Adelaide Visit: Day 2, McLaren Vale

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Wizz
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Adelaide Visit: Day 2, McLaren Vale

Post by Wizz »

Day 2: McLaren Vale.

This was an early start as the first half of the day was a drive down to Cape Jervis, as I wanted a look at the wind farm down there, as I had some minor involvement in its development and wanted to see it close up. Quite majestic, and strangely quiet compared to a traditional power station.


We got back to McLaren Vale at about 12,and as we were approaching form the south our first CD was Pertaringa.
The Pertaringa CD is fairly small, and there were a lot of people there, so the noes are a bit brief. Shame, the range of wines is on the whole very good.

03 Sauvignon Blanc: Good

03 Grandis White (SSB): Good, and very good value at $7

02 Semillon: Good+

00 Petit Verdot: A cellar door special. Tar and raspberry. Quite savoury, a good food wine.

01 Rifle & Hunt Cabernet: Good: stalky (in a good way)

01 Undercover Shiraz: Oh dear, this bottle spoiled by Brett

01 Over The Top shiraz: Now that’s better! Red fruits, charry oak, but not overdone. Nice wine

The Geoff Hardy K1 range is also on offer here. Two reds on tasting:

01 K1 Cabernet Sauvignon: Kuitpo fruit. Intense blackcurrant fruit, tealeaf, dusty tannin. Very nice.

01 K1 Shiraz: Red fruit and spice, very good. Trophy at Adelaide Hills show.

The tasting notes don’t do this winery justice: I bought here, would have bought more if I could, and look forward to both the K1 and Pertaringa 02’s.
Also worth noting was the large range of cleanskins on offer (at least 5 different types), and a significant number of back vintages, including Kuitpo Cabernet back to 97.


After this, we moved up to the northern end of the valley, starting at Coriole. We arrived at lunchtime, and the CD and café were packed.
We skipped the whites here. The two Italian varieties should be interesting as should the rest of the range.

02 Sangiovese: perfumed and musky. This is fairly simple, sweet fruited, cherry flavoured stuff with no sour cherry and spice. A disappointment.

02 Nebbiolo: Pinky red, this is already different to the Piedmonte version. This is highly perfumed, and the palate shows licorice, spice and red berries. Middle weight, good tannins. Nice without being distinctive.

01 Lallah Rookh Grenache shiraz: Pinky purple. Spicy redcurrants and licorice. Not excessively fruit sweet, a nice wine, and a good effort for a balanced middle weight wine. $27 might be pushing it though, particularly in light of the next three wines.

01 Redstone Shiraz Cabernet: Red purple. Sweet lifted blackberry. Subtle but grainy tannins. Warmish finish. I reckon this is showing the ripeness of the 01 vintage, but has been handled well into a good drink now style. $18.50 is fair, can probably find it cheaper retail.

02 Shiraz: "We are very pleased with this one" the gent with the English accent tells me, and so they should be, this is a cracker.Purple red in colour. Some oak char in the palate, cuddling some "purple fruit jube" fruit. This is plummy and rich, plush and lovely and not overripe or oversweet in any way. Very, very nice.

02 "The Old Barn" Shiraz Cabernet: This is a step up from the Redstone. Dense purple colour. Blackberry and mulberry nose. The palate is similar, but its super intensity shows licorice and iodine as well, with some toasty oak, and a pastry dough character I find sometimes and can never attribute – always assumed it is oak. Coriole use a bit of baltic oak, I wonder if this is it? Chewy tannin, great length, great intensity, I want some. Cellar door only, great wine, particularly at $30.

00 Mary Kathleen Cabernet Merlot: Closed nose, only showing pencil shavings oak. Juicy blackberry and oak palate. Richly textured, a lovely chewy full finish. I’d like to have tried this again with some breathing to see how the fruit expresses.

02 Fortified Shiraz: Purple black, spirity raisined blackberry nose. Luscious liqueured blackberries and boysenberries on the palate. Hard to judge a VP at this age I guess, but this seems a little straightforward and sweet at this stage.

