Wendouree Wendouree

I had a chance to meet up with some fellow wine geeks for a Wendouree night...

Wendouree is located in the Clare Valley and has been making wine in basically the same way since the 1893....An iconic Australian producer that is known for making very unyielding wines that eventually bloom some 20+ years later.  The only way to buy them is to be on their mailing list or buy them aftermarket either retail or auction. Amazingly enough, the people at Wendouree have kept their prices way down, especially for the quality...They don't have a website, they don't really have any presence other than their mailing list.  They are definitely a throwback and in my opinion, very much an Australian treasure. 

Although the last few vintages have been very approachable, previous ones generally have not been...the few I've tried in the past were quite the monsters so it was a great opportunity to try a nice spread of different vintages....

Wendouree Cabernet Malbec 1990
Unfortunately for me, this is the oldest Wendouree I've had a chance to try.  It is also the first Wendouree I've had that has hit its stride where everything was fully integrated....This was truly a great wine...menthol, red fruits, earth, herbs, and slight bell pepper on the nose.  The wine at this stage was truly quite balanced...smooth fine tannins but you can tell the structure was still there to give the wine much more life after this.  Acidity was there but it had definitely softened a bit.  A bit of mocha, some darker fruits coming in on the palate, a lot of earth but still some nice brightness to the fruit.  Layers and layers of complexity and depth from this wine...This was the first wine we tried (after a very good Champagne by Cedric Bouchard) and people were already saying this was going to be Wine of the Night....

Wendouree Shiraz 1994
This smacked me back to what I normally see with Wendouree..but still very very approachable and while it didn't get a lot of comments, to me this might've been my favorite wine or very close to.  Bright red fruits on the nose, some menthol and earth..it wasn't as open as the 90 Cab/Malbec but as the night went on, it really started to bloom.  Palate hits you with big acidity (Yay!), some harsh tannins but it is such a wonderful mix.  To me, these tannins aren't the rip your teeth out tannins, they're there giving it structure but still very drinkable....Bright red fruit with layers of complexity..this wine still feels very young but at the same time, has noticeable age on it.  Menthol wasn't as noticeable on this wine but was there...some really nice leather mixed with dirt mixed with some mint....With more time this was really building and building..I really do wish I had more of this on the night.  This really puts into perspective why the Shiraz is considered the one you must buy..with everything else being 2nd best although the Cab/Malbec seems to have gained some followers after this night. 

Wendouree Cabernet Malbec 2004
This was actually considerably more approachable than I was expecting...with nice menthol and relatively big fruit.  It had some aspects of a fruit bomb but without the mouth coating high alocholish feel...AND it had relatively good acidity.  This really helped build in my mind the approachability of Wendouree, even youngish..at least for me..

Wendouree Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
These are supposed to be the harshest of all their wines when young...and while this one was considerably tight, it was still very good although probably my least favorite on this night.  It seemed like it was missing something, maybe because the added Malbec was filling out the wine we had previously....Good tannin structure, not overly mouth drying (to me), good acidity, nice fruit....I'd like to see a straight Cab with 20+ years..that would be interesting indeed. 

Wendouree Shiraz 2002
Maybe a tad bit of VA on the  nose but not a lot.  To me this really gauged where Wendouree will be in 10 or so years..which is, it hasn't moved a bit.  I can see why people say it takes so long to age..because they do. Younger but similar enough to the 1994 and along w/ the 2008, really cemented in my mind what happens to Wendouree.  Regardless,  bright fruit, very good acidity, chalky tannins round out a very nice wine.  I'm not sure I'm seeing a huge difference in this and the 2008 but this was quite approachable and I'd be very happy to drink this and again, puts into my mind this is what I would like to seem more out of Australian wine wise. 

There were a number of others but I think around this point in the evening, it was becoming more difficult to distinguish between the wines so I won't comment on them.

It should suffice to say that Wendouree is unique in Australia...and I would consider it to be one of the best Australia has to offer.  It is, however, NOT for everyone....I doubt most people I know would enjoy these as I did...that doesn't make them wrong..it just means the style will be very polarizing....and not until these wines hit 20+ years does it look like it'll start appealing to a greater breadth of wine drinkers.