I love the look of the old puntless and narrow shouldered bottles. Time for a throwback bottling?

Something remarkable happened this morning that hasn’t happened to me in a very long time. I got excited about a flight of Aussie wine sitting in front of me. Quite excited actually. I’ll be the first to admit I’ve been more a touch snobbish towards many of the products flooding our market from Down Under (with good reason I maintain), yet it was pure joy to drink some real Australian wine with the company of head winemaker, Alister Purbrick.

Tahbilk is the first Victorian producer to celebrate its 150th anniversary (the 4th winery in Australia). They’re situated around the Nagambie Lakes - a separate sub region in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley - and because it is such a significant water mass, the climate is highly moderated. The soils are a red, iron rich, sandy loam. They have the oldest Marsanne vines on the planet, and they maintain pre-phylloxera Shiraz vineyards dating back to 1860. Tahbilk is a one of the 12 members of Australia’s First Families of Wine. The wines are made from 100% estate fruit (albeit a very large estate at 550 acres).

The body of the reds were all in the medium range, the alcohol was well under control across the board, oak didn’t dominate anything and many of the wines displayed what I would only call elegance. Doesn’t sound like the Australia you know does it?

The line-up:
Marsanne 2008
Marsanne 1998
Shiraz 1981
Shiraz 1999 Reserve
Shiraz 2004 ‘1860 Vines’
Cabernet Sauvignon 1981
Cabernet Sauvignon 2003
Cabernet Sauvignon 1999 Reserve

The older examples were all really cool to try. The 12 year old Marsanne was delicious - developed honey and lemon characters, still showing incredibly fresh acidity. I might just buy a case of 2008 Marsanne and try to lose it somewhere for 10 years. The 1981 reds were both really interesting. The Shiraz was much more minty with developed toffee and coffee notes with lots of irony minerality. The Cab was more savoury with soy sauce, toffee and some dried purple fruit.

The stars for me were both of the ‘99 Reserves. The Shiraz was medium weight with gorgeous soft red berry fruit - still quite fresh and elegant. The Cab was a little more complex - spicy red cherry fruit, cocoa powder and espresso and a minerally iron quality. Pretty fruit and ridiculously good.

Some of the Tahbilk wines are brought in by Liberty Wine Merchants, so check them out.

Kudos Tahbilk.

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