Wine4Freaks

Here you find the ratings of the 2007 Medoc 4. Grand Cru Classé from Robert Parker, Decanter and Wine Spectator:

Here you find the ratings of the 2007 Medoc 3. Grand Cru Classé from Robert Parker, Decanter and Wine Spectator:

Here you find the ratings of the 2007 Medoc 2. Grand Cru Classé from Robert Parker, Decanter and Wine Spectator:

Here you find the ratings of the 2007 Medoc 1. Grand Cru Classé from Robert Parker, Decanter and Wine Spectator:

The “en primeur” campaign for the 2007 vintage in Bordeaux has now startet and the first prices for the wines, which will be delivered in two years, have begun to arrive in the marketplace. Wine4Freaks will the next couple of days update you on all the ratings from Robert Parker, Wine Spectator and Decanter and list prices from the major international wine merchants. So stay tuned for the 2007 Bordeaux campaign!

Maybe you haven’t heard about Kevin Mitchell? But he is one of the most talented Australian winemakers at the moment making wine at his own winery, Kilikanoon, in Clare Valley. I met him at a tasting in Copenhagen the other day where he presented some of his wines.

Kevin purchased Kilikanoon in 1997 after a career in some of Australia’s larger wine corporations. He opened the cellar doors in april 1998 with the release of the 1997 vintage wines. The winery and range of wines has continued to grow from 2000 cases in 1997 to now with more than 65.000 cases.

The range of wines includes the brands like Morts Block Riesling, Blocks Road Cabernet Sauvignon and the Oracle and Covenant Shiraz.

Over the next couple of days I will publish my tasting notes on the wines.

Clarendon Hills is owned by Roman Bratusiuk who arrived from Ukrain in 1950. The winery is just south of Adelaide and the vineyards are all old bush vines.  Clarendon makes only 100% varietal wines from single vineyards. The best known are based on Grenahce or Shiraz but also Cabernet is doing fine. I tasted the 2003 Cabernet Hickinbotham.

2003 Clarendon Hills Cabernet Sauvignon Hickinbotham
The color is intense black ink. In the nose you’ll find black currant, cassis, leather, mocca. It’s full bodied with extreme ripe fruit, strong tannins and with lots of power. It’s concentrated and intense but you also sense an elegant, underlying balance and softness. Should age a couple of years before drinking, but then a great and potent wine will occur.

94/100 pts.
€42 / $52

Radford Dale is a winery owned by Ben Radford and Alex Dale in Stellenbosch in South Africa.  The philosophy driving Radford Dale is to combine the old world with the new world and "to produce wines with as little pretense and compromise imaginable".  You can read a lot more about Radford Dale at their website The Fun Winery.

Today’s wine is the 2003 Radford Dale Chardonnay. Medium bodied with beautiful straight fruit and a steely, slightly mineral taste. Well rounded, with gentle oak and finishes with a soft, rich long and lovely aftertaste. Full of nuance and complexity - and very French inspired. This is like great Burgundy at half the price. Only 800 cases made of this wine which should be drunk over the next 2-3 years.

91/100 pts.
€15 / $19

Can a wine be complex and have 15% of alcohol at the same time? That was one of the questions Australian winemaker Ben Glaetzer met in a tasting the other day in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was presenting the newest vintage 2004 from his venture with Frank Mitolo - Mitolo Wines from South Australia. High quality wines, bottled only a few weeks ago and wines which will hit the shelves in November.  In fact the following ratings are among the first for these wines.

Mitolo Wines is one of Ben Glaetzer’s businesses. He is also involved in the family winery Glaetzer Wine, his own Heartland-range and at his winery in Barossa Valley he makes a total of 1.400 different wines for several Australian producers and wineries. Among the best known is Amon-Ra which has received high ratings from all over the world.

