sjw_11 wrote:What fresh hell is this? ........... Sapphire Label??
My thoughts exactly Sam, however on an unrelated quest I came across information about the Sapphire Label and I see that they may not be another tier in their multi-colour blends but rather single vineyard wines. The one in your picture says St John but they also make a Dorrien, Lyndoch and Moculta Shiraz, each a A$120 at the Ben Ean cellar door - so about the same as the duty free price.
Mahmoud.
Interesting. I was too lazy to look up any further info.
I am honestly not a big fan of massive producers confusing their range with loads of SV wines. If you are a small producer and right from the start you decide fruit from two or three vineyards is more interesting kept separate then it makes sense. Otherwise it feels like a marketing gimmick. You cannot be both a scale, massive producer and a boutique provider of "terroir". (possibly cf European producers who make different specific AOCs, though the scale of each is usually not as small as a SV)
A bit like massive brewers who buy up boutique labels, consolidate production into big factories and then pretend to be "craft" because they think thats what consumers want. Memo to the corporate world: consumers ain't mugs.
The St Johns Rd editions were selling for $60 at a TWE cellardoor co function a couple of years back. Clearly way too many in the range and the average punter has steered away from them.
Cheers craig
sjw_11 wrote:Interesting. I was too lazy to look up any further info.
Actually, completely unrelated to your post, I was looking to see where Lindeman's Hunter Bin 1403 might be avaialable and ended up at the Ben Ean site in the Hunter Valley. Scrolling through the wines I unexpectedly stumbled across the Sapphire Labels. All I can say is that I am confused about the ownership there. The website says the McGuigan and Peterson families are proud to have taken ownership of Ben Ean and "returning the property to its historical roots of the Hunter Valley". All good, but on the website are not only the Lindeman's wines but also Penfold's and Wolf Blass. Are they all under one ownership?
Out of curiosity, Seppelt's used to make a Dorrien Cabernet so I presume the vineyard is now in the hands of the Wolf Blass people (or McGuigan/Peterson or whoever). However this WB Dorrien is a shiraz not a cabernet. Presumably the vineyard must have been planted with both cabernet and shiraz. Did Seppelt also make a Dorrien Shiraz?
