The Auswine Forum

Super tasting with winemaker Dave “Duck” Anderson last night. These new releases, as in previous years, have only served to reiterate my faith and adulation for this winery:

The style is evolving since 1998 IMO and I find the wines now better structured, less ripe (some in the past like the 2000 Shiraz Reserve have been like sweet Lebanese coffee and fruit pastilles) and more focussed than in past vintages. They are NOT over-ripe “fruit bombs” or jammy or porty or fruitcake wines either. There is little or no hint of excess oak or alcoholic heat. The wines are judiciously balanced. These wines have excellent structure, and the oak, tannin, and acidity complement the extracted fruit. Dave stated: “ without structure you don’t have a wine”. Equally, I have no doubts these wines will not only age well, but also improve considerably.

In Duck’s own words: “these are honest wines – straight fermented, nothing added to them and all natural”. It was a good year for WDC, although Duck is quick to point out that “whenever you’re an untrained winemaker you spend 5 weeks of your life shitting yourself every year!”. The move to screwcaps is a positive and I hope Duck considers it for the Duck Muck and Shiraz Reserve next year (or at least offers the option).

Dave is one of the most down-to-earth guys you could ever meet. A top bloke who is unpretentious, amiable, friendly, loves to chat, makes frequent killer one liners, is full of great stories, and knows about customer service. Yes, he still hand delivers his wines to his customers! For this reason, along with Drew Noon, I remain faithful every year to his wines (being the cherry picker that I am, I am no longer monogamous to any other producers in Australia year-in year-out except Noon and WDC). Bravo!

Dave prefers a wide range of styles (as evidenced in this line-up) rather than making 6 different shades of shiraz terroir. The range is consistent and very enjoyable - they are big wines, but beautifully formed and styled.

All 10 wines tasted (with the exception of the Sparkling Duck 4) were double decanted for 2 hours. All the wines have not spent more than 6 months in bottle to date. In Duck’s opinion, “all the wines need 4 or 5 years to be better” (which I wholeheartedly agree with).

I am a very tough marker, but make no apologies for this.

NV Wild Duck Creek Estate Heathcote Sparkling Duck 4
15.0% AV. 130 cases. Disgorged March 2006. A blend of shiraz from 1993-1995, 1997-02, and 1996 merlot. Lovely dark red colour. Vigorous mousse. Brilliant nose with amazing complexity reeking of gamey and meaty characters (which Dave says is due to longer line of vintages used in the blend), and a touch of sweet brandy liqueur. Palate is clean, still unevolved and quite youthful, with excellent length, and abundant dry and chalky tannins on the finish. “A fraction more residual sugar than its predecessors” but I didn’t notice it! I have always been impressed with the Sparkling Duck (and how they age) – watch out Primo Estate The Joseph and Rockford Black Shiraz, there’s a new contender in town! I could drink – and smell – this all day.
91/100

2004 Wild Duck Creek Estate Yarra Valley ‘Wondallee
13% AV. Made for friends and growers Alan and Libby Williams’ miniscule parcel of vines and not commercially released. Made predominantly from cabernet franc. Aged in 2 and 3 year French hogsheads/ Lovely red colour. Nice sweet red berries aromas, with nuances of obvious florals. Palate is elegant, balanced, with good texture. The fruit is partially hidden behind the tannins at the moment but not bad at all for a WDC quaffer.
86/100

2003 Duck’s Estate Gerogery East Merlot Cabernet
13.5% AV. This is more riper, fuller on the palate with a lush nose. Some front palate dilution but drinks well overall. Very soft tannins with medium acidity. Good stuff.
87/100

2004 Wild Duck Creek Estate Bendigo / Heathcote The Blend
13.5%. Screwcap. 80% cabernet in old oak. Purple colour. Opulent nose with hints of flowers and sweet cherries. Lovely texture on the palate, with a full length. Opened up much better with time in the glass. Fruit a tad short to be truly outstanding but this is a bargain wine and great QPR. One to slap around at a BBQ and still look pretty schmick!
88/100

