NobleRottersSydney - Coriole Wines with Mark Lloyd

The Noble Rotters gather in Sydney for the July 2003 dinner, with special guest Mark Lloyd, proprietor of Coriole Wines in McLaren Vale. It’s worth recording that Glenn is absent. Typical. Every 15 years he rings up sick at the last minute and cancels out. Well, it was his loss. The wines are all McLaren Vale-sourced, except for Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc in the first wine.

• 2002 Coriole Sémillon Sauvignon Blanc-Sémillon

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  60% Semillon. Pale straw. Fresh lime & gooseberry aromas, with some herby asparagus notes. Cool & refreshing on the palate – gentle acid lifts the wine and keeps it very clean. Medium length – not bad at all.

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• 2001 Coriole Sémillon

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  Pale yellow - clearly darker than the first wine. There are subdued grapefruit aromas, with some spicy vanillan oak, which I find quite dominant. On the palate it’s a bit lean, with plenty of prickly acid on the sides of the tongue, but still the oak seems dominant, despite only 20% of the wine fermenting in barrel. The spiciness doesn’t quite disguise the essentially simple nature of the wine. I find oak in semillon like a hair in the soup – perhaps I Have a Hunter Valley outlook on this variety.

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• 2002 Coriole Sangiovese

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  (tank sample) This has had some time in oak, and is in a partly-blended state. A wine made with late-picked grapes, and no added acid. Nor does it need it. On the palate it’s lean and peppery, with the same savoury, spicy characters that the nose exhibits. It is, however, very hot on the finish, attributable I think to fairly light-weight fruit and an estimated 14% alcohol. A bit coarse in its present state – but then its still unfinished.

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• 2001 Coriole Sangiovese

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  First bottle was corked. Second was brick red, with an earthy, gamey, almost pinot-like nose. Earthy and savoutry on the palate, again with pronounced acidity. There are bone-dry tannins, and again a hot finish on this medium length wine which none-the-less remains very much weighted towards the front palate. Not really my style of wine.

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• 2001 Coriole Cabernet Sauvignon

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  Apparently a sporadic release, this is a deep crimson red. It has strong primary fruit aromas of inky, iodine-like, mulberry tones. Tannins emerge almost immediately on the palate, along with some sweetish oak flavours. There’s a very dry, almost bitter, finish, which, surprisingly for a cabernet, remains around the centre of the palate. I let this sit in the glass a while, and over time the nose became quite sweet and candied. Acceptable, but a wine of no great refinement.

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• 2000 Coriole Cabernet-Merlot Mary Kathleen Reserve

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  Deep crimson red.. Ripe blackcurrant aromas – this is a step up! There’s some chocolatey oak underneath, but nicely ripe fruit dominates the nose. On the palate it’s a bit disjointed – fruit, oak & acid all jostle for pre-eminence at the moment. Time will no doubt meld the components together. I find this very well balanced, and even though it’s not yet developed much in the way of secondary aromas of flavours, its the most satisfying of the night’s wines for me.

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• 1997 Coriole Shiraz

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  A lovely dark red colour, this was described by Mark as quite a tough wine when young. It has some vanilla and chocolate on the nose – along with blurry, velvety, warm-climate characters. The tannins are soft, and the acid is persistent, but the wine seems to me just to lack enough richness to carry a powerful 14.5% alcohol. It’s not really more than a medium weight wine, and I can’t see it gaining anything with more age – it’ll just get hotter and hotter

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• 2000 Coriole Shiraz Lloyd Reserve

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  Deep, deep red. Somewhat to my surprise, there’s a real pongy earthiness on the nose here, which is accompanied by a pretty strong blast of oak – US I assume. On the palate the fruit is entirely subdued by the tannin & alcohol – here is another wine I find finishing very hot. I wonder if that’s the effect of a difficult vintage on the single vineyard from which these grapes come. Overall it’s disappointing, because I don’t think this will come together as a balanced package.

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