Teroldego
2011 Teroldego
One of the rarest wines in Australia, Teroldego has been grown on our estate since our neighbour John Durham handed us his only 42 cuttings in 2004. Do not expect a lean euro-styled wine here, this is an Australian expression of a classic grape that combines the best of both worlds. The colour is remarkable, almost an obsidian like density, with heady aromas of cherries laced with red berries and a touch of fresh sage jumping from the glass. This leads to a full and rich palate that has those fine tannins in abundance, but great balancing fruit and length. This wine would age gracefully for 2-5 years in a cool cellar.
Reviews
Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
“First up, this is really enjoyable to drink. Heady aromas of cedary, tobacco leaf, pencil shaving wood and then a belt of dark, macerated cherry fragrance. There’s a leathery whip struck through the juicy fruit in the palate and the wine tends to the slender, medium bodied as fruit is tamed by dusty ropes of tannin and more wood spice. It’s savoury with nut kernel and clove detail, but the lift of acidity freshens and lengthens the wine. Composed, nothing frilly here, though the drinkability speaks with an easy flow underneath the structural, rugged, rustic feel that frames the palate. This is well worth the investigation. Ciao!”
Rated : 93 Points
Tasted : Sep12
Alcohol : 13.8%
Price : $30
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2012 - 2018
Technical Details
The growing season in 2011 provided a season which brought the grapes through to ripeness with a warm patch in January and February, followed by a cooling period that ensured the grapes were picked later in the vintage. By extending the season many red wines in Margaret River have generated an extra fine dimension as the tannins became wholly developed and smooth, matching in with fruit flavours that were fully ripe. 2011 will be considered a rich and ripe vintage for red wines in the region and may produce many long lasting and significant wines.
All the grapes were handpicked in the cool of the morning and de-stemmed at the winery prior to the heat of the day, preserving all the aromatics and richness of the juice. The fruit came off in extremely good health, as nearly every bunch was picture perfect and tasted of intense fresh cherries. This is only our second commercial Teroldego vintage from Blue Poles, with the harvest technical data as below:
Picked 30 March 2011
2645kg
Beaumé 15.0
pH 3.47
TA 5.3 g/L
Dave Johnson and his team of workers made an exemplary wine from our second vintage of Teroldego grapes. Minimum handling and winemaker influence is always the order of the day when making a Blue Poles wine and the Teroldego received just such attention. The grapes were fermented in open top fermenters and plunged up to 4-5 times a day to enhance colour extraction and ensuring the wine was saturated with flavour, with ferment completed after 15 days. Stored in new and 1-2 year old French oak barrels for 16 months, with a variety of coopers used to create the complexity we desire, this wine has gained precision and pedigree with the passage of time.
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2009 Teroldego
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-down airplane'....we can assure you every other vintage of every Blue Poles wine will have the year of vintage on the label.