Out Of The Bottle
With David Ellis Very Special Red For Very Special Occasion Very
special occasions call for very special wines, and up there with the
very best special-occasion reds is Mount Pleasant’s 2005 Hunter Valley
Maurice O’Shea Shiraz. Hand-nurtured from the start with the
selection of individual bunches of fruit from 125-year old vines on the
Old Hill Vineyard, through the winemaking process and into bottle, this
wine was first created in 1987 as a tribute to legendary Maurice
O’Shea, and his recognition of the special partnership between soil and
varietal, site and style, and vineyard and individual winemaking
expression. 2005 was an excellent vintage in the Hunter and Mount
Pleasant’s Chief Winemaker, Phil Ryan used this to full advantage,
crafting a wine that would surely bring a sparkle to Maurice O’Shea’s
eye if he were around today: it has beautifully rich blackberry and
plum fruit flavours to the fore, nice layers of spice and velvety
tannins. It is classic Hunter Valley Shiraz, reflecting its
origins in the heavy, rich, volcanic soils in the Old Hill Vineyard
that O’Shea purchased back in 1921 from the King family, who had
planted it to vines in the foothills of the Brokenback Range way back
in 1880. Well priced at $65 for a wine of such finesse for that
very special occasion, match it with roast duck, a red currant jus and
seasonal vegetables.
One For Lunch
Spring
frosts followed by above-average temperatures during the growing season
resulted in reduced yields in Coonawarra in 2008, but rewarded makers
with fruit of great flavour-intensity. One such was Katnook
Estate’s Wayne Stehbens who produced a beautiful Sauvignon Blanc from
this topsy-turvy vintage: it has subtle herbaceous and mineral notes
and a nice richness on the palate – don’t look past it at $28 to go
with oysters, prawns and a warm crusty baguette, or spicy chicken or
veal dishes.
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