Tasting : Hanging Rock Rich Reef Shiraz 2012

I've visited Hanging Rock at their cellar door once before out in the cool climes of the beautiful Macedon Ranges region and loved their sparkling so was pretty keen to try this Shiraz of theirs outside of the shadow cast by its more famed and top performing effervescent cousin.

It is in no way a "cool climate" wine with the fruit coming from their much warmer Heathcote vineyards and in turn providing a generous and honest Victorian Shiraz with still enough interest for the easily distracted oenophiles out there. 

The wine shows us a nose of ripe dark plum, stewed dark cherry, licks of vanilla oak characters and faint white pepper and I may be clutching here but as I dig deeper I do pick up some faint christmas cake. 

Yummy and fairly bold in the mouth, characters of plum again but this time with mulberry too and some more savoury characters with touches of black pepper. Drying and somewhat chewy tannins help round it out but aren't in anyway overbearing. Top stuff, especially so for around the $20 mark.

You can find Hanging Rock wines in many good bottle shops in Melbourne and for more hit their website here:
http://www.hangingrock.com.au/

Cheap & Cheerful : El Nino Pinot Noir 2012

This great value Yarra Valley Pinot is showing us red cherries, stewed rhubarb, hints of beetroot and faint earl grey on the nose.

In the mouth its predictably light with characters of rhubarb and cherry again with some light spicy tonalities too. This isn't too simple at all and retains some good interest enough for wine nerds and quaffers alike. So rare to find a good Pinot under the $20 mark ,so you'd be pretty stoked with this one. 

RRP $15 website:  massoniwines.com

Wine of the Week : Cobaw Ridge Syrah 2010

A few months ago now I went out to Macedon to sample the wares and do a bit of exploring (you can read my full run down on the trip here), and one of the special bottles I took home with me was this lovely Syrah (Shiraz). It's surprisingly taken me this long to open, I don't usually have patience for this kind of thing, hence my cyclic almost non existent cellar.

This cool climate wine from the certified organic Macedon producer shows a restrained nose of dark plum and mulberry with some dried herbs and more purple fruit and prune like characters come out from hiding as the wine opens up with time.

A similar story on the palate with mulberry in the mouth again with a medium body and more savoury earthy characters, that you would expect from a cool climate Shiraz, with some white pepper and dried Chinese herbs. Nicely integrated fine tannin and a good length close the curtain on this lovely performer.

I got this beauty from the cellar door but I have seen it sold in Melbourne at the Organic Wholefoods supermarket on Lygon Street, Brunswick East as well as Aunt Maggies in Fitzroy/Collingwood (with the possibility of it being sold at all their stores).

Cobaw Ridge's website: http://www.cobawridge.com.au/

Wine of the Week: Savaterre Pinot Noir 2012

Savaterre Pinot Noir 2012

Awesome wine !! Bags full of character from this Organic Beechworth Pinot.

Nose of red cherry, mushroom, forest floor and dried leave characters from the whole bunch ferment (grapes fermented with stalks and all).

Velvet smooth texture on the palate with under-ripe red cherry, brown spice, leafy-ness and real earthy tones with subtle mushroom again. Super fine tannin keeps it in balance with an excellent length to boot. This has real depth and complexity!

Could do with a few years to be even better I reckon. Lovely stuff to cellar or to have now if your like me and couldn't wait. Recommend decanting.

Savaterre wines ain't exactly cheap but this is no pay for the hype type wine. Its the real deal and worth it. 

(RRP Approx $70 ) http://www.savaterre.com/

Also worth trying from the range are the Shiraz and their knock-out Chardonnay.

NB. Savaterre vineyards are farmed using Organic principles and thus proclaim to be Organic, but are not yet certified.

WINE OF THE WEEK: Adam's Rib 'The White' Chardonnay Viognier 2010

Castagna Adam's Rib 'The White'  Chardonnay Viognier 2010, Beechworth, VIC

This is a great full bodied style white from this Biodynamic vineyard in Beechworth.
An intense nose of pear, butter, cheese rind and subtle honey.

Rich and opulent on the palate, very creamy and rounded with white nectarine,pear again and some definite nutty characters there too. Yummy stuff. Great on its own but would be optimal with food.. I'm thinking most poultry and french lentils with pork sausages.

(RRP $35) http://www.castagna.com.au/

TASTING: Savaterre Shiraz 2012

Savaterre Shiraz 2012, Beechworth, VIC

An intense nose of earth, blackberry, pepper, subtle smoke and barnyard. Smells very savoury and old world in style and you can really tell this has been whole bunch fermented (stalks and all).

Savoury again in mouth but not overtly with dark plums and some blackberry showing alongside blackberry bush and pepper and again some earthy characters. Mouth coating dry tannins even this out nicely. Great food style. Needs decanting( 2hours if you can).

http://www.savaterre.com/

Note: Farmed using Organic principles, but not certified.

Macedon Ranges Cool Climate Wine

I had a beautiful day trip out of Melbourne on the weekend to the Macedon Ranges, the coolest grape growing region on mainland Australia.


While there are close to 50 vineyards not all of them have cellar doors, and I was a little picky about where I wanted to go as well, so I ended up doing about half a dozen cellar doors. Below are just the highlights.

