Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Mourvedre
Professional Ratings
-
Australian Wine Companion
The 1853-planted Old Garden vineyard is thought to be the oldest mourvèdre vineyard in the world. Eight years ago I spoke at a symposium in Alicante and took along a bunch of Australian mourvèdre/mataro to show the winemakers and journos. This particular wine caused quite a stir, and the overwhelming response was that the Australian examples of the variety looked more European than European wines. It shows such amazing balance, tension and detail ... all meaty dark and black fruits, exotic spice, biscuity oak and amaro herbs. Savoury and wild, it is the benchmark for the variety in Australia for good reason.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Old Garden vineyard was planted in 1853, and these are the same ungrafted vines that were planted 170 years ago. Hailing from the warm, low-yielding 2020 season, this 2020 Old Garden Mourvedre is showing so much more oak than I was expecting. Earthy mulberries, ferrous, iodine and blackcurrant are buried inside an oak casket. Charry, resinous, sticky chai spice defines the oak, with a malt/Ovaltine quality in the mouth. The tannins are gritty and intense... perhaps all of this is a reflection of the growing season and the experience and trevails of these old vines. While this may well come together in time, for now this is too gritty and oak-framed for my taste. I'm here for the fruit.
Full of ripe fruit, and robust, earthy goodness, Mourvèdre is actually of Spanish provenance, where it still goes by the name Monastrell or Mataro. It is better associated however, with the Red Blends of the Rhône, namely Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Mourvèdre shines on its own in Bandol and is popular both as a single varietal wine in blends in the New World regions of Australia, California and Washington. Somm Secret—While Mourvèdre has been in California for many years, it didn’t gain momentum until the 1980s when a group of California winemakers inspired by the wines of the Rhône Valley finally began to renew a focus on it.
Historically and presently the most important wine-producing region of Australia, the Barossa Valley is set in the Barossa zone of South Australia, where more than half of the country’s wine is made. Because the climate is very hot and dry, vineyard managers work diligently to ensure grapes reach the perfect levels of phenolic ripeness.
The intense heat is ideal for plush, bold reds, particularly Shiraz on its own or Rhône Blends. Often Shiraz and Cabernet partner up for plump and powerful reds.
While much less prevalent, light-skinned varieties such as Riesling, Viognier or Semillon produce vibrant Barossa Valley whites.
Most of Australia’s largest wine producers are based here and Shiraz plantings date back as far as the 1850s or before. Many of them are dry farmed and bush trained, still offering less than one ton per acre of inky, intense, purple juice.