TORB's 2003 South Australian Tour Diary

Chapter Two - Day Three Sunday – Coonawarra (Click here for Chapter One)

 

After a good nights sleep it was up bright and early. After my last trip to the countryside of Western Australia I learnt my lesson and took a coffee plunger with me so I was wide awake and happy when John picked me up at 9.00 AM.

 

I really like Zema Estate because besides having some good wine, they get up at a respectable hour and have the CD open at 9 AM, even on Sunday, so that was our first stop. This winery is still family owned and as been going since 1982 when they purchased 20 acres. They now have 120 under vines and have grown steadily and quietly during that time.

 

Zema Estate 2001 The Cluny sells at CD for $20 and is a Bordeaux blend. The aroma shows hints of smoky oak, warm black fruit and green notes. It seems like a bit of an old fashioned wine with lots of powdery tannins of ample weight with firm backbone and simple complexity. Flavours of blackcurrant and green bean on the palate provide the backdrop for this well made fault free wine that needs a couple of years to show its best. Rated as Recommended with *** for value.

 

Zema Estate 2001 Shiraz sells at CD for $20. The abundant creamy dusty tannins provide a good mouth feel and combine well with the ample weight deeply seated fruit to provide a firm solid wine with agreeable flavours of spicy black fruit and smoky flavours. A well made wine that needs at least two years for the tannins to integrate, its rated as Recommended with *** for value.

 

Zema Estate 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon sells at CD for $22. Impenetrable dark purple, the dusty French oak dominates the warm fragrant blackcurrant fruit and capsicum which flow across the plate in layers of pure blackberry/blackcurrant which is neither sweet nor savoury. Silky but powdery tannins combine with the ample weight pure and distinct fruit to form a tight, well made wine that’s an enjoyable drop which is currently rated as Recommended with **** for vale with room for improvement as it matures around 2006 and beyond. 

 

Zema Estate 2000 Family Selection Cabernet Sauvignon sells at CD for $40. Pretty typical for a Coonawarra cabernet of this calibre, another impenetrable wine with a subtle but busy bouquet from the dusty cedary oak, coffee through to complex fruit aromas and mint. It’s a lovely wine with full on blackcurrant dominating a hint of mint and a long mouth filling finish which should gain further complexity as it peaks around 2007+. Muscular body weight and a firm rich consistency is supported by a pleasant mouth feel with ultra fine grained dusty tannins and a harmonious complexity which should become seamless. Current rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value there is room for improvement.

 

 Zema Estate 2000 Family Selection Shiraz sells at CD for $40. This full bodied wine with oodles of creamy tannins to balance the concentrated pure strong fruit which explodes across the palate and fills the oral cavity with pepper, powerful liquorice and chocolate with a finish that’s into the next property. The structure is long, solid and layered with a firm but silky consistency and well developed complexity. (Sounds like an ex of mine.) Rated as Excellent with **** for value it should peak about 2007+. This was my favourite wine of the Zema line up and as good as a Coonawarra Shiraz gets for the price.

 

Zema Summary – The winery has gone from strength to strength over the years and quietly and consistently been improving the quality of its wines. The entry level offerings are stylistically a bit old fashioned in their structure but its working well for them. The Family Selection range is very good quality and always reasonable value in comparison to many others who have delusions of adequacy when it comes to what their wines are worth.

 

Next stop was Parker Estate because we had helped guzzle Gavin’s tasting sample a few nights earlier without making a proper note. It wasn’t on sale yet, but they kindly opened a bottle for us to try.

 

Parker Estate 2001 Terra Rossa Cabernet Sauvignon sells for around $30. This wine is due for release any day. Looking for a typical Coonawarra cabernet showing leafy green characteristics, then forget this wine. Looking for a bottle of wine for pure enjoyment, then keep reading. The wine has ripe warm aromas of black fruit, coffee, a hint of vanilla and some mint evident but there is nothing green or unripe about this baby.

 

It’s a muscular weight wine with a firm but supple consistency, the structure is layered and in time should become seamless as the developed complexity ages gracefully. The dusty but creamy tannins provide a lovely mouth feel; the deep, pure dark fruit fills the mouth with dark chocolate, blackcurrant, coffee and mint provide a long finish. This bottle full of fun and enjoyment is rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value at about $30 and my hand written tasting notes say “buy it.”

 

Next stop was Jamieson Run (part of Beringer Blass) where we had a pretty mixed bag of wines last trip, from very ordinary to very good so we didn’t know what to expect. I decided to pass on most of the lower level offerings although John did try a few but none of them impressed him enough to point them out to me.

