Greenock Creek Mailer

[Cactus]

Interesting
-Mataro - first bottling of some vines planted 16 years ago that havent sold before until now as quality wasnt thought as up to scratch. $25/bttle.
- Philip White has reviewed the wines but not scored them in line with his new policy. Descriptions as entertaining as ever.
- alcohol levels - trending down. The Cab is 12.5%, Alices is 15.0%, Apricot Block is 15.5%, Seven Acre is 14.0%, Grenache is 15.5%. Are they listening to the market here and trying to reduce the over ripe porty rep of some wines?

Im thinking of getting the grenache, Cab Sav and Seven Acre.

[ticklenow1]

Interesting
-Mataro - first bottling of some vines planted 16 years ago that havent sold before until now as quality wasnt thought as up to scratch. $25/bttle.
- Philip White has reviewed the wines but not scored them in line with his new policy. Descriptions as entertaining as ever.
- alcohol levels - trending down. The Cab is 12.5%, Alices is 15.0%, Apricot Block is 15.5%, Seven Acre is 14.0%, Grenache is 15.5%. Are they listening to the market here and trying to reduce the over ripe porty rep of some wines?

Im thinking of getting the grenache, Cab Sav and Seven Acre.

Exactly what I ordered. Love the Cabernet and Grenache and the Seven Acre for the better half.

Cheers
Ian

[dave vino]

LOL I was saying exactly that on our forums. Will get some of the CabSav for sure. Actually probably the same order as Ian.

[Redwine&Rum]

How is the quality of the Greenock Creek wines lately? I drank them a few years ago and enjoyed them, but stopped buying for a few years.
They were massive wines from memory. I remember sharing a bottle with a friend of mine and the % strength absolutely knocked her socks off. haha

[rens]

I got mine, but GC is not my thing anymore, other than the Grenache. That said I have a bit of that in the cellar and will be passing again this year.

[ticklenow1]

How is the quality of the Greenock Creek wines lately? I drank them a few years ago and enjoyed them, but stopped buying for a few years.
They were massive wines from memory. I remember sharing a bottle with a friend of mine and the % strength absolutely knocked her socks off. haha

I love the Grenache, even though it can be a bit high in alcohol. The Cabernet has been the lowest in alcohol of all the wines for quite a while now and is very low this vintage. I'm only buying the Seven Acre in the Shiraz's this time around as it has the lowest alcohol levels at 14% and the wife still likes the style. I am still really enjoying the Grenache and Cabernet at 10-12 years old, but the Shiraz's, much less so. Occasionally I get a surprise, but not often enough to keep buying the whole range. Maybe my tastes are changing. Some of the mid noughties were up around 17-18%.

Cheers
Ian

[Mark Jappe]

Went there today.
The 7 acre, mataro and the grenache were the pick of the bunch for me.
Not normally a fan of the grenache, but this year's alcohol was down to 15.5% and the wine was perfumed and full of red fruits on the palate. A very pretty wine.
The mataro was savoury and complex. Seems a bargain at $25.
The seven acre was everything the notes indicated. A complete wine in total balance.
Mark

[dave vino]

How did you find the CabSav?

[Deano]

Popped into their new CD today. Wonderful building and CD room inside, not that old but has a wonderful charm with stone and thick beams, fills 100 years old.
All wines were available for tasting including the 2 RR from 2011.
I thought all 2014's were approachable and of high standard.
Agree with Mark Jappe - standouts were Seven/Mataro/Grenache. Wonderful perfume from the Grenache, can see it being a big hit, added that their CD is on the main Seppeltfields rd, they will see better patronage and new clients added to their mailer.

[Mark Jappe]

How did you find the CabSav?

Was my least favourite wine. Seemed a little green with hints of capsicum.
The roennfeldt road cabernet by contrast was lovely, despite a tricky 2011 vintage. A very subtle and balanced wine which I would never have guessed was from the barossa.

[dave vino]

Thanks for that Mark, might just get one then, just to see how it is.

[TiggerK]

.... Not normally a fan of the grenache, but this year's alcohol was down to 15.5%........

Such restraint.

[Polymer]

Haha...I've had some of their Grenache aged..it actually feels a lot lighter than the alcohol would suggest...which I think is typical of grenache....It is the same with some CDPs...

[TiggerK]

Yeah, I've had one or two 17+ percent aged Durif's that have also surprised me with their lack of apparent alcohol 'heat' (Warrabilla Parola 02 comes to mind I recall?), and I've had a few OK Greenock Creek's too, so wasn't meaning to be too harsh. But end of the day, I'm just over 15% and beyond as a general rule of thumb, and that does include many CDP's as well which I am increasingly finding a bit mono-dimensional now that the winemaking has cleaned up it's act! Ah, where's the funk.... Oh and Rayas is around 14% I think, don't mind that!

