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McLaren Vale Wine – Angoves Part 2

Sunday, 08 January 2012 23:25
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The McLaren Vale range was released for the Cellar Door opening – so brand new.  The use of colour and the family crest on the label is really good and shows the family theme.  This theme continues into the Warboys range.  Here a silver family crest depicts a classy label.  The Warboys Vineyard range is a series of wines from the Angoves McLaren Vale vineyard (where the cellar door sits).  The name Warboys comes from the vineyard (not family owned) that formed part of the original winemaking exercise for the family in 1893 – their first vintage.  The Medhyk (pronounced “medic”) also shows the family heritage as Medhyk is Cornish for doctor.  The link is the first Angove making wine was a Cornish doctor – Dr William Thomas Angove.  The wine will only be made from only the best McLaren Vale wine and is considered the flagship of the Angove range.

Angoves Cellar Door

 

2010 McLaren Vale GSM ($A22)

The Grenache component comes from the Warboys Vineyard, the Shiraz comes from a number of McLaren Vale growers and Mourvedre comes from the Longwood Vineyard (which you can almost see from the Cellar Door).  The wine seemed a little closed on the nose however the flavors were all that one expects from this blend.  The up front  of the Grenache, the spice and mid palate of the Shiraz and the body with a savoury finish of the Mourvedre.  What I did find interesting was there was a level of minerality that I was not expecting and found quite intriguing.

2010 McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon ($22)

As a generalisation, McLaren Vale makes a wonderful dry red from Cabernet and these wines have been very successful in wine shows and in sales.  For me I have found this interesting as so many of these Cabernets do not have the “normal” Cabernet character of the black current and Cassis.  This wine has a small component of Coonawarra fruit  that seems that have a wonderful effect on this wine.  As such in this glass was all the Cabernet character one expects from a classical Cabernet – the blackcurrent, french oak and drying tannins.  A wine for the Cabernet lovers to check out – a bargain at this price.

2010 McLaren Vale Shiraz ($A22)

All one wants to see from a McLaren Vale Shiraz – plum and cherry fruits, subtle pepper spices mixed with licorice.  Is it the best McLaren Vale Shiraz I have tasted – No, but again at this price range one could do a lot worse.

2010 Warboys Vineyard Grenache ($A35)

The single vineyard wine comes from the Chalk Hill Road property and the vines were planted in 1964 – a great year (the year of my birth).  As for the GSM the aromas were a little closed but the flavors were just so juicy.  Red current and cherry fruits wrapped up with subtle spices and an over arching minerallity.

2009 Warboys Vineyard Shiraz Grenache ($A35)

My favorite red wine of the range – made from the fruits of vines that were planted in 1948 and the whole vineyard was transformed since it was purchased in 2008.  There were essences of dark fruits, pepper and licorice with an inherent earthiness that made the aromas worthy of trying the wine.  Being impressed with this wine continues as you drink it.  The redness comes through and through – from the fruits to the licorice.  The spice and minerlity come together for a lengthy experience.

2009 Warboys Vineyard Shiraz ($A35)

Pepper and spice and all things spice – that is what this wine is made of!  There is lots to like about this wine and my comments when tasting it was “vivid palate”.  The only thing missing here is time.  Time is still needed to let the whole mixture settle down into the amalgam that this wine should become.

2008 The Medhyk Shiraz ($A55)

Made as the flagship McLaren Vale Shiraz so the best grapes with the best treatments including the best barrels.  Then the wine in these barrels are tasted with only the best of these making it into this wine.  There is a commitment to ensuring this label gets only the best so it is likely that if the wine does not stack up to the quality it will not be released under this label ie there may not be a Medhyk every vintage.

There are lots of dark fruit (plum based) on the nose with a depth here not sen in the other wines.  The darkness continues in the flavor profile where cherry and plum are wrapped around layers of spice and chocolate with hints of oak tannins.  This wine needs time and lots of it to see it’s best.

