VINEgeek

Mourvèdre Monday is back after a few weeks off around the birth of my baby girl, Lucy. I’m easing back into regular blogging. Let’s get things restarted with a bang…
This is one of the priciest varietal Mourvèdres on the planet. So I’m glad to be able to include it in the Mourvèdre Monday series. (Thanks [...]

For this week’s Mourvèdre Monday, we’re hopping in the wayback machine. I mean waaaaaaaaayback. I’m talking the oldest known Mourvèdre vines in the world. I’m so excited I just might wet myself.
Producer: Hewitson
Grapes: 100% Mourvèdre
Appellation: Barossa Valley, Australia
Vineyard: All the grapes for this wine come from the “Old Garden” planted in 1853. Eight. Teen. Fifty. Three. [...]

Aussie Shiraz is approaching Merlot-backlash territory in terms of becoming a wine style that some people wouldn’t be caught dead drinking (à la Sideways). Maybe that’s just in wine geek circles (not sure I have the most objective perspective on these things), but that’s where it starts, right?
But there’s usually a reason a wine style becomes [...]

Producer: Sylvan Springs
Grapes: Shiraz (presumably 100%, but it doesn’t say so on the tech sheet)
Appellation: McLaren Vale (Australia)
Vineyard: Soils are “grey sand over ironstone gravel layer over orange permeable clay.” At least some of the fruit comes from the Blewitt Springs sub-region.
Winemaking: No new oak – the wine spent 12 months in a mix of [...]

Producer: Trevor Jones (Boots label)
Grapes: Grenache
Appellation: Barossa (Australia)
Vineyards: Old bush vines
Winemaking: This wine sees some time in French oak, but just how long isn’t clear from the label or website.
Alcohol: 14.5%
Price: $12-13
My tasting notes: Very light color. Bright nose of pine forest, cherries (cherry cough syrup, really) and Wint-O-Green LifeSavers. Some oak coming through as [...]