Tasmania Wineries Jan-12 (1) - Coal Valley

The secret to finding Craigow open is to drive past after 11am… Anyway, good to be back after a few year’s hiatus and taste a high quality – and quite well-priced – selection of wine. They’re picking up various wine trophies and ‘winery of the year’ awards – it’s quite merited on the basis of their wines these days – and they’re decently priced too.

• 2010 Craigow Riesling

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {screwcap, A$28} Youthful floral/rose/musk nose. Dry palate, with soft acid; flavours of musk within a chalky texture; light-bodied, persistent mid-palate with a medium-length finish. Good wine and a buy for me.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2008 Craigow Riesling

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {screwcap, 11.5%} Lovely developing aromas of honey and lime. Zesty, mouth-watering acid (med-high level); a dry palate, light-medium in body with a nicely even palate. Oddly short finish; although this seems to have more action packed into it than the 2010, the finish is shorter. Perhaps in a phase – wouldn’t hurt to keep a while longer.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2010 Craigow Sauvignon Blanc

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {screwcap, A$27} Youthful and assertive green lime and gooseberry aromas with a touch of asparagus. It’s tartly acidic on the palate, with light flavours of olive and asparagus. Medium-length finish. Somewhat polarising style; needs oysters.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2010 Craigow Chardonnay Unwooded Craigow Vineyard

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {screwcap, A$23} Light restrained nose of peaches and cream. Lightly-oaked flavours of white-fleshed fruit and sandalwood, with a soft, even palate. It’s a neat little wine, quite well-balanced but a bit anonymous. A little more age will help, surely.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2010 Craigow Gewürztraminer

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {screwcap, 13.3%, A$23} Youthful, authentic nose of rosewater. The palate is dry and musky in flavour, with an almond note, but there’s plenty of acid, and the alcohol works well at this level. It’s medium-full bodied, with a medium-long finish; this works for me. Should age nicely, if past experience is any guide.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• NV Craigow Sparkling Merlot

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {cork, A$28} Sweetly plummy nose and flavours, with big but creamy bubbles on the palate. Not much tannin, but thankfully not too sweet either. Medium-body, medium-length finish; fair but not really exciting.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2008 Craigow Pinot Noir

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  noir {diam, 13.7%, A$29} Crimson colour; not too dark. Ripe, strawberry-style pinot fruits are quite intense; the palate is dry, with more raspberry/cherry flavours. Medium acid, fairly light on the oak, but with medium dusty tannins and medium-bodied weight; this is still fairly tightly wound but with generous fruit to promise development. Some warmth on the finish. This is a little simple now but I have hopes for the future. A buy for me, especially at the price.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2008 Craigow Riesling Dessert Riesling

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {375ml, screwcap, 9.2%, A$19} Barely-developed honey and lemon aromas precede a beautifully honeyed palate; all sweet lightness with gentle acid and moderate sweetness beautifully in balance. Medium length finish. For the shorter term – before 8 years old, probably – but well-priced for that. Another buy for me.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2004 Craigow Riesling Botrytis

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {375ml, screwcap, 10.3%} A lucky change to retaste this quite famous wine, which has collected plenty of show awards in its time. It’s now well-developed, with a burnished coppery note to the honey/lemon aromas, with that rich botrytis character. The palate is outstanding, evenly present right along the tongue, still with plenty of acid, bronzed-honey flavours, and a long, clean finish. A triumphant effort; although I’m a little surprised the flavours are so relatively advanced at eight years old; still the structure is otherwise perfect, and yet I’m not sure how much development is to come. Drink within 5 years to be safe, perhaps.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2011 Craigow Riesling Botrytis

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {375ml, screwcap, 8.0%, A$24} This is the first proper botrytis riesling since the famous 2004, but will it continue the pedigree? This has a very youthful floral and rose-like nose; botrytis characters are much less in evidence. Even with the very low alcohol, there’s a syrupy character to the palate; the sweet lemon-curd flavours seem to dominate fairly soft acid. In the end it’s medium-bodied, with a medium-length clean finish, despite the medium-sweetness. Rather simple now, it clearly needs 5 years cellaring; hard to assess at the moment. A buy on faith.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

This is located across the road in the ‘old’ Meadowbank complex. The home for both brands, plus Wellington, together with 2nd labels 42 Degrees South and Storm Bay, the Frogmore Creek is the pick of them for me. Although the ‘tasting menu’ changes daily, there are nearly 40 wines for sale here across the 5 brands.

