Double Take: d’Arenberg The Dead Arm Shiraz 2006
Walsh: In later life I’m finding Dead Arm Shiraz far more pleasant than I used to. The ones my older brother used to give me really hurt, although not as much as a sneaky Dead Leg. The corollary of this holds true for the wine itself. Dead Arm is no longer the big, bruising, heavily oaked beast it used to be. Now it sees better oak (and more of it French) and it seems more vibrant and energetic. I’ve not bought a Dead Arm since the 1995 vintage, but would consider a couple of these as I’m very interested to see how it might turn out.
Goodness me this is ferrous and dryly tannic with an appetising mix of blackberry, blueberry, beef stock, pepper, liquorice and toasty oak. There’s a dried herb/chicory sort of thing going on too which is most pleasant. Tight and bright acidity drives the wine along and given a good decant it softens up and begins to show real class and potential. It’s energetic, has a great deal of presence in the mouth and feels lightish - in a Dead Arm context at least. I think it needs extended cellaring to reveal its best qualities. I like this vintage a great deal. Drink: 2014-2020+ 95 points.
Mattinson: I wouldn’t be calling it light-ish but yep, I like this vintage a great deal too. I reckon it’s thick with flavour but it’s smooth and even and, in its style, delicious. I like the call on ‘chicory’ - with a spot of coffee attached. Thick, luscious, smooth-skinned blackberry and blueberry with creamy, cedary, toasty oak coming hand-in-glove. Eve, structured, silken finish - it’s as good as any Dead Arm Shiraz that I’ve tasted.
Tasted : Oct08Alcohol : 14.5%
Price : $65
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2014 - 2020
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Double Take: Raw Power Shiraz 2006
WALSH: The first thing that popped into my word association addled head was “Roar Power” being the handlebar motor noise making accessory that any trend setting young boy (or girl) would be seen sporting on their bike sometime around the late 70’s. I never had one mind you, much preferring the more subtle noise a footy card in the spokes made (faithfully secured by a peg) . And the adult parallel with wine still probably holds true for me.
My first impression was of raspberry jam, cut with brandy, a floral Grenachey lift, a little chocolate and some leather (jacket) and a few hours later the complexity has come up and the sweetness down, but essentially it’s a similar experience. I guess you’d call it full bodied, although it comes over as a bit lighter than that with insufficient flesh to cover the sweet alcoholic warmth. Jammy, leathery flavours and a warm finish with light dry sandy tannins complete the story. It’s a fair wine all the same, although not one for the faint hearted. Drink 2008-2010. 87 points.
MATTINSON: I’ve almost come to expect to love the handywork of Domenic Torzi so I was surprised when I didn’t get excited over this. The Torzi Matthews and Longhop wines are always sweet and syrupy but they usually do it with such aplomb that before long I’m baying for more. Raw Power Shiraz is true to the sweet style, with lots of jammy, blackberried, jelly bean flavours - there’s even a bit of Bundy-and-cola about it. For $12.99 of course it offers a big serve of flavour but there’s not a lot of freshness or length. 87 points.
Tasted : Oct08Alcohol : 14.9%
Price : $12.99
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2008 - 2010
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Double Take: Coriole Shiraz Fiano 2006
MATTINSON: Fiano is the first Italian white varietal to be grown at Coriole (which was one of the first to take on, commercially, the Italian red varieties) and as a blending component with shiraz it’s unique in Australia. The back of the bottle reckons that it adds plushness but fiano is renowned for both its natural acidity and late ripening - it’s also being touted as a “climate changed variety” i.e. some believe it maintains its acidity in dry conditions, and the lateness of its ripening holds some advantages in the ever-more-compressed vintages of late. This is the first release. 500 dozen produced.
Lots of red and dark berried aromatics - and flavours. Juicy, fruity, creamy mouthfeel with good, warm flavour through a slightly tarry finish. Not all that interesting but a good drink. Firm tannins. Australia’s first shiraz fiano blend is a success. 88 points.
