentant alcoholics who read somewhere that wine can make you live longer, and are now testing the theory for themselves. On that previous tasting I was the driver, and I've never done well doing notes from sip and spit, probably because the spitting part distresses me too much.
Anyway, all of the wines I tried that day from La Curio impressed me, and at the time I thought the 2012 Dandy might well be my bargain of the year, if only I could swallow a bit more. Now, on the few times I think I am right I kinda want to know ASAP that I really am right, even if it's only in my own mind (see para 1).
So, it turns out that whilst I was possibly wrong in opening the wine too soon, I reckon I was correct in saying this is my wine bargain of the year at least in the sub-$25 bracket.
A beautiful complex fruit driven nose with classic McVale spices and 'erbs, plus there's also a bit of late afternoon summer's day, where the sea breeze has kicked in, wafting Nanna's almost cooked roast* aromatics out on to the porch, and strangely even a bit of Grandad's new fangled tractor can be detected - I assume the breeze went past the tractor parked in the hayshed on the way through to the kitchen.
The body is voluptuous with some muscle supporting those curves, ie. fine and firm tannins. A long finish and lovely balance completes the cast.
This is a glass-gets-empty-fast wine, so I'm going to give it a Highly Recommended++ and *****.
I stuck a ++ on the end there more to indicate that it will age well, but this is such a vibrant delicious wine as a 2 year old that I'd encourage people to drink it young as well.
* my Nanna ever did a magnificent roast. I miss all about her, but her great cooking, learned as an early 1900's farmer's wife, made lifetime memories. Grandad used to plow the farm with a team of horses in the early days, but he saw the value of a tractor, even if he missed power napping going home because the horses knew the way, and the 30yo tractor never did manage to learn it.
