I’m pretty lucky with the group that sit around the tasting table with me, the range of life experiences, skills and trades are so different, it gives us all different points of view on life let alone what we are tasting on the day. We have different things we look for in a wine/beer/spirit and have different price points that we won’t go past.
I find myself running things past them when I want more feedback, especially when I think there is something that doesn’t quiet sit well with me, the team are able to point out what they like or don’t like about it, whether I’m being too picky or just that the cork-dork is coming out in me and I’m over thinking something.
This means that by the time you read a review here, it’s often been tasted by around ten other people sitting around the same table, in the same weather. But all these experiences and differences in tastebuds also means that it isn’t very often that we find a wine that we all love.
However a box of sample wines turned up recently from West Cape Howe Wines, and surprisingly we found ourselves in agreement on quite a few of the labels.
West Cape Howe Wines are a winery based in WA’s Great Southern region. It’s owned by a partnership of four WA families including Senior Winemaker and Managing Director Gavin Berry and Rob Quenby a Director and Viticultural Manager. The fruit for the wines are sourced from the two estate vineyards, based at Mount Barker and in the Frankland River area.
Their Langton vineyard in Mount Barker at 102ha gives them access to some of the most prized and mature Riesling, Cabernet and Shiraz plantings in WA having been established in 1978, while their Russell Road vineyard in the Frankland River area at 210ha is just over double the size of Langton. And while it carries the same varieties, the vines don’t carry the same age as the Langton vineyard, the Russell Road vineyard also carries enough fruit to fill the spectrum of wines that West Cape Howe produce. It’s this ability to have fruit sourced from two quite different growing areas with different sub climates and soils that allows West Cape Howe to find the perfect grape variety for the perfect site in the vineyards.
The selection of site and quality of the fruit is such that the team need to make very little intervention to knock out a great wine. Wines that vary in style from the fresh and fruity labels in the Cape to Cape range, to the more focused Regional Range, and onto their top tier Single Vineyard Series.
Across the ranges though you can always bet on the whites showing plenty of flavour and good aromatics and the reds being well structured showing great varietal flavours and regional expression, with fantastic value for money across the entire range.
Five to hunt down:
West Cape Howe Tempranillo 2013 – I quiet like Tempranillo (pron tem-pra-nee-o), it’s a wine that works so well with our weather. It’s a premium grape variety originally from the Rioja region in Spain, a place that’s not short of hot afternoons either. Its now grown here and delivers a wine that’s spicy on the nose with savoury notes and a touch of smokiness, that smokiness shows through as a smoky dark olive tapenade on the tongue, touches of dark chocolate and woody spices are all supported well by the red berry flavours. Great long finish to it, and still fantastic when the temperature was still hovering at 32deg. Will cellar well for the next 3 -5 years too, but its ready to go now. RRP $22
West Cape Howe Styx Gully Chardonnay 2014 – a beautiful example of the modern Aussie Chardy. Cashew nut aromas, stone fruit and orange notes, a touch of milk powder too perhaps. Light peach flavours and melon on the tongue, it has a wonderful creamy mouthfeel. It had us all hooked, it’s got a subtle finesse about it which will appeal to many. Will cellar for the next few years. RRP$30
West Cape Howe Two Steps Shiraz 2013 – year upon year the Shiraz coming out of WA is getting better and better. This deep purplish crimson wine has aromas of black cherry and black plum leaping out of the glass, with the same notes on the tongue along with peppery spice and touches of black liquorice. Those peppery notes really come through in the finish, as they linger there on your tongue. RRP $30
West Cape Howe Old School Chardonnay 2014 – the Old School is slightly cheaper than the Styx however you certainly wouldn’t know it from the reception it received around the table. Terrific powerful aromas of cashew, butter and a toastiness from the oak barrel contact, very faint traces of milk powder are in there too. On the tongue it’s rich and creamy with soft ripe stone fruit and traces of toasted nuts, reminding me of the aromas you get of toasted hazelnuts from street vendors that I’ve seen every so often in Melbourne winters. Great stuff. Will sit in a cool dark spot well for the next 3 -5 years. RRP $22
West Cape Howe Hannah’s Hill Cabernet Merlot 2013 – the 2013 has huge shoes to fill as the 2012 was so damned good. When we first opened this I got huge notes of the Strawberries and Cream Chuppa Chupp lollipops, which evolved to become more boysenberry ice cream like. With a few minutes came rich dark berry aromas, spice and subtle oak. On the tongue those dark berry fruits came to the fore, with a beautiful dustiness from the oak work and the tannins. Good savoury finish to it too. It will develop nicely over the next 6 -8 years, but it’s ready to be enjoyed by the bucket load now. RRP $22
