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Country: | Australia |
Region: | Barossa Valley |
Winery: | Morambro Creek |
Grape Type: | Chardonnay |
Vintage: | 2014 |
Bottle Size: | 750 ml |
The Morambro Creek Estate
The property was founded in 1994 by the Bryson Family who first settled in the Padthaway region in 1955. In the early 1990's the Brysons decided to take the plunge and plant vines on the property. Initially their plan was to sell these grapes to the big wine producers but after a few vintages, the desire to see the fruits of their labour turned into their own wine, was just too great for them to resist. In 1998 they held onto a small selection of their fruits and sent it to the Cape Jaffa Winery to be made into wine. Morambro Creek was born, the name coming from the creek that meanders through the property.
“Rich, opulent reds from Padthaway that will repay a short period of cellar aging.”
- Anthony Dias' blue pocket guide to wine 2006
The Morambro Creek Vineyards
They farm 420 acres, separated into two plots each of 210 acres, about 7-8 kilometers apart. The vines enjoy a cool Mediterranean climate with plentiful winter / spring rainfall and the limestone subsoil that provides the excellent drainage. The grapes varieties cultivated here are Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.
At Morambro Creek, their sole objective is to produce the best wines possible from their unique vineyard site. Planted on own rootstock and located in the Padthaway valley which is comprised of rich Terra Rosa soils their estate vineyard benefits from excellent sun exposure producing grapes of optimum flavor, color and tannin development. The warm summer days are moderated each evening by coastal winds that cool the vines and result in a longer ripening period. This extended period allows for the grape tannins and seed to fully ripen prior to being harvested, thus creating wines that are rich and supple on the palate.
Their pursuit of great wine can also be seen in the meticulous management of their vineyard. They strive for low crop yields and small grape bunches of intense flavor, and whilst they employ the latest technology in the vineyard to help them achieve vine balance and reduced vigor, they harvest when the fruit reaches full flavor development.
SALE!
Morambro Creek Cabernet is 100 percent Cabernet
Deep purple in color. A rich elegant nose of cassis with overtones of vanilla and coffee. Lush, ripe palate dominated by black fruits, cherry and chocolate. Full bodied with savory, integrated fruit tannins and persistent finish.
Winemaking at Morambro Creek is very traditional and labour intensive. Oak maturation takes place using 35% new French barrels. This blend was put together using select barrels from our family estate that best demonstrate the intensity of our fruit balanced by integrated oak.
Total Acidity: 6.6 g/L
pH: 3.49
Review:
"From the small Padthaway region three hours' drive east of Adelaide, this is a full-bodied Cab that, despite the region's warm climate, avoids being bombastic. The nose feels Christmasy: baking spices laced with purple beets, dried mint and red berries. In the mouth it's ripe and generous, and there's a fair bit of oak showing but all is held at bay by taut, fine-grained tannins. Drink through 2025."
- Wine Enthusiast (January 2020), 90 pts
"Layers of mint, tobacco and cassis unfold on the nose of the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon. Mature and ready to drink, this medium to full-bodied wine is a fine example of Padthaway's (and the larger Limestone Coast region's) potential for Bordeaux varieties. Silky, savory and dry, it displays fine lines despite its heft, with bright acids and a lingering finish. - Joe Czerwinski"
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Issue #253, February 2021), 90 pts
"Bright ruby. Spice-accented cherry and floral qualities on the nose, along with a hint of dark chocolate. In a juicy, forward style, offering bitter cherry and cassis flavors that show good depth and spicy lift. Easygoing tannins frame a long, smooth finish that echoes the floral note."
- Antonio Galloni's Vinous (September 2022), 90 pts
SALE!
Morambro Creek Padthaway Shiraz is made from 100 percent Shiraz.
Deep inky black & purple in colour. The nose is perfumed with violet, blackberry, vanilla and spice with a touch of earth and liquorice over white pepper in the background. Expansive palate, smooth lush ripe back fruits nicely balanced oak, plenty of concentration with a long finish.
IMPORTER SALE!
