TN - Cape Mentelle's current releases

[n4sir]

One of the great bonuses of attending the last couple of Gavin’s tasting panels was being able to try wines from regions outside of South Australia, that in the main I’ve managed to subconsciously ignore over the last year or so. I really liked a few of the Margaret River reds I tried a few years ago, but with bottle age they kind of fell out of favour. They weren’t any of the big names from the region, so given my renewed enthusiasm, I was delighted that Cape Mentelle’s range was available for tasting tonight at my local haunt. While I did get to try the Leeuwin Estate range three weeks ago, nothing really stood out at the time, and I was too lazy to make notes.

2003 Georgiana White Blend The nose has attractive, restrained gooseberry characters. These initially flow on to the slender palate, but a bitter capsicum finish and hot alcohol (13%) mar the finish.

2003 Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc Again the nose is slender and appealing, with some flint and pickled capsicum characters. The palate again is on the hot side (13.5%), suggesting to me it’s lacking fruit to get that critical balance.

2002 Chardonnay The nose is dominated by toasted oak, but it’s far from unpleasant. From about four feet away, I could smell scents of buttered toast and cinnamon sugar as other people swirled their glasses. With time some elements of citrus start to peek through in mine. The palate is rich with those nutty oak and malo characters; this time there’s no sign of any hotness (14%), but you can feel the acid giving it structure and elegance. A superb wine combining the best elements of the Penfolds 2000 Yattarna and the Bin 00A at a fraction of the cost, and streets ahead of the Leeuwin Art Series.

2002 Marmaduke Attractive nose of chocolate, mint, herbs and red berries. The palate is a real letdown, lacking in fruit, structure and length, with just a touch of simple coffee oak. A simple quaffer at best.

2002 Cabernet-Merlot The nose is a strong mix of squashed peas and varnish, then burnt capsicum – something wrong here. The palate is virtually non-existent. At least the straight Cabernet is next…

2000 Cabernet Sauvignon There’s a nice mix of red berries & green mint characters on the nose, with some varnish and tar lurking in the background. The fruit on the palate again fails to keep up with the alcohol (15%), and there’s nowhere near enough length for a wine in this price bracket. It almost seems like it’s burnt and/or over-extracted.

2002 Shiraz Very closed bouquet at the moment, with hints of violets, blackcurrants and dusted icing sugar. The palate is the best of the red brigade, with sweet blackberry and chocolate, but it still just barely hangs on to the 14.5% alcohol in the finish.

2002 Zinfandel Paint thinner in a glass. Touches of burnt Mallee root and varnish characters that have no chance of matching the ridiculous 16.8% alcohol.


Cheers,
Ian

[markg]

Ian,

How would you say the 2003 Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc stacks up against the 2000 ??

[Lincoln]

2000 Cabernet Sauvignon There’s a nice mix of red berries & green mint characters on the nose, with some varnish and tar lurking in the background. The fruit on the palate again fails to keep up with the alcohol (15%), and there’s nowhere near enough length for a wine in this price bracket. It almost seems like it’s burnt and/or over-extracted.

I've seen a few good reports on this wine: do you reckon you might have got a bad bottle?

[Adam]

2002 Zinfandel Paint thinner in a glass. Touches of burnt Mallee root and varnish characters that have no chance of matching the ridiculous 16.8% alcohol.


Cheers,
Ian

Made my mouthdrop...16.8%... one step too far

[n4sir]

This was the first time I had tried Cape Mentelle's wines, so I can't comment on the 1990 Mark.

I was surprised about how the 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon, and for that matter all of the reds, faired on the tasting. I was there for a while, and a few bottles were opened, and the observations of most of the Regulars I know there were identical.

As a comparison, on the first tasting panel of Gavin's I attended he brought out a $40 Margaret River Cabernet (sorry Gavin I've forgotten the name) which also chimed in at 15%, but there was no hottness, only rich elegant fruit. We were surprised at the alcohol level, as it's elegance seemed to indicate something like 13-14%; the Cape Mentelle was the complete opposite.

Cheers
Ian