Formerly Bald Mountain Vineyard, Steve and Lisa Messiter did a lot of work bringing this vineyard back and a good job it was to! Indeed we should all be appreciative at the resurrection of this excellent Granite Belt vineyard. It’s the most southern vineyard on The Granite Belt on the Old Wallangarra Road but don’t let the drive deter you, Pyramids Road Vineyard is just 5 minutes away and Jamworks, a great place for breakfast or lunch is just a little north. The southern end of The Granite Belt once experienced becomes habit forming.
2018 was a long warm ripening year on The Granite Belt, a great red vintage. Steve may have picked this one early, it’s only 13.5% alcohol/volume which surprises me a little for the vintage. The result is an elegant cabernet sauvignon which can be thoroughly enjoyed in the Queensland climate. It’s not a deeply coloured wine, more in the red rose petal spectrum with bright reflective fruit, the bouquet immediately signals it’s variety with classic cabernet cassis and a little herbaceous character. The palate first greets you with cassis but then the wine morphs more into a synergy of cassis and red fruits with a little hint of earth and mainly old oak. There is just a little tangy acid happening later on the palate – not out of balance but merely suggesting the wine needs more time to settle. While the wine can be enjoyed now I’d give it another year or so to fully come together. This wine is at the lighter end of the medium bodied continuum, it isn’t hallmarked by fruit weight but by a more restrained elegance which will better express itself in a few years. For my palate (yes just for myself and not necessarily you at all), I’ll start drinking this one in around 5 years.
Note: In January this year (2020) Steve gave me a barrel sample of his 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon. What the final blend will be is anyone’s guess at this stage but the sample I tasted came from 50% 5 year old (5 times used) oak and 50% new. This will be a great Granite Belt Cabernet Sauvignon, very powerful fruit that surges strong on the middle palate and continues very long indeed. When this is released I suspect people will be queuing up.
Tasted: Saturday/Sunday 8th March, 2020 without food and then with over several hours.
Alcohol: 13.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Price: $28
Suggested Drinking Window: 2021 to 2025+
Winemaker: Steve Messiter
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