2008 Pierro Pinot Noir
This is the third very good Pierro Pinot Noir in a row with terrific wines coming from the 2005 and 2007 vintages. It is at least as good as the 2007 and possible a better wine thanks to a crackingly good harvest. This is all helped by the fact that the close planted estate pinot vines are now 28 years old. Although Burgundian vineyards are traditionally close planted, this has not been a feature of Australian plantings of the variety. Mike Peterkin believes that there's a significant concentration of flavour associated with close planting. The work of the vineyard team in tannin ripeness, which has been refined by research at Pierro in recent years, comes through in the finished wine.
Traditional Burgundian methods still drive Pierro's pinot production. The grapes are hand-picked and, with the inclusion of some whole bunches, placed in open fermenters and punched down every four hours during daylight hours. After fermentation, the wine is pressed and run straight into barrel where it spent 12 months in oak before being bottled and allowed to age for an additional year before release.
The 2008 Pierro Pinot has briary, brambly aromas, is soft, round and gentle with ripe mulberry, red cherry and blackberry flavours, velvety texture and fine, silky tannins. It has weight and concentration, is bright, even vibrant in the mid-palate, and is delightful current drinking, although it can be cellared, at least, in the short term.
It'll be just perfect with Chinese roast duck served with some rich, earthy mushrooms and Asian vegetables or the classic Peking duck dishes.
2007 Pierro Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot LTCf
Margaret River was very much back to normal with a very good season for reds in 2007 after a very cool 2006 vintage and so the richness, concentration and ripeness that you'd expect in the LTCf is again a feature of the wine. There's also a supple approachability within the cabernet structure that has always been a feature of this wine.
The fifth release of this classic Bordeaux blend has cabernet sauvignon (54%) and merlot (33%) once again with a little touch of cabernet franc (11%) and petit verdot (2%).
With the 2006, we commented that 'part of the joy of experiencing these wines is seeing how they vary from year to year, how the vagaries of vintage impact on the vineyard and the wine'. With the 2007 part of the joy is seeing how it is different from 2006 but how it shares similarities with 2004 and especially 2005.
The 2007 LTCf has bright fruity aromatics with the oak having integrated well and become part of the wine. There's ripe blackcurrant and dark plum flavours that are rich and concentrated and although the wine has plenty of weight in the mid-palate it is soft, round and silky smooth. The cabernet structure and the ripe, fine tannins give it a gentle firmness without affecting its approachability. Having said that, the LTCf has a pleasing fleshiness that contributes to its appeal.
The 2007 Pierro LTCf will probably be at its best over the next few years with pork roast with crackling, veal scallopine with a red wine sauce or lamb cutlets served with mushrooms, roast potatoes and some concentrated lamb jus.
2005 Pierro Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Reserve.
The 2005 vintage for reds was certainly one of the best experienced in Margaret River and not surprisingly, Pierro’s top red is a classic cabernet blend of the finest quality.
In recent years the Pierro reds have shown the benefit of mature vines (20 years of age) and the improved viticultural know –how that has come with the experience of Mike Peterkin and the team at Pierro and the experimentation in which they have engaged in recent years.
This work has been concerned with encouraging the development of flavour compounds in grapes early in the season and conserving those compounds in the heat of summer. In Mike Peterkin’s view, this has enabled Pierro to achieve depth of flavour and fully ripe tannins in its reds without excessive alcohols. ‘Finesse and elegance are possible with full flavour’ he comments.
The 2005 Pierro Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Reserve is a blend of cabernet sauvignon (66%), merlot (24%), cabernet franc (6%), petit verdot and malbec (both 2%), selected for the reserve wine in the vineyard. The reserve barrels are monitored over the 18 months which the wine spends in oak and their quality is confirmed before the wine is blended.
The 2005 Pierro Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Reserve has gently brooding fragrances, rich, concentrated, briary, blackcurrant flavours, smooth texture, tight structure and fine ripe tannins and acidity with excellent integration of fruit and oak. The 2004 was more approachable and softer than the 2005, which will need time to show its best. There is an austerity that is classically cabernet, a restraint that is the Pierro hallmark, and a tightness that suggests it will benefit from further time in the bottle. It is likely to be at its best from ten years of age.
If you are drinking it now, the 2005 Pierro Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Reserve may be best accompanying an elegant meat dish – something like crumbed veal cutlet or rib eye – with a robust sauce, perhaps a rich beef jus or a red wine sauce.
2008 Pierro Chardonnay
Although yields were down for this vintage – as a result of rain, wind and hail during the flowering of the vines in October 2007 – near perfect weather in January and February saved the day. Constant warm weather before vintage with no rain and therefore no disease pressure resulted in an excellent chardonnay harvest at Pierro.
As ever, the vineyard plays a vital role in the production of the Pierro Chardonnay. All the vines which contribute to this wine come from mature, high density plantings. In 2008, they ranged from 28 to 11 years old. Mike Peterkin believes that meticulous attention to detail in the vineyard is essential to production of the best possible wine .
