Howard Park Museum Masterclass – 19 June 2025

[Waiters Friend]

G'day

I’ve enjoyed many Howard Park wines over a decade or more, and have regularly attended events that show back vintages of their wines. This event, at the Wonil Hotel in Crawley, showed new and older Riesling, Shiraz and Cabernet from the extensive portfolio.

First, we started with a glass of the Howard Park Jete Premier Brut Sparkling NV. This is a reliable and authentic sparkling wine, made from Chardonnay (48%), Pinot Noir (42%) and Meunier (10%) in the traditional method, with 30 months on lees. It has a fine and persistent mousse, and shows lemon, strawberry and brioche on the nose. The palate shows a degree of yeast autolysis (not surprising given the time on lees) but this is balanced by strawberry and cranberry, hay and biscuit. Clean and reasonably long finish.

The two Rieslings were the current release and a museum release. This was the format for the evening.

Howard Park Great Southern Riesling 2024. Gerome (our host for the evening) identified that the vineyard locations can cause some confusion, and I am aware that the Mount Barrow vineyard (one of the major sources of HP Rieslings) is technically in the Mount Bark sub-region but is very close to the Porongorup border. So, Great Southern it is.

A slight whiff of kero opens the nose, with lemon, fresh lime, white flowers and even a little talc. There’s also some orange, which can be a feature of Great Southern Riesling (not just HP). The palate shows more of what we’ve seen on the nose, with clean but in no way sharp acid, and the wine has some length.

Howard Park Porongorup Riesling 2011: Please note the earlier discussion about regional boundaries. In this case, at least some of the fruit came from the Gibraltar Rock vineyard, which is well and truly within the Porongorup borders.

This has developed nicely, with the kero long gone, some gentle lemon/lime and notable orange peel (which I find attractive and a point of difference in Great Southern Rieslings). Acid has softened a little and is more juicy than racy. Some honey and toast characters which you would expect with age, although at 14 years old, this is still relatively youthful.

Next was a pair of Scotsdale Shiraz. Despite the name, neither wine seems to have come from vineyards on Scotsdale Road Denmark -rather, they are from further north.

Howard Park Scotsdale Shiraz 2022: From Frankland River fruit. Crimson colour. The nose shows vanilla, red and black plums, cloves, and black pepper. The palate has slightly tart raspberry, savoury oak and there’s a slight glycerol texture (slippery). Moderately grippy tannins and supporting acid, leading to a long finish. It’s interesting that the oak regime has been pared back considerably from earlier wines.

Howard Park Scotsdale Shiraz 2011: On the nose, there’s mocha, a little menthol, developed plummy fruit and dark berries. There’s a little black pepper in there as well. The palate has a soft mouthfeel, with some milk chocolate, noticeable acid, fine and quite integrated tannins. There’s some savouriness as well, and the wine finished medium to long.

Finally, a pair of cabernets. The Abercrombie label was introduced in 2005, but many of the cabernet-based wines from the early 1990s onwards were blends which included Merlot and Cabernet Franc in different proportions. Abercrombie is also a) owner Jeff Burch’s grandfather and b) the name of the vineyard in the Great Southern (formerly the Dennis vineyard established by Jack Mann in 1975). The current Abercrombies are all Margaret River fruit from the Leston vineyard, grown from cuttings from the Abercrombie vineyard – all Houghton clone.

Howard Park Abercrombie Cabernet Sauvignon 2022: Bright purple in colour. Blackcurrants, herbs and tomato leaf on the nose with a little capsicum. Acid appears quite soft and there’s some savoury oak. I’ll stop there, as I think this is still a little closed compared to what I know previous Abercrombies to be, and I look forward to opening one of mine in a few years’ time.

Howard Park Abercrombie Cabernet 2003. I didn’t see the label, so I am unsure whether this has been re-labelled (see comments above about the commencement of the Abercrombie label, and I have 2003 Cabernet Merlot in the cellar – may not be the same wine). Certainly, it contains small amounts of Cabernet Franc (4%) and Merlot (5%) and is 49% Great Southern fruit and 51% Margaret River. This wine also saw 100% new French oak for 23 months.

This was my wine of the night. Crimson colour and a bigger fuller nose than the 2022. Ripe red and black berries, vanilla and tomato leaf on the nose. There’s still considerable juicy fruit on the palate, with choc / mocha and cedary oak and this is mouth filling and finishes long. I hope the ones in my cellar are the same wine.

Happily I have all of these wines in my cellar (except the Jete sparkling) and this was a great opportunity to see how they are progressing. I’m happy.

Cheers
Allan

PS: No photos, sorry

[Mike Hawkins]

Thanks Allan…. Abercrombie is often at the top of the tree for my tastes when it comes to Aussie Cabernets

[Chuck]

Thanks Allan. Great notes as always.

Great to see Great Southern getting another mention. My limited recent experience with its cabernets suggests a bright future.

Reading this prompted me taking out a 2014 HP Leston Cabernet to enjoy with Osso Bucco tonight. First of a 6-pack. Gad I enjoy winter and comfort food.