Wine Talk - May 2005

Share Share Share

Cape Mentelle Marmaduke Red 2003

A newly release red with a brilliant crimson ruby colour. A pleasant and attractive wine with persistent and distinct fruit characters. Smooth, velvety and well rounded. An approachable style of wine with a medium body and good medium length with a pleasant aftertaste. Quite well balanced for its relative youth. The Shiraz component of the wine exhibits subtle spice flavours, some cherry, jammy plum and chocolate - but in a savoury rather than ripe fruit manner. Rich and juicy and eminently drinkable. Have this with roast lamb. Drink now and for the next year or so. At around $17, it is very respectably priced and available widely.

De Bortoli Windy Peak Chardonnay 2004

A clear lemony straw. Pleasant and aromatic in its nose with a hint of spice character. Clean and attractive in its presentation. A fresh, lively and crisp Chardonnay with distinct flavours and good fruit weight and acidity. Predominantly citrus with grapefruit, limes and fresh lemons. A swirl of butterscotch and a hint of spicy oak texture. Lean bodied with a medium length, it is also quite well balanced. Have this with Vietnamese Pho soup. Drinking well now and up to 1-2 years. A good value for money quaffer of a Chardonnay for around $10-$12.

Madfish Western Australia Riesling 2004

Medals on bottles - they draw me in like a magnet. I am a marketer's dream ideal customer. Stick a swag of gold medals on a bottle, and I am gravitating towards it in no time. I know that I should know better and exercise a healthy degree of scepticism or at least open mindedness but I figure it has to do with the fact that I'm a bloke and we are largely aesthetically driven creatures by nature. And yes, I have read all the recent hullabaloo over medals that aren't really medals, but with this wine - as they say, all is good. The medals are real ones, won at wine shows, real ones, the ones that actually do count for something in the world of wine. So how does what's in the bottle shape up you ask? Well, what you get is a very pleasant delicately soft pale straw fruit driven Riesling. Florally, lean and even minerally in structure. A wine full of tropical fruit salad flavours which makes for very easy drinking. Try this with Thai lemongrass chicken. Should cellar up to 3 years but drinking seamlessly now. At around the mid teens in price, an excellent wine worthy of the medals!

O'Leary Walker "Claire" Reserve Shiraz 2002

This is an outstanding wine, that's it review over. I wish I could say only that, so I could get on with the task of polishing the rest of this bottle off on my own. On your own, you say. Yes, because sometimes, you deserve it and the occasion warrants it. What occasion, you say. Well the fact that I am drinking a top quality Australian wine made by two of the most respected winemakers in the country, David O'Leary and Nick Walker which is also incidentally priced at around $90 and to be frank, if anyone is going to drink it, it's going to be me. The problem with drinking expensive wine however is expectation, it creates lots of it and unfortunately at times, it fails to deliver bang for buck. No need to worry on this occasion though, as these boys have delivered big-time with the likes of this red. A powerful deep blackish purple crimson colour reflecting fruit from 100 year old vines. Powerful rich complex alluring classy luscious and intense nose - get my drift! This wine is balanced in each of its dimensions be it fruit, acidity or oak treatment, the synergy of the three culminates in spectacular flavours which are delivered in velvety integrated and a well rounded long complex finish. A sophisticated wine with blackberry and jammy plum flavours, earthy characters, a touch of chocolate and lots of pure refined sweet ripe fruit on the palate. Try this with bbq lamb butterfly cut marinated in red wine and mint sauce. It will cellar for 10 years under the confidence of a screw cap but which time it should have turned into a classic. Outstanding and value for money. Go to www.olearywalker.com whilst I go back to my bottle.

Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 2002

A lovely deep purple crimson red with big rich jammy plum and blackberry fruit aromas. Quite an elegant wine though, not an overripe style. It rewards with mouth filling plum and cherry fruit on the palate and with some subtle spicy characters. Smooth milk chocolate and some liquorice flavours also make their way through. Mainly a Barossa blend which reflects in its composition. A lovely rich mouth feel which is velvety in finish with good length. Very well balanced making it a drink now proposition but should improve over the next 5 to 7 years. A very well made wine overall. Available widely at a very good price of under $20. Drink this with a steak and kidney pie.

