TNs: Wild Duck Creek Estate new releases

[Baby Chickpea]

<b>2002 Wild Duck Creek Estate Bendigo/Heathcote ‘The Blend’ </b>[Cabernet Merlot; 13.5% A/V]
In stelvin cap. Red ruby colour. Nice ripe plums, fresh and mildly sweet curranty, florals and berries on nose. Seamless, and good palate with primary richness of berries and some spice. Fine grainy tannins. No alcohol ‘hotness’, and no hint of older oak. Always surprises me how good this is for the price and top drinking now to 5 years. One of the better entry level wines around. <b>Very Good 17.0 / 20</b>

<b>2002 Wild Duck Creek Estate Heathcote ‘Alan’s Cabernets’</b> [85% Cabernet, 4% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 4% Malbec, 3% Petit Verdot; 13.5% A/V]
Darker red purple hues. Nose is very raspberryish, with chocolate and very subtle capsicum (but not herbaceous or stalky green) obvious too. Hint of liquorice. Palate clearly very young and quite tannic. Needs time but really very good. Dave said he doesnÂ’t like his cabernets to go above 13.5%. Spent 18 months in French oak and beautifully integrated. Will evolve for many years. Quite closed at the moment. <b>Very Good 17.5 /20 </b>

<b>2001 DuckÂ’s Estate East Gerogery Homestead Merlot </b>[100% Merlot]
Very funky and wild, some yeastiness. Good tannins. Nice finish. Cleaned up in glass after 15 minutes. Seemed very acidic, which overtook the plumminess for the merlot grape. Not my style but still pretty good. <b> Good 16.5.0 / 20</b>

<b>2002 Wild Duck Creek Estate Heathcote ‘Springflat Shiraz’ </b>[100% Shiraz; 15.5% A/V ]
Sub-labelled “Special Late Harvest”. 45% in new American and French oak for 17 months. Deep purple shimmerings – almost impenetrable. Peppery sweet cinnamon nose. Closed but dense nose – all sorts of things waiting to explode here. Very bone dry on palate with abundant dusty and chalky tannins. Clearly needs more time. Beautiful structure and padded with rich fruit. Give it 3-5 years before trying again. High alcohol not a problem at all and tastes quite classy. Dave’s favourite wine and mine. Cellar 2005-2012. <b>The wine of the tasting! Excellent 18.5 / 20</b>

<b>2001 Wild Duck Creek Estate Heathcote Merlot Reserve</b> [100% Merlot; 15% A/V]
Mid purple colour. Some alcohol noticeable on nose but not on palate. Super intense plums and cherries. Quite textured and fleshy. Incredibly lush, with lashings of fruit. Dave reckons this is the best ever he has made (his 4th release) and I would agree. Seems to have all the components in a judicious mix of oak, body and tannin. Spent 18 months in one-year-old French oak. Clearly for the long haul but approachable still if you like youthful concentration and structure. Very good length. Top juice! Drink 2005+<b> Excellent 18.0 /20 </b>

<b>2001 Wild Duck Creek Estate Heathcote Yellow Hammer Hill Shiraz Malbec</b>
This is the restaurant and cellar door wine. Again not my style. DidnÂ’t really concentrate on this one as a result. Very spicy and some vegetal hints. Good but not exciting. Has good length and a well-proportioned soft body. <b> Good 16.0 /20 </b>

<b>2001 Wild Duck Creek Estate Heathcote Cabernet Reserve</b> [90% Cabernet, 5% Malbec, 5% Merlot; 14% A/V]
Only 70 cases made. No longer labelled as “Reserve”. 2.5 years in French oak. Deep purple colour. Full on nose of various black fruits. Multi-layered and very intense. Far too young and needs at least 5-6 years tucked away. I’m not opening mine for a decade. Heaps of potential. textured and fleshy. Incredibly lush, with lashings of fruit. Seems pointless to drink and rate this wine, given its considerable youth. Length is already long. Tannin plus. Drink 2010+. <b> Very Good 17.5 /20 </b>

