Chris Shanahan wine reviews, March 25
Peter Lehmann H&V Eden Valley Riesling 2014
Eden Valley, South Australia
$19-$22
★★★★/94
South Australia suffered two severe heatwaves in January 2014, the second pushing into the first two days of February, before flaring up again on the 12th and 13th. Above average winter and springs rains, however, provided ample subsoil moisture to help vines through the torrid conditions. On release last year, Peter Lehmann H and V riesling, picked in milder conditions at the end of February, showed a fuller and more floral aroma than we generally see from the Eden Valley. The palate, however, delivered vibrant lime-like flavour with a pure, fresh, zesty finish. Almost a year on, the wine continues to blossom. Indeed, it narrowly missed out on the top riesling spot in February's Winewise Championship.
Single File Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2014
Hamilton Road vineyard, Denmark, Western Australia
$25
★★★★/92
Western Australia pretty well owns the semillon–sauvignon blanc blend in Australia. Margaret River wears the crown, but Denmark, to the east, may be a challenger. Singlefile offers a particularly clean, fresh, pure expression of the style. Fermentation of the finest cut of juice in stainless steel tanks, at low temperature, captured the varietal character of both varieties. Blended together, it's like a fruit festival – fresh and invigorating with varietal herbal, grassy and tropical flavours.
d'Arenberg The Custodian Grenache 2012
McLaren Vale, South Australia
$17.10-$20
★★★★½/90
More often than not, grenache appears in blends with Australia's benchmark red variety, shiraz. The blends often included mourvedre as well. However, grenache can stand on its own, especially where accomplished makers, such as d'Arenberg, use the right sort of fruit – typically from old bush-pruned vines. d'Arry and Chester Osborn claim to hold "nearly one third of McLaren Vale's old bush vine grenache". And they put it to good use in several of their wines, including the realistically priced Custodian. It captures some of the sweeter, musk-like high notes of the variety, but overall provides robust, warming, earthy and rustic drinking pleasure.
Rosemount Estate Little Berry Shiraz 2012
McLaren Vale, South Australia
$25
★★★★½/96
With red wine, nothing seduces like full, rich, ripe fruit flavours of the kind McLaren Vale produces. Time and again at tastings I conduct, I see people gravitating to the McLaren Vale shiraz in preference to other shirazes from regions warm and cool. While wine judges really love cool-grown, medium-bodied shirazes, we're also attracted to fuller-bodied styles. For example, in the recent Winewise Championship, we backed Rosemount's juicy little gem through the first heat, the 2012 vintage taste-off and finally through shiraz grand final, where it won the best-shiraz trophy. Revel in it if you can. It's available at the cellar door and restaurants, but not in retail outlets.
Tahbilk Marsanne 2011
$17.05-$19
★★★★/92
In the 2015 Winewise Championship – Australia's true grand final of wine shows – Tahbilk marsanne, from the miserably cold, wet, disease-ravaged 2011 vintage, topped all comers in "other white varieties or blends" division. Tahbilk custodian Alister Purbrick subtly fine-tuned the successful marsanne a decade or so ago, making it slightly brighter and finer. As a result, the distinctive, full-flavoured dry white ages even more gracefully than early vintages did, while providing bright fresh drinking on release. Tahbilk still offers the maturing 2011 vintage online (tahbilk.com.au). And the delicious 2014 is available for $13.30–$16 in retail outlets.
Oakridge Over the Shoulder Shiraz 2012
Yarra Valley, Victoria
$19-$22
★★★½/90
A few years back the word "detail" joined the long list of wine jargon. Like most jargon, it's useful for insiders, but confusing for those outside the circle. What does it mean when someone writes this or that wine "shows great detail"? In the case of Oakridge shiraz it means a wine comprising many discernible flavour elements. That is, we can sense and enjoy the many details making up this harmonious wine. Bright, fresh, red-fruit flavours combine with stalky–stemmy character, derived in part from barely ripened fruit and in part from the inclusion of whole bunches (and hence stems) in the ferment. Cutting through this, as an aftertaste, comes a lovely wave of black-pepper flavours – a thumbprint of cool-grown shiraz. Oak adds a little seasoning. And the silky pinot-like texture and refreshing acidity bring all these elements together in a fascinating, medium bodied red.