WALSH: I’ve been a fan of Coriole Fiano, so jumped at the chance to try it (3%) mixed up with a bit of red. A curious blend but it really appeals to me, and unlike Mattinson, I find it both interesting and engaging. Only available via cellar door.
It’s fragrant and aromatic with wild herbs and a pretty liquorice/aniseed/basil lift over juicy berry fruit. Medium bodied with berry, creamed honey, herb and fresher white wine characters it has fine light tannin and good length of flavour. Rustic, more than a little quirky, but packed with charm - this is a highly drinkable wine of personality and interest. Drink 2008-2011. 91 points.
Tasted : Sep08Alcohol : 14%
Price : $22
Closure : Screwcap
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Double Take: Punch Lance’s Vineyard Pinot Noir 2006
WALSH: An impromptu double take as we’ve both been meaning to review this for a while - and then we happened to knock up our notes - well actually Mattinson pinched my post template and put his words in it. Cheeky. I also suggest that you just glaze your eyes over slightly when reading the last line of his review. It will be so much better for all of us….
It’s minty, foresty and perfumed with bright red fruits and a touch of mulch. Light to medium bodied and again the minty red fruits (poached strawberry, cranberry)- an elegant style but ripe and balanced with spicy oak, elevated fresh acidity and a good finish. There’s a touch of smokiness and reduction which adds complexity rather than detracts. And for a light wine it’s surprisingly tannic and shapely - I’d say it will age (and improve) well . Drink: 2010-2016. 92+ points.
MATTINSON: There’s some lovely cherry-plummed, silken flavour here but the tannin comes on too early in the wine, and too strong, before then petering out before the wine has finished. Every time I took a mouthful it was like the sound and vision weren’t completely in synch. It smells dastardly good and the flavours are all class. I reckon this is a wine that would have benefited from a softer seal (but let’s not open that can of worms). Drink: 2011-2016. 90 points.
Alcohol : 12.5%
Price : $50
Closure : Screwcap
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Double Take: Seppelt St Peters Grampians Shiraz 2006
MATTINSON: It’s sourced from the vineyards surrounding the winery at Great Western in north-western Victoria and although approaching the upper-end price wise it’s become a crowd favourite - particularly compared to the doldrums of the 1990s when it customarily sat on shelves gathering dust. The 2006 vintage was short and early but it’s produced an unusually spicy St Peters.
And it is bloody spicy! Aromatically this is more like a Craiglee than a St Peters, with lots of cracked black pepper, gumleaf, cedarwood and dark cherry aromas leading the charge. In the mouth it’s a touch plumper than the nose might’ve suggested, though there are lots of stalk- and spice-like notes going on here. Coiled tannin - this is a deceptively tannic wine. It tastes more like a cool year wine than a warm year wine. I think it will mature well but I also think it’s mid tier, at best, quality-wise. For me, drink: 2011-2016. 91 points.
WALSH: Well we sure know how to pick em at the moment, because yet again I’m pretty much in full agreement with the old boy. This and the last vintage of St Peters have been a bit lacking in excitement for my tastes. A bit under-done, too stylised, picked too early, lacking sizzle or whatever. This is no exception. It’s a good wine, and one with its best days ahead of it, but at this stage, to quote the Kaiser Chiefs -
It does not move me it does not get me going at all.
Yes it’s peppery all right and that includes a fair shake of Chinese five spice too. Juicy and aromatic with fresh blackberry and boysenberry fruit and light wood treatment. In the mouth medium bodied but dry and quite tannic with blackberry/blackcurrant fruit, spice and a meaty lightly stalky character. It also has distinctly fresh acidity that comes up a little tart on the finish. I like the flavours, and the concept, but the delivery is not quite right - it lacks a bit of mid-palate oomph and weight. It looked better after being open for a day and I’m optimistic that the wine has good potential for improvement. Drink 2012-2018+ 91+ points.
