The Auswine Forum

Over the years I keep hearing the Marius name on this forum. Strangely I have not joined the dots and have never had one nor ever been to the cellar door despite being just 45 minute from McLaren Vale. So please let us know what I have been missing. It seems like an underground cult that wants to stay off the radar for some good reason.

Grasshopper

Good question Chuck. Like Wendouree and Cullen, I've never understood the attraction. Perhaps I'm missing something.

Mike

Beats me. Unless it's about the smoking, sado-masochism and free bottles of Taittinger.

Or maybe the sense of humour.

Roger

I'm still not on the mailing list (maybe next year) but did a tasting note on one that was gifted to me. Maybe it helps to show why people like them.

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I've only had a few at off lines and a few of my 2012's. I managed to wangle my way onto the mailing list and have orders a mixed case this year. The purity of fruit and complexity/interest at the price point are just big wins to me.

I can certainly see the attraction despite never having had a Marius wine. Tasting notes from Dave and Gary Walsh make it sound something like a McLarenvale version of Rockford Basket Press. And the QPR appears to be very very good. The owner is obviously a nice, down to earth honest guy as well, which always helps

I bought a couple of '03 off our forum host and had them a few years later. Just wonderful. I've had the '08 Endplay a few times now and really wish I had some in the cellar. Stunning wine that should become a cult wine. Never had a bad Marius (even the '11's were good) and I buy every year since the '10 vintage now. A must every year for me and they stack up to the hoopla on the forums. One of the best VFM wines out there for me.

Cheers
Ian

I concur with pretty well every word Ian wrote.

I was introduced by a friend bringing a 2006 Symposium around, and my senses went into overdrive. I have big love for good Bandol rouge, and that's what this wine put me in mind of.

Agreed, the End Play is off the dial - I have two left thanks to the merciful spirits.

If a bad year is a true test of a wine-maker, the 2011s speak volumes for Roger.

RogerPike wrote:Beats me. Unless it's about the smoking, sado-masochism and free bottles of Taittinger.

Or maybe the sense of humour.

Roger

Makes me want to like them after reading that comment..

The first I heard about Marius was through this forum. Reading the positive comments from fellow forumites and reviewers/critics piqued my interest and so I wrote to Roger regarding entry to the mailing list. I fortunately got onto the mailing list for the 2010 vintage and so bought a mixed case pretty much on spec. I am so glad that I did.

I have never met Roger but from everything that I have read about him, suggests that he is passionate about his vineyard and the wines that he makes. The wife and I have always enjoyed a hearty South Australian shiraz and we find this with Marius. When you throw all this in with the very reasonable pricing, buying Roger's wines is a no brainer for me.

Inspired by this thread, I cracked a 2014 Simpatico tonight.

On the money, hallelujah, and if all is as usual, will improve through the night and tomorrow if it makes it. Intense black fruits, terrific length, and a beautiful linear balance.

Bring on The Resurrection! (in many years)

My first post on this forum more than 10 years ago was to ask what cellar doors I should visit on a coming trip to McLaren Vale, noting that I had two young children:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4497&p=31215#p31215

I got a PM from a bloke named Roger Pike who said I should give him a ring when I got there, I could come and taste his wines and the kids could ride his daughter’s pony!

Yasmin and I did just that and went out to Roger’s at about 3 in the afternoon. He had a bottle of the 2003 Marius open (wow!) and had gotten a couple of barrel samples of the new project he was undertaking with the 2004 vintage – making two wines, one a selection from the best vines which he proposed to call Symphony and the regular wine which would be called Simpatico.

Roger’s then 12/13 year-old daughter looked after our kids, feeding the rabbit, doing pony rides, etc. while we tasted (and re-tasted) these glorious wines over a couple of hours. His house (there is no ‘cellar door’) has a terrace that looks down over the Marius vineyard to the Vale and the coast. We went for a walk amongst the vines while Roger indulged in his pipe and the vines looked wonderful with bunches of beautiful grapes hanging from them.

