From a small vineyard in Victoria’s Broken River Valley comes a cool climate shiraz pair leading the region in subtle textures and flavour nuances. With a nose for quality wine Essentials’ Jamie Durrant takes a closer inspection.
Swanpool Creek 2019 Shiraz
Pouring with a lovely full, ruby red colour in the glass, after a short while, the rich cherry-chocolate led aroma of this wine opens up to gain complexity with mulberry and mushroomy characters.
The palate is a pleasant medium weight with chalky tannins that add a touch of grip; however, its texture is not overly tannic. While it drinks well now, its quality structure would lend toward cellaring for a longer time to further soften and integrate the rich cherry and bramble fruit flavours. Lighter, intriguing elements of spice and herb are also present. Including cloves and bay leaf, this makes it an excellent choice to pair with braises and stews. It finishes with moderate length and a slight dryness, so I recommend pairing with food, but this is not a must. Roast lamb, game meats, and spaghettini Bolognese immediately come to mind as clear choices; however, given its medium body, it would do well paired with a simple margarita pizza or lightly roasted vegetables. An easy-going, pleasing drop, well worth its modest price point.
Essentials Wine Rating: 3.5 stars
Swanpool Creek 2018 Limited Release Shiraz
As expected, an additional year of maturation has culminated in a product with a wonderfully soft and well-integrated palate featuring silky-soft tannins.
While deep flavours including plum, blackberry and black pepper colour a mostly darker fruit profile, the wine remains mid-weight and easy drinking. It’s big but not too assertive due to the additional mid-palate flavour complexities present, including more of those mulberry, bay leaf and combined mushroom/earthy characters. The overall picture here is one of high quality born of hand-picked cool-climate fruit treated with care.
Part of the production magic here is chief winemaker Rob Ellis from Macedon Ranges’ renowned Hanging Rock Winery producing the Swanpool Creek wines. Rob is a fifth-generation, highly skilled winemaker with winemaking experience locally and around the globe. This includes time at Domaine de Montille in Burgundy, France and four years in the Barossa Valley working at Hewitson. At Hanging Rock, Rob transfers the Broken River Valley crushed fruit to open vats where it is hand plunged as it ferments. This delicately colours the wine while ensuring the tannin extraction leaves it with a subtle and refined mouthfeel.
With the additional beauty and texture which arrives from ageing, this wine can now be elevated to a more far-reaching or complex meal match if desired. Game meats, slow-cooked beef cheeks or spiced roasted vegetables come to mind; however, the wine would still work equally well with simple dishes like Catalonian garlic roasted mushrooms or simple slices of Jamón Ibérico. Whatever your fancy, you’ll be sure to enjoy its versatility.
Essentials Wine Rating: 4 stars
Essentials Magazine was not paid to review this product.
Top Retail Deal:
6 bottles of Swanpool Creek 2018 Shiraz retails for $150 on Buy from Benalla.
https://www.buyfrombenalla.com.au/
Swanpool Creek
Swanpool Road, Swanpool, Victoria
Tel. 0439 634 601
swanpoolcreek.com.au
About Essentials Wine Ratings:
We judge a wine on how drinkable and how memorable it is – just the way you probably do at home. To simplify things, we rate them using a maximum of five stars. For details on how we arrive at our rating visit:
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