|
Margaret
River, Western Australia
Part
6:
Cape Mentelle
 David Hohnen is the man behind Cape
Mentelle. He planted the first vineyards in 1970, which makes him one
of the Margaret River pioneers. The success of this venture led him to
found Cloudy Bay in New Zealand’s Marlborough region in 1985. In
1990 Veuve Clicquot acquired 50% of the business, and then in 2000
they took 100% ownership. In 2002 the present owners, LVMH, bought
Veuve Cliquot, and with it Cape Mentelle.
The spot, just 5 km from the ocean,
was chosen by Hohnen because of its gravelly soils, which are good for
viticulture. They are free draining and have a high mineral content.
Winemaker Rob Mann, who was hosting my visit, pointed out that you can
spot good potential vineyard land by the type of eucalyptus that grows
there. If you see redgums, also known as the Western Australian Marri,
then its a good sign, because the Marri likes free-draining soils. If
you see Karri and blackbud eucalypts, then beware, because these are
an indicator of bad soils. There’s a lot of winter rain here and
grapevines don’t like wet feet.
We had a look at the 1970 Cabernet
block, the first and probably the best of Cape Mentelle’s vineyards.
Here the vines are planted east–west, mainly because of the sea
breeze that blows in after 11 am most days.
When I visited, the 2007 vintage
had recently been harvested, and the wines were already taking shape,
having completed their primary fermentation. Rob explained that the
difficult 2006 vintage, which was unseasonally cool, had a knock-on
effect for 2007: if the previous spring is cool there is poor
initiation of bunches in the buds (each bud contains next year’s
potential flowers and thus grape bunches), which then affects the
following season’s fruit set. Combined with the dry spring and
summer in 2007, this meant that there wasn’t a lot of weight in the
bunches so yields were down. ‘We’re happy with quality in 2007’,
says Rob, ‘we just don’t have enough wine.’ As an example, in
the 1970 Cabernet block the yield for 2007 was 3 tons/acre as opposed
to the normal 5 tons/acre.
As well as the 1970 Cabernet
vineyard, Cape Mentelle has three other vineyards, including 50 acres
over the road planted in 1988, and sources fruit from a dozen growers.
Winemaking is pretty conventional
here. All the reds are basket pressed, and the pressings are aerated.
With whites, winemaking is not overly anaerobic: they just try to
minimize phenolic pick up.
‘The best wine is the easiest to
make’, says Rob. I notice a pole of staves in the winery that is
used for bottom end stuff: these are sent to the bakers for toasting
and put into tanks for cheap wine. ‘For first crop Shiraz we might
have to fiddle around in the vineyard, and in the winery use a bit of
tannin, oak chips and microoxygenation’, he explains.
Trends? Cape Mentelle are using
lower percentage new oak, with more French and less American. They are
also trying to reduce alcohol in both red and white wines, looking for
something more ‘fruit bright’ and elegant, with better ability to
age. As an example, the Cabernet used to be 15% alcohol and 75% new
oak; now it is 14% alcohol and 15% new oak.
Rob shared his views on
co-fermentation. ‘You need to get good Viognier harvested at the
same time as Shiraz. In Australia the trend is to make green wines
that smell of apricot.’ His best success was with old vine Grenache
in McLaren Vale fermented with 100 year old Sauvignon Blanc, which
made an interesting wine. He’s also had success with Shiraz and
Riesling – in McLaren Vale the Riesling is very tannic.
 Rob enthuses about Margaret River
cabernet. ‘It’s hard to overcrop Cabernet in Margaret River. 8
tons/hectare is about as high as you can get’. By way of comparison,
he’s seen 20 tons hectare in Coonawarra. ‘The best of Coonawarra
Cabernet is hard to beat, but that’s just 5% of production’.
What else are Cape Mentelle up to?
They’re playing with Marsanne, Rousanne and Viognier. They are also
doing a little bit of Sangiovese through the cellar door.
We tried some samples of 2007 wines
from barrel:
2007 Sauvignon Blanc
From 30 year old vines. Lovely fresh wine: the barrel adds
texture. It’s a Graves Blanc rather than New Zealand style.
2007 Semillon
Whole bunches are pressed, then it goes to oak with solids for a
wild ferment. Interesting stuff: fresh, complex and minerally. The
lees are stirred which resuspends them: this is a reductive treatment.
