Mountain X Hunter Valley Shiraz 2006
This is a wine where I think the score is irellevant so whilst I have scored it, it is more of a distraction from the tasting note so I am not going to list it. This wine is a trip down memory lane back to the old Maurice O'Shea days where Hunter Shiraz was blended with some Pinot (or whatever he could find) to make a wine that whilst approachable now, will age long term. I have no doubt this wine will age well into the next decade.
The two guys behind this (Campbell Mattinson and Gary Walsh) are not the winemakers, but are the custodians of Mountain X. Bright purple in colour; the nose smells like Hunter but has a lift which I associate with the Pinot Noir component of this wine. Plums, cherries, anice, strawberries, minerals and touch of spice all are evident on the nose. The palate is medium bodied with lovely fragrancy, anice, cherries and minerals on the palate. It needs to fill out a touch on the palate which I think will happen in time. It actually reminds me a lot of a Rhone Valley red and is a great first up effort. Anthony D'Anna
Deeply coloured; densely packed wine with dark fruits and plenty of leather; a long, tannic and drying finish; needs time to fully integrate. 13.5º alc. Drink now to 2016 90 points James Halliday Wine Companion 2009
Mountain X Wine Co is a modest and loose partnership between part-time wine writer Gary Walsh and friend and full-time wine writer Campbell Mattinson. It is more or less the direct outcome of Campbell's research for and writing of The Wine Hunter, the story of Maurice O'Shea of Mt Pleasant. Says Campbell, 'It's no secret that during the research and writing of the Maurice O'Shea story I came not only to love the man, the land he worked on and his wines, but Hunter Valley reds fullstop.' Discussions over appropriate glasses of wine with Gary Walsh made them wonder why shiraz pinot blends were so rarely made, and the only rational conclusion was that they should have wines made for them to their own specifications: the best possible grapes, large format French puncheons (only 25% new) and a percentage of pinot, which could only be obtained outside the Hunter Valley. This in turn has led to the idea of a Yarra Valley Shiraz Pinot Noir to join the 2006 and '07 Mountain X Hunter Valley Shiraz Pinots ('08 lost in the ever-present rain of that vintage). James Halliday
Note:
94% Hunter Valley Shiraz made by Rhys Eather from Meerea Park
6% Yarra Valley Pinot Noir made by Franco D'Anna from Hoddles Creek Estate
|
