2009 Teroldego

Blue Poles Vineyard

Our Wines

2009 Teroldego Sold out

Description

Deep red black, that when swirled stains the glass and provides tears of alcohol. The nose has calmed from the exuberance of youth and is now a combination of rich red fruit (cherry, mulberry, plum) with a savoury note of Italian herbs and French oak spice – it smells fat and juicy but you sense the Italian sensibility holding it together.

To drink it is a mouthful of flavour, rich and round in the mid palate but gives into a solid dry length. Tannins are very un-Blue Poles with big blocks of them to the fore, but they mesh in with the fruit such that you would say they are a required element of the wine.

Quirky, puzzling, but golly this is delicious. I am one for thinking this may be the wine of all wines for Mexican food – but just drink it and try to think of a reason not to pour yourself another glass (bet you can’t).

Sealed under screwcap to ensure the wine made by us arrives to you as we intended it to.

Reviews

Gary Walsh, The Wine Front

“Well there’s one thing for certain: it’s the finest Australian Teroldego I have tasted. New from Blue Poles with a tiny make of about 70 cases. Oh, and I could not find a vintage on the label, but I’m told it’s 2009.

There’s arguably a bit too much nutty barrel influence obscuring the fruit character, but that to one side, it’s a lovely and interesting wine. Dark cherry, black raspberry, a touch of pepper with an earthy hazelnut and coffee tinted flavour. It’s full bodied with blocks of mouth-coating tannin that recede given a good bit of air, but still grip with a slick of powdery Turkish coffee on the finish. I’m not afraid of a bit of tannin and like how they sit in this wine – adding interest and rusticity. There’s some dried herb flavours in there too along with some bitter chocolate. An unusually muscular wine of scale and impact given the producer, but one that’s well worth investigating. Held up well over at least three day’s tasting too. Score round about right I think – I’m ok with 91 or 92 – it’s all a bit new to me you know, is Teroldego. ”

Rated : 92 Points
Tasted : Feb11
Alcohol : 14%
Price : $30
Closure : Screwcap

Drink : 2012 - 2016+

Technical Details

Our first Teroldego. Made from vines we planted in 2005, from 42 cuttings presented to us from John Durham (ex-winemaker Cape Mentelle), who brought them from Italy post a trip to Trentino to meet Elisabetta Foradori, the champion of the variety. It is convoluted but it means you have presented here the first Teroldego made in Western Australia. Yes, we are excited as well.

2009 was a difficult Margaret River red wine vintage for us with initially quite dry spring conditions, but a cool and windy start to summer made flowering uneven. The conditions in late summer were dry and that meant the grapes were ripened very late in the season, with the fruit coming off in great condition considering the length of time on the vine. There was very little mildew disease pressure due to the dryness of the late summer early autumn, and the grapes were also not damaged by birds that miraculously left the vines alone due to the proliferation of blossom from the surrounding Marri trees.

The fruit was thinned prior to harvest, and then handpicked by the family and friends early one morning. Any grapes that were considered not good “enough to eat” were dropped on the ground. The technical data on these grapes is as below:

Teroldego: Picked 20 April 2009

Total weight 1119 kg

Beaumé 13.9

pH 3.09

TA 7.30

Dave Johnson our winemaker took the grapes in and became a devotee very early on. The wine was fermented in an open vat and plunged 3-4 times a day to extract colour and tannins softly, with ferment being completed after 12 days. The wine was pressed and placed in three French oak barrels (2 new and 1 2yo) and stored for 18 months. Minimal handling and maximal flavours and texture was the target for this wine – so new and so different the grapes we wanted to see its “true” expression to our Margaret River “terroir”.

And you will always know it is the 2009 Teroldego vintage.....the year was never printed on the label! Let's call it Blue Poles own little 'Upside aeroplane'....we can assure you every other vintage of every Blue Poles wine will have the year of vintage on the label.