Impressive Cab Merlot from Margaret River
Continuing with the Aussie Cab theme, here's a really delicious Margaret River Cabernet Merlot from a producer I'd never heard of before. I suppose this is excusable: Flametree are new kids on the block, and the previous vintage of this wine was their first - it ended up winning the prestigious Jimmy Watson trophy. Flametree wines are being brought into the UK by new online retailer Auswineonline.co.uk. Flametree Cabernet Merlot 2008 Margaret River
Vibrant aromatic nose with gravelly-edged sweet blackcurrant fruit, and some attractive floral notes. The fresh, bright palate shows sweet blackcurrant and stewed plum fruit with a hint of richness and more of that gravelly character. There's quite a bit of tannic structure here. It's a fresh, perfumed, midweight style with a lovely expressive personality. Very Margaret River in style. 91/100 (£12.50 http://www.auswineonline.co.uk/)
Vibrant aromatic nose with gravelly-edged sweet blackcurrant fruit, and some attractive floral notes. The fresh, bright palate shows sweet blackcurrant and stewed plum fruit with a hint of richness and more of that gravelly character. There's quite a bit of tannic structure here. It's a fresh, perfumed, midweight style with a lovely expressive personality. Very Margaret River in style. 91/100 (£12.50 http://www.auswineonline.co.uk/)
Labels: Australia, Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River
posted by Jamie @ 8:59 PM
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8 Comments:
And with the wonderful Cliff Royale, senior winemaker of Voyager Estate (one of the most sought after MR estates) jumping into the same role at Flametree, this is definately a winery to watch.
Can you tell us anything more about Auswine? Are they a business we should trust, since you are recommending a retailer as well as a wine?
It seems odd that a business (on or offline) would be able to start with the wines of only two wineries.
A little web research shows that they share offices (and phone number) with a firm of property surveyors...
Their membership page offering
"TWICE YEARLY SHIPMENT: Latest release Flametree Tasting Selection six-pack delivered to you in May and September each year. The cost is only £0.00 per six pack plus postage. This will be debited from your nominated account. There is a minimum membership term of 12 months."
doesn't exactly inspire confidence that this is a business ready for launch - 12 bottles of wine for nothing?
Plus:
- no terms of business anywhere on their site
- no indication of VAT registration
- no details on delivery method
- Paypal as their shopping cart
- no indication of the legal form of Auswineonline (there doesn't appear to be a similarly named limited company, so presumably this is a trading name of something else)
... and a 12 bottle minimum order.
Could just be teething troubles of a new start-up, but I'll be staying away for now.
I agree that this outfit looks somewhat amateurish - I had the same issues as you, Anonymous, and sent them an email (but have yet to get a response).
Their descriptions don't sound so encouraging, either - I hate the sound of "easy drinking"!
@Alex - In the interests of full disclosure I have sent them an email (copy Jamie) suggesting they look at the points raised and respond here if they wish to.
I have had a reply from them and it's clear that they're in their infancy, so I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt!
I really like the Howard Park Cabernet Merlot and wonder if this is similar.
Good to see that a few of the comments have already been responded to on their site. Bodes well.
I bought a case of Rose from auswineonline after the Toast Festival. I found it a very straight forward ordering system and Paypal was fine. The case was delivered as agreed by courier. Not sure why you would have any concerns about auswineonline. I will use them again. The Rose, by the way, was delicious
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