We then shouldered arms and squeezed our way into the café for a late lunch. The Tapas style platter is worthwhile if you’re looking for something light but extremely tasty, and the weather was perfect for it.
All up, very impressed with Coriole, after being quite disappointed 2 years ago: admittedly they were showing 99’s and 00’s at the time.


On to Kays, and another pleasant scene with a number of families picnicking on the grassed slop in front of the CD.
Writing tasting notes at Kays is hard, as the reds have a lot in common. The wines are all ripe, full bodied, but not unbalanced, with fruit, tannin, alcohol all balanced, just a question of how much acid on some of these wines. Of the standard 01 reds, the Cabernet seems to be showing best right now, with the fruit showing through the best. This has piqued my interest, because in the Barossa Rockford claim 01 was very good for Cabernet, I thought the Charles Melton Cabernet could be his best red for the year. Did the warm climate cabernets come up better than shiraz, by ripening later and missing the 01 heatwave? Hmm.

The 01 Hillside Shiraz was on tasting: Great to have a look at it, seeing as I have already bought some! It is indeed a step up from the standard shiraz, ripe intense and just slightly jammy and lifted, and it is inky purple in the glass. An amazing mouthful that is drinkable already, although I’d leave them for a little while before trying them again. Still available, if you’re quick!

Then a treat: samples of the standard 02 Amery Cabernet and 02 Amery Shiraz, which were bottled only a week ago. Wow, this is a step up again! The cabernet is not showing so well, a bit of bottle shock knocking this around, but the shiraz is already drinkable. The concentration of black fruits is amazing, and this is going to be a searingly intense wine.
I would have bought some more 01’s. but tasting the 02s convinced me to save my pennies. I think we’re all going to have to be quick on these, even the standard wines.

Phew. Now I’m buggered. Something about all these big reds.


Off to D’Arenberg, but not with much intent left. Only wanted to look at a few wines, and the CD list shows that a lot have sold out already. Wines we tried:

03 Money Spider Roussanne: Green Gold, honeysuckly nose, pear honeysuckle, passionfruit (I think). Some alcohol heat on the finish.

01 The Custodian Grenache: Pink red. Spice, toast, alcohol. Rich Blackberry jube palate.

01 The Twenty Eight Road Mourvedre: Dark Purple. Brooding licorice, blueberry, blackberry and iodine. I think I like this wine, but the pricing ($35 CD) makes it hard to buy.

02 Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier: TN’d many times, white pepper, apricot, blackberry etc etc. Very nice, deserved the praise, and a much better effort than 00 or 01.

00 Ironstone Pressings GSM: Where is the 01?Brooding. "Purple" fruit, licorice, meaty notes. Well balanced, feels poised to blossom into something more.

01 Coppermine Road Cabernet: Spice, Blackberry, Plums. Tanninc and tight, still quite closed
and the Dead Arm is long sold out.


Still only 4pm, so time for one more CD. We decide to trek south again to Serafino at McLarens on the Lake. Despite the range on offer, I only want to try the 01 Cabernet and Shiraz.

The 01 Cabernet: confronts me with the biggest disappointment of the whole trip. Despite 13.5% alcohol, this comes across as overripe, alcoholic, and all dead fruit. Pass.

The 01 Shiraz is better, but still very ripe. Lost interest in writing TN’s about here.

And that was that.

Wine of the trip: Hard choice, but the 02 Shaw and Smith Shiraz by a short half head from the 02 Coriole Old Barn Shiraz Cabernet.

Bargain of the trip: A few: For me, the 00 Sharefarmers Cab Malbec (assuming by the dozen retail price). The 02 Nepenthe Tryst red, is a great value BBQ wine, althoug it come sup against things like the Wynns white label. The $7 Grandis SSB at Pertaringa is punching above its (very light) weight.

And a note on the 04 Vintage: everywhere we went, vines are vigorous, fruit set appears to be even, berries are colouring up nicely, good winter rains seem to have pushed yields up, and the cool even summer has been very kind: SO FAR. If all holds for the balance of the season, everything is looking good for another bumper crop, particularly in McLaren Vale.

Amen.

