Larry Cherubino recently won James Halliday’s winery of the year in his latest Wine Companion. Cherubino produces a number of wines from across different Western Australian regions including a focus on single vineyard wines. I’d yet to have any his wines so when I saw this on special for $26 at Dan Murphys the other day i quickly nabbed a bottle.
The 2008 The Yard Shiraz is from a single vineyard in the Frankland River. It has plenty of interest but doesn’t provide a lot of enjoyment yet. I tasted it over 3 days, and while it got better over that time, it still left me with the sense that it needs a few years before it starts to drink well.
It smells lovely with some aromas of plums, cherries, mint and some nice oak that reminds me of cream cake. On the palate it is medium bodied and reasonably complex. There’s some nice fruit along with some liquorice, pepper and a bit of earthiness. There is however, also a bitterness, and possibly even a bit of stalkiness that sticks out a bit and isn’t properly integrated yet. I think this will come with another couple of years however, at which point it will be a very good Frankland River Shiraz.
Rated:
+RRP: $35
ABV: 14.2%
Website: http://www.yardwines.com.au/
7 comments:
Very much agreed. Had this on Friday night and simlarly thought it looked young and awkward, with spiky, unintegrated acidity.
Cheers for the opinion(s) guys. I've actually been seeking out a new release Cherubino shiraz for immediate drinking (most likely this one), but after your input, I might seek another Frankland River/Great Southern shiraz to put my hard earned money towards.
Cheers,
Chris P
yeah definitely not for immediate drinking.
Out of interest what Frankland River Shiraz do you guys like? Houghton Gladstones the best I've had so far.
Honestly Red I'd pretty much take any Frankland River shiraz I could find in SA! ;)
p.s. I was actually at Adelaide's leading independent wine retailer (IMHO) last week where I asked for a Frankland River shiraz. They had none at all! In fact, the only Frankland River red they had was a back vintage bottle of Frankland Estate's Olmo blend. That's Adelaide living for ya...
I'm not a massive fan of Great Southern Shiraz. Prefer the Cabernets myself. The Howard Park Scotsdale is a smart wine on occasion. The 07 Cherubino Shiraz too hit the spot, just to show that this 08 is probably just looking a little awkward.
The Rieslings though... Yum. Larry's wines, those of the Diletti's at Castle Rock and the Plantagenets - now they're wines to look out for. Double yum.
Chris, i think we've covered this topic before in that i'm jealous of people in Adelaide and Melbourne for having so many great wine regions within an hour or two's drive, but conversely very happy that the flipside of this is that Sydney has a much more diverse choice of wine on its shelves. While Frankland River Shiraz is hardly everywhere it certainly can be found fairly easily.
Andrew, agree on both the Cabernet and Riesling. Frankland Estate Rieslings also pretty impressive
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