Wine Reviews

Ratings Key

Outstanding (Score range 95-100)

Often an internationally recognised, leading brand or winery – but not always! Produces a classic wine that is a faultless representation of the style/variety. Complexity on the nose and a seamless palate are an example of the hallmarks of an outstanding wine.

Highly Recommended (Score range 92-94)

A quality focused wine that has plenty of style. Length of palate and intensity are often key characteristics of highly recommended wines. These producers could be the ones to watch in the future.

Recommended (Score range 89-91)

An above average well-made, reflection of the style/variety, which often represents good value for money.

Rating

Category

Region

Price

Vintage

Printhie Wines

High altitude chardonnay grown on basalt soils. Citrus and minerally flint, wet stone driven nose. Elegant wine with gentle peach stone fruit and ripe citrus notes. A touch of nutty lees flavours producing a gentle round palate with a medium finish.

RRP: $40

Printhie Wines

Texture driven gris with plenty of nutty pear aromas and flavours. Creamy, viscous, firm palate with well balanced acidity that produces a good length and finish.

RRP: $32

Printhie Wines

A blend of riesling, gewurztraminer and pinot gris. Nose is nicely dominated by rose petal and musk. Palate is creamy, textured and round supported by some gently lifted citrus flavours. A touch of sweetness at the end producing a long, moreish finish. Delicious.

RRP: $40

Castle Rock Estate

Intense, perfumed red with punchy red fruits such as redcurrants. In addition it has herbal hints, stemmy notes and a touch of reductive sulphur rounding out a complex nose. Silky, smooth palate, light bodied, red cherry flavours with a complex and attractive middle palate savouriness. Medium finish. Accomplished wine.

Rating: Outstanding

RRP: $52

Castle Rock Estate

Perfumed new oak with lifted red cherries as well as floral, dried herbs, smoke and a hint sappy. Overall a nicely complexed nose. Palate is fine and dry with powdery tannins, cherry ripe, yet savoury, flavours. Light bodied delicious pinot with a long satisfying finish. Good stuff achieved with only 12.5% alcohol.

RRP: $44

Lark Hill

Bags of red fruits with cooked strawberries, cherries and raspberries. Medium to full bodied with more ripe flavours of maraschino cherries, dark chocolate, plums and touches of Turkish delight. Fruit driven? definately.

RRP: $40

Koerner

This is blend of 70% Cabernet 20% Malbec and the rest made up of Sangiovese and Grenache. Rich fruit driven wine with black cherry dominating. Super smooth, elegant medium plus body. Seamless palate. Enjoyable wine.

RRP: $50

Tahbilk

Prune, touches of pepper, with vanilla and hints of eucalyptus and earth. Smooth elegant palate medium boded with blackberry flavours that build as it aerates.

RRP: $73

Tahbilk

Toasty, honeysuckle, with lemon and lime aromas. Minerally palate that is tight offering plenty of lemony acidity. I feel this wine needs more time to develop, perhaps another 10 years!

RRP: $45

Majella

strong liqueur plum and dark cherry fruits with a touch of vanilla and a slight aged note. Rich full bodied palate with soft tannis and light leafy Coonwarra edge

RRP: $35

Coriole

Floral rose petal, baby powder and talc on the nose. Primary fruit driven wine that is fresh and vibrant with plenty of acidty.

RRP: $23

Chateau Tanunda

Peach, apricot, honey, buttery and cashew nut driven nose. Vanilla and buttery creamy palate but with some well balanced acidity to produce some lemon overtones. More on the softer side, but attractive, and will appeal to more traditional chardonnay drinkers.

RRP: $40

Tahbilk

Lovely pristine strawberry, raspberry and floral driven nose. Fresh and lightly fruity on the juicy palate. Dry, clean and well balanced enjoyable rose.

RRP: $22

Tahbilk

Delicious wine with a touch of bottle age. Lemon sherbet, Rose’s Lime Juice cordial, lanolin and honey on the palate. Long palate with concentrated slightly pithy lemon, but creamy and honeyed on the finish. Soft palate but refreshing all the same. You would pay twice as much for a semillon from the Hunter for an aged unwooded white of this quality.

RRP: $28

Primo Estate

Aged wine available from cellar door. Lovely earthy, soft leather, cedar and raisin fruit on the nose. Smooth yet powerful wine with a minty, herbal warm middle palate and a textured tannin driven long finish.

RRP: $156

Primo Estate

Single vineyard wine from a cooler site in Clarendon. Earthy, medicinal and cedar oak driven nose. Smooth nicely textured palate with well integrated oak and tannins. Rich minty with touches of primary fruit. Fine grain, stylish tannic finish. Impressive wine.

Rating: Outstanding

RRP: $100

Primo Estate

Deep aromas of blackberry and cassis. Lovely primary fruit driven nose. Rich, plush, chocolate and licorice fruit flavours on the front palate. A powerful wine with lashings of black cherries and after dinner mints as it advances along the palate through to a long finish. Interesting wine with 30% of fruit cane cut and then passed over the Moda lees. Well priced for what is on show.

RRP: $40

Primo Estate

lifted perfume and black cherry aromas. Sweet front palate with touches of cooking spices flavours. Soft tannins, medium bodied driven by primary fruit.

RRP: $28

Primo Estate

floral citrus textured with fresh acidity. Light bodied with flavoursome minerally finish. Well priced import from Italy.

RRP: $25

Serafino Wines

Perfumed and red fruit driven with a hint of earth. Plush red cherries and raspberries on a medium bodied framework. Elegant with a touch of warmth on the finish.

RRP: $40

Coriole Wines

soft sweet red fruits on the nose. Round, elegant with a plush middle palate and a dry, well balanced textured finish. Fine example of Australian Sangiovese.

RRP: $75

Coriole wines

An aged wine stull for sale at cellar door. Lovely juicy well balanced wine with mint, blackberries flavours and a powdery tannic finish.

RRP: $80

Coriole wines

Black cherry, earthy, cedar oak aromas. Textured and elegant but firm with mint and leather flavours. Well balanced acid and tannin. The wine has a medium plus long finish.

RRP: $110

Coriole

Top shelf intense powerful, brooding wine. Rich concentrated with a depth of blackberry and plum fruits, supported by some perfumed violets and mint. Textured with mouth puckering tannins and a long finish.

Rating: Outstanding

RRP: $120

Freeman Vineyards

The wine had lovely aromatics of pear and apple. It has 6gms of residual sugar but tastes dry and fresh a hint of nutty texture brought about by some partial barrel fermentation and lees stirring of the base wine. Offers more than your normal prosecco.

RRP: $30

Freeman Vineyards

Rich dried fruit, raisin & sultana nose. Oxidised aged notes, but not, which makes it an enigma on the palate. Some residual sugar but fruit driven rather than sweet. Despite its massive 17% alcohol it is not hot, maybe warm. The more it opens up the more you see a Recioto intensity and richness driven by dried fruit flavours. Amazing mouthfeel. Made from semi dried corvina grapes wild fermentation by the ‘Prunevale princess’ the so called wild yeast from the region. One of a kind in Australia.

RRP: $95

Freeman Vineyard

Rich botrytis nose displaying apricot, honey and ginger notes. Rich, sweet, intense full bodied wine with bags of honey on the long finish. Simply delicious and moreish. Make room for this wine.

Rating: Outstanding

RRP: $30

Freeman Vineyard

Leafy, floral, rose petal and earth nose. Cherry and earth driven flavours on the medium bodied palate. Powerful cheek hugging plush tannins on the long finish. Impressive wine that will only get better with age.

Rating: Outstanding

RRP: $55

Freeman Vineyards

Floral notes with cherry and dried fruits. Medium bodied palate with soft powdery tannins. Red cherry acid driven middle palate, with a firm, dry, savoury finish. Nice wine, great varietal example.

RRP: $30

Freeman Vineyard

Earthy, hint tobacco and mint nose. Mulberry, blackberry, flavours around a medium bodied framework with soft tannin on the finish. From the Altura vineyard and vines with over 40 years of age. Great value for money.

RRP: $25

Freeman Vineyards

Hints of cola, black fruits, blueberry and earthy old barrel elements. Blueberry, black fruits take over the palate which is medium bodied with a dry chalky tannic finish. Well priced for the quality on offer.

RRP: $25

Freeman Vineyards

Pale bronze colour. Rose petal nose with hints of red fruits. Fresh light bodied with some barrel fermented influences providing the texture. Dry, intense strawberry fruit flavours, good acid. Made from rondinella grapes with some reserve wine add from the previous year. Attractive wine well priced.

RRP: $25

Freeman Vienyard

Shy nose with touches of dried herbs, lemon and some barrel fermented oak notes. Creamy, dry oak influenced wine on the palate. Fleshy, well-balanced acid. Long finish. This is the first release.

RRP: $30

Freeman Vineyards

Pear and apple nose. Dry, textured, savoury and fresh on the palate with nicely handled malic apple acidity. Flavours last for a long time on the finish.

RRP: $25

Freeman Vineyards

Interesting winemaking with part held on skins for 20 months and part fermented as an orange wine. Fleshy stone fruit, some orange and citrus notes. Dry, textured, creamy palate driven by savoury and nutty flavours.

RRP: $30

Printhie Wines

This chardonnay and pinot noir blend has a lovely apple citrus and stone fruit driven nose. The palate is nutty, with hints of brioche, fresh and zesty with a elegance that puts it above other Australian sparkling wines. A wine that is built to further mature in the bottle and gain more complexity.

RRP: $70

Cape Barren Wines

Plenty of action on both the nose and palate. This wine see both French and American hogsheads for 24 months and 15 days of skin contact. Nose ranges from prune to blackberry, earth to new leather, charcuterie with a touch of struck match. Rich black fruit driven plate that is full bodied and seamless with well integrated tannins. Intense warm finish and a touch aldehydic. A wine which can be enjoyed now or built to age.

RRP: $150

Cape Barren Wines

The nose is full of cherries, plums with touches of toasty oak. Palate is medium to full bodied with warming alcohol, rich stewed fruits and vanilla. Overall a smooth fruit driven wine and what I’d expect from this blend in McLaren Vale.

RRP: $30

Cape Barren Wines

Strong primary fruit with black cherries, blackberries supported by rich vanilla pod oak. Full bodied, smooth and rich palate with more ripe black fruits as well as some cooking spices and liquorice. Warm, long finish produces a wine that is great to drink now but has potential for ageing for up to 10 years.

RRP: $60

Cape Barren Wines

Black plums, black cherries and strong vanilla oak delivers a classic Vale nose. Super smooth palate with more black fruits. Full bodied wine that has plenty of length due to a nice lick of tannins. The finish is slightly warm, but is very long lasting.

RRP: $60

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