TN: Wendouree Shiraz Mataro 1975-2006 Vertical 6/9/10

[n4sir]

It's not often a you see a sizeable vertical of a Wendouree label, but I was lucky enough to try these at a wine club's member's only event. The venue (a room in a private college) had its distractions though - at one stage in the distance we could hear a group of girls singing Bon Jovi's 'You Give Love a Bad Name' over and over again, followed later by a trombone solo of 'Smoke on the Water'!

To be honest I've never really been blown away by Wendouree (apart from the 1975 Vintage Port at Andrew Jefford's farewell dinner earlier this year), and this tasting lacked the 'wow' factor of say the aged Coonawarra cabernet tasting a few months ago. That said, by the end of this tasting I came to the conclusion that maybe I'm expecting the wrong thing. The wines are uniformly very 'Clare' in being only light to medium weight, so going in with the frame of mind of expecting something more like burgundy in weight, style and structure may be the way to go. The tannins are always prominent on the finish, chalky in the youngest wines before becoming tea-like and eventually silky, but by that stage inevitably the fruit's gone or at best the characters are predominantly secondary. All of the following wines were (apart from the last three) served in flights of four, and all were bottled under natural cork:


2006 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Medium to very dark red/purple. Very closed nose, gradually revealing some dusty cherry stones, inky berries with a hint of cocoa, becoming slightly jammy with breathing; a jammy/tarry entry leads to a slightly yeasty palate of sweet and sour cherries, finishing chalky and grippy. Has the appearance of being bottled recently despite being four years from vintage!

2005 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Medium to dark garnet/red. Cheesy nose with some bacon at first, then black cherries, becoming more minty with some air; the palate opens with cherries leading to a whack of bright acid/alcohol heat mid-palate, finishing very minty with some heat and a chalky, tannic rebound. Really looked awkward, and I had my suspicions it may have been an advanced/heat-effected bottle.

2004 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Medium to very dark blood red. The nose is very cool and always in the herbal spectrum, minty, menthol then eucalyptus, then peppermint and cocoa; the palate's riper and darker, chocolate and cocoa, black cherries, and tea-like tannins throughout.

2003 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Medium to very dark red. Lots oak attractive oak on the nose with inky cherries, creamy vanilla, bacon and toast/char, becoming mineraly with breathing; inky, dark cherries, a little warmth mid-palate, and tight, tea-like tannins on the long finish. I think someone mentioned the fill level of this bottle was down to the base of the neck, but it was drinking the best of the first four in my opinion.

2002 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Medium to almost dark blood red. Very reminiscent of the 2006 vintage, very stony/mineraly with inky cherries; the palate's slightly more open and developed, cherries with meaty/liquorice nuances, but the tea-like tannins are still massive and dominating.

2001 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Medium red. Cheesy/rubbery nose and palate, with some stalky and cocoa characters to go with the cherry fruit; the mid-palate is minty, and the finish is rather short. It's not a pretty wine, and I doubt it ever will be.

2000 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Medium to dark red/garnet. Developed nose of liquorice, mint and mineral; the palate's slightly porty with characters of wintergreen and liquorice along with cherries and mint, lighter in weight than the previous wine but much better balanced and longer.

1999 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Medium garnet. Very developed nose, very leathery/stocky with coffee and vegemite; the palate's as developed, light to medium weight, leathery and porty but very long and lingering. Not bad, but considering how good 1999 was in Clare a little disappointing.

1998 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley (cork): Medium brick/red. Porty, leathery nose full of cherry jam; the palate's just as porty (like a Touriga minus the alcohol), full of sour cherries, wintergreen and black liquorice, finishing with dry, tea-like tannins. A little disappointing considering it should have been a great vintage.

1997 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley (cork): Damp, dusty nose, some cherry stones buried deep underneath; while the palate has some sweet cherries it's short and is lacking in weight and spice. While the dampness could be attributed to either old barrels or taint, the scalped nature seems to point to the latter - Phill mentioned that all of the 1997 Wendouree's with the exception of the straight shiraz suffer a high incidence of cork taint.

1996 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Medium red. Very attractive nose of creamy/biscuity oak and dark cherries, some leather and a lick of caramel; the palate's easily the ripest and freshest of this group, cherry stones, blackcurrant and mint, finishing mineraly and very long. This was my second favourite wine of the whole tasting.

1995 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Medium garnet. Metallic nose with some dried herbs, sour cherries and cocoa – the Mataro seems much more obvious. The palate's spicy and herbal with attractive hints of chocolate and cocoa, but it does pull up short.

1993 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Medium to dark brick red. The most complex and complete of the wines tonight, smoky and sweet, cherries with caramel, melted liquorice, herbs and cocoa, just a touch metallic but nothing disturbing. The palate's soft and soupy, the sweet choc-cherry fruit dusted in cocoa, finishing long and silky. This unheralded vintage is at its peak, but was also the best wine tonight.

