Mitchell's Pepper Tree Clare Valley Shiraz 2012, $22.80-$25
Forty years after establishing Mitchell Wines, Jane and Andrew Mitchell and family produce wine from their 75 hectares of vines, plus grapes bought from neighbouring growers. Their wines tend to be flavour-packed and long-lasting, and reflect their Clare Valley origins. Pepper Tree 2012 appealed very strongly at a recent pairing of Indian food with warm-climate Australian shiraz (plus a tempranillo-shiraz blend). The wine's delicious, sweet, spicy fruit flavours held up through the exotic food flavours. A solid load of savoury, soft tannins added to the drinking satisfaction.
Kirrihill Regional Range Clare Valley Riesling 2014, $16
With the 2015 rieslings in tanks around the country now, we're seeing the tail end of the 2014s. Kirrihill released its Regional Range Riesling 2014 many months after most of its competitors. Winemaker Hamish Seabrook held the release back, saying, "Too many young and austere wines, particularly rieslings, are released too early, not being as easy to drink as they should be". Seabrook's 2014 certainly shows the soft and juicy, drink-now side of Clare Riesling. Lemon and lime-like varietal flavours on a zippy, fresh, low-alcohol palate (11.5 per cent) provide dry, refreshing current drinking.
Angove Long Row Chardonnay 2013, $7.59-$10
The presence of the 2013 vintage in the market suggests wines may not be moving through as fast the Angove family might hope. But dive in as this is a terrific drink, still looking bright, fresh and fruity two years after vintage. We can attribute that to good winemaking, and the screw cap. One of the great benefits of screw caps to wine drinkers are their to keep even cheaper wines, made for early drinking, young and fresh for some years. In this instance it's preserving a cleverly made, full-flavoured, warm climate chardonnay, offering rich, ripe, peachy varietal flavours and a fresh, dry finish.
