Black cherry leather, boysenberry, tobacco and peppercorns fill the voluminous palate of Kit & Kaboodle, a McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek blend of Montepulciano, Cabernet Sauvignon and Barbera. A herbal mustard seed edge from first sniff weaves throughout the juicy acidity, framed by pencil-shaving tannins. Bright and mouthwatering on the warming finish, this well-handled red calls out for hearty butternut squash/ragu ravioli. Alpha Box is a series of allocation-based wines from McLaren Vale that represent every letter of the alphabet.
This Eden Valley Shiraz is graced with 2.5% co-fermented Viognier. Sweetly spiced dark plums, chocolate-covered cherries, thorny bramble berry, cracked nutmegs and cloves fill the juicy, generous palate. Older leather plumps the palate, and plush, lightly tuggy tannins frame. Savoury Worcestershire lingers on the warm (14.5%) and spiced finish. Showing nice maturity and ready to drink now, especially with lamb and fennel sausages.
Clear pale straw colour. Medium-intensity nose of lime and peach. An austere, high-acidity, almost Old World-style Chardonnay, reminiscent of Chablis. Medium-bodied, tasting like what I imagine a somewhat greenish peach would taste like. Long finish. Drink up.
This screw-cap tawny is a ringer, very sweet, with roasted hazelnut, walnuts, brown sugar, maple, baked figs, orange oil and fiery peppery spices filling a syrupy palate. A hint of eraser/rubber lingers underneath, but piercing orange acidity whisks that away. Sweet coffee and marmalade on the warm finish. An easy, accessible and exuberant tawny.
Clear, pale silvery yellow. Medium-intensity nose, like a piña colada with added ripe apple. Light-bodied; tastes of light lemonade with a dash of honey, bright acidity with a surprisingly long finish. Will get more complex with another year or 2. A go-to wine to drink with “difficult-to-match” vegetables like asparagus, artichokes and bell peppers.
The wine that has famously been called "Australia's best Chardonnay," this royal, refined Margaret River Chardy certainly impresses. Partial skin contact and partial wild yeast, this was entirely barrel-fermented in new French oak barriques with regular lees stirring for 11 months. Rich, almost thick in the mouth, creamy and lees-led, with flickers of eraser/reduction, stone fruits, lemon curd and roasted almonds streamed along a vein of lemon acidity. Oak is certainly evident, though well integrated into the depth of all this fruit, and the concentration is even more impressive considering its 13.5% alcohol. Drinking well now in its young age, but will hold and mature over the next decade easy. Cellar-worthy, if you can afford it.
This sustainably farmed Chardonnay is from the Warramate foothills of Victoria's upper Yarra Valley. This is a mix of 3 clones, wild-fermented and aged in a mix of oak barriques and puncheons (20% new) for a layover of 8 months. Earthy throughout, with an alluring reductive edge: salty, wild herbs, and brisk white grapefruit pith brightening a leesy, green-fig core. Tight, driven and focused, this finessed wine has energy enough to enjoy very much now in youth, or to hold for the future.