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Pyramid Valley
Best Cellars, Crown Street
Tasted August 22, 2017 by chatters with 244 views
Introduction
My first tasting with Best Cellars was Pyramid Valley which I know they have been a big fan of for quite a while: I can remember seeing the wines there when I was still living in William Street.
Flight 1 (12 notes)
White
2015 Pyramid Valley Riesling Growers Collection Rose Vineyard
Quite pretty, floral top notes, ripe apple and slightly honeyed notes. Off dry, juicy with a little bitterness and mid palate grip - possibly from extended skin contact Touch of alcohol warmth on the finish and the fruit is a little more muted and the honeyed note is more to the fore. Hmm
White
2014 Weingut Heymann-Löwenstein Winninger Uhlen Riesling "R" Roth Lay
Far more mineral that the Pyramid Valley, meaty with some struck match, a slight herbaceous note and otuches of green apple and sweet spice Off dry but still tartly acidic with more obvious green apple fruit and plentiful mid palate and cheek grip. Yum.
White
2015 Pyramid Valley Pinot Blanc Growers Collection Kerner Estate Vineyard
Waxy, pear and pear skin, slight baked quite, muted spice. Juicy, spicy and quite tart, again some skin contact but les than the Riesling and, again, some non-intrusive though present alcohol warmth and, again, a little lacking on the fruit side. Hmm.
White
2013 Franz Hirtzberger Weissburgunder Smaragd Steinporz
More muted and meaty than the Pyramid Valley with slight ripe pear fruit. On the palate it's juicier with obvious sweet spice over the top of the muted pear fruit. Some mid palate grip as well. Hmm.
Orange
2016 Pyramid Valley Pinot Gris On Skins Kerner Estate Vineyard
Perfumed (rose petal), with touches of honey, lychee and muted melon. Also slight volatile acidity. In the mouth it's juicy and wet with incredibly soft tannins. Easy and quaffable. Rather pleasant.
White
2015 Pyramid Valley Chardonnay Growers Collection Sutherland - Till
Fresh herbs, muted citrus, slight wild ferment meatiness. A little butteriness and, perhaps, a touch of oak. It's juicy, buttery, and slight oak spiced over muted fruit and some front of mouth and mid palate burr.
White
2015 Pyramid Valley Chardonnay Field of Fire
Muted sweet spice, butter, slight peach, lemon and almost green apple, slightly leesy, yoghurty notes. In the mouth it's juicy, amost tart in fact, with apples over peach, slightly buttery notes and quite a bit of almost drying tannic grip. Fruit persists quietly beneath this. Hmm. Expensive at AUD 140
White
2015 Pyramid Valley Chardonnay Lion's Tooth
Medium minus intensity aromas of wild ferment, citrus, sweet spice, very slight butter and also earthy notes. Juicy and tangy…lemons and slight mandarin peel, a little butter and plentiful front of mouth grip. Fruit persists but, again, a bit expensive for what it is. Hmm.
White
2014 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles
Rich, buttery, polished oak over muted lemon and stone fruit. Juicy and quite sharp but without being angular. Big citric tang and then drying front of mouth grip. Quite 'big' compared with the pyramid valleys. The fruit persist boldly beneath this. Yum.
Red
2015 Pyramid Valley Pinot Noir Calrossie
Slight unripe red cherry fruit with floral top notes, also a touch of coffee. More of the same on the palate; coffee more to the fore. Perhaps a touch of ash as well. The fruit drops quite quickly leaving a little hollowness on the mid palate. Finishes a bit warm as well. Meh.
Red
2015 Pyramid Valley Pinot Noir Earth Smoke
Slight ash, slightly sour raspberry fruit, a little spice, pretty floral top notes, a tiny smoky note as well as some funkiness. Juicy and wet with muted & slightly sweet fruit and a fair amount of fine, silky textured tannic grip. Meh.
Red
2015 Pyramid Valley Pinot Noir Angel Flower
More ripe than the earth smoke, raspberry fruit over slight stalks. Perfumed notes, there is a touch of liquorice here as well. Juicy and fleshy. The quite subtle and elegant fruit slightly subsumed beneath the slightly rasping tannic burr. Long. Nice.
Closing
Of the first three I'd suggest that the 1 month on skins is the pick of the bunch…of the chardonnays I was moderately impressed by both the field of fire and lion's tooth which I found to be quite chablisesque - putting them next to the Leflaive wasn't fair. And of the Pinots it is the riper Angel Flower that was my preference. Of course at $140 each they're far too expensive for what they are.