Stonier Windmill Pinot Noir 2003
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.
Tasted : Jul06Alcohol : 13%
Price : $50
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2006 - 2010
Visit winery website
Print this article
Email this article
700 Reviews
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.
Print this article
Email this article
Woodlands “Margaret” Reserve Cabernet Merlot 2004
By Gary Walsh
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.
Tasted : Jul06Alcohol : 14.2%
Price : $45
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2009 - 2020
Source : North Sydney Cellars
Visit winery website
Print this article
Email this article
Wantirna Estate Isabella Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2004 ($45)
You need a subscription to The Wine Front to see this part of the post
Print this article
Email this article
Heartland Langhorne Creek Shiraz 2005 ($20)
You need a subscription to The Wine Front to see this part of the post
Price : $20Closure : Cork
Drink : 2006 - 2010
Visit winery website
Print this article
Email this article
Kay Brothers Merlot 2003
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.
Tasted : Jul06Alcohol : 15.5%
Price : $20
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2006 - 2009
Source : Winery Sample
Visit winery website
Print this article
Email this article
Tyrrells Brokenback Shiraz 2003
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).
Tasted : Jul06Alcohol : 13.5%
Price : $25
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2006 - 2013
Source : Cellar Door
Visit winery website
Print this article
Email this article
Tyrrells DB24 Shiraz 2003
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.
Tasted : Jul06Alcohol : 14.5%
Price : $75
Closure : Diam
Drink : 2006 - 2015
Source : Winery Sample
Visit winery website
Print this article
Email this article
De Bortoli Yarra Valley Sauvignon 2005
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.
Tasted : Jul06Alcohol : 12.5%
Price : $30
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2006 - 2010
Source : Winery Sample
Visit winery website
Print this article
Email this article
Hubert Lamy St Aubin ‘Clos de la Chateniere’ 1er 2002
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.
Tasted : Jul06Alcohol : 13%
Price : $90
Closure : Cork
Print this article
Email this article
Contributors
-
Double Take
Next Double Take :
Howard Park Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2005