Angove Grand Tawny 500ml ($A25)

Only 50 cases have been bottled of this Grenache based fortified blend that averages 13 years old and the oldest wine in the blend was from 1981.  Time has been good to this infusion of clean grapes with slightly burnt caramel.  There is lots of acid here as the palate is kept fresh.  As expected the spirit here is also very clean but not intrusive.  A beauty that shows why Grenache has had a long history in Australia – starting in fortified wines.

Angove Rare Tawny 500ml ($A45)

Another blend with 50 cases bottled.  This time a blend of Shiraz and Frontinac grapes and the blend is older than the Grand Tawny.  Just brilliant – spiced caramel with alcohol.  The effort to visit the cellar door is repaid just by trying these fortified wines.

St Agnes XO Brandy 700ml ($A100)

The blend that goes into this stylish decanter is a minimum of 20 years old.  I am not a big brandy drinker but one can tell pedigree here.  Normally spirits for me, when drink neat, have an alcohol burn that characterises the type of spirit.  Here there is no burn but a smooth strong drink that has a wonderful fruit based series of aromas.  I was not going to try this, but I am so glad I did.

McLaren Vale Wine – Angoves

Monday, 02 January 2012 20:47
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Angove Wines McLaren Vale Cellar Door

I have been watching this new cellar door being built over the last few months and so I was quite excited about visiting the newest cellar door in McLaren Vale.  I was also excited by seeing how this new facility was going to be set up.  I grew up near Tea Tree Gully (TTG) where a considerable part of the Angoves story has unfolded.  Until recently, a small cellar door was situated in TTG and while I have been working all around the wonderful country I would always visit this facility when I visited home.  This old cellar door really was bargain central where bin ends overseas stock and wrongly bottled wines would be available for sale.  This new cellar door could not be further away from the old TTG facility.  Here there are 2 whole ranges that are McLaren Vale based.  Firstly, the Warboys Vineyard range that is made from the single vineyard around the new cellar door, which has the family crest in silver on the label.  Secondly, a McLaren Vale range that is sourced from various growers in McLaren Vale and has a coloured family crest on the label.  These 2 ranges are only available at the McLaren Vale cellar door.  To compliment these 2 ranges there are some other options at both ends of the spectrum.  There are quite a few wines available for tasting so I will review the wines over 2 blog entries.

Angoves Cellar Door

Added attractions at the cellar door are the regional platters (cheese, olives and bread) or a coffee and cake or biscuits.  It was very hot the day of my visit but there is a outside courtyard area with tables and chairs – a great spot to look over the vineyard.  The “Boardroom” is available for small corporate functions and has a table made from hardwood recycled from large wooded vats previously used in the winery (the tasting bar shown above is made from the same wood).  There is also Pizza Oven hidden down one side of the cellar door that I am sure will be able to tell many stories in a couple of years time.

Cellar Door Courtyard

Anyway, enough of this lets talk about the wine………….

2011 Vineyard Select Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc ($A18)

From a Woodside vineyard in the Adelaide Hills from the Wicks stable.  The wine was surprisingly good as most areas of the Adelaide Hills were devastated by disease in 2011.  And surprised I was – the wine showed lots of passionfruit with a little grass on the nose, the palate showed tropical fruits and grass again with a length brought on by the good acid structure.  Still not for me but a good example of what the Adelaide Hills can provide that is not a NZ clone.

2011 Nine Vines Pinot Grigio ($A15)

As expected the Nine Popes range is from the vast Angove Riverland vineyards.  I was expecting pear characters but instead got citrus acid being dominate with a really interesting (and refreshing) grapefruit flavor profile.  A good clean and crisp drink that should be consumed on a Sunday afternoon with friends and Tapas.

