- Mornington Peninsula, VIC - $33-$42
- Cork (Diam)
- 14.0%alc
The Mornington Peninsula's Port Phillip Estate is one of several Victorian pinot noir specialists whose wines have been made by the ultra-talented Sandro Mosele. Their 2008 Pinot Noir has picked up a lot of good press recently, earning some positive write-ups from the guys at Red to Brown, as well as inclusion in James Halliday's latest Top 100 list.
Beautifully complete, floral and musky, this 2 year old Mornington pinot opens to a charming bouquet of cherries and bright berry fruits overlying dry and dusty, cured meat and earth aromas, with a well integrated presence of lightly spiced cedar/vanilla oak woven considerately throughout its primary fruit. Relatively supple but rather more structured and fine-grained at this stage, its tightly-knit palate presents a clear expression of regional cherry and spice notes meshed with snazzy French cedar/vanilla oak and a dry and dusty chassis of powdery tannins. Its smooth entry evolves with a gripping firmness and sour-edged meaty undertones towards the back palate, finishing with great length and focus.
ü+ Destined to flower in the bottle with medium term cellaring, the 2008 Port Phillip Estate is a top class, age worthy Mornington pinot with a much more competitive price tag than many of its regional rivals. You can happily add my name to its list of supporters. Drink to 2013. (footnote provided below)
91 points
Nice note. I tried this wine a couple of weeks ago, and I was fairly positive as well - I remember the length as standing out, but I was perhaps a bit over-cautious reading this. Look forward to re-tasting!
ReplyDeleteCheers
Sean
ooo looks like a good wine to try! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteSean and Sarah,
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely a wine worth trying, and in your case Sean, retrying. Personally I'd be happy to put any further bottles away for at least another 2-3 years, as the wine is looking rather fine-grained and tight (in a good way) at this stage, and it's bound to open up significantly in the cellar. On the second day it did present itself as a bit softer, but that structure was still ever present.
Hopefully I'll get to read some further 'Grape Observations' on this wine one day Sean ;-)
Cheers,
Chris P
Tried this last night. Can see the attraction for others but it's a bit too sappy and hmmm maybe prickly for my tastes.
ReplyDeleteGW
Thanks GW,
ReplyDeleteYour comments are always appreciated. I can certainly agree with you in regards to being sappy and prickly, but in particular, I'm not adverse to a prickly young pinot. Perhaps optimistically, I'm envisioning this pinot noir developing in a smoother, more sensual and more luscious direction.
Cheers,
Chris P
p.s.
I had a bit of a hunt around Adelaide for your latest book on the weekend, but apparently it hasn't reached Marion Shopping Centre yet ;(
However, Myer did have a good sale on, where your previous edition was reduced by 35% ;) Oh well, I'll just have to be patient...
Myer should have the current one (really and at 35% off). Obviously it's sold out...so they put the old ones back on the shelf hoping that dusty Adelaidians would not notice :)
ReplyDeleteGW
PS. Mattinson reviews this wine in next book with 93 points and comments that its bitterness and extra-dryness might make it unappealing to some.
lol! 'Dusty Adelaidians' sounds like a good porn name!
ReplyDeleteHad a bottle of this over the weekend and to say the least I wasn't as impressed as '94 points'. For the first hour everything was all good and matched this post, but extended aeration revealed it to be not as fragrant, flatter and unfortunately beset by a rather ripe, meaty quality, detracting from its varietal charm.
ReplyDeleteAs a result I'm updating my score from a 94 to a 91, as well as changing its drinking window. I'll update the TN in a couple of days when I get round to it....