The new winery at Pierro was completed a decade ago and so the changes that this made possible have become an integral part of the winemaking process. Three things have improved the aging potential of the Chardonnay: whole bunch pressing and the reduction in temperature of each batch of grapes have lowered its phenolic content thus giving it more delicacy and length; paying greater attention to the levels of dissolved oxygen and sulphur dioxide during processing; and the use of screwcaps which offer better protection from oxidation.
There is much about the winemaking process that is traditional at Pierro: the wine is barrel fermented in new (50%) and one year old French barriques; 100% goes through the malolactic fermentation and regular lees stirring (battonage) takes place during its 12 month oak maturation. Mike Peterkin remains a strong supporter of the role that the malolactic fermentation can play in improving the flavour and length of palate of the Chardonnay while battonage gives a seamless character and creamier texture to the wine.
Technical Details
Growing Region. Margaret River
Western Australia
Grape Variety Chardonnay
Alcohol 14%
Tasting Notes.
The 2008 Pierro Chardonnay is an extraordinarily good wine, perhaps the finest yet from the property. There are gentle cedary aromas with hints of grapefruit and white peach while the palate shows pure intense nectarine and white peach flavours that are fine and delicate, and tight structure before a taut, zesty finish that is crisp and dry. This is a seamless white in which the fruit, oak and tannins are beautifully integrated. At present, it is vibrant and almost lean yet with richness and concentration that suggest it will flesh out with some bottle age and greater complexity and a more opulent creamy texture. Fresh, delicate and delicious now.
2008 Fire Gully Sauvignon Blanc Semillon
As usual the wine sourced from the
Fire Gully vineyard in Metricup Road, is made in a different style to the Pierro L.T.C.
It is unoaked, has greater proportion of Sauvignon Blanc[70% of the blend], is bottled early to retain the freshness and vibrance of its primary fruit and is marketed so that consumers enjoy it for its drinkability and uncomplicated full-throttle flavours
Technical Details
Growing Region Margaret River
Western Australia
Grape Variety Sauvignon Blanc
Semillon
Alcohol 14%
Tasting Notes.
The excellent 2008 vintage gives a Fire Gully Sauvignon Blanc Semillon that is spotlessly clean, fresh and vibrant with citrus flavours, hints of honeydew melon and lively grassy characters before a tangy, zesty finish.
Colour Pale Straw
Bouquet. Lychees and honeydew melon.
Palate. Spotlessly clean, fresh and vibrant with bright grapefruit citrus flavours, tangy and zesty with a dry lingering finish.
Cellaring .This is a summer favourite made to be drunk young and often!
Vintage.
Best vintage since 2005
2009 Pierro Semillon Sauvignon Blanc L.T.C.
Understandably many people ask what exactly the “LTC” stands for when they see our Semillon Sauvignon Blanc. Does it mean “Les Trois Cuvees” (or three-way blend), or is it just a “little touch of chardonnay”? Well, don’t ask Michael Peterkin because you will only get a fleeting enigmatic glance and a whimsical smile. It could mean one, or it could mean the other, so we will let this decade-long mystery float in the sea of intrigue.
However there is no mystery attached to how reliably good this wine is year in, year out. It is always in the top five best SSBs in the region. And when one considers that Margaret River is one of the best places on the planet to produce this vibrant white blend, you are bound to be in for a treat.
There are usually about 10 components in making the LTC at Pierro…and here comes another shifting enigma based on a quarter century of experimentation in the winery. All the sauvignon is fermented in stainless steel; some of the semillon is barrel fermented; the chardonnay is sometimes fermented in stainless steel and sometimes in oak; a component undergoes the malolactic fermentation while some does not; different yeasts are used for different batches; and some batches are fermented at warmer or cooler temperatures. Did you get that? Hence the wine truly has the Peterkin special sanction, not to mention some LTC, or a “little touch of cunning”.
However all of the above is done to build layers of complexity in the wine and to increase its capacity to age. While the 2009 certainly displays this complexity, it has immediate appeal as a classic Margaret River SSB. It offers up crisp, grassy aromas with a hint of citrus and melon. The palate is fine and delicate, has an unctuous mouthfeel, and is rich and deeply concentrated. There is a hint of grassiness and some gentle lemony acidity on a long, lingering finish. Here is a subtle white that has wonderful harmony, but also a vibrancy and finesse that supports a delicious foundation of fruit characters. There is no question mark over the wine’s ability to age or its capacity to improve with short-term cellaring. A heavenly match with freshly caught pan-fried fish such as snapper or dhufish.
