We fell in love with this wine the first time we tasted it in 2013, it is a classic Margaret River – elegant, precise but with underlying power and intensity that draws you in for the next sip. Lovely flavours of white peach, grapefruit and hints of brioche all enhanced by the nutty/creamy notes from the barrel fermentation. Just delicious. Only 1800 bottles made and we have 4 of them left!
Fine & Rare
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2010 Chardonnay, Dawson & James
£4500Add to BasketThe Dawson James Chardonnay captures the minerality of the Meadowbank site, which it combines with varietal fruit characters and extra layers of complexity from partial malolactic fermentation and finely integrated oak.
This Chardonnay has a bright pale yellow colour. The aromas are subtle creamy, nutty and toasty notes derived from barrel fermentation accompanied by zesty lemon pith fruit characters. On the palate, there are intense citrus fruit flavours which are balanced by lively acidity and mineral characters.
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Sotto di Ferro, Charles Melton
£4500Add to BasketCharles Melton is the only Australian producer of a vin-santo styled dessert wine, he calls it, Sotto di Ferro. Made from Pedro Ximenez and Muscadelle grapes that are hung and dried in bunches under the rafter of old iron sheds on the Melton property. From the trickle of juice gathered from the shrivelled grapes comes this wine showing rich, luscious dried apricot and nut characters. This is not a wine to rush. Take your time and allow it to impress you with its sweet complexity that develops in the glass.
For those interested in the winemaking process this from the winery: Pedro Ximenez and Muscadelle bunches are carefully hand-picked and placed in small crates before being taken to our ‘hanging shed’. There, an experienced team tie six to eight bunches of grapes onto strings which are then suspended from the rafters for up to eight weeks. The grapes dehydrate naturally as they are exposed to air, and when the team at Charles Melton Wines deems the grapes to be concentrated enough, the bunches will be pressed in a basket press. The juice is then yeasted and fermented in small 60-litre old oak casks known as ‘Caratelli’ for 18 months. After fermentation completes, the wine will remain in barrel for a further four years before it is bottled.
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2008 Shiraz ‘Westgate Vineyard’, The Story
£4500Add to BasketThis is a single vineyard wine made (in the winemaker’s words) ‘naturally fermented over 21 days in open French oak puncheons, then hand bucketed and pressed to 31% new French oak from Francois Frères, and Gillet cooperages. It was allowed to mature for 14 months (then bottled) without fining or filtration’. The result – very floral Shiraz characters such as violets, graphite, meat, black fruits and black pepper. The palate is full of warm spice synonymous with the Grampians region. A dark, ripe, controlled and firm core of black fruit and spice ripples through the palate, the tannins are generous but supportive, and the finish fresh and lengthy.
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2007 Peninsula Shiraz, Paringa Estate
£4500Add to BasketThis really is cracking wine from the Über Cool Mornington Peninsula. This Shiraz includes a 5% Viognier component and was matured for 15 months in a combination of new and used barriques.
The bouquet of this wine has spicy blackberry fruit combined with the subtle but distinctive aromatics of viognier. On the palate, the wine has plum/blackberry fruit flavours followed by some black pepper. Good length. Fine-grained tannins with long aftertaste of blackberry, liquorice and black pepper. An excellent cool-climate Shiraz.
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2012 Trevarrick Riesling, Skillogalee
£4500Add to Basket“Trevarrick” was the original name of the property when it was first settled by John and Anne Trestrail in the 1850s. More than a century later, in 1970 this magnificent piece of land was planted to vines and Skillogalee was born. With each individual contour block on the estate harvested and vinified individually, the Trevarrick name is reserved for those contours which exhibit exceptional quality and varietal character.
The grapes for this wine were selectively harvested from the highest altitude, earliest ripening contour on the property at around 500m. The stony, thin soils and topography of this part of the vineyard produce unique, high-quality grapes bursting with varietal character.
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2018 Moppa Springs Grenache-Mataro-Shiraz, Rockford
£4500Add to BasketA stupendous blend of Grenache, Mataro and Shiraz is elegant and restrained with a subtle note of vanilla and pretty floral notes. The Grenache supplies tangy sour cherry to this blend whilst Mataro offers a savoury cocoa note and Shiraz holds it all together with a backbone of fine tannins and a touch of brambly fruit.
