Small Winemakers Tasting Dozens |
The Classic February Dozen | |
| AVALON KING VALLEY ALBARINO 2008 Winemaker Doug Groom Winemakers Notes Picked at 12.5 ° Baume (Albarino doesn’t need to be over-ripe to get flavour). The grapes were cooled overnight and then whole bunch pressed. The juice was inoculated with wild yeast to give more complexity, and then aged on gross lees for seven months to give richness on the palate, going through malolactic fermentation as well. The nose shows some interesting notes of apricot and lemon. Not overly fruity and with some secondary lees characters, the palate is medium with a freshness from the fruits natural acidity. An interesting alternative variety that you will see quite a bit of in years to come. A great wine with seafood and lighter chicken dishes.Cellar Drink and enjoy now and over the next year or two.Additional Notes In pursuing an open book of ‘individual vineyard’ wines and building an on-going profile of their unique journeys, Doug and Rosa’s Avalon Shiraz was an early inkling of the idea. So, with this in mind I rang Doug a month or so ago, and with my first move it was checkmate. It has been two years or more since I spoke to Doug and at the time he had been out all night, and every other night for weeks off and on fighting the King Valley Bushfires of 2006/7. As was the case with most of the Valley, Vintage 2007 was abandoned due to extreme smoke taint. At the time, two years ago, I remember him getting excited by the various Spanish wines he had been buying from some Adelaide source. There was no doubt to his state of exhaustion then, but he was still keen to talk of his not so new but very keen interest. The Spanish ‘union’ growing which is good for the whole ‘party.’ Availability Cellar Door or please contact me. Winery Details Phone: 03 5729 3629 Fax: 03 5729 3635 Open: Daily 10 to 5 Address: RMB Whitfield Road, Wangaratta, Victoria, 3678. www.avalonwines.com.au Back To Top |
| BREMERTON TAMBLYN 2006 Winemaker Rebecca Wilson Winemakers Notes The 2006 vintage Tamblyn was fermented in open fermenters allowing maximum extraction of colour and flavour. The wine was matured in new, one and two year old French and American barriques for 15 months prior to blending and bottling. The colour is deep red with the nose showing lifted violet and ripe cherry aromas. The palate shows rich mouth filling cassis fruit, complementing soft well integrated tannins and flavoursome savoury lingering finish.Cellar “Soft enough to drink now or reward with cellaring 3+ years.” Additional Notes “The four outstanding red grape varieties (52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Shiraz, 12% Malbec and 6% Merlot) all grown in Langhorne Creek have been blended to provide us with a generous well balanced wine. In the 10 years we have been making this blend it has entrenched itself as Bremerton’s biggest selling wine, due to its consistency and approachability.” It was the blend of four varieties, in particular noting the Malbec that captured my interest when this wine, among others was mentioned recently as a ‘goer’ by Glen Brereton. It’s good to have a Langhorne Creek red in the mix, especially one with a little Malbec magic.Availability Available to Retail. Winery Details Phone: 08 8537 3093 |
 | CHRISMONT LA ZONA ARNEIS 2008 Winemaker Warren Proft Winemakers Notes The colour is pale golden yellow with a suggestion of green hues. The nose shows graceful aromas of green apple and white peach. This carries through to the palate with again, green apples, pears and just a touch of white peach.Cellar “Drink now and over the next couple of years.” (Website)Additional Notes A little known variety originally from Piedmont in North West Italy, this is a King Valley expression of the grape out of the La Zona range of wines from Chrismont, which is their dedication to Italian varieties. They add to an already big presence of the same, in a very Italian valley. A true source of excitement and anticipation. From the winemaker: “I like to keep it simple. I like to work with the grapes, with the wine, just monitor the process, let the yeast do the work, manipulate it as little as possible in the hope to get the natural expression of the grapes through the wine.”Availability Available to Retail. Winery Details Phone: 03 5729 8220 Fax: 03 5729 8253 Open: Daily 11 to 5. Address: 251 Upper King River Road, Chestnut, Vic., 3678. Web: www.chrismont.com.au Back To Top |
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 | DOWIE DOOLE SHIRAZ 2007 Winemaker Brian Light Winemakers Notes Rich crimson in colour with crimson hue. On the nose there are notes of plum, blackberry, spice and liquorice. The palate reveals excellent integration of fruit and charry oak and full-bodied, mouth filling flavours. There is excellent structure with flavours of sweet plums, spice box and liquorice lingering on the long palate, leading to a smooth fine-grained tannin finish.Cellar “Will drink extremely well over the next six to eight years.”Additional Notes It is interesting to see the high quality of this finished wine when reminded of the following. “Crops were reduced significantly around Australia because of drought (the worst on record), frosts and in some parts bush-fire smoke taint. Despite early winter rains