McHenry Hohnen Cabernet/Merlot 2008, Margaret River (£9.99 Majestic) Surprisingly forward, rounded wine, showing just the right amount of leafy mint and eucalyptus character alongside juicy plummy fruit, hints of leather and tobacco and smooth ripe tannins. B+
Averys Pioneer Barossa Shiraz 2007 – made by Yalumba (£8.99 Averys) A lovely bear-hug of a wine, ripe and confident, but never jammy, with meaty leathery plum, liquorice and chocolate flavour tinged with cloves. S-
Mount Langi Ghiran Langi Shiraz 2005, Grampians (£29.99 Harper Wells, Harrods) Rich, exotic style with exuberant blueberry and blackcurrant flesh, notes of pepper, clove and oriental spices, and an earthy ferrous note to the finish. My only reservation is I’d like to have seen it picked slightly earlier – it’s 15% alcohol, and there’s just a touch of jamminess as the wine open up. S
Botham Merrill Willis 25th Anniversary Shiraz 2005, McLaren Vale (£14.99 Christopher Piper – £2.50 from each bottle goes Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research) Less fragrant and more stolid than the Langi, has a warm chocolate and orange liqueur edge to its dark fruitcake flavours, but it’s let down by a volatile, port-like character. B(-)
McHenry Hohnen Semillon Sauvignon 2009, Margaret River, Western Australia (£9.99-£10.99 – see below for vast list of stockists) A touch of green pepper and citrus, but it’s English summer fruit flavours that dominate – apples, pears, and rhubarb – with all being kept in check by a spine of fresh acidity. B+
Fairview Chenin Blanc 2009, Darling, South Africa (£8.49 www.sawinesonline.co.uk, Liberty Wines) Starts of a little jelly-like, but then musky pear skin and tangy apple crumble flavours come through, rounded and full bodied with the Chenin acidity to keep it sitting upright. B(+)
The Gum Pinot Grigio 2009, Adelaide Hills, Australia (£10.79 Marks & Spencer) Succulent, refreshing and food friendly wine, with rather more personality and depth of flavour than run-of-the-mill Pinot Grigio. Clean and tangy, with apple, pear and peach flesh, and an almost volcanic, minerally edge to the finish. B+
Tim Adams Pinot Gris 2009, Clare Valley, Australia (£11.50 www.australianwinecentre.co.uk) A richer fleshier style of wine, this has aromas of honey and blossom, and plush peach, lychee and mango flavours, tinged with ginger. Off-dry and slightly nutty, with an almost creamy edge, but with citus tang to provide balance. S(-)
OK, now for all those McHenry Hohnen Semillon Sauvignon stockists… Ann et Vin, Newark; Bablake Wines, Coventry; Cartwright Brothers Vintners, London; The City Beverage Company, Hoxton; Continental Wines, Biggleswade; C & O Wines, Timperley; Eagles Wine, Battersea; Flourish and Prosper, Howden; Francis Fine Wines Ltd, Leicester; General Wine & Liquor Co, Liphook; Quaff Fine Wine, Hove; Hennings Wine Merchants, Pulborough; Medina Wines, Yarmouth; The Wine Society; Handford; N D John Wine Merchants, Swansea; Willoughby’s Wine Warehouse, Cheshire; Cheviot Wines, Glasgow; Mounts Bay Wine Co, Penzance; Duncan Murray Wines, Leicester; Nethergate Wines, Cavendish; Partridges, Chelsea; Penistone Court Cellars; Planet of the Grapes, London; The Smiling Grape Company, St Neots; The Southwell Vintner, Southwell; St. Austell Brewery Co; Tanners, Wine Rack; Vineyard Wines, Bury; The Vineyard, Dorking; H T White & Co, Eastbourne; Whole Foods Market, Kensington; Wimbledon Wine Cellar; Windermere Wine Stores; The Wine Cellar, Douglas; La Zouch, Ashby de la Zouch.
