Meerea Park Tasting – Alexander Munro Range

Last week, Brown and I went to another excellent Oak Barrel Tasting. This time it was with Garth Eather, co-owner of Meerea Park in the Hunter Valley (the other owner is his brother Rhys). The highlights of the night were as expected their premium Alexander Munro Range:

2005 Meerea Park Alexander Munro Semillon – the grapes come off the Braemore vineyard. Given that Semillon has comparatively little in the way of winemaking input, it would be great to taste this alongside the 05 Andrew Thomas 'Braemore' Semillon (which as the name suggests comes of the same vineyard) to see what - if any - differences there are. Anyway, that’s for another time. This is just starting to show some aged characteristics but is still a largely fresh, youngish Semillon. A slightly developed colour, it has a nose of citrus, some toasty, oily notes along with a hint of honey. On the palate this wine is very impressive. With great acidity and balance, it has lovely fruit before delivering a long finish with just a nice touch of tartness. Everything suggests it will have a long, long life. (RRP:$35)

2009 Meerea Park Alexander Munro Chardonnay – This wine is probably a bit young to be drinking right now, though is clearly a good quality Chardonnay. It has an understated nose of stonefruit verging on tropical fruit along with some nice oak. It has a lovely smooth mouthfeel and a long finish of somewhat tart grapefruit flavours. Needs another year or two before drinking. (RRP: $35)

2007 Meerea Park Alexander Munro Shiraz – This is a wonderful Hunter Shiraz, which is both typical and atypical of the region at the same time. It is slightly atypical in that it has a perfumed, almost lifted nose of berry and cherry fruits, while nevertheless having a bit of typical Hunter earthiness and some nice vanilla oak. Talking to Garth about this he says that the perfumed nose is the result of about 35% of the stems being added to the ferment. The wine has great length and structure, delivering beautiful berry fruit on the front palate before turning largely savoury with sour cherry and a bit of earthiness. There are fine tannins and a bit of spice in support. This drank really well with a bit of air, but it is a special for the cellar. (RRP: $70)

1998 Meerea Park Alexander Munro Shiraz – tasting this wine more or less confirmed my thoughts about the 07 being a long term wine. The 98 Alexander Munro had a lovely aged nose still with plenty of primary, cherry fruit, along with expected leathery, earthy notes that are very much 'of the Hunter'. On the palate it also still had some nice grip and tannin with a beautifully smooth, long finish. Some complexity here with many years still in front of it. (RRP: $110)


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Footnote: As luck would have it, I (Brown) was struck down with a bad cold on the night of the tasting. Such a shame, given that I loved the wines and can only imagine how much nicer they would be when fighting fit. Even at less that 100% tasting capacity, the wines all have lovely noses, and the length and structure of the Semillon and Shiraz in particular was impressive. I hope to try some more Meerea Park wines in late July when I visit the Hunter, and will report back on any new wines in the line-up.

Brown

Eden Valley or Clare Valley Riesling?

I was reading an article by Tyson Stelzer in Decanter magazine recently about Clare Valley and Eden Valley Riesling. Of his top 15 picks from the 2009 vintage, 11 were from the Clare Valley. This preference for Clare Valley Rieslings over the Eden Valley is something I’ve noticed more generally amongst critics. Halliday’s best Riesling lists generally have about double the amount of Clare Valley. Jukes’ latest top 100 wines has 7 Clare as against 3 Eden, while Nick Stock’s Penguin Wine Guide has 40 odd Clare reviews compared to only 4 for the Eden.

The reason this broad trend has caught my attention is my preference for Eden Valley Rieslings. The lovely floral bouquets, and the minerality and acidity on the palate of the Eden generally does it for me just that bit more than the rounder, more citrus flavours of the Clare. Eden Rieslings from Pewsey Vale, Poonawatta, Torzi Matthews, and Peter Lehman have all tickled my fancy of late. Before I get into this further I want to say that I love Clare Rieslings. Recently I’ve had the 09 Grosset Polish Hill, as well as the 09 Petaluma Hanlin Hill, and both were absolutely stunning. However, in nominating a preference between these two wonderful Riesling regions, I fall on the Eden side of the ledger.

But I guess my question is what is the reason for the clear dominance of Clare Rieslings amongst wine critics? Is it people’s opinion that Clare Rieslings are definitively better than those of the Eden Valley? Is it possible that in the slightly more objective elements of wine like length, structure, and balance, that the Clare produces better wines.

Do people prefer the flavour profiles of Clare Riesling?

Is it the history of the Clare and the fact it there are possibly more historic wineries of real pedigree? Wineries like Knappstein and Grosset produce truly iconic Riesling, but are they given higher regard than a Pewsey Vale Contours or a Leo Buring Leonay?

Or is it nothing more complicated than the fact that there are more wineries in the Clare with more hectares of Riesling?

Whatever the case it’s an enjoyable conundrum. Both regions occupy a loving place in my cellar but for the minute the Eden has the edge for me . . .


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2006 Tahbilk Cabernet Sauvignon – Nagambie Lakes (Retail)

Is there a winery producing better quality, cellarable reds in the sub $20 price range in Australia at the moment?

I’ve had more of their Shiraz than Cabernet, though I really enjoyed their 05 Cabernet. I think I like the 06 even more.

It’s a savoury, somewhat rustic wine that tastes like it’s a Tahbilk, and yet it has enough clean, tasty fruit to keep most people happy. It has a perfumed nose with some floral, violet aromas, along with blackcurrant, earth, and well integrated oak. On the front palate there is some nice sweet fruit, but from there it’s all savoury. It’s long and nicely balanced, with hints of mint and salt, and a dry finish of some nice sour and bitter flavours. The tannins are a superb element to this wine. They’re very fine and integrated, but nevertheless noticeable in the way they provide weight and structure to the wine and give it its dry, slightly puckering finish. This wine will do 10 years in a canter and how much longer than that probably just depends on how well you cellar it. Superb wine for the price.

Details
Rated:


RRP: $17
ABV: 14.5%
Website: www.tahbilk.com.au


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Dan Murphy's Shiraz Expo, Part Three: South Australian Shiraz

Wines from South Australia will always loom large in any Australian Shiraz tasting (whether the trend setters like it or not). Predictably, there were more than enough examples of SA Shiraz sampled on the day to put a smile on our face. Brief and scratchy notes are below: 
2004 Eileen Hardy Shiraz (McLaren Vale) – beautiful nose – coffee and mocha oak. On the palate super smooth with superb dark fruits with a long finish. Overall a very nice wine.

2008 Mr Riggs Shiraz (McLaren Vale) – nice nose of cedery oak, sweet fruit, and chocolate. More of the typical McLaren Vale bitter chocolate on the palate but not over the top.

2006 Jim Barry McRae Wood Shiraz (Clare Valley) – Elegant, sweet berry fruit nose. Lovely, juicy palate, with some spicy oak and chocolate. Good length.

2007 Chapel Hill Vicar (McLaren Vale) – lovely understated nose of plum, aniseed and some nice oak. Firm tannins and great length on the palate with the typical chocolaty finish.

2008 Shaw & Smith Shiraz (Adelaide Hills) – Lovely perfumed nose of berry fruit and hints of pepper. Nice blueberry fruit on palate, along with more subtle pepper and spice. Nice tannins and length, finishing relatively savoury. Another great result from a winery in good form.