TN: AFWAC - South Australian Grenache & Blends 18/4/11

[n4sir]

Last week AFWAC presented a Grenache theme tasting – I think they intended to get some examples from interstate & overseas, but ran out of time due to the earlier date (brought forward because of the clash with Easter Monday). The tasting began with a selection of straight varietals, and ended with two flights of blends – none of the wines were presented blind, and it was decided at the end of the night to conduct a WOTN vote for each.

AFWAC usually meets the last Monday night of each month, and anyone interested in future events can either PM crusty2 or myself, or e-mail the club at: afwac365@gmail.com

2007 Turkey Flat Grenache, Barossa Valley (screwcap): Light to medium blood red. Very sweet bouquet full of boiled lollies and earth, raspberries and jubes, some noticeable heat with breathing. The medium-weight palate is just as sweet, raspberries and meaty nuances, just a little pepper, the finish mineraly but not particularly long and noticeably hotter with breathing. It’s simple and lacks potential, but is a decent result from a tough vintage.

2008 Adelina Grenache, Clare Valley (DIAM): Light red. The most savoury wine of the whole tasting, the bouquet funky and oily, smelling of ground up tractors and earth, some herbs in the distance and a touch of nail polish (EA) giving it lift. The palate is notably lighter in weight and slightly less sweet than the 2007 Turkey Flat, the raspberries having a smoky tinge that flows through to the finish, which is impressive.

2008 Oliver’s Taranga Vineyard Cadenza Grenache, McLaren Vale (screwcap): 95% Grenache, 5% Shiraz according to the website, and way too much oak according to my notes. Deep, medium red. The sweet, jubey fruit is quickly overtaken by the oak, cedar at first, then very sweet chocolate/honeycomb, then bluegum honey/vanilla; a soft entry leads to lighter-weight, plummy/cherry fruit with meaty nuances and a slippery/glycerol feel, finishing peppery.

2008 Samuel’s Gorge Grenache, McLaren Vale (cork): Medium to dark red. Dark, spicy and constantly evolving, raspberries, Turkish delight and a touch of ground paprika, a little raisin at times, earth and boiled lollies, cinnamon and cloves; the palate’s much bigger than the earlier wines, full of bright cherries, earthy raspberries and fine, grippy tannins that power the long finish. A excellent wine that defies the heatwave reputation – it not only got a vote for my favourite of the straight grenache wines, it was my overall WOTN.

2006 Clarendon Hills Romas Grenache, McLaren Vale (cork): Medium to dark red. Savoury and oily with a touch of EA but also much sweeter than the 2008 Adelina, way too sweet and resembling cherry cough syrup; the palate’s just as sickly sweet and medicinal, finishing very long with noticeably course/blocky tannins in contrast to the Samuel’s Gorge. This easily received the most group votes for most preferred of the straight grenache wines; while I was impressed with it’s weight and length, I really didn’t like the flavours at all.

2007 d’Arenberg Custodian Grenache, McLaren Vale (screwcap): Medium red. Very horsy and leathery, becoming more cheesy/rubbery with breathing; the palate’s light weight with cherries and jubes, but it’s also as smoky/rubbery with a very short finish. Even ignoring the reduction fault, this is still nowhere near the quality of past vintages.

2002 d’Arenberg Custodian Grenache – Loam Soil Vineyard, McLaren Vale (cork): Medium to dark red/brick. Very herbal and spicy compared to the Deep Sand Vineyard, green and black liquorice, and a hint of sump oil, becoming leathery and mousy as it oxidises in the glass. The palate entry is equally sweet, green and dark, peat, peppermint, black liquorice and earth, but it’s tiring and drying out on the finish; a little past its best, but an interesting comparison to the Deep Sand Vineyard wine.

2002 d’Arenberg Custodian Grenache – Deep Sand Vineyard, McLaren Vale (cork): Medium to dark red/brick. Sweeter than the Loam Vineyard wine, the minty/herbal notes replaced by mud chocolate; in comparison the palate is much lighter weight, less green but minty due to the alcohol warmth, finishing with a lick of fresh oak and bright cherry, and that minty warmth. While this was my favourite of the Custodian “Soil Series” Trio a few years ago and it got a vote tonight, I don’t think time has served it well and I can’t see it improving.

2002 d’Arenberg Custodian Grenache – Sand on Clay Vineyard, McLaren Vale (cork): Medium to dark red/brick. Badly corked.

2006 Winter Creek Old Barossa Blend Grenache Shiraz (screwcap): Medium to dark red. Elegant nose of bright jubes and milk chocolate dusted in fine black pepper, some smoke and leathery characters surfacing with breathing; the palate is equally elegant, medium-weight and bright with cherries, nutmeg and mineral, finishing long and grippy with fine tannins, the oak influence near non-existent. I think this was a little unlucky not to get a vote tonight.

2006 Rockford Moppa Springs Grenache Mataro Shiraz, Barossa Valley (cork): Medium red (at most). Sweeter than the Winter Creek but not OTT like the Clarendon Hills, bright red cherry and raspberries with very attractive dried thyme/oregano characters; the palate’s just as bright and juicy, red cherries, raspberries and red liquorice, finishing very long and silky with no sign of alcohol heat. This was much more impressive than a bottle six months ago, enough to narrowly get my vote for the blends category.

2008 Teusner Avatar, Barossa Valley (screwcap): 36% Grenache, 33% Mataro, 31% Shiraz. Medium to dark red with legs on the glass. Very dark and toasty, more than a little porty at times too, black cherries, espresso, smoked meats, mint and wintergreen, while the mouthfeel is soft and slippery with black pepper on the finish. It seems a little too ripe, and lacks structure and length for cellaring compared to the surrounding 2006 blends tonight.

