Woods Crampton tasting and dinner

Ben had their entry level Barossa Shiraz which I thought was rather good so I decided to book into this tasting. Alas, when I arrived it proved to be a sit down dinner (though it was cheap as chips at $59)

warm, welcoming and weird, went well with the riesling. The Chardonnay is made by Mac Forbes but designed to be more fruit forward and approachable

• 2013 Woods Crampton Riesling High Eden

  Australia, South Australia

  Lime, mineral - wet stone, struck flint, sulphur, clean. Medium to medium plus intensity acidity that is tart rather than juicy, tiny touch of residual sugar for me, lime cordial, linear, very front to back. Hmm

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• 2013 Drake Samson Chardonnay

  Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

  Little bit reductive and closed. Also a touch sulphurous over peach, toast, cream and slight sweet spice. In the mouth slightly bitter stone fruit (peaches) and the bitterness persists on the medium length. There is a certain sweetness to the fruit but the bitterness is quite off putting. I set the wine aside until the end of the course (15 minutes) and the sulphur notes began to resolve themselves to reveal more defined and delineated peach, spice, toasted oak and vanilla notes butte bitterness still persisted on the palate which detracted from the experience. Meh.

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It's at this stage that I began to question the validity of the food matching. The Rose was savoury, pleasant and quite Provencal. The Pinot Noir is also made by Mac Forbes

• 2013 Woods Crampton Mataro Rosé

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Medium minus intensity muted red berry fruit, clean with very slight spice. More of the same on the palate - fresh, clean - I got a tiny touch of residual sugar here as well but I suspect that's my dodgy palate as the wine also has some front of mouth grip and a certain savoury but not unpleasant, toughness

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• 2013 Drake Samson Pinot Noir

  Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley

  Light red cherry and toast, spiced with touches of red plum In the mouth the wine has flavours of tart red currant and cherry. Bitterness and slight alcohol heat on the medium length. It's a little unyielding and ungenerous for me. Meh

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Lovely food, the walnuts were a nice touch. If it had been me I would have done the Pinot with this bracket and saved the Mataro, which was quite full on, for the next. The winemaker revealed that they use some Eden valley fruit in the Barossa Shiraz to give it a bit of zing and zip.

• 2013 Woods Crampton Shiraz

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Medium minus aromas of blackcurrant and black pepper. In the mouth the wine is savoury, pepper and juicy with chewy palate gripping tannin and touches of liquorice on the finish. Quite thick. Hmm

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• 2013 Woods Crampton Mataro

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Medium minus intensity aromas of leather, red berries, alcohol heat, cream, riper herb notes and spice. On the plate the wine is thick textured with chewy peppery tanning and medium minus intensity flavours of red berry, cream and vanilla which is joined by touches of mint on the medium plus length finish

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Nom nom nom…all very good here...

• 2012 Woods Crampton Shiraz

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley

  Black pepper, graphite, almost crushed rock dominates black over red berry fruit. In the mouth the wine I broad with chewy cedar notes, black pepper, savoury black (and touch of red) currant that lend a certain juiciness but also a touch of austerity. Perhaps this was harvested a little young?

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• 2012 Woods Crampton Shiraz Single Vineyard

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa

  Medium minus intensity aromas of green pepper and red berries with slight rhubarb notes over time. There are also aromas of spice cream vanilla and touches of blackberry. In the mouth the wine is savoury with rich black pepper, touches of mint and black berry - though the fruit is quite muted

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After my initial trepidation (I ended up swallowing rather than spitting...Small pours though, so my palate seemed to last okay) it proved to be a pleasant enough evening...the wines were all a bit meh for me though.