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April 2015
WBM Trade features 100 outstanding wines selected by our expert palates, Mike Bennie and Tyson Stelzer, who taste thousands of samples a year. Only the best appear in these pages!
WBM April 2015
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WINE REVIEWS
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$35.00
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$45.00
$60.00
New England Barrel Ferment Gewurztraminer 2014
BALGOWNIE ESTATE
@BalgownieEstate Bendigo Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
CAPE JAFFA
Release after release gives creedence to the statement that this just might be Australia’s best Gewurztraminer wine. Sees some barrel time. It’s imbued with spice, powerful in fruit flavour, shows mouthwatering acidity and rolls with a light oiliness through to a clean, almost chewy finish. Ginger and spice and everything nice. Brilliant wine. 12.7%
This feels like a return to form with this impressive release. Superb wine in scents of lavender and violets, blue berry fruit, faint eucalyptus and black olive. Complex entry. The wine feels elegant and seamless, set to medium bodied and flush with fine tannins. Superb. 14.5%
This is a glorious wine for it’s complex fruit expression. It’s heady in perfume with pear, grilled nuts, floral and sea spray scents and the texture is firm and chalky, set to concentrated fruit flavours and offers a decided savouriness. Layers and layers here – a compelling wine. 14.0%
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
TOPPER’S MOUNTAIN
94
$30.00 HALLS GAP
Grampians Estate Fallen Giants Shiraz 2013 This leapt right out of the glass with its red cherry, amaro and pepper scents and to taste was immediately and downright delicious. Chewy texture lends a hand, as does the dusting of spice, but it’s really about the impact of bold, ripe, berry fruit and the carriage of flavour over distance. 14.0%
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
70
@CapeJaffaWines Mount Benson La Luna Field Blend 2014
94
94
$40.00 PAYTEN & JONES
@PandJwine Yarra Valley Pauls Range Chardonnay 2013 The lads behind this wine have done well exploring a host of single vineyard sites. Here, some smoky, funky aromas matched to purer fruit whiffs; to taste, a cool, lemon-meets-ripe apple expression of Chardonnay with judicious, fine creaminess to texture and a trim, tight, almost squeaky finish. Run at this. 14.5% Reviewed by Mike Bennie
$60.00 TATACHILLA
McLaren Vale Foundation Shiraz 2012 Here’s a wine not afraid of throwing the weight of fruit at some high quality oak. It works well. The marriage gives scents of black berry fruits, currants and clove spice while offering a plush, full mouthful of staining black fruit with more of the cedary oak of the bouquet. Wedded together seamlessly. It’s a wine of distinction. 14.5%
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
WBM April 2015
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WINE REVIEWS
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93
$24.00 VERTIGO
KATE HILL
Lovely tang of sugar and acidity in this wine, feels pristine to drink with its mineral waterlike minerality over sweet appley flavours and suggestion of herbs and spice. The perfume is all honeyed and floral but with bracing freshness in tow. Light, dancing, delicious Riesling holding its sweetness well. 10.5%
The wine kicks off with a kind of slate-like mineral whiff and builds into lemon curd and toasty notes with a brisk, almost sulphide-like complexity. The palate is dry, tense and offers jangly acidity, which drags fresh fruit flavours long and helps the wine finish crisp and clean. Smart wine. 12.0%
Adelaide Hills 25GR Riesling 2013
93
$42.00
Tasmania Chardonnay Pinot Noir Sparkling 2010
$50.00 MR RIGGS
@MrRiggs1 McLaren Vale Shiraz 2012 No hiding from this wine – it’s straight at you from the glass with deep, dark, moody black fruits, dark chocolate, licorice and Chinese five spice scents. Fleshy fruit sits amongst the firm cedary oak structure of the wine, and overall the wine saturates the senses. It flows well and balance is spot on for its size. 14.5%
Reviewed by Mike Bennie Reviewed by Mike Bennie
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
93
93
$35.00 OAKDENE
93
$27.00 TAHBILK
$25.00 TIM SMITH
@Oakdenewines William Geelong Shiraz 2013
@TahbilkWinery Nagambie Lakes Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
@timsmithbarossa Eden Valley Riesling 2014