Cheers

Andrew
Last edited by Wizz on Wed Jan 28, 2004 10:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Gavin Trott
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Re: Adelaide Visit: Day 2, McLaren Vale

Post by Gavin Trott »

Wizz wrote: Pertaringa.
The Pertaringa CD is fairly small, and there were a lot of people there, so the noes are a bit brief. Shame, the range of wines is on the whole very good.

03 Sauvignon Blanc: Good

03 Grandis White (SSB): Good, and very good value at $7

02 Semillon: Good+

00 Petit Verdot: A cellar door special. Tar and raspberry. Quite savoury, a good food wine.

01 Rifle & Hunt Cabernet: Good: stalky (in a good way)

01 Undercover Shiraz: Oh dear, this bottle spoiled by Brett

01 Over The Top shiraz: Now thatÂ’s better! Red fruits, charry oak, but not overdone. Nice wine

The Geoff Hardy K1 range is also on offer here. Two reds on tasting:

01 K1 Cabernet Sauvignon: Kuitpo fruit. Intense blackcurrant fruit, tealeaf, dusty tannin. Very nice.

01 K1 Shiraz: Red fruit and spice, very good. Trophy at Adelaide Hills show.

02 Shiraz: "We are very pleased with this one" the gent with the English accent tells me, and so they should be, this is a cracker.Purple red in colour. Some oak char in the palate, cuddling some "purple fruit jube" fruit. This is plummy and rich, plush and lovely and not overripe or oversweet in any way. Very, very nice.


Amen.

Cheers

Andrew


Agree entirely with K1 and Pertaringa. Its been a little hard to get customers to try these wines, but those that do will be very pleased.

Reminds me of Killikanoon, not in the style of the wines, but in the overall touch of class, style and restraint that all the wines show, particularly both Cabernets that avoid the heavy 'dry red' styles of some McLaren Vale efforts.

Visit the cellar door, but if you cannot, get some of these from your favourite retailer :oops:

Kays, well what's to say, waiting for the 02 Block 6 and Hillside eagerly!

Thanks again.
regards

Gavin Trott

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Wizz
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Re: Adelaide Visit: Day 2, McLaren Vale

Post by Wizz »

Gavin Trott wrote:Agree entirely with K1 and Pertaringa. Its been a little hard to get customers to try these wines, but those that do will be very pleased.

Reminds me of Killikanoon, not in the style of the wines, but in the overall touch of class, style and restraint that all the wines show, particularly both Cabernets that avoid the heavy 'dry red' styles of some McLaren Vale efforts.

Visit the cellar door, but if you cannot, get some of these from your favourite retailer :oops:

Kays, well what's to say, waiting for the 02 Block 6 and Hillside eagerly!

Thanks again.


Yes, Pertaringa was good, I included that one in the itenerary on a recommendation from a couple of forumites.

I've been surprised overall at how the 01 Cabernets form Barossa and McLaren Vale have come up, they may have even fared better than shiraz. The Pertaringa was surprisingly restrained - a good thing.
cheers

Andrew

MartinJohnC
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Mc V

Post by MartinJohnC »

Hello Wizz

Sorry I did not like the Partaringa Over The Top Shiraz 01, I found it
over the top with charry oak.

But I think the 01 K1 Shiraz is very good.

I quiet liked the 01 Serafinos but have found there previous vintages
all over the place, looking forward to Serafino 02!!

When you say Old Barn you must mean Coriole not Kays.

Cheers Martin

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Wizz
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Post by Wizz »

Thanks Martin, it was indeed Coriole Old Barn.

On the Pertaringa Over the Top, agreed the oak is certainly present (and prominent), and while I prefer the K1 style as well, I would have bought a few OTT if the wallet was fatter!

Serafino: Hmm, I must have had a bad bottle of the 01 Cab. I know Gavin has been keen on Serafino as well.

cheers

Andrew

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Gavin Trott
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Post by Gavin Trott »

Wizz wrote:
Serafino: Hmm, I must have had a bad bottle of the 01 Cab. I know Gavin has been keen on Serafino as well.

cheers

Andrew


I like the style, no subtlety, but big wine and big chocolate, personal preference, but I understand not everyone's cup of tea (or glass of wine).
regards

Gavin Trott

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