By David Ellis from vintnews.
Winemaker at Mr Mick Wines in the Clare Valley, Tim Adams and his wife Pam Goldsack (the company’s General Manager) were on the money when several visits to Sardinia had them thinking that a popular variety there, Vermentino, would do well in their warm Clare Valley climate.
They were right, as their first-production Vermentino was snapped-up over a year ago and encouraged them to “really get behind the variety and increase the production” in coming years… so that now they’ve just released a 2015 that really hits the spot.
Modelled in classic Italian style – Vermentino’s a mainstay in Liguria in the country’s north-west and Sardinia in its south, as well as in near-neighbouring (French) Corsica – the fruit for this true-blue Aussie Mr Mick Vermentino was sourced from a single vineyard in the south of the Clare Valley, and which has given the wine wonderful apple and nashi pear flavours.
Excellent as a pre-dinner tipple on its own, at $17 a bottle from fine wine retailers you’ll find it a beautiful match as well with oven-baked pork loin chops with a quince paste.
One to note: Eden Hall did the right thing with their 2013 Block 4 Eden Valley Shiraz that they released only late last year, giving the wine nearly two years in French oak and more than another year in bottle before the release.
That length in the cellar has made it a very rewarding drop with a subtle nose of spice, white pepper and chocolate, and out of the glass fills the mouth nicely with fleshy red and black fruit flavours, lovely balance and velvety tannins.
One to enjoy now with grilled beef ribs, duck or game dishes, it is well worth the $40 asking price - and it would also make for a good investment at that price, too, to put one, two or even more away in the cellar for special-occasion enjoyment 20 years down the track.
