Erin Larkin

Hentley Farm The Beauty 2017/ ‘2017 was a nice year in that we got lots of winter rainfall in spring.  Solid crop levels.  Had to drop a fair bit of fruit.  Trying to find the balance.  Fruit weight was there.  It was, in the end, just about hanging in there.  3-4 weeks later on average than average harvest.  Longer hang time means the 2017’s were quite big wines.  Even VS odd years in the Barossa – odds are bigger more intense more tannic.  Evens are softer finer more elegant, cooler.

Hentley Farm was founded by Keith Hentschke who was working for Orlando back in the 90’s.  He asked around about setting up his new vineyard, and subsequently bought the property in ’97 and planted ’99 as he wanted.  Greenock creek runs through the middle of the property.  The Beauty vineyard sits down on the banks of the creek.  There’s cooler air and it’s on the eastern side of the creek, there’s gums down there which provide shade; it’s cooler in the mornings.  Slower flavour development.  Mid-low 14’s baume at harvest.’ -AQ

Shiraz aromatics.  White florals, pretty red berries – this is a beast in terms of intensity and concentration, there’s so much going on here.  The 2017 vintage conditions play a big role in the muscular expression of this wine. The length of flavour is prodigious.  Delicious.  Plenty of charm and life here.  Blood/satsuma plum, raspberry, pomegranate molasses. Blue fruits and slately graphity earthy characteristic.  Soft tannin.  35% new French oak (the coopers are selected based on their ability to provide tannin support without oak. aromas and flavours.)

Brave New Wines Magical Animal 2019 / What a beautiful, refreshing, exciting wine.  Highly recommend.  I ended up pairing this with a pumpkin, chickpea and pasta soup from my new favourite recipe book (Ostro), and it took it to all new heights.

If you’re not familiar with the Brave New Wine wines from Denmark, this is a really great introduction to what they (husband and wife superstar team Yoko and Andries) do.  If you’re on Instagram and you’re not following them, it’s an opportunity missed: Yoko does the incredible label artwork by hand – there seems to be no limits to her talents, and between the sequins, laughs, colours and family times, there is a swathe of wines to try – this being my favourite so far.  Unfortunately they are all too often sold out, so you do have to be a little savvy about how and when to buy.  I’ve got a little thing for the linen tea-towel too… I can see it hanging on my oven already. They do merch.  It’s fun. x

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Tasted blind:

“Wow.  Fino?  This has a Jura quality about it – rich and full, plenty of sea salt.  The palate is lifted, tight, salty, savoury….  This is funky and sets me on edge a little… but I like that”

Day 2: I pretty much love this.  Based on the beautiful hand-drawn label I’m expecting rainbows and sparkles and a My Little Pony purple tail.  In actual fact this is serious, minerally, savoury, salty, spicy, structured and super sexy.  Love the quenching acid.  I agree with my Fino/Jura vibe – it’s got whisperings of all of that… but it’s also very much Australian in its purity and glossiness of fruit expression.  Concentrated and more rich today.  Big yes.

95/100

SPANNING 41 YEARS OF MOUNT MARY (AND FRIENDS)
 Well I can say for certainty, this isn’t a common tasting to be invited too… and what a privilege it was.  I worked hard to assimilate some kind of cohesion on my notebook, but we are all very lucky I applied myself as well as I did, because the wines were distracting to say the least.  The notes below are as I wrote them last night.  I have been honest in my guesses – both right and wrong – and have recorded closures and points.

The host, Bob, had worked with Sam Middleton (Mount Mary) over the past couple of weeks to single out the best vintages to show on the evening, and Bob then matched to them, to some (very) interesting Western Australian and American examples, for context.

All wines purchased on release and stored in a subterranean temperature-controlled cellar from purchase.  Served blind, in brackets of two, except where stated.

CHATEAU MARGAUX 2017 / 89% cabernet sauvignon, 8% merlot, 2% cabernet franc, 1% petit verdot/ 100% new oak. Red currants, succulent and intense, also sweet… great harmony and choral resonance… I realise I’ve drifted off in my own thoughts with this wine… the flavour lingers so. This is BDX, it is the best wine we’ve had today (this week/month etc) and it is the reason why we seek to make and drink better wine. Holy crapola.

