TORB’s Trek - The 2004 Victorian Tour Diary Chapter One

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Introduction

Whilst this isn’t the biggest trip I have undertaken it certainly was a jammed packed week and the story contains about 200 tasting notes from 38 wineries as well as lots of stories, interesting anecdotes, the usual array of pictures and lots of new discoveries. Unlike many other web sites, all wines tasted will be reviewed as it’s just as important to know what wines to avoid as it is to know what to look for when buying wine. Like the last South Australian Tour Diary this one is large so it will be broken down into chapters, which will all be published on my website, torbwine.com in weekly instalments. Every tasting note will also be individually uploaded to enable easy searching too.

The majority of the wineries in Victoria were very professional. Even in those where I had not made an appointment, as soon as they realised I was serious, they were happy to show me icon wines that are normally not available for tasting and wines that have yet to be released. Tasting notes for these wines should prove invaluable when planning future purchases. When the wines are eventually released you will have a ready source of independent reference for them. Most importantly, it would be remiss of me not to thank the many wineries that went to so much trouble and effort to make my visit a memorable one. There were some very memorable and special experiences on this trip and I am sure you will enjoy reading the details. Once again, this trip proves that the best thing about wine is the people who are involved in the industry and those that enjoy the fruits of their labours. I met some very interesting people and the generosity and hospitality of the people involved in wine never fails to amaze me.

Prior to getting into the story proper, I would like to examine the recent vintage conditions in Victoria to put this story into perspective. It was very interesting to hear the different wineries in the regions talk about the last four vintages. The only thing that’s consistent is the inconsistent data gained. Where one vineyard would say 2001 was better than 2002 the next one would say they had good results from 2002 even though the yields were low due to the drought conditions. The only conclusion I can come to after tasting so many wines is that there will be some very good wine available from all the years, provided you pick carefully and even though 2002 was a shocking drought, there were some phenomenal wines made with the fruit that was available.

The TORB Rating System is used through out these notes so if you are unfamiliar with how it works, click here for details.

Day Zero: Wednesday – the drive

The Dog Mobile gets a big work out on this trip An unusual sights along the way – a submarine in a park

Unlike my other recent trips I decided to drive rather than fly to the destination. Because it’s a ten hour trip and I would be driving into the afternoon sun, (at Brian’s suggestionJ) I broke it up into two sections over two days and left home at lunchtime of Wednesday. The drive to Albury/Wodonga was easy but near the final stretch the road is frequently one lane each way. At one spot the road was partially closed with loads of police cars who were taking measurements as three people were killed there a few days previously. Obviously overtaking on a bend, it’s not worth saving five minutes if you risk killing yourself. Certainly a sobering message to all drivers who saw this sight.

Most of the motels are on the main road of Albury/Wodonga and very noisy so I looked for a quiet spot and it turned out to be one of the most expensive places in the district. $107 got me a deluxe room which was reasonable value. The Comfort Inn Blazing Stump has a restaurant and pub attached. The menu looked OK but you can never tell in these places and in most motels the food is either overpriced or not good.

After a five hour drive I headed next door to the bottle shop and found a very limited selection of reds and they were almost all local. Live dangerously, a pig in a poke and all that so I selected the most expensive bottle in the shop, it cost $31.15, a wine I have never heard of, Gapsted Ballerina Canopy King Valley 2001 Durif. No way I can describe the aroma as the room only had glass “b cup boob holders”. Tannins are very fine grained but they are there in abundance and there is more than enough depth of fruit to manage the challenge. This wine is chock full of flavour and yet it is only ample in weight, and for a Durif, it has elegance. Black berry fruits, plum, aniseed, hints of spice and toasted oak combine to form a very pleasant drop. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value its good wine but there is better value out there. Drinking well now, it will improve with time.

