Yarra Valley

Festive drinks – one up, one down, one surprise

~ Richard ~ Leave a comment

2001 Chateau La Tour Blanche 13%
Sauternes (Bommes).  The property is a training facility, planted with 83% Semillon, 12% sav blanc and 5% muscadelle. It regularly provides great value in the style, with typical Sauternes longevity.

Bright deep lemon colour, with toffee apple, and icing sugar notes, ripe with some vanilla and dusty varnish, joining lemon citrus and tropical fruits. Vibrant still, and very slightly too dense, but all too easy to take more. Stylish and delicious. 2001 was a ripe year, and this wine has 150 g/l residual sugar.

Drink to 2030, 93 points.

1995 Yarra Yering Portsorts 21%
Yarra Valley. Ruby colour. Marzipan, sugared almond, very soft and mellow, with the spirit basically holding this fortified wine together.

Dr Bailey Carrodus was a bit of a magpie, with many varieties at his property – Touriga Naçional, Tinta Cão, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Amarela, and Alvarelhão were planted in 1990 – certainly unusual for the Yarra Valley.

This brand also has an interesting history. It was initially labelled as “portsorts”, but by 2000 had become “potsorts”. I have a recollection that proprietor Bailey Carrodus attempted to import the wine to the UK, but fell foul of labelling requirements, and spontaneously deleted the “r under questioning at the airport.

Drink now, 83 points.

2013 JL Chave Hermitage Blanc (bottle #4474) 14.5%
Northern Rhone. Here’s another dry wine that forces its way into my blog for its outrageous quality. All too often Rhone whites can be flabby with an oxidative edge – not this one.

Bright deep lemon colour, white stonefruit and honeysuckle; unctuous seduction, very ripe but flavour-packed, dense, textured  and persistent, just a tickle of vanilla, almond and mint. This was masked, so it looked like Old World, then the depth of flavour propelled me to a superior White Burgundy – wrong! But the wine is outstanding, rare and expensive – and shows why some persist with Marsanne and Roussanne in Hermitage. Looks good for many more years. My best Rhone white ever. Drinking span is a bit of a guess; Livingstone-learmonth claims these have a monster life-span, but I haven’t seen enough old (and decent) examples.

Drink to 2030? 96 points

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Two local drinks

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2011 Oakridge Limited release yarrawood Riesling 8.0%
Oakridge in the Yarra Valley has excelled with its Chardonnays- struck-match galore but with increasing fruit presence; winemaker David Bicknell has access and the capability to preserve special sites – this one still in the Yarra Valley but from from Yarra Glen.

2011 was a particularly challenging year in Victoria, with widespread rain and humidity wreaking havoc on most of the red wines; whites fared much better.

2011 oakridge botrytis riesling

It’s a bright light gold colour, and delivers botrytis dustiness and slightly bitter almond, along with an array of apricot, yellow peach and twangy acid to hold interest. This is a crazily sweet wine (around 180 g/l) but has the bracing acidity that delivers forgiveness (and a bit more). Its absurdly easy to consume; cumquat and citrus marmalade are highlights on the palate, with varietal ripe apple flavours joining the party

When botrytis takes hold, the yield diminishes; pressing and fermentation involve significant challenges, and marketing is another conundrum.  This is a winemaker’s small-volume indulgence.

A touch of furniture polish scents, plus a suspicion of caramel and toffee holds my score back. For my taste, drink soon (to 2023); and 90 points

1982 Chateau Reynella Vintage Port 20%
Made from McLaren Vale Shiraz, this 38-year-old wine still has plenty to offer.

Bottle 4155 had a dense red colour, expressing liquorice, raspberry, chalk and almond meal. Luxuriant brandy integration. Sweetness correctly led to an evaluation of Australian origin, and more likely South Australia. The red-fruit impacts made me incorrectly dismiss Reynella and Hardys where I associate stern blackberry notes.  Not this time!

Youthful and very enjoyable.

Drink to 2030,  91 points.

Snippets, again

~ Richard ~ 1 Comment

Maybe not thematic, but these fragments deserve a note; on the cork front, an unusual  run in the past six months yielded only 2 wines affected by taint or obvious oxidation–  a “meagre” 3.7%. Not many industries would accept this level of wastage. The degree of TCA in both wines was amazing- textbook examples.

  • 1993 Craiglee Chardonnay – replaced
  • 1996 Baileys Shiraz – no response from winery

And quick notes follow about wines that impressed

2015 Tolpuddle Chardonnay 12.5%
“Full malo” is a phrase that normally makes me run away, but served masked (of course) this Coal River valley (Tasmania) wine astonished. It’s a modern melon and smoke style- such as Oakridge or Seville Estate- cashewy oak, mineral-drenched fruit and the Tasmanian acidity powers through this utterly delicious wine.
From the Shaw and Smith stable, it’s around $60 a bottle retail – I ordered 3 bottles on the spot. Wonderful, and will hold for quite a while.

2015 Wynns Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 13.5%
This is the 60th release of this label; a few years ago, I tasted the 1960, 1965, 1966 and 1972; there is no doubting the longevity of the style; its affordability makes it deservedly popular among wine-drinkers (not just unicorn-collectors). This release is ripe, beautifully manicured and balanced; blackcurrant and other dark fruits, chalks; it flows gently, deliciously and juicily along. Lovely, with a huge future. Coonawarra, and unforced.