This is Shiraz in the decidedly more herbal, peppery spectrum and set to medium-bodied as the Geelong region seems to provide. It’s pretty in its red fruit and briary scents, silky in texture, washy through the palate then finishes with a dusting of clove-like spice. Fine, elegant, delicious kind of wine. 13.9%
A wine that mops up the oak and shows better for its boundary and structure. The warm year has given the wine some stewed fruit characters, but tannin structure, brisk acidity and a tickle of eucalyptus lend the wine more personality. It has length and is full in flavour, but imbued with a sense of a classy composed wine. 12.5%
You’d dive into just about any of Tim Smith’s wines these days, but this release is notable for its accessibility and drinkability. There’s a splash of green apple amongst the tangy grapefuit spectrum citrussy pull, and the wine travels long and cool across the palate. A wicked release, sourced from a single vineyard, planted in 1922. 12.0%
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
WBM April 2015
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WINE REVIEWS
92
92
$35.00 GARTELMANN
92
$29.00 HAY SHED HILL
$25.00 HITHER & YON
@GartelmannWines Hunter Valley Rylstone Petit Verdot 2012
@hayshedhill Margaret River Shiraz Tempranillo 2012
@Hither_Yon McLaren Vale Nero d’Avola 2014
No prisoners taken kind of wine. Shows with ultra potent, rippling dark fruits, smudges of sweet, cedary oak and a dash of spice, but all in good measure. Bold flavour, generous in weight and lingers with fresh fruit and a couple of chews of tannin. Ample done well. 14.5%
Shiraz and Tempranillo are a pretty dynamic duo, with Hay Shed Hill’s solid Tempranillo sources likely giving this wine some additional verve. It’s defiantly in the red berry fruit spectrum with bouquet garni herbal complexity, a whiff of cola and some licorice scents and flavours. Interesting wine, spicy wine, lively wine. Dig this blend. 14.0%
Lots to like about this Nero d’Avola. It’s juicy, fresh, lightly spiced and set to the bold sweetness of red fruits without straying into the jammy zone. It opens up with pretty floral, rose petal and spice scents with a good dose of wild raspberry fruitiness alongside. Has some restraint and seriousness about it. 13.8%
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
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92
$45.00 KATNOOK ESTATE
92
$35.00 MITOLO
$35.00 PENNYS HILL
@Katnook Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
@MitoloWines McLaren Vale 7th Son 2013
@pennyshillwines McLaren Vale The Experiment Grenache 2012
Katnook Cabernet has a legion of fans and has fared well with the growing season of 2012. Good for the cellar, but in youth shows with perfume of blue fruits and cedary wood, offering plush, dark berry fruit character to taste with some of the red earth savouriness expected. There’s tug of graphite tannins. Finishes with a cooling belt of acidity. It’s a solid release, no doubt. 14.5% Reviewed by Mike Bennie
You’d have to say that there wouldn’t be many Grenache, Shiraz, Sagrantino blends out there, so as a yardstick you just have to go with how the wine works in perfume and flavours. It’s rich, really spicy, thick set and syrupy in texture, but it all kind of works and the wine kind of thrills for its unusual personality. 15.5%
Not quite sure what the experiment is, but this Grenache is worth diving into anyway. It’s pretty in perfume with musk sticks, pot pourri, strawberries and faint cinnamon-clove spice. A juicy, sloshy texture follows, though the wine does manage to clip and tighten through the medium length finish. 14.5%
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
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WINE REVIEWS
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$28.00
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$30.00
$20.00
@SchwarzWineCo Barossa Valley GSM 2013
CURLY FLAT
@Curlyflat Macedon Ranges Pinot Noir 2013
A SMALL CHANGE WINE
Feels like textbook Barossa GSM but with a little extra pizazz. Texture is as wanted, slurpy, juicy, inky and dense, and the wine shows fruit sweetness but it’s met with a touch of herbal complexity. Satisfying slug of ripe fruit flavour, jazzed up with some savoury detail. Such a crowd pleaser. 14.2%
Here’s a Pinot Noir that defies its price point. There’s the typical red cherry fruitiness going on but it’s measured and controlled with frisky, red apple acidity and the balance of fine, twiggy oak that joins in. Lots of flavour, but delivered in a trim, refined package. 13.6%