The restaurant prices seemed very reasonable, a dozen Oysters Kilpatrick for $16.50 and a Filet Mignon for $23.50 with room service only a $3.50 slug so I decided to eat in. Good move! The oysters were as good as they come. The steak which I ordered rare was cooked perfectly; in most places when you order a Fillet you get a tiny piece, this serving was huge with two large hunks of cow which was as soft as butter. Vegetables were abundant and quite edible but like most country places the broccoli was thrown into hot water a week previously.

If you are starving hungry and want wholesome plain well cooked food, you can’t go past The Blazing Stump.

Day One: Thursday – the drive to Ararat and the Grampians

Up bright and early and out of the motel at 6.30 a.m. Total drive from home to the first winery was almost 1,000 kilometres so breaking it up into two sections was a good move. This section of the drive is about five hours through country that looks incredibly brown and dry, the drought still taking its toll in some areas despite the good winter rainfalls. About half way I found a literal oasis in Bendigo. The lake was attractive but the coffee tent was the saviour. Arrived at Ararat which is the centre of the Grampian Wine Region in time for a quick sandwich and then it was off to the first winery.

Cathcart Ridge Estate naturally enough is located on top of a hill overlooking the district with a 360 degree panoramic view. The winery building, as you can see from the photos, is rustic. The winery was established in 1975 and was taken over by the current owners in 1995. By the look of things, it was a working farm for a long time prior to becoming a winery.

Cathcart Cellar Door

Cathcart Ridge Estate 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon sells for $38 at Cellar Door (CD). The wine is purple in colour with a lightish hue. The winery was fairly hot so the bouquet showed some volatility from the heat. The wine is medium in weight, has a firm consistency with a solid structure showing some elegance, the complexity has a little refinement and is agreeable. Tannins were fine grained, smooth and dusty, the acid refreshing and the distinct persistent fruit was intensely savoury in the red and blue berry spectrum with chocolate on the mid palate and tobacco leaf on a good length finish. It was difficult to judge the wine accurately due to the heat but it was rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value and it should improve in the short term.

Cathcart Ridge Estate 2000 Shiraz sells for $38 at CD. Dark purple in colour with a purple hue, the bouquet was fairly volatile with dark fruit; inky black with iodine characters and whilst the wine was matured in French and American Oak; the French influence is obvious. Rich aniseed dominates the chocolate and black currant which finishes long. Obvious smooth drying tannins, youthful acid combine with pure deep fruit to form a muscular wine with a firm solid consistency and developed complexity. A very nice wine with excellent depth and intensity of flavour without being heavy weight, it should peak in 2006+ and is rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value; the rating may increase as the wine matures.

Cathcart Ridge 1999 Grampians Merlot sells for $38 at CD. Purple in colour with a fairly light hue, the nose is intensely floral and (volatile from the heat of the day) tannins are ultra fine but there in abundance and combine with fresh acid and pure medium fruit to form a supple wine that’s harmonious. Savoury blackcurrant, blue berry fades to raspberry spectrum fruit and chocolate, it’s a fine well made wine that should peak about 2007. Rated as Recommended with ** for value.

Cathcart Ridge 2002 Rhymney Reef Shiraz Pinot sells for $19.95 at CD. What an unusual combination, the Shiraz component is 75% but the Pinot influence is pretty obvious. Gamey notes dominate a meaty aroma and whilst the wine is well balanced in terms of its structure, the flavour profile, whilst complex, is disjointed. Its medium weight has a very diverse complexity and flavour profile and whilst I can see why people would find it attractive it’s rated as Agreeable. Try it if you want something very different.

Cathcart Delivery Truck

I will go into more detail about the temperature of cellar doors later!

From Cathcart Ridge it’s a fair drive to my next winery on the list, the best part of half an hour; the problem of distance between wineries becoming a regular feature of this trip. Mount Langi Ghiran winery is set at the base of Mt Langi and quickly became an institution in the area after it was established in 1968. Trevor Mast has been the winemaker for a quarter of a century and owned it till not long ago when it was sold to the Rathbone family who also own Yering Station winery in the Yarra.

