Purple Hands 2012 Mataro Grenache Shiraz

First thing I noticed on decanting is the wine smells like a winery at vintage, and that's a pretty complex and very pleasant combination of aromatics. Old barrels, fresh fruit, grape skins and seeds, and the angels share of aging wines wafting around the place.

Note how I didn't mention the aromatics provided by the winemakers and cellar hands, it's probably not good to be downwind of guys working 15 hour days.

Tasting it after the decant and I wasn't so excited, it was a bit flat and almost tart. The label said it was Purple Hands and predominantly Mataro and 2012, plus the aforementioned waftings, clearly something was missing. Air, I think to myself. A few more double decant and some serious sloshing followed by a bit of a rest, for me, not the wine. Yup, I was right, a huge improvement, it just needed waking up. I wish that's all it took for me on a Monday morning.

Medium to full body. Red fruit dominant but this is good ripe picked-fresh-from-the-bush raspberry, a bit of fresh from the tree mulberry too, which is the other way to get purple hands. A bit of meaty savoury character before the peppery finish, supported by firm and very fine tannins, and a dash of mouth watering acid to encourage the next sip.

A very good blend this, and by accounts some tinkering and thinkering went into giving this wine the complexity it has. Best of all it's pretty seamless between the three varieties. Actually that's not the best part, the best part is this continues to improve the longer it's in the glass. The only problem being it's not actually spending all that long in the glass.

Highly Recommended++ and maybe even +.

Chris Ringland 2007 CR Shiraz

This is long sold out, so this is just an opinion on how it's travelling at 6 years old.

Lighter than most CRs, it's only 15.5%, and in theory from a tough vintage but the tannins are lovely despite this and in fact I reckon they're mostly from the oak which is unusual of 07, especially in the BV.

A bit of secondary development showing, but the fruit and oak still in your face. Acid is mouth watering.

Pretty sure this is a Dan Murphy only label, so unlikely I will buy any in the future as I see the duopoly being to my detriment in the longer term, plus exclusive labels tend to disrespect the consumer. Still, Mr. Ringland made 'em nice back then.

No hurry to drink it, but then no great reason not to. I'll open another in a year since I bought a case of this quite cheap a few years back, and not from Mr. Murphy either.

Turkey Flat Butchers Block 2012

A couple of summers ago I became a serious fan of the Rhone blend, typically Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre. A bit lighter weight than most Shiraz and they often drink well with a slight chill, which is nice for the warmer days. The 2010 of this was pretty damned good and I've been looking forward to the 2012.

The nose is somewhat Grenache red fruit dominant, but that's often the nature of Grenache isn't it? Some pencil shavings, allspice and a dollop of Mulberry jam.

Lovely fine powdery tannin backbone and pretty good acidity, if slightly tart.

The thing is though, the hallmark of a good GSM, or in this case SGM, is that it should be seamless with no one variety being too obvious. Unfortunately, unlike the 2010, the 2012 is unbalanced, with the Grenache completely dominating the Shiraz despite the latter being the bulk of this wine, and the Mataro is hiding away in the corner scared of the guy with the intense red eyes.

It's a well made wine, and if you're a Grenache fan perhaps this is your cup of tea.


Rating: Agreeable (remember, I'm a hard marker).

For fans of GSMs I'd highly recommend the 2012 Teusner Avatar as a great example of what a perfect blend of the three can be.

2012 Teusner Independent Shiraz Mataro

I was fortunate enough to first taste this with Kym Teusner, along with pretty much his full range of wines. It is staggering to see that he and his team has put together such an impressive range of truly great wines in a little over 10 years.

Before I talk about this wine, I also tasted the flagship 2011 Righteous Mataro. Kym was advised not to release it, with the 2011 bad vintage hoohah, and most wineries not releasing their flagships from that year. He felt that regardless of the overall vintage, the quality of fruit for that wine still deserved it's status as a flagship. It seems this wine is a bit polarising, I think it is one of the best wines I have ever had, but perhaps that's my bias to Mataro and great oak...time will tell though.

Short story, Kym is bloody talented - and humble enough to mention the other winemakers that helped him through the very tough vintage.

So, to the Independent, a wine specifically made for the independent retailers and not sold to the large chains, thus trying to help the small guys avoid a price war against the big boys with deep pockets.

Shiraz and Mataro in equal parts if memory serves correct. Black and brooding when dormant, but poke the beast and maroon blood stains the sides of the glass. Balsamic glazed plums accompanying a thick steak seared black on the barbie, sprinkled with fresh roasted ground star anise, nutmeg and brown cardamon seeds. That's the wine, and probably not a bad meal to have with it.

Better after a day's breathing - the wine, not the steak - lovely tannins, balanced acid and a just a delight to drink, especially with food. I liked this better than the 2012 Riebke, then again I bought both.

At $25 RRP this is a high VFM wine, especially this stellar vintage. Drink now or drink in 10 years.

Rating: Highly Recommended++

Note: not sure the 2012 is released yet, I have not tried the 2011.

Marius 2006 Symposium

You can't buy this, so it's more of a progress report than a review. Possibly it's a taunt even.

I've had this a few times now, I've got a small, and thus inadequate, personal stock and it's been on tasting at the Marius harvest at least once. Unfortunately I never tasted it when it was newly released, and the only reason that is unfortunate is that I cannot compare it to the current excellent 2010 release.

What I can say is that, right now, tonight, I think this may be the most enjoyable wine I have ever had. Many years to go.