 

Mildara 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon sells at CD for $20. A medium weight well made fault free wine that’s simple but enjoyable with sweet berry on the uptake going into savoury flavours and blackcurrant on the finish. Rated as Recommended with *** for value.

 

Jamieson Run 2000 O’Dea’s Cabernet Sauvignon sells at CD for $28. A single vineyard ample weight wine that’s well balanced and lets the pure concentrated persistent fruit speak with blackcurrant, touches of liquorice, chocolate and mocha that finishes with good length. The dusty tannins are fine grained and well managed with the acid providing refreshment; it’s a pleasant harmonious wine for the price but to me lacks excitement but no doubt many will love its clean finish. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value.

 

Jamieson Run 2000 McShane’s Block Shiraz sells at CD for $28. I loved the 98 and was looking forward to trying this vintage. The bouquet is loaded with mocha, peach and mint chocolate which is delightfully aromatic. The structure was not what I expected, its medium weight, almost elegant with a refined developed complexity, some subtly and the mouth filling flavours have good length and mouth feel. If you like Shiraz on the lighter side with some complexity then this is for you. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value.

 

Jamieson Run 1999 The Reserve sells at CD for $38. Very complex bouquet leads to a palate of medium weight chocolate, blackcurrant and mint which finishes long. The abundant dusty tannins are smooth and unobtrusive leading to an elegant, seamless layered structure with harmonious sophisticated complexity. A high quality wine that’s subtle, almost cerebral and not for red bigots and it’s rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value; the wine should be very long lived.

 

Jamieson Run Summary – This is another winery that is going for the subtle elegant clean refined approach to its wine making and if that’s what they are looking to do then they are close to the ‘mark’. Bigger may not be better but then one can also wonder is the ‘mark’ in the right spot and will they wind up making technically perfect but refined boring wine? Possibly?

 

After Jamieson run I thought John would be a moral to demand a pie break but the lad must not be feeling well, not a peep out of him for a pie or any other form of sustenance.

 

                                                              Replanting on the Main Terra Rossa Strip 1

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This picture was taken on the fabled main street of the

Terra Rossa strip that has made Coonawarra famous but its as bare as Bikini Atoll after the A bomb was tested there over half a century ago. The vines that have just been pulled out on this site were probably there before the Bikini Atoll test took place but unfortunately old vines eventually stop producing economically and eventually have to be replaced.

 

 

 

 

Di Giorgio Wines are the new kids on the Terra Rossa strip and have moved into the old Rouge Homme Winery that SC sold off. They have been making wines elsewhere in SA in parts are not necessarily renowned for producing great red wines and their current line up shows it. However it will be interesting to see what they can produce from good Coonawarra fruit.

 

Di Giorgio 2000 Merlot is violet in colour and almost c-through. The light floral nose goes through to a plate of blackcurrant, chocolate and sweetish spice. A well made fault free wine on the lighter side and bound to be a crowd pleaser (for light crowds.) Rated as Agreeable with ** for value.

 

Di Giorgio 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon sells for $20 at CD. It shows a bouquet of raspberry and red spectrum fruit with mint. The body weight is bordering on lean with fine grained dusty tannins that has resulted in a lighter style of wine that’s food friendly and has a respectable finish. For my palate it boring and there are more enjoyable wines at the price but it will be attractive to many. Rated as Recommended with *** for value.

 

Di Giorgio 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon sells for $22.50 at CD. A delicate well made lighter style of wine with unobtrusive ultra fine tannins and an elegant structure that’s lean in weight but does have a respectable length finish. Rated as Recommended with *** for value it’s stylistically similar to the 2000.

 

Brands are owned by McWilliams but still managed by the Brands Family which founded the vineyard in 1966 although the plantings go back far earlier on this site.

 

Brands 2000 Shiraz sells for around $20 on the street. Tannins are minimal but velvety and smooth so there is an almost seamless structure and good mouth feel that’s combines well with the medium weight fruit to produce plums chocolate and vanilla on the palate. An easy drinking wine that’s rated as Recommended with *** for value it doesn’t stand out from the pack but is a good bistro wine.

 

Brands 2000 Cabernet Merlot sells for around $20 on the street. Dusty oak notes, mint, red berry fruit an chocolate lead into a palate of cassis going into chocolate that finishes very respectably. It’s a well made medium weight wine with agreeable complexity that’s a relatively early drinking style. Rated as Recommended with *** for value.

 

 

Brands 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon sell for $23 at CD. Tobacco, cassis and chocolate on the nose flow through to the palate with the addition of blackcurrant. Loads of fine grained dusty tannins and a more developed level of complexity make this medium weight wine with distinct persistent fruit more attractive than the rest of the line up. Rated as Recommended with *** for value.

 

Brands 1995 Stentifords Reserve was also on sale and available for tasting and no wonder it’s still available. After eight years the standout dominant feature of this wine is the chary oak. The good delicate fruit under the oak has been wrecked by the lack of balance.

 

Brands Summary – With the exception of the 95 Reserve all the wines are clean and well made. They can safely be ordered in restaurants and will do justice to food and should not be offensive to anyone. 

 

      Bowen Estate Rustic Cellar Door 1

Its pie o’clock and John is champing at the bit so its back to Penola and low and behold John follows me into the Gourmet  Food Shop without a word so its baguettes all round again. The lad must be coming down with something serious, it’s been twenty six hours since the last pie.  I am starting to get concerned. After a quick bite its back up the road to the wineries. We popped into Bowen Estate, John tried the wines but for some reason I can’t remember I passed, possibly I had tried them already.

 

Next winery was Katnook Estate who has been known to make some very good wines over the years. The biggest issue with this winery is its pricing of the Cabernet which has been seen from about $30 to $50 at various times over the last year or so. The first two wines I tried, the 2001 Merlot and 2001 Shiraz which both had dominant charry oak on the nose and I was unable to get past it.

 

Katnook 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon is a well made muscular weight wine with oodles of dusty drying tannins, refreshing acid, firm consistency, solid structure and developed consistency. Lovely savoury fruit goes into blackberry and tails off to mint and tomato leaf. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** (on special) it should continue to improve to 2006 and beyond.

 

Rant Number Two

 

Not so long ago people many people, judges and consumers alike were complaining about the over use of American oak which resulted in wines that were frequently dominated by vanilla, coconut or dill. The winemakers took heed of this criticism and backed off on the use of new American and the resultant wines are better.

 

I am the first to admit that I have a prejudice against charry oak and am sensitive to it but if its used ‘correctly’ its not an issue or cause for concern. Some grapes have the ability and stuffing to absorb a heavy char to the point that its hardy noticeable and it just adds character. That to my way of thinking is intelligent use of oak. What’s not intelligent (or indeed desirable) is a wine that tastes like you are sucking on a charcoal briquette with a centre of sweet grape fruit flavours.

 

So why do wineries insist on producing these wines? Obviously most people are not as sensitive to it as I am and may even enjoy their charcoal coated ferment grape juice so it does get sold, but then so did those over American oaked vanilla flavoured wines.

 

After some thought my theory is as follows, some wineries can’t help it! Oak barrels have to be ordered ahead of time and that includes quantity, type and that includes the toast level. These new barrels are expensive and most wineries can not afford to have vast excess stock of barrels sitting around empty waiting for a few years to be filled. As a result they order in advance with what they think and hope will be satisfactory quantities and specifications.

 

However, if things change dramatically between order and vintage, the winery may have barrels that are not the ideal mix and they have no choice but to use them.

 

That’s the only logical reason I can think of for wines that have so much char they are ‘under fruited.’    

 

End of rant and back to the story.

 

We all have our prejudices and another of mine is the use of the word “punter” which in slang use is akin and almost synonymous with the word mug, hence I normally avoid it and possibly what’s why I have never been to Punters Corner Winery, but I am glad that I did. This winery has extensive vineyard holding but selects only about 15% of the output for its own wines, so with that grape selection the wines should be good.

 

Punters Corner 1999 Shiraz sells for $25 at CD. Bouquet of black pepper, blackberry and hints of dusty oak transfer to the palate with very fine grained slightly powdery tannins. The fruit purity of the wine is obvious as is its distinct persistent nature; so there is no surprise that it is an ample weight clean wine with a long harmonious finish which is very enjoyable. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value.

 

Punters Corner 1998 Cabernet Merlot sells for $23 at CD (the Merlot is 9%). A wine with a black bouquet which combines with the abundant creamy dusty tannins and fruit of depth and intensity to form a well made and constructed muscular weight wine with harmonious developed complexity. Mouth feel is seductive with blackcurrant/blackberry, liquorice, chocolate, spice and mint. Rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value the wine should peak in about three years. For those looking for wines from the 1998 vintage, the winery has a reasonable quantity of this left, its worth buying.

 

Punters Corner 1999 Cabernet Merlot sells for $24 at CD (9% Merlot component.) An ample weight wine with well managed dusty fine grained tannins and developed complexity that comes across with loads on mint and chocolate on a long finish. Whilst this wine is rated as Highly Recommended with *** I far prefer the 1998 which at the time of writing this in May 2003 is still available. 

