Winemaking at Cobaw Ridge
Tasting Notes |Lagrein
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New Realease : Mid March : 2010
2008 Cobaw Ridge Chardonnay ( B/L ), 2007 Cobaw Ridge Pinot Noir
Cellar door: Current release
Tasting
Notes
2008 Cobaw Ridge Chardonnay ( white label )
This focused Chardonnay is textured and rich. Displaying vibrant citrus and peach aromas, with our Estates characteristic minerality and length from natural acidity and minimal intervention. NASAA Conversion to organic.
Alan Cooper / Winemaker
2007 Cobaw Ridge Chardonnay
Brilliant light gold /green in the glass. Subtle nose of melon, showing complex barrel fermentation characters. Vibrant on the palate with complex mineral characters and fine acidity. Winemaker: Alan Cooper.
Ken Gargett : QWEEKEND
This is a delightful citrus stone fruit flavoured Chardonnay. Rated 92/100
GOLD Medalist in the Macedon Wine Exhibition October 2008
Chris Shanahan : The barrel-fermented 2007 is sensationally complex and rich, yet restrained and elegant.
2006 Cobaw Ridge Pinot Noir
Low cropping levels and a mix of old Australian and new wave clones have resulted in a wine of great depth and character. Rich ripe and earthy but not to funky! Enjoy.
Alan Cooper / Winemaker
2005 Cobaw Ridge Shiraz / Viognier
Listed in the best of the best by Variety. James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2008 Edition
Generous, soft, velvety black cherry, plum and blackberry fruit; fine tannins and supporting oak. Rated: 94 out of 100
WBM 100 : Cobaw Ridge Shiraz Viognier vintage 2005 : 94 / 100 - Tyson Stelzer. The Reputation of the Macedon Ranges Shiraz is on the up, and cool, spicy wines like this are taking it to new altitudes. The key here is elegance. This is a definitive cool climate style with layers of fragrant spice, white pepper flavours and very fine tannins.
GOURMET TRAVELLER WINE : June /July 2008 Edition Ken Gargett : Big red 2008 : Shiraz Macedon Ranges : Emerging Star 2005 Cobaw Ridge Shiraz Viognier.
Good colour; open nose, quite smoky and showing oak char and white pepper; clean attractive flavours with soft tannins, balanced alcohol and dense ripe fruit core; good length. Elegant with good varietal character and some complexity. Very attractive. Rather more complete, I think, than the 06. Remington Norman MW
The WINE FRONTAlmost beguiling. Exotic, floral, peppery aromatics lead to a complex palate chocked full of black cherry, kirsch, woodsap, pepper and bay leaves. It's a lively wine with lots of drying tannin, the odd note of game in keeping with the riot going on all around. I suspect that it will come to dry out, but as a young-ish wine it puts on an excellent display (though it desperately needs to be decanted). Campbell Mattinson 92/100 Drink: 2009-2013.
2006 Cobaw Ridge Syrah
Super Stuff. Dark cherries, mulch, spiced blackberries - it's a lovely parade. This is very much in the cool-climate, spicy mould, but it's integrated, balanced, sophisticated and appealing. Drink: 2011-2017. 94 / 100 Campbell Mattinson
GOLD Medallist at Victorian Wine Show.
2005 Cobaw Ridge Lagrein
WINEWISE Volume 23 Number 3..August 2007 Recommended 2005 Cobaw Ridge Lagrein SILVER. The Cobaw Ridge Lagrein is worthy of note. It presents well with a dense colour and fresh blueberry fruit. It's better than many Italian examples we have tasted.
Opaque, fine full black cherry hue; firm peppery nose, fleshy sweet fruit; tight palate, plenty of guts, firm but silky tannins supported by well integrated oak; black fruits dominate; mid weight despite its seeming bigger; good length. In character wine is reminiscent of young Mourvedre. Needs another 2-4 years to reach peak, but succulent and delicious now. As the vines age, the wine will deepen and gain inconcentration. Remington Norman MW
Cobaw Ridge Lagrein 2005 : From one of the variety's pioneering supporters, works well in the cool granite of Macedon. Complex cherry and lighter red fruit aromas, musky rose petals and herbs. The palate is built around fresh acid and gently chewy tanins. Finishes assertive. 90/100 - Nick Stock
Considerable density and structure coming with greater vine maturity and expectations of the variety; blackfruits. James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2008 Edition
Rated: 90 out of 100
2006 Cobaw Ridge Lagrein
Lagrein makes a powerful dark intricate. Dry red wine, filled with flavours of dark cherries, with a savoury edge. Together with crispy acidity and a conventional tannin balance.
June 2009 : chosen for the Landmark Tutorials. Wine Australia Tutorial Wine List
GOLD : Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show: 2007
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DIAM closure : Our wine is bottled under DIAM to retain it's purity and integrity. The Diam closures are going in to often the more expensive and exclusive bottles of wine." -- Oeneo Closures, producers of DIAM, website at: www.oeneo.co.uk .