Cantina Tramin Lagrein 2008, Alto Adige, Italy (£11.49 Hallgarten Druitt, www.wineman.co.uk, www.everywine.co.uk) Refreshing, genuinely light-to-medium-bodied red, almost Dolcetto-like, with crunchy, earthy black fruit (especially cherry) and fresh, sausage-friendly finish. B+
The Society’s Exhibition Chianti Classico 2007, Tuscany, Italy (£11.95 The Wine Society) Modern and fresh, but has this lovely velvety Morello cherry, cherry kernels and blackcurrant, quite full but fragrant, almost violet-like edge, smooth, but with structure of slightly grainy tannins and fresh acidity. S(+)
Château Fabre Gasparets Corbières-Boutenac 2005, Languedoc, France (£9.50 The Real Wine Company) The strawberry-rich flesh of Grenache, the plummy floral edge of Syrah and the wild meatiness of Mourvèdre all bound together by the held together by the peppery/stalky/spicy character of ripe (but not raisinny) Carignan. S-
Ferngrove Shiraz 2007, Frankland River, Western Australia (~£9.50 Seckford Agencies) Quite full-bodied but it’s the fresh berry and blackcurrant fruit that shines through. Add in tinges of violets, liquorice and vanilla and you have a very tasty wine for drinking any time over the next three years. S(-)
Leaping Lizard Cabernet Merlot 2007, Western Australia (£7.99-£8.50 Seckford Agencies) Vibrant, crunchy blackcurrant nose, then slightly pippy blackberry flavours, with a tar-like streak, easy fleshy wine, quite powerful and ripe but finishes dry. B
Ferngrove ‘Symbols’ Cabernet Merlot 2008, Frankland River, Australia (£8.99-£9.50 Seckford Agencies) Fresher and tangier than the Leaping Lizard, with fine cassis, black cherry and leafy Cabernet edges joined by an oily richness, intense, but never aggressive. S-
Yalumba The Scribbler Cabernet/Shiraz 2007, Barossa, Australia (£9.99 Oddbins, Noel Young) Jovial forward style, ripe and rounded, with the sweet edge of plump Shiraz and the vanilla sheen of (American?) oak coming through. Good meaty finish, tasty and honest, but not hugely complex. B+
Casillero del Diablo Reserva Privada Cabernet/Syrah 2007, Maipo Valley, Chile (£8.99 Asda) Classic Chilean dusty blackcurrant pastille, intense but quite angular – needs sexing up. B(-)
Brown Brothers Patricia Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Victoria, Australia (£22.99 Christopher Piper, www.everywine.co.uk) Corked! Bugger.
Ferngrove “Symbols” Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon 2009, Frankland River, Western Australia (£8.99-£9.50 Seckford Agencies) Crisp, grassy, herby, with the Semillon adds punchy pungent weight to the citrussy treble notes of Sauvignon. Nice seafood style. B+
Leaping Lizard Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc 2009, Western Australia (£7.99-£8.50 Seckford Agencies)
Not as immediate and forward as the above, richer but not better with some honey and nut amid the citrus and tropical fruit, lacks the Ferngrove’s élan. B-
Château de Sours Bordeaux Blanc 2008, France (£10.17 Private Cellar) Clasic white Bordeaux tang of tinned pear juice, quite mellow with ripe apple and fennel flavours, gentle, some warm spice, and power beyond the fragrance – has another couple of years ahead of it. S-
Mount Pleasant Lovedale Semillon 2005, Hunter Valley, Australia (£25 www.everywine.co.uk) Firm, high cheek-boned youngster, rich yet bracing with tangy greengage, lemon and lime flavours, with toast & honey just coming through, and a hint of custard too. Opens up over 24 hours to show a fuller, fleshier style, but still some way from its peak. Lovely wine. S+
Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Semillon 2002, Hunter Valley, Australia (£20-23 Noel Young, SWIG, Majestic) The extra maturity gives this more richness and creamy weight, although it’s still a pup, with SO2 (sulphur dioxide) evident on the nose. Get beyond it and you find a wealth of citrus, green apple and honey plus a hint of buttered toast, just 10% alcohol, but comes across as being higher (looks much younger than a bottle I tried in Oct 2009 – production is all now with screwcap). S(+)