Scotchman's Hill Geelong Pinot Noir 2003

Pinot Noir can be quite a finicky type of grape variety. When it is from a good vintage, it can produce very good wines but when it isn't, well, lets just say, it leaves you saying, why bother with this variety. The problem is it is one of those varieties where if you don't pick the grapes at the right level of ripeness, you get lean and greeny wine and if you pick them too late, the fruit and acid levels go out of whack! (whack being a highly technical viticultural term) and you get big flat tasting wine. Scotchman's Hill has a long standing and well deserved reputation of making fine examples of Pinot Noir. Here they come up with the goods with this mid brick red coloured Pinot which has quite a complex nose. It is quite a vibrant wine which has a fair amount of oak treatment, has a fair bit of spice character and hints of smokiness. My tasting notes say this wine is "like a dirty French Burgundy which opens up like a flower in front of you". Whilst you get your strawberry and cherry upfront fruit flavours there is also a savoury element to it with some gamey meaty characters, also some truffle hints and slight earthy textures as well as some silky tannin on the finish. I had this wine with honey king prawns and thoroughly enjoyed it. It should cellar 3 plus years and at around $29 is good value for a quality Pinot. Try www.scotchmanshill.com.au

Seppelt Jaluka Chardonnay 2004

A brilliant pale straw coloured wine. Alluring and vibrant with its aromas of fruit salad of tropical fruits. A youthful refreshing level of acidity with minerally and flinty characters. Cool climate delicacy in its fruit structure. Dry style of wine with a lean body and a lingering length. A level of subtlety and refined complexity not often seen in such a young wine. Toasty oak characters arising from French oak treatment. Have this with potato salad wrapped with smoke salmon topped with caviar. An excellent wine with cellaring potential of at least 3-5 years. At around $20 plus mark, very respectably priced.

Serafino McLaren Vale Shiraz 2002

This wine recently won the packing room prize at our house. That is, my wife who unpacks most of the wine received for sampling, who also is allowed to assist me with sampling the wares, reckons this wine is top notch. I'm at one with her regarding the awarding of this prize. At around $20, I am amazed at the quality of the fruit that has gone into this wine, enabling it to be comparable with wines at least twice its price. A lovely mid ripe plum to mid brick red colour, the wine exudes luscious characters. It is intense, quite spicy and exhibits smoky notes as well. Blackberry, plum jam, liquorice, and chocolate are all there. The fruit is balanced, pure and distinct in flavour also being strong and concentrated. Ample bodied with a medium finish. Integrated and well rounded yet assertive tannins. Some lovely toasty, smoky vanillan influences emanating from the oak treatment. Have this with lasagna. Bargain red at this price. Should cellar 5 plus years. Go to www.mclarensonthelake.com.au

Tatachilla Cabernet Shiraz 2003

A broodingly dark inky crimson colour with ripe plum tints. A vibrant spice filled ripe fruit nose. Blackberry, plum with slightly minty characters. Balanced acidity with distinct yet soft fruit characters and good fruit weight. Fine firm silky tannins with some sweet vanillan oak essences. Extended length of fruit flavours resulting in overall a rich yet easy drinking quaffable red wine. Drink with bacon, egg and tomato pie. A very good easy drinking red blend which will last at least 2-3 years. At around $15, well priced.

Paul Ippolito writes about wine for publications across Australia, overseas and the Internet. He speaks on radio and writes a free monthly wine newsletter for consumers. Paul can be contacted by email at Paul_Ippolito@hotmail.com where you can also request to be placed on his mailing list for his newsletter. or visit his website at: www.paulippolito.com.au

Wine Talk - May 2005

2007 Reviews

2006 Reviews

2005 Reviews

FEMALE.COM.AU

CONTACT US

FOLLOW US ON