And I Thought Hobbs Was About Stoves Part One

 

There I was in my shop, minding my own business, when my shoe phone made rude noises at me.  The person on the other end said, "Hi, my name is Greg Hobbs and my wife and I are owners of a small label called ‘Hobbs of the Barossa Ranges’. I was talking to another winemaker who pointed me to your site and suggested I send you some wine to try.”

 

These calls are not uncommon, they sometimes resulted in excellent quality finds, but they often result in having to wade through a case of swill, so I have learnt to ask a few questions to let me know what to expect.  Greg seemed like quite an unassuming fellow and was very happy to talk. I asked a few questions, and very nonchalantly in passing, he said a few things that caught my immediate attention, $130 a bottle, hundred and four year old vines, Chris Ringland and Amarone style to name just a few.

 

Greg and his wife Alison purchased the vineyards some years ago. They currently have about ten acres of vineyards producing fruit plus another five acres which were planted from cuttings of their old vine Shiraz in 2004. The material and the age of the vines are impressive:-

    * 2.5 acres of 100-year old Shiraz

    * 1.5 acres of 15-year-old Viognier

    * 1 acre of 30-year-old Semillon

    * 1 acre of 60-year-old White Frontignac

    * 1.5 acres of 15 year old Shiraz

    *  2.5 acres of 8 year old Shiraz.

 

According to Greg, the winemaking style uses minimal intervention and they strive to make small quantities of super quality wine.  The largest production of any one wine is 240 dozen.  Greg is currently making the wine at Trevor Jones's property and Rusden. They hope to be making their own wine on their own premises within two years. Chris Ringland is their next-door neighbour so he is very handily located as their consultant wine maker. The Hobbes vineyard is also next-door to the Ringland vineyard. The vines are hand-picked and hand pruned, minimal chemicals are used during spraying but there is no claim to be organic.

 

There is an interesting history behind this winery.  Originally they were selling the Shiraz grapes to Torbreck for inclusion in the Run Rig but decided to go out on their own.

 

They have a range of six wines, two Shiraz and four dessert style. The flagship wine, the Hobbs Shiraz is made from hundred-year-old Shiraz vines. It was first made in 1998 in very limited quantities and the current release is the 2002. In the past, most of the reds have been exported.

 

The other Shiraz, the Gregor, first released 2002, is made from 15+ year old Shiraz vines in an Amarone style. To make the Gregor, and the dessert wines, the grapes are hand-picked and then put into racks to dry.  It is worth noting with these wines, there is no botrytis or fortification and despite the fact that the alcohol volumes are low, the residual sugar of all the dessert wines is approximately 100 gm/ltr. The objective with the dessert wines is to produce wines that are clean, crisp and have the natural flavours of each variety. These wines are best served slightly chilled but not cold.

 

Hobbs 2003 Frontignac sells for $26.50 from cellar door. The grapes come from a single 60-year-old vineyard, less than 90 dozen half bottles have been made and it weighs in at a mere 9.4% alcohol. The bouquet is sweet, with a touch of floral petroleum-like character; it's a bit like walking into a service station where honey has been spilt and a vase of flowers overturned. The fruit is bright and as it warmed up to room temperature the citrus characters started to emerge. On the uptake, the wine shows honeyed apricots, crisp but subtle acid cuts in resulting in a wine that is not overly cloying and finishes with fantastic length and intensity. The finish is the standout characteristic of this wine. Well-balanced, it's very attractive and has some burnt characters on the mid-palate and finish. At warmer temperatures, the petroleum like characters were not as apparent and the wine is best drunk slightly cool. Rated as Excellent with *** for value, this was pick of the three dessert wines.

 

Hobbs 2003 Viognier (375ml) sells for $26.50 from cellar door. The bouquet on this wine is tight; however there is more than a hint of a medicinal overture together with burnt honeysuckle; it is as clean as a whistle. The flavour profile is very unusual and despite the initial sugar sweetness, there is a layer of sweet apricots and marmalade which is very pleasant and adds to the honeyed complexity. Well-balanced, there is some subtlety for the style. It is clean, tight and needs years to show its best and that time will also allow it to gained complexity. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, the rating may improve as the wine matures.

 

Hobbs 2003 Grenache (375ml) sells for $31.50 from cellar door and weighs in at 11.9% alcohol. A most unusual wine style; the first Amarone style Grenache dessert wine I have ever seen. Intense and brooding, the bouquet showed a cooked, charry character together with ultra ripe plums and strawberry. On the palate the wine is smooth. The tannic backbone is supportive and will allow the wine to age effortlessly. It shows superb balance with a sweet hit which is offset by the acid and other savoury aspects which cut a swathe through it. The wine then reverts to its former sweetness and finishes with respectable length. Plum, chocolate and blackberry flavours are all wrapped up in a sweet cocoon of chary oak which is attractive. (It was interesting to note that as the wine approached room temperature, some unripe fruit became very obvious.) Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, it was my least favourite of the three dessert wines, so much for being a red bigot.

 

Hobbs has done some very good things with the dessert style wines (even if in some ways they are a bit unusual) and the prices are reasonable. This is all the more “interesting” given their primary flagship focus is on the Shiraz.

 

I must admit that when Greg told me the cost of his flagship wine was $130, I was somewhat taken aback.  There are very few wines with no track record that could possibly justify this price.  However in its favour, the fruit was used in Run Rig and that is substantially more expensive. It was going to be a very interesting experience trying these wines and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to look at the reds over two days. 

 

When I pulled the corks from both wines, I noticed an unusual and remarkable similarity, both corks showed significant barrelling and both corks were leaking slightly. The wines were reviewed and tasting notes were completed but I am willing to concede that the bottles may not be truly representative, so I'm going to hold reviews on the two Shiraz until I have an opportunity to retaste them in May. After the second tasting, if the notes are consistent and the corks had no impact, I will publish the first ones but if they are not then I will post the updated reviews.

 

To be continued …….

Copyright © Ric Einstein 2005