A fun-loving blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Grenache and Shiraz, styled as an early drinking red for guzzling or perhaps even knocking a chill into. It’s certainly very bright in fruit flavour, offers juicy-fresh fruitiness to taste and has an appealing sweet fruit and spice perfume. Highly gluggable and fun, but with some layered flavours for interest. 14.0%
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
SCHWARZ WINE CO
91
91
$27.00 HAREWOOD ESTATE
@harewoodestate Great Southern Chardonnay 2013 Great Southern might not be a hotbed of Chardonnay globally, but when done well, the wines are classy, accessible and fine some of the racy freshness that seems so en-vogue. This is all peaches and cream, with some richness of toasty oak but never forgets its crisp acid line. Full flavoured but refreshing style done well. 13.5% Reviewed by Mike Bennie
Clare Valley, Langhorne Creek Red 2014
90
$24.00 NINTH ISLAND
Tasmania Pinot Noir 2013 Ninth Island has produced a Pinot Noir rippling with dark and maraschino cherry scents, slippery in texture, medium-bodied and given some succulence from satiny tannins. There’s concentration here, and a lick of dusty wood, and the wine feels satisfying for showing some heft of the variety. Bolder style done well. 13.0%
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
$24.00 BENT CREEK
@bentcreekwinery McLaren Vale Black Dog Shiraz 2013 Bent Creek doesn’t shy from its full-throttle, bold, big flavours and textures, and manages its overtness well. The kind of wine for people who love the blockbuster styles, but want it tempered back enough that it sits well on the table with roast meats and the like. It’s flush with dark berries, mocha oak and molten chocolate tannins, all meshed neatly. 14.0% Reviewed by Mike Bennie
WBM April 2015
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WINE REVIEWS
90
$24.00 BIMBADGEN ESTATE
90
90
$20.00 FABER VINEYARD
$20.00 LONGVIEW
@Bimbadgen Hunter Valley Vermentino 2014
@Wine_M_Ark Swan Valley Verdelho 2014
@LongviewWines Adelaide Hills Boat Shed Nebbiolo Rosato 2014
Crisp, clean, zingy and crunchy. Bouquet shows with green herbs, candied citrus peel and green apple juice. Flavours are citrus-meets-greenapple-meet-dried-green-herbs. Feels almost racy in its light darting personality. Super sipper for early consumption. Go on. 12.4%
Complex! Let it shout from the rooftops that Faber do a fantastic job with the often maligned Verdelho variety. It feels like there’s some ageing to go for this wine too – a restraint in tropical fruitiness, some light chalkiness to texture, a hint of nutty savouriness. It’s a very good white wine. 13.5%
Nebbiolo seems like a pretty good variety to make rosé out of – here it shows with characteristic rose petal, red fruits, amaro and peppery notes in perfume and suggested flavours, but also offers a trim line of tannin. It’s dry and savoury to finish. Looks the goods. 13.3%
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
90
$15.00
BE SEEN IN WBM! SEND YOUR WINE SAMPLES TO:
VIN VALE BY SHINGLEBACK
@ShinglebackWine McLaren Vale Shiraz 2013
Those looking for bargains can sign up right here. While not the most complex wine, it’s rich and ripe, full and flush, balanced and interesting at the price point. Dark fruits, nougat-like gentle sweetness, creamy texture, decent length. Peppery spice and graphite-like oak character lend some extra depth. 14.0%
Tyson Stelzer 14 Andrea Street, Tarragindi, QLD, 4121.
Mike Bennie 15 Trafalgar Street, Enmore, NSW, 2042.
Reviewed by Mike Bennie
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WINE REVIEWS
HOWARD PARK
MOUNT PLEASANT
Hunter Valley 1880 Vines Old Hill Vineyard Shiraz 2013
Grampians St Peters Shiraz 2012
McLaren Vale Sparks Whole Bunch Grenache 2014
BK WINES
CHANDON
When you throw words around like finesse and elegance you better have a wine in glass to back it up. Here’s one. It’s just so seamless, so firm and so long. One sip and you realise what wines of class feel like in texture and reserved flavour. All bits tucked in. 14.0% MB
Mount Pleasant really honing in on vineyards and elevation of wine quality with a couple of new releases, and this a standout. It saturates the palate but never feels heavy, set to medium bodied weight with depth, elegance and a spread of gossamer tannins. 13.5% MB
Class act. A compact wine, set to a dart shape through the palate, offering wonderful perfume of game meats, fine sandalwood oak, dried herbs, pepper and red berries. Flavours are set around slate-like minerality and a chewy belt of toasty oak. 14.0% MB
A belter from BK. Shows impressive tannin power, chew and pucker while maintaining an inherent drinkability in red fruits and sour-sweet vibe. Curious lift of herbal greenery in the pretty, dark fruit of the perfume. Lovely acidity and gentle sweetness. This is really good. 12.5% MB