 

Punters Corner 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon will be released in July 2003. It has a complex nose showing blackcurrant, liquorice and spearmint. Loads of dusty drying almost creamy tannins combine with the obvious deep concentrated fruit and refreshing acid to form a well made clean wine of ample weight and sophisticated developed complexity. The palate follows the nose with a respectable length finish. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value (at say $25) the wine should peak about 2008.

 

Punters Corner 2001 Shiraz will be also released in July 2003. Full on pure blackberry raspberry, chocolate and liquorice flavours are provided by the pure, deeply seated strong fruit and they combine with the dusty drying creamy tannins to form a very clean wine that’s finishes long. Muscular in weight and with a developed harmonious complexity it’s my pick of the three new releases. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value it should peak around 2006+.

 

Punters Corner 2001 Three Crown will be also released in July 2003 and is a blend of 67% Cabernet, 24% Shiraz and 9% Merlot. A sweet fruit driven wine with an attractive diverse flavour profile that starts of with sweet blackcurrant and then goes into savoury blackberry, chocolate, mint and finishes off at liquorice. An ample weight wine with loads of good smooth slightly dusty tannins and refreshing acid; this is an up market crowd pleaser that’s guaranteed to be a knickers remover at a party. Yet will all of that it’s Rated as Recommended with *** for value and has the stuffing to improve over the next three years which could see its rating lifted.

 

Punters Corner 2000 Spartacus Shiraz sells for $59.50 at CD. Intense aromas of mocha, coffee, spice and cinnamon that show through to the plate as blackcurrant, liquorice, blackberry, even the chocolate is black. This is a full bodied wine with concentrated deeply seated persistent fruit which provides a long finish. The copious quantities of super fine tannins provide a firm but silky structure which is important; but more impressive is the seamless structure and sensuous mouth feel these tannins provide. As you would expect of a with plonk of this calibre (we don’t want to get to carried away) it has a harmonious and sophisticated complexity, in short its yummy lip smacking stuff and rated as Excellent with *** for value and should peak about 2008.

 

Punters Corner Summary – They are doing good things here, all the wines were fault free and good, it was just a matter of degree as to how good. Another winery whose wines you can buy in a restaurant and feel safe in your selection, which is a pretty good recommendation. All the wines are good value it’s just a pity the Spartacus wasn’t $10 less, then it would be much better value but many wines in this class are at that sort of level.

 

After finishing with a hit wine John decided it was time to embark on the four hour trip back to McLaren Vale. Last time we were here on the Monday, he couldn’t wait to get back to see his wife. This year I found it strange that on Mother’s Day he wanted to hang around so long. But John being a smart deep a philosophical thinker (that’s a euphemism for ‘as cunning as a sewer rat’ but he’s a mate so I don’t want to call him that) has his reasons. Turns out if he got home early he was going to have to go with his wife to his parents-out-laws (and possibly drink their coffee – smart move John.)

 

Speaking about smart thinking, John volunteered to drive the first small section to Naracoorte and said I could drive next section; I should have known if John volunteers I will wind up the loser. At the appointed stop we changed places and John made himself comfortable and proceeds to snore quietly, about as quietly as a rhino breaking wind.  After about an hour of broken eardrums and near death by boredom from the barren scenery John woke up just as the light was slowly starting to fade. Now for those that don’t know John, if you have a look at his photo you may notice his eye glasses make the bottom of a magnum bottle look thin  and to make matters worse, at night he is as blind as a skunk is smelly. So as I wished to get back to the McLaren Vale Davis-Hilton alive and whole, I bowed to John’s scheming plan and got to drive all the way back.

 

John had another motive for getting back whilst Sue was out; he would be able to hide his ill gotten non credit card purchases in the cellar without Sue seeing them. It wasn’t a bad haul; it only took three trips each to empty the car.

 

Sue being the caring sharing person she is had left dinner all ready prepared for us so we opened a bottle of Tim Adams 1995 Aberfeldy which was stunningly good and just enjoyed every sip without thinking or analysing the wine whilst contemplating our navels and enjoying the food.

 

The Davis-Hilton Guests Bathroom Complete with Fishing Tackle and ensuite wine cellar.                                                              The very colourful guests bedroom 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The guest’s bathroom is always an interesting aspect at the Davis-Hilton. It has its own en-suite wine cellar and this year when I walked in noticed that John had been fishing in there too. What’s more it looks like he caught something!

 

Not to be outdone, Sue decided that the Presidential Guest Suite of the Davis-Hilton needed a bit of a face lift. The result is certainly colourful as you can see for yourself.

 

That’s the end of day three and chapter two and this will be the shortest chapter in the Tour Journal. Chapter Three is a lot more exciting and is rated R (for red) with scenes of gratuitous sex and violence, and you can read it now..