2006 S.C. Pannell Shiraz Grenache, McLaren Vale (screwcap): 60% Shiraz, 40% Grenache. Medium to dark red. Dark cherries and smoke, very sweet, minty and more than a little medicinal at times; the chalky tannins are fine and soft, and the finish is extremely long, but like the Clarendon Hills, as much as I love the structure I’m not as impressed with the flavours.

2008 Charles Melton Nine Popes, Barossa Valley (screwcap): Dark to inky red/purple. Lifted and dark, toasty and slightly porty like the Teusner Avatar, some cloves and pepper appearing with breathing; a salvo of obvious coffee oak and cinnamon leads to a mid-palate full of vanilla/crushed ants and peppery heat, before pulling up surprisingly short. I don’t think it’s a great Nine Popes, but that didn’t stop it polling the equal most votes of the blends at the end of the night.


Overall results for WOTN votes:

Straight Grenache:
1st - 2006 Clarendon Hills
2nd - 2008 Samuel’s Gorge
=3rd - 2008 Adelina
=3rd - 2008 Oliver’s Taranga Vineyard
5th - 2002 d’Arenberg Custodian – Deep Sand Vineyard

Grenache blends:
=1st - 2008 Charles Melton Nine Popes
=1st - 2006 S.C. Pannell
3rd - 2006 Rockford Moppa Springs


Cheers,
Ian

[Mahmoud Ali]

Ian,

Judging by your notes on the more recent vintages I expect that the '96 Custodian and the '98 Moppa Springs that I have are past their due dates. I hope that the earlier vintages were made in a more long lasting style or else |'m out of luck.

Cheers......................Mahmoud.

[n4sir]

Ian,

Judging by your notes on the more recent vintages I expect that the '96 Custodian and the '98 Moppa Springs that I have are past their due dates. I hope that the earlier vintages were made in a more long lasting style or else |'m out of luck.

Cheers......................Mahmoud.

The Custodian pre-2001 was a different style: that was before d'Arenberg added the Derelict Vineyard & Cadenzia wines and it was regarded as an equal to the Twentyeight Road Mourvedre, but since their introduction it was "downgraded" to be at the level of the Footbolt, High Trellis & d'Arry's blend (in quality, labeling and price). Philip White & James Halliday had the drinking window of the 1996 Custodian closing at 2006 - I last tried the 1996 four years ago which was still going strong, but I would think 15 years (ie. right now) would have to be close to its outer limit, if not a little bit past it.

It's been widely thought that Grenache really needs a blending partner to improve with bottle age, particularly if it's from the Barossa - while I'm pretty sure I haven't tried the 1998, the Moppa Springs blends I have tried do seem to significantly improve with bottle age. 1998 like 1996 was a strong vintage in most areas, so I would expect it to be in relatively good shape, but it's probably worth looking at one about now too.

Cheers,
Ian

[ticklenow1]

Ian,

Judging by your notes on the more recent vintages I expect that the '96 Custodian and the '98 Moppa Springs that I have are past their due dates. I hope that the earlier vintages were made in a more long lasting style or else |'m out of luck.

Cheers......................Mahmoud.

Mahmoud,

I would drink your '98 Moppa Springs now. It will be on the downwards spiral. We had a Moppa Springs vertical a few years ago and the '98 was not one of the more favoured ones. It was not as good as the '99 or the '00 on the night and my notes said that it was at the end of it's run. I am currently drinking the '02's, '03's and '04's. The '02 is starting to fade and the '03 is just stunning. I drank my last '00 and '01 2 years ago and both were very nice but once again, on the way out for mine. I love the Moppa's a lot and always buy what I can afford. They do benefit from another 3 or 4 years in the cellar, but in my opinion, that is about it.

I am a huge Grenache lover and if you want a Barossa Grenache that will cellar well, try the Cirillo 1850's Old Vine Grenache. The '04 I tried recently was still a pup and should bet better for several more years yet.

Ian,

That was a wonderful looking tasting, it was a shame you never tried the S.C. Pannell straight Grenache. I have read some very good reviews about it and am thinking of getting a few bottles and would have been interested in your notes. I also have one of the D'Arenburg "Soil series" 3 packs left, so I guess I had better get into them by the sound of your review. Thanks.

Ian

[Wayno]

For what it's worth, I tried all 3 of the soil series wines about 4 years ago and I thought they were a bit tired back then.

[malliemcg]

I find the 3 soil's d'Arenburg interesting, as when I had a few mates over about 2-3 years ago we ran across at least one issue that you did specifically :

2002 d’Arenberg Custodian Grenache – Sand on Clay Vineyard, McLaren Vale (cork): Medium to dark red/brick. Badly corked.


I wonder if it as endemic with that "soil" type, or just weird fluke. That one stuck with me. Grenache has a special place in my heart as a half glass (Oliver Taranga's 2004) caused the Mrs to vomit most exceedingly as way of suggesting a visit to the doctor to discover the pregancy of daughter #1. Thanks for the notes - Grenache, always makes me smile now days.

[ticklenow1]

For what it's worth, I tried all 3 of the soil series wines about 4 years ago and I thought they were a bit tired back then.

Cheers Wayno,

I will be drinking the last box of the soil series in the next few weeks then. I didn't realise I still had a box until I built my cellar late last year. They were stored in a mates cellar and when I moved all my wine, I found a few pleasant surprises (forgotten I had them), and some bottles (such as the soil series) that may be a little past it. I guess that this is one of the pitfalls of having off premises storage.