Mitolo Wines - Shiraz with complexity
I’ll have to start with answering the question from the introduction. Yes a wine can be complex and have 15% of alc. - why not? Complexity has nothing to do with alcohol but is about how the climate, the vineyard, the grapes - terroir - is represented in the wines. And the Mitolo wines are just that! They represent Barossa or McLaren Vale beautifully. They are  fruity and have lots of mineral and a certain “coolness” which is seldom found in wines from this area. They are not at all jammy or over extracted - in fact they have great complexity! And that’s one of the reasons they are great wines…

The 2004 is the 5Th. year for Mitolo Wines. The wine is sourced from vineyards in McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley - some with vines over 60 years of age. The production is about 420,000 bottles per year of which Apr. 280,000 go the entry level Jester wine. I tasted the following wines all from 2004:

2004 Jester Cabernet Sauvignon - McLaren Vale
This wine is partly made in an Amarone style with dried fruit. On the nose it has blackberry, mint, pepper and some roasted notes. It is medium-bodied with ripe fruit and a some oxidized notes. A bit special with a sweet but mouth filling ending.
88/100 pts.  - €15 / $18

2004 Jester Shiraz - McLaren Vale
On the nose you’ll find cherry, pepper, licorice and some plum notes. It’s medium-bodied with a delicious straightforward fruit and a nice balance and structure. Drink it over the next couple of years. Good buy!
90/100 pts. - €15 / $18

2004 Reiver Shiraz - Barossa Valley
The wine has a clear red-purple color. You’ll find cherry, mint, anise in the spicy nose. It’s full-bodied with good ripe fruit, very soft tannins and a spicy touch. This beauty ends long and with a certain coolness and a sweet touch. Drink it over the next 5-6 years.
93/100 pts. - €35 / $45

2004 G.A.M. Shiraz - McLaren Vale
A bit closed in the nose with hints of blackberry, cherry, licorice, pepper. Full-bodied with enormous delicious  and ripe fruit and soft tannins with an intense and concentrated palate. In the end you’ll find coolness and finesse and a very long ending. A super wine! Drink it over the next 7-8 years.
96/100 pts. - €35 / $45

2004 Savitar Shiraz - McLaren Vale
Deep and intense black purple color. In the nose blackberry, mocca, chocolate. This is full-bodied. A very powerful, intense and concentrated wine with a perfect structure and balance. Even though it is so intense it’s not without finesse and complexity. The ending is 60 sec.+. Give it a year or two in the cellar and enjoy it over the following 7-8 years.
97/100 pts. - €40 / $50

2004 Serpico Cabernet Sauvignon - McLaren Vale
The wine is made in an Amarone style, leaving the grapes to dry for 8 weeks on drying racks. Ben Glaetzer use this method in order to give the wine more substance in the middle. In the nose the wine shows cassis, pepper and vanilla. It’s full-bodied and rather powerful with a spicy touch and some sweet fruit notes in the end. A bit heavy - but no doubt a lovely wine.
92/100 pts. - €40 / $50

Bodegas Ochoa is also situated in Olite just south of Pamplona. It’s a family business with father Javier as the main figure as owner and enologist and son Alvaro taking care of the commercial part. The Ochoa name can be taken back to 1370 where it is mentioned in a document from the Queen of Navarra to the King of Spain.

Today the winery has 143 hectares (350 acres) of vineyard in the area around Olite.  It produces about 600.000 liters per year and has a full range of wines; rosé, white, young reds, crianza, reserva and a top wine - Vendimia Seleccionada.

My visit to the winery was a clear winner. Besides tasting the full range of Ochoa wines I also managed to taste some barrel samples of the newer wines. On the picture you can see Javier Ochoa pouring wine for me.

And we (the group I was traveling with) stayed for lunch at Ochoa’s. The lunch was held in the vineyards with a rustic grill from where we got some lovely lamb chops. Can you imagine a better place to taste and drink the wine?

Some recommended wines from Bodegas Ochoa:

Ochoa Tempranillo Crianza 2001 is a straight-forward, pleasant and medium-bodied wine. It’s structure is silky and it exhibits hints of tobacco, strawberries, and cherries.  I scored it 86/100 pts. and it’s a everyday wine to a price at €10 / $12.

The Ochoa top wine is Vendimia Seleccionada 2000 made from equal parts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The color is intensely deep red and you find nuances of cherry, plums and black currant. It has a velvety structure, is lovely silky but also has dark chocolate and vanilla notes. It’s one of the top 10 wines in Navarra and for the price of €30 / $38 its worth the money. I scored it 91/100 pts. Try it with lamb or a good steak.