• 2008 Frogmore Creek Pinot Noir Cuvée Evermore Rosé

  Australia, Tasmania

  {A$42} 100% pinot. Strawberry nose (surprise!) with a leesy influence. It’s dry, with medium-high acid, a rather grippy texture, with typical red fruit/pinot flavours, and fine bubbles. Medium-body, medium length. Needed more time on lees and could have been really special.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2010 Frogmore Creek Riesling FGR

  Australia, Tasmania

  {screwcap, A$24} Nose rather like lemon, lime & bitters. It’s youful, with a smoky tinge to the aromas. The palate is off-dry with medium acid, flavours are fairly floral and sorbet-like but with a steely aspect to them. Light-medium bodied; the sugar is noticeable but not overdone, there’s a medium-length finish. It’s a fair wine but doesn’t really grab you somehow.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2011 Frogmore Creek Sauvignon Blanc

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {screwcap, $A28} Labelled ‘fume blanc’. There’s some smoky oak apparent on the otherwise asparagus-smelling nose here. The might be some sugar here as well to fill out the palate I suspect; and the acid is pretty soft too. Green-tinged fruit flavours give the wine an assertive character, but overall it’s not a terribly exciting effort.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2008 Frogmore Creek Pinot Noir

  Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania

  {screwcap, A$36} A pure fruit nose along the strawberry line; no sign of stalk here. On the palate, the flavour are more sour cherry, the oak is subtle, there are medium tannins and medium-bodied weight. There isn’t great depth of flavour (yet) but perhaps because of the well-judged balance of this, it seems to add up to more than the sum of its parts. Medium-long finish; should benefit from another 3-5 years quite nicely.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2007 Frogmore Creek Pinot Noir Evermore

  Australia, Tasmania

  {screwcap, 13.5%, A$65} A flagship pinot that’s had everything in the winemaker’s armoury fired at it. Some wild ferment, some co-ferment with pinot gris of all things, some carbonic maceration. Throw in the manual, guys. It produces a nose of liqueured cherries, with a charcoal hint to the aromas. The palate is of dense, chewy pinot fruit, still quite primary in its broad spectrum of red fruit; there’s subtle french oak, an evenly balanced with finely weighted acid, medium tannins, medium-weight, and a long dry finish. Pretty nice wine, clearly in need of more time, but the price is barrier for me…

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2010 Frogmore Creek Riesling Iced

  Australia, Tasmania

  {375ml, screwcap, A$26} A fairly discreet nose of lychees and sulphur. The palate is hugely sweet, continues the lychee theme with plenty of lime as a flavour. I reckon it needs more acid, although it remains quite limpid in texture and doesn’t cloy at all. Medium-bodied. To be drunk in the shorter term, before any balance shortfalls become too obvious.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2010 Frogmore Creek Gewürztraminer Iced

  Australia, Tasmania

  {375ml, screwcap, 10%, A$26} Typically rosewater-like nose, overlaid with a touch of sulphur. Medium-sweet, with some tangy acid; lychee/musk flavours are a bit anodyne. There’s something of a confected feel to it that doesn’t quite ring true. Pleasant enough but not really convincing.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• NV Frogmore Creek Pinot Noir Ruby Pinot Noir Port

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {500ml, screwcap, A$24} A brandy-driven nose; no varietal definition here. Porty, liquorice-and-alcohol palate, shot through with quince; dry but hot finish of some length. Needs chocolate or stinky cheese I think.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

The cellar door was a bit under siege when I arrived, but the crowd gradually cleared. Wines here are coming along in leaps and bounds. Didn’t get to retaste the 2008 Family Reserve Pinot; release of the the prize-winning 2009 is imminent.

