Wine Focus Australia

[Alex F]

Here are some impressions from last night's tasting at WFA. The absolute standouts, and the ones I would be very happy to have again, were:

Yarrabank Cuvee 2004
This is one of the best sparkling from this range I can remember seeing (out of the 01 02 03). Certainly better than the 03, which I felt lacked a little weight in the mouth.

Very excited wine, lots of bubbles and sparkle, very typical of Yarrabank. It explodes across the front, although the bubbles are medium in size. Finishes very long, with honey, toasty, and yeasty notes. 94

Peel estate Chenin Blanc 2002
I am not entirely sure I liked this, but it certainly is a very unique wine in terms of what I have tasted. Seems quite oaky on nose, with burnt orange flavours. I got lots of bitter characteristics in the mouth, bitter orange peel, dark chocolate, it's a very full wine, lots of weight, and finishes with impressive length. But savoury and bitter! Weird! Must try again.

Howard Park 2006 Chardonnay
Err no notes taken but I remember this being one of the more intense and long chardys I tasted. Certainly a try again wine for me. 94.

Savaterre 2006 Chardonnay
Superb. Absolutely blew me away. I drank every drop of the generous pour. Beguiling on the nose, so complex, the flavours seem to just jump out of the glass. It's minerally across the mid palate, great weight, linearity, finishes with long long honeyed length, very complex, bready flavours. Very approachable (and indeed imo more golden in colour), very very good drinking now. imo was better than any of the Leeuwins I tasted. Will have to stretch my budget to accommodate this one. 97

Winter Creek Reserve Shiraz 2006
An 'under the table' wine, but not really... Not yet released. Very young, still oaky, but the power of the fruit is unmistakable. Finishes very long, definitely a wine to look out for when it is released next year, (and in fact if you go today you should definitely try it). 94

Anderson Sparkling Shiraz 1999
Lovely aged sparkling shiraz notes on the nose, barnyard, funky, great intensity, complexity, and length. Great value ($28), I bought a bottle, looking forward to it. 94

Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2004
In the masterclass we tried the 02, 03, 04 and 05. All of them are very similar in style to each other, except perhaps the 2003 which was my least favourite, had weird notes on the nose (cheese, onion, bacon?) and slightly hollow compared to the others. The 04 showed much better integration than the 05, a really complex and powerful wine with great mouthfeel and flavours, but more restrained than the Savaterre… 95.

[Gustav]

Alex,
Of the wines you list I've tried the 2006 Winter Creek Reserve and the 2004 LEAS Chardonnay and I also find them both stunning wines. The Winter Creek is of course too young, but the potential really excites me.

cheers,

[bob parsons]

Doing a Chardonnay study on a forum here, would it be fair to say that the Margaret River area produces some excellent chards as it is a cooler climate area? Bit of a rookie with this grape variety!

[Wayno]

But you're clearly not a rookie in a raft of other obscure and unusual varietals (to me at least)!

Yes, Margaret River is known for elegant, classic Chardonnays but it does pretty well in lots of places, particularly: Adelaide Hills, Yarra Valley, parts of NSW including the Hunter Valley. It seems to respond most effectively to somewhat cooler climates.

[bob parsons]

Thanks Wayno, I am thinking Vasse Felix for an example of Chardonnay.
Remember I am in Alberta so choice somewhat limited!

[Daryl Douglas]

But you're clearly not a rookie in a raft of other obscure and unusual varietals (to me at least)!

Yes, Margaret River is known for elegant, classic Chardonnays but it does pretty well in lots of places, particularly: Adelaide Hills, Yarra Valley, parts of NSW including the Hunter Valley. It seems to respond most effectively to somewhat cooler climates.

The Orange region seems to doing some good chards. Charles Sturt Uni 07 has hooked me for its value lately. But I have tried a few others that were good but not as good as the CSU 07. I've never thought of the Hunter as a cool climate wine region but then, I have visited friends in the ranges out of Cessnock in winter......and summer.

You forgot to mention Mornington Peninsular chardonnay. As much as I like Yarra Valley chard, the Peninsular does it even better going by the limited number of examples I've had, Stonier and Port Philip Estate come to mind.

In WA there's also Great Southern/Mt Barker. Howard Park/Madfish and Forest Hill Vineyard are producing some excellent chards there as well as rieslings.

Cheers

daz