2008 Tar & Roses Tempranillo (Heathcote, Alpine Valleys)

I’m yet to have a Tempranillo moment.

In the past few years, as my tastes have really expanded beyond the Aussie staples of Cabernet and Shiraz, I’ve invariably had a moment with other red varietals that have grabbed me, excited me, and made me want to go out and drink and purchase as much of the wine that my budget allows. Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, and Nebbiolo are all examples of where this has happened.

My Tempranillo moment may well come as I try more Spanish examples, as well as an increasing number of good quality Australian examples, but for whatever reason Tempranillo has thus far failed to grab my imagination.

This wine is good drinking and worked well while watching footy finals the other week with a pizza. Nice nose of red fruits, five spice and maybe a touch of tobacco. Oak is there but not unpleasant. To drink it’s a bit overripe but nevertheless has some enjoyable flavours of sour cherry, sarsaparilla, and liquorice. Medium-full bodied. Good wine and fairly priced. My score might be considered a bit miserly for those who have more of a taste for Tempranillo.

Rated:


RRP: $25
ABV: 14.0%
Website: www.tarandroses.com.au

High Alcohol Shiraz

Lower alcohol levels in Shiraz are an increasing focus of many winemakers, and a regular discussion point when it comes to Australian wine. The general premise behind this trend is that the closer a wine gets to 15% ABV (and beyond), the less likely it is to age well. While they may be powerful, rich and voluptuous in youth, these wines will start falling over after the 5 year mark. Wines of 14% and less are seen as generally more desirable in order to deliver balance and cellarability. Indeed I have read about some wine retailers and restaurants in the States that have banned the sale of wines in excess of 14.5%

So are wines of 14.5% and more only short-term wines? Like a lot of these assertions I believe there is a large degree of truth to this, but that it is not a given, and that there are wines approaching the 15% mark that age/will age well.

Being a very unscientific person, I decided to conduct a bit of a quasi scientific experiment with two high alcohol Shiraz that are at the 5 year mark.


2004 Fireblock Old Vine Shiraz (Clare Valley, ABV: 15.5%, RRP: $20) – Lovely fragrant nose of berry and hints of chocolate. The palate drinks well with still plenty of nice primary fruit, liquorice, and chocolate, along with a hint of spice, before delivering a dry, savoury finish. Carries its alcohol well. Not a lot of complexity but its drinking nicely, and should continue to age for the next five years. 3.5 Stars.

2005 Carlei Estate Green Vineyards Shiraz (Heathcote, ABV: 14.9%, $RRP: $26) - Interesting, complex nose of menthol, liquorice, malt, and rose. It’s ripe and plush in one sense and yet still maintains quite a light mouth feel. While arguably a more complex and interesting wine than the Fireblock, there is a bit of alcohol heat. Despite having the notionally lower ABV, this wine does appear a touch unbalanced in this regard. It's good drinking but it might have issues as it approaches the decade mark. 3.5 Stars.

As sub-$30 Shiraz I think both wines deliver, and will almost certainly provide good drinking for the next couple of years. If I had to pick one of these wines to reach its 10th birthday and beyond, it would actually be the Fireblock at 15.5% ABV. It’s a wine of balance and no noticeable alcohol heat. Ultimately though the proof will be in the drinking, and it would be interesting to see where both these wines are at in 2015.

I think the trend towards lower alcohol Shiraz is a positive one, and will broadly lead to wines of better balance and cellarability. With a wine of say 14.5% or 15%, alcohol heat is always something to be on the lookout for, especially if you are considering cellaring the wine. But if such a wine has no noticeable heat and provides a sense of balance, then the fact it’s at 15% ABV is not by default going to prevent it from ageing well.


Red

Dan Murphy's Shiraz Expo, Part Two: Victorian Shiraz

Following on from Brown’s post on some of the Penfolds Icon wines, below are tasting notes on a few Victorian wines that were tasted on the same day.

2005 Heathcote Estate – rich nose of dark fruits, liquorice, pepper and spice. On the palate it’s juicy, plush, and has decent length. Plenty of yum factor with this wine. Still has a few more years in it but I would be drinking it now. (Heathcote, RRP: $46)

07 Jasper Hill Georgia’s Paddock – Seductive bouquet with aromas of liquorice, molasses, dark fruits, and sweet oak. A bit porty in fact. It floods the palate with plum and berry flavours, while finishing with some nice meatiness and drying tannins. A quality, hedonistic wine, though not sure how well it will age. (Heathcote, RRP: $73)

08 Tar & Roses – This is an enjoyable quaffer. On the nose it has ripe berry aromas that are a bit jammy, along with liquorice and some sweet oak. On the palate there is plenty of nice fruit though it finishes a touch tart. Decent tannins. Good drinking at the price. (Heathcote, RRP: $17.50)

07 Turner’s Crossing Shiraz Viognier – This was the value wine of the day, and is a great example of where the Viognier has actually added to the wine (and as such is in the minority of Australian SV's, in my opinion). It provides quality and complexity at a very reasonable price. Lovely unique nose with subtle aromas of dark fruits, prunes, apricots and spice. It has a long palate with a beautiful balance between berry and chocolate flavours on the one hand, and earthy, savoury flavours on the other. Should age very nicely. (Bendigo, RRP: $25)

Red

2007 Tobacco Road Cabernet Sauvignon (Gundagai, Big Rivers, Heathcote) $13 - Retail

Tobacco Road is the quaffer range of the Victorian Alps Wine Company (Gapsted being their premier label). What sparked my interest was that it included some fruit from Gundagai (along with the Big Rivers and Heathcote among others).


At $13 a bottle, do not be expecting a complex, heady mix of dusty, spicy fruit (or Red’s pet Cab descriptor –gravel). On the nose there are oodles of sweet vanilla, jammy blackcurrant and even some strawberry cream lollies. The palate is soft, round and juicy, minimal tannin and acid, and average intensity. What it lacks in line and length it makes up with juicy gluggable (if non-varietal) fruit. It does not finish with any bitter or mouth-coating tannin (the curse for me of the entry-level Cabernet), nor is it sickly or cloyingly sweet (I would put out a Lost in Space ‘Warning’ on this wine to any cool climate pepper-fiend).

Given the modest price, it is what it is – an uncomplicated, full flavoured and highly quaffable wine. I want to try some Gundagai-only wine one day, and any recommendations would be more than welcome.

Red to Brown 'Face-Off' : Shiraz Blind Tasting - 07 Shaw & Smith, 07 Cape Mentelle, 07 Tyrrells Stevens, 06 Heathcote Estate

This is the first of what will hopefully be a steady stream of 'face-offs' from Red to Brown involving wines we have both tasted. It is hoped that in future months some more blind tastings with approproiate food matchings will be posted, including an Australian vs New Zealand Pinot Noir and Multi-regional Cabernet Sauvignon tastings.

(Red) Brown, myself, and our better halves had a dinner the other night where we kicked things off with a blind tasting of four Shiraz from four different states – NSW, Vic, SA, and WA. We'd each brought two of the wines, mine from NSW and SA, and Brown's from Vic and WA, so we knew the identity of two of the wines in the line up, but were clueless as to the other two.

Wine 1 (2007 Shaw and Smith Shiraz) – (Red) - Beautiful aromatic nose of berries and French oak. On the palette the wine had a great mouth feel, with good length and nice tannins. Berries and a pleasing bit of spice. First up wine and I loved it. Correctly picked this as the Shaw and Smith (my only correct pick of the night!!)
(Brown) - On the nose I picked up the strong scent of French oak (perfumed, not over-done), along with some vanilla and a hint of spice and pepper. This wine had by far the strongest nose of the 4 out of the bottle. On the palette it had typical black and red fruit, a hint of pepper and some sour notes (in a good way). It was medium bodied with very good length and a tight structure, finishing smooth with perfectly ripe fruit. Knowing Red was bringing SA and NSW wine, the spice and use of French oak (and the fact it was obviously not from the more familiar Barossa, Mclarenvale or Clare Valley) made me assume it was a newer style Coonawarra Shiraz (Ba-bow! wrong). The other half gushed about this wine, and it was the consensus pick for the night.

Wine 2 (2007 Cape Mentelle Shiraz) – (Red) - As we were to discover this wine needed a good decant. There was virtually no nose at all at this stage, maybe a bit of French oak. On the palette the distinguishing feature were the pepper notes to match the berry fruit. Decent length and stronger tannins than the Shaw and Smith. Had no idea where it was from, but the given the pepper I figured it was one of Brown's wines
(Brown) - Classic example of why decanting is good for even young wines, why this wine deserves its universally high rating, and why it will also age wonderfully. Even factoring in my terrible sense of smell, the Cape Mentelle had no nose when first opened. You had to work the wine like a rusted FJ Holden to get some life out of it initially (eg minutes after opening). My notes highlighted the subdued nose, which had sweet hints. The tannins were powdery and fine, it had structure, even if the fruit had not yet opened up to flesh out the wine. There was no obvious new oak. I assumed this could have been the Cape Mentelle, without really having much of an idea (had not tried that many south Margaret River Shiraz). As it turned out, this wine really opened up during the night and on the next day. So much so that by Sunday night it was very nice – the pepper had peaked on Saturday night, and though it was still there, the fruit had come out and the overall package was a very nice, fruity, fully flavoured, yet elegant wine.

Wine 3 (2007 Tyrrells Stevens Shiraz) – (Red) A bit of earth, sour cherry, and well integrated oak. Medium bodied, with good length, gentle tannins, and a hint of spice. Very nice wine. Reading my own notes it's amazing that I didn't pick it as a Hunter (especially given that I'd bought the wine!!!). My two poor excuses are firstly the touch of spice on the palette got me thinking about WA and Vic, and secondly while tasting the wine I had one of those absent minded swirling the wine moments where I swirled just a bit too vigorously and spilled the wine all over myself!!!
(Brown) - Having survived Red spilling wine on himself (at the end of a boozy night maybe, but after 2 small tastes, quite amusing :-) ), I noted that the wine was an almost blackish red (contrasting with the other two). On the nose there was aniseed/fennel, spice (cloves). In the mouth it was savoury and meaty, yet juicy and medium-full bodied. It finished with a bang of (non-fruit bomb) ripe juicy fruit and had admirable length and intensity. I successfully picked this as a Hunter Valley Shiraz (the only wine I can lay claim to confidently outing!) – the taste of the previous two wines, the odds of one of the last two being the Heathcoate and the meatyness to this one swung it for me. The Stevens shows that though a modern Hunter Shiraz can stay true to the traditional style (earthyness, meatyness) yet also have secondary characteristics like spice and nice, juicy fruit.

Wine 4 (2006 Heathcote Estate Shiraz) (Red) – Blackberry, sour cherry, a hint of a pepper and chocolate. Reasonably savoury and not quite full bodied. Good tannins though less well structured than the previous three wines. Given that I had (incorrectly) deduced that none of the previous three wines were the Stevens shiraz, I let myself be convinced that the cherry notes in the wine, as well as its bit of savouriness, indicated it was a Hunter. It certainly wasn't an obvious Heathcote, but once again reading my notes it definitely wasn't a Hunter!!!
(Brown) - This wine had an elegant nose, with coconut scented French oak evident, yet not overpowering . Given that we made notes in silence, I concurred with Red that sour cherry was on the palette (having not identified sour cherry in the previous wines). Once again there was a hint of aniseed and spice, though with stronger, almost syrupy black fruit underpinning the wine. The Heathcote Estate had decent intensity, and drying, pleasant tannin. I picked up an almost citrus tinge at the end, possibly due to higher than usual acid.

(Red) - Very enjoyable tasting. Following the tasting, we then proceeded to drink the wines over the course of the evening while eating a leg of wild boar. The Shaw & Smith was my favourite wine during the tasting and remained my favourite throughout the evening. The Cape Mentelle really opened up. The pepper remained, but berry fruit and liquorice started to come through. Beautiful medium-bodied wine. The Stevens was a wine of real character, and I'd love to drink it in 10 years time to see how it had evolved. Given the quality of the other three, the Heathcote Estate was probably my least favourite. If I'd drunk it on its own, I reckon I would have really enjoyed it and talked it up (it is a very nice wine), but against the other three it seemed just a very slight step down.
Overall, I think it was a good snapshot of where a lot of quality Australian Shiraz is heading. The wines were all closer to medium bodied rather than full-bodied, the highest level of alcohol was the Heathcote at 14.5%, and the use of oak was French and reasonably subtle. All four wines could be cellared for at least 10 years and possibly a lot longer.

(Brown) - I concur with Red, very strong group of affordable reds, underlining the fact that Shiraz is Australia’s signature grape (whether you love it or loathe it), that the different states and wine regions can produce diverse styles and that with trend towards Pinot and lighter styles of wine, Shiraz is amazing value for money.
For me the Shaw and Smith was the most instantly appealing wine, followed by the Tyrrell’s. Both will age for a decade or more. I agree that the Heathcote Estate wine came last, though was not disgraced – it is a quality drop, if a little atypical of some of the bigger, bolder Heathcotes out there. Based on my tasting of it the following evening, I doubt it will develop greatly over time, but will retain its primary characteristics. In my opinion, the Cape Mentelle will evolve into the nicest wine of the 4. As the night went on, and especially on the following evening, the Cape Mentelle developed more fruit flavour and complexity. It will hopefully age gracefully in the years to come.

*Compliments must go to the Chef (Red) who sourced a delicious leg of wild boar – the meat was perfectly matched to the wine – wonderful!