in 2006, rainfall during winter and spring was the worst for years in the lead up to flowering. There was a brief spell in January; otherwise it was quite mild and dry. At the end of January a tropical air mass connected with a cold front to bring good rains to the agricultural areas of South Australia, with flooding in the north. The rainfall over four days coincided with veraison and freshened up the vine canopy to assist with ripening the fruit for harvest. February has been recorded as the hottest for 100 years, bringing the reduced crop to an earlier ripening. The vintage began three to four weeks early, one of the earliest on record.” Wow.Availability Available to Retail. Winery Details Phone: 08 8323 8875 Fax: 08 8323 895 Open: Daily 10 to 5. Address: Cnr McMurtrie & Main Roads, McLaren Vale, S.A., 5171. Web: www.dowiedoole.com (Webmasters note: When I checked this it wasn't working, but there were several other sites referencing this address) Back To Top |
 | DYSON GRANDE PRIVILÈGE RÉSERVE CLARICE CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2002 |
 | GALLAGHER WINES SHIRAZ 2006 Winemaker Greg Gallagher Winemakers Notes The colour is deep garnet red and the nose black cherry and plum fruits with a light aniseed and spice characters. The palate is very rich, full and generous with flavours that persist throughout with a soft and rounded ‘velvet’ tannin structure. Clean and long flavour finish on a medium bodied and generously flavoured wine that will age well. Food recommendations are lamb or rich Mediterranean meat or tomato dishes.Cellar “Can be enjoyed as a fresh young wine but has the potential to age to a richer wine with five to seven years in the bottle.”Additional Notes “100% Shiraz was crushed and fermented on skins for nine days, pressed and racked to barrels. After full Malo – Lactic fermentation, the wine was further aged in new and one year old French and American oak for another 15 months, lightly filtered and bottled.” Greg, after a long period as Winemaker with Dominique Portet at Taltarni (1978 to 1998) and a stint as Winemaker with a Teaching role at Charles Sturt University, together with Libby planted the Murrumbateman vineyard in 1995. With three previous Gallagher Shiraz in the Dozens (2001, 2002 and 2004) all top shelf Canberra District wines and with some understanding of their origin this really is a wine to enjoy and follow in the future.Availability Available to Retail. Winery Details Phone: 02 6227 0555 Fax: 02 6227 0666 Open: Weekends and Public Holidays 10 to 5. Address: 2770 Dog Trap Road, Murrumbateman, NSW, 2582. Web: www.gallagherwines.com.au Back To Top |
 | ICELY ROAD RIESLING 2008 Winemaker John Reynolds (Pooles Rock) Winemakers Notes Colour is pale straw with youthful green tinges. The nose is attractively aromatic with a delicate mix of lemon, lime and orange blossom. The lemon lime flavours are supported by mineral acidity and a fine finish.Cellar “A delicious fresh fruit driven wine that will develop honeyed toasty characters over the next three to five years while retaining its finesse, structure and flavour.”Additional Notes “Riesling grown on the Mayfield Hill block vineyard in Orange was hand picked and gently whole bunch pressed to obtain only the best free run juice. This juice was given a slow, cool ferment in stainless steel tanks. After fermentation the wine was stabilized, filtered and bottled immediately to retain freshness.” An earlier vintage of this wine was purchased along with several other Orange Region Rieslings at the Borenore Store some time back as a result of an ongoing interest in this variety in this region. The Mayfield vineyard is at about 800m and with this elevation comes favourable cool climate influences that invests well in the elegance of this wine.Availability Limited availability at Retail. Winery Details Phone: 02 6365 9295 Fax: 02 6365 9294 Open: Thurs-Sun 10 to 5. Address: Icely Road, Orange, NSW, 2800. Web: www.mayfieldvineyard.com Back To Top |
 | MORNINGTON ESTATE PINOT NOIR 2006 Winemaker Duncan Buchanan Winemakers Notes Fermentation occurred in an open fermenter with both natural and introduced yeast. After pressing it went into a combination of new and recent use French barriques for malolactic fermentation and ageing for 15 months. The finished wine is bright cherry red in colour. The nose is fragrant cherries and spice with clean vibrant front and a touch of earthiness. The palate is cherries and plums with a subtle back bone of spicy oak. The fine velvety, silky tannins coat the tongue highlighting the finesse and structure of this wine.Cellar “Enjoy anytime now or cellar over the next five years.”Additional Notes The Mornington Estate Pinot Noir is part of Dromana Estate on the Mornington Peninsula with ‘new’ winemaker Duncan Buchanan doing the business. This wine was shown to me by an excited and much travelled, in company terms, Glen Brereton who is again getting to know a new portfolio of wines. All very serious stuff. Located only an hour’s drive from Melbourne, this cool maritime climate has produced a wine that is fresh and vibrant and shows distinctive varietal character. It is also good enough to have Glen in agonizing mode as he tries to work out his preference between this wine and its more expensive cousin, the Dromana Estate. To me this pure folly but is worthwhile as a ‘spectator sport.’ Availability Available to Retail. Winery Details Phone: 03 5974 3899 Fax: 03 5974 1155 Open: Wed. to Sun. 11 to 5. Address: 555 Old Moorooduc Road, Tuerong, Vic., 3933. Web: www.dromanaestate.com.au Back To Top |
