Great Article on an Australian winery in the Margaret River by Ken

[maalouly]

A great insight on an Autralian wine region by Ken on spitbucket.com

Cape Mentelle

Spitbucket | 2 June 2011

Wineries

" A look at this wonderful Margaret River pioneer winery and the International Cabernet Celebration they host every year. "

There was a time, not so long ago, when Coonawarra was the undisputed king of Australian wine, in every respect. Cabernet Sauvignon was the noble variety, par excellence. Shiraz was merely the workhorse of our industry. One may as well have put 'grenache' on the label, such was its reputation as a solid, reliable but hardly stellar performer. If you wanted sales, and top dollar, it had to be a cab. Even pinot noir was seen as a French aberration, occasionally truly glorious but all too often, over-priced, over-hyped and underwhelming.

Cabernet ruled. And nowhere did cabernet better than Coonawarra, notwithstanding that the region had originally cut its teeth on some spectacular wines made from shiraz, and should you be lucky enough for any of them to cross your path today, still stunning. Think 1955 Michael or any of the Woodley's Treasure Chest series.

Then along came a pretender, a region so distant that it seemed only hippies, cattle farmers and surfers had ever heard of it. Margaret River undoubtedly had something that Coonawarra will never acquire, charm, spectacular scenery and beautiful, if occasionally shark-ridden, beaches (Coonawarra, as much as one might love the wines and the people, is never going to be a contender for tourist postcard of the year). And then this far-flung outpost had the temerity to start making cabernet that some considered a match for Coonawarra. Surely not? Absolutely yes.

The alarm bells must have been ringing very loudly when a small winery from the West, Margaret River's Cape Mentelle, won the 1983 Jimmy Watson trophy with its 1982 Cabernet Sauvignon. The bells were deafening the following year when the same winery won it again (the possibly even better 1983 Cabernet Sauvignon picking up the '84 JW). Margaret River had arrived. So too, this upstart winery.

It didn't help Coonawarra that shortly after this, cabernet found its halo slipping and suddenly shiraz was the flavour of the decade. Shiraz has never looked back while cabernet has never again reached the same heights of fame and popularity, despite the wines so often being so good. The multi-talented, many faceted Margaret River has been able to withstand this change far better than its one-note South Aussie counterpart. And let's be honest and forgive me for harping on this, as dearly as I love both the region and its wines (which, despite the competition, can still be truly wonderful), no one, absolutely no one, goes to Coonawarra for the scenery. Not only that, the place is riddled with Collingwood supporters!

Cape Mentelle is one of the 'founding five' wineries for Margaret River, taking its name from the nearby Cape, named by French explorers in 1801. David Hohnen was the man behind it, in 1970. Not content with establishing one famous winery and putting a region on the map, he repeated it a few years later with Cloudy Bay in Marlborough, playing a key role in establishing what would later become the hottest wine category on the planet, Marlborough savvy! He is also known to take a different path than some. Who else would have thought to plant zinfandel in Margaret River?

Hohnen has sold out (both wineries) and Cape Mentelle, and Cloudy Bay, now belongs to the LVMH empire but his legacy remains. Their Cabernet may have gone through periods where it may not have retained a spot in the top rung, alongside wines such as Cullen's, Pierro, Moss Wood, Woodlands, Howard Park and others, but under the current chief winemaker, Rob Mann (a famous name in the West), I doubt that the wines have ever been better (the old labels, however, were much better than the new ones, why do people insist on changing things that work?). That especially applies to the Cabernet. There is no question that Cape Mentelle is now one of the top two or three cabernet producers from the region, every vintage.

Cape Mentelle is also famous for their International Cabernet tastings, pitting 20 of the world's great cabs, from a single vintage, up against each other (though, as we are so regularly told, it is not a contest, are they kidding?). The most recent saw 2007's strutting their stuff. For me, and remember that everything is tasted blind, the Cape Mentelle was the wine of the day (Woodlands' 'Nicolas' next). Considering some of the competition, Margaux, Leoville Las Cases, Balnaves Tally, Pichon Baron, Cos d'Estournel, Araujo, Petaluma, Ornellaia and more , it shows the sheer class of this wine (and fortunate, as it is much nicer to write about the tasting saying something like that than trying explain why you gave their wine the worst score of the day,it happens).

Indeed, the only one of the current releases that doesn't excite me is the Shiraz, but in most years, it looks good. Cape Mentelle has plenty to offer but make certain that you put at least a few bottles of their 2007 Cabernet in your cellar. At around the $80 mark, it is not cheap but nor should it be. Surely it is great value, though, if it can match wines that fetch ten, sometimes even 20 times that price.

Notes on current releases are to be found in the review section (or will be as soon as I get to loading them).

KBG

Article from http://www.spitbucket.com/article/details/Cape-Mentelle/54

[JMH]

Nice read. I've never been fortunate enough to try the cab sauv, but have really enjoyed their cab merlot & chardonnay in the past.

[Fuzz]

A great insight on an Autralian wine region by Ken on spitbucket.com

Elie, were you drinking before posting this? Paying Ken a compliment??