Mount Langi 2001 Nut Tree Block Sangiovese is a CD only release with a $29 price tag. Cropped at 3 tonnes per acre, it has an attractive aroma of cold meat and perfumed flowers. Dusty tannins, refreshing acid and delicate persistent fruit to combine to form a good food wine that has savoury cherry, chocolate and meaty flavours. It’s well made, has a good length finish and holds some interest. The wine is still tight, body weight is lean; consistency is firm but almost silky and complexity is refined. Rated as Recommended with *** for value, it should reach its peak in a couple of years.

Mount Langi 2001 Cliff Edge Shiraz sells for $28 at CD. From 10 to 18 year old vines, this is one of those wines that are a pleasure to sniff. It’s pleasantly perfumed with light pepper. Red cherry with loads of black and white pepper, liquorice on the mid palate tailing off into more berry and pepper, the complexity is well developed; it’s a solid firm wine of medium weight. Dusty drying tannins, fresh acid and medium obvious fruit provide the backbone for a wine that will be at its best in 2006 and beyond, its rated as Recommended with *** for value and the rating may improve as the wine matures.

I don’t know what it is at Mount Langi but the number of corked bottles experienced (some of which have been passed as OK by the staff) that I have tasted at CD is above the norm. No idea if its just bad luck or they have a higher than average level of cork taint but I will track my cellar stock carefully.

Mount Langi 1999 Cabernet Merlot sells for $38 at CD. (The first bottle available for tasting was clearly corked and the staff had missed it. It was blindingly obvious when a second was opened.) The nose is dominated by oak but there is some deceptively sweet fruit hidden below all the timber. Medium in weight with a very firm consistency, the structure is solid, elegant and tight and the wine needs about five years to settle down and harmonise and at that time should show better than its current Recommended with *** rating. There is a truck load of slightly dusty tannins, crisp acid and the delicate fruit is there and comes across as sweet cassis on the uptake before the oak kicks which tails off to tea. Length is respectable and complexity should improve with time too.

Mount Langi 2000 Shiraz sells for $55 at CD. The effect of the 38% new French oak is obvious as is the hint of charry oak which is well managed by the attractive fruit. Sweet cherry on the uptake leads to a savoury mid palate that’s almost meaty while aniseed and pepper complete the package. Medium in weight, the tannins are ultra fine, the fruit pure and obvious; the wine has a solid elegant structure which should be seamless in time and the complexity is harmonious. Finish is a bit ordinary but it’s a well made wine with a good mouth feel. Rated as Highly Recommended with ** for value. When it peaks in six years plus, it well may be better.

Ever heard of Kimbarra Wines? I hadn’t either but after visiting two cellar doors I had two locations that had recommended a visit there, so I dropped in on Peter Leeke at his office, come show room, come cellar door on the outskirts of Ararat township. All fruit used is estate grown and the Shiraz vines were planted in 1995 at their vineyard which is near the Seppelt winery.

Kimbarra 2001 Shiraz is dark purple in colour and sells for $24 at CD. The bouquet shows some varnished oak, pepper, spice and plum but the bottle had just been opened and whilst it was an attractive aroma, it was not very forthcoming. One taste and the wine made me sit up and take notice. Deep distinct strong fruit hit the palate with great flavour intensity and well developed complexity showing, amongst other things, pepper, liquorice and plum. Muscular in weight, the backbone is ably supported by drying fine grained tannins; this is a baby that just needs a few years to show its stuff. Rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value, you are mad if you don’t buy it!

Kimbarra 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon is dark purple in colour and sells for $22 at CD. The vines were planted in the late 1970’s and the wine is made by Ian McKenzie. Smooth unobtrusive tannins, refreshing acid and pure, obvious fruit combine to form an ample weight wine with supple consistency; there is initial sweetness going into a savoury mid palate and swinging back to sweet black currant on the finish. A very clean well made wine that glides down; it’s a good food wine and a crowd pleaser, I like it! Rated as Recommended with **** for value.

This is a winery to watch in future years.

A short drive (by comparison on this trip) up the road took me to the historic Bests Great Western Winery which has been going since the 1866 and has been under the Thomson Family control for five generations and over a 100 years. A winery with a history like that needs no further introduction. They do make a large range of wines but I stuck to the better quality reds.

Bests Cellar Door

Bests Great Western 2000 Cabernet Franc sells for $19 at CD. Generally speaking straight CF does not excite me and I prefer it blended and, although this is well made, it did nothing to change my mind. Smooth tannins and medium weight fruit combine to form a wine that’s bordering on lean and showing some elegance with an uncomplicated complexity. It’s very savoury and would be a good pasta wine. Rated as Agreeable with *** for value, I am sure it would have its followers but I am not one of them.

In The Cellars

Bests Great Western 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon sells for $26.50 at CD. Now we are getting somewhere. A typical, restrained Cabernet Sauvignon nose with savoury berries which comes across the palate as savoury blackcurrant, rich chocolate on the mid palate with vanilla on the tail. Tannins are smooth and fine grained, the fruit deep and pure; medium in weight, the structure is both solid and elegant with a harmonious complexity so it’s no surprise that the complete package can be described as well made and clean. Rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value, this is a wine you want to drink.

Bests Great Western 2000 Bin 1 Shiraz sells for $25 at CD by the single bottle or $23 a bottle by the dozen. It’s made from 8-10 year old vines. Vivid dark purple in colour this is a sweet and savoury fruit driven wine with a good intensity of layered flavours including plum, pepper and liquorice that does not have excessive weight but does have an excellent length finish. It’s ample in weight; the smooth unobtrusive tannins provide a supple consistency and the package has some elegance which is complimented by developed, verging on harmonious complexity. Another well made clean wine that grows on you as you try it, the wine is rated as Recommended with ****, the wine should improve over the short term.

Inside Bests Winery……………..

The C-through that never sold

Bests Great Western 2001 Bin 0 Shiraz sells for $39 at CD by the bottle (less 10% for a dozen). The nose is restrained but just waiting to jump of the glass, plum, blackberry, chocolate and menthol, all in all, its showing good complexity. Pure deeply-seated very persistent fruit provides a rich flavour which is sweet on the uptake - almost mulberry with savoury pepper and star anise on an excellent length finish. Smooth tannins provide a firm backbone and the structure is solid but shows some elegance. Complexity is well developed and the harmonious nature of the wine should increase as the youthful acid integrates by 2008 and beyond. It’s well put together, clean, most enjoyable and should age well. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, the rating may increase as the wine matures.

Clearly this winery knows what its doing, all the wines are well made, clean and show a consistent house style.

That was the last winery for the day as these slack cellar doors all insist on closing at 5.00 pm so it was off to the motel and then dinner. Finding a good meal in a strange town is always dicey and you never know what you are likely to wind up with but when I walked past the Sicilian Restaurant and it looked modern, clean and very busy, it was worth a shot. The menu was mainly pizza but there were other things too. I ordered a green salad as a starter but a Greek Salad arrived and I decided to keep it. It was very good. For a main I ordered spaghetti marinara and often in unknown places this dish is very bloody ordinary. This is what I expected as it was only $16.50. When it arrived, I could not believe it, NZ green lip mussels, loads of Tasmanian Scallops, prawns and other assorted bits; it looked fantastic and tasted even better.

The wine list is extensive with a few reasonable local wines available by the glass but no vintages listed on the wine menu. Mark up seemed reasonable, between about $5 and $15 a bottle but the standout was the Kimbarra Shiraz at $21 a bottle which was less than cellar door price. Having tried it earlier in the day, I knew I could not go wrong. The bottle was opened out of sight and it was the 2000 when I was really expecting the 2001. The waiter commented on how dusty the wine was so it looks like even many of the locals haven’t discovered how good this wine is, especially considering the price.

The 2000 is stylistically very similar to the 2001 I tried earlier in the day. It’s a single vineyard estate grown wine that’s full bodied, rich in fruit flavours including blackberry, plum, milk chocolate and aniseed. It’s soft, round and ready to drink despite its youth. It has enough tannin to hold it together but I doubt it will get any better. Rated as Recommended, it was a great match with the rich tomato based seafood sauce.

Day Two: Friday – The Grampians continued

Up bright and early and at least there is one honest real worker here. Simon Clayfield from Clayfield Wines had agreed to meet me at the winery at 8.00 am so half the day is not being wasted. Simon is a very warm and personable guy and it was a pleasure meeting him. He is well known on the wine judging scene and obviously knows his apples from his grapes. Certainly the wine he produces is high quality and tends to sell out fairly quickly and now I know why.

One of the Clayfield neighbours – seen outside the winery

Clayfield Massif 2002 Shiraz is available only from CD and costs $18. The fruit is from a well regarded associate’s vineyard in the Pyrenees and the wine was matured in all new French oak for 12 months. A fruit driven wine, it shows intense spice and pepper with coffee nuances and red berry fruit started to emerge as the wine opened. It’s medium in weight with pure fruit and enough tannin to hold it together; consistency is supple and it shows some elegance. Its well constructed and balanced, highly drinkable, and a good food wine. Rated as Recommended with **** for value it should peak over the next couple of years but don’t wait to buy it as it won’t last long at this price.

Clayfield 2001 Shiraz sells for $39 at CD. The bouquet of this wine was locked up tight but from the first sniff you could tell the quality was there. This is a very classy wine with very fine grained tannins and the deep pure fruit is intensely savoury with cherry, spice, multiple berry flavours and liquorice. Its ample in weight, the structure is very tight and shows some elegance with a harmonious complexity and good length finish, this is a glorious wine that just needs time. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, the rating may improve as the wine matures after 2007.

Clayfield 2003 Shiraz – this wine is yet to be named and priced but it is a step up above the normal $39 Shiraz. This dark purple wine was a barrel sample. Loads of fine grained drying tannins combine with intense, obvious fruit to form a full bodied wine with a big solid (terrific) structure that won’t be bottled till November 2004. On the palate there is a huge amount of tannin, some noticeable oak and the massive fruit goes all the way through the flavour spectrum from cherry to pepper and liquorish. Rated as Excellent now, the rating has potential to improve as the wine matures. I would love to get my hands on this when it’s bottled.

From there it was a quick fifteen minutes drive down the back road to the famous Seppelt Great Western winery. When you see this historic winery, it’s a real dichotomy. On one hand you have all the history and tradition, not to mention the incredible network of underground caves. On the other you have a monolithic amount of modern industrial technology and huge amount of tank storage that in some ways makes this winery look like a wine storage farm. It’s also hard to imagine that Seppelt as a brand is smaller than Devils Lair or Coldstream Hills, but the figures don’t lie. The reason the facility is so large is because this winery produces all the sparkling wine for South Corp. So, ignore the factory looking aspects and concentrate on the heritage of the place and the very fine wine that Seppelt produce.

I was lucky enough to be met and be hosted by Arthur O’Connor who is the Senior Winemaker. Arthur came back from overseas and started at Seppelt on the day that Keith Lambert departed Southcorp. His philosophy is to strengthen the brand by over delivering on quality, ensuring the company owned vineyards produce the best possible fruit and increase the Victorian emphasis in the wines produced here.

We started off with a quick tour of the drives and as we got acquainted it was obvious from the start that Arthur was very forthright and honest in his answers, even to the difficult questions. The guy was hiding nothing and that sort of honesty is always appreciated. If you have never been on a tour of the drives, it’s a must do item and Seppelt will soon announce a deluxe tour which will include a tasting of some older wines at the conclusion of your walk through history.

After we completed our tour of the drives and the winery, we headed off to the tasting lab where a wonderful line up of wines awaited my pleasure, and what a pleasure it turned out to be.

An impressive line up of Seppelt wines to be tasted

Seppelt 2001 Victorian Shiraz sells for about $16. Dark purple in colour, the nose is clearly fruit driven and has been squarely aimed at the “easy drinking market.” The fruit is obvious, obviously Victorian in nature, with intense dark berry peppery fruit, violets and liquorice and being ample in weight, there is good fruit bang for the buck. The structure is solid with just enough tannin to hold it together; the complexity is harmonious so it should come as no surprise that this is a good crowd pleasing wine. Rated as Recommended with **** for value, drink up it won’t get any better.

Seppelt 2002 Victorian Shiraz has been blended and is due to be bottled in November and released early in 2005. The bouquet shows some oak characters, pepper and rich berry fruit. An impressive wine for the price, it has lots of plum pepper and chocolate fruit which should emerge from under the oak prior to release. Stylistically it’s very similar to the 2001 wine, also being muscular in weight and fruit driven. Rated as Agreeable now, by the time it’s released it should be Recommended with **** for value.

As most readers will know, it takes a lot for a $16 wine to impress me but this one is clearly worth consideration and I would be more than happy to drink it in a bistro situation.

Seppelt Chalambar was a label that was first made in the year of my birth and I have purchased it on and off for years but its recent history has been a bit patchy so I didn’t know what to expect with the next wine. (After tasting the wine Arthur explained that from 2001 onward the volume had been reduced to improve the quality.)

Seppelt 2002 Chalambar Shiraz (the current release retails for between $18-25 depending where you buy it). I understand this wine is about a year off release but it provides a terrific picture of where the wine is heading. The fruit is sourced from Great Western and Bendigo and the wine had just been bottled. Black pepper, plum, liquorice and chocolate flavours from the rich fruit provide a long moreish finish. The wine is muscular in weight; the tannins are fine grained and they are there but not in an obvious fashion which produces a supple consistency and combines with the deep pure fruit to form a tight but seamless structure and harmonious complexity. A very drinkable wine that over delivers, it’s rated as Recommended with *** for value (with room for improvement) and it should peak after 2006.

A locked room inside the drives

Seppelt 2003 Bendigo Shiraz is still to be named but for the purposes of this tasting note that’s what it will be called. A 1,000 dozen bottles will be produced and the wine is further expression of the aim to provide a Victorian and regional focus to the Seppelt brand. They plan to have a number of individual wines from various Victorian areas. Anticipated price for this one is close to the St Peters price point. The wine has just been blended and will remain in barrel until approximately November 2004.

The wine is obvious in its Victorian character with the deep strong fruit providing raspberry, pepper and chocolate flavours. It’s a big wine, there is loads of everything and it should be long lived. The abundant ultra fine grained tannins add excellent support to the quality fruit and ensure a long finish; the outstanding structure gives this wine loads of potential. Even at this baby stage I would rate it as Excellent and won’t be at all surprised to see the rating increase as it matures after 2010+. The critics will go ape when they get their hands on this drop.

At this point it was time to try the line up of St Peters Shiraz, five vintages from 1998 to 2003 and I was fascinated when Arthur wanted me to go from youngest to oldest. Normally in the tastings most people will start off with the oldest and work their way to the youngest but whatever Arthur’s agenda or reason was, I figured it would come out and he clearly wanted to show me something.

Seppelt 2003 St Peters Shiraz is years away from release and the wine sample, although blended, is still an incomplete barrel sample. This wine is more elegant than the previous wine, the Bendigo Shiraz, and even though it’s muscular in weight, the tannins are ultra fine grained and smooth already. The pure fruit shines through like a beacon and the harmonious complexity produces red berry, blackcurrant, pepper, chocolate and so much more flavour which totally fills the palate and has great length. At the same time, the tight elegant structure shows it’s complex sophistication. This is a wine to look out for; it’s pure class and has the structure to match its fruit purity. Rated as Excellent already, I am confident the rating will improve. It certainly makes a statement! The bad news is that only about 1,000 cases have been produced.