2004 Wild Duck Creek Estate Heathcote Alan’s Cabernet Vat 1
13.5%. 85% cabernet sauvignon, with equal measures of merlot, malbec, cab franc and a smidgin of petit verdot. Named after Duck’s dad. 18 months in new French oak and bottled after two rackings. Mid purple colour. Touch of volatility on the nose, and not as ripe as preceding wines. Has the tell-tale WDC cabernet signature: cinnamon donuts and spice! With hints of dark chocolate and did I mention fresh, hot aromas of cinnamon donuts? Gorgeous. Palate is dark and brooding, with Old Club dark chocolate and black fruits. Fruit yet to fill out but all there to develop further and awaken. Give it 5 years minimum. Asked why he didn’t use more American oak in his wines, Duck countered with: “ I wouldn’t ruin good cabernet by putting American oak anywhere near it!”. An elegant Alan’s.
89/100

2004 Wild Duck Creek Estate Yellow Hammer Hill Shiraz Malbec
14.5%. 40% malbec. Again an appealing bouquet of caramel kisses, lollies and earth/foresty shades. Beautiful balance of supple fruit, acid and tannin and so easy to drink now. Medium bodied but will cellar well, as evidenced by a 2000 Hammer Hill I had recently which still had years to go! As Duck stated: “this is my ode to Wendouree!”.
87/100

2004 Wild Duck Creek Estate Heathcote Springflat Shiraz (Special Late Harvested)
15%. Screwcap. 19 months in 45% new French and US oak. Rich purple. Beautiful nose – lush, jubey, exotic, cassis. Palate has beautiful length, fine texture and packed with shiraz plummy flavours. Back palate upended by some AV heat but not at all obtrusive. My favourite wine of the entire WDC portfolio – primary and youthful. Glad I get a good stash every year. The trophy hunters can keep their Duck Muck, this is the wine to buy and is arguably one of the best QPR’s is the Australian market. As Duck said: “I drink the Springflat…everything else I make is an aberration!”. Always approachable in its youth akin to just lazing around like a bum. It’s that type of wine. It’s not theoretical physics. I’m glad. It’s just damn enjoyable and there is nothing wrong with that. Dave calls it a "breakfast, lunch and dinner wine!”. Keep 6- 10 years.
91/100

2004 Wild Duck Creek Estate Heathcote Shiraz Reserve
15.5%. 150 cases. 18 months in new French oak. A real step up in concentration with alluringly rich sweet plums, blackcurrants but the ripeness is kept in check. This was my only real disappointment of the night (much preferred previous 4-5 vintages) as the length was a bit short. It’s still a bloody good wine, structurally sound but lacking the wow of previous wines where you felt like you were shoving your head in a bag of sweet raisins like a kid! Strangely, Duck reckons it is “the wine of the year” for him. Nobody I spoke to at the tasting was that enamoured.
88/100

2004 Wild Duck Creek Estate Heathcote Duck Muck
Ok, finally we get to the big kahuna! 16.5%. Sugars over 17%. Shiraz (majority) cabernet blend. 2 years in heavily toasted French and US oak. Label has peculiar SAE100W110 (a high viscous oil!) Impenetrable black colour. Deeply intoxicating and perfumed nose redolent of roasted nuts, cassis, cherry ripe, ash, pepper, spice, and liquorice that is all remarkably focussed and pure, and never showing signs of over ripeness (unlike previous vintages). A touch of acetone too. Palate is gorgeous, like rolling among the thighs of a beautiful voluptuous woman in an exotic pomegranate bath. Super fine velvety tannins, even refined in a controlled way. Beautiful balance already which is hard to fathom given the wines density (but not viscous). Length that stains the mouth and tongue. This really is a beautiful wine, and IMO his Duck Muck’s just keep getting better and better (less ripe, less oaky, less of everything!). The only wine in the line up tonight that showed obvious oak. Keep 10 years plus although many will enjoy it now. Super wine that augments its reputation.
93/100

2005 Wild Duck Creek Estate Heathcote Fortified Shiraz
18.5%. Purple. Lush tropical nose with hints of apricot (!), tangerine, tang, black plums. What a first effort from son and viticulturist Liam! On the palate this is a gloriously decadent and sexy wine, showing no signs whatsoever of either any fortification or AV levels. Sweet but not overtly so, streamlined and fresh. A delight to drink…must rush out and order some! Parker will go ga-ga over this promiscuous vixen of a wine (calling Russ Meyer!)! My WOTN.
93/100

Danny,

They are very nice, aren't they? It is interesting that most people think of Wild Duck Creek as the maker of freak wines that push the boundaries of possibility, but they are nothing like that. Just really delicious, tasty juice. I thought that "The Blend" in particular represented terrific value for money and great drinking.