<b>2002 Wild Duck Creek Estate Heathcote ‘Duck Muck’ </b>[100% Shiraz, 16.5% A/V]
Grapes picked at high ripeness (17 Baume). Amazing rich purple colour. Glass held up to light is almost black. Dave calls this “anthracite in a glass … to buckle the knees!” Nose is all va-vavoom proto- molasses and pomegranates, liquorice, spice. Slight hint of VA on nose and alcohol. Surprisingly has good dimension, with musky and heavily toasted oak. Wine was appeased with two years in French and American oak. Palate throttles the senses and obliterates the taste buds like an elephant on the rampage. Massive palate of rich, lush fruit, has a cogent viscosity and chewy texture that isn’t overburdened with ‘fatness’ but has an intrinsic structure barely restraining the self-contained masses of black fruit and oak that is all dying to explode the seams. A powerful and concentrated wine that needs at time to settle down. Loved it and less jammy than I thought. Better than the 2000 (last vintage) in my humble opinion (less ripe, more structure). Not at all cloying (to me at any rate). Best described as pure shiraz essence with a finish that is quite dry and chalky (tannins). <b> Excellent 18.0 / 20</b>

<b>Comments</b>
- Tasted 17 December 2003. As I got to the tasting early and was the first one there, I had the opportunity and ear of the winemaker to taste these wines freely for 30 minutes before first arrivals. Gave me a great chance to chat to winemaker Dave Anderson, one of the most down-to-earth guys you could ever meet. A top bloke.
- It was a stinking hot Summer day in Sydney and the bottles had been rolling in DaveÂ’s van all day as he was conducting local deliveries. So they were a little warm when opened (it was a 28 degree centigrade day). All the wines showed surprisingly well given these dynamics. If I tried the wines again tonight I would probably give them different ratings, just as I would quite likely give them differing ratings if I had them with food, or with friends, or drunk in isolation, or in winter etc.
- Talk of caricatured fruit bombs and dead fruit wines is rubbish in my opinion with regard to Wild Duck Creek’s wines. These wines have excellent structure, and the oak, tannin, and acidity complement the extracted fruit. Dave stated: “ without structure you don’t have a wine”. Equally, I have no doubts these wines will not only age well, but also improve considerably.
- There was no Sparkling Duck 3 or DaveÂ’s daughterÂ’s range (BridieÂ’s Row Shiraz) for tasting.
- The range is consistent and very enjoyable - they are big wines, but beautifully formed and styled.
- This yearÂ’s releases appeared muck less riper than the wines from the 2000 vintage (IÂ’ll never forget the Darrell Lea exotic and luscious liquorice and molasses sweetness of the 2000 Shiraz Reserve!).
- I use my own variation of the Aussie wine show rating scale and all scores should be read with notes (not in isolation). Apologies for those who prefer the 100-point scale.

<i><b><u>The Baby Chickpea 20-Point Rating Scale:</u>

Grand Vin! 19.0-20.0
Excellent 18.0-18.5
Very Good 17.0-17.5
Good 16.0-16.5
Average 15.0-15.5
Poor <14.0-14.5</b></i>

[michaelw]

Great notes Danny. I didn't manage to get to the cellar door this year so your tasting notes are much appreciated.

[Tom Pedersen]

Hi Danny,

Thanks taking the time to write these notes. They are very helpful. Do you have notes from the last years releases also? I'd love to them too!

Tom

[Baby Chickpea]

Hi Danny,

Thanks taking the time to write these notes. They are very helpful. Do you have notes from the last years releases also? I'd love to them too!

Tom

I bought the previous vintage wines year but Dave didn't come around to Sydney to do the usual tastings as he did in 2001, so no unfortunately I did not taste them. However I tasted the previous 2000 vintage which you can find
here.