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 Professional wine reviews and tasting notes from leading wine experts. Welcome to our wine reviews page. Here we try and give you an insight into wines that we try - and wines that we come across that we love!
Saint Clair Pioneer Block 18 'Snap Block' Sauvignon Blanc 2008
The very fertile and free draining soils of the Saint Clair site produced the extremely healthy and intense blackcurrant and grapefruit flavours of this Sauvignon Blanc. The juice of the batch was selected as a Pioneer Block wine due to its power and intensity of flavour. Pale straw in colour it has aromas of powerful passionfruit, grapefruit and lifted notes of blackcurrant.
This Sauvignon Blanc is intensely concentrated, again with fresh passionfruit and blackcurrant flavours and a salty minerality that leads to a lingering finish. The bright and aromatic fruit, red capsicum and wild herb flavours are supported by fresh, sweet acidity. The net effect is like a Jamie Oliver signature dish - wonderfully delicate and yet tantalisingly complex making for a very appealing wine.
An ideal match with lightly spiced Thai cuisine or grilled Marlborough salmon with char-grilled vegetables. This wine is drinking beautifully now and may also be enjoyed over the next one to two years.
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Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay 2006
Balance, elegance, complexity and restrained power are the hallmarks of Heytesbury and are the direct result of an uncompromising approach to quality. Heytesbury Chardonnay is made from a barrel selection of the best Chardonnay at each vintage, without compromise and its production is strictly limited.
This Chardonnay is pale straw in colour with green hues. Perfumed, floral, lavender spice, talc, grapefruit, orange zest, grilled pineapple and peach skin aromatics provide a complex yet fruit driven nose. These are tightly integrated with almond, nutty and nougat characters and a feint background of gun smoke and flint. The nose is very restrained and beautifully balanced by French oak.
A long focused palate delivers lovely poise and presence in the mouth. Custard apples, pear, stone fruit and lemon tart flavours provide upfront fruit sweetness and freshness on the palate with spiced and creamy threads of almond meal and vanilla infusing acidity. Oak provides savoury complexity and structure sitting elegantly behind the fruit at every step. Soft creamy edges from wild fermentation and lees stirring provide texture and oily mouth feel yet finishing clean and dry by oak influences and a long mineral finish. Overall, a very intense concentrated wine with the trademark restrained power of Heytesbury and varietal perfection of Chardonnay.
This very good example of Margaret River wine stole the show at the 2007 Perth Royal Wine Show, winning five trophies including: Best Chardonnay, Best West Australian Wine and Best Wine of Show. This wine is perfect to enjoy now to 2012.
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Barossa Valley Ebenezer Shiraz 2004
Only the best Shiraz from the Barossa Valley Estate's Ebenezer growers is used to make this exceptional wine. Ebenezer is one of Australia's finest appellations and traditional winemaking methods are employed to ensure fruit intensity and length. This Shiraz is deep blood red in appearance with quick purple hues. A nose of lifted cherries and plums with chocolate, mocha, coffee, pepper and some toast caramel oak tones.
The sweet fruit flavours and subtle hint of oak are accompanied by elements of supple, raw blackberry fruit pinned up against wafer-like gasps of vanilla oak, mouth watering with successive hints of flourless choc-orange cake and highly scented coffee. The palate is full, rich and ripe with intense characters of fleshy red and black fruits, more layers of wood and spices, and integrated oak. Firm mouth filling tannins ensure a long, balanced and clean finish with the fresh fruit flavours persisting well.
This is a wine that fully expresses the synergy, richness and character of good Barossa Shiraz fruit fashioned to traditional winemaking techniques. An impressive wine, deftly fashioned to exhibit superlative harmony between good fruit and fine oak. Pair this Shiraz with full flavoured cheeses and rich red meats dishes.
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Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2004
Created by the legendary Max Schubert - creator of Penfolds Grange - Bin 389 is often referred to as "Poor Man’s Grange" or "Baby Grange". First made in 1960, this was the wine that helped to build Penfolds' solid reputation with red wine drinkers. Combining the structure of Cabernet with the richness of Shiraz, Bin 389 also exemplifies Penfolds' skill in balancing fruit and oak. A classic Australian style with a clear Penfolds identity makes this a tightly focused, firm and sassy 389 of structure and sophistication.
Dense and dark, and, at the time of tasting, still possessing a purple core. Deeply scented with alluring and lightly spicy aromas of crushed dark berries, plums, liquorice and cedary vanilla oak, this slightly meaty red blend reveals undertones of briar, white pepper, mint and a hint of game.
Long, smooth, and full-bodied its intense and dark-fruited palate of cassis, mulberries, cherries and plums is underpinned by a chalky chassis of firm tannin. It slowly reveals nuances of dried herbs, licorice, tobacco, mint and underlying meatiness, while its generous complement of vanilla oak shows some classy integration. The tannins are firm and grainy; authoritative, confident and sitting very comfortably within the wine. This Cabernet Shiraz finishes dry and savoury with excellent length of flavour.
A lot more contemporary than the traditional 389, but very impressive all the same, this vintage represents a welcome return to form for an Australian classic. Matched well with beef, duck and game and lamb dishes. This wine will definitely cellar well with the massive beams of fruit and oak to keep it going for decades. Best enjoyed between 2014 and 2030.
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Peter Lehmann Stonewell Shiraz 2002
The story of Stonewell began when Peter Lehmann decided to make a special Shiraz of immense intensity and muscularity that would demand time in the barrel and bottle before release. Stonewell Shiraz is a muscular wine – wonderfully deep and impenetrable in colour with an intense black centre.
The wine opens with a complex bouquet of blackcurrant, tar, aniseed, and hints of mint. This Shiraz has a densely packed and powerful palate of black fruit, dark chocolate, prunes, liquorice and hints of mint. The wonderful sweetness and depth are reigned in with lovely firm tannins that provide great staying power. An infinite entwinement of plump fruit and smooth oak that is persistent and lingering.
The Stonewell wine produced in this vintage displays a unique elegance and style with great definition. Best appreciated served with rich game or red meat dishes, such as hearty beef casserole or roast topside of beef and hard cheeses, such as Parmigiano Reggiano, aged cheddar or Grana Padano. Stonewell can be cellared with confidence for many years to come.
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