Lagrein
Lagrein is almost unknown in Australia, the variety originates from Sud Tyrol - Alto Adige in the far-north east of Italy. Cobaw Ridge in the Macedon Ranges produced the first commercial quantities in Australia.
1998 Cobaw Ridge Lagrein "Best Wine of the Show" The Australian Italian Wine Awards
at Mildura Grand Hotel 18 November 2000 Mildura
Alan Cooper ’s winery, Cobaw Ridge, the Australian Italian Wine Awards, held in Mildura, ....
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For more about Lagrein's history in Australia, see:
James Halliday in his 2005 Australian Wine Companion scores the 2002 Cobaw Ridge Lagrein at 91 points.
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Cobaw Ridge held a tasting of their wine and 15 Lagreins from Italy's best producers, also noted to be the largest tasting of its kind outside of Europe in the Southern hemisphere.
Here's what James Halliday had to say:
"Several things emerged: first, the aroma and flavour of the Cobaw Ridge wines is utterly typical of the variety. Second, the grape has emphatic character, which binds the wines of both countries into a coherent, tightly knit group... it is also abundantly clear the wines have a long cellaring potential.
The '99 Cobaw Ridge is still a bright purple-red, and looks every bit as youthful as the 2002. How long the vivid fruit aromas and flavours - raspberry, cherry, plum, will take to subside is anyone's guess. Having initially had a few doubts about the legitimacy of the variety - was it just a novelty or was it really worthy of attention - I am now a convert to the cause."
"I am now a convert to the cause."
-- James Halliday, 'Pucker up for Kyneton’s wild Italian... Lagrein', Weekend Australian, March 6-7 2004
www.winepros.com.au article: Cobaw Ridge, in the Macedon Ranges June 08 2004
Lagrein tasting with Nelly and Alan Cooper, Max Allen and James Halliday
Along with a number of other fantastic reviews:
"Long Live Lagrein" -- Tim White (personal communication)
Best Australian Italians: “Cobaw Ridge – a tightly focused, structured, savoury lagrein”
-- Jeremy Oliver, 'Australian Winemakers Are Out To Beat The Italians At Their Own Grapes', Qantas magazine The Australian Way, July 2004
"LAGREIN an old Italian grape moving Down under" -- Nino Borsari (wine writer), 'La Dolce Vita - Italy Down Under', The National Magazine Of Italian Australian Affairs And Culture, Spring Summer 2004
Quotes from previous Cobaw Ridge Lagrein vintages:
"2003 Cobaw Ridge Lagrein -- The obscure red lagrein grape originated in Italy's north - east and is planted in a few Australian vineyards – but none yet matches the quality of the lagrein from this Macedon Ranges producer. Seductive, crisp, perfumed with violets and cherries this exceptionally well-balance, fine, medium-bodied red wine is a real beauty."
-- Max Allen, 'Taste', Weekend Australian, February 5-6 2005
"Cobaw Ridge in the Macedon Ranges has pioneered the grape variety in Australia and has had considerable success with it: 2003 Cobaw Ridge Lagrein "A much more serious offering from considerably older vines... Vigneron Alan Cooper has crafted a much richer wine..., full of blood plum, mint, black cherry, red rose and dusty oak off in the background. Crystal clear palate showing great clarity of saturated fruit and a driving backbone of herbal acidity and very fine tannins on the finish. Great definition and balance. A terrific wine, to be enjoyed with or without food, that will age over the medium term."
-- Andrew Wood, DIVINE Food & Wine, Issue 39 March/May 2005
"2003 Cobaw Ridge Lagrein: Delectable : from the Macedon Ranges."
-- Bob Hart, 'eat,' Weekend Herald Sun, June 18, 2005
"The cool climate grape variety can be built firm with ageing ability."
-- Jeni Port, 'Wine Style', The Age, June 25, 2005
HIGHLY COMMENDED
-- Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show, November 2005
Ralph Kyte-Powell and Huon Hooke, The Penguin Good Australian WINE GUIDE 2007
Lagrein is a rather obscure grape variety native to north-east Italy. Alan and Nelly cooper have made a specialty of it in their vineyard. We can only think of two other Australian examples. Good on 'em for showing such innovative spirit.
2004 Cobaw Ridge Lagrein This is always a very distinctive wine. The '04 has deep colour and there was a wee tingle of gas opening, but the initial aromas are very seductive. It reminds us of tar, cherries spices and that peculiar mint/aniseed sort of perfume the Italians call liquorizia. The palate is on the light side of medium-bodied but it has fair intensity and persistence. The finish is light and soft. Par it with prosciutto crudo and roasted vegetables.
Rated: 91 out of 100
Fantastic flagship reds | The Courier-Mail By Ken Gargett September 11, 2007
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