2010 Organic Chardonnay ($A20)

One third from the Battle of Bosworth vineyard in McLaren Vale and 2 thirds from the family Renmark vineyard that has been converted to organic practices.  Some of the wine has seen 2 or 3 year old oak barrels for about 8 months.  Great to see the light use of oak as opposed to no oak at all.  A chardonnay with no oak does not seem right in my book.  This wine shows the complexity of a light oak touch with peach, nectarines with a creamy nature right before the wonderful tangy acid finish.  I am thinking a creamy chicken dish to have with this wine.

2010 McLaren Vale Chardonnay ($A20)

Only just released for the opening of the new cellar door and made from grapes from a vineyard just outside the township of McLaren Vale.  The grapes were pressed directly into 1 or 2 year old french oak barrels and the fermentation occurred with the indigenous yeasts and stirred weekly.  The result is a refined aroma of minerality and stone fruits (peach and nectarine) wrapped up in an acidity that wraps around your tongue as well.  I found this the most interesting white wine from this tasting.  The wine could be matched with many food types so maybe a Chinese banquet may go down well here.

2011 Nine Vines Moscato ($A15)

The interesting thing about Moscato is is that what you smell is what it is – grapes.  Wines made from other grapes can smell of so many other things but Moscato is very uncomplicated as it smells and tastes like the grapes it is made from.  At only 8% alcohol and not too much sugar left one can see the uncomplicated freshness is the reasoning behind the large increase in sales of this wine style.

2011 Nine Vines Grenache Shiraz Rose ($A15)

The Nine Vines Rose has been in my glass a number of times over the last 6 or 7 years,  Over this time there has been a consistent theme of quality here.  There is always the red berries and cream with clean acid.  What is a little different now is the wine seems to have a touch less sugar and for me, the resultant wine is better for it.  Sunday lunch with cheese, preserved meats, home made chutneys and fresh crusty bread – nothing more, nothing less.

2010 Organic Shiraz Cabernet ($A16)

As for the chardonnay the grapes for this wine is about 1 third from McLaren Vale’s Battle of Bosworth and 2 thirds from the Riverland.  There is a real berry and licorice theme with this wine.  The berries of black current and blackberry drive the up front flavors and the finish is driven by the licorice.

2010 Vineyard Select McLaren Vale Shiraz ($A18)

A blend from regional vineyards from the McLaren Vale region that shows all the usual elements one sees in McLaren Vale Shiraz – dark plums, generous mid palate, the spices of pepper and cardamon combined with a generous dusting of oak.  The tannins dominate the finish and one would recommend a bit longer in the bottle to let this soften a tad.

Next week I review the rest of the Angoves McLaren Vale cellar door wine list.

McLaren Vale Wines – Grancari Estate

Saturday, 19 November 2011 22:28
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The first thing you notice is this interesting vineyard as part of suburbia. This fully organic certified vineyard and winery is settled amongst the housing estates of Onkaparinga Hills and Hackham. One certainly does not expect a vineyard in this location.

Grancari Estate Vineyard

To my knowledge they are one of only two fully certified organic growers and wineries in McLaren Vale. Many others are in the certification regime but have not been fully certified as yet.

The owners Rino and Gretta bought the property after the 2008 Ash Wednesday bush fires and have set about enjoying one of their hobbies being growing and making wine. They have progressed this hobby to have their own processing facility and now a small scale bottling unit so they can be the masters of their own work. So much for a hobby with a reasonable vineyard holding of both Shiraz and Grenache vines, a storage shed and a winery that acts as a barrel store and an overflow for their bottled wine storage.

Grancari Estate Winery Equipment

The property had 6 acres of neglected Grenache vines and since they have had the property they have built their home and added 2 lots of Shiraz vines for a total of 6 acres of Shiraz. A 12 acre lot would be considered a full time allotment for many people. There is even a row of pine trees around the outside of their property partly to ensure there is no over spray of chemicals from the surrounding properties.

Grancari Estate Barrel Store

From this lot they produce between 50 and 60 tonnes of quality fruit, of which some is sold and the remainder is made into wine. At this stage their philosophy will be to make enough in the coming vintage to match what they have sold from the previous vintage.