Power packed for a Chardonnay sparkling. Fresh cut stone fruit, citrus pith and candied citrus characters, suggestions of some toasty, bready complexity. The wine races across the palate, the bubbles are vigorous and firm, the fizz holding impressive length and freshness. 12.5% MB
96PTS $115.00
95PTS $125.00
95PTS $80.00
94PTS $55.00
94PTS $41.00
Margaret River Abercrombie Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
HENTLEY FARM
YANGARRA
Australia Blanc de Blancs Vintage 2010
Barossa Valley The Beast Shiraz 2012
Canberra District Riesling 2014
McLaren Vale Roussanne 2014
Margaret River Nebbiolo 2013
AMATO VINO
BARWANG
No shying from its potency, density and concentration, but among the bombastic feel is a sense of balance in creamy texture, marzipan oak flavours, hit of lush berry fruit and the dusting of clovey spice that settles over the wine. Go big, but go balance. 15.0% MB
Blistering in refreshment factor, this coiled, compact, tightly wound Riesling is impressive for its fine detail in ginger spice, lemon zest and delicate, crunchy acidity. That being said, the length is for days and the wine feels incredibly youthful in its current guise. Really good. 12.5% MB
It’s another belter of a release, reasoning that the variety is serious and a prestige contender from McLaren Vale. Length of flavour, floral notes, touch of nuttiness, saline acidity. Fantastic, complex white of intrigue. 13.5% MB
Lighter spectrum but imbued with essence of Nebbiolo characters with amaro herbal notes, sour sweet red berry fruit characters and the pleasing chewy grip of fine tannins. A really interesting wine offering a unique, fresh, light expression of the variety. 14.0% MB
A lot to like about this wine. It’s bright in flavour, energetic with concentrated cherry and red berry stuff going on, lifted with fine cedary oak, dusted with pepper and finshes impressively long and coiled. While tightly wound, the drinkability is still very high. Impeccable moves. 14.0% MB
94PTS $80.00
94PTS $25.00
94PTS $32.00
93PTS $40.00
93PTS $17.00
BAY OF FIRES
MOUNT MAJURA
SEPPELT
Hilltops Shiraz 2013
Alpine Valleys The Fiesty Friulano 2014
Midnight Cuvee Chardonnay 2010
BLUE PYRENEES
CASA FRESCHI
CASA FRESCHI
For sure an interesting wine this. Up front it’s all slick texture and richness of tropical fruits, but the wine glides then firms up into a crisp, jangly finish that whips the palate clean. Aromas of toffee apples and fresh flowers with a whiff of nuttiness. It’s really energetic drinking. 12.0% MB
Blue Pyrenees is showing its mettle as a producer of sparklings of increasing quality. Toast, brioche and baked apple scents, sitting long and compact in the mouth with a refined feel and some breadth of moussey bead. Tang of apple through the finish. 12.0% MB
This Chardonnay surprises with its all-court press of vanillin, toasty oak, but finds it subdued by grapefruit-pithy acidity and the ripe lick of apple sweetness that accompanies. It’s firm in texture, but fruity enough to charm too. Balanced so well. 12.0% MB
Solid range of wines this Ragazzi suite. Juiciness of fruit, pear and floral things going on, but maintains a grassiness and shows slate-like pucker too. Pretty, but with drive and verve for a variety that often doesn’t get a lot of love when ‘Grigio’ is written on the bottle.13.0% MB
93PTS $45.00
93PTS $25.00
93PTS $35.00
93PTS $27.00
93PTS $27.00
CHAPEL HILL
CHEMIN
CLONAKILLA
D’ARENBERG
Chapel Hill is doing a bang-up job with Mourvedre, eking out an elegant, perfumed, spiceand-earth characterised red of medium body and length. Flavours neatly balanced. Gravelly, grunty undertones. Quintessential ‘Mourvedre of McLaren Vale’. 14.5% MB
Made by Kate Goodman. 100% whole bunch too. It’s a really silky, satiny wine, offering red fruit scents, some briar and undergrowth in the mix, dusting of pepper too. Saturates the palate but in sheets of fresh fruit and lacy tannin, finishing long and with a cool, building pucker. It’s lovely. 13.0% MB
Class act and a variety the famed winery hasn’t shown a lot of. Has a mealy, toasty character set under the very cool, very crisp green apple and white flesh stone fruit fruit characters. Length and line is super, and the wine holds a faint chalkiness for further interest. Like this. 12.0% MB
Fleshy fruit flavours but drying tannins. From the start, an air of savouriness, including scents of turned earth and dusty leatherbound books over red and black berry fruits. Medium bodied but with a fruit-forwardness that attracts many. 13.8% MB