Not that I won't taste a wine above 15% or anything pedantic like that, but given a choice when buying, lower will win.

[Cactus]

Got sent the latest mailer which has the standard 2015 shirazs with 2012 RR cab and shiraz. Apparently the 2015 vintage was very short with sharp heat which caused rapid ripening and high alcohol %. The alc here is back to 16 and 17% on some wines. I had thought they were trying to bring those bruisers back down. I have been buying the past few vintages but wont be this one. Is it the site or is it the winemaker to get these bruisers produced?

[michel]

.... Not normally a fan of the grenache, but this year's alcohol was down to 15.5%........

Such restraint.

I know thats what i was thinking

[michel]

Haha...I've had some of their Grenache aged..it actually feels a lot lighter than the alcohol would suggest...which I think is typical of grenache....It is the same with some CDPs...

some get away with the etoh but I gotta say there are some glossy cndp monsters out there that terrify me .....

[trufflequeen]

I didn't get the mailer this year. Must have dropped off, due to not purchasing last year.

[phillisc]

Arrived yesterday
Will probably look at a mixed dozen, 2 each of cab, mataro, casey's, apricot, Alice's and 7 acre.
Got some magnums in the last couple of vintages
Even though 2012 was right up there $200 RR's are not on my radar

Have not yet been to the new CD...must make the effort.
Cheers
Craig

[dave vino]

Why is the magnum of RR 2.5 times the price of a bottle?

[JamieBahrain]

Why is the magnum of RR 2.5 times the price of a bottle?

Yep. Laughable! Why don't they give back a little?

Then again, going by what I see in Hong Kong, I buy many Aussie icons in magnum format for the price of what's charged for 750ml back home.

[phillisc]

Why is the magnum of RR 2.5 times the price of a bottle?

Yep. Laughable! Why don't they give back a little?

Then again, going by what I see in Hong Kong, I buy many Aussie icons in magnum format for the price of what's charged for 750ml back home.

Yep. Laughable! And precisely what's wrong with the whole Australian wine industry...too bloody scared to gouge the Asian market, but bend us over down here.
Cheers
Craig

[JamieBahrain]

Traditional Asian retail sources can still be relatively inflated. It's what the wines are turning up for on the side. There seems to be a sea of Aussie wine feeding this side market.

[grapeobserver]

If curious about new release abv levels, they are:
'15 cab sauv: 15.0
'16 grenache: 16.0
'15 mataro: 14.0
'15 Casey shiraz: 17.5
'15 Alices shiraz: 17.0
'15 Apricot shiraz: 16.0
'15 Seven Acre shiraz: 16.5

[Con J]

If I remember correctly a couple of vintages of the RR from the early 00’s had special late harvest on the back label.
Sent all my Greenock Creek to auction a few years ago.

Cheers Con.

[shirazphile]

If curious about new release abv levels, they are:
'15 cab sauv: 15.0
'16 grenache: 16.0
'15 mataro: 14.0
'15 Casey shiraz: 17.5
'15 Alices shiraz: 17.0
'15 Apricot shiraz: 16.0
'15 Seven Acre shiraz: 16.5

These alcohol levels are just ridiculous. I got the mailer as well but will be passing. Greenock Creek are obviously stuck in a Robert Parker time warp.

[trufflequeen]

Why is the magnum of RR 2.5 times the price of a bottle?

If you're concerned about GC magnum pricing, take a look at St Hugo. I can't find the magnum pricing online, but when we visited a few months back, I think a magnum of their Coonawarra Cab Sauvignon (2010 through to current vintage on offer) was around 3 x price of a 750ml bottle

[Sigmamupi]

If curious about new release abv levels, they are:
'15 cab sauv: 15.0
'16 grenache: 16.0
'15 mataro: 14.0
'15 Casey shiraz: 17.5
'15 Alices shiraz: 17.0
'15 Apricot shiraz: 16.0
'15 Seven Acre shiraz: 16.5

These alcohol levels are just ridiculous. I got the mailer as well but will be passing. Greenock Creek are obviously stuck in a Robert Parker time warp.

I still get the mailer despite not having bought for years. I only ever bought shiraz and the occasional cabernet, based on reputation. After cellaring them for five years or so, I found that I couldn't drink more than a glass of the high alcohol shiraz so I gave up. The only wine that I could drink and fully enjoy was from memory, a 2000 Roennfeldt Road cabernet where I think the alcohol level was around 12.5 per cent or similar.