Check out my general review of the Tintara Cellar Door here. For the red wines see below.
2010 Hardy’s Oomoo Shiraz ($A18)
Form a good vintage this wine comes from good stock. With the black fruits of blackberry and black current with the classical oak influence that manufests itself as cinamun that brings the Christmas cake thoughts straight to my palate. Good clean wine that sits well at this price point.
2009 Tintara McLaren Vale Shiraz ($A27)
Plum or Christmas cake combined with dusty oak aromas lead one to a typical McLaren Vale Shiraz – lots of plums plus the wonderfully soft butgenerous mid palate. This wpen will get better over the next few years but I am not sure one will wait.
2008 Reynella Basket Press Shiraz 2008 ($A54)
This wine has an excellent reputation and I was so glad that it was available for tasting. The last few times I have wondered into the cellar door as well as the one in Reynella it has not been available. The wine was opened at the time of tasting and passed through a Vinturi aerator. Even after doing this the aromas were closed and all I could get was some darkness. The flavors were dark as well with intense black fruits with a concentrated almost viscous mouthfeel to the wine. The oak was present but was not dominant as the blackness was all encompassing. This is definately a wine that needs a number of years to approach it’s best. I drank a similar wine recently that was 12 years old and it was just coming into it’s own. I think this wine is of a similar nature.
2009 Hardys Oomoo Cabernet Sauvignon ($A18)
The cooler nature of Coonawarra fruit comes through here straight away. The essence of blackcurrent aromas is very different to those from McLaren Vale. The blackcurrent theme continues on the palate with hints of red fruits and the mintiness that Cabernet can sometimes produce. Yet again the Oomoo range over delivers – I just wonder if people are put off by the label?
2008 Tintara McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon ($A27)
The difference between Cabernet from Coonawarra and McLaren Vale is shown hen you try this wine after the one above. The Cabernet aromas of black current come through but the chocolate one tends to associate with McLaren Vale is here. There is bright cabernet fruit flavors but there is no Cabernet hole here. Cabernet is know for lacking in flavor on the mid palate but McLaren Vale is know for a generous mid palate – there is definitely a mid palate here. Maybe, just maybe, the “terroir” of McLaren Vale is dominating!
2007 Reynella Basket Pressed Cabernet Sauvignon ($A54)
Unlike the Tintara labeled wine this wine shows significant finesse with black current combined with sage and mint aromas. The herbs here added complexity and interest straight away. The flavors backed up a mouthful of typical Cabernet flavors with maybe a hint of American oak sweetness. For the Cabernet lovers out there this wine shows that McLaren Vale and seriously good Cabernet can be used in the same sentence.