2012 Giant Steps Applejack Pinot Noir 13.5%
This is a wine that nearly won the notorious Jimmy Watson trophy, but there was insufficient volume. At  5 years old, this  Yarra Valley wine has time on its side. Its amazingly fragrant, with small, succulent, sweet red berry scents, plus seasoned oak. The palate shows much more ripe strawberry, and again the oak is present, somehow making a savoury impact. But where this wine stands out is for its prodigious, long-lasting, ultra-refined finish. Another 5 years at least, and 95 points

2002 Seppelt St Peters Shiraz 14%
Wonderful wine. Cork was not the greatest visual composition, but no travel.
2002 was a cool year in Victoria, and this wine is special. My records indicate I paid $35; some key notes; the colour is deep black/red, and there is no browning even at the rim; the wine is beautifully poised with vibrant, intense fruit, oak very much a background factor. Its ripeness is spot-on; blackberry, mixed spices and mocha, some very faint herbal tannin bitterness, and just powers along. Easy, hedonistic drinking, and will remain so for another 15 years – or more. Instant gold medal score, and another example of Grampians Shiraz seduction.

1995 Guigal Hermitage
From a great year in the Northern Rhone; power+, ripe +, slinky old-vine mouthfeel. Dry herb, chalk, iron filings and spices, powdery tannins, touch of bitterness. At plateau and another 10 years will not tire it. Outstanding, 94 points

 

And a few rarities from a very special dinner

2002 Bollinger RD disgorged 24/6/2014
Served at a “just right” temperature in appropriate glassware (flutes are NOT proper stemware for Champagne, any kind of tulip-shaped glass is better). It’s a light straw colour; Immediate sense of class. There are scents of pastries, fruit tingles, strawberries dusted gently with icing sugar (the Pinot dominance roughly 60/40 is felt); a touch of oak/chalk/cream, a touch of almond. Then the palate lights up with exuberance, tiny bead, and the flavours just linger on, the wine seems bone dry (4 g/l is very dry even for a prestige champagne). This is just a wonder, so sensual and so compelling- finally it just powered along with more nuances with each refreshing sip. A wine that could accompany many foods, and was not elbowed aside by a truffled croquette. 96 points.

1990 Trimbach Clos st hune Riesling 14%
Approached with some trepidation as a bottle tried in 13/5/2013 unexpectedly threw me in to delivering a perfect score.

Was I delusional? Would another bottle disappoint?This wine from Alsace has a bright clear gold colour; but amazingly, almost pungently floral. Light honey, lemon peel, bottle age, flint ripeness. Palate, silky, fluffy, candied dried fruits, flint, stone, mineral. The magic combination of richness and freshness.

Another 20 years in sight. 98 points.  (Notes were similar)

1990 Jaboulet Hermitage la Chapelle 13.9%
Everyone’s favourite in a bracket of 3 Hermitages including 1990 JL Chave and 1990 Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavilon, and so easy to love. Very dense colour, with trivial bricking; barnyard, earth, butterscotch, then the palate runs rampant with dark cherry, tar and more earth, some smoky, dried meaty aspects. Oak is entirely vanished, we’re left with a slinky vinous old-vine palate of fine, fine tannins. Memorable and contemplative – mature wines don’t really come better.
Drink to 2040, 98 points

Chardonnays at Oakridge (Yarra Valley, Victoria)

~ Richard ~ 2 Comments

Oakridge has just picked up a few trophies for Chardonnay at the recent  Melbourne Wine Show. David Donald very knowledgably walked me through a terrific selection of the Oakridge wines.

Oakridge has the luxury of releasing perhaps 6 different Chardonnays, from several sites, and blocks within these sites. The “864” range sits at about twice the price of the LVS (local vineyard series. All the wines are made from the same clone, no malo, and are low-oaked. This does not mean they are mean or lean.

The 2013 Willowlake Chardonnay showed neat melon-rind aspects, but the 2013 Guerin had more energy, fluffy texture and citrus drive. I was contemplating purchase until I tried the multi—trophy 2013 Barkala ridge; apart from the gunflint araomatics, it had more density, savouriness and a pebbly saline edge, while still clearly Chardonnay. Very fine and an easy buy ($36). My usual Oakridge “go-to” is Lusatia Park, but its not released yet.

Two different 2013 “864” Chardonnays, “Lusatia” block A, and ”F&D drive block” came next. I admired them side-by-side; both with defined minerals, length and citrus, I preferred the more embryonic and less funky Lusatia, but both sit in the vanguard of Australian Chardonnay, and at $75 (or less if careful) are fairly priced.

The track record of the age-worthiness of these wines (I have recently drunk 2006 and 2009 examples), and compelling ongoing  wine show results are encouraging – and well-deserved. If you haven’t experienced Oakridge Chardonnay, “do yourself a favour”.

After this display of Chardonnay brilliance, any wines to follow would truly be a let-down, but the “864 Lusatia Park” Pinot Noir was a flashy floral macerated liqueur cherry style, and the 2014 Shiraz was an exhibition in wild red berry and raspberry; fine chocolates and a tow of fine tannins lurking.