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| Williams Crossing Pinot Noir One of the best value Pinots in the country |
13.6%, Screwcap, $24 (Cellar Door0
Source: Wine list
www.curlyflat.com
I'm not sure if this is still available from the Curly Flat cellar door (I can't see it on the order form) but if it is I'd buy some immediately. Suffice to say that this is - along with the equally fast selling Hoddles Creek - amongst the best value Pinots in the land.
Produced from the lesser barrels of the Curly Flat Pinot, this carries all the style and fragrance of the 'grand vin' yet sells for half the price. In effect you're getting a wine that is probably only a fraction behind the top wine (quality-wise) for 50% less dollars...
From first whiff this looks right to, built in a bright and juicy style that glows with pinosity and fragrance. It's a fleshy nose, with a lifted, macerated cherry lift suggesting warmish ferments and ripe fruit. Yet it's serious too, with a trademark edge of Macedon mint and sappy redcurrant that is pure regional glory (all of which grow in the glass). The palate too is bright, open and fruit driven, yet backed by firm stalky tannins to underlie just how serious this wine is, with it all capped off with excellent length.
Simply put I can't talk this up enough. Bargain stuff (and bodes very well for the 09 Curly Flat Pinot. I'd best start saving now...) 18/93
(If there is one thing I do dislike it is the Williams Crossing label. I think it looks cheap, particularly when you put it next to the normal Curly Flat label. Thoughts?)
2009/10 WCA Wine Journalism 'Young Gun; Wine Judge; Gourmet Traveller WINE and Breathe Hunter Valley magazine contributor; LattéLife & The Retiree columnist; National Liquor News tasting panellist and Chablis lover who fell into the liquor industry chiefly to buy cheap beer.
Generally don't care about labels. What's inside and all that, personally. Haven't gotten around to trying this. Look forward to it. MB
ReplyDeleteI can never switch the marketer in me off. Contents will always win, but I do respect good packaging deeply. Textured labels (made of nice paper), well integrated screwcaps/wax caps and good label/packaging designs I really enjoy. All that extra stuff caps off the whole experience of a wine methinks.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! Any other bargain labels (pretty or not) where producers who put so much into their sub-Estate pinots, Andrew?
ReplyDeleteYes! The Tapanappa 'Fleurieu' Pinot for one. Treated exactly the same as the top wine save for older vines and a little more time in oak. It's a bargain.
DeleteThanks Andrew. Any more? Especially from Geelong/Macedon/Yarra Valley/Mornington/Gippsland region. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. The Wickhams Rd Gippsland/Mornington Pinots are astounding value for money and are made with as much care and attention as the Hoddles Creek wines (which they are effectively the second label of). For $16 a bottle I can think of few peers.
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