A more complex, interesting expression of Sauv Blanc. Rates highly for richness and chalkiness to texture rather than chasing pure fruit flavour. Smells of stone fruit, pineapple and citrus. Tastes clean, super fresh. Offers interest in chalklike mineral touch. 13.5% MB
93PTS $30.00
93PTS $36.00
93PTS $30.00
93PTS $28.00
Tasmania Chardonnay 2013 Crikey, this is a good release. Slate-like mineral vein sits under pristine apple and stone fruit characters. Everything feels compact and firm, but there’s a burst of personality in struck match funkiness and the kiss of barely-there nougat oak. Lots going on in a trim, taught wine. 12.5% MB
McLaren Vale Mourvedre 2013
BILLY BUTTON
Yarra Valley Syrah 2013
Canberra District Chardonnay 2013
93PTS $34.00
Adelaide Hills Ragazzi Chardonnay 2014
McLaren Vale The Bonsai Vine Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre 2010
Adelaide Hills Ragazzi Pinot Grigio 2014
DOMINIQUE
Yarra Valley Portet Sauvignon Blanc 2014
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WINE REVIEWS
HEEMSKERK
LIGHTFOOT & SONS
LONELY VINEYARD
Eden Valley Shiraz 2013
Gippsland Myrtle Point Pinot Noir 2013
A refined sparkling set to a more powerful, creamy texture with long length and a firm, continous bead. Smells like halva, patisseries and baked apples, with flavours set to similar but in a controlled and cool way. Class. 12.0% MB
Could be called skeletal, but that’s no insult, instead think of it as tightly wound in its grip of chalky green apple and lemon/lime citrus. There’s a lick of fresh nougat oak in the mix too, but that just lends personality. Its restraint is a highlight in youth. 13.0% MB
Something to be said for more affordable but delicious Pinot, but not set to the jammy wines of old. Take a leaf out of this: quiet elegance, earthy, savoury characters over smooth, red berry and red cherry fruit character. A clip of oak lends personality. 13.5% MB
There’s some weight in red and blue berry fruitiness here, but the gentle dried herb and dusty clove spice notes elevate and enliven the wine. Texture is smooth, though there’s also an almost tactile prickly spiciness to taste too. Feels lighter and fresher than expected. You’d call it lovely, simply. 13.5% MB
93PTS $60.00
93PTS $33.00
93PTS $28.00
93PTS $36.00
MOSS WOOD
MOUNT AVOCA Pyrenees Jack Barry Sparkling Shiraz NV
Adelaide Hills The Tilbury Chardonnay 2014
Yarra Valley Series Fumare 2013
Seamless, effortless flow to this wine, showing dark and brooding in fruit character, complex with licks of black olive and Provencale herb notes, all meshed to spicy, dusty oak. Perfume is reserved and attractive. The wine has length and class.13.5% MB
Sparkling red wines get a fair bit of flak, but best examples, fresh in fruit, ripe and rich in flavour, energetic in bead, are a real treat. An example that does all that, showing concentrated red and black fruits, spice, dried fruit and a creamy bead. 13.0% MB
From the Basket Ranges. I like the personality of it. Immediately it goes all savoury on you: oatmeal, grilled nuts, saline acidity, cidery apple characters, but never forgets to be refreshing and highly drinkable. Layers of personality here. Really good. 12.5% MB
81% Sauvignon from Gladysdale, 19% Semillon from Coldstream. Natural ferment in larger format oak. Smoke and graphite among the quince and pear drop scents. Generous in the mouth but finds chalky, chewy fringes and feels complex and rich to taste without being overbearing. 11.8% MB
93PTS $50.00
93PTS $36.00
93PTS $40.00
93PTS $32.00
PARKER ESTATE
PEPPER TREE
PHI
TAPPANAPPA
Bold, forward and full in flavour, dark fruit brings impact and tannin, smoky wood and firm acidity drive it further. Full bodied expression but seems built around numerous components, and feels satisfying for how it handles its own heft. 13.5% MB
A wine of great architecture in its firm tannin framework offering an array of dark berry fruit character and a distinct herbal inflection. Further complexity is found in dusty cedar, leather and aniseed character with a lick of pencil shavings. Defined by structure. Super wine. 13.5% MB
The team behind Phi, De Bortoli, were part of the ‘Rose Revolution’ who cried so loud the mantra of ‘pale, dry, savoury’ and haven’t missed a step with this wine. A lovely floral character in perfume, some rose water flavours to taste, and squeaky acidity keeping it all fresh. 13.7% MB
Power, presence, elegance. There’s mineral-etched tannins showing graphite and slatelike characters set among firm, dark cherry fruit with a slip of briary herbal complexity. Perfume is glorious, length impressive, flavours subtle but layered. 13.9% MB
93PTS $65.00
93PTS $42.00
93PTS $24.00