Moppa Springs, Ebenezer, and Kalimna, are some of the driest areas in the Barossa. This hard country is cold, wet and frosty during pruning, then hot, dry and dusty during harvest. These are the kind of tough conditions that ensure Grenache, Mataro, and Shiraz give their best.
The grapes are hand-forked into Rockford’s famed 1880’s Bagshaw de-stemmer, open-fermented and then gently basket pressed. All of the components for Moppa Springs are aged separately in a combination of seasoned American and French oak hogsheads and large vats to allow the tannins to soften and colours and flavours to consolidate.
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2011 Piccadilly Chardonnay, Grosset
£4850Add to BasketSince the first release of Grosset Piccadilly in 1993, these wines have made a powerful statement about the potential of the Piccadilly Valley in the Adelaide Hills, a sub-region so cool that it is often considered marginal for table wine. ‘It’s a sub-region that takes time to understand’, says Grosset, ‘and the wines can be exquisite’.
There’s a delicacy about the 2011 Grosset Piccadilly Chardonnay that is rare with Australian chardonnay: it is delightfully fragrant with white flowers and fresh herbs. The palate is fresh, vibrant and tangy with intense white peach and nectarine flavours that show depth and purity. There’s succulence, a taut structure, and bright zesty acidity to finish. Although restrained, the wine builds in the glass.
Only 600 dozen produced
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2008 Farrago Chardonnay, Kooyong
£4900Add to BasketA truly stunning rich and elegant Chardonnay. Mouthwatering intense stonefruit, pear and fig notes are on the nose, leading to a rich penetrating palate of ripe nectarine, nuts, brioche and lees/barrel-ferment nuances. Finish is very long, rich with nervy grapefruit acidity. In short its a demi-god of a wine that will live long in the memory.
The Farrago Vineyard
Exclusively planted to Chardonnay, this small block is gently north-sloping with sediments ranging from those higher in sand to those higher in clay. The best fruit within the block comes from the zone higher in clay where the soil has a mottled appearance due to high sandstone pebble content, hence the block’s name Farrago. The Chardonnay from the Farrago block is defined by a precise linear character with strong silicaceous minerality. At its best, this is the premier white wine with the greatest ageing potential.
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2010 The Ironstone Pressings GSM, d’Arenberg
£4900Add to BasketThe Ironstone Pressings is named because most of McLaren Vale’s acclaimed and historic vineyards are impregnated with ancient, decomposed laterite granite known as ironstone. Its extraordinary rusty red-brown colour is derived from the iron oxides present in the stone. The larger pieces were cleared from the vineyards in the late 1880s and utilised in many of the buildings at d’Arenberg, most notably the old stables.
Unctuous blackberry and plum notes lay at the heart of this classic d’Arenberg example of a Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre (GSM). A spattering of exotic spices the likes of star anise, cardamom and nutmeg cling to the sweet, dark fruits and of course, it wouldn’t be a d’Arenberg wine without a rousing dose of earthy, gamey character. The palate is fleshy and juicy with an almost velvet-like texture. Abundantly warm and generous but sufficiently structured to suggest this wine can go the long hall.
While enjoyable in youth, this wine will reach its full potential with bottle age up to at least 20 years. The considerable structure and depth will ensure that the fruit characters will develop over time revealing more complexity and providing immense interest.
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2018 Rod and Spur Shiraz-Cabernet, Rockford
£5200Add to BasketThis incredible blend of Shiraz & Cabernet Sauvignon is a uniquely Australian blend that pays homage to the great Aussie wines of yesteryear. With plenty of sweet spice and brambly black fruit comes a concentrated blackcurrant and vanilla aroma following on to a rich, full-bodied palate. The flavour is full of crunchy black fruit with soft tannins, refreshing acidity and subtle vanilla sweetness.
The name Rod & Spur acknowledges the contribution of Rockford’s growers who spend the cold Barossa winters hand-pruning their vines in the traditional rod and spur method. This wine is a return to the great Australian reds of the 1950’s and 60’s, when Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon blends dominated the premium market. This very Australian wine is not common in any other region of the world.
