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I loved the 2004 version of the wine, so when I saw the new release at the Wine Emporium yesterday, I just had to grab a bottle. A lovely nose: bright red cherries, soft spices, with some earth and leather. The palate is on the lighter side of medium bodied, but the fruit is glorious, with some sweetness and spice, and drying finish. The fruit tannins are quite strong at the moment, but I love their chewiness and purity. A really lovely Tempranillo – great now, but maybe try to keep it a few months to let some of the sweetness subside. As a postscript I would add that it does seem a touch higher than 14.0%, according to my dizziometer.

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From a single vineyard planted in 1996. Fermented as two separate batches. One de-stemmed and the other whole bunch fermented with wild yeast. Both have 50% new French oak.

Clear crimson colour. Lightly perfumed aromas of cherry, raspberry and spicy vanilla French oak. Some attractive stalky characters. Light to medium bodied palate with slightly creamy oak, red fruit, spice, vanilla and dried herb flavours. Excellent fine grained tannins. Clean and fresh. Long dry spice and strawberry finish. Lovely wine.

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At the start of June we cracked the 500 tasting note mark and now we have just hit 700. That’s over 100 reviews per month (for the slower readers) and gaining momentum. I am guessing there will be 1500+ reviews up by the end of the year. In other news we have already seen over half a million hits to the website in July alone generating over 5gb of bandwidth. Luckily I upped our limit to 10gb at the start of the month. Winorama, it’s like a bus full of school kids careening down a steep hill with no brakes.

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A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec. On the nose, smallgoods, creamy oak and fondant, red fruits, and a touch of sweaty leather shorts. The palate shows red currants and red cherries, fine musky tannins, smooth and sweetish, with a lovely acid finish. Good length, though perhaps a bit on the wild side. Not a typical Yeringberg.

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Sweet spirits, brandied raisins and sultanas, sweet spices, orange peel, dried raspberries - sweet fruits with some spirity bite. The palate is slightly whisky hot, but has a softness and elegant, more seductive than overwhelming. Finishes dryly. An excellent wine, but doesn’t reach the heights of the ’83.

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After tasting this wine Woodlands have now become a very large blip on my purchasing rader. So large that may face now has a sickly green glow. Well I think that must be the reason. Anyway, when you can buy wines of this quality (and Voyager Estate) for half the price of Cullen and Moss Wood, well quite frankly, they can shove it up their jumper!

Aromas of blackcurrant,mulberry, earth, tobacco and cedar oak. Touch of mint. A beautiful smelling wine. On the palate flavours of blackcurrant, dark tobacco and dark chocolate supported by just the right amount of cedary oak. Fine grained tannins. Style. Balance. Length. Nothing out of place. I’m going to be all over this wine like a fat kid on a chocolate cake.

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I know it has been done to death but now we have DIAM added into the equation. Have your say. It won’t take you a minute.

Polls Archive

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McLaren Vale mania continues..with many more to come. I’m a bit snuffly at the moment but this wine is up to the task.

Aromas of ribena, black plums, green olive, meat and vanilla oak. Touch of licorice. Rich blackcurrant and plum fruit with more meaty savoury flavours. Plenty of fine drying powdery tannins. Warming alcohol and meaty blackcurranty finish. I like this and find it has good drinkability in a hearty winter warmer sort of way. Surprisingly the alcohol does not bother me too much, although it does pack a fair punch and numbs the gums. It may be too much for some though so consider yourself warned.

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Garnet red in colour. An oaky nose: coconut liqueur, fondant, choc-malt, creamy. The palate also shows creamy oak, but with some red plum and cherries, very smooth but very much oak-driven at this stage. Not sure if it would be better drunk now while the fruit is holding up, or later when the oak has subsided and integrated further. Regardless, a fine drink indeed.

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As you might expect it’s pretty hard for me to keep my hands off a Hunter shiraz for too long. I love Brokenback. The fruit comes off an old dry grown vineyard with red volcanic soils located at the foothills of the Brokenback ranges. Matured in mainly large old French oak…and now closed with a screwcap. My cup runneth over with joy!

Strong red purple. Aromas of blackberry/raspberry/black cherry, earth, pepper and smoke. Some violet characters too if you can sniff your way through the earthiness. Medium to full bodied with flavours of black cherry, raspberry, earth, smoke and spice. Firm gravelly tannins. Grippy tannic exit with earthy berry flavours to close. Quite typical of the hot drought vintage. This is exactly the sort of wine I like to drink at home (although JP does not like it much).

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A lovely wine. It is starting to open up now. The nose has black cherry/morello notes with a hint of fennel. The palate has good, not great length. A complex wine that is developing a middle palate.

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Well this is an interesting little chap. A limited release made from McLaren Vale fruit. The name stands for double barrel twenty four months. The blurb on the bottle says -
‘..After spending the first 12 months - or 12 phases of the moon - in barrels the wine is decanted and re-barrelled in new oak for a further year. The result is an intense modern style Australian shiraz’
The label is very nice. It shows all the phases of the moon from berry set (01-2003) to bottling (09-2005). Diam cork too.