Tasted : Sep08Alcohol : 13.5%
Price : $59.95
Closure : Screwcap
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Double Take: Tyrrells Brokenback Shiraz 2006
CAMPBELL MATTINSON: I tasted this at the end of a long row of Barossa shiraz, and boy do you notice the difference. Regionalism is alive and well. This is only 12.8% alcohol and has mostly been matured in large casks, some new and some used. It takes some breathing to start showing its best, but it’s an even tempered, ripe, earthen wine with a hit of glossy, blueberried, dark cherried flavour. On the finish, their is a distinct minerality. There is nothing plump here - this is a long, linear wine, like the red version of young semillon. It’s nicely aromatic and to me, very nice drinking. Drink: 2010-2015. 91 points.
GARY WALSH: There’s more wine from Tyrrell’s in my personal cellar than any other winery. Much of it is Semillon of course, but of late the reds are starting to stack up, and indeed I just popped three dozen of their 2007 Shiraz in this very day. Now some Double Takes are going to be controversial, and that’s a good thing, but I suspect that when it comes to Hunter Shiraz we are going to be uniformly, and boringly, in agreement.
It opens a little whiffy but comes up with air - quite earthen and cherried with a little leather, vanilla and pepper making themselves known. Typically mid-weight with a combination of red fruit and savoury earthiness and some more nutty flavours. The tannins are light and the acid is fresh and brisk - an open window in the often stuffy room of Australian Shiraz. Good finish with that slightly tart acid popping up on exit. I agree this is good drinking, but shown to its best advantage with food. ABV:12.8% Drink: 2009-2016. 90 points.
Tasted : Aug08Alcohol : 12.8%
Price : $25
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DOUBLE TAKE: Marius McLaren Vale Single Vineyard Simpatico Shiraz 2006 ($24) screwcap:
CAMPBELL MATTINSON: The Marius name has fast become synonymous with reliable quality. The grapes for this wine are hand-picked (and not all at once: numerous passes are made in an attempt to pick all grapes at their optimum), basket pressed, fermented and then matured in French and American oak hogsheads. The resultant wine is soft, medium-bodied, deliciously ripe and attractive, with even-tempered blackberry and raspberry flavours. There’s very little sign of oak flavour here and a silken set of tannins. It should start drinking at its best in about two years time. Drink: 2010-2014. 91 points.
GARY WALSH: There’s no Symphony this year as all the fruit went into Simpatico, and it goes without saying (almost) that I agree with Mattinson, that yes, Marius is a producer that’s fast become synonomous with quality, but I’d add that they are also one that shows a bit of extra flair too. The wines offer that little something extra, although I’m not quite sure exactly what it is. This is a touch ferrous and has something hard to describe - a sort of stone and earth character over the raspberry and blackberry fruit - a little bit of Priorat meets the Vales - and there’s a chunk of chocolate and new leather in there too. Subtle oak allows the fruit to express itself clearly. In the mouth medium to full bodied and loaded with ripe berry fruit, chocolate and again some of those ferrous stone and earth qualities. Lovely tannins, soft and fine grained, and they contribute to the nutty toothsome texture and pop up again on the finish to do a little dusting. There’s a touch of warmth too, but it’s not disruptive, and the longer the wine is open the better it looks. Decant it for an hour if drinking now or better still give it a couple more years to show itself to best advantage. An authentic wine that offers plenty more interest than many of its peers. ABV: 14.5% Drink: 2010-2016. 92+ points.
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DOUBLE TAKE: Houghton Wisdom Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 ($30) cork:
One wine, two reviewers …
GARY WALSH: Lovely to smell with blackcurrant, plum, bay leaf, a gravelly earthiness and cocoa. There’s certainly some greener top notes - the distant tang of a green house but it’s complexing rather than off putting. In the mouth the pace picks up with blackcurrant and plum fruit of admirable sweetness and quality, coffee and cocoa and a faint eucalypt character. The tannins here are outstanding with a fine grained milk chocolate smoothness and there’s freshness and life to the wine. It’s only medium bodied but has no shortage of flavour..or length. I was undecided on some of those herbal notes but on the second day they rolled up into the wine and I was convinced that it’s a smoking example of Margaret Cabernet. ABV:13.9% Drink: 2010-2018+ 94 points.
