Our Wines
2005 Blue Poles Merlot / Cabernet Franc $23/bt
Description
The wine is a deep plum crimson red with a lifted nose of cherry, chocolate, plums and an exotic hint of allspice. The palate is fully integrated with great fruit flavours and fine tannins, giving in to a long delicious length. A wine that has the potential to age, we recommend that given a further 4-7 years this wine would create secondary flavors that will add to the current taste.
If drunk with food (which is certainly recommended as there are few greater pleasures), we recommend any form of game meats (duck, quail, venison etc), as well as roasted lamb as particularly fine matches with this wine.
Sealed under screwcap to ensure the wine made by us arrives to you as we intended it to.
Reviews
Aromas of cherry/raspberry, chocolate, baking spices, a touch of cedar oak and some more earthy tobacco overtones. A most charmingly aromatic and interesting smelling wine. On the palate medium bodied. A wine of some elegance and poise with flavours of cherries and plums, fresh raspberry, chocolate and black olive. Fine dry tannins and lively pippy acidity. Finishes with dry tannin and earthy red fruit flavours. Good length. Very stylish and unforced. A true claret style that does not rely on oak, alcohol or extract to make itself heard. A bargain at the price and a very strong buy recommendation from me.
Rated : 92 Points
Tasted : Oct06
Alcohol : 12.7%
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2007 - 2012
By Gary Walsh (See the full review at Winorama)
Technical Details
Our first commercial vintage from our primary planted vines of Merlot and Cabernet Franc was completed in late March to early April 2005. The season was an excellent one for the Margaret River region with a solid even set during spring and a dry but not too hot summer. A large downpour occurred during March, but with the ground being so dry and having a large sloping estate much of this water simply ran off the vineyard, causing no problems during vintage. Many vineyards have rated this vintage the best since 2001 and we also thought this was a great year to show off what our site could produce.
The fruit was severely thinned prior to harvest, as in 2004, and during hand harvesting any grapes that were considered not good “enough to eat” were dropped on the ground. The technical data on these hand picked grapes are as below:
Merlot: Picked 26th March 2005
Total weight 2807 kg
Brix 23.8
pH 3.35
TA 5.32
Cabernet Franc: Picked 9th April 2005
Total weight 1947 kg
Brix 23.0
pH 3.43
TA 7.45
We were fortunate enough to have Sharna Kowalczuk from Vasse River Wines make our wine and she completed an exemplarily job with our grapes from arrival through to bottling. The wine was fermented in a closed vat and continuously “pumped over” to extract colour and tannins softly, with ferment being completed after 9 days. The wine was pressed and placed in French oak barrels and stored for 15 months.
2007 Blue Poles Viognier SOLD OUT
Description
Light straw yellow wine with a nose of peach, exotic melon, honey suckle and a hint of apricot and ginger spice. The palate is light and balanced with the fruit confirmed and the integrated acidity giving this wine a lovely lift and a nice clean length. Can be consumed immediately, but has the capacity to age gracefully in a cool cellar for 2-4 years.
Food matches for this wine include seafood (scallops and fresh WA crayfish suit the wine perfectly), creamy chicken casserole, and rich soups (leek and potato, and pumpkin are wonderful choices).
Sealed under screwcap to ensure the wine made by us arrives to you as we intended it to.
Reviews
There are only 37 cases of this made which is a shame because Australia could do with more good quality Viognier like this.
Aromas of honeydew melon, peach, white flowers, spice and a little creamed honey. Subtle and restrained rather than flamboyant. On the palate light to medium bodied with a mix of peach, citrus, pear and fresh pineapple. Like having a fresh crisp breakfast juice in a garden full of white flowers. Nice and dry with clean acidity and a slightly flinty texture. Fine balance throughout. Finishes long and clean. A lovely stylish wine.
Rated : 92 Points
Tasted : Aug07
Alcohol : 14%
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2007 - 2010
By Gary Walsh (See the full review at Winorama)
Technical Details
The growing season in 2007 was exceptional with even consistent warmth throughout the vintage and little to no rainfall. Due to the dry warm conditions there was little to no pest or mildew pressures and even the birds stayed away during ripening giving us clean and healthy fruit. Three hot days (>37oC) gave the vines a bit of a hard time in very early March, but the Viognier was near full ripeness and the heat did not affect the grapes at all and possibly brought the flavours we had been waiting for forward. 2007 has been considered a great vintage for the region and will produce many startling wines.
All the grapes were hand picked in the cool of the morning and lightly pressed at the winery prior to the heat of the day, preserving all the aromatics and richness of the juice.
Picked 10th March 2007
833kg
Brix 24.5
pH 3.63
TA 5.00
Sharna Kowalczuk and her team of workers made an exemplary wine from our first vintage of Viognier grapes. Treated with “kid gloves” the fruit was lightly pressed, barrel fermented in French oak, lees stirred every day to obtain some creaminess to the wines texture and then carefully settled out and bottled after much fuss. Minimal intervention is the term we like to use and this wine shows the heart of our Viognier due to the light and sensitive wine making skills exhibited by Sharna. It has turned out to be a wonderful effort from the team and they are excited at what they have achieved and are eagerly anticipating the 2008 Viognier fruit.
2004 Blue Poles Merlot / Cabernet Franc SOLD OUT
Description
The wine is a deep plum red with a lifted nose of cherry, chocolate, red mulberry and an exotic hint of allspice and vanilla. The palate is long with fine tannins providing backbone to fruit and acidity, with a long length highlighting the red fruits enjoyed on the palate. A wine that has the potential to age, we recommend that given a further 5-8 years this wine would create secondary flavours that will add to the current taste.
Sealed under screwcap to ensure the wine made by us arrives to you as we intended it to.
Reviews
Blue Poles Margaret River Merlot Cabernet Franc 2004 ($20) screwcap: What a delicious wine – and more than that, it’s fine and structured and long too. The tannin management is strikingly good, all textural and ropey and elongated, and matched to the earthy, dusty, choc-cherried fruit provides both immediate impact and something to contemplate on. This is a new-ish Margaret River vineyard that has to have a big future. There’s quite a bit of acidity and quite a bit of length too, and in all ways impresses. I’d drink it young, but it will age. Drink: 2005-2010. 90 points.
Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front, December 2005 edition.
Technical Details
Our first vintage from 3yo Merlot and Cabernet Franc vines was completed in late March and early April 2004. The growing season was generally a good one in the Margaret River region, with little rainfall post October and temperatures only occasionally reaching over 35oC in January and February. Cooler conditions in March slowed the ripening process down in many areas, but little rainfall over the same period reduced pressures from mildews and made for an Indian summer.
The vines were severely fruit thinned prior to harvest and an extremely small crop was utilized in the making of this primary wine from the Blue Poles Vineyard. The technical data on these hand picked grapes are as below:
Merlot: Picked 27th and 30th March 2004
Total weight 843kg
Brix 23.6
pH 3.34
TA 6.61
Cabernet Franc: Picked 8th April 2004
Total weight 425kg
Brix 24.0
pH 3.39
TA 6.87
The wine was fermented in open vats and hand plunged 3-4 times daily, with ferment being completed after 10 days. The wine was hand pressed and placed in French oak barrels and stored for 15 months.
