TN: Mitchells of Clare

[n4sir]

2004 Mitchell Watervale Clare Valley Riesling (Stelvin): Extremely pale green (almost no) colour. The nose is very floral and mineral with lemon blossom and lime fruits, but none of the pungent/passionfruit characters of the previous two vintages. The palate is crisp and clean, with that lemon/lime matched by slate/mineral characters, and a lower alcohol than 2002 or 2003 (12.1%), more in the style of the 2000 vintage.

2002 Mitchell Clare Valley Semillon (Stelvin): Bright straw yellow. The nose and palate has a mixture of fresh lemon/citrus fruit, spicy/nutty French oak and wild yeasts. The result is the wine is a little funkier than last year, and it drew mixed reactions this time; I still quite like it as a match for Indian food at the moment.

2001 Mitchell The Growers Grenache Sangiovese Mourvedre (Stelvin): Dark red colour. The nose was completely closed, with only a hint of plum and earth. The palate is rich and spicy with plum and liquorice characters without a hint of oak, and matching the 14.65% alcohol – this would be another great food wine.

2002 Mitchell Peppertree Shiraz (Stelvin): Dark to inky red colour, with a hint of purple on the rim. That controversial stink of barnyard is still there at first, but vigorous swirling seems to get rid of it leaving rich raspberry/blackberry fruit, spicy oak and some liquorice. The wine seems to have more weight than the 2001, but it’s still a little disjointed and less complex; leave it for another 5-10 years and it will sort itself out under that screwcap.

1996 Mitchell Peppertree Shiraz: Dark red colour. A very sweet and clean nose in comparison to the 2002, with chocolate/cocoa and brandied cherries, and some armchair leather. The palate is lighter in weight than the last bottle I tried 6 months ago, but still has those sweet chocolate/black cherry characters driving the wine with a touch of leather. I opened this early in the day to check it wasn’t corked, and put the cork straight back in – maybe it’s an advanced bottle, or maybe it seems a bit lighter when tried between these new releases. It’s still a nice wine though.

2001 Mitchell Sevenhill Cabernet Sauvignon (Stelvin): Dark red/purple colour. Slightly stinky nose of barnyard, blackberry/cassis and chalk. The palate is relatively closed, and is dominated by the chalky tannin structure with hints of cassis/greens and barnyard in the background. This is the first vintage under screwcap, and I think it will need the good part of 10 years to sort itself out – it’s not pretty at the moment.

Cheers,
Ian