Margaret River Ribbon Vale Cabernet Merlot 2012
Coonawarra Block 95 Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
TAYLORS
76
KOOYONG
Mornington Peninsula Clonale Chardonnay 2014
Tasmania Coal River Valley Chardonnay Pinot Noir Sparkling 2010
Coonawarra Elderslee Road Cabernet Sauvignon 2010
MURDOCH HILL
Heathcote Rosé 2014
Clare Valley Jaraman Shiraz 2013
Frankland River Sauvignon Blanc 2013
WHICHER RIDGE
XABREGAS
Bold, full bodied and stuffed full of dark fruit character. Showing its ability to hold the graphite tang of spicy oak while offering a lush mouthful of bold flavour. There’s a lot going on. The assertive punch, balanced in its own way, will be attractive to many. 14.0% MB
20% is barrel fermented lending lightly smoky notes and amplitude to texture. While dominant flavours and scents are fresh, tropical fruit, there’s a smattering of smoke, nougat and nutty savouriness that gives this character. Clever wine. 12.0% MB
Here’s a great Riesling. There’s a crackling, electric feel to acidity that results in a wine that starts of compact but finishes up with jangly, frisky acidity that refreshes and offers great personality. Set in the more citrussy spectrum, but with herbal an floral lifts. Really good drinking. 12.7% MB
93PTS $30.00
93PTS $25.00
93PTS $22.00
Mount Barker Riesling 2014
OAKRIDGE
Fleurieu Peninsula Foggy Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir 2013
93PTS $49.00
ALTERNATUS
McLaren Vale Grenache 2014
This is great drinking in an effortless kind of way – it’s not overtly complex in a classic sense with its fruity, washy, peppery, sloshy feel, but there’s layers of interest in the berries-on-briar aromas and good depth in the palate. Funky and fun to drink. 14.5% MB
92PTS $25.00
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WINE REVIEWS
CALABRIA RIVERINA Three Bridges Durif 2013
Full throttle Durif. But the wine never overwhelms the palate, instead, feels seamless in its more big-bodied way. Smells of dark ripe berries and plums with whiffs of date, figs and prunes. Sweet flavours are kept in check with nougat-tinged oak flavours, and finishes with a building pucker of tannins. 14.5% MB
92PTS $25.00
JIM BARRY
CASTLE ROCK ESTATE
DEVIATION ROAD
HAY SHED HILL
Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
Margaret River Flint Rock Chardonnay 2013
Really coiled, tight and crisp for Chardonnay wine. The wine is reserved in its floral meets green apple scents and flavours. It’s driven and energetic across the palate, gives good refreshment and finishes with some distinguised length and class. 12.5% MB
Spends some 24 months on lees which shows in cookie dough and honeyed toast characters, all appealing over the base line of white flesh stone fruit and apple. There’s a firmness in texture, almost squeaky, with brisk bead and long, trim finish. Classy. Interesting. 12.5% MB
Feels classier than expected. Everything is just-so, the fruit is weighty, mocha-tinged, chewy with tannins and fresh in dark berry fruit. Bouquet offers eucalyptus, mint, bayleaf and squishy black plums. It grows on you how well meshed this is. Impressive release. 14% MB
Flint Rock brings to mind one of the distinguishing characteristics of this wine in its flint-like mineral vein set among the razor cut stone fruit and faint nougat oak characters. Flavour is bold, but the wine races across the palate with vigour. Sophisticated feel. 13.5% MB
92PTS $20.00
92PTS $44.00
92PTS $28.00
92PTS $28.00
Great Southern Chardonnay 2014
JUNIPER CROSSING
Coonawarra First Eleven Cabernet Sauvignon 2010
Margaret River Cabernet Sauvigon Merlot 2012
Shows red and blue fruit characters, some ashy tannins, touch of earthy savouriness and some definition from cool herbal notes. It’s medium weighted, flush with ripe fruit, shows some tannin pucker and finishes well and mouthfilling. Neatly done. 14% MB
Ripper value. Smells like a wine of greater distinction with its perfumed, cedary wood whiffs over blue and black berry fruit and its touch of spearmint-like herbal complexity. It’s fine and sleek across the palate, firm in tannin but yielding in ripe fruit flavours. Lovely. 13% MB
92PTS $20.00 PHI HEATHCOTE Syrah Grenache Mourvedre 2012
Delicious, smooth, ripe fruited with a bold dusting of spice among the silky tannins and length. Though from Heathcote, there’s a more refined, mediumbodied and glossy feel to the wine than expected. Layers of flavour, fruit and spice perfume, some dusty savouriness throughout. Ticks many boxes. 14.0% MB
92PTS $37.00
TURKEY FLAT
Adelaide Hills Loftia Vintage Brut 2012
KNAPPSTEIN
Clare Valley Brysky’s Hill Vineyard Watervale Riesling 2014
