Balnaves of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvingon 2014 ($40 ish)
There’s plenty of wine clubs popping up these days, giving you the chance to buy direct from the winery with a decent discount in exchange for a commitment to purchasing each year. Generally there seems to be reason they don’t quite work, whether its committing to too much wine from one producer, broad wine packs full of stuff you don’t really want or trying to send you wine in October (getting a bit warm here by then). Enter Balnaves, offering a dozen (or two with a slightly bigger discount) of what you want, when you want it every year plus what looks like being very handy access to some older releases from the museum from time to time.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Coonawarra and that remains, particularly when it comes to value. I’ve stopped buying Majella (likewise Craiglee) for their irritating bottle size, which is slightly longer than a normal Bordeaux bottle & makes storage a pain unless you plan to cellar straight cases of the same wine not in wine racks. So no more Majella means a lot more Balnaves, helping me take the plunge into ‘sign-up’ territory.
Before I get to the wine, it’s worth noting that the anti-cork brigade seems to have won the battle with Balnaves, Halliday in particular continually calls them out on it, which seems a shame to me as I was quite a fan of the pro-cork and what I was finding in older bottles of Balnaves with that particular seal. Perhaps James could do us all a favour and go and taste some back vintages with the seal to confirm if he’s been correct in shaving off points & drinking windows on account of a ‘slightly stained pro-cork’. Still, we know screwcaps can do the job and will do here on the 2014 Cabernet, released as a five year but still displaying a classically vivid bright purple colour & a brightly fruited bouquet with all the primary flavours that you’d expect in a younger wine. First and foremost it tastes like proper Coonawarra, significant tannins and acid to move this bottle slow and in one direction. As the Balnaves website will succinctly suggest, this is one to ‘drink/hold’.
Chateau Saint Pierre 2016, (St Julien) ($120+)
A well executed Saint Julien & bolder and riper than the classics of the region that I’m more familiar with such as the Bartons & Branaire Ducru. Curiosity got the better of me in that I couldn’t resist a look at this but still feel guilty about it. Such is the crime of vinocide, the regret never really goes away. Nevertheless the Chateau Saint Pierre 2016 is a proper wine with a bit of flair that may well be great in a decade or two. And the remaining bottles are now deep underground.
Turkey Flat Shiraz 2008 ($50)
2008 Turkey Flat Shiraz was one of the first wines I ever bought six of, this being my last bottle. 2008 wasn’t a universally great year in the Barossa, and as such it’s one that’s hard to generalize about, with a heat wave coming through at just the wrong time. Some vineyards & specific wines that blend from various vineyards made an effort to pick before the heat wave whilst some rolled the dice and (literally) got burnt. The fruit for the 2008 TF shiraz was picked before the heat wave but it doesn’t escape entirely from a bit of pruney characteristics, something I don’t usually see in Turkey Flat. Here though, they add to the flavour and generosity of the wine. This is a lovely, well executed Barossa Shiraz that could have gone another decade or so.
Chateau Siran 2016 (Margaux) ($65)
A well situated chateau in Margaux that by reputation would be on the brink of classification if 1855 was done today. Apparently back vintages such as 1928 & 1961 are still drinking pretty well. For some reason I didn’t write any detailed notes here beyond ‘no brainer’, perhaps because I was busy loading up on the 2018 en primeur. This is a go-to Margaux, where value and reliability can oft be quite scant.
Blue poles Allouran 2015 (Margaret River) ($30)
Picked this (and a reserve merlot 16) up from Gangemis in West Perth where I asked the attendant if an hour in the decanter for this wine was a good idea & he said no, looked at me funny and offered the suggestion that decanting was only for old wines. Before my filters kicked in I uttered, possibly quite rudely, ‘well I don’t agree with that’, thus ending the conversation & making the rest of the transaction rather awkward. (Note to self; work on your filters).
For those that don’t know, Blue Poles is a small, hands on vineyard inland and in the Southern Area of Margaret River out in the Rosabrook direction. The vineyard was founded by a geologist by the name of Mark Gifford who was chasing the right soils and climate to make an homage to the great merlot based wines from the right bank in Bordeaux. You won’t find these wines in the new Halliday Wine Companion, or in your local BWS, but where you do find these wines, either physically or written about you’ll find a Blue Poles enthusiast; these are very much wines for those ‘in the know’.
