Tag Archives: Clare Valley

Skillogalee Shiraz 2004

Posted on by
Reply

Skillogalee does a good line in approachable, generous red wines, so I thought this one would be a good way to unwind after a busy weekend. For some reason, I’ve lost the use of one nostril just in time for this tasting. Let’s hope the wine gives up its secrets easily.A big hit of blackberry jam on the nose, along with some nutty vanilla and what is either a vegetal note or somewhat raw oak. The fruit is ripe and clearly of good quality.  Entry is bright with flavour and shows lots of dark berry fruit in the context of an attractive, powdery texture. The mid-palate presents more blackberry jam, quite intense and full in body, with oak increasing its influence as the wine moves to its climax. It’s all very flavoursome for sure, but a little clumsy also, as if the elements are all “oversized” and paying insufficient attention to each other. The wine’s line is consistent through the after palate, and sweet berry fruit sings through the finish. I’m not sure about this one. The fruit is good, but the oak treatment strikes me as obvious and heavyhanded. The wine also lacks a clear sense of structure. Still, it’s a lot of quality flavour for a reasonable price. Try this one with spicy Asian food (the fruit weight and lack of tannins work well in this context).SkillogaleePrice: $25.50Closure: StelvinDate tasted: March 2008

Skillogalee Basket Pressed Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc Malbec 2004

Posted on by
Reply

With a name this long, it had better be good. I don’t know about you but, in my experience, a wine’s label can bear little resemblance to the liquid in bottle. Mercifully, here’s one that shows a bit of truth in advertising. The label says: “soft and full with sweet, leafy fruit flavours, rich vanillin oak and fine tannins…” Basically, yeah.An acceptably expressive nose that shows rich, full fruit of the red and black type, with an edge of “dried fruit” character. There’s a good dose of dusty leaf that is pleasingly varietal. The palate is where this wine truly shines, though. Bright, rich fruit flavour strikes the tongue  quite early and builds as it moves to the mid-palate. The fruit is not monumental in scale, but it is tasty and really quite ripe. Mulberry leaf and well balanced oak also contribute. This is a wine of generosity and soft, full fruit flavour, counterbalanced by a firm acid framework. It is not a simple or industrial wine, and remains characterful despite its easygoing style. Good consistency through to the after palate, with sweet, ripe tannins that sing through the decent finish.Sometimes, you just want a nice, giving red wine that gushes with personality and flavour. Give this one a go if you’re in such a mood. It’s not overly structured, but is full of good fruit and will be killer with juicy rump steak.SkillogaleePrice: $A25.50Closure: StelvinDate tasted: March 2008

Wendouree Muscat of Alexandria 04/05

Posted on by
Reply

An oddity. Wendouree, known for its distinctive reds, also makes this fortified wine from the Muscat of Alexandria grape (better known for its contribution to Nanna’s Cream Sherry).

A golden honey colour. The nose is fresh and somewhat grapey, with a lovely rich honeysuckle note, as much floral as sweet. There’s a striking, viscous texture on entry, very fresh, soft yet supportive acidity, more sweet florals and fruit. The mid-palate is again rich and full, with good intensity of flavour. The acid structure is very slightly rough, which I like as it adds some complexity and interest to what is a sweet and slightly spirity wine. In style, it’s far from your regular botrytis-affected “dessert sticky” wine, both lighter and fresher, and more obviously alcoholic. The fruit’s flavour profile is also quite different. The wine’s finish is satisfyingly long.

What I like most about this wine is the way it unfolds in the mouth, at once precise and voluptuous. I suspect this style will be “love it or hate it,” and from an objective point of view, it’s a simple wine with an oddball balance between its elements. But I like it. Perhaps I am a lush. Potential food matches are tantalising. I’m thinking something sweet yet not too heavy — just like the wine itself. Passionfruit sponge, oh my.

Wendouree
Price: $A25 (375ml)
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: March 2008

Grosset Polish Hill Riesling 2002

Posted on by
1

First off, there’s petrol here in spades: yes, this wine is six years old and counting. After waiting a few minutes, the wine warmed up enough to give off a hint of lime rind, field honey, wet stone, mineral, and something almost like peaches. There’s a real austerity here: this is not German (or even Washington) Riesling – it’s stony faced and unforgiving.In the mouth, this is a surprisingly full bodied Riesling – it’s rich, not fat, but definitely a surprise after the nose. The acidity is generous, and the length is as well; the finish is long, smooth, and delicious, with lime rind and honey notes counterbalanced by a sense of rain on warm stones (really, I know this isn’t a Moselle, but I couldn’t help myself). As it warms up, it’s beginning to veer over towards grapefruit; at any rate, this is an incredible value and an exceptional bottle of wine. In fact, there’s a savory note on the finish as well – I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it’s almost like venison somehow – almost gamy, rich and strange, with orange blossoms hovering around the edges. There aren’t many wines like this one: if you’ve never had a Grosset riesling, they’re well worth hunting down.GrossetPrice: US $25 [my best guess]Closure: StelvinDate tasted: March 2008

Skillogalee Chardonnay 2005

Posted on by
Reply

I don’t remember trying a Chardonnay when I was last at cellar door, but the empty bottle in the recycling bin proves there is indeed one in the Skillogalee range. According to the winery’s web site, there were 400 cases made from 1ha of mature (25 year old) vines. The nose is a throwback to the (some might say bad) old days of quite generously oaked Chardonnay, expressing as it does a whack of spicy, slightly varnishy oak ahead of more subtle Chardonnay fruit. I sat with the wine all evening and the oak continued to show prominently and ahead of any fruit-derived aroma. The palate is a continuation of this theme, with spicy, smoky and broad oak dominating reticent Chardonnay fruit of the yellow peach variety. I’m not opposed to a more worked style of Chardonnay that uses oak as a key flavour component, but a certain intensity of fruit needs to be present to provide balance, and I didn’t feel it was quite there in this wine. There’s some buttery richness that is, I presume, derived from malo, and acid is pretty soft. Finish is unremarkable.I wasn’t super impressed with this wine, as I kept wishing the fruit would step up more assertively to the oak treatment. As it is, a wine for lovers of spicy oak rather than Chardonnay fruit.SkillogaleeCost: $A20Closure: StelvinDate tasted: February 2008

