Styled to Perfection

PERFECT PAIRING

Tar & Roses is a vineyard with a rich history and an even richer selection of wines

NARELLE KING AND DON LEWIS met when Don was (and had been for a long time) in charge of winemaking at Mitchelton in Victoria’s Nagambie region.

It’s the winery with the rather wonderful, very 1970’s tower; the sort of thing you want in miniature in your backyard if you like bead curtains and seriously funky 1970’s architecture (which I most certainly do).

Narelle landed a job at Mitchelton in 2001, and it sparked what would become a wonderful vinous partnership.

Together they founded Tar & Roses – an Australian based brand that specialises in Mediterranean varieties (Nebbiolo, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Pinot Grigio) from the home base in Victoria, but also making wines in Spain. As you do …

Don, unfortunately, passed away in 2017 leaving a void; he was a wonderful man and an exceedingly insightful winemaker.

Narelle – also a wonderful spirit and an equally gifted winemaker – has continued the Tar & Roses name, and its tradition of wines of extraordinary value. (Is the Tar & Roses Pinot Grigio the best bang for buck in Australia? Quite possibly.)

But Narelle has thrown a fly in the ointment.

At a time when many traditionalist Australian wine producers are looking to Mediterranean varieties to supplement our dependence on WORDS TONY HARPER

classic French varieties (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, etc) – given our climate it’s an entirely valid movement – Tar & Roses has progressed/regressed in the opposite direction, and released a pair of wines from the Mornington Peninsula; Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Very classic French varieties.

Pinot Noir is a particularly tricky variety to work with.

And, while Chardonnay is more forgiving, making top-notch Chardonnay requires understanding and skills that don’t necessarily dip into the same pool as those needed for Tempranillo, Nebbiolo, Pinot Grigio.

Enter Anthony Fikkers.

Anthony has his own brand, Rising Wines, based in the Yarra Valley, and he has been practising his skills for the past 16 years with some of the best exponents of the two varieties in the country.

He has joined Narelle in the Tar & Roses project, which says a great deal about the desire to get things right, and the lack of ego.

The first release has landed, both wines from the 2021 vintage.

It’s an absolutely cracking year for Mornington wines, so a lucky beginning for the Tar & Roses siblings.

Where exactly the source-vineyards are isn’t disclaimed … only ‘higher altitude Mornington Peninsula vineyards’.

That’s for both wines, which suggests both multiple sources, and the Red Hill and Main Ridge sub-regions. Probably.

Regardless, the wines are exceedingly good.

The 2021 Chardonnay sits on the leaner, finer end of the Chardonnay scale.

But there is a whole lot of textural goings-on; a touch of mealiness, a lick of vanilla, a very slight oiliness.

I suspect it will open up and become more lavish with a few more years in a decent cellar.

Then there’s the Pinot Noir, and it is an absolute belter.

It reminds me of some of the wines that come off the Willowlake vineyard in the Yarra Valley (Oakridge particularly).

There’s a silkiness (the same sort of umami thing you get in a really good ramen), a layered complexity in both flavour and texture.

It has perfume, but also depth; structure, but also lightless and delicacy.

Again, it is a wine that will become better with age, but it is so delicious now I don’t foresee many bottles making 2024 or beyond.

Both of the wines sell for close to $40, which is at the high end for the Tar & Roses brand, but hardly creating a ripple when it comes to decent Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

And I think both wines – but the Pinot Noir particularly – have the capacity to shame many others that sell for much, much more.