Tag Archives: 2009

Kirrihill Tullymore Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

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They’re hardly fashionable, but I do like a good Clare Valley red now and then. Back in the day, and like many wine lovers of my generation I suppose, I cut my teeth on well-priced Clare reds from makers like Annie’s Lane. As a consequence, I have a soft spot for the somewhat rustic character a lot of reds from this region can show. Here we have a single vineyard wine, well priced at $19, from maker Kirrihill.

The nose is gentle and clean, with aromas of old nougat oak, blackcurrant, crushed leaf and some pencil shavings. It’s not especially complex, but it is well integrated and, in profile, quite pretty. It’s also a bit wan, and I wish it had just a bit more bite, less polish, more sex. As it is, the aroma is tentative and too softly-spoken.

The palate is a bit more satisfying thanks to a really attractive mouthfeel that modulates between loose knit tannins and a line of crunchy acid, tossing the wine into various corners of the mouth with a nice sense of liveliness. Flavours take a while to gather steam, peaking on the middle palate with a burst of bright red fruit and sweet oak. Though it’s not a big wine, it feels generous and warm, giving everything it’s got to the drinker.

Not a bad wine then, showing decent character on the palate in particular.

Kirrihill
Price: $A19
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Dowie Doole Shiraz 2009

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I’m slowly recovering from the most unpleasant cold I’ve had in years, and tonight I thought I’d ease back into tasting with what is usually an easy wine to enjoy — Dowie Doole’s regular Shiraz. As impressive as this producer’s upper echelon of wines can often be, I enjoy the regular release for its extreme drinkability and unpretentious style.

I suspect the tricky 2009 vintage is showing through here in a slightly harder flavour profile than usual; there’s a woody, spicy, vegetal influence that competes with the wine’s lush, sweet fruit, though the latter is never overpowered by it, ensuring the style’s fundamentals still shine through in the end. The aroma starts with spice and transitions quickly to cherries and plums and rich, dark chocolate. It’s a guilty pleasure candy bar of an aroma profile, again with that slightly hard edge but also a soft, gooey core.

The palate echoes the nose quite precisely, wood and spice giving way to slightly stewed plum fruit that dominates the middle and after palates. This is a pricklier wine than usual, more angular and challenging. Still, it’s also a Dowie Doole Shiraz, so remains firmly in easy drinking territory, still showing as much freshness and drinkability as possible. The finish is a lovely surprise, long and spiced and red fruited.

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

Angullong A Shiraz 2009

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I’ve been impressed with the Angullong wines I’ve tasted in the past. Though priced affordably, they have shown a level of character and drinkability that would be desirable at any price point. For a region that, in my view, is still struggling to find an identity, Angullong’s accessible and distinctive wines are just what Orange needs.

At a RRP of $17, one might reasonably expect a stylistically bland wine, yet this shows a good deal of cooler climate Shiraz character. My first impression of the aroma is intense spice, pepper, cloves and coriander seed. It’s classically cooler climate, but instead of the juicy plum fruit of, say, Grampians Shiraz, this shows a brighter, crunchier red fruit character. There’s not a lot of refinement here, just plenty of distinctive aroma.

The palate is a marginal disappointment, not through lack of flavour but because the fruit tips into slightly confected territory, which simplifies and drags down the overall flavour profile. On the plus side, there’s good intensity and thrust, acid playing a prominent role in the wine’s structure. Oak is present throughout, most notably through the after palate, and the finish tastes like a cross between boiled lollies and mixed berry compote, with a side of vanilla ice cream.

Despite its rough and ready demeanour, this is a very enjoyable wine and one that goes especially well with spicy food.

Angullong
Price: $A17
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Tyrrell's Johnno's Shiraz 2009

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The obviousness of a showy wine makes it easy to write about, whether positively or negatively. Such styles get a reaction, they force you to take sides and, if you care about discussing wine in terms beyond “I like it,” to explain why.

This wine, on the other hand, has me scratching my head, not because I don’t like it (I do), but because no matter how hard I try, I find it difficult to write about in terms that adequately communicate its pleasures. I suspect this is in part because it’s an easy wine to enjoy; it dodges every attempt I make to see it as difficult. The nose gives up everything it’s got without much effort on the drinker’s part and, while there’s plenty of complexity to the aroma profile, the dominant notes provide easy regional comfort: leather and dirt, red cherries, sit-on-my-lap nougat oak, a surprising lilt of white pepper.

In the mouth, these flavours flow easily over the tongue; it’s quite spectacular how this manages to deliver the goods without any apparent effort. Part of it is architectural; light bodied and lightly structured, this isn’t formless so much as waifishly elegant. Acid makes the biggest textural impression through the after palate, giving life to the palate and drawing out the best in its transparent, squeaky red fruit. Yet the wine fights against analytical tasting and, as I sip it now, I have trouble getting past how gorgeously drinkable it is. It’s clean and sunny and not overdone in any way, a wine for drinking, not sipping, smiles of appreciation, not problematics.

