A Name to Watch

 

Many of the wines coming from new ventures are hardly worth a second thought; Fox Gordon does not fall into that category! Another unusual aspect in relation to this venture is the way it was started. We are all familiar with growers who start making their own wine or winemakers doing their own thing on the side whilst retaining full-time jobs but this one is a little different.

 

Natasha Mooney was the wine maker at Barossa Valley Estate for five years and in her time there was responsible for producing some excellent, well-regarded wines. As the wine maker for this large cooperative of growers, she was in close contact and got to know many of the best vineyards in the area. In 2001, when she had her second child it was time to leave full-time winemaking but as Natasha still wanted to keep her hand in, she had started Next Generation Wines; the business was subsequently sold to Xanadu.

 

Not wishing to remain idle, (how you can be called that with two young children is beyond me,) Natasha and her husband Stephen got together with two other couples to form Fox Gordon wines. According to Natasha, the objective of the business was to produce classy wines and have some fun. (Notice there is no mention of returning profits to shareholders in these objectives; an admirable oversight noted by most serious wine lovers.)

 

Jane Gordon whose background was in financial planning is their chief bean-counter and Rachel Atkins (nee Fox) is their marketing guru. According to Jane, “The girls wanted to do something that would allow them to look after their own children (without too much day-care), whilst giving Tash free reign over this great fruit."

 

The fruit for the wine primarily comes from old vineyards planted on the western side and the northern end of the valley that are farmed using biodiversity principles. These knotted and gnarled veterans (the vines not the girls) are hand-tended and low yielding, (the girls and the vines) producing between 1.5 tonnes and 3 tonnes per acre.

 

Natasha's husband Steve works as a wine maker at Kaesler and the majority of their wines are made there. They aim to get production up to 2,500 cases and Natasha has a personal soft spot for Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon. She has the aim of producing one of the best in the district, a wine that must be varietally correct with sweet, not overripe fruit and a bit of mint as its basis.

 

The wines are sold locally and exported to the UK, the Netherlands and are handled in the US by Vine Street Imports.

 

When I tasted these wines, a number of things struck me. Firstly, there was a consistency of style across three wines. Secondly, although 2003 was a difficult vintage and clearly the fruit in many areas was not as good as many winemakers would have liked, the three wines I tried were all superbly crafted. The oak treatment was also well-managed in all three wines. There is a combination of approximately 50% French and 50% American Oak used in the wines and about 70% of the barrels are not new. In future years, this winery is bound to put out some stunningly good wine.

 

Fox Gordon Eight Uncles Shiraz April 05

 

Their entry level wine priced at approximately $29, and being a family business, it is named after their best customers. Initially the wine opened with youthful, intense plums, spice, toasted oak and some dirty notes which blew off to leave a tight, clean bouquet with abundant mint and eucalyptus character. On the palate, the primary fruit that was bright, intense and youthful was doing all the talking. An ample-weight wine; the balance between fruit; the ultra-fine, tight tannins and fresh acid is lovely. Plums, milk chocolate white pepper and abundant minty/sappy flavours finish with excellent persistence. This is far from a simple crowd pleaser and should become seamless in time. Talented winemaking, it's a pity Natasha didn't have better fruit to work with; it's rated as Recommended with *** for value and the rating should go up as the wine matures.

 

Fox Gordon 2003 Hannah's Swing Shiraz April 05

 

This wine sells for approximately $49 a bottle. Youthful, bright plums, coffee/mushroom French oak and flinty notes offer a more open definition than the previous wine. On the palate, the wine is as tight as a drum, and refuses to show anything except its structure. It is rock solid, firm, well built and will need years to show its best. Medium-weight it is well balanced with fine, chewy, chalky tannins that dominate the fruit but when it surfaces, it'll be worth the wait. It is a waste drinking this wine now because it demands cellaring time. A classy wine, the palate follows the bouquet with a minty green mid palate. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, I would like to try this on about five years time because it should be a damn sight better and subsequently more enjoyable.

 

Fox Gordon 2003 King Louis Cabernet Sauvignon April 05

 

No; even though this is a Cabernet it is not named after the Frog King, Louis; it is named after Natasha’s son, Louis, who's always trying to upstage his sister Hannah and the wine sells for approximately $49. A closed and tight seriously varietal Cabernet bouquet revealing milk chocolate, mocha, dark berry, mint, the hint of cigar leaf; and even after four hours in the glass it was reluctant to show its true character. It's a bright wine with excellent fruit purity; clean as a whistle and still retains interest; the fruit is doing the talking with the oak in sympathetic support. The wine shows terrific balance; tannins are there but are tight and well controlled; it finishes dry with excellent persistence. Black cherries/currents, milk chocolate, mint and a touch of tobacco leaf flavours are more-ish. This is a seriously good Cabernet Sauvignon and is rated as Highly Recommended with ** for value with room for improvement as the wine matures. Unfortunately for the producers, the grape variety is not in vogue in this area and the wine will be hard to sell that this price point. If it were Shiraz, people wouldn't think twice about the price.

 

Summary

 

There are no plans for this to become a huge brand. Production of the Hannah’s Swing should eventually get to 1,500 cases and the other two will probably remain at around 400 to 500 cases each. I am sorry I missed the 2002 wines but I definitely won't miss the 2004’s when they are eventually released. As I said at the start of this story, Fox Gordon is a name to watch.