|
We have a wide range of wines at Canobolas-Smith. Here is a selection of tasting notes for current releases. If the wine you are after isn't here, please drop Justin or Murray a line on 02 6365 6113.
|
Estate Blue Label
|
Chardonnay
Current release of this wine is the 2004 Chardonnay. The 2004 Chardonnay is a wine with plenty of richness and flavour, it has a very attractive yellow/gold colour. Twelve months in French oak barriques (one third new) gives the wine complexity and style. The nose opens with peachy stone fruit with nutty lees and oak characters to the fore. Hints of apricot. In the mouth the flavours are in the nutty, peach spectrum with clear secondary characters. The wine has a fine yet intense palate with a long finish. We expect the fruit is still developing and it will fully develop over the next 2 years or so.
2005 Wild Yeast Chardonnay
This is an excellent, rich round
stylish Chardonnay, showing all
the textural attributes of the ‘wild
style’. Twelve months in older
French oak barrels ‘sur lie’
provides the platform from which
this delicious wine leaps. Peach
fruit characters lead to a smooth,
fruit-driven palate that has length
and style. Typical cool climate
acidity maintains the appeal.
Drink now –
2011+.
|
Tasting notes for our main wine styles
Chardonnay
Winemaking: Our premium Chardonnay grapes are hand-picked and chilled before whole bunch pressing. The wine is barrel fermented and aged "sur lie" with batonnage in new, one and two year French barriques with some malolactic fermentation. The barrels are blended after twelve months and held in tank until bottling.
Tasting notes: A very impressive yet restrained nose with peach fruit characters to the fore and the right amount of funky Burgundian character. Twelve months in French oak barriques has provided a structure to the wine that heralds a good cellaring life – the wine is tight and well-balanced with impressive length. We have bottled this wine under screw cap.
Alchemy
Winemaking: This wine is a blend of our finest individual barrels.
Tasting notes: Cabernet Sauvignon provides the backbone of the wine with rich berry flavours and firm tannin structure. Cabernet Franc contributes a lifted nose of raspberries and cassis and Shiraz adds significant spice and complexity.
|
|
|
Estate Blue Label
|
Pinot Noir
Current Release 2005. A small production wine from a good year. Typical Pinot – some sappy notes with fruit in the cherry spectrum. Twelve months in French barriques with one-third new barrels. Tight palate with fruit intensity and freshness typical of the 2005 vintage. Unfiltered. If you are drinking this wine young, decant for several hours.
Shiraz
Current Release 2005 Reserve. This is the first Reserve Shiraz and it is a wine of quality and character. The wine which had 18 months in barrel (25% new, all French) is 100% Shiraz with a deep red colour. The nose is quite rich and alluring with cinnamon and all-spice notes and some oak. The palate backs this up with almost ‘Cote Rotie’ spice. A wine that will match richer foods like duck and pork cassoulet. It will repay cellaring.
Alchemy
Current Release 2004. The pursuit of quality dominates the barrel selection process for Alchemy – this means we are selecting harder and in 2004 making less Alchemy. The blend is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Cabernet Franc and 15% Shiraz. The wine spent 24 months in French oak barrels with over half the barrels being new. Unlike some Alchemy releases, which can be brooding and withdrawn, the 2004 has supple fruit-driven integration. We attribute this to the growing season and longer skins contact post-fermentation. The longer skins contact gives softer, better integrated tannins. We suspect a lot of this wine will be drunk well before it reaches maturity in five or so years time.
2005 Wattleview Pinot Noir
A wine of some charm and character, this is a small batch Pinot ideal for drinking over the
next couple of years. From a neighbouring vineyard at 1050m, it has a deceptively light colour. The
wine has excellent intensity and flavour and is very fresh in the mouth. Ideal for summer drinking
with chicken, veal or ocean trout.
|
2002 Cabernets
Good late season ripening conditions have given a richness to the fruit in this wine. From low yielding, unirrigated vines (2t/acre), this wine has a medium red colour – a cool climate Cabernet Sauvignon of some elegance. Medium bodied, yet intense, the berry flavours across the mid-palate combine well with the subtle tannins to give a classic Cabernet structure. The blend is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc. The Franc contributing lifted raspberry tones and sweet fruit characters to the mid-palate.
2005 Melliodora
Named after the local yellow box tree (Eucalyptus Melliodora), this is a delightful, honeyed sweet wine; it has a rich, smooth and balanced palate ideal for dessert or cheese. 375 ml.
|
Strawhouse Label
|
2003 El Nino Chardonnay
This is a wine that has been slowly
softening in bottle for a couple of
years to the point where we are now happy for it to see light of day.
A bold Chardonnay, with many Canobolas-Smith hallmarks, it is named for the
drought year. 2003
gave us a small crop of intense
fruit and coming as it did on the
back of a run of excellent wines,
we have been hypercritical of this
wine. It doesn’t yet have the
finesse and elegance of our top
Chardonnays but it may achieve
this in time. It is great value and
has been received well at cellar
door over the past couple of
months. Bronze medal at Orange
2008. It will match most full
flavoured foods. Drink now – 2011.
|
HOME