I like it.

Update: two days on and it’s really singing. Still like it. Maybe even love it.

Tyrrell’s Wines
Price: $A45
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Karra Yerta Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

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One of the benefits of writing a not-for-profit wine blog is that I can skew my tasting towards wines and producers in which I have a particular interest. So, when this wine arrived today, it shot straight to the top of the sample pile and indeed was quickly opened when I sat down to taste. I’ve enjoyed all the Karra Yerta wines I’ve tasted, to varying degrees of course, and I believe this is the first straight Cabernet I’ve tried from this producer. Grapes are sourced from High Eden, thirty two cases produced.

I was half expecting the down-home, earthy style I’ve enjoyed so much in Karra Yerta’s Shiraz and Shiraz Cabernet wines, but this is a different beast, stylistically. The nose is positively squeaky with bright fruit and high toned aromas. I don’t look to Barossa Cabernet for (what I consider) varietal character, and I’m not getting a lot of the cooler climate leaf and cassis typical of, say, Coonawarra Cabernet. In its place, a simpler and more accessible aroma profile, with edges of well-judged nougat oak.

The palate was initially both disjointed and confected, and for a moment I thought this might be the first Karra Yerta wine that disagreed with me. But just a few minutes of air has seen this really come together with dramatically increased complexity and a satisfying, acid-driven structure. It’s a fundamentally bright, crowd-pleasing wine in style, though, and may not be everyone’s idea of Cabernet. No matter – entry shows a gentle attack that builds quickly to a red fruited middle palate, all riding nicely textural acidity. Oak is a discernible yet subtle influence throughout, contributing vanilla and nougat in turn. The after palate gently darkens in profile before a soft, lightly tannic finish rounds things off.

Karra Yerta Wines
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Moppity Shiraz 2009

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I was a big fan of the 2008 Moppity Reserve Shiraz. This is the standard Shiraz and, at less than half the cost of the reserve wine, it would be wrong to impose the sort of lofty expectations one might reasonably hold of a $60 wine. Still, as I opened the bottle I was hoping for good things.

My initial impression of the nose was of overripe, prune-like fruit. Happily, this has largely faded into a much more pleasing aroma profile of fresh plum skins, hot blackberries, flowers, spice and dust. Complex, varietal and more than a bit angular, this isn’t a plush expression of Shiraz so much as one that emphasises the variety’s ability to be simultaneously sharp and juicy. It’s a disconcerting start, though, and the lesson here is to give this wine a bit of time to open up.

The palate is bright, having an acid-driven structure and only moderate weight. Good attack on entry, tingling with acid before red fruits creep across the tongue. The middle palate is highly textured and pretty aggressive, showcasing acid and uneven, chalky tannins more than lightly juicy fruit. Even more than the nose, the palate needs a good deal of time to calm and allow its flavour to work its way past all that structure. I don’t have any experience with this label and how it ages, so I’m not sure how the acid will contribute to the whole over the medium term. The after palate is savoury and more fruit forward, and the finish is light but long.

A very interesting wine, rather too young to fully enjoy right now. I wish the acid were less strident, but perhaps a little time in bottle will see to this.

Moppity Vineyards
Price: $A24.99
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Jean-Marc Burgaud Morgon Les Charmes 2009

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Thanks to Jeremy Pringle (of Wine Will Eat Itself) for sharing this with me. I believe it’s imported by Eurocentric.

The nose is complex and mostly savoury. As it unfolds, there are notes of unripe banana, some pretty fermentation esters, raspberry-flavoured boiled lollies and ripe, juicy weeds. The fruit character in particular seems to slip around with each sip, modulating between medicinal and sharply sugared. As it warms, a stronger thread of vegetation lifts above the fruitier, prettier dimensions, the whole becoming thicker, headier, more intoxicatingly perfumed. It ends up a really striking aroma profile, both comforting and sharp, like a warm jumper laced with thorns.

In the mouth, sharp and cool on entry, showing prominent acid which is well integrated into the flavour and flow of the wine. The fruit’s medicinal character comes to the fore here, and it’s surrounded by an array of complexities like banana skins and twigs. Weight-wise, this is lean the way a model is lean, not ungenerous so much as elegant in a highly particular, angular way. The after palate is the most fruit-driven point of the wine’s line, with more boiled lollies and the beginnings of a dry, raspy tannic influence that carries through the finish. Its tannins are worth lingering over. One might describe them as slightly green, though for me they are rough in a more positive sense, in the same way a banana that’s not quite ready to eat has that curiously powdery effect on one’s tongue.

A really fabulous wine whose complexity is especially remarkable given it sees no oak and is so young. Great value at $A30.

Domaine Jean-Marc Burgaud
Price: $A30
Closure: Cork
Source: Gift

Kingston Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

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It’s time for one of my periodic forays into ultra-value territory. It’s just as well I don’t score wines, because I freely admit my expectations of inexpensive wines are quite different from those I apply to costlier labels, and those expectations probably influence my drinking pleasure as much, if not more, than any objective notions of quality.

