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Sunday, November 30, 2008

2001 Hutton Vale Grenache Mataro


This was a birthday gift from a friend of mine and I figured it would be worth opening.

A big and jammy nose – blackberry, super ripe plum, and a dose of chocolate.

At first, this was a bit of a surprise on the palate – I figured I'd be getting all sorts of fruit but the big thing that hits me right away is spice – black pepper and dried green spice – basil mostly. Loads of chocolate, or maybe more precisely carob, and some rich, black fruit, plus tobacco, and a punch of vanilla.

A menthol quality also comes through as the wine opens which is fairly potent on the mid palate as well as some heavy medicine/cough syrup qualities – this is a quality that in small doses I enjoy and I feel it's about right here – though it may turn some people off. After a few hours, the fruit comes forward right away and some interesting garbagey notes begin showing up.

Vanilla lingers for a while but raspberry notes stick around for well over a minute.

One of the finest wines we've had from Australia. Big and bold, but not absurd like many Aussie wines, excellent depth, and certainly a wine I'd recommend.

Wine: 9.5
QPR: Gift

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