Here is a selection of top shelf wines that has really impressed wine writer Paul Ippolito lately.
Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay 2006
Tight, elegant, classy and with finesse were my preliminary observations of this being one of Australia’s finest examples of Chardonnay. The stone fruits exude along with the creamy melded oak. Oatmeal, cashews and almonds follow with a mineral edge as well resulting in a clean lineal structure to the palate. A tad leesy with lovely complex light butterscotch on the palate with a long fulsome finish making for very delicious drinking.
Drink to 2013. About $65. 96/100 – Superb.
Etude Pinot Noir 2006
This Napa Valley Californian Pinot Noir has spectacular aromatics. The strawberries, cherries and raspberries really abound and leap from the glass, along however with underlying savoury nuances of red earth, mushrooms and game. The balance between the two is just right. Burgundian in style, yet still distinctively from its place of origin from vineyards in the Carneros Appellation, it is a Pinot lovers Pinot Noir that will engender popular appeal. The alcohol is good and in check, adding with the fruit characters to produce a wine that has elegance and restrained power. This reflects on the palate with its seamlessness and a finesse that augurs for a delicious drinking experience. Try this with roast duck.
Drink to 2012. About $70. 95/100 –Superb.
Campbells Rutherglen Muscat
This is just sensational stuff. Deep toffee, all complex and fully aromatic subsuming the senses. Luscious, soothing and potent fruit impart with softness and with mouthwatering acidity. Full bodied flavours on the mouthfeel – nutty, honey, caramel, molasses and raisiny dried fruits. Thick and viscous on the finish – this is truly glorious drinking.
Drink Now. About $17. 97/100 – Superb.
Lenton Brae Chardonnay 2006
They say that mornings are the best time to taste and assess wine. I say its Friday night myself, after a long hard week at work, and after you have kicked back a few refreshing and palate cleansing ales. Wine just seems to taste so much better on a Friday night. Anyway here is my take on this very decent Chardonnay from the MargaretRiver that really hits the spot in relation to quality and value as well as balance. The stone fruits are classically varietal ones and are mixed with oatmeal, vanilla and cashews, all delivered in an elegant manner. The palate rewards with soft seamless acidity and delicate oak, all promoting balance and harmony. Anyway the length is oh so long and a tad creamy but also finishes with some citrine undercurrents and is ever so moreish. Try it with pad thai noodles. Oh and yes I did enjoy this wine on a Friday night but I reckon I would have any night!
Drink to 2011. About $45. 95/100 – Superb.
D’Arenberg The Dead Arm Shiraz 2005
This is the pinnacle wine in the D’Arenberg range. Classy and elegant, deep spicy red and black fruits, upfront at first then integrating well and seamless oak, some hints of coconut oak. Blackberries, plums, cherries and blackcurrants with smooth fine tannins – this one needs time and will develop beautifully with it.
Drink to 2025 plus. About $80. 95/100 – Superb.
Howard Park WA Chardonnay 2006.
Tight stone fruits from this excellent WA Chardonnay from one of Australia’s finest wine producers. Hints of lees add to the dimension and complexity of the wine, along with citrus overtones etc, touches of oatmeal, wet stones and a certain minerality that only adds to the classiness and elegance of it. Soft smooth peaches and melon provide a delicious mouth feel. An elegant and classy wine that is flavoursome, long and rounded in the finish.
Drink to 2016. About $38. 93/100- Excellent.
Charles Melton Voices Of Angels Shiraz 2005
This is a stunning red from Charles Melton, artisan winemaker from the BarossaValley. Opulent, intricate, complex and exuding succulently deep robust aromas from its black and red fruits. A good level of spiciness adds a dimension to the fruit as does the coconut sweetish oak, providing a long velvety smooth finish with coffee mocha notes and a hint of gaminess. Try it with stewed beef.
Drink to 2020. About $55. 95/100 – Superb.
Grant Burge Meshach Shiraz 2003
This is top shelf red wine drinking folks. Deep dark dense and robust – a thinking man’s Shiraz with complexity, gravitas and substance. A really well put together Shiraz with decent upfront quality black and red fruits along with spiciness, well integrated oak, fine tannins and a very good structure. Well rounded smooth and velvety and seamless on the palate, the glass just keeps calling out, pour more please. A wine that you should enjoy with a loved one.
Drink to 2018. About $90. 95/100 – Superb.
Wolf Blass Grey Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
Inky deep purple and exhibiting its youthfulness well, the aromatic blackberries and blackcurrants exude along with blueberries and spicy plums. The fruit is pure and succulent with an underlying mintiness and earthiness. Classic in composition along with seamless light cedar oak, the mouth feel is glorious sooth and luscious. Highly drinkable now but a good lay down bet for the future.
Drink to 2020. About $40. 96/100 – Superb.
Charles Melton Nine Popes 2005
Deep and dense, even a touch raw and youngish. Blackberries, stewed plum pudding, coffee mocha, blackcurrants and liquorice all exude from the aromas. A youthful and aromatic red with a soft well roundedness and smoothness and elegant classy style to it. Seamless fine tannins and good oak augur a promising future.
Drink to 2020. About $55. 93/100 – Excellent.
Yarrabank Cuvee 2003
Fine, elegant and yet well developed. Very tightly knit bubbles. Citrussy lemons and green apples, with a toastiness yet also imparted with a hint of honey that makes for a balanced lively invigorating sparkling wine. This is a classy drop of bubbly that really delivers on all levels, its fruit focused lean style, its neat acidity, its clean elegant structure and a long creamy length of finish. Try it with lobster tails.
Drink to 2015. About $35. 93/100 – Excellent.
Howard Park Cabernet Merlot 2004
Howard Park really know how to do Cabernet. They also know how to blend. Together it comes therefore as no surprise as to how really good this Cabernet Merlot blend is. Just pure deep dark succulent luxuriant blackcurrant fruit on the nose, with a touch of ripe plum, red cherries along with classically varietal cigar box nuances and some subtle earthiness. A balanced highly drinkable wine that is every so seamless and smooth on the finish, the red and black fruits melded highly well, not velvety smooth more elegantly fine smooth. The oak is there in sync with the fruit and augurs for a long future. Drink with roast beef.
Drink to 2024. About $75. 95/100 – Superb.
Jim Barry The Benbournie Cabernet Sauvignon 2002
This is from the place in South Australia where Jim Barry planted his first Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in 1964. This old vine mature Cabernet Sauvignon demonstrates excellence in winemaking. You take a smell of it and you think straight away, yes, this is what a Cabernet is all about. Glorious brooding blueberries, blackcurrants, blackberries and plums. The fruit is solid upfront and seamlessly imparted along with a distinct and yet supporting mintiness. A spiciness addes the complexity of the red, all up delivered on the palate smoothly and with gravitas. A wine of substance that is just spot on drinking now. The oak and the tannin structure is such that it will continue develop but seriously with its current form, it demands and commands drinking now. Try it with lasagna.
Drink to 2018. About $90. 93/100 – Excellent.
Pikes The EWP Reserve Shiraz 2005
Named after patriarch of the Pike family, Edgar Walter Pike, this is a sumptuous red wine. Delicious black fruits ensue. Deep, dark and dense as well as intense in composition. Inky purple youthfulness stains the glass. A luxuriant impressive wine with melded and integrated oak, lashings of milk chocolate, liquorice and ripe plums as well as cherries and blackberries on the finish making it a ripe juicy full bodied style of Shiraz, albeit with class and a very good structure. Smooth velvet tannins augur for a long future as we. Try it with roast beef.
Drink to 2020. About $70. 95/100- Superb.
All Saints Estate Rutherglen Muscat
This is heavenly drinking and not just because I am writing this in the dark, by candlelight (a big storm has just passed and we are sans light). But yes it is Sunday as I write this. And this might just be the sort of wine you would want to take a few cases of as you one day transcend the pearly gates (hopefully) – and even if there was some initial reluctance I reckon even the big fella up there could be swayed, by a taste or a bottle or two of this stuff and a good dose of last minute forgiveness might be forthcoming. This is special stuff – Rutherglen Muscat, no less, and made by All Saints, an establishment that has been making it for quite some time now. So please folks humour me more than usual when I allocate the points to this one, justifiably so – and remember this Muscat is special.
A divine nose. Powerful, complex and luscious. Deep and intense. An impressive set of aromas – intertwined seamlessly. Polished persistent deep fruit – pure smooth yet distinctively Muscat. Thick and dense, long and warming. Nutty oak, smoothly imparted. A hint of cinnamon, nutmeg and all lightly spiced. Honey, toffee, molasses and golden syrup, then coffee ensue and envelope the senses both nose and mouth then mind. Figs and nougat as well, viscous, smooth, warming and all encompassing on the palate – yet balanced and not cloying. This good folk has it all. Try this on your own and make sure no-one else of adult age is around – you have been warned.
Drink Now and all through this Winter. About $20 – 375ml. 97/100 – Superb.
Wolf Blass Platinum Label Barossa Shiraz 2005
I don’t believe in reviewing wine blind generally however the price tag of $160 does feature heavily in the back of the mind when reviewing then writing about this wine. Is it worth it? – is the constant question – you just can’t get the price tag out of the mind as you are assessing this wine. Is the quality there and high enough to justify the price tag and even if it is, does it constitute value in the relevant dimensions, are the other questions. Hard calls to make all of these. But upon review, contemplation and a great deal of reflection (as well as a fair bit of consumption over the last few days), I am willing to stick my neck out on this one and say it does deliver on all fronts and probably is worth price tag, as one of Australia’s most expensive wines.
Deep dark dense inky purple – the youthful vibrancy is clearly there. Dark black fruits – blackberries, blackcurrants and blueberries, really deep and intense. A robust wine still in its infancy, with edges of raw character with hints of black liquorice, aniseed and edges of cedary oak off the aromas. Having said that what dominates is the purity of the fruit, really pure and showing the black fruits off in a tremendous light. Soft pure smooth round mouth coating seamless fruit dominates the palate, in a really positive way. Balanced and just delicious in the mouth feel, it does not have any of those edges of youth that come through on the nose. Indeed this is drinking very well now, with fine tannins lingering and a tremendous length. Raspberry, plums and blackberries dominate the finish and there is a fair bit of oak present as well as alcohol for that matter but not in any distracting way. Try this with Greek lamb.
Drink to 2025. About $160. 96/100 – Superb.
Lillypilly Fratelli 7
Sounds like a movie title but it’s not one. Rather it is top quality fortified wine drinking from Rob Fiumara and the Lillypilly team from Griffith in South Western NSW. This wine is a blend of vintages some going back to when the winery opened back in 1982. The blending of these wines is what culminates into Fratelli 7 which commemorates the work of founders Pasquale and Angela Fiumara and their 7 sons, thus the name. It is named after the late Domenic “Mick” Fiumara, the eldest son. Anyway the luxuriant smooth rich luscious nutty characters and the age this has on it just makes this superb drinking, especially in light of the cooler weather. In a perfectly half bottle size, it is also the perfect after dinner accompaniment.
Drink Now. About $22.50 - 375 ml. 96/100 – Superb.