That's a personal opinion of course, and I have certainly had wines with more wow factor, but there is something immensely satisfying to me in this one. Complexity, intensity, depth, breadth, length, balance, all of the boxes are not only ticked but the words are also circled and underlined.

I had a bottle of the 2010 recently, because I can't leave it alone - and it's likely still available because I am ahead of the curve, so I feel safe-ish that I can restock. Who knows if the 2010 will end up as good as the 06 at the same age, but I reckon it's an even safer bet than Black Caviar.

Crabtree 2010s, well mostly

2010 Shiraz "Hilltops vineyard"
I wish they'd label this a bit clearer because of course it also says 'Watervale' on the label. Very nice wine from a great vintage showing regional Clare characters and skilled winemaking. Plenty of fruit oomph and will go 5+ years I reckon. ***** VFM and HRec+ ~$17

2010 Shiraz "Watervale"
This one does at least have a small red circle telling you it's hand picked that allows easy identification between the 2 Shirazii, then again the Hilltops is hand picked too! There is more structure to this wine and the fruit is darker in nature, designed to age a bit longer I'd guess and probably for 10 years or so. Right now the Hilltops drinks better but I can see a lot to come here. ***** VFM and HRec++ ~$20

2010 "Hilltops" Cabernet Sauvignon
First release! The Windmill 2010 is long gone, this is the new baby brother, and what a very interesting wine this is. I put it out blind to the gang last night and got back guesses of Cab Franc, Sangiovese, and even Shiraz plus descriptors of lychees and mulberry. It's a fairly muscular wine if not quite full bodied and quite slurpable. Not sure it's in for the long haul but I reckon I'll stick one away for 3-5 years. ***** VFM and Recommended ~$16

Crabtree 2011 Tempranillo - the full monty tasting

This wine intrigued me, not the least because it was 2011 and I was ready to write it off. This is pretty big for a Tempr, and big for a 2011 wine. Apparently it was harvested before the big wet. The nose is very powerful, and savoury. I've no doubt there is a fair wack of new oak in this but I don't find it sticking out in taste or bouquet, but the tannin is a different story, not unpleasant but does give you the feeling it needs to integrate over the next 2-3 years, then again I like oak. There's a little dried herb bitterness right at the end, but the pleasant kind and adds to the savoury character.

After 2 glasses I am convinced, this is a very good 2011 wine, and one of the better Temps I've had for a while (though I don't have many). Went perfectly with roast pork. I wouldn't buy a case but will pick up a few more if I see them again. Recommended+ and **** ~$17

The prices quoted were specials at Melbourne St Cellars who often do a buck or 2 off for the wines on tasting, and another buck per bottle in (mixed) dozens. 

Marius Harvest 2013

Originally my harvest date was set for early March, but after a week of 30+ weather and checking the grapes, Roger decided to move it forward a bit. Unfortunately I ending up having a minor medical procedure the day before so I was banned from picking by the Doc. So there I was, unofficial photographer, baked goods transport, and missed grapes scout. I did manage to get about 5 buckets of hard to see grapes, so I probably harvested about as much as I drank.

Thankfully whilst it was supposed to be a hot day, at least it wasn't 30C already at 7am like last year. The sun doesn't really get above the vines until after morning tea so it was quite pleasant until maybe 10am.

With more free time than usual I did a bit of a wander around the vineyard, and I was impressed by just how good the grapes were this year. There is a surprising variation in flavours, and the pics below give an idea of how the grapes ripen at different rates even in such a small vineyard. 

Apparently there is one section Roger calls his cool climate vines, as it gets around 4 hours less sun per day due to it being in a little gully. If I remember right, this is where the grapes for the 2010 Symposium came from, which Roger rates as his spiciest wine ever.

More secrets revealed below.

Dawn over the Vale, 7am. The vineyard itself won't see much sun for another hour or so.

This is Roger's driveway with a view to the northeast over the Vale and looking to Moana Beach. The driveway points pretty much towards McLaren Vale town.

The foreground is where I believe Symphony usually comes from - it gets hard to remember later what Roger tells me during the day for some reason.

View from the clothes line, again looking northwest. I did get a photo of the clothes line but honestly a photo doesn't do it justice, such art deco class needs to be seen in person.

Super secret picture! This might be where the grapes are processed and the barrels stored but I cannot confirm, or deny, such wild speculation.

some grapes ever so slightly starting to shrivel

and others still plump

Roger wanting to know why the bin is not yet full

Roger wanting to know if the pies and pasties were good at morning tea

These are some of the people to thank for your Marius 2013. The esky had no beer in it at any stage, sad but necessary for harvest efficiency - however there was beer about 30s later!

Plenty of intensity in these two, so much so that you can get called a wine wanker arguing over which one has more. No hurry to drink either, but a joy if you do.

 

The 2010 SM coming along very nicely indeed!

Super secret photo #2, a rare Marius wine that only a select few will ever try - a staggering experience.

Needs 10+ years I reckon, this continues to improve, and surprise me.

8 years old? Coulda fooled me!

Surprising Cab this, I would have picked it as a GSM, nice wine but out of the mold.

We played "options" trying to guess facts about a wine, but of course with a bunch of Marius fans it's not going to work all that well with a Marius wine, so Roger used this one. Three of us guessed Mudgee, two of us guessed 2011, none got Cab Sav.

I really didn't do Peter's boeuf Bourguignon justice with this photo, especially since I'd gobbled down half of it before remembering the camera. Plus I missed taking a pic of his delicious lunch with a brilliant chutney and terrine.