Whistler Mourvedre 2009

My nose told me this would be good. My nose got it right!

If I might digress a moment, I've mentioned before the acrid bitterness of sulphur dioxide on some freshly opened wines. The thing is many well made wines, even those designed to live for decades, don't always have it. So I can't help thinking perhaps some winemakers are dosing SO2 as though they are putting their wines under cork. Certainly breathing a wine is almost always a very good idea, but if I was having this in your average restaurant that wouldn't know what a decanter was, then I'd be swirling my glass vigorously, trying to cope with the aforementioned bitterness. I don't see the reason for it in the era of the screwcap.

Wine whine aside, this one just confirms to me that Mourv is something we should see more of, perhaps it will be mostly in blends, but it really does stand up up well on it's own. BTW, I think blends are 'the next big thing', but only if the industry does it right and not just blend for the sake of it.

Savoury, sweet, spicy, meaty, lush, and yet focused. Big nose as I said before, and that's not a line from Brian's Life, full body, very fine tannins, lovely acid, and long length. Very enjoyable indeed as a sipper but even better as a food wine.

Rating: Highly Recommended 

Neil Hahn Yanyarrie Shiraz 2010

I picked this one up at Melbourne St Cellars on special and had no idea what I was buying. If you were to buy it direct from Hahn Barossa Vineyards - which might be tricky as they are listing the 2009 still -  it would cost $17.95.

It's rather a shame many smaller wineries can't keep their websites updated, and given the extortionate prices some web developers charge for minor changes, I am not surprised they don't. If I could give some advice here to wineries, make sure your web developer gives you full access to all passwords and hosting information, that way you can shop around if they start being silly with pricing for updates.

This is day 2 for the Shiraz, and it's held up pretty well for what is not a premium priced wine, and is in fact better tonight than last night, which is always a good sign of a well made wine.

The only fault with this wine is also why I am blog reviewing it. Since I review for fun, and all of my reviews are of wines paid for by me, I'm finding reviewing anything that isn't inspiring to be a chore. This wine interests me because it's pretty much one dimensional in flavour, but it's a flavour that is not as common as I'd personally like. Black cherries.

There may be some other hidden flavours but black cherries dominate strongly for me. They are on the nose and the palate, and giving the glass a swirl even the colour is black cherry.

My daughter has had a laugh at me for slurping air through the wine looking for something more, she probably think's I'm a wine ponce. But I laugh at her taste in music, so we're even. Plus I did find a little spice, so the noise was worth it.

Right, so if you like black cherries, with a little bit of spice, then this might suit you.

Recommended+.

Cradle of Hills Wines

I was going to just review the 2009 Shiraz Mourvedre, but when I went to pick them up I ended up spending about 3 hours with Paul and Tracy Smith. I tasted all their bottled wines and a fair bit of what they have in barrels, so here is a bit of an overview of their new and upcoming wines.

First thing I remember is that the view from their winery is lovely, a sweeping vista looking over the vines west to the sea, and looking the other way the vines are cuddled by the hills that meander their way down to Sellicks Beach. This area is well known for growing top notch grapes, it's probably because they are happy grapes.

The second thing is Paul and Tracy are thoroughly down to earth type people. This is a winery started by people who love wine, they know it's going to be very hard work, but talk with them for a short while and the passion is obvious. They also have a very clear goal of what wines they are wanting to create, and they have the talent to make great ones.

The third thing that interested me is that there is a unique individual aroma that all of the Cradle of Hills wines have, even the Mourvedre that they don't grow has it, though the Mourv is grown pretty close by. That aroma is particularly stunning in the 2009 Shiraz Mourvedre, but the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon also has it in spades. I wish I could describe it, but suffice it to say pretty much all of their wines I would be happy to have a 1/4 of a glass and just breath it in all afternoon.

Reviewing the 2009 Shiraz Mourv is pretty much a tease as it's almost all gone. However, whilst we were there Paul invited us to a prelude of the 2010 by allowing us to do a rough test blend. The rough goal being to get something like the 2009 - and why mess around too much and change the target when you've pretty much nailed it on your first vintage eh? For this fun blend there was a Shiraz-Grenache, the Mourv, a bold fruity Shiraz and a more austere Shiraz. We did a couple of blends and it's amazing how much a small change in percentages makes for a much larger change in the final wine. Before blending I would have expected to like a blend just of the big fruity Shiraz and the Mourv, but it absolutely would have lacked balance and character.

Our blend will not be the final one, but what is clear was the 2010 will likely be at least as good as the 2009 even without my input, and since I'd rate the 2009 as Excellent++ you'd be mad not to get on the mailing list.

I was going to waffle on about some of the other barrel samples, but I'll shorten it by saying the future looks extremely bright for Cradle of Hills, and that's good for us wine lovers.

PS. you gotta check out the very cool label, and have a read up on how it was created;
http://www.cradle-of-hills.com.au/

Sevenhill Cellars Inigo Shiraz 2010

Hmm, been a while since I wrote a blog entry. It's not been for lack of drinking good wines. In fact it may be the opposite really. Anyway, I'm back like Batman.

This Inigo is typically a good wine most years, but unfortunately 2009 wasn't one of those, which is interesting considering how good the 2009 St.Ignatius is. Regardless, I am happy to say this 2010 is a great return to form. For those who know these wines, I think the 2008 was marginally better, but there's not a lot in it, and time may prove me wrong.

Dark crimson red meniscus and glass that's black as a nun's habit, although I don't recall seeing any nuns at Sevenhill.

Bit of sulphur stink even after a quick double decant, and I could still taste the SO2 bitterness, so give this one a good bit of air before imbibing.

The nose is a tad light, but I think that's more to do with the winter room temperature - I am all greenie tonight and the heater isn't on. I'm smelling the hills around Clare, where of course the air is laden with regional vinous aromas. Lovely stuff.

