TN: Nepenthe at the API Wine Club 23/10/09

[n4sir]

2009 Nepenthe Sauvignon Blanc, Adelaide Hills (screwcap) $19: Pale green, almost colourless. The provided tasting note seems to some it up pretty well, a very lively nose with passionfruit and just a hint of grassy and green capsicum; the palate’s riper with guava characters and lots of lively acid on the finish. There’s an unusual mix of warm & cool vintage elements, and while the palate appears fat/fruit-heavy on the entry and lean/zesty on the finish, it somehow seems to work (for now anyway). A good drink-now proposition with oysters and lime.

2009 Nepenthe Pinot Gris, Adelaide Hills (screwcap) $19: Pale green, almost colourless. The characters of the wine seem more suited if it was called a Pinot Grigio instead of a Gris, very subtle and slightly grassy with green apple and pears. I’m guessing the wine is unoaked, and to be honest it’s cleanly made but rather boring.

2006 Nepenthe ‘Ithaca’ Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills (screwcap) $28: Light yellow colour. Lots of toasty/nutty oak and milky malolactic characters on the nose and palate here, but there’s an alarming lack of fruit/structure to match it; the wine’s lean and short and what lemony fruit there is frankly isn’t good enough for the winemaking overkill. These are exactly the sort of half-arsed efforts that we shouldn’t be making…

2007 Nepenthe Charleston Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills (screwcap) $21: Dark, clear red. It certainly smells and tastes like a pinot with sweet cherries and some vanillin oak in the background, but it’s a rather simple, inoffensive affair that’s lightweight and fairly short. I can see this as a chilled picnic style, a dry, slight step up on a rosé.

2006 Nepenthe ‘The Good Doctor’ Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills (screwcap) $38: Light to medium crimson. This is more complex than the previous wine, with earthy strawberries/cherries and spices, but it’s also short, warm/minty on the finish, and frankly not good enough for the money being asked. Disappointing.

2006 Nepenthe ‘The Sirens’ Zinfandel, Adelaide Hills (screwcap) $35: Light to medium red. Zinfandel has the habit of often being both very green and very ripe due to the irregular ripening of the berries; I’d say going on this sample none of the berries were overripe/shrivelled. It’s plummy and slightly minty, only medium weight at best, and rather boring and short. Another major disappointment.

2007 Nepenthe ‘Gate Block’ Shiraz, Adelaide Hills (screwcap) $38: Dark to inky red/purple. Easily the best red of the tasting, very ripe with milk chocolate blueberries/raspberries, a lick of tar and coconut in the distance; the palate’s sweet, ripe and fat, medium to full weight with very good length. Impressive in this line up, but there’s nothing about the wine that really screams out ‘Adelaide Hills’ either.


Cheers,
Ian

[trentwine]

The takeover has been a cracking success, then?
Cheers

Trent

[TiggerK]

Seems that way.

Either that or n4sir is true to his/her name and ruthless on anything less than his/her preferred standard.

We like a touch of ruthlessness....

Cheers
TiggerK

[mattECN]

I think these are very accurate tasting notes to describe the vintages; from my own perspective these are symptematical of many previous vintages also from Nepenthe. Nepthene have definately under delivered compared to ALL other adelaide hills producers.

Don't get me wrong, generally across the board they are 'nice' wines, but nothing special, in fact, probably represent the 'lower' rung of the ladder of Adelaide Hills wines [now].