Wine-Ark Cellar Club Tasting 7 - August 2012, Tapanappa and Terre a Terre, Rimauresq, Yering Station

Standard Wine Ark tasting with Gavin Lennard who, despite early promise, is beginning to love everything...Tasting notes were scrawled on a scrap of paper so a bit more patchy than normal

Petaluma wines grew on me enormously, especially when aged so I was interested in these. The Pinot was, well, woeful for me but the chardonnay and the merlot/cab franc jolly nice.

• 2010 Tapanappa Chardonnay Tiers

  Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Piccadilly Valley

  Butter, oak, sweet spice, melon, medium plus acidity, tangy and juicy. Apple, stone fruit - peach - bit warm and bit bitter on back palate but it is very good and only needs some time.

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• 2010 Tapanappa Pinot Noir Foggy Hill Vineyard

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu

  slightly jammy red fruit and contrary white pepper, bitter oak, ugh.

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• 2009 Terre à Terre Cabernet Sauvignon

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Wrattonbully

  Black fruit, bramble, cream, oak, mint, herbaceousness - touches of pyrazine. Juicy, slightly astringent (oak?) and black fruit.

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• 2007 Tapanappa Merlot Cabernet Franc Whalebone Vineyard

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Wrattonbully

  Leather, red and balck berry, tobacco, medium plus tannin, farmyard funk, it's a little taut but shows great aging potential. Very good.

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Lovely, fresh, well made white and rose. The 06 red was a bit overblown and clumsy.

• 2010 Rimauresq Côtes de Provence Cru Classé

  France, Provence, Côtes de Provence

  Vermentino/Rolle, 4-6 months on skin, glorious mouth feel, slight stone fruit and stony minerality. Slight alcoholic warmth but not so noticeable as to drag it out of whack. Bit short on the finish for AUD $35 but if I was in Europe it would be AUD 15 and I'd be buying a case or two.

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• 2010 Rimauresq Côtes de Provence Cru Classé Rosé

  France, Provence, Côtes de Provence

  Slight spiced red fruit, juicy, balanced, refreshing, and eminently quaffable. Lovely.

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• 2006 Rimauresq Côtes de Provence Cru Classé Rouge

  France, Provence, Côtes de Provence

  Jammy generic fruit nose and in the mouth massive tannin but the fruit doesn't come through. Meh.

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I love the Yering Station entry level stuff as daily quaffers - especially the chardonnay which is a bit of a bargain - but these were all over blown, young and fairly ugly, which was quite sad.

• 2010 Yering Station Chardonnay Reserve

  Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

  Oak water at the moment. Don't get me wrong, it's very good quality oak but it's lacking fruit at this juncture

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• 2010 Yering Station Pinot Noir Reserve

  Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

  Very young, very worked. Needs time. Not sure why it's for sale in this state. At AUD 90 there are an awful lot of Pinot in the marketplace and I don't think this is doing itself any favours

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• 2010 Yering Station Shiraz Viognier Reserve

  Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

  Black pepper, sweet spice, biting grippy oak, slight balsamic tone. Nah.

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Quite a good Wine Ark tasting - The Rimauresq wines were the best bracket but got nobbled on price.