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Wine reviews

Chris Shanahan

Bleasdale Frank Potts Cabernet Blend 2012
Langhorne Creek, South Australia
$26.60–$30
Four-star/94 ★★★★

For one of Australia's undervalued champions, try Bleasdale Frank Potts. We're about to hear a lot more about this wine, as the coming 2013 vintage won a trophy as best cabernet blend in the Royal Sydney Wine Show. The blend honours company founder and Langhorne Creek pioneer, Frank Potts. In 1858, Potts planted vines on the flood plain of the Bremer River, which runs through Langhorne Creek. The area's mild maritime climate produces outstanding cabernet, with a distinctive mid-palate fleshiness. Potts's descendants demonstrate this deliciously in their Frank Potts blend of cabernet sauvignon (65 per cent), malbec (15 per cent), petit verdot (11 per cent), merlot (five per cent) and cabernet franc. While cabernet shapes the wine, the other varieties add greatly to the perfume, flavour volume and caressing, soft tannins.

Taylors Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2013
Taylor family vineyards, Clare Valley, South Australia
$12.95–$19
Three-star/90 ★★★

In the mid 1970s the Taylor family released their first wine, a 1973 cabernet sauvignon, into a growing market, thirsty for well-priced, good Australian reds, but short of cabernet sauvignon. Forty-two years on the family owns 400 hectares of Clare Valley vines and makes a much wider range of wine. Australians now drink shiraz in greater volume than they do cabernet. But when they look for cabernet, it'll more likely from Margaret River or Coonawarra. Taylor's remains on the radar, however, as it offers generous, ripe, cassis-like varietal flavours and firm structure at the right price.

Tar and Roses Sangiovese 2013
Heathcote (85 per cent) and Strathbogies Ranges, Victoria
$20.89–$24
Four-star/94
With the previous vintage, winemakers Don Lewis and Narelle King noted the balance between tannin and acidity in Italy's thin-skinned sangiovese, writing, "It is known for its earthy more than fruity notes". In the warm 2013 vintage, the fruit comes through more than it did in 2012, albeit in a sour-cherry sort of way. Nevertheless the wine remains more earthy and savoury than it does fruity. The rustic tannins give a satisfying, solid grip that works well with the bold sour-cherry fruit flavour.

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Fox Gordon Princess Fiano 2014

Adelaide Hills, South Australia
$18–$23

Four-star/92 ★★★★Four-star/92

In Wine Grapes – a complete guide to 1368 wine varieties, including their origins and flavours (Allen Lane, 2013) Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding and Jose Vouillamoz reveal, "Fiano is an old variety from Campania in southern Italy whose presence near Foggia was mentioned as early as 1240". Almost 800 years later, fiano thrives in the cooler Adelaide Hills where Natasha Mooney makes a full-bodied dry white from it – a gently viscous, racy drop, with a flavour reminiscent of melon rind and a grippy, pleasantly tart dry finish. Mooney recommends it with crunchy Asian food.

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Cooks Lot 333 Riesling 2014
Orange, NSW

$20
Four-star/92 ★★★★Four-star/92
Duncan Cook's riesling won a gold medal in the NSW Wine Awards, and a gold medal and trophy the Orange Show. A sample arrived with other trophy winners from the show. I certainly didn't rate all the wines as highly as the show judges did. But Cooks Lot appealed very strongly. It's a much leaner style than the general run of Australian rieslings. However, the high acidity, low alcohol and intense, lime–lemon flavours mean a delicate, dry, aperitif style that really whets the appetite.

Punt Road Chemin Chardonnay 2013
Napoleone Vineyard, Yarra Valley, Victoria
$41–$45
Four-star/94 ★★★★
Four-star/94
In a recent Yarra Valley chardonnay tasting, Punt Road "Chemin" and Oakridge "Over the Shoulder" revealed two utterly different, and delicious, faces of the variety – despite both being from the warm 2013 vintage. Oakridge revealed the leaner, mouth-watering, chablis-like side of chardonnay. Chemin, on the other hand, offered the opulence of a warm year in a cool climate. Its ripe, stone-fruit-like flavour flaunted itself, and mingled with a rich, barrel-derived texture and assertive, spicy character of high-quality oak.

chrisshanahan.com

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