Wine Code Breaker #347

2018 Coldstream Hills Merlot, Yarra Valley, Victoria

Miles is the somewhat hard to love character from Sideways, a movie that almost killed the sales of Merlot.  He had some self esteem issues; best summed up when he remarked, “half my life is over and I have nothing to show for it.  Nothing.  I’m a thumbprint on the window of a skyscraper.  I’m a smudge of excrement on a tissue surging out to sea with a million tons of raw sewage.”  Ironically, his favourite wine was not allowed to be used in the movie, a Chateau Petrus Pomerol.  A Merlot.  With International Merlot Day on November 7, it is worth reflecting how good this grape can be.

The 2018 Coldstream Hills Merlot is from the Yarra Valley in Victoria.  It is a dark red coloured wine with a bright, lively edge.  The nose is of tobacco and herbs; sage and bay leaves providing the frills to the red fruits.  The palate is a perfect match to the nose with some cool elegance and slightly sandy tannins.  Tightly structured around plums and briary fruits, with chocolate through the middle, gives it volume that finishes with cedar notes.  This is very youthful and needs time, providing you with more than a smudge of excitement in a glass.

Enjoy!

Rating94 pts
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DrinkNow; 10 yrs
Price$35
TastedOctober 2020
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Wine Code Breaker #346

2017 Paradigm Hill les Cinq Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria 

“Il fait la queue du paon.”  What the?  If you use your favourite translator it comes out as something like “he faith the peacock tail”.  Again, what the?  Apply this to wine and Pinot Noir in particular, swirl the glass, sniff, take a sip and swizzle this marvellous liquid in your mouth and suddenly it all makes sense.  Of course, it is all about the flavour profile through the palate that fans like a peacock’s tail as it struts around the garden.

The 2017 Paradigm Hill les Cinq is a small section of a single vineyard plot of Pinot Noir in the Mornington Peninsula region of Victoria.  The colour is bright splay of crimsons as it is swirled in the glass.  The nose is an array of beautiful red fruits and savoury and earthy elements.  It is perfumed and lifted delivering more and more with time in the glass.  On the palate there is an abundance of raspberries, strawberries and pomegranates.  Some spices, nuts and savoury notes add complexity that excites and the silky texture fans alluring leaving you to remark “il fait la queue du paon.” 

Enjoy!

Rating96 pts
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DrinkNow; 10+ yrs
Price$90
TastedOctober 2020
Alc12.5%
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Wine Code Breaker #345

2019 Coldstream Hills Deer Farm Vineyard Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley

November 29 is World Ballet Day and at first glance you might think there is not much in common between this artistic pursuit and wine.  Take the Arabian scene from The Nutcracker.  Dancers with excellent training are the fruit.  The music and lighting is the textural backdrop of the oak and an expert choreographer is the winemaker putting all the parts together for us to enjoy.  Get any of the elements out of balance and you end up disappointed or at worst, falling asleep with the wine spilling down your shirt front and onto the couch.  

The 2019 Coldstream Hills Deer Farm Vineyard Pinot Noir is a single vineyard site from the Yarra Valley in Victoria.  The lighting backdrop splays a lovely crimson across the stage as the dancers enter.  The music starts with the aromas moving alluringly above the glass; perfumed rose petals, sour cherries, cranberries, and raspberry red fruits pirouette expertly into fouettés with a sprinkling of cedar and spice.  As the mood deepens, the cherries, cranberries and briary fruits port-de-bras in unison. The smokiness and oak spices grand jeté over the tight acidity and silken tannins, performing a seamless manège sequence delivering a finish that is worthy of a standing ovation.  Encore!

Enjoy!

Rating95 pts
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DrinkNow; 3-10 yrs
Price$50
TastedOctober 2020
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Wine Code Breaker #344

Non Vintage House of Arras Brut Elite Cuvée No. 1501 Methode Traditionelle, Tasmania

October 19 is Champagne Day.  What a great day to recognise the euphoric elixir that is a sparkling white or pink shaded wine.  This day ignores the fact that the English invented the Methode Traditionelle of which, yes the French perfected.  It also ignores all the wines around the world, particularly those of Tasmania, that are made using Methode Traditionelle.  So, I am starting a campaign to change Champagne Day to become Methode Traditionelle Day.  Use #MethodeTraditionelleDay to show your support.

