Heeding Kurtis’ advice, I met up with John Glaetzer to taste through some of his wines and chat a little with him at Everything Wine. Since becoming the 99th graduate of Roseworthy College’s Oenology program in 1969, John has had a long and impressive history in the Australian winemaking scene. He joined Wolf Blass Wines in the early 70′s when there were just three employees – Margarete (the secretary who would later become his wife), Wolfgang Blass, and himself – now there are over six hundred. He started producing a Cabernet Sauvignon on the side under his own label John’s Blend (turn your speakers down if you follow that link) in 1974 (first release was 1977) and more recently in 2004, has teamed up with Langhorne Creek vigneron Ben Potts to start the playful label Gipsie Jack (it’s named after his Jack Russell terrier “Gipsie”). And if that’s not enough, he has an identical twin brother who is also a famous Australian wine maker, Ben Glaetzer.

Most of these wines are made with fruit from Langhorne Creek, which is in South Australia and just south of McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley. It’s generally cooler and has less rainfall than either of them, although historically it’s typically considered to be more of a bulk area for large-scale wineries.

My Tasting Notes:

Gipsie Jack Sauvignon Blanc ’07 Marlborough, New Zealand

This wine hails from the famous Sauvignon Blanc region of Marlborough in neighbouring New Zealand. The nose is intensely pungent with grass and steamed green vegetables (asperagus) as well as some obvious minerality. Very concentrated palate with crisp acidity. I was reminded of tart green table grapes and some tropical fruits (pineapple). Very good! It definitely has some charm that puts it a step above the average NZ Sauv Blanc that I’m bored of drinking, plus it’s devoid of the funky cat pee aroma that I’m a little sick of. Quite delicious, but for $32.99 it should be, and I’m not sure I’d rush out to buy more.

Gipsie Jack Shiraz ’06 Langhorne Creek

Nice intensity on the nose with lots of purple and red fruits – wild berry, candy licorice. Med + acidity, with soft tannins. More red fruit – ripe raspberry and black licorice. Not overly jammy or weighty. Quite good and attractively priced at $24.99.

Gipsie Jack Petit Verdot ’06 Langhorne Creek

Similar nose to the Shiraz, but with a little more cedary oak characters – wild berry and red licorice. The palate brings additional flavours of milk chocolate and a great dusty minerality. Very soft texture with a medium level of tannin. This wine is fantastic and showing some finesse and with more restraint than Pirramimma’s Petit Verdot. A touch pricey at $37.99, but extremely small production.

John’s Blend No. 11 Margarete’s Shiraz ’05 South Australia

Spice, dark chocolate and an obvious mintiness combined with blackberry fruit and some oak. This wine tastes exactly like “After Eight” mint chocolates up front. Some berry fruits and nuances of well integrated oak. Well balanced acidity and a nice long length. Very good. $49.99. This wine is made from a blend of grapes from Langhorne Creek and McLaren Vale.

John’s Blend No. 31 Cabernet Sauvignon ’04 Langhorne Creek

The nose is dominated by the same “After Eight” blend of chocolate and mint, some blackberry fruit and a smokiness. Some evident oak, but not dominating. Bigger body than the rest with present yet soft tannin. Very concentrated fruit – blackberry, ripe raspberry, with a fantastic long finish leaving hints of dark chocolate. Again very good. $52.99.

Conclusion:

I was quite pleasantly surprised with the quality across the board. All the wines had a brilliant amount of concentration, reserved alcohol, and where applied, balanced oak. The price tags certainly aren’t cheap but I think they reflect the quality. If I was to revisit one of them, I’d choose the Petit Verdot, followed closely by the John’s Blend Shiraz. If you’d like to try one for yourself, all of these labels are available at Everything Wine in North Vancouver and represented locally by Terrarosa Imports.