I was really pleased with the tannins, these 2010 babies are smooth like talcum. Mouth coating and gum licking goodness.

Mostly black fruit, crushed blueberry, with a bit of red there for interest, a dash of garam masala and gently stirred with a bay leaf.

There's good balance here, a well made wine that's not yet actually into it's drinking window, though that shouldn't stop anyone trying it out young-ish.

Highly Recommended++ especially at sub $20 retail if you do some homework

Marius Matarius 2010 (Preview)

It's a straight Mataro if'n you haven't guessed it from the name.

So there I was, sitting with a large glass of the Matarius in my hand. In struts Underworld's Selene (aka Kate Beckinsale). She's wearing tight black leather, and has a faint aroma of gunsmoke, and blood.

She's a vampire, of course.

I look at her.

I look at the glass.

I look at her again.

And I really can't decide whether to offer her the glass, offer her my neck, or swallow the wine and then offer her my neck.

Then I realise the vamp in tight black leather was in the glass all along, and I've already offered my neck...

....and my soul.

Outstanding wine.

Inkwell Shiraz 2010

I was going to describe this as inky black with a very thin purple rim, then I realised how stupidly obvious that sounds.

And then I got a whiff of the bouquet and forgot all about the colour.

I have a pretty good smell memory, in that I can detect smells in the wine that remind me of other smells. What I often can't do is remember what those smells are, and it drives me crazy trying to work it out. This one however didn't take me too long tonight; it's cinnamon.

I tasted this wine yesterday at Dudley Brown's winery which is in full swing for vintage 2012 - I also tried a 2012 Shiraz that is about 2 weeks old and was pressed yesterday and put into barrels, but try not to be jealous.

I'd also sampled this 2010 Shiraz last October and with neither of those two previous tastings did I get cinnamon. It's been breathing 24 hours and tonight it's pretty clear to my snoz. Whether it's to do with the extra air, or just part of this wine's development only time will tell.

The aroma overall is brilliant, and whilst I could pick the cinnamon out, it is part of a blend of spices and fruit that has my nose jammed firmly in the top of my glass.

There's a heap of Indian spices on the palate too, combining with the dark fruit flavours. It's full bodied without being at all sweet, and really has me hanging out for a curry. Tannins are firm and very fine, acid balance is excellent, and has an extremely long finish.


Right, we're on day 3 now. I got distracted and didn't finish the post, but I did manage to hide the glassful still left in the bottle. I have to hide it well too, my wife has a 'girl look' for the good ones. You certainly can't tell it's been open more than 48 hours.

The cinnamon has faded a fair bit, and it's more just overall Indian spices to me. Dudley claims cardamom and I certainly wouldn't disagree, but that may also be the power of suggestion.

I'm not sure when this wine will be released, but I believe it's not too far off, possibly when vintage madness is over. I'm always a little hesitant to score a preview of a wine that isn't released because basically the winemaker hasn't declared it "ready". So let me put it this way, I'll be buying a dozen when it's released - at least.


This post was written a week ago, it got delayed for a few reasons.

Marius 2012 Harvest

I left home at 6am and it was already very warm. The forecast four days earlier said it was going to be around 30C, but by the day before harvest that had jumped to 39C. Since Marius wines are hand picked, and are picked by his customers, then picking at night or rescheduling at such late notice can't be done so easily. The best laid plans of winemakers are often thwarted by the weather.

Early in the day the vines provided decent shade

At this point taller vines would have been welcome

We took it in turns to be on the sunny side, but soft Steve (not in photo) opted to go shadey only later and pick through the vines

Someone had that sunscreen that smells strongly of coconuts, luckily we wore gloves else the wine may have ended up with a more tropical bouquet.

Only one person dropped out of the harvest team, which says we are all dedicated and will suffer a lot to get a free tasting of several Marius vintages. A great crew to pick with.

 

Cut the red wire, not the green one!

I have to admit I might have trimmed a few more leaves than I really needed to. Roger's very neat vines are pretty easy to pick from, but sometimes working out just where the top of that bunch is can be tricky.

Is that Edward just there?

When picking opposite someone, which is fairly often, you need to be aware of Mr. Scissorhands, who may also be wondering where the red wire really is.

Roger has small ones, and he likes em that way

The Marius vines are dry grown, and the foliage is kept a lot thinner than many vines you'll see through the Vale. This results in smaller berries, which is desirable as most of the flavour is near the skins and small berries means a better skin to juice ratio. The penalty for Roger is low yields every year, but better wines because of it.

This year however yields were extra low, with many Shiraz vineyards across the Vale down 40-50%. That was in part due to the weird weather ie. high summer rainfall in 2011, where the vines did not set themselves up for the following season properly.

A few rows are extra low yielding with even smaller berrier and bunches because....

The low yielding vines with the water stealing pines in the background

The workers enjoying the fruits of previous years labours

This is Roger not telling us what's in the 2008 End Play but dropping some hints, I'm now 66% certain I know what it is

The rewards, not in drinking order, and possibly a few bottles are missing, none in my esky I promise. The 2010s are not released, this was an early preview for a lucky few, and keep in mind review samples for some of the professional reviewers are sent in somewhat early as you never know how many months they'll take to get around to reviewing them.

Apparently the Symposium does not sell as quite as well as the straight Shirazes, but the 2006 is starting to hit it's straps now and is Oustanding drinking, the wine of the day for many of us there. There will not be a 2011 or 2012 Symposium for a few reasons, but I strongly recommend you do yourself a favour and try the 2010 and the Matarius when released.

Love this

Getting even better with age

Excellent

May become my new favourite

Great character

Many years left

Some of us are lucky

Exceptional