2017 GRANGE/ This 2021 release marks the 70th anniversary of Grange. Dense, dark, supple and quite beautiful this year. The oak is a major player, of course, but the bounty of red fruits on the palates sings in a louder voice than that of the dark, resinous and frankly charry baritone oak. It is hard not to make comparisons between this and a universe of stars… such is the kaleidoscopic thrust and pull of the galaxy of flavours on the palate. Forest berries, butcher’s meats, exotic market spices, peppercorns from the bush, all of it swirling within a midnight vortex of tannin and shape. Extraordinarily beautiful, perhaps more beguiling than the 2016 simply by virtue of its unexpected delicacy on the palate. I love this release. What a beauty.

100% shiraz this year – previously this occurred in 1951, 1952, 1963, 1999, 2000, 2011, 2017. Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale. 18 months in American oak hogsheads (100% new).

It’s not everyday you get to try wines made by someone who is… peerless.  Ed Carr is peerless in the Australian wine industry.  He is widely regarded as Australia’s greatest sparkling wine maker, and while his reputation preceded him, his wines absolutely spoke for themselves.

2014 Vasse Felix Tom Cullity, Margaret River, 99 points / “The red fruits shine here.  This is incredible. Raspberry, pomegranate, red apple skins, pink peppercorns, hints of strawberry, blackcurrant, mulberry, seaweed/nori (an injection of iodine, beetroot).  The tannins are polished, like whipped egg white: chewy and sumptuous.  The flavours extend through the palate and into the length.  Very very long.  I can write long after it is gone.  Alive.  Energy.  Doesn’t want to finish, it doesn’t want to let go.  It lingers.  Great depth of flavour.  Effortlessly long.  In fact… it needs the extra linger time just to make sure its covered all of its flavours and textures.  Super fine, powerful, long, structured and delicate.  Perfect.”

If this represents where Margaret River has come to, then we are indeed in a magnificent place.

To put this into perspective: Margaret River vintage charts are pretty bland – the range is very good to exceptional.  There are ‘typical’ years, ‘plush’ years’, ‘leaner’ years, ‘warmer’ years… but they’re all good.  They all age prodigiously.  The 86’s are still alive and kicking: not bad for a wine region which at the time, was trailblazing towards a brave new wine world.  In 2017, Margaret River celebrated its 50th year, and along with it, Vasse Felix, it’s 50th vintage.  2018 sees the release of the 2014 Tom Cullity.  Perhaps one of the best cabernets to come out of Australia. Perfect.  99 points (or 19.5pts).

80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Malbec, 4% Petit Verdot

(Slightly more Cab than the 2013, less Malbec, the same PV)

100% basket pressed / 100% whole berry ferment / 100% wild yeast / 24 days on skins / French oak barriques 62% new, 38% 1-4 year old, 18 months / Unfined

Penfolds Grange 2014 / 98 points / Wowee… after much (much) swirling to bring out the nose… summer florals waft out of the glass. Sun warmed pink bud jasmine, alongside charry oak and abundant red fruits… this is powerful, dense, layered and long. There is saltbush, nasturtium, crushed slate, raspberry, mulberry, red liquorice and an umami rich back-palate of hoi sin and soy, which pulls me in for another sip, more than anything else – like a curled and beckoning finger. It is restrained and closed right now; the flavours are all locked up, although there are symphonic red fruits rising already. The tannins are glossy and chewy. Grange spends 20 months in new American oak hogsheads. As Australia’s most famous luxury item, it is becoming difficult to distinguish the wine from the legend. How can it be honestly and critically reviewed when we know so much about it before we even start? It’s infallible – constructed like a Rolls Royce and priced accordingly.

Since 1981 when Devil’s Lair was established, the viticultural team, under the guiding hand of Simon Robertson, has overseen a site that is visually understated, yet stunning, with a varied landscape of undulating slopes, blanketed by vines and vegetation, supported by the cool, maritime climate of Margaret River. With a keen sense of the idiosyncrasies of each block, the microclimates within the estate and the ways in which each and every vine responds in different conditions, Simon brings a sense of continuity with what was originally envisaged, what Devil’s Lair has become and what the future holds.