Author Archives: Julian Coldrey

Printhie Shiraz 2008

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Packaging is certainly the goods; nice label and a sensibly weighted bottle. 

The aroma shows gentle spice and a floral element, all wrapped around a heady but slightly confectionary berry fruit mix, with oak aromas that sit in a lump alongside the fruit. There’s plenty of immediacy on offer, even if the aroma profile wears its commercial heart on its sleeve a little much for my liking. To be fair, the spice here is interesting and attractive, and the oak character well matched to it.

Similar contradictions on the palate, which shows a bit much sweetness for me. There’s a slippery viscosity as well, which suggests some Viognier may be part of the mix. Nothing on the bottle to suggest it, though, so who knows? Entry is gentle and flavoursome, with dark berries and icing sugar sweetness continuing through the middle palate, which simplifies its expression to a clean plum jam note and some nutty oak. Some nice tannins and lively, orange juice acidity on the after palate break through an overly glossy mid-palate mouthfeel, before a sappy, slightly astringent finish takes over.
This is a very solid commercial style for not much money; my only wish is that it were more characterful. Orange has the makings of a distinctive cool climate wine region, and as a wine lover I yearn to see that distinctiveness present in all the region’s wines, from top to bottom.

Printhie
Price: $A17
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Dowie Doole Shiraz 2008

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Make no mistake, the Dowie Doole California Road and Reserve Shirazes from 2008 are very good wines. The single vineyard wine, in particular, is a beautifully characterful, limpid expression of McLaren Vale Shiraz. One could argue, though, this producer’s stylistic philosophy finds its most satisfying expression in the regular Shiraz, reviewed here. 

The nose is a little spicy and a lot fruity in a typically straightforward McLaren Vale manner, all liquorous red plums and dusted cocoa powder. There’s some savoury aniseed too that is part sweet and part herbal. The aroma profile has a clearly defined shape to it, simple and forthright. If it’s slightly blunt, it’s also enticing, very much in the manner of an old-fashioned baked dessert.
The palate is where things come together. Entry starts small but quickly crescendos to a mid-palate of bright, fresh berry fruit and edges of fennel. The fruit flavours are clean and well-defined, if straightforward, and (as with the nose) suggest an expression akin to the guilty pleasures of liqueur. The acidity is quite bright and causes the wine to jump around over the tongue as it progresses to the after palate. Here the flavours lift and become quite savoury, aniseed and coffee pushing the wine towards a decent finish.
What I like most about Dowie Doole reds is they chase deliciousness above all else. So despite this wine’s relatively simple flavours and a bright structure, it is absolutely delicious, and there’s something deeply attractive about a reasonably priced Shiraz that drinks as this wine does. Don’t hesitate.

Dowie Doole
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Blue Poles Allouran 2007

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Ever since I comprehensively fucked up my student wine earlier this year, I’ve had a fondness for Cabernet Franc. While crushing the grapes by hand, I smelled the most distinctively peppery aroma, fresh and sharp, that I recognised from wines consumed in the past but had never smelled with quite that combination of purity and deliciousness.

Pleasingly, this wine, though a Merlot-dominant blend, captures some of that distinctive Franc aroma. To my nose, the Franc component is quite evident. That mélange of of pepper and sweetly roasted red capsicum, both sharp and pretty, sits atop deeper Merlot aromas and some powdery vanilla oak. This wine smells highly integrated, so it’s a little misleading to describe it in terms of separate notes; aromas melt into one another with pleasure. Overall, there’s a fresh liveliness to this wine’s aroma that is really attractive.

The palate shows genuine elegance. A rush of dark plum fruit flavour on entry, with some high toned pepper providing some light to the fruit’s shade. The mid palate shows some nervy acidity that provides tight focus to the line. Indeed, this wine has a way to go yet before it allows itself deep relaxation. The flavours, though tending towards a slight simplicity in the plum spectrum, are very well matched and balanced. Oak character is sympathetic to the fruit and interlocks with its flavours like a lover’s hands. The after palate shows the most sucrosité of any point along the line. The finish is decent, not thinning out until the last moments of its presence on the tongue.

Nice wine, exceptional value.

Blue Poles Vineyard
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Blue Poles Reserve Merlot 2008

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On Friday, I was fortunate enough to spend time with Mark Gifford of Blue Poles Vineyard. Amongst the wines we tasted were his current 2007 Reserve Merlot, and this 2008 wine, due for release in the near future. I wrote glowingly and, I think, correctly about the 2007, so it was fascinating to taste the two side by side. On Friday, I preferred the 2008 for its tautness and intellect, finding the 2007 soft-edged by comparison. The following evening, when I retasted both, the 2007 had zapped into focus, giving the 2008 a real run for its money. I still can’t decide which I like more. What’s clear is they are both exceptional wines, and in the uppermost echelons of Australian Merlot.

The aroma is heady, deeply fruited, dark and savoury-edged, with perfume-like basenotes of woody spice and spicy oak, tonka bean and juicy leaves. It’s both accessible and complex, at times almost overwhelmingly forthright but always remaining fundamentally elusive and unable to be easily dissected. There’s an element of the strip tease to this wine that is quite compelling.

Entry is dark, just hinting at a sort of plush decadence before showing controlled movement to the middle palate. Here, the full spectrum of this wine’s flavours and structural components becomes evident. Tobacco leaves; savoury berry fruits with just a hint of Merlot’s teddy bear side; abundant, sweet, textural tannins, like rough sandpaper; acidity that holds everything in its place and takes a moment to express its own flourish before whisking the whole bundle of flavours through a raspy, delicious after palate. What a mouthful. The finish is held somewhat in check right now due to all that structure, but is likely to gain greater extension and fullness once the wine has had time to relax.
One could be forgiven for thinking this is even better than the 2007.  

Blue Poles Vineyard
Price: $A35
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Dindima Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2005

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Interesting wine on paper, this. It’s a new release wine yet, at five years of age, relatively old to be so. Not that this is a bad thing; one could argue a lot of red wines are released way too young. Still, it does raise interesting questions even before tasting around style and intent. To the wine, then.

Decidedly herbaceous. Not breathtakingly so, and whether you will find its piercing cut grass and mulch notes objectionable will likely depend on your tolerance for Bordeaux blends on the leaner, greener side of things. There are also aromas of (slightly too much) vanilla and and dark, concentrated fruits, sort of cherry-like but deeper than this descriptor suggests. 
The palate shows considerable tannin and I suspect this is one reason why the wine has been held back for release. Entry is lean and slippery, and the middle palate does not build much in terms of volume. There’s an intense, focused streak of fruit right down the middle of the line; this feels pretty austere. Chalky tannins build through the middle and after palates, I question whether they are fully ripe; like the nose, it’s all a bit edgy without being completely over the top. Quite a long finish, all told.
A marginal wine that I suspect will divide drinkers. I like its brightness and focus, but acknowledge it will be a bit too lean for some.

Dindima
Price: $A35
Closure: Diam
Source: Sample

Yelland & Papps Devote Greenock Shiraz 2008

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The third in Yelland & Papps’s trio of new release reds (Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon reviewed earlier). I think I like the Grenache most of all, though this comes in a close second.

The nose shows brown spice, oak, liquerous dark fruits; generous and comforting without being excessively rich. It’s a very clean aroma profile with a hint of mystery too — a dark pool of smells, rippling gently and promising cool refreshment.
A gentle entry follows, showing no great rush to get to the middle palate. Rather, fruit begins to come in waves, riding slightly prickly acidity and an incline of grainy tannins. Not a highly defined wine, this is more about expressionist brushstrokes and broad statements. It’s also quite sophisticated; the flavour profile, mixing sourness and nutty oak flavours with just enough fleshy fruit, seems quite adult to me. A nice, long, gentle finish.
This held up well over three days of tasting. Give it a couple of years and then tuck in.

Yelland & Papps
Price: $A32
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Yelland & Papps Devote Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

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Two things to note up front regarding this wine: it doesn’t smell or taste much like Cabernet, and I’ve personally struggled with it over two days of tasting. From which some readers may conclude it’s a bad wine, or that I don’t like it, neither of which is necessarily the case. It is atypical and difficult. It’s also oddly compelling and quite drinkable. 