Skillogalee Riesling 2007

Posted on by
2

Another from the variable (for Riesling, at least) 2007 vintage in the Clare Valley. Skillogalee tends to sit a bit “out there on its own,” stylistically, and I happen to enjoy many of its wines a great deal. This wine may come as a surprise to those who are more accustomed to the style of neighbouring Mitchell, for example, or any number of other more austere Rieslings from the area. A relatively rich colour; hay with a bit of light green, excellent clarity. The nose is equal parts lemon juice and sweeter, tropical fruit (tinned pineapple springs to mind). You don’t need to work hard to get smells from the glass, and the aroma profile is indulgent rather than crisp and piercing. The entry shows sizzly, textured acidity and slightly fuller body than one might expect.  The mid-palate is as much textural as it is flavoursome, with more rustic acidity and some phenolics sitting alongside citrus and pineapple fruit, plus some bitter herbs. Acidity is  a tad unintegrated. Flavour isn’t the most intense I’ve ever experienced, nor is there significant complexity, but it’s present and tasty. The after palate brings a focus on the fruit, which drives a nice line through the middle of the tongue. The wine dies a bit on the finish.Not everyone will like this wine, I imagine, especially if your taste runs to the dryer, more austere Clare Rieslings. And it’s not the best Skillogalee Riesling I’ve had, being perhaps a tad obvious in fruit flavour and coarse in acidity. But it’s a tasty wine, fresh of mouthfeel and with easy fruit flavour. I’d pair this with Chinese food, as I’m about to on this Chinese New Year’s evening.SkillogaleePrice: $A22Closure: StelvinDate tasted: February 2008

clos Clare Riesling 2002

Posted on by
1

First of all, this wine should definitely not be served straight from the refrigerator. Give it half an hour to warm up, and only then give it a try.

This is one of the most elusive wines I’ve ever tasted: the nose had all kinds of things to smell, and almost none of them are anything I could name off of the top of my head. At first I figured I’d just cheat and say it smelled of kerosene or petrol or diesel or whatever, but it really didn’t: it briefly smelled like a fresh peach, and then suddenly like dulce de membrillo, and then it smelled like some unidentifiable white flowers, and then it moved on to something vaguely like what mesquite smells like after the rain in the Sonoran desert… but by then it had skipped along to something else vaguely like stale oregano. Who knows? Let’s just say that there was a lot going on in there, and without a gas spectrometer or an afternoon with Le nez du vin, this is the best I can offer you.

I was hoping it would settle down some in the mouth to give my powers of association a rest, but alas, no such luck. First off: the mouthfeel is sublime. There’s a lovely fatness to it that isn’t built on sugar; there’s also striking acidity that nicely balances everything. Is there any residual sugar? If there is, there’s very little: this is a classic Australian style. Upon reflection, the usual hints of lime peel offered themselves up as well, and the finish was sleek and simultaneously angular as they come, all sophistication and elegance. This is definitely what you Aussies would call moreish: my partner and I found ourselves in a competition to see who could get more of the wine more quickly before the bottle was finished (never an easy task, that fine balance between enjoying it leisurely while also peering over to the other side of the couch just in case their glass starts emptying itself before you have a chance to refill your own).

Overall, wines like these just don’t come around very often. Nearly six years after harvest, it still seems relatively fresh and I’d venture to guess it’s got a few useful years left, although I’ll probably leave one bottle to try again in 2022 just for the hell of it.

clos Clare
Price: US $14 (current vintage is 2006 at US $18)
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007

—

I’ve never been to find reliable information about who makes these wines, but my best guess is Jeffrey Grosset may have prior to 2006, and now it’s someone by the name of O’Leary Walker.

One additional thing I’ve been thinking about this evening harks back to an interesting series of confrontations in wine school – the professor had been educated in Burgundy, although the school (and nearly all the students) was very much located in Washington state. I was docked a point or two on an examination for suggesting that one could enjoy a glass of sherry before dinner, and a few weeks prior to that I had been told that I was quite wrong to suggest that a Clare riesling could perhaps age successfully for five or maybe even eight years; her French education had apparently insisted that dry Riesling must inevitably be consumed within a year or two lest it fall apart, especially with the high acidity Clare rieslings tend to display. Both times I wanted simply to say “well, you know, I’ve had a few dinners in Spain and very much enjoyed a copita before my meal, and I’ve had a few bottles of aged Clare riesling (a fairly old Taylors St Andrews came to mind immediately) and loved it – so why are you privileging your French university education over my personal experience and other nations’ traditions?” Of course I didn’t, which is how I probably escaped without failing the course. It’s still frustrating, though.

Leasingham Bin 56 Cabernet Malbec 2005

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve had many enjoyable bottles of Bin 56 over the years, and I especially love how it develops with some bottle age.

Expressive, bright nose of jammy red fruit and oak. On entry, it’s apparent how intense and generous this wine’s fruit is. The mouth fills with sweet, jammy red fruit that tapers off just as assertive yet fine tannins emerge to dominate the finish. Despite the generosity of fruit flavour, the wine is of medium body and is, structurally, quite focused. At the moment, though, it’s all youthful arms and legs. With some time, I hope this wine will obtain balance between its elements and improve substantially.

Leasingham
Price: $A20
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: November 2007