2011 Wines

We love top-notch Clare Valley Riesling here at Cracka and this is a blinder showing all the cool climate personality of the 2011 Clare Valley Summer. Lashing of vibrant citrus fruit flavour finishing crisp, bright and long – a Summer drinking special for sure. Go long.

The standard 'estate' level Pinot Noir from Ashton Hills, this is a classic wine that deserves all the accolades it receives. Bright fruit, sappy Pinot characters and proper tannins. Such a grown up, serious Pinot Noir that actually tastes like Pinot. Top stuff.

The pinot noirs of Ata Rangi are what wine enthusiasts go bonkers over. It's very French in it's style with highly appealing aromas of florals, spiced cherries and hints of mocha, along with a touch of white pepper. The palate is medium-bodied with red and black berries at its heart, licks of savouriness, tight acidity, fine tannins, and a long, spicy finish. This little puppy will live and improve for a few years.

If you're looking for great Riesling in the depths of southern WA it's hard to go past the various iterations of the Bellarmine Pemberton Rieslings. This particular wine is made in an 'Auslese' style which references the Pradikat system used by German winemakers to describe fruit ripeness (and hence sweetness). Auslese style wines are thus rather ripe and typically made with considerable amounts of residual sugar, as evidenced by this intensely sweet if still contained sort of wine, one that carries its sweetness with well enough acidity to keep fresh and bright and vibrant. A wonderful wine really and one that is just full of flavour and intrigue. It took a German couple fascinated ...

There’s no doubting the appeal of Sauvignon or Savvy as it has become and while we are used to seeing it from the Margaret River, this one from Pemberton is worth the fuss. Just what you’ve come to expect from the variety, lots of vital gooseberry and passionfruit aromas that makes your palate start salivating. Pair it with an Asian dish like Pad Thai or fresh seafood and see how the complimentary flavours of citrus and tropical fruit marry harmoniously. No wonder Sauvignon Blanc is still the most popular white variety when it’s east to drink as this.

Brookland Valley is one of the Margaret River’s most awarded wineries and this Chardonnay is a shining example of what the region does best. Forget what you think about Chardonnay being the daggy grape of the 80’s as it’s back with a vengeance. It displays complex stone fruit with notes of grilled notes and pastry thanks to time in barrel. The palate is textured with detailed citrus notes, good natural acids and extraordinary length.

Classy labelling, classy packaging and a classy wine - all of the boxes are ticked here with this Cape Mentelle Shiraz, easily amongst the best Margaret River Shiraz around. What makes it great is the persistence, length and savoury goodness, those meaty plummy dark fruit flavours wound up in a serious structure just begging for red meat and deserves to be cellared.

For what you get in the bottle, this offering from Cape Mentelle is excellent value. Inspired by the wines of Bordeaux, it's a medium to fuller-bodied, fruit-forward wine that shows scents of mocha, blackcurrants, tobacco leaf and hints of mint on the nose. The palate is lush and smooth with a fleshy plummy centre, fine, lacy tannins, poised acidity, and a dry choc-coated fruit finish. It will cellar for years!

Are you a Savvy purchaser? This question has a distinct double meaning because it refers to whether you like to buy sauvignon Blanc and do you like it at a keen price. This is at the premium end of Marlborough but what you get in return is a wine of vitality and freshness that shows off just how good the style can be. It’s full of citrus lift with floral hints and underscored by wild herbs before delivering an intense and textural palate with great balance and length of flavour.

Chapel Hill were one of the first Australian wineries to make an unwooded Chardonnay, which spawned a spate of imitations. Well, they do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so Chapel Hill must have been doing the right thing byappealing to a host of people who were bored of over-oaked Chardonnays. This is focussed on the fruit, combining the best of McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills, it’s textured and focussed, driven by citrus and balanced by perfectly formed natural acids.

You may think you know the taste of Sauvignon Blanc, but the true taste of French Sauvignon Blanc comes from Sancerre and this style is very different to the styles coming out of New Zealand and Australia. The flavour profile relies more on the minerality of the soils, which are clay and limestone in origin. This edgy wine has a complex nose of florals and berries with a hint of red fruit at the edges. Full in the palate with citrus flavours of orange and grapefruit, hints of stonefruit before a refreshing, dry acid finish. A candidate for oysters or grilled white fish cooked simply with just a squeeze of lemon.

The Barossa has a fine tradition of working with old vine Grenache and the Vincent is made with 80 year old vines that contribute extraordinary character. Marcus Cirillo is known as the guru of Grenache as he’s keenly committed to the style and makes it in a time-honoured manner using a basket press and open fermenters. It’s full of rich fruit and peppery spice and a nicely rounded mouthfeel with a luscious, lingering finish.

This elegant, richly fruited wine comes from a single vineyard spot on the famed Gimblett Gravels in Hawkes Bay. She's the 'It girl' of chardonnay with lots of stone fruits, melon and florals with a lick of nuttiness. The palate is tight, dry and creamy with crisp acid and a finish that just keeps dancing on the tongue. It's a class act that will drink well now or over the next 4-5 years. Why not try it with some fresh crab from the fish markets - it'll go great!

Unlike most of their countrymen, Kiwi winemakers believe the ultimate prize is crafting a classic Pinot Noir (not than winning the Rugby World Cup). New Zealand’s Craggy Range has reached the winemaker’s pinnacle with their 2009 Te Muna Road Pinot Noir. This cracking good Pinot has a perfumed nose, with layers of dark berry flavours and a long silky finish. It’s the perfect wine for Peking duck.

Bright straw with vivid green hues. Aromas of lychee, lemon, rose and jasmine combine for a very attractive nose. On the palate a tango between sweet tangerine and lime infused acidity provides great balance. A talcum powder like texture moves to a flinty, mineral stone noted finish.

You’ll have a Crowded House when you crack open this smart savvy from Marlborough. No-one will be able to resist the taste, the vitality, the utter refreshment when this has been chilled to perfection. It’s layered in citrus, passionfruit and redolent of lime leaf and lemongrass. Zesty with the refreshment of a citrus granita, a core of sweetness but refreshing, clean acids, this wine just needs a summer’s day, and some seafood to shine.

The wines of Vanya Cullen have been a pivotal part of the Margaret River’s dominance when it comes to the red blending of Cabernet and Merlot. There is a real passion behind this label starting in the vineyard that are all farmed biodynamically to ensure pristine quality. 2009 proved to be another stellar vintage in the West and the aromas of redcurrant and plum are scintillating precursors to a sumptuous palate. It’s firm and elegant with a seamless tannin profile before a long, balanced finish.

As ever this is a cleverly made wine, pushing the boundaries with a little whole bunch wickedness and a careful selection of old and new oak, making for a thoroughly intriguing McLaren Vale Shiraz.

Absolutely Eden Valley through and through with its delicate but infinitely refreshing fruit flavours balanced on a knife edge with fine, zesty acidity. A cracker from the 2010 vintage, which is shaping up as the best in some time.

Here's another pure fruited, unoaked wine from Daniel Dampt to get the tastebuds racing. This one will have you thinking you are smelling a big basket of Granny Smith apples once you stick your snozz in the glass. It will then follow up on the palate with zippy, lemony acid before a dry, mineral finish. The winery recommends giving it a couple of years in bottle and drinking it with snails, but if that doesn't take your fancy, crack a bottle now with some freshly shucked oysters.