McLaren Vale 14.0% Screwcap $27 Source: Retail
Seems like I was writing a note on the 08 of this just the other day. You should be able to find it much cheaper than the above price. I wandered into a Vintage Cellars store, saw it had been released and grabbed it because it was new and I’m a Sangiovese fiend.
It needs time to settle but it’s good and may be better than both the 07 & 08 in time. At the moment the nervy acidity, which seems to be orange/citrus flavoured, is a little disarming. Smells of sour cherries, earth, tar, orange peel (and juice!) with vague suggestions of raspberry and lavender.
Light to medium bodied in the mouth, but its got some serious tannic impact. Nice and chewy, helping to delay the end of a long citric finish. A lick of chocolate and some aniseed and that’s the wine. I made the comment that the 08 tasted as much of McLaren Vale as it did of Sangiovese (not necessarily a bad thing) but this is clean, pure and driven by the variety. It’s been released too early in my opinion and I’ll need to revisit it, but if the acidity settles this should keep me very happy until the 2010 release gets rolled out.
ps- the winery website is still on the 07, so that’s the image I’ll give you folks. The label ain’t changed a bit.
Winery Website- http://www.coriole.com/
Jeez is that out already! I thought the same thing when I saw Charles Melton's 2010 Rose of Virginia at my local bottle shop about a fortnight ago, but like you said, it seems like only yesterday Coriole's 2008 Sangiovese came out. All these early vintages pushed along by the need to move wine certainly keep you on your toes as wine bloggers don't they JP?
Had a look at this on Friday night with a beef braise piled into a pie. Looked good. More Italian in tannin profile than the 2008. Acid looked fine – maybe that was time in the decanter. 08 Ravensworth marsanne with rabbit rillettes and then a soup of cress and roast jerusalem artichoke outshone the sangio though.
CP- 2010 Melton Rose is out?! It does keep you hopping…
Anon- I didn't get the chance to taste this over two days, so it was just double decanted. I found the acidity a little jangly, but maybe the second day would have seen further integration. Agree about the tannin profile being more Italian than the 08, loved it. I can understand why the Marsanne and rabit rillettes took top spot though. Sounds delicious.
cheers
j
Revisiting it tonight, 15AUG10, like your description of orange/citrus acidity, really feels like that. Though young, again as you say, I liked the whippet lean styling and super freshness, albeit at the expense of expressive fruit. Misses a little seduction and generosity for my mind. That being said, I'll get through the bottle, a good indicator.
Thanks Mike, I was wondering how it was travelling. It's certainly got its own charm without being an epiphany in a bottle. Like you say, not hard to drink but doesn't treat you like you're stupid. Nothing cynical about this one and at around the $19 mark, for which it's readily available, there's value and pleasure to be had.
Was about to send you a message saying this was right up your alley, but realised you'd already reviewed it
It's a actually a good reminder for me to revisit the wine Jesse, thank you. I'd imagine everything has integrated nicely by now. Hopefully those tannins are still nice and chewy