1994 Mount Pleasant Maurice O'Shea Shiraz (Hunter Valley)

All roads seemingly lead to the Hunter Valley for RedtoBrown at the moment. Hunter Valley tastings, samples, and tweet-ups have been a focus in the past couple of weeks, and as it so happens I’m heading up to the Hunter this weekend for a mate’s wedding. Staying on message I thought I’d talk a bit about the 1994 Mount Pleasant Maurice O’Shea Shiraz, which I had a few weeks back with Brown and our much better halves.

When a wine is 17 years old I’d generally err on the side of caution when considering whether to decant for a while before drinking. If you decant for too long with an aged wine you might in fact miss its best moments, before it starts to slowly decline. So this was given a quick decant before it found its way into our glasses. As it turned out, I shouldn’t have been so conservative, as this Hunter Shiraz has plenty of years in front of it, and I’m sure it would have been better on day two, had we not polished it off in the one evening.

The dominant aroma on the nose initially was some characteristic Hunter leather along with some chocolate oak. As it opened up over the next couple of hours however, notes of cherry, earth, and black olive came to the fore. A lovely aged Hunter bouquet. The palate was defined by a spine of quite prominent acidity from which everything else flowed. It’s medium-bodied, wonderfully food friendly, tastes of classic Hunter sour cherry and earth, and finishes with fine, drying tannin. It’s not incredibly complex, and I could quibble about oak being a tad too prominent here, but there’s an appeal and persistence to this wine that’s hard to resist. Cork permitting, it would not surprise me to see this still drinking well in another 10 years time. 4 Stars.

Rated:



Website: www.mountpleasantwines.com.au


Red

Go Chard or Go Home - Hunter Valley Chardonnay Tasting

The Hunter Valley is synonymous with Semillon - Australia’s finest, most age worthy Semillon at that. It also happens to be the birthplace of modern Chardonnay in Australia, a lesser-known fact. To showcase what the Hunter Valley can do with this most noble of varieties, on 15 March in Sydney, the Hunter Valley Wine Industry Association organised a sizeable single blind tasting of 17 Hunter Valley Chardonnays.

The tasting provided all involved with a solid introduction/reaffirmation of what makes good quality Hunter Valley Chardonnay so appealing: a consistent number of  wines with flavours of largely yellow and white stone fruit, some leaning more to green melon, others fig, and less commonly some citrus flavours. The use of oak in most of the wines was evident, though was generally well considered and in balance with the fruit, leading to a creamy cashew nuttiness and subtle spice that did not overpower.

One obvious point of difference on the night was the 2009 Polin Polin Tudor Chardonnay. It had crisper acidity than the norm, more citrus flavours and a subtle almost Riesling-like minerality. Other wines in the line-up, including the 2009 Tyrrell’s Vat 47 was framed by nice acidity and finished surprisingly restrained given the primary fruit on show.

The 2009 Scarborough White Label (reviewed previously on this site) was of typically high standard and an example of sensitive use of quality oak to maximise the end result – typical Hunter Chardonnay fruit profile with the intelligent use of nice oak adding a spicy restrain and complexity to the wine. The 2009 De Iuliis Limited Release was another wine that stood out for its oak/barrel driven complexity with a nice spicy smokiness adding interest.

After tasting the 17 wines, it was clear that the Hunter Valley produces chardonnay in a broadly recognisable style (a riper style with nice stone fruit and sometimes fig flavours, creamy spicy oak and slight tropical fruit in the warmer vintages). However, the tasting also reinforced what we have found in the past – Hunter winemakers are successfully varying the regional chardonnay style, producing appealing ‘point of difference’ wines in the process.

Thanks must go to the Hunter Valley Wine Industry Association for organising the tasting (which in included a Shiraz vertical that will appear on RedtoBrown in upcoming weeks as well) – an enjoyable and educational event that effectively showcased what the Hunter Valley has to offer.

Website: http://www.winehuntervalley.com.au/

2007 & 2008 Rosby Cabernet Sauvignon - A Tale of Two Vintages (Mudgee)

I’ve previously written about the unique Rosby vineyard in Mudgee, and the interest and value it offers in producing single site wines for $18 a bottle (http://tinyurl.com/ybvol4r). The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon is an especially impressive wine, from a good Mudgee vintage, and I’ve got a fair few put away in the cellar (http://tinyurl.com/y67f25b).

The 2007 and 2008 vintages, were however, pretty tough in Mudgee. 2007 was a particularly hot vintage, while 2008 was a vintage with plenty of rain and subsequent problems with vine disease. So I was interested to see what Gerry Rosby could manage to produce in these difficult vintages. As much as a single vineyard wines provide character and interest, they are also subject to the vagaries of vintage. The differences in vintage, if not too extreme and well managed in the vineyard, can be embraced and enjoyed. There is always the possibility, however, tough vintages will produce tough single-vineyard wines. Happily in the case of these two wines it is the former that is the case.

2007 Rosby Cabernet - Rosby Cabernets are generally a medium-bodied affair, and while this wine stays within that range, it is fuller bodied than other vintages. It has an inviting, rich nose of dark-fruits, coal, earth, and some lovely oak. On the palate the wine has a reasonable line and length, and nice tannins, but despite this decent structure it comes across as a wine that will drink at its best over the next couple of years. It tastes of dark fruits and earth, along with some nice licks of chocolate and liquorice. 3.5 Stars

2008 Rosby Cabernet – This wine initially sat in marked contrast with the 07, presenting itself more like a traditional claret, being on the lighter side of medium-bodied. On the nose it had site typical plum, an interesting black olive note, and tasteful oak. It was obvious that the oak treatment had been judicious given the lighter fruit profile from the vintage. On the palate the acidity is more prominent and it tastes of red fruits, sour cherry, and earth. There are some lovely, persistent tannins through the finish. It held up well over 3 days, and indeed fleshed out a bit. I’d suggest this will age nicely over the next 5-10 years. 3.5 + Stars

Two very good, but quite different wines, all the result of vintage variance. Site specific plum and earth flavours are evident in both, but there are also significant differences. The 2007 is for drinking now, while the 2008 is perhaps the more interesting wine and the one that will get better with age. I now look forward to the 2009, which happily was a very good Mudgee vintage.

Rated: 3.5 Stars/3.5 Stars+
RRP: $18/$18
ABV: 13.5%/13.5%
Website: www.rosby.com.au


Red

2009 Scarborough White Label Chardonnay (Hunter Valley, Sample)

This 09 White Label sits right where I like to see Hunter Chardonnay. It doesn’t resile from its region or roots, being a generous Chardonnay with prominent oak in its youth, and yet there is enough restraint shown to mark it out as a class act.

Melon, grilled nuts and lovely French vanilla oak are prominent on the nose. On the palate it builds and unwinds nicely after about an hour in the decanter, at which point it delivers pure Chardonnay goodness. There’s a generosity of citrus and melon flavours, along with some lovely creaminess. This is supported by spicy oak, fine acidity and a long finish with an appealing citrus pith note.

The oak should integrate nicely over the next 3-5 years, at which point it will drink beautifully.

Rated:


ABV: 14.0%
RRP: $30
Website: www.scarboroughwine.com.au


Red