Winemaking at Morambro Creek is very traditional and labor intensive.
Oak maturation takes place using 35% new barrels both French and American. This blend was put together using select barrels from our family estate that best demonstrate the intensity of our fruit balanced by integrated oak.
excellent with barbecued pork, beef, venisson as well as grilled vegetables.
Alchohol is 14.5%
Lancel Creek Vineyard is perched above the tiny hamlet of Occidental on the remote Sonoma Coast. This secluded, two-acre site was prepared, planted, and is still tended by Ulises Valdez. The pale, off-white Goldridge soil provides just enough nutrients and moisture for these densely planted vines to ripen a small amount of intensely aromatic and flavorful Chardonnay. The vineyard faces the Pacific Ocean, a mere five miles to the west. The combined influence of the cold Pacific and the warming afternoon sun produces a wine of incredible richness and sublime balance.
Soil types: Goldridge, fine sandy loam.
Age of the vines: 15 years
Heritage School Julies Creekside Cabernet Sauvingon is made from 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon.
The Cabernet Sauvignon Julie’s Creekside Vineyard is an impressive, opaque purple colored wine that is super-concentrated and extracted with relatively sweet tannins, a touch of chocolate and espresso, a full-bodied mouthfeel and pure, dark, primordial fruits. This is a big, masculine, concentrated wine set for long-term aging. Saying that, it has a certain accessibility, but won’t hit its prime for at least another 8-10 years and keep 25-30.
Review:
"The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Julie's Creekside Vineyard is dark, sumptuous and surprisingly open-knit for such a young wine. Black cherry, plum, game, rose petal, sage, smoke and earthy notes underpin a core of intense dark red cherry and plum fruit. Soft contours and generous, super-ripe fruit add to the wine's near and medium-term appeal. - Antonio Galloni"
- Antonio Galloni's Vinous (December 2016), 93 pts
Laird Chardonnay Cold Creek is 100% Chardonnay
Our Cold Creek Chardonnay is grown in the slightly cooler microclimate of the Sonoma side of the Los Carneros district to the west, where thick fog and cool marine winds protect its tender skins. Indigenous to the Burgundy region of France, Clones 15 and 95 at a 50:50 ratio exhibit an approachable style and luminous, golden color.
Tasting Notes: The appearance of golden straw leads you through an aromatic journey with notes of tropical fruits, sweet nectarine, melon, and vanilla. The wine has flavors of jasmine, citrus, and ripe Fuji apple that are complemented by a creamy mouthfeel and hints of lemon curd. The finish lingers on the palate, making you yearn for the next sip.
Vineyard: 100% Cold Creek Ranch
Appellation: Los Carneros
Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
50% Malolactic Fermentation
The 2017 was a very different year to 2016 in terms of the viticultural conditions and it was interesting to watch the progression of the wine and scrutinize its quality as it developed over its first two winters. Whereas 2016 had a very mild winter and exceptionally hot summer, this was compensated by abundant winter and spring rainfall. Conversely, 2017 was warm and drythroughout, although summer temperatures were closer to average, whichproved to be a very significant factor allowing for complete, balancedripening.
It is rare to see such tremendous depth and intensity in color as this winedisplays. The freshness of the floral aromas is very attractive with adominance of rockrose, a flower that grows wild around the hills of Senhorada Ribeira. On the palate, it is exceptionally full-bodied, rich andpowerful with black fruit coming to the fore. Gorgeous, ripe fruit isbalanced by the fine tannin structure. On the finish, it is typically Dow,austere and somewhat drier than many other ports. The intense fruit flavors linger long on the palate.
Dow’s Vintage Ports are only produced in years of exceptional quality and represent only a very small part of the total company’s production in that year. On average only two or three times every ten years are the weather conditions sufficiently good to allow for the making of Dow’s Vintage Port.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Dow’s Vintage Ports have been landmark wines in virtually every great year, consistently setting the standards amongst all Port houses. Vintage Ports such as the remarkable Dow 1896, the 1927, 1945, 1955, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1980 and the Dow 1994 are all legends in the history of this great wine. These Ports are still magnificent today, even when 50 or over 100 years old. Few wines can claim this quality and this pedigree.
