2012 Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Merlot

2012 Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Merlot
Fruit
The fruit for Leo’s Garden is predominantly from Leo Faulkner’s immaculately tended old vines planted in
a natural amphitheatre above his old stone house in the high country east of Penwortham. Leo’s garden,
as he would call it, is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon with an excellent block of Cabernet Franc at the
southern end. The harmony between the two varieties is obvious when you taste the wine – the Cabernet
Sauvignon giving heart and bass, with the Cabernet Franc adding another
layer to the heart and some deliciously aromatic treble. The Merlot comes
from a vineyard to the north of the town of Clare and the Malbec from
a vineyard in the Armagh sub-region. All the fruit was hand-picked; the
Merlot in early March, the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc in midApril and the Malbec in late April.
Vinification
Once at the winery the fruit was de-stemmed, but in most instances not
crushed, to allow fermentation to also occur inside the berries, to add a
whole new layer of flavours to the wine. The ferments lasted between
7 and 13 days, before pressing and filling to a mix of new (about 26%)
and older French oak. In all cases, there was a degree of pre and post
fermentation maceration to try to build tannins in the wines and give extra
complexity and texture. However in the case of Leo’s Cabernet Sauvignon
and Cabernet Franc (which were co-fermented) this extra time on skins
was pushed to the limit with the wine not being pressed until late July –
after a total of 99 days on skins, giving the wine extraordinary texture and
depth.
The Wine
This wine’s all in the hips – her colour doesn’t tell you much – she’s dark
enough to look healthy but it’s a payoff with that extraordinarily long
maceration – it’ll give you astonishing structure and texture but some of
the colour goes to eternity locked back into the skins. And on the nose too
she’s a little demure – plenty of attractive red fruit and sweet blackcurrant
with some black plum underneath, but still a bit shy, a bit reserved. Until
you get to the hips; and that’s where the action really starts. Wonderfully
deep, wonderfully silky and wonderfully structured – the ripe, rounded
tannins get hold of you and, interlaced with the black and red fruit,
they just keep coming. If you’re open to it, it’s not just a flavour, it’s an
experience. In a wine show this kind of wine just gets missed: not black
enough, not obvious enough on the nose. But then the show starts. But
they’ve tuned out, switched to another channel, moved on. And they miss
all the good stuff: in the mid-palate this wine gets going and in the finish
there’s marching elephants and a brass band. Give it time, give it your full
consideration, and it’ll work its magic. Drink this with the best cut of roast
beef you can manage or with roast pheasant: let those wonderful tannins
loose on some protein, crane your neck back and soak it all in.
A few numbers...
Alcohol: 14.5%
pH: 3.88
TA: 6.45
56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, 7% Malbec
Ben Jeanneret
WINEMAKER
2012 Shiraz
Fruit
The product of a perfect vintage and blended from 5 different
vineyards, all but one from the northern part of the Clare Valley.
The grapes were picked between the 1st and the 31st March, destemmed but the fruit retained as whole berries, and wild yeast
fermented. Time on skins varied from 8 – 28 days and after pressing the wines were aged on lees for two years for depth, freshness
and texture. A mix of French and American oak was used, with
only 16% of it new. There was no racking and the wine was bottled
without fining or filtration.
Wine
Absolutely opaque with a narrow crimson rim, the 2010 Rank and
File has a nose of cassis, spice, chocolate and sugar-dusted black
plums. Intense and mouth coating on the palate, it unfurls with a
delicious silkiness with the dark fruit shot through with spice.
Food Matching
The obvious choice for char-grilled venison, this is a wine with the
depth and balance to give a long and happy life.
A few numbers...
Alcohol: 15.0%
Ben Jeanneret
WINEMAKER
pH: 3.55
TA: 6.34
2012 Riesling
FRUIT
Serendipity is, by definition, a wonderful thing and the resulting 2012
Big Fine Girl is, indeed, also a wonderful thing. Let me explain. With
the inclement weather of the 2012 vintage (lots and lots of rain. Lots.)
we were forced to pick at levels of ripeness that were significantly
lower than we would normally choose. However Riesling does have a
wonderful ability to deliver a range of flavours – all delicious – over a
broad spectrum of ripeness, so that this year, while we picked earlier
than we’d like, we were still, we found, picking in the Yum Zone (a
technical term). Five vineyards contributed in 2012, and as usual they
were spread from the very south of the Valley, to the very north, giving
us a range of flavours. Picking started on 16th March at 10.5 Baumé and
continued to the 31st March at 12.9 Baumé.
VINIFICATION
All the fruit is handpicked and once it gets to the winery it is crushed
and pressed immediately to tank, where it is cold settled before racking
to its fermentation tank. Only the free run juice is used and where
possible the individual parcels are fermented separately, as long and
cold as we dare. After fermentation each tank is looked at to see how
it fits into the blend, and the Big Fine Girl is then blended and bottled.
All through the winemaking process we endeavour to do as little as
possible, so as to preserve all the natural fruit flavours in the wine; what
we taste on the vine, we want in the bottle.
THE WINE
While the weather of the 2012 vintage demanded a more delicate and
elegant Big Fine Girl than normal, fortunately it is just as delicious as
normal. With a wonderfully pale colour, the wine has a really pretty
nose: all quiveringly ripe and fresh apple. There’s freshly sliced apricot
too, and some fresh lemon and lime in the background – everything’s
intertwined and it’s utterly mouth-watering. That prettiness and
delicacy follows onto the palate too: it has an elegance and lightness
of touch that makes it so very drinkable. Apple and apricot flavours
dominate, and are given line and cut by gentle citrus acidity that wraps
itself around your tongue and carries the wine to a long and delicious
finish. It seems to shimmer with light; a vinuous distillation of warm
sunshine, cool morning air and delicately ripe fruit. Her finesse and
gentle intensity promise many happy days in her youth, but also offer
really exciting cellaring prospects. Drink her now on her own in the
garden surrounded by roses and lengthening shadows, or with really
delicate foods like plainly grilled white fish.
A few numbers...
Alcohol 12.5.0%
Ben Jeanneret
WINEMAKER
pH 2.8 TA 7.58
Residual Sugar 1.15g/L
2009 Riesling
FRUIT & VINIFICATION
The Doozie represents a cellar selection rather than a vineyard selection; as the individual parcels of
Riesling come in through vintage all are given the same high level of care; everything gets the kid
glove treatment. Where we can, we keep each batch separate; to see the myriad vineyard characters of
the grapes bloom into utterly individual wines is one of winemaking’s
great joys. And sometimes, just sometimes, the outstanding quality
we tasted in the vineyard does that astonishing extra bit of alchemy in
the cellar and a truly exceptional wine comes along. And this wine is
the Doozie……………
This year the wine is a blend of Riesling from nine different vineyards
with the greatest contributions coming from three vineyards: one at
Sevenhill which provided just over a third of the fruit, and a quarter each
came from a vineyard in the hills above Penwortham and a vineyard
at Stanley Flat. The grapes were harvested at a range of ripenesses
to achieve further complexity (nine different vineyards is probably a
significant step down that road anyway)...some at just over 11 Bé and
some at over 14 Bé to lend real opulence to the wine. A long, cool
fermentation has ensured that the flavours we tasted in the vineyard,
you taste in the bottle. And once that fermentation was finished the
blend was made.
THE WINE
A strikingly green hue to the pale yellow of the colour is the promise of
a wine still very much in its youth and full of vigour. Lime marmalade,
lemon, lychee, apricot and apple dominate a nose of real complexity
and concentration.
On the palate the Doozie has a density and depth not normally associated
with Riesling, and reminds us, dare we say it, of a very elegant white
Burgundy (Puligny-Montrachet anyone?). The well-balanced palate is
almost creamy – it must be served cool not cold – and is full of ripe juicy
fruit leading into a long, lingering finish with grapefruit and lime notes
swirling through the lovely acidity.
More than substantial enough to cope with, say, chicken in a cream
sauce or roast pork with baked apples. A very serious wine that takes
Riesling into largely uncharted (but complex and delicious) territory. A
Doozie no less.
THE NAME
Erret Lobban (E.L.) Cord manufactured the Duesenberg, Auburn and
Cord cars in America. These were huge cars, enormous extravagances
during the Depression years. It is from the name Duesenberg that Doozie
originates – it’s a Doozie, huge, decadent and a touch extravagant.
