Tag Archives: Clare Valley

Kirrihill Tullymore Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Posted on by
Reply

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

Grosset Gaia 2001

Posted on by
1

Exotic and yet strangely familiar, this wine smells of California mission figs, damp soil in a shady redwood forest, freshly-baked German plum torte, the singing acidity of just-cleaved fruit, freshly baked brownies cooling in a suburban kitchen window, and cassis. It’s so wonderfully complex that honestly? I could probably sit here smelling it for half an hour; it’s as elaborate and fluid as a Guerlain perfume.Texturally, it’s fascinating, simultaneously hard and porous, with an initial impression of hard, ripe tannin quickly changing to a soft, slippery, sensual decay of just-melted chocolate. Beyond the texture, though, is still-present, still-youthful black cherry fruit, cheerfully slipping into warmer cigar box and cedar notes, finishing softly into a long, slow dissolve into dried herbs and dark bread baked in a wood-fired oven.Ironically, it’s the sweetness here that marks this wine as distinctly what it is. If that weren’t here, it would remind me of a Loire red, given its firm tannin and wonderfully complex notes of cherry, mineral, and herbs. However, it’s that beautiful, pure Australian fruit that elevates it beyond the merely really f***ing good and into the phenomenal. There aren’t many wines that can convincingly walk the line between Old World and New; just as Ridge Monte Bello does, this wine is simultaneously everything good about the Old and the New.I would imagine there’s another five or ten years’ life left here; simultaneously, I can’t imagine this being any better than it is right now.Grosset
Price: $27
Closure: Cork
Source: Retail

Atlas 429° Shiraz 2008

Posted on by
Reply

Some wines make you work, taking their time to emerge and show true character. Other wines reach out to you with an aroma that sings with freshness and vitality, like a chatty first date with whom you just know you’ll get along. Like that first date, appearances can be deceptive in the long term, but there’s no denying the enjoyment to be had in first conversations. To be sure, I tasted this over two days.

This wine has the most attractive fruit note immediately on pouring; it’s all blackberries and plums, rather liquerous in expression yet redolent of freshness at the same time. Some aniseed and mocha complexities sit in the background at first, very much secondary to the juicy fruit. This does rebalance quite quickly, and the hedonist in me was almost slightly disappointed to observe various notes come into better balance after some lazy swirling. 
The palate is a surprise, in that it’s quite restrained. Entry is quiet, showing some grainy texture and a savoury, mineral note. The middle palate brings Summer berries back into the mix, along with oak that is part bubble gum and part milk coffee. It’s medium bodied and quite savoury, with brisk movement through the mouth. Tannins were quite prominent at first but have settled into a better place, still abundant but not so forbidding. To be critical, this lacks some drive and punch in the mouth, and I’d like to see an ounce more presence to match the headiness of the nose. Pretty delicious all the same.

Atlas Wines
Price: $A35
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

clos Clare Riesling 2002

Posted on by
1

Interesting going back to a wine two years or so later on in its evolution; I last drank this in November 2007, and here we are again. This time around, the nose offers up a very spare emptiness, almost the idea of wine without characteristics. It’s an oddly Zen effect: a wine that is so quiet that concentrating on it leaves me very quiet indeed. There are notes of refrigerated butter, dried leaves, and wax paper on the nose; in the mouth, it’s surprisingly rich and full-bodied, with the expected shocking acidity having very much subsided over the last eight years or so in the bottle. On the finish, you get a 3D suggestion of Meyer lemon tart, all lemon rind and fresh pastry, before it slowly fades out.Again, absolutely lovely stuff here, and it doesn’t seem to have changed much over the last two years… and that’s a good thing because I think I still have a few more bottles. If all of the Australian rieslings I bought six years ago last this long under Stelvin, I’ll be very happy indeed as there’s no way I can drink most of them before they’re a quarter-century old.clos Clare
Price: US $14
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Kirrihill Slate Creek Vineyard Riesling 2009

Posted on by
Reply

A single vineyard wine from the Watervale sub-region of the Clare Valley. And a really true example of this style of Riesling too, very much in a drink now idiom but recognisably regional all the same. 