Aromas of dark berries, dark mint chocolate, earth, aniseed and vanilla/coconut oak - a good blast of double barrelled oak. On the palate there are flavours of dark berry, dark chocolate, earth and toasty vanilla oak. Rather savoury. Medium to full bodied. Lovely and supple with silky fine tannins and no real heaviness or sweetness.Good finish. Not quite sure how to rate this one. Do I love it or hate it? What was left of it looked much better the next day so I would be inclined to give it a long decant if drinking now.

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Sometimes it is best to approach a wine with an open mind. This one was a medium red in colour; not as dark as you would normally expect to see a Sparkling Red, but I suppose it is a Pinot Noir, and from the Hunter Valley. The nose shows cherries and a bit of plums, with some strawberries, spices and a bit of stink. The palate is medium bodied, with sweet red fruits, a creamy texture, stone fruits, and a clean drying finish. A satisfying drink to be sure, and quite a surprising result.

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They are doing interesting things down at De Bortoli at the moment. It requires further investigation for sure. I’ll be putting my Winorama ‘Scoop’ hat on in a couple of weeks and paying them a visit.

Winemaker Steve Webber’s comments -
‘Estate Grown Sauvignon Blanc. Hand picked, whole bunch pressed and gravity racked to barrel. Natural ferment, lots of lees stirring, >60% natural MLF. A couple of 1 year hogsheads, the balance in 5 year barriques. Gravity racked ex barrel and bottled Nov, 2005. SOLD OUT – BUT WAIT FOR 2006 !!’

Aromas of fresh pineapple, gooseberry, a slight grassiness, creamy spicy oak and a hint of passive smoke. On the palate it has good weight and texture. Lightly creamy but balanced by fresh acidity. Flavours of tropical fruit, gooseberry, sweet grass, spicy oak and little scoop of vanilla ice cream. Clean long dry spicy finish. A wine that has had some work done on it but nothing heavy handed. A little nip and tuck to help the sauvignon blanc look a bit more glamorous…and perhaps age more gracefully.

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The last bottle of this, from the same batch, was very good. This one is shot. Another victim of cork - this time random oxidation.

Developed golden colour. Tired oxidised, old butter and sherry. Better on the palate with grapefruit and fine oak flavours but really not much chop. Dry sherry finish.

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A rounded and sweet nose: cranberries and candied cherries, five spice and cinnamon, a touch of brown sugar and stalk. The palate is full and ripe, with red cherries and almost red plums, succulent and delicious fruits, and lovely tannins. There is good depth of fruit, with glacé cherries on the finish. An excellent wine and offers great value. Now apparently the 05 Bindis are even better again, so keep your eyes peeled.

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‘The Hillside vineyard had its beginnings in 1992 when cuttings from the 100 year old gnarled vines of Block 6 were planted on the eastern hillside of the Amery property - further plantings of the Block 6 clone took place in 1993, 1997, 1998 and 1999. Open ferment, basket press and aged in new American oak for 28 months’

Aromas of plum/dark cherry, cocoa, coconut, vanilla, spice, menthol and grass. Full bodied rich ripe palate with flavours of plum, dark cherry, chocolate and vanilla. Again there is a sweet grassy character which I find attractive in this wine. Soft fine grained tannins. Bitter chocolate and spice finish. Deluxe, plush and very satisfying - rather like sitting in your favourite armchair. That is, of course, if you have one. If you don’t please use imagination.

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I read a good review of this wine a while back, so when I saw a 4 bottle lot up for auction at Langtons I thought I’d give it a go. A great nose – punchy, with some forest floor, morello cherries, beautiful spices and minerals, smoke and earth, a touch of vanilla. The palate shows bright sweet cherry fruit and sparkly acid, is medium bodied and balanced, slightly earthy, with a textured, slightly chewy and savoury finish. Very good length too. Not a sexy and seductive Burgundy, more a solid and sensible shoes kind of wine.

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A lovely nose: smoky red cherries, minerals, spicy oak, and some green stalk. The palate shows fleshy fruit and a bit of charry stalk. The finish is a bit chemically, and strangely with time it turns a bit weedy and acidic. A nice wine indeed, and if the finish had been better, it would have scored a lot higher. I tried a bottle a year and I don’t think it is getting any better; perhaps it is on a decline.

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I’ll be looking at all the 2004 Kay Brothers wines alongside their 2003 siblings. First cab off the rank is shiraz with merlot and cabernet sauvignon to follow. I have said it before but the 2004 vintage in McLaren is looking very very smart. Lower alcohol, higher flavour and beautiful fine ripe tannins seem to be the order of the day.

Bright red purple. Aromas of plum/blackberry/mulberry, licorice, mint, earth and spicy vanilla oak. Touch of VA lift and some floral fortified characters too. On the palate a full bodied wine although not at all heavy. Flavours of blackberry, mulberry, plum, dark chocolate and leather. A beautiful spread of fine ripe tannins and good fresh acidity. Distinctly dry and savoury. Long dry finish. Outstanding traditional shiraz.

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