Take varietal character. I expect most wines at the $A20+ price point to embody their varietal (and, for that matter, their regional) origins. However, I’m often happy to drink a cheap wine that simply tastes good without worrying too much about transparency of expression. So it was a pleasant surprise to immediately recognise in this wine the dusty cassis aromas for which Cabernet is so well known. It’s so correct, in fact, that it took me a moment to recognise what I think is a hint of DMS, which, in small quantities, can sometimes enhance the fruit character of Cabernet-based wines. It does so here, creating a very pure and straightforward aroma profile, fruit-focused but with just a little nougat oak to add sex appeal.

The palate doesn’t quite live up to the nose’s promise for two reasons. Firstly, it lacks drive and intensity, being quite laid back in its flow and flavour. Secondly, it shows a slight confectionary edge to the fruit flavour that isn’t really evident on the nose. I suppose it’s testament, though, to this wine’s appeal that I’m even tempted to engage it on this level. Tannins are slightly fake-tasting but technically solid and evenly spread. They’re also quite prominent for a wine that is ostensibly about quaffing. A nice dry finish ends with a lilt of oak flavour to round things off.

An excellent wine for the money.

Kingston Estate
Price: $A13.99
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Flaxman Drone Blend 2009

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I never know what to expect when I open a Barossa Valley Rhône-ish blend. Stylistically, producers seem to try everything, from the richest of rich wines through to lighter, more claret-like interpretations, a category to which this wine belongs.

On pouring, it’s immediately apparent there’s no great density of colour here, and this is the first clue as to the style on offer. The second comes quickly on the nose, where instead of the wall of fruity goodness one might anticipate, there is instead an angular, prickly aroma profile that teases rather than leaps from the glass. The second interesting feature of this wine now presents: the Mataro component is very prominent. There’s some typically sweet, confectionary Grenache fruit, but dominating this note is a meaty, savoury, frankly challenging set of Mataro aromas that are really fascinating and moreish.

The palate confirms this wine’s light attitude as well as its curious savouriness. Entry is quite striking, with an edge of acid leading to a flash of sweet fruit before the meat takes over and carries this wine through to an elegant, supple middle palate. I like the way the two constituent grapes appear to fight against each other as this winds its way down the line, sweet and savoury intertwining and constantly threatening to pull apart but never seeming to go that far. A lift of well-judged oak supports the after palate and ushers in a dry, slightly resinous finish.

Be careful how you match this with food. Its distinctiveness will be lost with something too robust (like my burger dinner). A subtle, sloppy ragu would be perfect, I reckon.

Flaxman Wines
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Scarborough White Label Chardonnay 2009

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Few things over the past three or so years have been sufficient to drag me away from wine writing. Tasting and reflecting on wine is one of my greatest pleasures; if it weren’t, I certainly wouldn’t have co-created this site and spent so many hours contributing to it. Learning about wine is its own reward, and my involvement with the drink continues to surprise me as it takes new twists and turns.

The last couple of weeks have conspired, though, to reduce my output to zero. A gloriously non-alcoholic holiday, followed by a jet-lag infused first week back home and, finally, a messy chest cold have hardly inspired me to ponder the finer points of wine. Happily, the cold is under control, the jet-lag mostly gone and my post-holiday blues seem to be rapidly receding. What better opportunity to get back into things with this Hunter Valley Chardonnay?

I must write a whole article at some point about the intersection of taste, wine style and fashion. While on vacation, I read a slim but spectacularly interesting book about Celine Dion (yes, you read that right) that is perhaps the best summary of aesthetics by way of personal taste I’ve ever read. More on that soon; for now, suffice to say this wine embodies a firmly unfashionable style and does so with verve and dedication.

A rich, golden hue is followed by an aroma that showcases winemaking before all else. Yes, we’re in Worked Chardonnay territory here, and that will be enough to turn some drinkers off immediately. But, dammit, it shouldn’t; nothing this complex and generous ought to go unappreciated. There are grilled nuts, cream, a hint of honeycomb, herbs and finally some white stonefruit. It’s a very young wine, as evidenced by a sharpness to the aroma profile that is not entirely pleasant but which should soften with a little time.

The palate begins with the same sharpness, here translating as a slight bitterness, but quickly moves through to a set of flavours that tread an interesting line between freshly savoury and guiltily sweet. What’s clear is there’s quite firm structure at play, completely preventing the wine from being heavy or cloying. Although I’ve tasted more intense wines in this style, there’s significant impact as this hits the tongue, and its power carries right through the middle and after palates. A creamed honey lift starts towards the back of the mouth and coats the finish with a softness that counteracts a continuation of the slight bitterness that is this wine’s most distinctive flavour component. Very decent length, though a bit hot on the finish.

Hunter Chardonnay, thanks for welcoming me back.

Scarborough
Price: $A30
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample