Australian Wines Connoisseur’s Choice

Shaw & Smith Balhannah Vineyard Shiraz

This is the first release of this wine. Fruit was sourced from close-planted low yielding vines at Shaw + Smith’s Balhannah Vineyard in the central Adelaide Hills, planted in 2005. The distinctive site has always shown potential for a single site wine, and in this particular year the fruit was outstanding. It has a north-facing aspect and the soils are loam over clay, ironstone, quartzite and shale. Low yields are achieved by aggressive pruning and pre-harvest bunch thinning. 2013 was a fine growing season, with some warm days balanced by consistently cool nights. It was relatively dry and grapes ripened a touch earlier than usual. The weather leading up to harvest was also mostly dry, ensuring perfectly healthy fruit. The Shiraz was hand picked and fermented as predominantly whole bunches (70%) and the remainder whole berries, in open fermenters, with gentle plunging and minimal intervention. No berries were harmed during the making of this wine! It was aged in 500 litre French oak puncheons for fourteen months, followed by a further fourteen months in bottle. Crimson in colour with purple at the rim. The nose is very perfumed – rose petals, dried herbs, and red berries. Initially it’s generous on the palate, with boysenberry, mulberry, and blueberry notes. Then more layers of flavour and texture reveal themselves. Some cinnamon, some fennel seed, some rhubarb; fine but firm tannins that extend the palate, accompanied throughout by fresh acidity and intense perfume.

To see our full range of Shaw and Smith product go to https://www.auswinesonline.co.uk/product-category/shaw-smith/

For more information on the Shaw and Smith winery go to https://www.shawandsmith.com/

Shaw & Smith Balhannah Vineyard Shiraz – a great wine from a top class winery

Mount Horrocks Watervale Riesling

Mount Horrocks Watervale Riesling is a youthful lime green that will develop in time. The nose displays delicate spring florals and lime leaf. On the palate, crunchy green apple and crisp, vibrant and distinctive lemon-lime citrus flavours create a juicy and tangy mouthfeel. This wine is almost ethereally light and elegant yet it is worthy of at least a few years cellaring, if not more than a decade.

To see our full range of Mount Horrocks wines go to our dedicated Mount Horrocks web page

For more information on the Mount Horrocks winery go to their website.

Mount Horrocks Wines restricts production to approximately 2,500 cases per annum to achieve the highest quality single vineyard wines. All three estate-owned Clare Valley vineyards, totaling ten hectares, are ‘A grade certified’ by Australian Certified Organic (ACO).

Only estate grown grapes are used and these are hand-picked and gently handled under conditions that ensure the varietal and site-specific flavours in the resultant wine, as well as its organic status, are retained.

Mount Horrocks Watervale Riesling

Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Semillon

Vat 1 Semillon only ever comes from our best old vine, dry grown vineyards. These blocks feature ideal sandy, free draining soils that give these wines their unique character. The oldest of these blocks was planted in 1923.

The 2016 growing season was one that started with great promise with our wettest winter in nearly a decade. Perfect conditions for budburst and flowering were followed by an unsettled summer consisting of hot days and wild storms. Luckily, these weather patterns calmed down into one of the driest February’s on record.
Winemaker’s Notes
Handpicked in the early hours of the morning, the fruit is very lightly crushed and pressed before a relatively cool fermentation. Then the wine spent minimal time on yeast lees before being bottled early to maintain its freshness. No oak fermentation or maturation.
Tasting Notes
An inviting nose of citrus and a palate, which is the perfect mid-point between power and elegance. Typical Vat 1 fruit power which is balanced with the delicate acid profile resulting in a seamless wine that will enjoy a long life in the cellar with crisp acid that leaves the wine with a clean finish.

THE STORY OF WINEMAKER’S SELECTION
Murray Tyrrell created the Winemaker’s Selection range back in 1965, when, with the assistance of Len Evans, he set out to determine the best wines from each vintage. He named these wines after the casks in which they were
matured; for instance, the first Chardonnay we made went into cask number 47, so it became Vat 47 Chardonnay, or Pinot Chardonnay as it was then called. In 1974, having discovered that we had up to six casks from the same vineyard block that all tasted much the same, we brought the selection down to about 12 wines in total – a mixture of whites and reds. The early 2000s saw a further consolidation with the inauguration of the Sacred Sites range and the expansion of our Single Vineyard program. Today, the Winemaker’s Selections are estate-grown on the various blocks that form the wines that we believe best represent our land and house style. These wines are only bottled in years when we believe that the quality is high enough to meet our exacting standards.

To find out more about the winery go to http://www.tyrrells.com.au

To see our full range of Tyrrell’s product go to http://www.auswinesonline.co.uk/product-category/tyrrells-wines/

Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Semillon

Sands of Time Grenache by Thistledown

Sands of Time, Old Vine, Single Vineyard Grenache 2017
Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale
Early on in our Grenache journey, we were introduced to Sue Trott’s Home Block in the Blewitt Springs sub-region of McLaren Vale. It’s beautiful aspect, raised elevation and free-draining deep sandy soils are the perfect spot for drygrown bush-vine Grenache and we were so lucky to be offered the opportunity to purchase a little fruit. 5 years on and we have learned a little about the site and refined our picking decisions and vinification to the extent that from 2017 we were content that we could do the site justice by bottling separately.
Vintage Conditions
2017 was defined by the very wet winter conditions that preceded it and by the cool, unpredictable and sporadically wet vintage conditions. Careful viticulture with restricted yields and open canopies were essential to healthy development. A late season, up to 6 weeks later than 2015, resulted in wines of purity and tension

Viticulture
From grower Sue Trott’s Home Block in the Blewitt Springs sub-region of McLaren Vale. It’s beautiful aspect, raised elevation and free-draining deep sandy soils are the perfect spot for old dry-grown bush-vine Grenache.
Winemaking
Hand-picked, on the way up, we vinify naturally in concrete and place whole bunches alternately with de-stemmed fruit to create a layer cake. A very gentle, slow fermentation is followed by maturation in oak and concrete before a careful selection is done, which is then bottled unfined and unfiltered 10 months later. A faithful expression of the site.
Tasting
Sourced from our favourite vineyard in the world renowned Blewitt Springs subregion of McLaren Vale, this is a delightfully mid-weight wine whose subtle layers of fruit lend it a persistence that belies its appearance. Hand-picking and a very gentle winemaker process produce a wine that is a faithful expression of the site – beautiful, haunting aromatics, fine sandy tannins and wonderful, memorable length on the palate.
Alcohol: 14.5%
Total Acidity: 5.9 g/l
pH: 3.62
Residual Sugar: <1 g/l
SO2: 67 mg/l
Fining: None
Vegan: Yes
Vegetarian: Yes

To find out more about the winery go to  https://www.thistledownwines.com/the-story

To see our full range of Thistledown product go to https://www.auswinesonline.co.uk/product-category/thistledown-wines/

Sands of Time Grenache by Thistledown – great Grenache from an afficianado producer

Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon – a classic wine from a classic Margaret River producer

Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon -The 2020 Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon is a highly acclaimed, 95-96 point Margaret River red, offering a complex blend of blackberry, dark chocolate, and dried herbs with refined tannins. Aged for 18 months in French oak, this elegant, medium-bodied, and structured wine is a benchmark for the region, drinkable now or cellared.

The Premier Cabernet Sauvignon of Vasse Felix. This wine’s distinctive style possesses all the hallmarks of the finest Margaret River Cabernet; elegance, generosity and ageability. Made every year since 1972, it is Margaret River’s archetypal Cabernet Sauvignon.

Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon – Appearance

Deep ruby with a purple tinge.

On the nose

Immediately enticing bright forest fruits with deep blackberry. Hints of fresh baked bread crust, tomato and herb focaccia, earthy black truffle, iodine, ocean spray and
granite stone that opens up to some cranberry and rose petal.

Taste

Juicy, intense, and luscious on entry with fast building super fine and powdery tannin. It is soft yet solid, elegantly taut, and super-luscious with concentrated fresh raspberry,
vanilla pod and savoury nutmeg on the finish.

What the winemaker says

Cabernet parcels grown in Wilyabrup, (the coastal, mid northern part of Margaret River) on ancient, well drained gravel loam soils produce a wine of great varietal purity and
character. These wonderful, often tiny, vineyard sections were individually fermented using indigenous yeasts, with many experiencing maceration periods of up to 30 days.
Natural fermentation and extended maceration are coupled with traditional oxidative handling to clearly define the intricate personality of each vineyard site before blending.
Malbec remains a valuable component as it always has with our Cabernet Sauvignon. A hint of Petit Verdot brings a bright nuance and an extended long tannin profile with
Merlot, our fond friend in Wilyabrup that occasionally makes the grade.

Vasse Felix was established by Margaret River pioneer Dr Thomas Brendan Cullity in 1967 and is the region’s founding wine estate.

Dr Cullity’s original aim for Vasse Felix was simple – to make the best possible wine, and prove the untapped potential of a place that was hypothesised to be superb for fine wine growing. Through ingenuity and tenacity, he made Margaret River’s first serious wines in 1972; a Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec and a Riesling, marking a milestone in Australian wine history.

To see our full selection of Vasse Felix wines please take a look at our Vasse Felix webpage

For more information about the winery go to the Vasse Felix website

Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon

Shaw + Smith M3 Chardonnay – The Adelaide Hills produces some of Australia’s finest Chardonnay. Since it’s first release (vintage 2000) M3 Chardonnay has quickly established a reputation amongst Australia’s finest. Sourced primarily from the Shaw + Smith M3 Vineyard at Woodside which was planted in 1995 and takes its name from owners Martin Shaw, Michael and Matthew Hill Smith. A Sophisticated, barrel fermented wine with pure fruit character and restrained oak. Elegant and long living.

You can see our range of Shaw + Smith product at https://www.auswinesonline.co.uk/product-category/shaw-smith/

For more information on the winery go to https://www.shawandsmith.com/

Shaw + Smith own two vineyards in the Adelaide Hills, at Balhannah and Lenswood, totalling 55 hectares. The vineyards are planted to varieties that perform particularly well in the region, namely Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Shiraz.
Site selection is particularly important in the Adelaide Hills, with its diversity of altitude, aspect, microclimate, and soil. We also use a number of different cultivars or ‘clones’ of each grape variety, which contribute different qualities to the final product.

The Lenswood Vineyard, about 10km north west of the winery, is planted mainly to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, at 455 – 500m elevation. Undulating with east and west facing aspects, the soils are brown loams over clay with broken shale on the ridges. The vineyard was planted in 1999 and is 20 hectares in total.

M3 now comes from selected sites over the Adelaide Hills, not from the vineyard previously called M3. Pale strawgreen; it may be autosuggestion, but this has great freshness, vibrancy and finesse, the flavours pitched halfway between white peach/stone fruit on the one hand, grapefruit/citrus on the other. Obviously fermented in French oak, but is not obviously oaky.
97 points

Shaw + Smith M3 Chardonnay – a great wine from a superb winery in the Adelaide Hills, recognised everywhere for its quality and flavour.