Starting with the nose: nougat-heavy, somewhat malty oak flavours cushion red, plum-like fruits and an odd tarry note. It’s very expressive in its way, though the aroma profile is angular and overwhelming in equal measure. It reminds me of a woolen blanket you’ve just taken out of storage; promising comfort but giving off strange smells that are both familiar and difficult to love.
In the mouth – plenty of flavour for sure. A rush of confectionary red fruit alongside a slightly raw, twiggy note, plus the aforementioned coal tar. In form, it’s quite uncontrolled, lurching this way and that, swelling on the middle palate and turning suddenly towards a thinner expression through the after palate. It’s also charismatic and a bit of a wag. Some heat on the finish seems oddly appropriate.
What to make of this? Bad vintage? Perhaps, though in terms of wine appreciation, that strikes me as a cop-out. Still, its aesthetics defeat me; you may have better luck.

Yelland & Papps
Price: $A32
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Who are those tossers?

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wine-wankers.jpg

Memories. 
I happened to be browsing through some photos the other day and came across this one of Chris and I, taken at the Wooing Tree cellar door in Central Otago. I missed it entirely at first; in the original photo, we are very much in the background, surreptitiously tasting our way through the range. Some judicious cropping brings out the full glory of our situation. If I recall correctly, we had been tasting all day and were quite tired; evidently not too tired to pull some pretty awesome wine wanker faces, however. 

Yelland & Papps Devote Old Vine Grenache 2008

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As nice as it was, the 2007 vintage of this wine pales in comparison to the current release 2008. This is seriously good Barossa Grenache in all respects.

Part of the reason why it’s good is that it doesn’t try too hard. Rather than going down the “more is better” road to quality, I feel this aims for a distillation of the style’s potential, cleanly articulating instead of overreaching. The colour here is certainly approachable, quite see-through really, showing some vibrant purple hues and flashing brightly due to its moderate density. 
The nose is complex and bounces between sweet and savoury. There’s certainly a hit of sweet Grenache fruit, but there’s also musk, nougat, deeper plum fruit, coffee and more, wrapped in an expressive, almost piercing bundle. Though there’s clearly oak here, it’s not the dominant element. Good integration for such a young wine, and any slight edginess that is showing at the moment will no doubt calm further with short term bottle age (or some air).
The palate is simply awash with fruit from entry through to finish. It’s quite tingly at first, fine but edgy acidity pushing bright red fruits onto the tongue, at which point they take a fast ride to the mid-palate and are joined by an altogether darker series of notes. A slightly meaty element asserts at this point, along with black fruits and coffee grounds. Nervous structure aside, the flavours are well harmonised. Brisk movement through the after palate, where a medicinal note lifts and carries the wine through a high toned finish.
There’s lots going on here, most of it attractive and compelling. I suspect this will be a ripper in two to five years’ time.

Yelland & Papps
Price: $A32
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Moppity Vineyards Chardonnay 2008

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Though this producer is based in Hilltops, the fruit for this wine was sourced from Tumbarumba. Curious region. It would have to be one of our lower profile regions, yet carries a reputation for exceptional Chardonnay (amongst other things), its fruit often ending up in premium Penfolds table wines, for example. It’s a beautiful part of the world too, and part of me wonders how special a destination it might become should a critical mass of cellar doors ever be achieved. I can think of worse places to visit.

Anyway, to the wine itself, which is a good rendition of lean Chardonnay in a contemporary Australian idiom. I thought at first sniff it was quite worked, and it’s true there’s some winemaking going on, but as I’ve continued to smell this, its fruit has come to the fore, pushing past some mealy and lightly oaked flavours. There’s white nectarine and a bit of grapefruit mostly, clean and fleshy.
The palate shows impressive power; it’s at this stage I am prompted to reflect on the price of this wine and conclude there’s an awful lot of value here. Real thrust onto the tongue, with preserved lemons and stonefruit flowing freely, followed quickly by some higher toned flavours, including roasted nuts and oatmeal. The point is, it’s coherent and strong, with good presence in the mouth and a real sense of dashing and style. There’s perhaps a lack of subtlety, an absence of light and shade, that separates this from the next tier of wines. But what’s here is so convincing, it’s hard not to enjoy.
A really worthwhile wine.

Moppity Vineyards
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample