TN: Hoddles Creek Estate Dinner at The Manse 29/8/09

[n4sir]

Last week Franco & Anthony D'nna from Hoddles Creek Estate presented a number of their wines at The Manse restaurant, 142 Tynte St, North Adelaide. It was a great opportunity to talk to the guys from the winery and try an extensive flight of their wines to get an an impression of the passion behind the wines and a sense of where they're going. While I felt the first couple of the dishes of the 5-course menu didn't really match the whites, the pork, duck and lamb dishes matched the pinots and cabernets very well.


PINOT BLANC: While all of the previous Pinot Blancs saw no oak, the 2009 vintage was so small there was no alternative to fermentation in barrel; overall the wines seem incredibly youthful, but I also think a little bland (for that matter all pinot blancs I've tried are). In their youth possibly a good match for raw oysters; as for the future, who knows?

2003 Hoddles Creek Pinot Blanc (screwcap): Youthful, pale straw green colour. The bouquet and palate are just showing the first signs of development with some honeyed/biscuity notes and an oily texture, finishing with slightly honeyed/mineral characters. There appears to be much more development to come; just how long are Pinot Blancs meant to age?

2008 Hoddles Creek Pinot Blanc (screwcap): Pale green/straw. Predicably fresher with grassy/hay characters along with a touch of struck match/sulphides; spicy/mineraly palate with more grass, and crisp acid on the long finish, becoming slightly oily/creamy with breathing.

2009 Hoddles Creek Pinot Blanc (barrel sample): Pale straw/green. Really out of left field, sweaty/passionfruit/grass and guava characters mimicking some Kiwi Sav Blancs, a little burnt match and freshly picked parsley with a lot of breathing; the palate'¢s very dry with similar tropical characters of passionfruit/banana.


CHARDONNAY: Overall an impressive showing, although it has to be said vintage conditions result in very noticeable variation, not unexpected for a single vineyard wine; oak influence varies, but there's usually little to no sign of any malolactic fermentation characters.

2003 Hoddles Creek Chardonnay (screwcap): Medium straw. Peachy/sweet bouquet with toasty/cashew oak and still just a little struck match; like the nose while the palate's on the ripe and oaky side for Hoddles Creek it's still in great shape. There's sweet peachy/melon fruit and crisp acid, some mineral mid-palate and smoky/French vanilla finish; reminds me of Meursault or one of the better Eileen Hardy chardys.

2005 Hoddles Creek Chardonnay (screwcap): Medium straw. Mineraly/grassy bouquet with just a little honeydew and peach/vanilla in the distance; the palate's just as tight/mineraly, grapefruit and a little straw, finishing very long and smoky, slightly yeasty with racy acidity. This looked fairly closed down, but the structure and acid are excellent; more reminiscent of Chablis than Meursault this time.

2006 Hoddles Creek Chardonnay (screwcap): Light to medium straw. Tight, mineraly nose, even tighter than the '05 with some fennel appearing after a lot of breathing. The palate's grassy, slightly yeasty and very mineral, again in the grapefruit part of the spectrum with racy acid, and nutty/creamy oak on the finish, a little peach appearing with breathing.

2007 Hoddles Creek Chardonnay (screwcap): Bright straw/green. Grassy/mineraly with a hint of soapsuds, some yeasty characters too; mealy/creamy palate with green apple just and a little milky/malo characters, finishing very long and grassy. A frost effected vintage where no new oak was used; the result is something even more Chablis-like than the '05.

2008 Hoddles Creek Chardonnay (screwcap): Bright straw. Unusual bouquet that's a little fishy with some honeysuckle characters; the palate has a mealy texture and bright acid, the sweet lemony fruit leading to a very dry, steely finish. Interesting only made with grapes of the 'Penfolds' clone this time.

2009 Hoddles Creek Chardonnay (barrel sample): Looks fairly clear for a barrel sample, and amazingly resembles an unoaked chardonnay at this stage! Very primary with passionfruit, sweat and obvious sulphur, a little fresh basil appearing with a lot of work/breathing.

2008 Hoddles Creek 1er Chardonnay (screwcap): Bright straw. Peachy/sweet bouquet with toasty/cashew oak and some fennel; the palate entry's sweet and oily leading to more peach and nutty/biscuity oak covering a solid spine of acid, finishing long and very soft with some mineral/fennel. The sweet oak/peachy characters are reminiscent of the '03 (probably not surprising as it's seen 50% new oak), the mineraly/fennel characters the '06, while the palate also has a slightly mealy texture like the '07. While this and the '07 were very different styles, they were my favourite of the chardys.


PINOR NOIR: Like the chardonnay vintage variation is very noticeable, although the oak isn't really noticeable in any of them. The two 2008 wines are very good, and like the chardonnay remarkably cheap for single vineyard wines.

2003 Hoddles Creek Pinot Noir (cork): Light to almost medium blood red. Dried cranberries/cherries and stalks, becoming minty with some breathing, also some cloves; medicinal characters on entry leading to very sweet cherries/mint and later on more cloves, finishing metallic. While the bouquet appeared very clean at first I think the brett-police have picked this one correctly, although it's on the lesser end of the scale (for now at least).

2005 Hoddles Creek Pinot Noir (screwcap): Bright, light red. Mineraly/creamy bouquet with cherries, mushrooms and river pebbles, becoming a little minty/varnishy with breathing; the palate has dark, stalky cherries with more mushroom/sous bois complexity and a gravelly texture, finishing minty with breathing. Drinking well at the moment and will hold.

2006 Hoddles Creek Pinot Noir (screwcap): Light, slightly murky red. Darker/smoky bouquet, and likewise the palate's dark and smoky/meaty with cherry stones and some black liquorice, finishing very fine, long and mineraly. Very different to the surrounding wines but none the worse for that, those attractive liquorice/meaty characters reminiscent of something from Corton.

2007 Hoddles Creek Pinot Noir (screwcap): Medium blood red. Stalky bouquet with cherry stones and minty/mushroom and slightly medicinal characters; minty palate with white pepper and a gravelly texture, finishing long and minty at first, but a little metallic with breathing. There are echoes of the '03 and '¢05 vintages here.

2008 Hoddles Creek Pinot Noir (screwcap): Pale, murky red. More stony/mineraly and perfumed than the previous vintages, bright strawberries and bathroom salts; spicy, mineraly and slightly creamy palate with very bright acid shining like a beacon throughout, but especially on the finish. Very primary, but combines elegance with a ballsy structure built to age.

2008 Hoddles Creek 1er Pinot Noir (screwcap): Light to medium red. Riper, sweeter and more herbal than the standard '08, with red liquorice and cherry cordial characters on the bouquet; the palate's fatter with sweet cherry fruit hiding that thick spice of acid, but it's a tad one-dimensional at the moment. The 50% new oak has been swallowed up, but it still makes a very interesting contrast to the standard wine; both should age equally well.

2009 Hoddles Creek Pinot Noir (barrel sample): Medium to very dark red with a tinge of purple. This is very different to the previous pinots, very plummy/inky and creamy and oozing sweet red berries/cherries; the palate's more like something from the Rhone at this early stage, slippery and sweet with blueberries/cherries and pie crust dusted in icing sugar. It will be interesting to see how much it changes once bottled.


CABERNET SAUVIGNON: Only two wines to try, and from this tasting the impression I got was it'¢s still a work in progress.

2005 Hoddles Creek Cabernet Sauvignon (screwcap): Medium to very dark blood red. Inky blueberries with a hint of funk and blue metal; with breathing it's more perfumed/floral and attractive; the medium weight palate's well balanced with ripe currants and mineral characters, and a good though not particularly long finish.

2006 Hoddles Creek Cabernet Sauvignon (screwcap): Medium to inky blood red. An unusual bouquet, appearing immediately riper than the '05 with tarry characters, yet it's also very minty; there's some sulphur still noticeable on the palate, which has some noticeable minty alcohol warmth on the finish.


Cheers
Ian

[Wayno]

Good notes Ian... I was initially keen as mustard to go but then realised I was double booked. I'm quite a fan of Hoddles wines and it sounds like a decent night. Thanks.

[Michael McNally]

If I lived in this city and had been to this dinner, I could have posted on this thread and been "last post" on this thread too.

Ooops i am last post!

[707]

Was a great night, thanks for orgynising Gavin.

Good notes Ian

[PaulG]

Was a great night, thanks for orgynising

It was an orgy?? No wonder it cost what it did!

[n4sir]

If I lived in this city and had been to this dinner, I could have posted on this thread and been "last post" on this thread too.

Ooops i am last post!

Not for long...

Was a great night, thanks for orgynising

It was an orgy?? No wonder it cost what it did!

$125 for a five-course degustation menu and 19 wines to try is actually outstanding value (especially when a few people scored some left over bottles to take home).

As for an orgy, I went straight home after the dinner so the others who were out on the town will have to fill in those details...

Cheers,
Ian