A few numbers…
Alcohol 12.9%
Ben Jeanneret
WINEMAKER
pH 2.87 TA 8.36
2012 Malbec
FRUIT
Sourced from a single four and a half acre block of Malbec in the
Armagh region of the Clare Valley, whose fruit has so impressed
us that we couldn’t resist bottling some on its own (most Malbec,
even in the Clare Valley which does have a great affinity for the
variety, usually disappears into blends). The fruit was picked in
perfect condition in about the middle of (the perfect) 2012 vintage,
on the 22nd and 28th March.
VINIFICATION
With the aim of making the purest and most natural expression of
Malbec that we could, we fermented the fruit with the vineyard’s
wild yeast, and kept the wine on skins for 12 days before pressing.
After two months on its lees – which gives the wine lovely texture
and roundness – the Malbec was racked into (largely older) wood
(though there was a little bit of newer French oak). After only
five months in oak, the Moon Dance was blended and bottled
relatively early to capture the fresh, zesty, vibrant intensity and
purity of the wine in all its youthful vigour.
THE WINE
Very, very black with a purple/crimson rim, and with a nose of
spice, blackberries, bramble and plum, the Moon Dance 2012
Malbec is vibrant and fresh, yet with a real density lent by its
excellent, natural texture. A real wine in every way, full of energy,
purity and intensity. The vibrancy and purity of fruit makes it a
wine that drinks wonderfully on its own, but it drinks just as well
with good food cooked simply; something like a Wagyu steak
grilled and served with some delicious chat potatoes, or a lamb
loin cooked medium rare and served with wilted spinach.
A few numbers..
Alcohol 14.5%
Ben Jeanneret
WINEMAKER
pH 3.72 TA 6.06
2009 Grenache Shiraz
FRUIT
2009 was another lovely vintage to be making wine in the Clare
Valley with every variety shining, including the Grenache from
the Stanley Ridge vineyard. These dry grown bush vines, that are
now well into their forties, again produced a low crop of intensely
flavoured fruit, and as usual were among the last of our parcels of
fruit to ripen. The fruit was handpicked from late March to early
April in four separate tranches. The Grenache is joined in the
blend by about 30% Shiraz, some of which came from the same
vineyard, and some of which came from an excellent Watervale
vineyard.
VINIFICATION
The Grenache and both parcels of Shiraz were fermented
separately. The Grenache was destemmed and pumped to a
closed fermenter, and fermented with wild yeast. Fermentation
lasted about a fortnight following four days pre-ferment
maceration (great for extracting colour and vibrant fruit flavours).
After pressing the Grenache and one parcel of the Shiraz were
blended. The wine was then matured in tank for 10 months, and
then filled to oak, none of it new, and aged for a further eighteen
months. It was then blended with the second parcel of Shiraz and
finally bottled, with no fining or filtration.
THE WINE
The Grace & Favour is intensely more-ish with very good depth
of colour and an elegant nose of raspberry and black cherry
backed by some warm spice and chocolate. Medium-bodied but
generous on the palate which is full of warm, comforting flavours
like a perfect stew on a cold winter’s night, this Grenache Shiraz
has a seamless blend of fresh raspberry and black cherry fruit
flavours balanced by more savoury notes of tannin and spice.
A marvellous accompaniment to roast ham rubbed with brown
sugar and studded with cloves or the very finest pork sausages
you can lay your hands on.
A few numbers...
Alcohol 15% Ben Jeanneret
WINEMAKER
pH 3.45 TA 6.45
2010 Merlot
FRUIT
The 2009 Dilly Dally again shows what a marvellous synergy there is between the Adelaide Hills and
Merlot, and particularly when grown on the vineyard that makes such a contribution to this wine; it’s
not only us that thinks it is one of the Adelaide Hills very best vineyards. A judicious swipe of Clare
Valley Merlot lends some juicy heart and darkness to the perfume, as well as some well - judged
tannin helping build the wine from the foundation up. The Adelaide Hills component wraps itself
around the Clare Valley contribution and weaves it all into a delicious whole. The Clare Valley Merlot
ripened first and was handpicked between the 5th and 6th March
with great flavours and perfect acidity. The Adelaide Hills Merlot
followed on the 9th April at 14.5 Baume, also with excellent acid and
wonderful flavours.