And now their wines……..

2011Cheeky Wombat Rose

Not a lot of aromas here, even as the wine started to warm in the glass.  Lots of the red fruits one would expect from Grenache.  Lots of raspberries and an interesting mouthfeel that seems to be like a creamy texture.  I was expecting the wine to be reasonably sweet, and I was wrong (not for the first time) as the wine was off dry.  A pleasant drop that should be drunk young and cold on a summers day.
2010 Sparkling Grenache

Now I was excited – a Sparkling Red made from my favorite grape, Grenache.  I will admit I have never had a sparkling Grenache before.  I will admit my mouth was salivating directly before trying this wine.  I was not sure about it directly as the wine was a little dumb.  The carbon dioxide of the bubbles as the wine was opened masked any character of the wine.  My faith was quickly restored as the glass started to show the typical red fruits from Grenache plus the earthiness that is typical of sparkling red.  The palate not only showed the red fruits, but also some clean tannins (indicating good use of oak in the base wine).  I think I have found another sparkling red for this Christmas.
2009 Old Vine Grenache

What interesting aromas – I got a little fairy floss and pork fat to start with and then over time the Grenache redness came through in spades.  The wine also needed time to get the best from the flavors – please give the wine this time or use an aerator to move it along.  in this case time provided one with a fruit profile that has red and black fruit and has hints of spices and I am so glad that the wood takes a back room view to allow this fruit to do it’s thing.  At 16% alcohol the wine is not shy but there is lots of fruit here so the relatively high alcohol does not cause bitterness.  I had this with a variety of Thai dishes and I thoroughly enjoyed both.

Grancari Estate Vineyard

2008 Shiraz

Very aromatic that needs time to open up for it’s best.  Powerful dark fruit aromas with some interesting sweetness, which probably comes from American oak.  There is oak and spice mix here but the aromas are dominated by fruit.  Power continues in the flavor profiles and mainly fruit power.  The acid and tannins are soft and interestingly only a little spice.  The ripe fruit from the heat of the 2008 vintage takes over.  this wine showed it’s best when it was opened and left to breathe for over an hour – do yourself a favor and give this wine time.
2009 Shiraz

From the same vineyard as the above wine and so different – showing what variation different vintages can have on the final product.  This wine has class and is more restrained and elegant than the 2008 version.  The aromas show essence of Shiraz with some licorice oak hints.  The flavors are plums seeped in chocolate, licorice, cardamon, cinnamon with a restrained oak presence.  Needless to say that I like this wine!
2009 Low Preservative Shiraz

I have had a few low preservative wines before and I have not always enjoyed them.  I was not sure what I was going to find with this one.  I was so surprised!  This wine has lots of character – more than I was expecting.  Lots of dark fresh fruit aromas and quite a dark mixture of flavors.  Depth of the Shiraz plum with some oak – that was the difference.  Normally low or no preservative wines have no oak maturation (as wine may have problems with spoilage without this preservative).  I also got some Mocha and a spice mixture.  If you have issues with the preservative in red wine, but you like a full bodied red then this is one wine you should check out.

McLaren Vale Wines – Noon Winery

Sunday, 13 November 2011 23:22
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Noon Winery has been one of my favorite wineries since I first tasted their wines around 1985.  In those days it was owned by :the old man” and had Clive – one of the worlds gentlemen and one who had a photographic memory.  I have very fond memories of visiting the cellar door and spending time with a man small in stature who wore thick lensed glasses and a terry toweling hat.  Clive could also remember what you purchased last year and would ask how you enjoyed that specific wine.  I used to love to visit Noon’s as the last point of call for a McLaren vale winery visit and just give them all the money I had left and just asked “how many bottles could I get for this?”  Invariably we would walk away with more bottles than we had money for, but we always went back.  When I returned to McLaren Vale in September 2007 I found the Noon cellar door not open, the old man had sold the winery to his son (Drew) and that Clive had passed on to that great cellar door in the sky.