Houghton The Bandit Shiraz/Tempranillo 2008, Western Australia (£8.99 – available from Spring 2010) Young but not disturbingly so, with bright strawberry, blackcurrant and jammy dodger fruit, a touch of reduction and hints of mint and milk chocolate. B(+)
D’Arenberg “d’Arry’s Original” Shiraz Grenache 2006, McLaren Vale, South Australia (£9.95-£12.99 The Wine Society, Oddbins, Bibendum) Lovely lush sweet allure, ripe, plump, plummy fruit, rounded and easy to drink with extra interest provided by earthy mineral and iron notes. S-
Jim Barry The McRae Wood Shiraz 2005, Clare Valley, South Australia (~£22.50 winedirect.co.uk) A weighty giant, initially a tad minty but then the voluptuous black fruit washes over you. Add in notes of bread dough and licorice, and a leathery meaty finish, and you have wine that, while not refined, is certainly complex, warm-hearted and honest. S(+)
Is the best-known white wine grape in the world improved with a dollop of Viognier? Not necessarily, although the results can be interesting…
Miguel Torres Cordillera Chardonnay 2008, Curico, Chile (£9.99 Grapevine, Nicholas Corke Fine Wines, Roberts & Speight) (15% Viognier in the blend) Gentle citrus, just-ripe peach and pear, it’s the crisp Chardonnay that is to the fore, with the Viognier just adding some plumpness. Good seafood wine with a slightly nutty finish. B
Houghton “The Bandit” Chardonnay/Viognier 2008, Western Australia (£8.99 – available in the UK from Feb 2010) Fuller, fatter and nuttier than the Torres, with the fleshy apricot edge of Viognier more prominent. But despite the rich peachy flavour, and the hints of butter and toasty oak, it’s still not TOO big, and your mouth is left entertained rather than overwhelmed. B+
Montes Alpha Chardonnay 2007, Casablanca, Chile (£10.99 Tesco, Waitrose) Quite big, fat and oily style, lots of tropical fruit cocktail flesh, big and buxom, tasty and does have a backbone of acidity but lacks subtlety. B
Leeuwin Estate Prelude Vineyards Chardonnay 2007, Margaret River, Western Australia (~£19 Domaine Direct, Beaconsfield Wine Cellars, Bentley’s Wine Merchants, Five Reasons Wine, Four Walls, Harrods, Highbury Vintners, John Gordons, Philglas & Swiggot, Richard Kihl, Theatre of Wine, Uncorked, Wimbledon Wine Cellar, Winedirect)
Classy wine, with an almost Mâcon style apple crumble and cream edge, and a gentle nutty edge to the tangy guava and citrus fruit. Holding it all togather is a thread of minerality and acidity, which keeps everything fresh, and should also prerserve it for another 3-4 years in the bottle should you witsh to keep it. S(-).
Sometimes you open hallowed bottles and they piss on your chips. Occasionally it’s because they’re corked, but most often the let-downs are because the wines just don’t live up to their billing – anyone seen a good Bob Dylan gig in the last 20 years? But tonight, I’m on a top end Aussie white that did exactly what it was supposed to do – and had me and the missus fighting over who was going to get the last glass.
Leeuwin Estate isn’t counted among the real pioneers of the Margaret River region in Western Australia, but it’s certainly not a newcomer. It’s now 30 years since the first vintage, and while there are a number of good wines in the Leeuwin range, it was the Art Series Chardonnay that first propelled the winery to fame, and which continues to fly the flag in commendable fashion. And tonight, the 2001** is singing. It started off a little firm and reserved, still with vestiges of oak, but then opened up to show a seductive, honeyed side, all the while with tender pear and pineapple fruit in centre stage. There’s also some nutty, leesy character, while underpinning it all is wonderfully zesty citrus acidity and clean minerally intent. Tasty, tasty wine that’s not trying to be white Burgundy, but which is just as complex and satisfying. If you’re lucky enough to have some left, it’s a wine still with plenty of life ahead of it. However, don’t be afraid to pull the cork now – and don’t be afraid to invite me along if you need a hand finishing off the bottle…
** Yes, for Robert and any others who were wondering, the Art Series 2001