So it's a quick hour drive out of Melbourne and your there. Though this time my girl, Sarah, was insistent on stopping in on the Lancefield farmer's market, which is small but worth the stop even if its just to pick up some local cheese and olives to go with the later bought wine!

Curly Flat 

We started the day at the top,so to speak, Curly Flat. Probably one of the most lauded vineyards in the Macedon Ranges. I've had their wines before but not for a while and never from their cellar door. I can find some of the premium wine cellar doors can be quite pretentious but not so here. Take a seat at the long table or by the fire and let the very welcoming Curly crew come to you.

The performers line up at Curly Flat.

We tasted the entire range they had available. The entry level Williams Crossing Chardonnay 2013 was great (Sarah preferred this to all the other whites in fact!). And as for their entry level Williams Crossing Pinot...Wow....certainly doesnt taste "entry level" or "bottom rung" to me...fantastic. So if the fruit that ended up as the Williams Crossing didn't make the cut for their "Curly Flat" label, what did ? Enter stage left, the 2011 Curly Flat Pinot Noir , a show stopper now with a real bright future (could cellar well for 6 + years)... this was the wine of the day with real complexity, a nose of cherry, orange pith, forest floor characters and subtle spice with the palate following on with beautiful cherry and cranberry balanced well with earthy savoury elements and fine tannin, amazing length too!
Curly Flat's, entirely new oak (a rarity in the Pinot world), Limited Release Pinot Noir was very interesting too and was good to see some experimentation.

Knight Granite Hills

Next up and a bit further north was Knight Granite Hills (aka Granite Hills). They had quite a big selection here, the drops that pulled me in were their lean, zippy and mineral driven Riesling and a peppery Shiraz. But it was their Cabernet (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc) blend that nailed it.

The vineyards at Cobaw Ridge.

Cobaw Ridge

Next up was Cobaw Ridge...
Interesting cool climate wine? Tick! Biodynamic & Organic? Tick ! And above all else, quality? Tick!
Cobaw Ridge, what a pretty site..amid this picturesque landscape these guys have plantings of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Shiraz & Lagrein (Northern Italian varietal). Just recently certified Biodynamic and Organic these wines are in classic cool climate style. I really dug all of these wines, although the Lagrein definitely needs food in my opinion to really show its full potential. I took home what was my favourite, the 2010 Syrah.

Having a look at the progress of the Biodynamic Syrah.

I was lucky enough to get a winery tour from the winemaker,Alan Cooper, and have a look at their Shiraz's at different stages of the ferment and a sneaky taste of the Chardonnay about to go into bottle any day now , is looking fresh in its youth, nice and zippy but already with enough body to taste great already.
Will be keeping an eye on these guys for sure.

Hanging Rock

Its all about the sparkling here for me. Yes they had other tasty wine, especially so in their value range. I really liked the full style Hanging Rock Poppet Head Chardonnay 2012 especially so for the bucks. But the Sparkling eclipsed everything... 9 years on its lees (wiki lees and why its important) and deliciously similar to a classic biscuity and yeasty champagne style (am I allowed to say that? Eeek!).

A mention must be made to another one of my favourite Macedon producers Mount Monument- which I was unable to visit this time around as their cellar door is in North Melbourne.

Stand out wines:

• Curly Flat Chardonnay 2011
• Curly Flat Pinot Noir 2011
• Cobaw Ridge Syrah 2010
• Knight Granite Hills "The Gordon" Cabernet blend 2008
• Hanging Rock NV Sparkling

Full tasting notes on some of the above wines to come on this blog in the coming week.

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Rochford Isabella's Vineyard, Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 , Yarra Valley, VIC

On a recent trip to the Yarra Valley I stopped by Rochfords cellar door and while there were a few nice drops this was the standout I opened it this week to have with a rustic lentil pie, yummy stuff!

It has a  nose of cassis, coconut characters from the well integrated oak and very subtle dried herbs like thyme.

On the palate its full and dense and more savoury than expected...more earth with the black fruit noticeable later and some slight tarriness on the finish which is not unpleasant at all. A serious wine, an awesome winter warmer for that roast lamb or, for the vego's, roast vegetables with rosemary.

(RRP Approx $40- $50) Rochford Wines

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Quealy Musky Creek Pinot Noir 2010, Mornington Peninsula, VIC

A stand out Pinot for me from the stellar 2010 vintage (was a great year for Mornington Pinot). Smacks of refinement and not just that but it packs a bit more power than some of its other regional counterparts.
A complex nose of bright red fruit, such as red cherries along with spearmint and orange zest.

In the mouth its light to medium bodied with cherry again some light spice, the savoury elements and subtle leafy characters adds to the complexity without at all being "stalky". Has a little more tannin and structure than most Aussie Pinot's.. Lovely.

(RRP approx $36) Quealy

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Kennedy Shiraz  2009, Heathcote, VIC

A very pleasant nose of some intensity here with plum, blackberry & very subtle barnyard. In true Heathcote style, the palate is intense and similar to nose but more pepper and spice on the palate.
Great depth of flavour whilst remaining in the medium bodied realm and is well balanced by fine tannins and a light line of acidity. A great example of regional typicality.
(RRP $25) Kennedy Vintners