Visits to Most of the Cellar Doors in Coonawarra
Coonawarra
Tasted Saturday, July 21, 2012 - Sunday, September 8, 2013 by startinoz with 811 views
Introduction
Far from anywhere and with very little vineyard area not owned by TWE, Coonawarra is never going to be a fashionable, cutting edge region. It does make great wines though.
A few trips over a few months to Coonawarra netted these notes.
Flight 1 - Parker (3 Notes)
Small winery with a very impressive cellar door and equally impressive wines. A favourite of mine. Wines made by legend Pete Bissell at Balnaves.
Flight 2 - Leconfield (2 Notes)
A bit of a let down given my high expectations. Probably due to the wines mostly being 2011s. So they must be doing something right to have shifted so many older vintages (compared with their neighbours.)
Flight 3 - Brands (3 Notes)
A slightly more commercial feeling here. Owned by McWilliams.
Tried more single vineyard wines, but not on the CT database and too lazy to add them. Sorry! Nothing special, through. :)
Flight 4 - Redman (8 Notes)
Very old fashioned in every sense. That's good and bad. Extremely consistent (eerily!) They age well, too (the single varietal ones, at least.)
Flight 5 - Zema (5 Notes)
Quite a traditional producer here, though not totally dated.
Flight 6 - Rymill (3 Notes)
Quite a modern, commercial feel about this place and some of its wines. Gewurztraminer is a speciality of theirs.
Flight 7 - Balnaves
One of the big 3 along with Wynns and Majella. Like those 2, they make consistently high quality, modern wines. No notes taken. The Blend is a remarkably consistent and extremely good value for money wine. Even the 2011!
Flight 8 - Penley (6 Notes)
Hmmm. A touch quirky here. Not quite sure what to make of it. My scores could be a touch low.
Flight 9 - Majella (6 Notes)
Probably my favourite of the lot. There's a clear house style (similar to that of Wynns and Balnaves) to the wines: a bit fuller and round with a mouth watering bright, juiciness to the fruit. I liked the whole range. Musician being my favourite (cheap) cabernet-shiraz blend in Australia.
Flight 10 - Wynns (4 Notes)
These guys (and their owners TWE) own around 70% of the vineyards in the region. The cellar door is quite swanky if a little stuffy. The wines on tasting are few in number and there are very few of their 'special' wines (John Riddoch, Michael, etc,) available making Wynnsday at your local Dan Murphy is almost as good and avoiding a lengthy trip to far Eastern South Australia.
The current range isn't as good as previous vintages - but Wynns have high standard given their huge size, and the wines on tasting aren't bad. Black label cabernet my and many others' favourite cellaring cabernet.
Flight 11 - Bowen (2 Notes)
Very old fashioned cellar door, almost as basic as Redman. Even fewer wines than Redman - just three (including the very simple slightly wooded chardonnay), but the quality is a notch up.
Flight 12 - Katnook Estate (12 Notes)
Nice new cellar door. The wines vary from the mediocre Founder's Block (sic) to their very impressive flagship wines.
Flight 13 - Coonawarra Wine Gallery (7 Notes)
AKA TWE Coonawarra cellar door minus Wynns (up the road) and Penfold's (nowhere to be seen in Coonawarra!) It's rather a hodge podge of wines. Most very commercial stuff plus a few goodies, namely Seppelt's (from Victoria - go figure) and Lindeman's famous Coonawarra vineyards.
Flight 14 - Hollick (6 Notes)
I visited this cellar door after writing the rest of these notes. It does address the issue of updating the varietal mix. The wines are made in the mainstream Coonawarra style - bright, yet approachable.
The cellar door/restaurant is quite impressive. The wines good, if not top drawer.
Closing
Strangely, many of the highlights in this famous cabernet producing region were 5-10 year old shirazes. There's no doubt the cabernets are equally if not better wines. But they often need a decade to show their best. And unfortunately most wines on tasting were less than 10 years old. The merlots are pretty good, too. Who knows what varieties would flourish here if some trendy types were get creative. But, I can't see it happening in this Australian Old World wine region.
Value Tip: Majella's 'Musician' cabernet-shiraz (not 2011), Balnaves 'the Blend' Bordeaux varietals and Wynns Black label straight cabernet.
Tip to the region: Rip out the chardonnay and plant more new varieties.
2009 Parker Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Terra Rossa 93 Points
Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
(7/21/2013)
Good, typical Coonawarra cabernet. Great acidity.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2009 Parker Coonawarra Estate Merlot Terra Rossa 93 Points
Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
(7/21/2013)
Serious merlot. Good spicy, cinnamon oak. Red fruit. Good acidity. Will cellar superbly. Coonawarra's top merlot? 93+
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2005 Parker Coonawarra Estate Terra Rossa First Growth 95 Points
Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
(7/21/2013)
Superb silky mouthfeel. Earthy, top Medoc style justifying its grand name. Best cab/cab-merlot tasted on a 2 day trip to Coonawarra. Great.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue