Sarah Ahmed – The Wine Detective

Just out of a fun blind tasting at McHenry Hohnen of 22 Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre-dominated blends, 11 from the Barossa, 1 from McLaren Vale, 3 from Margaret River and 7 from the Southern Rhone. 

My big picture conclusion – Margaret River sits neatly between the New World GSMs and the Rhone with well-defined, fresh red and black fruits backed by supporting tannins and balancing freshness.  In fact, much as I hate to admit it, I mistook 2 Margaret River blends for Rhone wines and I have to say, some Rhone blends for the Barossa, albeit the french wines had a bigger tannin profile and the South Aussie wines tended to be a bit sweet.  The honourable exception was John Duval’s Plexus SGM 2006, by common consensus, head and shoulders above its fellow South Aussie wines. 

I’ll post a full report with further reflections later, but I was struck by the lack of tannin structure/dryness (balancing acidity and tannin) of the South Australia wines even before we got to the WA and Rhone wines.  While the Rhone wines were characterful, I sometimes found them a little lacking in terms of fruit profile – too baked/lacking freshness.  And this is where the WA wines looked good; a lower alcohol perception (reality) than the Rhone and South Australian wines too.

Cheekily McHenry Hohnen, as hosts, put in their 2006 and 2007 – very different vintages.  I mistook the (cool vintage) 2006 for a Rhone wine owing to its intense, light-medium bodied white pepper inflected red fruits, while the 07 had more fruit weight, black fruits and needs time.  Cape Mentelle’s Marmaduke Shiraz Grenache Mourvedre Zinfandel also impressed everyone and I mistook it for a modern Rhone, in fact, even more embarrassingly, was convinced it was a Northern Rhone Syrah…hmmm…Apparently, it’s named after winemaker Rob Mann’s surf board – I am still aching from my first attempt at surfing about which more later!  But I can recommend Samudra for not just their surf lessons (sympathetic – I’ll leave it at that for now!) but also yoga and fabulous veggie raw food, the latter of which, coincidentally, is down to David Hohnen of McHenry Hohnen’s son Giles.

All best

Sarah Ahmed
The Wine Detective