Very dark colours in the glass and with a glowing purple and crimson perimeter and a little ruby coalescing its inner edge.
The bouquet is deep, dark, brooding and a little charry. Dark cherries, black plums, spice, and a meatiness bound in char waft from this wine. The palate is long and seaming with dark cherries and plums and a little red cherry, some black berries escape the seam and flirt with your taste buds for a moment but a larger looming presence then bounds at you with charcuterie wrapped in a thin but alluring charry jacket, some spice shyly whispers at you, “I think I’m black pepper but I’m something else as well”, and then the brooding blackness resurfaces and presents more black plums and berries with some indication of the earth that nourished them.
The tannins, when unmistakably encountered later on the palate are trademark Mourvèdre presenting a driving, drying chalky experience that for me is utterly delightful.
The acid is at first a little refreshing but this settles by the second or third mouthful. Mourvèdre is a varietal that continually and irresistibly draws me back, I may have experienced more Australian Mourvèdre than most people on the planet and Granite Belt Mourvèdre is right up there. The cherry aspects of this wine come from the Tempranillo and the brooding qualities are incontestably from the Mourvèdre.
One of the things I truly appreciate in Peter McGlashan’s wine making is his fearlessness. He is prepared to experiment with new and different blends, not uncontrolled random experimentation instead he does this based upon considered experience and with a discernment coupled with intuition the results of which are often remarkable. I’m not sure I have encountered a Tempranillo/Mourvèdre blend from any other winery on The Granite Belt but this one shows it works very well. So another goal scored via the fearless discerned experimentation at Ridgemill Estate.
Tasted: Friday 11th June, 2021 without food and then with over several hours.
Alcohol: 14%
Closure: Screwcap
Price: $30
Suggested Drinking Window: Now to 2028
Wine Maker: Peter McGlashan
Fruit Source: Tempranillo – Estate, Mourvedre – Golden Grove
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