As a general rule The Granite Belt 2018 vintage produced very good fruit weight but not as big as some of the 2019’s and same applies to the tannins. However the defining feature of the 2018 wines is impeccable balance and on this factor alone many of them will outlive the 2019 wines. Of course it can be false prophecy to assume you can tell a wine what it will do and I’d be happy to be proved wrong by some of the 2019’s.
This I believe is the best Nebbiolo to ever come out of Ballandean Estate, I only grabbed two and I’ll be going back for more. Black cherries in the well and a glowing bright red cherry meniscal presentation.
A bouquet filled with intrigue and interest offers roses and a combination of tar and earth with tobacco and old leather and a kind of savoury herb garden all encircling a redolent patch of red and black cherries.
The palate is long and seamlessly smooth and luscious, its flow laps and licks and gently sloshes your taste buds with a savoury wave carrying red and black cherries, earth and leather, cured meat and granitic rocks and stones. This lovely palatal wave besots you with a teasing tasty tangle of lip smacking enjoyment which also contains freshly ground black peppercorns and is enhanced and amplified by superb long lasting very fine drying ferrous tannins which have a pencilly graphite like feel.
Granite Belt Nebbiolo has certainly come of age, if you enjoy Nebbi’s I do strongly suggest you purchase no less than a 6 pack of this wine and let it age. The label says ‘drink now to 8 years’ – that is such a conservative statement! Nebbi lovers who only purchase 3 of these are setting themselves up for some extreme grief when they finish their 3rd bottle.
I’m blessed with a local source, in Brisbane, of the Stanthorpe ‘Boss Meats’ for Organic Grass Fed Produce. This wine was a total delight with slow cooked Osso Bucco with preserved lemons and limes from Mavis Kitchen on Mt Warning Road NSW.
Tasted: Friday 4th June, 2021 without food and then with over several hours.
Alcohol: 13.4%
Closure: ProCork
Price: $42
Suggested Drinking Window: now to 2032+
Winemaker: Dylan Rhymer
Fruit Source: Estate
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