 | PENNY’S HILL GRENACHE 2006 Winemaker Ben Riggs Winemakers Notes Made in open fermenters following hand picking and crushing, the estate Grenache finished its fermentation in mainly old barrels (about 20% new American and French oak) before bottling and release. Only 427 cases of this full – bodied wine, laden with generous, lush fruit were made. It is a big rich, juicy wine which shows classic characters of spice and cherry fruit with a wonderful savoury finish. A classic McLaren Vale Grenache.Cellar “Five to eight years.”Additional Notes “Fruit for the Penny’s Hill Grenache was sourced exclusively from the two acre block of Grenache on the Penny’s Hill vineyard, some four km east of McLaren Vale in the foothills of the Mount Lofty Ranges. A naturally low vigour site with shallow soils results in low yields of highly concentrated fruit. This, combined with a very modern trellis system comprising only two vines per panel, further reduces vigour and increases concentration. Vines were sourced from very old, pre–clonal Grenache from the north of McLaren Vale. Viticultural manager, Tony Bekkers employs rigorous canopy management throughout the season. Vines are hand pruned and almost dry grown. Red wines from the 2006 vintage show rich flavour and colour as a result of almost ideal ripening conditions from veraison right through to harvest.”Availability Available to Retail. Winery Details Phone: 08 8556 4460 Fax: 08 8556 4462 Open: Daily 10 to 5. Address: Main Road, McLaren Vale S.A., 5171. Web: www.pennyshill.com.au Back To Top |
 | SILVERWOOD ESTATE PINOT NOIR 2006 Winemaker Paul Dennis Winemakers Notes Light to medium intensity with good clarity – a brilliant ruby red colour with a light blue youthful hue. Dusty, earthy and spicy (five spice) hints on the nose are layered over some cherry, berry notes. The palate is silky and soft with ripe fruit in the middle, showing sappy, cedary, spicy, dark cherry flavours with some fine tannins. It has good acid balance as well as fruit/oak balance.Cellar “This wine has taken time to develop to this point and will benefit from a further six to twelve months in bottle. This wine will cellar well and could be kept up to five years.”Additional Notes The previous Pinot Noir from Silverwood, the 2005 was in the August 2006 Dozen, a point that supports the reference in the ‘Cellaring’ note, that this wine has developed in its ‘own time.’ “Silverwood Estate, a small family owned enterprise is located on a gentle north facing slope near the village of Balnarring on the eastern side of the Mornington Peninsula. The vineyard was developed from the ground up after purchasing the land in 1997 and planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. Approximately 3.5ha are under vine. Two clones of Pinot are used: MV6 which provides the backbone of our wines and a smaller quantity if Dijon clone 115 which is close planted. A year of living in France provided the impetus to turn a lifelong goal onto reality.” A strong French connection continues in winemaking philosophy here.Availability Available to Retail. Winery Details Phone: 0419 890 317 Fax: 03 8317 6642 Open: Not open for tasting. Address: Bittern – Dromana Road, Balnarring, Victoria, 3926. Web: www.silverwoodwines.com.au Back To Top |
 | TRENTHAM YARRA VALLEY CHARDONNAY 2006 Winemaker Tony Murphy Winemakers Notes With a light crop the vineyard was harvested in mid March at 13° Baume. Following careful vinification the wine was aged in select French oak puncheons for eight months prior to bottling. Showing attractive green colour with delicate lime and tropical aromas balanced by subtle French oak. The taste is rounded and soft with persistent fruit flavours and a fine crisp finish.Cellar Best now and over the next two to three years.Additional Notes This was an interesting proposition at first hearing of it by way of Anne Pettigrove from Yarra Valley Wine Consultants. Previous wines in the Dozens made by Tony Murphy were “Trentham Estate” wines from Trentham Cliffs in the Murray Darling Region. The wines chosen were made from varieties which were either ‘new’ in many cases or even better, gaining a foothold in our market place. Varieties like: Pinot Grigio, Petit Verdot, Viognier, Nebbiolo etc, and Tony is very skilled in both knowledge of the various varieties and ultimately the making of wine with them. This Yarra Valley Chardonnay is one of a handful of ‘sourced’ wines he now makes along the same way many other winemakers approach their craft. The intrigue here as Anne says, is that he won’t say which vineyard in the Yarra, only: “Sourced from the cool Yarra Valley where this excellent vineyard has produced refined minerally Chardonnays which show good length and balance.” Availability Available to Retail. Winery Details Phone: 03 5024 8888 Fax: 03 5024 8800 Open: Daily 9.30 to 5 Address: Sturt Highway, Trentham Cliffs, NSW, 2738. Web: www.trenthamestate.com.au Back To Top |
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