LOWE MUDGEE
Headstone Primitivo Rose 2014
PARTISAN
McLaren Vale Communication Road Shiraz 2012
Immediately feels ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ in its delicacy, though there’s no shortage of electrifying acidity. Tastes like tonic water with cucumber in it, but with a mineral water-like minerality lending complexity. Delicious drinkable. 11.5% MB
Lowe does a good job with Zinfandel. Calls it Primitivo for this rose. It’s 11.7% and you can feel that in its light, spicy, peppery personality. Though not without red and black berry flavour which one could assume is a benefit of using the variety for this style. 11.7% MB
92PTS $30.00
92PTS $28.00
92PTS $41.00
92PTS $25.00
PIPERS BROOK
PORT PHILLIP ESTATE
RUSDEN
THE WILLOWS VINEYARD
Tasmania Vintage Sparkling 2008 Seems 2008 and Tassie sparklings are easy bedfellows. Another cracking release, showing biscuity complexity in the perfume over green apple and honey notes, offering creamy bead, some concentration of flavour and a cool, crisp finish. 12.5% MB
92PTS $60.00
WHICHER RIDGE
Punchy and oaky but finds balance in its flush of dark and red berry fruit set to the riper spectrum. A wall of mouthfilling, rich, sweet fruit given flair from cinnamon spice and some graphite-like tannin tugs. Big red in good shape. 15% MB
Mornington Peninsula Red Hill Chardonnay 2013
Barossa Valley Good Shepherd Cabernet Malbec 2012
Not racy. In the more reserved, light and fresh spectrum of Chardonnay wines from the new vogue of Australian winemaking. Muted stone fruit, apple and ginger snap biscuits. Scents go sweet citrus and vanilla cream. 13.5% MB
Red and black fruited, shows herbal complexity and offers balance for the bolder flavours in a cool vein of acidity sitting under the main attraction. Has a pure fruited ride through the palate with a tickle of oak and syrrupy texture. 14% MB
Firm, chewy, rich and not afraid of flexing some ripeness muscles. This is a bold red of concentration and density, dusty tannins, earthy savouriness, hint of mintiness and choc-cherry scents and flavours. For a hit of bonza Barossa Shiraz, sign up here. 14.5% MB
92PTS $35.00
92PTS $38.00
92PTS $30.00
Frankland River Riesling 2012
The Gatekeeper Cabernet 2013 The Gatekeeper Shiraz 2013
YEATES MUDGEE
YEATES MUDGEE
A blend of Shiraz 48%, Grenache 28% and Mataro 24%. Juicy and dusted with spice. Delicious. There’s plenty of detail in light herbal notes, dusty tannins, freshening acidity and the overall feel of a bright, fruit-driven wine, but overall it’s fantastic value too. 14.5% MB
Whicher Ridge hasn’t passed my desk a whole lot, but recent releases have made me sit up and take a look. The succulence of acidity is the key, with fruit set to more ripe apple and honeycomb fruit flavours. There’s a freshness to the richer spectrum of the wine, and drinkability is high. 12% MB
If you like your Cabernet blends in the more herbal, mint spectrum, then here’s your wine. If not, be aware that this is the path you’re going down. Blue fruits, forest berries and then the distinct greenery, but it feels right in the lighter-to-medium bodied vibe of the wine and it’s all seamless in it’s flow. 13.5% MB
An expression of Shiraz set to ripe red fruits, currants, figs and leafy, herbal notes, but not without pleasure and appeal. It’s set to medium bodied in weight while showing complexity in earthiness, twiggy oak, soft sandy tannins, finishing with some cool, lemony acidity. 13.5% MB
92PTS $19.00
92PTS $28.00
92PTS $25.00
92PTS $25.00
Barossa Valley Butchers Block Red 2013
HOWARD PARK
Barossa Valley Shiraz 2010
ANGULLONG
Fossil Hill Orange Shiraz Viognier 2013 I don’t mind the overt apricot scents over red fruits, and the palate does show a touch overt in slickness of texture and nectar-like sweetness, but the acidity is up to task in its cut and definition and the wine feels easy to drink, with layers of interest. 13.5% MB
91PTS $24.00 WBM April 2015
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WINE REVIEWS
BENT CREEK
KARRAWATTA
KIRRIHILL VINEYARD
Margaret River Chardonnay 2013
Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2013
Clare Valley Selection Series Watervale Riesling 2014
All bold nougat oak and dark fruit scents with a richness and concentration to taste that speaks of warm places and ripe fruit. Courses across the palate with a thick, slick flow of dense fruit, but never forgets drinkability amongst the power. 15.4% MB
It’s a boon for those seeking some character from their drinking experience. There’s some stone fruit and melon scents and flavours, a touch of creamy vanilla-like sweetness with acidity that clips the wine to neat and fresh. Good gear. 13.5% MB