Dow's Vintage Ports are drawn from the companies' finest vineyards; Quinta do Bomfim and Quinta de Senhora da Ribeira. Each property contributes to the Dow’s unique and distinctive style. When young, Dow’s Vintage Ports are purple-black, austere, complex and intensely concentrated, full-bodied and balanced with very fine peppery tannins.
Over the centuries, the Dow winemakers have evolved a style that suits the house’s key vineyards; fermentations are a little longer, resulting in a drier Port Wine that has become the hallmark of Dow’s. Abundant fruit flavours with hints of ripe blackberries, give elegance and poise to Dow’s. The nose is deep and powerful with strong overtones of violets when young, these mature into fine cinnamon and rose-tea aromas with age. The very high percentage of Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional planted on the vineyards result in the powerful structure and aging potential of Dow’s Vintage Ports
Dow’s Ports avoid an over-rich style and requires a very high degree of skill in wine making and great experience in selecting the finest wines of each year and each vineyard. These wines are aged in seasoned oak casks for some 18 months and are bottled without any filtration or fining whatsoever.
Dow Vintage Ports can be enjoyed when vibrant and young or they can be allowed to age for many years in bottle into a soft and delicate wine of velvet-like elegance.
In the 1920’s, the celebrated Oxford Professor George Saintsbury underlined Dow’s outstanding reputation when he wrote in his famous ‘Notes on a Cellarbook’ (first published in 1920), “There is no shipper’s wine that I have found better than the best of Dow’s 1878 and 1890 especially.”
James Suckling, one of today’s leading authorities on Vintage Port was equally impressed by another legendary wine - the Dow’s 1896 - “The ancient {1896} Port still had an amazing ruby colour with a garnet edge, and it smelled of raisins, black pepper and berries. It was full-bodied, with masses of fruit intertwined with layers of velvety tannins. It was superb.” In 1998, when this wine was 102 years old, he awarded this Port an exceptional 98 points.
Review:
Based on fruit from the predominantly south-facing Quinta do Bomfim in the Cima Corgo and Quinta Senhora da Ribeira in the Douro Superior, with Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca making up 80% of the blend. This is opaque and closed in but powerfully ripe with underlying pure berry fruit. It's seemingly quite introverted compared to some of its peers at this stage, but it's still full, rich and opulent on the palate. It also shows the latent power of the vintage, made as it is in a slightly drier style (3.4 Baumé), with lovely minty fruit and full, ripe sinewy tannins all the way through the finish. Long and lithe, and very fine.
-Decanter 97 Points
A dense, thickly textured version, dripping with warm salted licorice, tar and açaí paste notes, while plum and blueberry pâte de fruit, chai spice and chocolate elements fill in behind. Lots of brambly grip flows underneath. Shows a very sappy feel on the finish. Best from 2035 through 2055. 5,250 cases made, 1,092 cases imported
-Wine Spectator 96 Points
This is a dry while also floral wine, perfumed and enticing with its juicy acidity. At the same time, the structure is very present, showing power and dark black fruits. The balance is coming together with the rich fruits and tannins melding into one. Drink from 2028. ROGER VOSS
-Wine Enthusiast 96 Points
Deep dark ruby garnet, opaque core, violet reflections, delicate brightening of the edges. Black wildberry jam underlaid with delicate herbs and spices, tobacco nuances, hints of blueberry jam and elderberries, schisty notes. Powerful, full-bodied, sweetness present, carrying tannins, dark nougat in the finish, very good length, an imperious style, built for a long life.
Falstaff 98 Points
Ruby red with soft purplish reflections. Rich and complex on the nose, very reminiscent of small fruits of brambles, black cherry and a very delicate hint of softwood. On the palate it is decisive, complex and extraordinarily persistent.
Review:
Complex aromas of ripe fruit, toffee, cedar and smoke. Medium body, round and creamy tannins and a fresh, juicy finish.
-James Suckling 94 Points