Authenticity is a funny concept, not exactly hilarious but odd when applied to wine and place. Just how do a bunch of grapes represent the place whence they come? The sort of daft question that distinguishes the wine obsessed from more sensible humans. In terms of the flavours a place can transmit through the simple ferment of sugar into ethanol, then old Wendouree does it better than most. Sure, climate change, method, style and fashion have had their way but the smell and taste of those old vines stay staunch. Malbec planted in 1898. More medium of body than twenty years ago, there’s still that wintergreen, mossy, mint and eucalyptus lift but only as a background to dark cherries and soft summer berries of profound depth. Flickers of rose perfume, spiced Dutch biscuits and fresh supple vanilla pod. The kind of chiseled acidity and tannin only the great vineyards produce, no room for excessive flounce. Wendouree seem to have added grace and subtlety to raw power. Very good of them to make things more approachable earlier as some of us run out of waiting time.
13.8% alcohol. Screw cap. $40 in 2014 on that precious mail out.
95 points.
Cognitive Bottle Therapy 