VINIFICATION
After crushing the Adelaide Hills Merlot into a fermenter, fermentation
lasted 35 days at around 22 degrees, with maceration on skins
for over four weeks, this very lengthy skin contact time helping to
broaden the range of flavours and to improve the texture and the
structure of the wine. Following pressing the wine was matured in
tank on lees for 11 months, and then in seasoned French oak for four
months before blending and eventual bottling in April 2011.
WINE
The Dilly Dally 2009 Merlot is an elegant but deeply coloured take
on Merlot, with an emphasis on structure and texture but not at the
expense of the fruit. It’s an understated wine for grown-ups with a
concentrated but elegant perfume dominated by black cherries and
raspberries with hints of rose, redcurrant and clove-like spice. On the
palate there is a marvellous interplay between some exuberant ripe
black cherry and redcurrant fruit and some serious but elegant and
spicy tannin, with the whole streaked through with lively and fresh
acidity. In the finish the tannins show at their finest- ripe, rounded
and profound- with zesty red fruit throwing them into relief. Our
finest Dilly Dally to date, this is delicious in an understated and rather
classy way: the vinuous equivalent of red silk, and with a wonderful
aromatic quality to the palate. An excellent Sunday lunch wine with
wing-rib roast beef.
A few numbers...
Alcohol 14.6% pH 3.47 Hills 77% Clare Valley 23%
Ben Jeanneret
WINEMAKER
TA 7.0
Adelaide
2010 Shiraz
FRUIT
There is a hill that we know of just outside the town of Clare that grows the kind of Shiraz grapes that can
make you shake your head in wonder when you taste them close to harvest. They’ll stain your fingers
purple black and the flavours they have even before fermentation has made its mark on them are, in a
good year, nothing short of spectacular. And 2010 was a truly great year and the grapes really did taste
spectacular. They’re old vines, they’re trained low to the ground and it’s a labour of love to look after them;
they are all hand pruned and hand-picked and in 2010 picking was on 21st – 25th February at a whisker
over 16 Baumé.
VINIFICATION
As the grapes came in they were crushed into a fermenter and chilled down
so the fruit could be cold macerated prior to ferment; this is a great way
of imbuing the must with great colour and depth of fruit flavours before
fermentation begins. Fermentation itself lasted for 16 days starting at 20°C
and finishing at 32°C, with some of the wine being barrel fermented in new
French oak. The balance of the wine was pressed, with the pressings kept
separate, and filled to a mix of new and older French oak. And after that it
was just a question of leaving it alone for two years, but always being sure
that it was really well looked after. After the 24 months ageing the best
barrels were selected and bottled as the 2008 Denis Reserve Shiraz.
THE WINE
Where to start? This is quite simply a stupendous wine and the best Shiraz
we’ve ever made: it has a depth and in particular an intensity that makes
it seem like an Essence of Shiraz; it’s as if one had reduced the wine down
by half to see just how intense one could make it (but we didn’t!). This is
a wine that can stop you in your tracks, halt a conversation and plunge
you into profound contemplation. Blacker than the blackest thought, and
darker than the deepest cave on a moonless night, the colour in itself is
utterly striking. And so is the nose. Tightly-wound and smoky, it is an
exercise in controlled power and only hints at the depths to be unfurled,
and it has a distinct umami character twirled through the deep, dark fruit.
The power and intensity hinted at on the nose are confirmed on the palate
where a confrontingly intense wave of flavour floods the mouth – it almost
hurts and is a convincing demonstration of the close relationship between
pleasure and pain. If this wine was a building, it would undoubtedly by a
Gothic cathedral with lots of particularly unsettling gargoyles seemingly
following you with their malevolent eyes. The palate echoes the nose in its
unrevealed power – the iceberg effect: the 10% you can see only hints at
the enormity and solidity of the 90% that remains hidden. A silken blanket
of black cherry bitumen threatens to take over your entire head and your
central nervous system may never be the same again. But a babe now, with
a long and promising future ahead of it. If you do drink it now, it’ll be quite
a ride, so remember to pack a decanter and a spoon.
Now where’s that haunch of venison and those roast pheasants?
A few numbers...
Alcohol 16.4%
Ben Jeanneret
WINEMAKER
pH 3.5
TA 7.0
228 dozen bottled
2010 Cabernet Sauvignon
Fruit and Vinification
2010 was a perfect vintage in the Clare Valley; winter had been wet,
and so was spring, and the vines enjoyed an excellent growing season.
