I had a trip out to the Southern Highlands (not specifically for wine) and dropped by a couple of places...
Centennial - Probably the most well known winery out this way at least as far as number and the quality of the wines...They had a rather extensive range that you don't see too often in Australia. They source all of their wine from their own vineyards in the Southern Highland as well as from growers in Orange.
Sparklers - They have a surprising number of Sparkling wines....which I also think is unusual...and oddly enough, most of their Sparklers were actually quite good. For some reason, there just doesn't seem to be a lot of good Sparkling wine from Australian producers..there are some but it seems like most just are not there. That said, even Centennial's basic Bong Bong Sparkling wine, which is made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, is actually fairly enjoyable. Well made, definitely a drink now type of Sparkling....They also let us try their normal Chardonnay Pinot Noir which was also very good....They had a Rose, a Blanc de Blancs and a couple of others (didn't get to try to Blanc de Blancs).
Whites - I had heard some good things about their Rieslings so I was looking forward to giving them a try.
Centennial 126 Riesling 2011 . 12% Alcohol, 6g/l of residual sugar. I had expected a bit more out of this...not sure if this was old or not but it was missing something I would normally expect out of a good Aussie dry riesling..maybe it was the acidity level...maybe it was just too young?
Centennial 918 Riesling 2011. 9% alcohol, 18g/l of residual sugar. Missing acidity...I think this was a few days old..tasted ok and in fact the people I was with liked this one...
Cenntennial 836 Riesling 2009. 8% alcohol, 36g/l of residual sugar. VERY nice acidity on this one and it balanced out the residual sugar very well. Finish was a bit shorter than expected but overall it was pretty good.
They had an ok Pinot Grigio and a decent Sav Blanc (I believe it used oak which is a nice change). For some reason we missed the Chardonnay...
Reds - A really extensive range here....and almost everything surprisingly good..
Bong Bong Red - I'd give this a miss. I spit anyways but this was in and out in a hurry.
Shiraz 2010 - Good acidity, nice fruit, quite a good shiraz. Reminds me a bit of a Hunter shiraz but without as much leather and dirt. A definite winner for the price.
Reserve Merlot 2008 - Well made, herbaceous Merlot. Tasted like it was from Orange..another good drop.
Woodside Tempranillo 2010 - So many places are starting to make Tempranillo in Australia. Until somewhat recently, most of them have been doing it very poorly. I have noticed in the last couple of years, a big change. First is, they're making some decent Tempranillo..it used to be almost undrinkable....but they're actually turning out some pretty good ones. Second is, they are starting to actually pronounce it correctly. If you're going to call it Tempranillo, pronounce the double L's correctly....it is not tem pran ill oh. In any case, this was a good example of an Australian Tempranillo...Nice medium bodied, good fruit, good overall balance.
Reserve Sangiovese 2009 - Again, another wine Australia usually does poorly but done very well here. Not as good as the Tempranillo but by Australian standards, still very good..
Woodside Pinot Noir 2010. I was a bit disappointed in this. They have a reserve but I believe it was sold out...either way...not enough acidity to be a good medium bodied Pinot Noir...ok fruit but it wasn't a big Aussie Pinot...it wasn't an elegant medium bodied Pinot...I dunno, not bad...not great...not memorable.
Reserve Cabernet Savignon 2009 - One of the better NSW Cabernets I've had. Great value here...This one is built to last at least 5-10 more years. Good fruit, tannins showing that it would be best with some time but not too overpowering. Good acidity....really a well made wine and really good value for Cab Sav.
Reserve Barbera 2009 - A good solid Barbera...You don't get to see this too often and usually they're not very good when you do (in Australia). I think Margan's White Label Barbera is a bit better but still, well made, decent value.
Reserve Shiraz Viongier 2008 ....this was good, not great. I wasn't getting any of the floral notes I might expect off of a SV....Decent drop...maybe it was out too long? Nothing wrong with it really...but I think there were a lot of other things that were better...
Joadja winery- They only had 3 whites and 1 red with their other reds having sold out. They had a decent Pinot Grigio, a ok Sav Blanc, a decent Chardonnay...an ok Cabernet Malbec. The nice thing w/ the Cab Malbec was it was only 12.5%....but it really was just ok.
Sutton Forest. A bit further out and just off the freeway on the way to Canberra...a good place to stop for a nice little meal. A couple of interesting things here.
Sutton Forest Classic White which I believe was a blend of Chardonnay and Semillon. Not a huge fan of this blend in general but this one was done quite nicely.
Sutton Forest Chardonnay - Made in the style that has been popular the last couple of years...not over oaked, good fruit, good acidity....Not a super buttery mess of a wine.
Sutton Forest Red Blend - Made from Pinot Noir and Sangiovese. I was expecting a mess of a wine but it actually ended up quite nice. Medium bodied...Good fruit, good acidity, a nice dry finish (which I think is from the Sangiovese). A pretty good everyday wine.
Sutton Forest Pinot Noir 2010. A bit young still. Not a big fan of the big Aussie Pinot. Good fruit, not picking up a huge amount of complexity but this didn't have any funny flavors either which tends to happen when places try too hard to make Pinot...
Now, it could be because I had this one before and after it.
Sutton Forest Reserve Pinot Noir "Three Daughters" 2009. For some reason we ended up trying this before and after the 2010...When we first had the 2009 Pinot, thought, wow, not bad. Good complexity, decent acidity, good fruit..not my favorite style of Pinot but still, very well done. We then had the 2010...and then what I thought was the 2009 Reserve...So after having the 2009 Reserve I thought..wow, really quite similar to the 2009 Pinot, I'm going to ask about the 2009 Pinot and see how much that one is (because it wasn't listed) since the Reserve and it were both very similar and the 2010 was 13 dollars cheaper....Then I find out they it was the same wine. I didn't pick them as the same wine..which either means my palate isn't great or it could be the 2010 in the middle changed how I perceived them exactly....I guess I can take some solace in the fact that I thought they were very similar and what I liked about both of them were the same things...*shrug* :).
