Heritage Estate Winery 2021 Marsanne

This has to be one of the more spectacular white wines on The Granite Belt at the moment. The only local Marsanne I’m aware of is this one. Heritage Estate purchased the old Winewood estate a few years ago and many years ago I tasted a Marsanne at the Winewood Estate cellar door and wasn’t that impressed – how times have changed and those vines must have some reasonable age by now.2021 marsanne

The wine is quite ripe at 13.5% and shows some colour development similar to the 2018 when it was young, although this one is younger still. I don’t have any wine making details for this wine but the 2018 saw a little lees ageing in barrel and this one does have some creaminess in the mouthfeel.

The bouquet is charged with fruit and tang, stone fruits, peaches and a little apricot, slights of orange rind, some mandarin, lemon and a little honeysuckle with, perhaps, some pineapple. The fragrances greet your nose with an enlivened tang which suggests an ability to accompany many foods including spicy ones.

The palate is a genuine joy as the wine unfurls a fruit laden racy acidity to totally tantalise your taste buds. Lemons and mandarins with yellow flesh nectarines occupying the mid palate, just a small taste of honeysuckle is beginning to emerge, some stone fruit pit and some citrus pith begins the wines transition to it’s more sour flavours where lime rind, apricot pit and some grapefruit flavours linger with enthusiasm and are very gently indeed sprinkled with salt. This is an evolved and adroit wine which also has a small presence of creamy, oily unctuousness to slightly offset and bounce playfully off the enduring racy acidity.

I imagine many people familiar with The Granite Belt haven’t yet encountered Marsanne, it just doesn’t appear enough, this 2021 vintage is a ripper, seek it out it’s worth your attention.

Tasted: Wednesday 21st September, 2022 without food and then with over several hours.
Alcohol: 13.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Price: $32
Suggested Drinking Window: 2022 to 2037
Winemakers: Stephen Oliver
Fruit Source: Estate
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Posted by Peter Pacey

2 comments

Both Bent Road and Summit also do Marsanne

HI Bill

Yes you’re correct .. don’t think the Bent Road fruit is local GI though. Summit Estate made a lovely sparkling marsanne (2017 I think) but not sure about their fruit source either as I don’t often see marsanne at Summit, it could be that they occasionally source some fruit from Heritage? I’ll ask Nick.

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