For the last week or two I’ve occasionally been reading through Giffords ‘monthly report’ on the Blue Poles website and his writing comes highly recommended. The detail on weather conditions and monthly updates how the vintage is shaping up are insightful and without spin. It brings to mind Gavin Quinney of Bordeaux, who writes in great detail from the perspective of someone who is on the land & genuinely knows what he or she are talking about. Gifford often takes this one step further, eloquently sidetracking into different issues that can be left alone by the Australian wine media, or providing spectacular clarity on issues that from a consumers perspective can be quite murky. This is compelling writing – more please!
Onto the wine then, a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc from a Margaret River vintage that produced very good Merlot, if not spectacular Cabernet from Wilyabrup. Certainly this is a fruit driven wine & very ‘Margs’, but you can taste the attention to detail, the fine line it treads to achieve something often underrated in wine – balance. My wife initially suggested it was slightly under ripe & whilst I could see where she is coming from, halfway through the bottle we both doubted this was the case. I just think this is a wine laid completely bare with tannins, oak, sweetness & alcohol barely in the picture, which really speak for the superlative fruit. On day two the acidity and tannins seemed a bit more pronounced, the nose a bit more floral & there was more depth to the wine in general.
If you pour a glass of the 2015 Allouran you’ll be tasting the nuances of the vineyard, the season, the canopy management, the gentle touch in the winery. And yet for all that, perhaps because apart from the purity of the fruit & balance of the wine nothing really stands out, and so one would imagine it might be quite easy to miss the quality of this wine easily if you were in a deep conversation. And there, perhaps lies the beauty.
Curly Flat Pinot Noir 2015 (Macedon Ranges) ($52)
I’m a convert/close follower of Curly Flat pinot & a great believer that this is one of Australia’s best Pinots to age. The fifteen is in line to do so as well & is just starting to lose a bit of its puppy fat. This may not be quite as good as the 14 (the 10 remains my benchmark at the moment) but it’s pretty damn fine. For those that own some, I’d give it another 2 – 3 years in the cellar first.
Best’s Bin 0 2017 (Grampians) ($85)
On Survivor they talk about food cravings, downing a big steak or burger or what not when they finally get voted out. Having never really starved like that, I’m not big on the food cravings but occasionally I get wine cravings; mainly for Bordeaux but the other variety/region I sometimes crave is Grampians Shiraz. It has its own unique peppery flavour of course, but if I was describing it to someone who wasn’t familiar I’d say its like a halfway point between those big Barossan wines & more of a Northern Rhone (or Canberra even) style of shiraz. The structure and presence of the former & the seductive perfumes of the latter; the best of both worlds if you will.
Throw in the history and stature & know-how of Best’s Great Western, some seriously old vines and a terrific season like 2017 and you’d be justified in expecting some better than just a pretty decent wine. This is indeed the case for here we have a benchmark vintage of Bin 0 where every single element is exactly where you want it to be; exceptional purity of fruit, lightness on the palette & yet exceptional length. This wine is the bottled equivalent of a group photo taken at the exact split second each individual is giving their best smile in that it captures the full potential of the moment, one that is now beautifully frozen in time.
SC Pannell Grenache 2012 (Mclaren Vale) ($50)
Making a single variety Grenache must be a tough task to take on, I can imagine it would keep more than a few winemakers up at night. For often, even when its approaching ‘benchmark’ in quality, a straight Grenache always feels to me like something is either missing or (even worse) something is overdone. I don’t get that though with the Pannell Grenache, which makes it all the more remarkable. I remember him warning us in an interview once, something along the lines of ‘not many people really like the taste of aged bottles of Grenache’, and I remember thinking I suspect I probably will like it. These haven’t really lasted long enough to find out, but to be honest I will confess I preferred this and the 2010 when they were new releases.
Nevertheless this is still an outstanding bottle full of summer fruits, ripe berries and the fruit flavours you get in exquisitely tart berries (minus the tart aspect if that makes sense). Throw in some Turkish delight, maybe even a few rose petals (who knows?) & what you have is a lovely bottle of wine. But what elevates this wine to the next tier of quality is something it has now and had on release, the most sublime tannins I’ve ever seen in a lighter bodied red. If there was such thing as a massage for your mouth then the textures in this wine would be a blueprint for how that might work. Tick.
The Wine Accomplice 