January and February were a whisker warmer than average, but March
and April were slightly cooler than normal allowing the grapes to do
their final ripening in absolute comfort, meaning deep colours, ripe
tannins, good acid and complex flavours. It also, importantly, meant
that we could pick exactly when we wanted, without in any way being
dictated to by the weather. Like we said, perfect. And, when we tasted
the results, it was clear that a special release “Reserve” wine was called
for.
The Wine
Deeply coloured, quite opaque in the centre, the 2010 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
has a classically beautiful bouquet of mint and ripe blackcurrant, and then a palate
full of silken cassis, shot through with a touch of spice and balanced with excellent,
rounded tannins. Wonderfully balanced, with good race and poise, showing (without
wanting to sound too French or anything) the breed and nobility of Cabernet. Pure,
delicious and drinking well already, but with a long life ahead of it.
A few numbers...
85% Cabernet Sauvignon 11% Merlot 2% Cabernet Franc 2% Malbec
Ben Jeanneret
WINEMAKER
2013 Riesling
Fruit
We’d been taking the fruit from this vineyard, perched high on a
ridge above the town of Watervale, and been mightily impressed
by it, for a number of years, before, in 2010, taking the plunge
and releasing the wine as an individual vineyard wine under the
‘Watervale’ label. The fruit grows in north-south rows on classic
Watervale dirt, giving modest crops of intensely flavoured berries
which are carefully hand-picked and sorted before delivery to the
winery.
Vinification
As with all our Riesling, the fruit is really carefully looked after
in the winery: gently pressed immediately on arrival, with only
the best (“free run”) juice put in tank and cold-settled for a few
days. Once the juice was clear, it was racked off the solids to the
fermentation tank, and fermented separately, cold and gently,
for a month to absolute dryness, and then bottled the following
spring.
The Wine
A lovely pale yellow/green: in the glass it even looks crisp and
delicious. It smells like an apple that gave apples a good name
(before so many were bred down for conformity, blandness
and yield)...really sweet, ripe and alluring, yet always dignified,
with notes of lemon blossom, lime and cassis. When you taste a
wine like this it’s easy to see why Watervale has got such a lofty
reputation. And on the palate it’s got lovely depth and intensity;
2013 is a relatively generous wine for our Watervale Riesling.
There’s lots of really ripe apple, lemon and lime fruit and perhaps
even a whisper of something more tropical. In this vintage this
wine a definitely walking in the footsteps of the Big Fine Girl, at
a respectable distance though, of course: the 2013 Watervale is a
bridge between the opulence of the Big Fine Girl and the delicacy
and elegance of the Penwortham Riesling. Delicious now (of
course) but should cellar beautifully for ten years.
A few numbers
Alcohol: 12.7%
0.63g/L
Ben Jeanneret
WINEMAKER
pH: 3.03
TA: 8.42
Residual Sugar
2013 Riesling
Fruit
Penwortham is far less well-known than Watervale, its neighbour
to the south, but, like Watervale, it too can produce excellent
Riesling. We’ve been taking the fruit from this vineyard for years
and it’s always absolutely delicious; so delicious that we thought
we’d bottle some separately....it just seemed the right thing to
do.
Vinification
As with all our Riesling, the fruit is really carefully looked after
in the winery: gently pressed immediately on arrival, with only
the best (“free run”) juice put in tank and cold-settled for a few
days. Once the juice was clear, it was racked off the solids to the
fermentation tank, and fermented separately, cold and gently,
for a month to absolute dryness, and then bottled the following
spring.
The Wine
For a Riesling this is a very pale yellow-green and the subtlety
and delicacy of the colour are in perfect step with the wine. The
nose is fine and delicate but intense, full of zesty lemon, cassis
and pear fruit. And it’s the same story on the palate: the fruit is
delicate but intense; a butterfly’s wings run through with veins of
Kevlar. The zestiness makes the wine absolutely mouthwatering,
and, as with all our Rieslings, benefits from being drunk cool,
but not cold, to fully appreciate the depth of flavour. This should
thrive in the cellar, but it’s just so moreish right now. Drink with
the finest oysters available to humanity drizzled with a whisker
of fresh lemon juice.
A few numbers
Alcohol: 12.8%
0.41g/L
Ben Jeanneret
WINEMAKER
pH: 2.88
TA: 7.6
Residual Sugar