Picture from: http://www.prlog.org/Last night’s tasting at the Wine Warehouse featured twelve wines from Rocland Estate Rocland is a large facility in the Barossa Valley (map) that has the crushing capacity of 7000 tons annually. In addition to producing their own wines they offer custom wine making services to private clients who, for example, can elect to use their own winemaker or have one provided by Rocland. Their estate bottlings have been well-received by big American critics from Wine Spectator to Parker. Of the twelve wines featured, there were four whites, and (unsurprisingly) six of the remaining seven reds contained some amount of Shiraz. All wines featured at the tasting except one were sub-$20 (the one other was $25). I found almost all of the wines to be well made & in the mid- to upper-80s scoring range, making them good values. And all reds seemed to be medium-bodied, have a relatively smooth mouth-feel, opaque dark brick red color and have a nose of mild mushroom/earth & clay/saline (think playdough); there was slight variation in flavors (see below). Although I didn’t find that any wines clearly stood out as significantly better than any other, below is a good sample from the tasting. (All prices shown are only for the Wine Warehouse. And, yes, the names are gimmicky.)
1. Chocolate Box White ’08 (100% Sauv Blanc): Med-Big bodied SB, balanced, tart citrus fruit. $13 TWG: 86
2. Duck Duck Goose White ’08 (100% Chardonnay): Tropical notes, balanced. $11. TWG: 85.
3. Ass Kisser Red Blend ’07 (40% Petite Verdot, 29% Shiraz, 29% Grenache, 2% Mataro): Mushroom, clay nose. Dark prune, medium bodied, balanced. $9. TWG: 84. Interesting blend worth a try for $9.
4. Kilroy Was Here Shiraz ’07 (100% Shiraz): Mushroom, clay nose. Dark prune, medium bodied, balanced. Similar to 3 (above) but more focused, more tannins. $19. TWG: 87.
5. Kilroy Was Here Cabernet Sauv ’07 (100% Cab Sauv): Mushroom, clay nose. Dark prune, balanced. Similar to 3 & 4 (above) but leaner and longer finish. $19. TWG: 89.
6. Chocolate Box GSM Red Blend ’07 (Grenache, Shiraz, Mouvedre): same nose as the other reds but with the addition of 5 spice. Dark prune, balanced, medium bodied.
1. Chocolate Box White ’08 (100% Sauv Blanc): Med-Big bodied SB, balanced, tart citrus fruit. $13 TWG: 86
2. Duck Duck Goose White ’08 (100% Chardonnay): Tropical notes, balanced. $11. TWG: 85.
3. Ass Kisser Red Blend ’07 (40% Petite Verdot, 29% Shiraz, 29% Grenache, 2% Mataro): Mushroom, clay nose. Dark prune, medium bodied, balanced. $9. TWG: 84. Interesting blend worth a try for $9.
4. Kilroy Was Here Shiraz ’07 (100% Shiraz): Mushroom, clay nose. Dark prune, medium bodied, balanced. Similar to 3 (above) but more focused, more tannins. $19. TWG: 87.
5. Kilroy Was Here Cabernet Sauv ’07 (100% Cab Sauv): Mushroom, clay nose. Dark prune, balanced. Similar to 3 & 4 (above) but leaner and longer finish. $19. TWG: 89.
6. Chocolate Box GSM Red Blend ’07 (Grenache, Shiraz, Mouvedre): same nose as the other reds but with the addition of 5 spice. Dark prune, balanced, medium bodied.
7. Kilroy Was Here Sparkling Shiraz '07 (100% Shiraz): not too bitter/dry, not too sweet. Nice. $20. TWG: 87
Leave a comment: let me know what you think of Rocland wines.
Had the Chocolate Box at Lee's the other night... the GSM was pretty yummy, especially at that price point!
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