The Auswine Forum

hi all,

A few nights ago I had my first taste of Durif - it was a Morris wine and I quite enjoyed it (for the reasonable price of $18, I'm told) I'm interested to hear if anyone out there has any suggestions about others that are worth drinking. I had a look in the local and could only find a Nugan Estate (which I'm yet to try)... so has anyone got any suggestions about good durifs?

cheers!
tim

p.s. just hooking into an 05 elderton merlot and it's great stuff... most complex and meaty merlot I've had to date, though I rarely drink the stuff.

Hi Tim,

I’m a big fan of Durif, while I have had many bottles over the years I always come back to Rutherglen Durifs.
To me they are far more balanced than other regions, and balance is an important issue in such a big styled wine like Durif.

Some bottles that are worth getting hold of are, Campbell's The Barkly, Bullers calliope, All Saints Family Cellar and the biggest badest? of them all Warrabilla's Reserve and Parola's vineyard.
Of course these winery's all make there own style which you may or may not like, but to me these producers are the best in Oz.

Regards
Trev

Campbell's is excellent, indeedy. Try to get back vintages of Golden Grove's Durif.. very nicely done, but the newer vintages not ready yet (IMO). Needs a few more years under cap.

Aargh, keeping my hands off my 98 Morris Durif is proving very difficult. Lovely stuff. Hasn't changed much since I bought it - tannins just softening a little. Their 99 effort isn't bad either - just slightly lighter weight but beautifully ripe. We don't see many other durif producers on this side of the Tasman. And the new terrorism laws make it hard to pack into my hand luggage when returning from rare trips over.

Where is Smithy anyway?

I haven't seen a post from him for months.

Did he get banned?

Hi Tim,

I have a bit of a vested interest in talking up Durif, but FWIW...

Good time to be a Durif fan at the moment. Rutherglen has had a pretty special run of vintages in 04,05 and 06 meaning most producers have a pretty smart offering at present. Morris is always good, and the 05 from Stanton & Killeen is as good as any I have seen from them.

As an aside this year marks the centenary of Durif in Australia. Their are a number of activities planned over the remainder of the year, and with Gavin's permission I will post detail when available.

Cheers,

LL

Thanks for your suggestions everyone - I think I'll go and hunt a few of those down for the weekend to come... And LL - feel free to send me a message about those event as I'd be interested to hear about them.

Ratcatcher wrote:Where is Smithy anyway?

I haven't seen a post from him for months.

Did he get banned?

Banned??!!!

Heck no