The nose shows swirly, shabby chic aromas of old lace, freshly squeezed lemon juice and ripe white flowers. There’s also a hint of talcum powder verging on minerality, which adds a nice lilt to the aroma profile. Taken as a whole, the nose is both relatively complex and totally accessible, signalling a wine made for easy, but not braindead, enjoyment.
On entry, acid is restrained in volume yet robust in texture, overlaid with lemon juice notes that are less intrusively sour than some. This combination carries linearly through to a mid-palate that widens only marginally, holding its tight, clear line. Intensity of fruit is moderate, which suits the style, and it’s here that a range of flavour complexities emerge. Pebbles and crusher dust sit in the minerality camp, while the fruit turns towards a lemon rind-like astringency. Texture is even and a little gravelly through the after palate, and the finish is long, tapering elegantly away to nothing.
A solid wine, then, with plenty of character and made in a style that’s very approachable right now. Not a bad Friday night choice.

Kirrihill
Price: $A19.95
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Grosset Polish Hill Riesling 2009

Posted on by
Reply

Sometimes I have trouble getting into this wine but no such problems tonight. It’s a cracker.

Intense, racy bath salt-like aromas overlay a good deal of floral, mineral notes and some fine citrus rind. It’s incredibly complex for a young Riesling which, like other simply made white styles, can seem simple in youth. Not this one, though; it exudes sophistication and confidence, not through volume or excess, but simply by being classically well-built from tip to toe. I’m sniffing this wine again and again and there’s more to extract each time.
The palate is, if anything, even more impressive, as it adds great thrust and length to the nose’s proportioned, complex aroma profile. It’s a curious thing — intensity that sings with minerality rather than fruit flavour — I love it. The entry is immediate thanks mostly to some pretty assertive acidity, and it all builds from here to a middle palate of great shape and flinty texture. There’s an edge of sweetness that softens the relatively austere flavour profile, and this smidge of soft focus makes this Polish Hill more approachable than some others I have tried. Swift movement through the after palate to a reverberant finish of snazzy length. 
Many critics tend to rate the Polish Hill above the Watervale, and in this instance I’d have to agree. What a great Riesling.

Grosset
Price: $A39
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Grosset Springvale Riesling 2009

Posted on by
4

Née Watervale. 

Amongst the many things for which I enjoy Riesling, one of the recurring highlights of a particularly good one is the directness with which it communicates its quality. Personally, I find quality one of the less tangible aspects of wine, intersecting (and at times contradicting) other considerations like drinkability and style. Somehow, though, I find with Riesling that an increase in quality tends to align with an increase in my enjoyment, and I think part of it is the somewhat facile satisfaction I obtain from being able to clearly grasp what makes a good Riesling so good. At least, I flatter myself this ability. 
Take this Grosset wine, which is bloody good. It’s complex, and as I sniff the wine and take in this complexity, I remind myself that’s all there is. No oak, apparently straightforward winemaking; it’s just fruit character shining forth. This is a case, surely, of minimalist winemaking enhancing terroir (not, I believe, something to be regarded as a truism, but that’s another post for another time). Though less exhuberant than the 2008 vintage, there’s an obvious family resemblance, with a range of high toned notes overlaying deeper, almost tropical fruits and detailed citrus aromas. Great balance, interest and style. 
The palate shows the youthful impact for which this label is known, placing relatively full, rich fruit in a framework of textured, slatey acidity and etched complexity. The entry is like a wedge; it starts from nothing and works its way confidently to a bright middle palate filled with flavour, beautiful texture and the kind of drape normally reserved for high end couture. It’s the facted angularity of its architecture as much as any other, more prosaic dimension that satisfies me here. And, to be hyper-critical, the intellectualism associated with this style might get in the way of purely sensual appreciation. I tend to think, though, that bottle age might cure any such faults, if one were to find them distracting. Personally, I love that it drags me to a higher level of appreciation as a taster. If only more wines held drinkers in such high regard.