Today, the Noon Wines cellar door is only open for 3 weekends a year and their wine is sold under allocation to their mailing list members and to those brave soles who line up to see what limited allocation they could get.

Lineup to purchase Noon wines

The wines can be tasted at a wooden bench just outside the cellar, so there is something you can do while waiting to get into the winery.  Drew gets help from his friends to make what must be a hectic few days work as smoothly as possible.  Many of those who line up keep coming back each year and their request is constant – how can I get onto the mailing list?  Yes folks, there is a waiting list for the mailing list.  The Noon family go to great lengths to be fair to as many as possible.  If you do not purchase wines and are on their list, then you are politely asked to move on so others can benefit.  They request that the allocation available is per family and not per person – I have seen a few people smile as they exit the cellar with more than they really should have.

The wines are made from a couple of vineyards around the Noon Wines complex plus from long term growers based in Langhorne Creek.  The wines are consistently made with flavor in mind and Dew needs to be comfortable that the required flavor profile is available.  To do this the wines usually have relatively high alcohol – it is not unusual for a 15% alcohol Rose as an example.

For the scarcity of the wines (the wines usually are sold out after the members receive theirs and the first weekend at the cellar) and the reputation these wines are value for money.  I have seen many times a Noon wine up for sale at inflated prices compared to that at time of purchase.  Well for me these wines are mine, I may share some with you but I will never give them away or sell them for profit!

Noon Wines with the wonderful Winery Block Grenache

And after picking up my allocation and tasting the wines, here are my comments…..

2011 High Noon Rose

Back to the Grenache based wine and it it better for it.  At 14.2% alcohol this wine packs a smaller punch than most High Noon Rose wines of the last few years.  Fresh and lively aromas and flavors that are based on the red fruits of raspberry in particular.  Lovely and I will be looking to this as a food Rose style compared to many other Rose wines that are really veranda wine.

2010 Twelve Bells

Due to a lower crop of Grenache in the 2010 year (after a heatwave damaging the Grenache flowers in November 2009) means this wine has changed from a Grenache based wine to a Shiraz based wine.  At first I got the aromas of the red Grenache based fruits but as this wine spent time in my glass the black fruits from Shiraz started to come through more and more.  There are cedar hints and loads of subtle spices here.  The flavor profile was medium bodied wine that is easy drinking now.  The darker fruits dominate and there is wonderful soft tannins that will strengthen the drink now-ability of this wine.

2010 Reserve Shiraz

Good to see this is a blend with 7% Grenache and 3% Cabernet to provide what I suspect to be a much better balanced wine that it would have been as a straight Shiraz.  Well, what can I say – this is Shiraz as it should be!  Black concentrated fruits with subtle spices of cardamon and white pepper with just a hint of anise hanging around.  The mid palate is as it should be to give a great mouthfeel with such a wonderfully full, but not intrusive, tannin structure

2010 Eclipse

I was so looking forward to this Grenache based blend (45% Grenache, 35% Shiraz, 15% Grenaciano and 5% Cabernet) and I was not disappointed.  The glass exploded with red fruit aromas and I even got some blue fruit hints as the glass got close to my nose.  Lots of depth apparent here even from these aromas.  The flavors showed both balance and power – fruit character, smooth tannins, good acid length.  Everything seemed to be in balance with everything else – and even so I suspect this wine will get better over the next few years.  Sorry guys, I have 5 bottles and they will be mine and mine alone!

McLaren Vale Wine Show

Sunday, 30 October 2011 18:55
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I was so excited when I found out the McLaren Vale Wine Show was on last Tuesday. The excitement was based on being able to attend plus there was over 600 wines submitted to the show and they were all available for tasting. Yes, you read right – there was over 600 wines for tasting. Then there was another bonus – the tasting was free with the results book costing $10. I was like a kid in a candy store. So much so I needed an able assistant in Charlie – Helen Robinson to be the official photographer. Thanks Helen for photos that appear in this blog.

