A Taste of Australia: South Australia (1).

The wine regions of South Australia form a ring around the City of Adelaide and include among the most well known regions and districts like Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley, Eden Vale, Clare valley, Coonawara, Padthataway, Mclaren Vale and Wrattonbully. More than half of all Australian wine is produced in South Australia, including many of the country's best known Shirazes, Cabernet Sauvignons, Chardonnays and Semillons.

For this first, premium wine, tasting, review and rating feature of such a large country cum continent such as Australia, I have chosen two award winning, limited release, exceptional red wines, produced by the same winemaker, from vintage harvests of the Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon grape varieties from the regions of McLaren Vale and Wrattonbully respectively.

These wines are the:

(yellow tail) by Casella Wines - McLaren Vale Shiraz 2004 - Limited Release;

and the:

(yellow tail) by Casella Wines - Wrattonbully Cabernet Sauvingnon 2004 - Limited Release.

Both these wines showcase the great winemaking talents at the Casella winery as well as the terrific vineyard resources the family draws upon from these two, of Australia's great wine producing regions. Wrattonbully is on the Limestone Coast and shares the neighbourhood with Coonawara to the South and Padthaway to the North West. These regions are renowned for their massive success with World Class harvests of Cabernet Sauvignon. McLaren Vale with its loamy soils is renowned for the finest Shiraz, for which Australia is acclaimed for all over the world. Shiraz has long been a variety that Australia produces with excellence, in fact this country, boasts the second-largest plantings of this grape variety in the world.

1. (yellow tail) by Casella Wines - Mclaren Vale Shiraz 2004 - Limited Release.

This wine has been internationally recognised for its excellent quality and concentrated flavours, and has been awarded the Gold Medal 2005 in the Royal Old Wine Show as well as more recently the highly prestigious Syrah Du Monde Gold Medal 2007.

The Syrah grapes for this wine were harvested from fifteen year old, vines from the Currency Creek and Mclaren vale regions, which are well known for their loamy soils which provide good moisture for the vines to ripen the fruit quickly and consistently. The Mediterranean type climate with the moderating influence of the sea in these regions, help to temper the summer heat. Vineyards like these are rare, and in turn make super-premiun wines.

On arrival at the winery , the hand picked grapes are de-stemmed, crushed, fermented on the skins, pressed and clarified before undergoing natural malolactic fermentation in new American oak barriques. This vintage was racked and blended into tanks before returning to oak for maturation. Final bottling took place with minimal filtration and no fining.

This wine is deeply concentrated fruit, full-bodied, with a deep dark red colour . It has aromas of ripe black cherries, blackberries, and chocolate, accentuated with fragrances of pepper and spice. A sweet aok aroma is also present.
On the palate it is crammed with ripe fruits and berries. It is complex with well structured tannins and a good balance and an alcohol content of 14% complete this wine.

RATING: RS93 POINTS.

2. (yellow tail) by Casella Wines - Wrattonbully Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 - Limited Release.

This is another award winning, presitgious and top quality, premium wine from Casella Wines, having been awarded the Gold Medal in the 2005 Royal Old Wine Show.

The grapes for this wine were sourced from low yielding vines from the vineyards on the Terra Rossa soils of Wrattonbully, a region that is accalaimed for its World Class Cabernet Sauvignon.

The wine was part barrel fermented in new American oak barriques and was left in oak for 18 months to give a perfect balance of fruit, oak and wood and a softly rounded feel in the mouth during maturing. Prior to bottling the wine was minimally filtered with no fining.

This Cabernet Sauvignon is a highly elegant wine, full bodied, dark red in colour, giving a dense palate of blackcurrant and plum, integrated oak and fine, sweet and long tannins. It has a bouquet of ripe fruit, black cherries and spearmint. The structure is fine and complex with a long and lingering finish conversant with the vintage Cabernet fruit.
Alcohol content of this wine is 13.5%

RATING: RS91 POINTS.



The wines showing the prestigious  gold medal awards.

 The price range for these two wines is around $50/Eur40

Food pairing for both the Shiraz and the Cabernet Sauvignon: All kinds of red meats, beef especially braised, grilled, roasts; Aged fine cheese; Roasted duck, game and game birds; Lamb, braised, grilled, roasted or full rack of; Prime beef steaks especially with pepper sauce; Tuna, venison.
Strictly no white fish or seafood.

A taste of South Australia -Quality at its best.

Aging potential for both wines: 10 to 15 years in a good cellar.