Henschke Wine Tasting

Another fantastic tasting at Inverarity 121 – why they keep inviting me I’ll never know. This week Peter was presenting the Henscke Wine range and I could think of no better way of spending a Saturday afternoon.I have to admit that my palate is designed to love wines from the New World – big, powerful fruit bombs filled with concentration and berry juice. First up was the Riesling (£12.99), a fresh fruity, slightly sweet but with a limey-citrus crispness tipple 85/100. Following on was the Tilly’s Vineyard 2004 (£9.99), a Semillon, Sauvignon and Chardonnay mix. Again a lot of fruit but not to much complexity 85/100 and then to finish the whites Louis Semillon 2003(£11.99), quite powerful for a Semillon but just the right wine to finish on, it has brilliant toasty notes (which is down to the 26% French oak aging). A year on your wine rack and you will get the ‘runny honey on toast’ notes that real good Semillon is capable of 90/100.

As is Inverarity 121’s key idea it is the Henschke family who own and run the winery for more details please visit.

http://www.henschke.com.au/

On to the reds and there was no messing about. To dive straight into the Johann’s Garden GSM (Grenach/Shiraz/Mouvedre - £18.99) is like running through a dense bramble patch eating all the brambles, and a few leaves, as you go. A green herby, almost spearmint notes follow. Give this wine a year or two and you will have a true Australian great 92/100. Then is the Shiraz/Cabernet 2002 (£18.99) a true battle of Shiraz’s blackberries and the Cabernet’s eucalyptus – the berries win by the way 92/100.

To finish Peter really threw his best at us the straight Cabernet (okay 91% Cabernet and 9% Merlot - £39.50). I swear that I thought that this was a Pinot on the nose – inky, oily, burnt raisins and dark forest fruits. I may have been wrong about the grape but the wine was magnificent 95/100.

6 wines, one Saturday afternoon – brilliant tasting!