Seppelt 2002 St Peters Shiraz was bottled last November. This wine does not seem to be as obviously Victorian as the two previous wines and whilst it’s a tad over ample in weight; it’s not quite as weighty as the 03 sample however it has a pure deep fruit and a massive amount of tannins. The fruit is simply great, the extract is generous but well judged and the wine is more into the liquorice spectrum with pepper underneath. If the fruit is simply great, then it complements the wonderful structure which is solid, very tight and has a well developed complexity. This is a stunning wine with real ‘wow’ factor and I had a hard time spitting as it demanded to be swallowed. Rated as Excellent now, the rating will improve as it matures; it was the top wine of the tasting.

The drives as they were in years gone by……. ……..

Seppelt 2001 St Peters Shiraz seems like it is going through a difficult stage and wasn’t showing its best despite the fact that it should have known I wanted to taste it and should have been on its best behaviourJ. The first thing that stuck me about this wine was that is was very different to the last three wines tasted. The bouquet showed coffee nuances from the obvious oak. On the palate that oak is obvious and underneath it there is very good quality sweet fruit that turns savoury, then into the raspberry spectrum and finishes with pepper. The wine is ample in weight with a solid structure and whilst the complexity is sophisticated and well developed this wine is more elegant than the 02. However it is a deceptively good wine, a bit cerebral in that it requires thought, and whilst it’s rated as Highly Recommended it should improve as it wakes up from its sleep and matures.

Seppelt 1999 St Peters Shiraz seemed to have no obvious faults but may not have been 100% representative as it was slightly funky. And now the reason for the order of the wine becomes completely obvious and what was building up as a jigsaw puzzle is complete. It’s a good wine, the quality of the fruit is obvious and to some extent it’s relying on it, as the oak tannins are a little chewy and more obvious than the previous wines. Pepper, raspberry notes, chocolate and coffee provide a well developed complexity of flavour and the length is also good. The structure is solid and shows some elegance, the wine just needs time. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, the rating should increase as the wine matures after 2009.

Seppelt 1998 St Peters Shiraz was similar in profile to the 1999 with obvious oak on the nose. This is a very nice wine but it has been built for show (not the circuit) rather than built for style, class and refinement. The fruit is great, better than the 1999 and whilst there are abundant tannins that are chunky by comparison to the later vintage wines, the balance between fruit and oak is good but it will take some time for the oak to integrate. Muscular in weight, the flavours are chocolate, liquorice, pepper and coffee which provide a well developed complexity. Rated as Excellent the wine should approach its peak about 2007.

Ian McKenzie has produced some very high quality wines in his day but there is no doubt in my mind that these wines will be surpassed by the efforts of Arthur O’Connor. The wines made by Arthur have superior structure and he has allowed the fruit to speak more clearly. As these wines are released just watch this winery’s reputation rocket. As you can see from my tasting notes, the quality of the wines that are coming down the tubes over the next few years are fantastic but the issue will be quantity. Volumes over the next few years of the top end wines will be very restricted (that includes the Chalambar which has taken a quantum leap in quality) as the drought conditions took a terrible toll on yields. We can all only hope that Seppelt doesn’t get greedy and rocket up prices like some of its competitors.

The good news is that the volume of the Victorian Range will be increased as new fruit comes on board and the quality for the price point of this range is terrific. By the time I walked out of the tasting I must admit I was very impressed with everything I saw, everything I heard, and above all, everything I tasted. If the objective is to rebuild and enhance the brand by over-delivering, they are bang on the mark and this winery is one to watch. It’s also wonderful that the wines have been allowed to show their Victorian character; the wines don’t seem to be industrially produced plonk that could be from anywhere, a common problem with many wines from some major producers.

Wow! What a way to finish off a region. The Seppelt experience certainly was an impressive one and one that will be long remembered. That’s also the end of Chapter One but Chapter Two should be out next week and it will cover the Pyrenees.

The next chapter can be found here