Roger gave me the rest of the 2003 to take away and I bought another to have the next night. After drinking the bottle from start to finish the next night I put in an order for a dozen and have been buying from Roger ever since.

When I got back to Brisbane I was so enthusiastic about Roger’s wine that I called my local independent chain, called The Grape, arranged to meet their wine buyer and took a bottle of the 2003 to show him. He had heard of Marius before, and said basically that the 2003 was fabulous and they would love to range Marius, but they had just been bought by Vintage Cellars and VC would only range from its brands so he couldn’t help me.

Marius has had its trials and tribulations. There was no Symphony in the 2006 vintage (I think it was too hot ?) and then Roger separated from his wife. I bought more than 40 bottles of the 2006 Simpatico, just to help out of course! Like many other devotees I offered to put in capital to keep Marius in Roger's hands, even though I wasn’t terribly well off at the time.

Whenever I order, I check in with how Roger is and he asks after Yas and the boys and what is happening in my world. He seems genuinely interested. Roger has kept his wines reasonably priced when he could have jacked them up due to the lack of volume, but clearly respects his loyal buyers.

Earlier this year, I realised that I was going to watch a Brisbane Roar game in Adelaide around the time that vintage would happen in the Vale so I contacted Roger and he was more than happy for me and my friend Tim to come and pick. Unfortunately, the afternoon before we were due to go down and pick, I pulled a hamstring training with Tim’s U14 soccer team (old man injury). To say I was devastated is an understatement, but hopefully I will get there next year.

Most importantly, the wines are brilliant. There is a depth to the fruit that makes you sit up and take notice. I find there is often a malty or even vanilla malt character to the oak in the Simpaticos that I really like. The 2003 I am drinking tonight is malty on the finish. The fruit is always dark and there is something spicy – often Asian 5 spice, which I love. I have never had a Marius that was less than fantastic (apart from one bottle of the 2000 – the original vintage – which Roger sold for a song shortly after I joined the mailing list in 2006. The 2000s were bottled under cork, and they were all soaked through. The good ones were brilliant, but I struck one dud). If I ever want to be sure that a wine lives up to expectations, I choose Marius.

So that’s why I buy them. I could add that Roger has become a cult celebrity after his star turn in Booker Prize-Winning author D.B.C. Pierre’s epic Lights Out in Wonderland, though fame apparently hasn’t gone to his head. I also loved his piece in the Wine Companion about biodynamic wines – blistering!

Anyway, that’s why I buy/collect Marius wines. I have bought more than 220 bottles and still have 123 in my cellar so I consider myself very, very lucky! Thank you Gavin! It wouldn't have happened without this forum.

Cheers

Michael

RogerPike wrote:Beats me. Unless it's about the smoking, sado-masochism and free bottles of Taittinger.

He's let himself down there, Taittinger isn't very popular around these parts.

If you guys wanna have the true Marius experience, get your hands on a bottle of 2002 Shiraz if it still exists anywhere.
Truly astonishing wine, a brilliant display of how elegantly red wine can mature under screw cap.
Unfortunately I drank my last bottle of two dozens I had last year, what a mistake it was cause the wine still had plenty to go but I just couldn't keep my hands of them.
I am probably one of the a few people who tasted his very first wine 2001 Shiraz, which was not commercially released, that was also a cracker wine.
I tasted it when I visited Roger back in 2005 and spent the entire afternoon with him on his front yard, not to many people in wine circles at the time knew he existed.
He is a true gentlemen and his wines definitely punch well above the their price line.

Thanks everyone. Looks like I'm well behind the curve on this one. Now all I need to do is get some. It looks like it's hard to get so I've signed up for being a volunteer picker next vintage. In return for some back breaking work you can get a bottle of his wine.

Carl

My 2014's arrived last week and I'm looking forward to trying them a lot more than the Wendouree's I ordered (if they ever get here!).

Cheers
Ian

Chuck wrote:Thanks everyone. Looks like I'm well behind the curve on this one. Now all I need to do is get some. It looks like it's hard to get so I've signed up for being a volunteer picker next vintage. In return for some back breaking work you can get a bottle of his wine.