• 2008 Pooley Matilda Pinot Noir Chardonnay

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {A$40} Some development apparnet here; there’s quite a yeast/bread/cheese aspect to the aromas. The palate is dry, with medium-high acid, and some strawberry flavours joining the aromas on the tongue. There are fine, persistent and creamy bubbles, and although the wine has a clean crisp finish it avoids outright simplicity. 3 years on lees, and this is a very good effort; I hope there’s some awaiting late-disgorgement because it could be great.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2011 Pooley Riesling Margaret Pooley Tribute

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {screwcap, A$40} The bone dry riesling; musk and floral aromas, clean and somewhat restrained, precede a dry and crispy palate which does have a phenolic grape-skin quality to its texture. It’s light-medium bodied, but thanks to medium acid and fruit purity and blanace, manages a long finish. Nice effort.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2010 Pooley Riesling

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {screwcap, $A27} Generous lychee-smelling nose of medium intensity; the palate follows with musky & apple flavours. Good strong acid, a few grams of residual sugar contribute to the texture rather than flavour. Light-medium body, medium-length finish; drink any time over the next ten years.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2011 Pooley Late Harvest Riesling

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {500ml, screwcap, 9.6%, A$35} Almost transparent colour; totally restrained nose just hinting at some rose-like sweetness. The palate manages subtle guava & tropical fruits (no botrytis); it’s off-dry, light-medium bodied, with a zesty acidity and a clean, almost dry finish of medium length. Fairly low impact wine – I don’t really know where this is going. Rather pricey, too.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2007 Pooley Pinot Noir Coal River

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {A$35} Not a rose by any means, this is clearly a sparkling red. Light strawberry aromas. Not sweet at all, there’s almost a dry, bitter almond quality to the flavours here. The strawberry/pinot fruit has distinct leesy quality to it also, with furry tannins evident. Medium-sized bubbles. Sits rather on the front palate. Something of a curio that leaves me a bit bemused.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2010 Pooley Pinot Noir Coal River

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {screwcap, 13.5%, A$40} A dirt and tobacco nose with an undercurrant of cherries. An earthy, twiggy palate follows, with some stalk and black cherry; this is still very young and the flavours all jostle together. It’s all ‘medium’ – acid, tannin, body, length of finish – but it’s an authentic wine , not overpriced, which wants several years cellaring to knit together a bit. More than a simple fruity pinot.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2008 Pooley Pinot Noir Butcher's Hill

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {screwcap, 13.8%, A$35} From younger vines than its Coal Valley sibling. Nose of silky strawberry fruit. The subtle palate is driven by fine powdery tannins and blackish fruits. An earthy aspect to this gradually emerges; it’s all medium-bodied and with the extra couple of years has come together nicely. Still fairly polished, it coats the tongue with flavour right to the back palate and concludes with a medium-length dry finish. Plenty of time to drink this. And good value too.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2008 Pooley Family Reserve

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {screwcap, 13.5% , A$45} A herb-driven red – it’s 60% cabernet but that dominates whatever richness the merlot may be contributing as far as the aromas go – but in fact the palate tastes rather riper than you’d think. There is some plummy richness across the mid-palate, but there remains a coarseness to the medium tannins for me. It’s medium-bodied, with a medium-length finish; look it might come together well enough, but lacks the richness of the 2007 vintage.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

Idiosyncratic as ever, this 5000-case Domaine carries on with its quirky range of wines, hefty prices (for the flagships), and glacial new release policy.

