Guthrie Wines Dry Red 2015
Dry Red is a blend of syrah from McLaren Vale with Adelaide Hills pinot noir, montepulciano, syrah and chardonnay. Fruit salad wine, crafted with natural ferment, old oak, bottled unfined and...
View ArticleGeoff Merrill Wickham Park Chardonnay 2014
McLaren Vale chardonnay. Only 10% spends time in oak; the remainder presumably all stainless steel.
View ArticleCantina Abbatiello Vagabondo Shiraz 2012
I don’t have any real details on this wine other than that it’s a McLaren Vale shiraz described, via email, as of “European style”. I can’t find a website but there is a Facebook page.
View ArticleGeoff Merrill Bush Vine Grenache Rosé 2016
Bush vine grenache isn’t a bad starting point in the making of rosé.
View ArticleGeoff Merrill Reserve Chardonnay 2015
72% McLaren Vale, 28% Coonawarra. Interesting that they choose Coonawarra to give their premium chardonnay a helping hand rather than the far-more-favoured (and closer) Adelaide Hills. You’d reckon...
View ArticleGeoff Merrill Jacko’s Shiraz 2012
Jacko’s shiraz spends 24 months in a combination of American and French oak.
View ArticleGeoff Merrill Reserve Shiraz 2011
32 months in a combination of American and French oak.
View ArticleCoriole Mary Kathleen Reserve Cabernet Merlot 2013
Gee, I like that, in what you might call the ‘modern era of Coriole’, they are unafraid of having a serious amount of nutritious tannin in their wines.
View ArticleBlackbilly Shiraz 2014
McLaren Vale shiraz. It saw both (new) American oak and older French oak.
View ArticleWolf Blass Black Label 2013
Cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and malbec. Langhorne Creek, McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley. French and American oak for 21 months. Strong ingredients for a tried and tested favourite of so many. The 2013...
View ArticleWolf Blass Grey Label Shiraz 2014
From vineyards in McLaren Vale, this hangs out in French and American oak for 18 months. Grey Label typically doesn’t resonate with me as much as Black Label does, or have the impact of BL, but there’s...
View ArticleInkwell Infidels Primitivo 2015
Primitivo from McLaren Vale, nurtured by Dudley and Irina Brown. It spends time, appropriately, in American oak barrels. I wonder what American oak barrel sales are like in Australia these days, since...
View ArticleRichard Hamilton Colton’s G.S.M. 2014
When writing up an imaginary baby name list, Colton appeared on the boy’s side in my house. No boy has appeared in my house… yet. Anyway, here is a GSM from Richard Hamilton, which is under the banner...
View ArticleBondar Wines Junto GSM 2016
Grown mostly on the Rayner vineyard in McLaren Vale. 43 year old grenache vines; 65 year old shiraz vines; mataro from nearby. Some whole bunches, mostly with the mataro. All old oak. Bottled...
View ArticleBondar Wines Rayner Vineyard Grenache 2016
Grown on a tiny block of (43 year old) McLaren Vale grenache. Hand picked/selected from the lowest yielding vines. 75% spent 35 days on skins. The remainder spent nine days on skins and was fermented...
View ArticleYangarra Estate GSM 2015
Old vine grenache makes up the thrust of this wine. It’s from organically grown (certified) vineyards. McLaren Vale does GSMs very well, I reckon. Let the shiraz play second fiddle to the region’s...
View ArticleYangarra Mourvedre 2015
Certified biodynamic in the vineyard. This has been a bit of a coup from Yangarra, in past. Mourvedre seems to be a forte of winemaker Peter Fraser and team. Sanguine stuff here, bleeds with the...
View ArticleSigurd Red Blend 2015
Winemaker Daniel Graham seems to have turned around the freight-liner in a neat turning circle, such is the jump from winemaker at Jacob’s Creek to his undressed expressions of his own label Sigurd....
View ArticleRichard Hamilton Lot 148 Merlot 2015
The packaging has been tweaked but the style and value is the same.
View ArticleRichard Hamilton Hut Block Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
Richard Hamilton’s Hut Block cabernet sauvignon now comes in a bottle-shape more commonly associated with shiraz and/or pinot noir. Always throws me.
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