Like all Rockford reds, the grapes for this wine go through a 1880’s Bagshaw de-stemmer, are open fermented and then gently basket pressed. All components are aged separately in a combination of seasoned American and French oak hogsheads and large oak casks for two years. This allows the tannins to soften and colours and flavours to consolidate, before being bottled under the highest quality cork.
The 2018 vintage was described by Rockford’s winemaking team as ‘One of those years when things just fell into place. Despite the season being one of the driest in many decades, it lacked any prolonged heat waves or significant rainfall events. The Eden Valley Shiraz components, in particular, were standout in the warm dry conditions. The 2018 wines have striking colours, outstanding structure, richness and mouthfeel.
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2009 Piccadilly Chardonnay, Grosset
£5500Add to BasketSince the first release of Grosset Piccadilly in 1993, these wines have made a powerful statement about the potential of the Piccadilly Valley in the Adelaide Hills, a sub-region so cool that it is often considered marginal for table wine. ‘It’s a sub-region that takes time to understand’, says Grosset, ‘and the wines can be exquisite’.
Followers of the Grosset Chardonnay will notice a consistency of style especially between the most recent three vintages of the wine. Jeff sees these as a return to the clearly defined style that he made in the 1990s: finer, lean, tighter and slightly lower in alcohol. Often shy and restrained on release and needing patience and time to reveal themselves, the Piccadilly Chardonnays come into their own by being more age-worthy than most of their peers.
The 2009 Grosset Chardonnay is exuberant with tangy white peach and nectarine flavours, vibrant, juicy fleshy texture and zingy acidity that cleanses. There’s impressive integration of oak and fruit at a young age, the richness and concentration you’d expect, plenty of weight and a lively raciness that binds it all together.
The Grosset Piccadilly Chardonnay is handpicked, barrel fermented in French barriques and then left to mature in those barrels for nearly twelve months, followed by a further twelve months in bottle before release. After 11 years in bottle this wine is singing from the rooftops and just shows the magnificence of the Piccadilly Valley in the Adelaide Hills.
Only 590 cases produced.
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2009 Estate Chardonnay, Paringa Estate
£5500Add to BasketAn exceptional Paringa Estate Chardonnay that has benefited from being aged in our cellars. Aromas of butterscotch and fig and layered with ripe and rich citrus. The palate is textured with the perfect line of acidity, stone fruit and citrus are intermingled with savoury nutty barrel-ferment flavours.
The Paringa Estate vineyard is an exceptional site. North facing, the 10 acres of un-irrigated rich, red, volcanic soil curl around the slope like an amphitheatre, sheltered from the harsh South and South Westerly winds. Whilst Pinot Noir has always been Paringa’s most awarded variety, the unique microclimate also produces exceptional Shiraz and Chardonnay.
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2010 Estate Chardonnay, Paringa Estate
£5500Add to BasketAn exceptional Paringa Estate Chardonnay that has benefited from being aged in our cellars. Aromas of butterscotch and fig and layered with ripe and rich citrus. The palate is textured with the perfect line of acidity, stone fruit and citrus are intermingled with savoury nutty barrel-ferment flavours.
The Paringa Estate vineyard is an exceptional site. North facing, the 10 acres of un-irrigated rich, red, volcanic soil curl around the slope like an amphitheatre, sheltered from the harsh South and South Westerly winds. Whilst Pinot Noir has always been Paringa’s most awarded variety, the unique microclimate also produces exceptional Shiraz and Chardonnay.
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2011 Meres Pinot Noir, Kooyong
£5500Add to BasketThe vineyard name originates from the surrounding water bodies – the dams which flank the block on all sides.
Its greater exposure to the north, west and east limits the vigour of the vines, while the sandier soil reduces water stress compared to Ferrous and Haven. These factors combine to make the wine silken, perfumed and approachable when young, as well as having flavour concentration and ageing potential. This 2011 is full of life with red cherry, redcurrant, alluring rose petal and savoury notes dominating the nose and palate. The tannins have softened over the years but are fine and silky.