1992 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Medium to dark red. Inky and dark cherries on the nose, a touch jammy too, something more like the 2006 and 2002 vintages; the palate's younger, sweeter and cooler than the 1993, there's some herbs and it's not as plush and round. Compared to the previous wine it maybe needs a few more years to show its best.

1991 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: A meaty/soupy nose with sour cherries, very heavily developed but attractive; liquorice on the entry leads to a soft, soupy/meaty palate that's reminiscent of something from Corton in Burgundy, finishing long and silky. Drinking well, but I wouldn't hold this any longer.

1990 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Medium brick. Very mousy and leathery, some mineral with breathing; the palate structure is soft and silky, but the fruit's basically gone, a bare trace of liquorice in the background. Disappointing.

1988 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Horribly corked.

1987 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Light to medium brick. A medicinal nose, and a mineraly soft palate, the fruit's faded but it fits the mould better than the following wine.

1975 Wendouree 'Claret', Clare Valley: Medium to dark brick. It's still alive, but only barely, the nose full of gunpowder, tomato skin and roasted onions; the palate's a bit better but still smoky, with a weird sweet banana (oak?) finish. I've tried a good bottle of this wine once, and this isn't it.


Cheers,
Ian

[crusty2]

for those interested i have compiled the percentages of the shiraz/mataro blend for the last few years

2008 WENDOUREE Shiraz / Mataro 50/50 1893 Central, and 1919 Eastern vineyard plantings, 1920 Eastern vineyard bush vines
2007 WENDOUREE Shiraz / Mataro not made/released
2006 WENDOUREE Shiraz / Mataro
2005 WENDOUREE Shiraz / Mataro 82/18 1893 Central, and 1920 Eastern, vineyard plantings
2004 WENDOUREE Shiraz / Mataro 76/24 1893 Central, and 1920 Eastern, vineyard plantings
2003 WENDOUREE Shiraz / Mataro 84/16 1893 Central, and 1920 Eastern, vineyard plantings
2002 WENDOUREE Shiraz / Mataro 80/20 1893 Central, and 1920 Eastern, vineyard plantings
2001 WENDOUREE Shiraz / Mataro 90/10 1893 Central, and 1920 Eastern, vineyard plantings
2000 WENDOUREE Shiraz / Mataro 90/10 1893 Central, and 1920 Eastern, vineyard plantings
1999 WENDOUREE Shiraz / Mataro 80/20 1893 Central, 1919 and 1920 Eastern, vineyard plantings
1998 WENDOUREE Shiraz / Mataro 85/15 1893 and 1920 plantings in Eastern and Central vineyars
1997 WENDOUREE Shiraz / Mataro 80/20 1893 and 1920 plantings in Eastern and Central vineyars

this is as far back as my notes go

cheers
phill

[Roscoe]

1993 Wendouree Shiraz Mataro, Clare Valley: Medium to dark brick red. The most complex and complete of the wines tonight, smoky and sweet, cherries with caramel, melted liquorice, herbs and cocoa, just a touch metallic but nothing disturbing. The palate’s soft and soupy, the sweet choc-cherry fruit dusted in cocoa, finishing long and silky. This unheralded vintage is at its peak, but was also the best wine tonight.

We had a bottle of this last night to celebrate an 18th. Our bottle was drinking very similarly to the above. Soupy suggests (to me) it may be rich, but I did not see it that way. It was delightfully full of flavour, without being heavy handed in any dimension. A delightful wine. The cork gods were beneficient.

[malliemcg]

Apologies for ressurecting an old thread, but after reading a few posts about Wendouree (especially the '15 mailer) I really wanted to ask some advice regarding serving a recently picked up bottle, as I am now somewhat apprehensive about serving this properly.

The wife wandering the wine shop randomly selected a 1993 Wendouree Shiraz Malbec . I was wondering when it comes to serving if a decant of any period of time would be recommended or avoided? What advice would one give to present this wine well. Prior to posting this my assumption was that there is a good chance this is over the hill, and to pop and pour to show its best.

[Polymer]

What are you looking for out of the wine?

IMO, there are no Wendourees in the 90s that are yet over the hill...93 should be showing nicely right now. I'd probably open it a few hours ahead of time and give it a taste..it probably needs a bit of time to blow off but I'd let it slow O for a bit...If it is in the right spot when you open it, just close it back up otherwise just let it sit for an hour or so, try again and see...
The only odd man out in the 90s (from what I've seen) has been the 96s which seem to be similar to the more recent Wendouree vintages...I'm not sure if they're done, need a lot more time or are just so atypical that they're a complete unknown.

[crusty2]

Another tread on this subject
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14198&p=119056&hilit=wendouree#p119056

cheers

[Chris H]

Funny about vintages, my favourite vintages of the old ones were 1993 (as Ian said) and 1989, both ordinary generally. The good thing is that the softer vintages don't fall over quickly.

The 1993 doesn't need decanting, as the thankfully lower tannin levels don't need breathing to soften. I'd open it and drink it, especially as the provenance may be less than perfect if it has been in a shop.