Grosset
Price: $A31
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Leasingham Classic Clare Cabernet Sauvignon 1996

Posted on by
Reply

First off, thank you Julian for passing along this bottle. Once I got past the crumbling, decrepit cork and strained out all of the nasty bits, I was left with a fairly young, Port-like looking wine, which was a bit of a surprise. Yay! It’s not dead yet! Heck, it’s not even all that brown or watery at the rim just yet, which is very much a surprise after all these years.Jammy, stewed prunes blanket the glass; soft, warm smells of cedar boxes and patent medicines complement it well. It all smells like something you’d find at a bake sale in rural England, suggesting sweet spices from the Empire juxtaposed against fine local dairy products, the buttery esters bumping up against clove and ginger.The line of the wine seems a bit confused at this point, starting off mostly just acidic, but it recedes quickly to reveal a very soft, slightly sweet, definitely relatively old wine that offers up fairly simple blackcurrant and cassis notes at first, supported somewhat on the finish by tannins that seem pretty much entirely resolved at this point. It all finishes in a very gentle, smooth glide towards something like a blackcurrant jam and maple syrup tart; there’s still enough tannic backbone to make it come across as ‘serious’, though, if that sort of thing is important to you.All in all, it seems to me that this wine is just about ready to head for the door for all time, though, so drink ’em if you’ve got ’em. If you’re a fan of mature cabernet, this comes pretty close to good, although I would have liked a bit more oak influence here, a bit more spine.Leasingham
Price: $NA
Closure: Cork

Cardinham Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Posted on by
6

The final of three Cardinham Estate reds recently tasted. I’ve been impressed with the honesty and straighforwardness of these wines, and feel they are well-priced for what are true regional styles (the Sangiovese excepted, if only because I’m not sure what Clare Sangiovese “should” taste like). Clare Cabernet can be quite rustic, with full-throttle warmer fruit flavours and powerful oak. This wine is very much in the mainstream of the style, with a sense of drinkability that is quite convincing.

An expressive nose of slightly stewed plums, spice, sweet oak and twiggy vegetal notes. The elements are well balanced between each other and, although it’s not an elegant aroma profile by any means, it’s clean, full and generous and, if you like the style, most appealing. The palate is true to the nose’s overall impression, being both full-flavoured and quite chunky. Gobs of fruit and oak flavour coat the tongue at first, and it’s only towards the after palate that a slinky, sophisticated mouthfeel asserts itself, a little unexpected, perhaps, and a pleasant surprise. Some tannins, loose-knit and sweet, add texture and grip. A good long finish of bubblegum oak and plum skins. 
I crave wines like this on certain nights after work when all I want is a flavoursome, robust red to accompany a steak meal. It’s a Cabernet to warm the heart rather than challenge the mind.

Cardinham Estate
Price: $A20
Closure: Stelvin

Cardinham Estate Sangiovese 2007

Posted on by
Reply

Refreshingly, the back label doesn’t lie; it reads straightforwardly: “Everything about this wine seems to be built around dark chocolate and black cherries.” And so it is. Which may not sound very Sangiovese-like, but let’s proceed with an open mind to the wine itself.

On the nose, there’s… oo, chocolate, of the quality sort, edging towards cocoa powder. Some almonds perhaps, cherries too, and an impression of gustatory delight I usually get when selecting what to buy at the bakery. It’s funny; some wines remind me of eating, and this is one of them. There’s nothing especially complex about the aroma, it just smells good, in the way a freshly made chocolate muffin smells good. 
In the mouth, surprisingly light and nimble. The flavour profile continues to revolve around key notes of cocoa, red fruits and almonds. On first sip, I felt a bit let down as there’s a lack of thrust through the entry and middle palate. After adjusting to the style, though, I started to appreciate it more. It’s what I call a “watercolour” wine; one that can seem delicate to the point of transparency, but which nonetheless carries an entire picture within its frame. Mouthfeel is quite interesting, in that it’s very supple and finely textured too, especially towards the after palate, where ultra-fine tannins settle gently on the tongue. Surprising power and persistence on the finish, with sweet cherries and almonds riding a flavoursome wave. I wonder if the alcohol is slightly too high for the style; in absolute terms, 14.2% abv isn’t groundbreaking, but there does seem some heat on the palate, and I suspect aspects of the mouthfeel are similarly pumped up.
This isn’t at all what I expected, but I am enjoying it, and it seems to me a “real life” wine, made for drinking on a weeknight with one’s favourite pasta dish. Drink now for maximum pleasure.

Cardinham Estate
Price: $A20
Closure: Stelvin