Carl

Note that you can pick up Marius from Gavin, our forum host. I'm not on the mailing list, so have just ordered a six pack from Gavin, excited to try Marius for the first time.

My first experience with Marius was at an offline dinner. Michael McNally brought it along. Prior to drinking it, by way of introduction Michael read a extract from Lights out in Wonderland (great book-DBC Pierre is a brilliant writer). I had not read the book at that point. Let me tell you the book gives the wine a mythical status that most wines would not live up to. This night it blew me away-Whoosh! Without going into too much detail Dave Vino's tasting note sums it up perfectly. It is about the purity of the fruit, the power and impeccable balance Roger achieves. Not a hint of portiness or extraction just great length that drive right thorough the palate for what seems an eternity. All Roger's wines are brilliant and the reason I will buy Marius without so much as viewing a tasting note.

Nice back story Michael McNally, thanks for sharing.

Will

trufflequeen wrote:

Chuck wrote:Thanks everyone. Looks like I'm well behind the curve on this one. Now all I need to do is get some. It looks like it's hard to get so I've signed up for being a volunteer picker next vintage. In return for some back breaking work you can get a bottle of his wine.

Carl

Note that you can pick up Marius from Gavin, our forum host. I'm not on the mailing list, so have just ordered a six pack from Gavin, excited to try Marius for the first time.

Ditto. Well not the first time...

Willard wrote:Nice back story Michael McNally, thanks for sharing.

Will

It sounds like the beginnings of a wonderful bromance.

My first exposure to Marius was the 2011 Simpatico which I tasted in early 2014. I was very impressed at how good it was. Bought some bottles of the 2012 Simpatico/Symphony from Gavin a few months later. Later in that year, I tasted the 2010 Simpatico which reaffirmed my resolve to cellar Marius wines. I went on the mailing list and bought some 2013 Simpatico/Symphony.

To me, Marius is high end Shiraz at a standard to rival its competitors - Kay Bros Block 6, Yangarra Estate IronHeart, Coriole Lloyd Reserve, Richard Hamilton Centurion, d’Arenberg The Dead Arm, etc. But it's priced at half or less than those aforementioned wines. It's a no brainer if you like McLaren Vale shiraz.

My palate has since changed and I'm not a Shirazophile like I used to be, so I didn't buy any Marius this year.

Mike Hawkins wrote:

RogerPike wrote:Beats me. Unless it's about the smoking, sado-masochism and free bottles of Taittinger.

Or maybe the sense of humour.

Roger

Makes me want to like them after reading that comment..

Me also!

Got mine delivered today!! Thanks Gavin.

Sweet. That means mine aren't far off either

The symphony is a very nice wine that needs some time. I jumped in on the bandwagon many years ago and got a case of the 2005. I was severely disappointed in all of them until about 5-7 years of cellar. The transformation was subliminal. Hoping the 2010 and 2012 does the same. The simplicity in the product lines is also appealing and gives a good sense of continuity, although fwiw, not sure about the introduction of a third shiraz with the 2014 vintage.

However, unlike others on this forum, I came away very disappointed after an interaction with the winemaker. I no longer buy the wines.

Alex,

It was not personal. Anyone who tells me how to run my business and then behaves like a petulant child when told to butt out will get a similar reaction.

Interesting to see that you are still at it, you are "not sure about the introduction of a third shiraz with the 2014 vintage". I value your opinion like I value a fart in a lift.

Roger

However, unlike others on this forum, I came away very disappointed after an interaction with the winemaker. I no longer buy the wines.
Alex F

What you will be missing is some other gain
Alan

Alex F wrote:However, unlike others on this forum, I came away very disappointed after an interaction with the winemaker. I no longer buy the wines.

Alex, there are no winners when you air your personal feelings in a public forum like this. Least of all you.

How long have some waited before going on the mailing list ? A few years I've yet to hear anything
Cheers ..