Community Tasting Note
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Cabernetdialectic Likes this wine: 90 points
October 24, 2018 - Major points for the label. This is a 2015 Adelina Wines Mataro, the name used in Portugal for Mourvèdre... So naturally this hails from the Clare Valley, Australia, a region much better known for Riesling. This is quite nuts: Mourvèdre is notorious for needing a lot of heat to ripen, and Clare is known for aromatic whites precisely because of its cooler weather (at least in the Aussie context). How can this work? Well, it does. The style is lighter, almost a Beaujolais-like hue with a bright fruity nose to match. The vines are 80 years old, and the grapes spend 97 days on skins! The wine sees neutral wood for 12 months. The wine is not particularly meaty, as are many classic hot climate Mourvèdres. However, the varietal character is a slam dunk: blackberry, blueberry, black plums, bramble/dewberry, and some herbal notes that recall pipe tobacco and black liquorice. Although the wine is fruity, the black liquorice note, somewhere between anise seeds and salted Dutch candy, is hugely prominent and makes you realize that you are NOT in fact drinking Beaujolais. There is some red fruit in here too, again plums and maybe a whisper of pie cherry. As I keep sniffing I get more violets, a pinch of black pepper, potting soil, a curious and increasingly salient confected cacao note like instant hot chocolate mix. Medium acidity with round, powdery, ripe tannins. This is not underripe like you might worry. In fact, I feel the fruits are flashing some Mediterranean flair. Hey, Clare can do Shiraz rather well, and apparently this style of Mourvèdre ain’t such a stretch.
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2 Comments
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chatters commented:
10/25/18, 1:15 AM - Hi there,
great note. I concur, Adelina are kicking some serious goals with their wine making...
Just one thing, Clare Valley isn't cooler by Australian standards by a long shot - it has more heat degree days than e.g. Barossa Valley. The wines tend to retain freshness because it does get the benefit of a big diurnal shift, allowing grapes to retain acidity. Down here our cooler climate areas probably begin with Tasmania and then some of the sub regions in Victoria (Yarra, Beechworth) and then in NSW (Orange for instance). We also try for elevation for coolness as well in e.g. Tumburamba in NSW or the Alpine Valley in Victoria...
cheers, chatters -
Cabernetdialectic commented:
10/27/18, 3:25 PM - Great point! Should have done a better job conveying the diurnal variation notion! That probably explains why Mourvèdre has a fighting chance here.