Technical Details
Growing Region. Margaret River
Western Australia
Grape Variety. Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc
Chardonnay
Alcohol. 13.5%
Tasting Notes
Colour: Pale straw
Bouquet: Citrus, honey and tropical fruit
notes
Palate: Subdued sugar snap pea and fresh garden herb flavours add weight to the palate before fresh cleansing acidity produces a crisp, dry finish of considerable length. Secondary characters and beguiling creamy mid- palate texture.
Cellaring: Will improve with age, however it may well be hard to resist in its youth.
Vintage: Best vintage since 2005!
2007 Fire Gully Chardonnay
The Fire Gully property is one of the most beautiful and unique localities in Willyabrup. The Taoist symbols for Fire and Valley have been chosen for the label to represent the warmth, strength, fertility and abundance that this very special site offers.
The aim of this vintage was to produce a light dry wine that would be delicious when young, but to still have the capacity and backbone to mature for several years in the bottle. To that end we have fermented half of this wine in stainless steel to retain the delicate perfumed aromas and youthful flavours and half was fermented in French oak barriques and underwent malolactic fermentation. The barrel-fermented component gives additional richness and softness to the wine.
Technical Details
Growing Region. Margaret River
Western Australia
Grape Variety Chardonnay
Alcohol 14%
Tasting Notes This wine offers up fine fruit- driven intensity coupled with great finesse and complexity. There is soft texture in the mouth followed by a lingering finish
Colour Pale straw.
Bouquet. Pineapple, pear and white peach
hint of cedary oak.
Palate. Fresh, light and fruity with intense, ripe honeydew melon. Fine backbone of cleansing acidity.
Excellent mouth feel.
Cellaring. Delicious current drinking also has the capacity to develop in the bottle for
several years.
Vintage .2007 was an excellent vintage for Chardonnay. Yields were low for the second vintage in a row due to early spring gales in 2006 and overcast weather later in spring affecting fruit set.
After that it was an ideal vintage for chardonnay as the temperatures during the growing season were moderate and even.
2007 Fire Gully Shiraz
Margaret River Shiraz is often markedly different from the big, bold styles typically produced in the warmer Australian wine regions. Over the years it has often been the exponents of the Eastern States Shiraz profile who have suggested Margaret River would never be great Shiraz country. However during the last decade the naysayers have been proven mightily wrong. In many respects the area is well suited to the variety, its cooler maritime conditions resulting in far more elegant and nuanced wines than those in the east. Indeed, some judges and connoisseurs are starting to say the south-west styles are more sophisticated, even better, and certainly more approachable while young, than their often unapologetically huge and robust eastern cousins.
The region’s cooler climate allows winemakers to create more refined styles, while also infusing the wines with the tell-tale vibrant fruit characters for which Margaret River is renowned across its varieties. Like elsewhere the Shiraz grape generally offers up a combination of liquorice, spice, pepper, raisin, mulberry, black cherry and plum aromas and flavours. Yet somehow in Margaret River these characters often seem more subtle and rarefied.
Shiraz vines were first planted at Fire Gully in 1992, with more being added to the property in 1997. The resulting wines have been very impressive and are improving with each season. The Fire Gully Shiraz is made in the traditional manner using open fermenters, hand plunging and gentle pressing. The wine is then matured in French oak barriques. Here is a lightly fragrant wine with subtle redcurrant and cedary oak aromas. The lively palate is smooth and richly concentrated with ripe, black cherries, plum flavours and fine, gentle tannins. It is nicely balanced with excellent harmony between fruit and oak. The characters of this wine make it a perfect match with both beef and lamb dishes. The wine is eminently drinkable while young but will improve with up to five years cellaring if, or course, you can wait that long.
2007 Fire Gully Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot
Since the Margaret River region is now recognised as Australia’s best for producing high-end Cabernet Merlot, it goes without saying that there are some very fine examples of this classic Bordeaux blend to be found in the area. Added to this, the vineyards of the Willyabrup sub-region are arguably the best on the cape for the style. The Fire Gully property is set in the heart of Willyabrup, adjacent to Moss Wood, long-recognised as one the region’s best cabernet producers. The vines that produce the Fire Gully CSM are now 18 years and are producing superb quality fruit.
The resulting wines match it with the best in the region and bear all the hallmarks of a great Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot. We use traditional red winemaking techniques to extract the very best from the fruit with open fermentation, closed fermenters and long maceration time to intensify taste, colour and varietal characters. After fermentation the wine is immediately transferred to French oak barriques where it is matured for 12 months.
The 2007 Fire Gully Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot is a quintessential regional CSM - dense red and beautifully perfumed with dark berry fruit and spicy oak aromas. It is drenched in rich, ripe concentrated black cherry and dark plum flavours, which are beautifully integrated with fine, lacy tannins. The wine is powerful yet balanced, has substantial weight and a generous silky texture, a tight structure and good length. This wine is an ideal accompaniment to red meat and full flavoured cheeses. Cellar at 14ºC - 16ºC for four years for optimum drinking. A great Willyabrup CSM from an excellent year.
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