Wines of the Week: Schools Old & New
Chris Ringland, North Barossa Shiraz, 2017
Vigneron Adrian Hoffmann and legendary Barossa winemaker Chris Ringland have been working together for more than 25 years. This North Barossa Shiraz is a blend from 12 growers around the Ebenezer sub-region in the North of the Barossa. Neighbours, friends and relatives of the Hoffmann Family make up the group, many having tilled the land for three or more generations.
Extended maturation sees the wine aged in 20% new & 80% seasoned oak for up to 4 years, the 2017 wine received 45 months prior to blending and bottling under cork.
This is old school, no apologies (and none needed) in-your-face Barossa Shiraz of the very best kind, big bold, but with a remarkable amount of poise, its like a bloody hippo in ballet shoes managing to pull off a decent Swan Lake! Its damned gorgeous, lashings of dense, dark, incredible fruit, daring you to stare into the abyss. There is raspberry juice, satsuma plum, and black forest berries, all swirling onto the palate in unctuous, slippery mouthfuls; complex notes of coffee bean, iron filings, axle grease, dark chocolate and pan spices adding to its irresistible charm. There is enough grunt here to drive a steam engine up a mountain but there is also enough class, grace and good manners to control its glide down the other side. Consumed at Ferment Asian in the Barossa and by the unanimous consensus of a table of 13 thirsty souls, it was the ‘Wine of the Night’.
97/100
Ochota Barrels, Where’s the Pope? Onkaparinga Hills, Syrah
Many words have been written about the amazing winemaker Taras Ochota and his partner Amber. A fearless and brilliant winemaker who created unique and remarkable wines. Much has also been written about his tragic passing from illness, at far too young an age. I want to celebrate and share with you a small part of his remarkable legacy, as just a couple of nights ago I enjoyed his Ochota Barrels, Where’s the Pope? Syrah.
The winemaking notes read, Onkaparinga Hills vineyard, planted on schist and clay in 1996, certified organic and dry-grown. 100% Syrah. Indigenous yeast. Mainly whole bunch fermentation. Eighty percent short gentle macerations with hand plunging, 20% extended carbonic maceration before pressing straight to seasoned French oak for a few months. Unfined and unfiltered, no additions besides minimal so2.
I found this a unique, almost exotic, and totally incredible expression of grape, terroir and personality of the winery and its winemaker. Aromas of plums, dried herbs, blood orange, mixed peel, a touch of beef broth and a whiff of gun-smoke. A medium-bodied wine, it is savoury and spicy in the mouth, with a core of ripe forest berries wrapped in a basket of dried herbs, closed out with gentle tannins and lively minerality.
There is an alluring amount of freshness and tension in the wine and it all comes together with food, (I enjoyed it at Vintners in the Barossa), As I poured my third or fourth glass I remember thinking to myself, eccentricity works wonderfully in the hands of virtuosity.
93/100
Mt. Difficulty Bannockburn, Pinot Noir 2022
A wine from a majestic producer of Pinot Noir in one of its finest regions, Central Otago, New Zealand. Mt Difficulty is one of the pioneers of the Bannockburn sub-region, today creating some of the world’s finest Pinot Noir from some of the region’s most mature vineyards.
The 2022 vintage was a warmer year in Central Otago, creating plump, ripe, flavourful berries. Clones were co-fermented, (mostly de-stemmed, with about a quarter as whole clusters) and all ferments were hand plunged. The wine spent 12 months in oak and was then filtered but not fined prior to bottling.
On tasting, here was a wine young, bold and utterly magnificent with aromas of ripe cherry, cranberry and pomegranate with touches of bramble, woodland spices and forest floor.
Juicy cranberry and dark cherry glide onto the palate, rich in the mouth with some sweet, juicy cherry at its core. There are very subtle undertones of cepes, game and spice, with some sublte, savoury tannins and plenty of vibrant, fine acidity. The wine is complex, with impressive length and an irresistible fruit compote aftertaste that lingers for an age. I tried the wine with duck at Mr Wong in Sydney and thought it was outstanding, both on its own and later with the food.
98/100
