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For Your Pleasure
"For your pleasure
In our present state
Part false part true
Like anything
We present ourselvesThe words we use tumble
All over your shoulder
Gravel hard and looseThere all night lying
With your dark horse hiding
Abhorring such extremes" - Bryan FerryCategories
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Category Archives: McLaren Vale
2012 Chapel Hill Bush Vine Grenache
Usually my favourite wine in the Chapel Hill stable. Sweet raspberry, dark cherry and plum fruits. Plenty of spice and red strap licorice. Savoury trodden leaf balance. Hints of charred meat. Chocolatey, grainy tannin needs time to unwind but I … Continue reading
2012 Inkwell Infidels Primitivo
All American oak, 22% new. There’s a splash of Shiraz in here as well. Smells and tastes of custard coated plums, blackberries, kirsch and sweet coconut. A hint of blood orange. Creamy, liqueurous and more open-weave but the requisite strike … Continue reading
2012 Inkwell Road to Joy Shiraz Primitivo
The blend is 85%/15% respectively. Wild ferment as is the case with each of these Inkwell releases. Twenty-one months in French and American hogsheads. Purple fruits, plum pudding, Old Jamaican chocolate and vanilla with baking spice. The acidity feels slightly … Continue reading
Posted in McLaren Vale, Shiraz et al, Syrah et al, Zinfandel/Primitivo et al
Tagged Wine Reviews
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2012 Inkwell I & I Shiraz
References to a Bob Dylan song, Rastafarianism and Dudley Brown’s marriage to Irina Santiago last year. I tasted this with the happy couple over dinner when in McLaren Vale earlier in the year but no notes were made. A magnificent … Continue reading
2012 Master Blender Castro’s Ligador Shiraz Mataro
An extension of of the Mr Riggs Wine Co. portfolio from what I can make out. McLaren Vale fruit. Highly aromatic and jubey. Abundant blueberry, blackberry and plum fruits, French vanilla, minor mocha oak and strong, ferrous tannin. Crushed spice. … Continue reading
Posted in McLaren Vale, Mourvèdre/Mataró et al, Shiraz et al, Uncategorized
Tagged Wine Reviews
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2012 Coriole Galaxadia Shiraz
Old Tapley Hill formation, Seaview subregion. The latter is instantly recognisable to me when tasting the wine. More power and density than the Willunga 1920 Shiraz even if the vines are much younger. Blackberry and mulberry with plenty of raspberry … Continue reading
2012 Coriole Willunga 1920 McLaren Vale Shiraz
Another from 2012 Scarce Earth stable, obviously from the Willunga subregion. Geologically we’re talking the Christies Beach formation. Predominantly redcurrants which present in a oddly diffuse manner. Notes of chocolate and aniseed with Indian spice. Grainy, gum-creeping tannin. 91 Region: … Continue reading
2012 Chapel Hill The Chosen Gorge Block Cabernet Sauvignon
“I’ll miss the system here The bottom’s low And the treble’s clear” - Townes Van Zandt The Chapel Gorge Block Cabernet Sauvignon has always been a wine I’ve admired and the 2012 continues a run of strong releases. It smells of … Continue reading
2012 Chapel Hill The Chosen Road Block Shiraz
Many differences in relation to the House block. It’s simultaneously bigger and bolder yet more softly fruited. Mulberry, plums and raspberry coulis. Tighter tannin. Not as much length. Splays on entry but those tannins restrict and give form. I prefer … Continue reading
2012 Chapel Hill The Chosen House Block Shiraz
I popped these Scarce Earth wines (two from Chapel Hill, two from Coriole) in with a number of other 2012 Vale Shiraz for (blind) tasting purposes. The lesser influence of oak was easily identifiable yet not always a plus as … Continue reading