If you just leave the wine on the lees without stirring, the bottom
half of the barrel is reductive and the top oxidises a bit.
2007 Chardonnay
From 25 year old vines. ‘We’re looking for grapefruit pith and
fresh cut pear characters: not too fat and broad’. Margaret River
mostly has Mendoza clone, which has big berries . The small berry
clone used here has so much flavour that it can get too big and rich.
This Chardonnay shows rich fruit but still has nice elegance and some
toasty oak.
2007 Rousanne: nice texture.
2007 Viognier: fat and
peachy. Both these Rhône varieties are maintained with higher pH and
more phenolics, which give mouthfeel and texture.
2007 Merlot: Dense and
spicy, with lots of fruit and structure.
2007 Cabernet Franc: 35 year
old vines. Dense, spicy, chocolatey with some nice tannic structure.
Lovely.
2007 Shiraz: 34 year old
estate vineyard (Wallcliffe). Savoury and tannic with good structure.
2007 Cabernet: old vine,
been in oak for a few days. Lovely bright, green Cabernet nose with
lovely rich structure and real typicity. 13.8% alcohol.
Then we moved on to bottled wines
Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Blanc
Semillon 2006 Margaret River
Mostly tank fermented, with about 10% in barrels (new oak for 10
weeks, which rinses some of the barrels out for reds). This has a
lovely bright aromatic nose of bright lemon and lime fruit and some
richer fruitiness. On the palate there’s some complexity and
richness. It’s a lovely fresh white wine of real interest. 90/100
Cape Mentelle Wallcliffe
Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2004 Margaret River
(500 cases made; this is not exported.) A good yellow colour.
Lovely complex, toasty nutty nose with fresh herby character. Very
sophisticated, complex and minerally. Lovely savoury palate with good
texture and weight, and nice fresh minerality. Broad and complex.
92/100
Cape Mentelle Chardonnay 2005
Margaret River
Fresh nose is full and rich with some toastiness and also some
restraint. The palate is broad and full with lovely nutty texture.
Quite tight and focused with nice subtle toastiness. Stylish. 91/100
Cape Mentelle Cabernet Merlot
2005 Margaret River
There’s also a dribble of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot in
here. Very deep coloured with sweet pure blackcurrant fruit on the
nose, together with a bit of spiciness. Lovely purity. The palate is
fresh and juicy with berries and summer fruits, backed up with some
nice spicy tannins. A fresh, lively style. 89/100
Cape Mentelle Shiraz 2005
Margaret River
Sweet, bold liqueur-like nose is very smooth and ripe. The palate
is rich and full with some dense, sweet fruit and a bit of spiciness
on the finish. Nice spicy structure hides under the fruit and alcohol.
A nice wine, but might be even better with less alcohol. 90/100
Cape Mentelle Wallcliffe Shiraz
2004 Margaret River
Dense, ripe, sweet dark fruits nose. Palate is dense, concentrated
and sweetly fruited with some spicy structure under the fruit. A very
rich, bold wine. Attractive stuff in this forward, rich style. 91/100
Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon
2001 Margaret River
2001 and 2004 were both warm dry years here, making bold
Cabernets. This is a classic. It has a rich, bold blackcurrant fruit
nose with a lovely, spicy, minerally cedary complexity, and showing a
bit of evolution. The palate is dense, rich and bold with lovely
stern, tannic structure under the full-on blackcurrant fruit. 94/100
Cape Mentelle Zinfandel 2005
Margaret River
Here’s a paradox. This is plainly Cape Mentelle’s worst wine
(in my humble opinion), yet the 1500 bottles or so produced annually,
priced at A$55, sell out quickly. It’s 15.5% dealcoholized from
16.7%, with a sweet, bold, jammy nose, and a raisiny edge to the ripe
red fruits on the palate. Some spiciness and a bit of herbiness. Not a
bad wine, but I don’t care for the style. ‘Zinfandel has big
bunches of berries’, says Rob. ‘The outside of the bunch shrivels
while it can be green on the inside. It can be tough to ferment,
too.’ 88/100
Wines tasted 04/07
Find
these wines with wine-searcher.com
Back to top
|