Immediately attractive for its grassy-meets-tropical fruit scents and then tastes similar from sip to sip. Sweetness builds but is evenly tempered by grassiness and the cool restraint of crisp, crunchy acidity. Light and fresh and clean. Go forth. 12.2% MB
Metallic whiffs then the floral cavalcade; a Riesling set to more citrussy tang and dry texture. There’s interest in the wet pebble and almost slatelike minerality, and though offering some juiciness it’s all about that chalk-meets-metallic feel. Drink young. 11% MB
91PTS $55.00
91PTS $38.00
91PTS $26.00
91PTS $20.00
PEMBERLEY PEMBERTON
PERTARINGA
Sauvignon Blanc 2014
Adelaide Hills Stage Left Merlot 2013
Coonawarra Pierre de Ronsard Rosé 2014
The Simpsons cartoon once said you don’t win friends with salad, but contrary to that, you do with fruit salad when it’s judiciously found in Sauvignon Blanc. There’s fruitiness but also zigs and zags of tangy acidity, length and a restraint. Win some friends. 13% MB
Bang for buck. Plush, flush, dark in fruit flavours and scents, all bold in plum and choc-berry characters but showing a whiff of dried herbs for interest. There’s a fullness that will charm Merlot lovers, but also a feel of restraint in very fine tannins. 14% MB
Merlot based rosé set to an apparent lighter, more savoury style but still offering punch and richness expected from the variety. Smells like preserved plums in its own sour-sweet way and has a pleasing bitterness through the fruity core. 13.4% MB
The American hybrid grape variety Jacquz mostly gets used in Texas Hill Country wine region of the USA, but has a home in the Granite Belt with Ridgemill Estate. Rich, spicy, super juicy and finishes with a tangy acid pucker. Plums, cloves, earth, herbs. Pretty delicious. 13.7% MB
91PTS $25.00
91PTS $22.00
91PTS $23.00
91PTS $30.00
TIM ADAMS
MANDOON ESTATE
RED CLAW
SHOTTESBROOKE
The kind of wine you crack open for guests who like bold flavour but you don’t want to sedate them with overt alcohol. Forest berry fruits meet whiffs of nougat oak in the bouquet, the palate a choc-berry tinged affair with fine, dusty tannins and a smoothness to texture that finds immediate appeal. 14.5% MB
Dark plum and mocha scents with suggestions of twiggy, savoury oak. A whiff of black olives and sage too. Flavours are in the dark fruit spectrum but buoyed with sage and bay leaf herbal detail. Tannins are suede textured, not coarse. Good drink. 14% MB
Vermentino can be pretty uninteresting, but this got my attention for its curious herbal whiffs and avocado-like green fruit flavours. Avocado doesn’t sound great, so let’s say it taste sour and sweet at once, with crisp acidity after some juiciness. 12.5% MB
There are hordes of humans who just want to sink their teeth into a wine that offers big ripe fruit flavours, some richness from decent oak handling and a texture that would be best described as simply ‘smooth’. Just what doctor ordered. 14.5% MB
90PTS $25.00
90PTS $20.00
90PTS $20.00
Clare Valley Shiraz 2012
90PTS $30.00
WIRRA WIRRA
78
FORESTER
McLaren Vale Reserve Shiraz 2010
Margaret River Cabernet Merlot 2013
RESCHKE
Heathcote Old School Vermentino 2014
RIDGEMILL ESTATE
Granite Belt Jacquez 2012
McLaren Vale Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2013
McLaren Vale Mrs Wigley Grenache Rose 2014
Padthaway Rose Sangiovese Cabernet Franc 2013
PILLAR BOX
PRINTHIE
It’s a refreshing style set to sweeter red fruit flavours and seems a touch jubey on entry, but a whip crack of pepper spice and the tang of acidity feel well matched for the bolder fruit flavours. Fun drinking, some complexity. 13.5% MB
Ok, so this won’t change the world, but at the price, it certainly punches above its weight. It’s decidedly sweet and pretty, but the wine is cut with cranberry-like acidity and shows a belt of interesting spice. There’s more than meets the eye here. 13% MB
Merlot from Orange can often teeter into the ‘too green’ spectrum but it feels like Lowe has done a good job with ripe fruit here. Some herbal character but the offset is dark plum and fleshy oak character set to a juicy, lush frame. 14.5% MB
Strewth! Here’s an Aussie battler showing well. Of course it’s not a wine of imperial standard, but the dark berry fruit flavours are met with spicy oak, pepper, dusty tannins and a lick of citrussy acidity, and it all feels plush and good to drink. Hit some stride for the bucks. 13.5% MB
89PTS $20.00
89PTS $20.00
88PTS $15.00
88PTS $15.00
Orange Mountain Range Merlot 2013
OXFORD LANDING
South Australia Shiraz 2013
WBM April 2015
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