CAMPBELL MATTINSON: It’s a wine that asks a number of questions. Is it weighty enough? (because it’s only medium-weight at best). Is it too green and herbal? (because cabernet’s renowned leafiness borders on tomato-like characters here,and there’s certainly a hit of eucalypt). Is it pretty enough? (because I live in the country and that country music really gets in your head and sticks there). In the end, like Mr Walsh, I came out in favour of the wine but I wasn’t always sure. We’re both going to rate in its favour but I would definitely try one before buying in number. The good thing about this wine is that it’s lengthy, beautifully structured, interesting and only lightly clipped by suitably, chocolaty oak. Indeed it has the kind of fine, elongated tannin that makes me think the cellar is going to be very kind to it. Drink: 2011-2018. 93 points.
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DOUBLE TAKE: Leo Buring Leonay DWL17 High Eden Valley Riesling 2008 ($39.99) screwcap:
GARY WALSH: Campbell and I seem to be having a few differences of opinion on Riesling at the moment. I suspect that he’s a bit of an acid freak, whereas I’m equally happy sporting a face like a half chewed wine gum as I am drinking a softer more textured wine with face set in the usual angelic, yet slightly cheeky, mode. As they say in the classics…”I theenk thees goes as both”
It’s floral and perfumed with lilac and lavender, citrus (including orange and mandarin) and full of fruit - verging on mango even. It bursts in the mouth like with sorbet-like intensity - an abundance of flavour allied with strong clean acid, a long vibrant finish and touch of grip on exit. Excellent now. Great later, maybe. ABV: 11.5% Drink: 2008-2010 then 2015+. 95 points
CAMPBELL MATTINSON: Leo Buring is Australia’s only 100% riesling brand … it once released reds under this label but credit where credit is due - the direction Foster’s has taken Buring in recent years is an admirable one. I’m with GW on the wine too. It has a big hit of apple-like, pineapple-like, lemony acidity but there’s a distinct sense of delicacy too. And it’s seriously long. I’m not sure that it makes for great drinking right now* but it should perform excellently in the cellar. The more I came back to it the more its length impressed me. Drink: Now or from 2014-ish onwards. 95 points.
* I’ve had this wine three times in the space of a week, but one of these times was notable for the food it was consumed with. I had it at Bilson’s in Sydney with an amazingly fresh, salty dish - a cold entree of oysters, lobster and snapper served with a seaweed and seawater jelly. Eating it was like pulling fish straight from the sea. The riesling, accordingly, tasted great.
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DOUBLE TAKE: Scorpo Mornington Peninsula Noirien Pinot Noir 2007 ($27) Diam cork:
CAMPBELL MATTINSON: Gosh this took a long time to come around in the glass and present as something interesting - it reminded me of the broody French films I used to go and see at the Kino Cinema in Melbourne in the 80s. The reason for this is that it’s quite reductive and it really needs to get some air into it - it’s also taut as a drum. It tastes of sour and dark cherry and is characterised by its tannic force - given the price I suspect that this is aimed at the bistro market, but it really needs a year or two rest in the cellar. This is a light to medium weight wine of class and structure. I like it quite a lot - though it’s a quirky bugger. Drink: 2010-2014. 91 points.
GARY WALSH: I didn’t spend my teenage years sneaking into dingy cinemas like Matinee Mattinson, it was a vigorous and healthy outdoor life for me, so I’m no expert on French Cinema unless it involves Emmanuelle Beart, Isabelle Adjani, Julie Delpy, Juliette Binoche or perhaps Irène Jacob… I can see Campbell fancying himself a Gitane smoking, black skivvy wearing Film Noir auteur mind you…OK enough now..Calme sur le tournage!
It is broody and très grave with sour black cherries, spice, a faint waft of smouldering Autumn leaves and a distinctive earthy fresh beetroot character. Rich and intense but medium weight with strong acidity and good firm tannin. It has drive, flavour and a dark spicy personality with no shortage of length. A wine of character and substance. I like it a lot too..but just a little more. ABV: 13% Drink: 2009-2014. 92 points.
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