Acres and Acres of wine and it was all ours!

The first hurdle was where to start first. I am not a Sauvignon Blanc sort of guy so Chardonnay there I was. As I used to work for Fox Creek Wine (as a Laboratory Assistant) their 2010 Chardy was my first wine. This was as I remember the Fox Creek style. Some wood here, probably some barrel fermentation gives the complexity that Chardonnay deserves. I checked the results book to find the wine did not wine an award. Well I had better move on. As we passed the Sauvignon Blanc section I checked the book again to see who won awards, only to see no awards. The comments on this class were “Can see why this is a tempting variety to grow……However, not really suited to the region and international competition is intense….There are other varieties that should be considered…..”. Maybe my views about Sauvignon Blanc have some basis. Sorry Charlie.

Then we got the best tip of the day. The table at the side of the building had the top wine from each McLaren Vale class. So off we went before these wines ran out. After some jostling for position we tasted some excellent wines and more interestingly there was not the normal wine varieties here. The top wines were:-
Best white wine – other 2010 Coriole Fiano
Best Shiraz under $25 2008 Kay Brothers Basket Press Shiraz
Best Shiraz between $25 $ $50 2010 Wirra Wirra Woodhenge Shiraz
Best Shiraz more than $50 2009 III Associates Squid Ink Shiraz
Best Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 Battle of Bosworth Cabernet Sauvignon
Best Grenache 2010 SC Parnell Grenache
Best Single Red Variety Other 2009 Pertaringa Wines Tannant
Best Shiraz Predominant Blend 2010 Fox Creek Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvedre
Best Red Blend Other 2010 SC Parnell Touriga Tempranillo

Did not try them all but the Fiano was a beauty, the Fox Creek SGM was oh so drinkable and the Tannant was a lot softer than I expected.

The next offering was the sparkling Reds – a personal favorite.  There was some disappointing wines here, I heard one comment of “foul” when drinking one of them.  Of the ones tried I thought the Sparkling Squid Ink Shiraz showed what can be good about this style.  While an old favorite of mine – Fox Creek Wines Vixen was a good standard for the mid price range wines – the Cabernet Franc used in this blend seems to make a difference.

What is next?

So what was next?  Shiraz was calling, but my favorite variety at the moment, Grenache, was just calling too loudly.  Plus, Grenache is lighter than most Shiraz wines.  I had tried the SC Parnell wine and seeing that the La Curio winemaker (Adam Hooper) was standing next to me I thought that was a good place to start.  The 2010 wine was a little tight and not showing it’s best, so I look forward to trying the wine again when it is released.  I was drawn away from Grenache as I saw some Mourvedre out of the corner of my eye, so I just had to go there.  The top rated wine from the 2010 class was from Chappel Hill and it was every bit as good as the 2009 wine from the same stable.

I can easily say I have not seen so many different bottles of Shiraz wines that was at this tasting.  It was literally like acres of wine here for me to try.  I saw many favourites that I had tried before, so I wanted to check out others.  Of the ones I tried the Angoves 2008 Medhych Shiraz was something I have put into the memory to try again later.

Soon I found my palate was shot from all the wines and all the tannin.  No matter how many glasses of water I drank, my taste buds were laying down on me.  So there was nothing for it but to skip the remainder of the wines and head for the fortified wines.  Here I differed from the judges.  The top ranked fortified (any style, any vintage) was Olivers Taranga Vineyards The Banished Fortified Grenache – but I liked the Woodstock Very Old Fortified much better.  it was also great to see some Vintage Ports there.  it is a style that has struggled for recognition but with patience will reward you with truly interesting wines of character.  I enjoyed all 3 offerings from the Commercially Available class, with the Graham Stevens Wines 2010 Vintage Shiraz a favorite.

That was the end of the tasting for me – off to Lunch it was.  The Tin Shed Cafe was a great place to finish the McLaren Vale Show Unearthing!

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