• 2010 Domaine A Sauvignon Blanc Stoney Vineyard

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {diam, 13%, A$35} Restrained aromas of classic gooseberry; the palate is unoaked, with medium-high acidity, and a greenness that never quite seems like an unripe vegetal quality. There’s 12g/l of residual sugar; you’d never pick it from the taste. A quality wine that I still couldn’t pay that much money for…

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2008 Domaine A Lady A

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {cork, 14%, A$60} After three months on lees in a post-ferment barrel, this has all the solids quality to it you’d expect; the resiny note seems to have settled down since my last taste at Easter, but it’s still pretty polarising. There’s a guava aspect to the intense flavours; it certainly tastes better than it smells to me. Full bodied, not especially tannic, but still yeasty and oaky, with a medium length finish; I’d love to try Lady A with ten years on it just to see what happens. Meanwhile, not for me…

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2010 Domaine A Pinot Noir Stoney Vineyard

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {diam, 13.5%, A$35} The only wine in the portfolio not drawn solely from estate fruit, this is complemented by other local growers’ pinot. It has a rather chewy palate of oak-derived tannins and strawberry fruits, sits solidly on the front & middle of the tongue and has a medium-long finish. It’s nicely ripe but not overdone; the oak doesn’t show so much as flavour than texture. As ever with Domaine A, acid balance is the key. Rather too young to be other than somewhat brutal just now, this needs 5 years taming in a cool cellar. A buy for me, especially at the competitive price.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2007 Domaine A Pinot Noir

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {cork, 14%, A$70} Intense and mint-accented dark-chocolate aromas. Consistent on the palate; minty and fresh, intense and really coats the tongue with flavour. You don’t notice the components individually; the acid, tannin & fruit all dovetail together neatly. It’s still fairly primary and needs time; the minty character makes it a near-unique wine but past examples have aged well in my experience.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2006 Domaine A Cabernet Sauvignon Stoney Vineyard

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {diam, 14.5%, A$28} Just released. A little bit greenish (leaf, herb) but polished. Thirty-three months in oak hasn’t dulled the cassis fruit, nor left a terminal oakiness, rather there are fine tannins and a hint of smokiness to the flavours. Medium-full bodied, and with a medium-long finish, this is a considerable step up in ripeness from the 2005 which I tasted right afterwards, and a good pointer to some riper vintages of the flagship cabernet in future years.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2005 Domaine A Cabernet Sauvignon Stoney Vineyard

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {diam, 13.5%, A$28} Another retaste since Easter, and I’m even less convinced by this. A little darker and softer on the nose than the 2006, but the palate is really just too green and sappy. Well enough made, but there’s just too much DMS running through this to drink more than the odd glass. Buy the 2006 instead.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2005 Domaine A Cabernet Sauvignon

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {cork, 13%, A$70} With all of 4000 bottles made, this is the usual controlled selection of Estate fruit blended, as always, with small quantites of the other 3 bordeaux varieties (M, CF, PV). A beautiful nose of pure cassis, a grand palate that’s right on medium-bodied but intense, finely tannic, with great evenness of flavour. Even at seven years old it’s very primary still, with a long finish that still only reveals a fraction of the wine’s potential. Very much nodding towards great Bordeaux, this needs another ten years in the cellar. I breathed hard and put down money for a bottle, but I think the 06 will be better. One to keep and wait.

  Post a Comment / 2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2004 Domaine A Merlot

  Australia, Tasmania, Coal River

  {cork, 13.5%, A$85} There’s considered to be enough top merlot not needed for the cabernet blend to make this separate bottling in ridiculously small quantities (and at a price to match). This is current release, and the 2005 is imminent, a mere 7 years after vintage! This does actually look 8 years old, with a distinct brick tinge to its rim. The nose shows developing aromas of currants with a bracken hint; the medium-full bodied palate echos this with some classic plum/cherry flavours. The palate is even, with medium tannins and acid, and there’s a medium-length finish. The 05 cabernet is the better wine; this is certainly more advanced, but my experiences with the wine have been quite inconsistent (as has the oxygen each has seen prior to my tasting) so I won’t make a call. The winery newsletter says drink 2009-2019; hard to argue with something as broad as that…

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

Every year, the wines from the Coal River (and Tasmania generally) are getting better.