Cheers

Baby Chickpea wrote: like rolling among the thighs of a beautiful voluptuous woman in an exotic pomegranate bath.

Danny,

I just can't quite picture this. Do you have photographs for those of us who are visually challenged?

Mike

tip: the woman would be monica bellucci.

Josie wrote:tip: the woman would be monica bellucci.

Oh, yessssssssss!

I got along to this one too. Totally agree with what Danny has said about all the wines. Brilliant night too and great format. It's not very often that you get to taste a winery's complete line up with some decent food and the winemaker in a nice casual atmosphere and to top it off you get to run into a coupel of forumites to boot.

I won't go into too much detail as Danny's notes cover it all but I was very impressed with the line up. The Sparkling Duck was fantastic stuff. I quite enjoyed the Wondallee. Not too complex but very approachable and a great quaffer. Only thing is that it's not on sale. I wasn't as keen on the Gerogery and found it a little thin and lacking.


The blend and the cabernet in particualr were just stunning. I almost always get these ones with the springflat and they really deliver, year in year out. Great stuff. I found the caramel a little bit overwhelming on the Hammer Hill. Very nice wine but jut a bit too sweet for my liking.

The springfalt shiraz, on the other hand, had everything going on. Very drinkable now but with plenty of structure and depth. A great vintage of a great wine. From here things just got bigger and more concentrated. At times I find this difficult to judge and agree with Danny to some extent. I wasn't dissappointed with the reserve shiraz but the springflat was certainly drinking better. I'll have to give this one a few years before I can make a proper call on it. Ditto really for the duck muck. Didn't get a huge glass of this and it went quickly. Dirty black purple colour due to no filtration. Plenty of anise in this. Lovely structure and length. It will be a few years before I open mine though.

And the real surprise package of the night was the fortified shiraz. Quite unlike any fortified wine I've ever had before. Like a combination of port and muscat. No signs of the fortifying spirit at all and much more sweet than what I was expecting but not cloying or anything. A lovely wine and a must buy for me that I passed over in my original order.

Describing Duck as "a character" doesn't begin to describe him. He dropped my wine around a couple of mornings ago and came in for a cuppa. Plenty of stories including going on and drinking six bottles of Isreali wine with one of his customers immediately after the tasting! Also lots of stories of flying around the victorian coutryside in his little 2 seater plane. Gives the term flying winemaker a completely new meaning! If you've got a backyard bigger than 50 metres long where he can land, he'll deliver the wine and give you a free flying lesson! My Newtown backyard unfortunately doesn't qualify.

Great guy, great wines, great tasting.

So if a good customer on mine has traded me two bottles of wine (from me to him) and in return is sending me a Springflat Shiraz and the Allans I'm in for a treat?

Looking forward to trying them. Not being on the mailing list (or any mailing lists, conflict of interest and all that) its my only real way of getting to enjoy and try these.

Wild Duck, especially Duck Muck, is quite hard to obtain over here and costs an arm and a leg when you find it; local store has $400USD on the 1994 and 1995. You probably could roll among the thighs of a beautiful voluptuous woman in an exotic pomegranate bath for that sort of money!

The same store has the Springflat 1999 at $53, 2002 at $36 and the 2003 at $48USD. A few single bottles of the 1999 have been sitting on the shelves for yonks. And they don't even have the 2002 on the shelves! I made them run downstairs to get mine!

Mike

Yes Gavin, you're in for a treat but drink them in context. The QPR is excellent but bear in mind they are $30 odd wines.

Mike, WDC and especially the Duck Muck is also very difficult to get here. I've never seen them on retail shelves although I do know a couple of places that sell them (for about a week until they sell out). Most of it goes to mailing list customers and restaurants - quite good ones at that.

Also, I've been on the mailing list for about five years and this year is the first year I've been offered the Duck Muck or Reserve Shiraz. The Duck Muck is $100 off the mailing list and it's priced appropriately. I don't think I'd pay US$400 for it but that's where supply and demand (and Parker points) comes in.