The Non Vintage Arras Brut Elite Cuvée No. 1501 Methode Traditionelle is a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with a splash of Pinot Meunière from vineyards in Northern Tasmania.  It is a beautiful deep yellow straw with a fine persistent bead that is a hallmark of Methode Traditionelle.  The nose is complex with perfume of white flowers and rose petals including intense flavours of stone fruits, peach in particular.  The palate has a beautiful flavour profile and mouthfeel showcasing the peach with just a hint of apricots, red berries, nougat and brioche.  The bead and acidity is glorious and a perfect Methode Traditionelle to be celebrated on #MethodeTraditionelleDay.

Enjoy!

Rating95 pts
ClosureCork
DrinkNow; 3-10 yrs
Price$40
TastedOctober 2020
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Wine Code Breaker #343

2018 Duke’s Magpie Hill Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Porongurup, Western Australia

Frost is a killer of crops and farming ingenuity can help manage this exposure.  The best though, is a site that has a natural buffer, and the sub-region of Porongurup in the Great Southern wine region of Western Australia is one.  Firstly, the Great Southern area is influenced by the Indian Ocean to the west and the Southern Ocean to the south and east.  Sea breezes can work their way inland to provide cooling relief in the Spring and Summer ripening months and warming influences in early Spring.  The Porongurup  area is towards the eastern boundary sitting above Albany and beside Mt Barker.  Granite knobs and eucalypt forests dominate a sloping landscape.  With vineyards located on the slopes, a naturally created thermal blanket reduces the risk of frost as the warm air slides down pushing the cold air down.

The 2018 Duke’s Magpie Hill Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is from the sub-region of Great Southern’s Porongurup in Western Australia.  The colour is a lively and vibrant amalgam of dark dark reds and purples.  On the nose, cassis shines brightly with herbs of sage and bay leaf.  Touches of capsicum and hints of snap beans are complimented by a light seasoning of cedary oak.  The palate is classy and elegant with intense cassis, supported by mulberries and forest floor berries.  The herbs are subtle, the dark chocolate is glorious and the cedary oak is restrained deliciously on a bed of firm powdery tannins.  This has some time ahead of it if you are game.

Enjoy!

Rating95 pts
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DrinkNow; 10+ yrs
Price$35
TastedOctober 2020
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Wine Code Breaker #342

2017 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, South Australia

Eric Carle’s The Hungry Caterpillar was first published in 1969.  A simple story, of 22 pages, tells a tale of a caterpillar that is hungry, very hungry.  Working his way through an apple on Monday, two pears on Tuesday, three plums on Wednesday, four strawberries on Thursday and five oranges on Friday.  “But he was still hungry.”  Do you remember it now?  He gets a stomach arch on Sunday after a self indulgent Saturday.  What is not well know is that the editor in chief rejected two pages that feature the caterpillar sipping upon a glass of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon to accompany the leaf that was consumed on Sunday where he felt much better.  Here is an early draft of the two pages minus the illustration.

In the light of the setting sun, the hungry caterpillar raised a glass of 2017 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon from the Coonawarra district in South Australia.  It was a dark glorious red colour with bright purple hues flashing before his  multifaceted eyes.  Raising the glass to his nose, he noticed one piece of cassis, two bay leaves, three bushels of tobacco and four blueberries.  With a sip, he tasted five crumbs of dark chocolate, six rolled leaves of tobacco and seven bunches of herbs.  The tannins were too numerous for him to count with a fine firm sandy mouthfeel.  The palate was an elegant and expressive counterbalance to the leaf and he felt much better.

Enjoy!

Rating95 pts
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DrinkNow; 10+ yrs
Price$35
TastedSeptember 2020
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Wine Code Breaker #341

2019 Kalleske Old Vine Grenache, Barossa Valley, South Australia

Captain Jack Sparrow is a fictional character from the Pirates of the Caribbean series of movies.  He meanders his way through the movies in a way that affects all.  He is a trickster who appears drunken.  He uses wit and deceit to end disputes and he is shrewd, calculating and eccentric to say the least.  Whilst a pirate may lean towards rum, I reckon Jack Sparrow is a lover of Grenache for this is a grape that has meandered its way through time having arrived in our land in 1832.  How would he describe a Grenache?  Of course, he would have outwitted the owner out of a world class bottle.

This is the 2019 Kalleske Old Vine Grenache from vines planted in 1935 on the Kalleske farm located in the Barossa Valley, South Australia.  It reminds you that not all gold and silver is treasure, mate.  Now bring me this horizon with a nose that is perfumed with red fruits and liquorice.  Oh all these beautiful mermaids, the seasoning of vanilla, spices and coriander root mingles with juniper berries make you raise your fist in the air and calling out ‘arr!’  On the palate, methinks this is a blend of liquorice, red fruits, sarsaparilla and rhubarb.  The tannins are emery board like dancing lightly with touches of cedar.  Arr, the flavours build, reminding you that if you choose to lock your heart away you’ll lose it for certain.  With this in my veins, my spirit will live on.

Enjoy!

Rating96 pts
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DrinkNow; 10+ yrs
Price$50
TastedSeptember 2020
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Wine Code Breaker #340

2019 Kalleske Greenock Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia

Perforce is a word not oft used.  A shame, as it is an elegant word that just by saying it, you understand its intent in expressing a necessity or even the inevitable.  It might even mean a glass of Kalleske.  Year in year out, the team team works tirelessly for us to enjoy the outcomes of their work in the vineyard and the winery.  Tasting their eighteenth release of the Greenock Shiraz is an experience that leaves you thinking you, perforce, I need some more.

The 2019 Kalleske Greenock Shiraz is from a single vineyard site in Greenock, a sub-district of the Barossa valley in South Australia.  It is a deep and bright purple red which, perforce, is instantly appealing.  The nose is youthfully tight and complex with an abundance of plums, dark berries, coffee beans, spices and a hint of nuts that, perforce, awakens the senses.  The palate is vibrant with sweet black fruits and spices. The plums are glorious. The coffee is expressive and the dark chocolate mouth coating. Charcuterie is there too, interwoven with firm velvety tannins sustaining the flavours for an extended time.  It is robust and elegant in one, perforce, you will desire a second glass.

Enjoy!

Rating96 pts
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DrinkNow; 10+ yrs
Price$45
TastedAugust 2020
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Wine Code Breaker #339

2018 Yangarra King’s Wood Shiraz, McLaren Vale, South Australia

One of the tales of the Game of Thrones that is yet to be told is that of the bastard of Robert Baratheon who was conceived in the King’s Wood.  Ironically of course, our Robert was killed by a boar whilst hunting for white hart in this very wood.  Back to our bastard; Edward was his name.  A long line of Edwards ensued with one emigrating to Australia where he was affectionately referred to as Ted. He developed a deep understanding of the King’s Wood and an obsession for the Holden Kingswood.  According to Westerosi law, the surname given to the bastards of the King’s Wood was Bullpit.

The 2018 Yangarra King’s Wood Shiraz from McLaren Vale in South Australia is a deep dark black red in colour that would match the velour seating of the prestige Kingswood.  The nose is highly aromatic with earthy savoury tones meeting sweet black fruits, hints of walnuts and sprinkles of vanilla and cedar oak influences.  The palate is highly concentrated with those sweet intensely flavoured black fruits and spices dangling with elegance.  Cedar, nuts and earthy notes entwine with sandy tannins to deliver a palate experience that would see Ted crying out something like “what a bloody King’s Wood”!

Enjoy!

Rating96 pts
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DrinkNow; 10+ yrs
Price$52
TastedAugust 2020
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Wine Code Breaker #338

2018 Ravensworth Shiraz Viognier, Murrumbateman, New South Wales

Cote-Rotie is a sub-region in the northern area of Cote du Rhone.  This region thrives on a continental climate that is famous for its blend of Shiraz, a red grape, and Viognier, a white grape.  A cool climate region that experiences cool to cold wet winters, the best vineyards are located on steep sloping sites.  Murrumbateman is a sub-region within the Canberra district that experiences cold winters that are intermittently wet.  It is about 150km from the coast so marginally continental, with slopes abutting the Southern Tablelands that are renowned for sheep production.  The Shiraz Viognier is taking hold in this region with some fine examples for us to share.

The 2018 Ravensworth is a blend of Shiraz and Viognier from the Murrumbateman sub-region of the Canberra district.  The colour is an amazingly bright crimson that draws you in.  The nose is all about spices, peppers, blackberries, apricots and hints of nuts and nougat.  The palate is all about the coolness and elegance of the red fruits, raspberry being the highlight, and cherries.  The spices are lifted and the tannins are velvety.  The flavours are akin to waves, perhaps of the sloping land in which it was crafted. The persistence is glorious and the structure delightful. Grab some while you can.

Enjoy!

Rating94 pts
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DrinkNow; 10+ yrs
Price$35
TastedAugust 2020
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