Shobbrook Wines

Last weekend saw me make the arduous trek from the Eden Valley to Seppeltsfield to catch up with Tom Shobbrook, have a look at some recent releases and perhaps a sneak peak at what was coming up in the future.

Tom picked up the Gourmet Traveller/Wine Australia medal 2010 for Best Young winemaker and when I popped my heaed in the shed door, had recently returned from a successful trip overseas doing a round of tastings and getting some great write ups in the process….most notably from Alice Feiring.

Tom works from a shed on his parents property in Seppeltsfield and farms the family vineyards according to biodynamic principals. It’s always nice walking into wee wine-making sheds and this ones a beauty….barrels covered up with sheets, some home-made smallgoods hanging towards the back, various shapes and sizes of barrels, some hand labelling gear, containers of wax for sealing bottles and the sexiest old Italian corking machine I ever seen….I can’t remember the name of it for the life of me but I know it started with Bert….so Bert it is…..

Tom spent five years working in Chianti Classico at Riecine before returning home to the Barossa and the reminders of his time in Italy are scattered around the room….all the writing on the barrels is in Italian, the amazing home-made sausage we consume with the wines is an Italian “Hunter”style and of course there’s Bert the corking machine looking all suave over there in the corner.

Tom also makes the range of Didi Wines and is involved with the Natural Selection Theory project, but we’ll get to those wines at a later date. So as my dog Dudley and his new best mate Tom’s dog Max, the border collie cause mayhem in the shed, we get down to tasting some of Mr Shobbrook wares.

2010 Shobbrook Riesling – hails from a vineyard planted in the early sixties in the Eden Valley…. not to far distant from Angaston on red soils with scattered pink quartz. 1-2 days skin contact, there’s no use of pumps….everything in the winery is gravity fed,wild ferments, no cold stabbing. no fining the resulting wine is a lovely pure, textured riesling….fragrant with aromas of lime, blossom, bath salts and minerals. 12% alc, $32, screwcap (moving to cork from the 2011 vintage onwards).

Next we poked our noses through some of the rose components in barrel ….nebbiolo barrel 1 showing lovely onion skin hues with savoury redcurrant fruits, cherry and dried honey, nebbiolo barrel 2 (Sirigue) – a little more texture, less savoury a touch more light spice, nebbiolo barrel 3 – more fragrant, red cherry with a touch of meatiness …..it will be fascinating to see how all they all mesh together in the final wine and judging from the barrel samples there could be a bit of gestalt action going on.

Up next….the barrel of merlot Tom makes for his Mum every year looks dense & pure, with vibrant black & dark fruits, licorice & chocolate….again, excellent vibrancy and texture.

Then into some shiraz barrels…..some perfumed and redonlent of violets others rich & sullen, some fruit-cakey and dusted in chocolate……. The Pilla Lunga (Long Row Shiraz) barrel was super rich, textured and opulant….dense but at the same time displaying a sense of freshness…..just lovely.

The 2010 Tommy Ruff blend next…..fermented seperately then blended resting peacefully in old oak for 3 months before heading back for some more time in tank to tighten up then to bottle where it can relax again…..vivid, pure and vibrant with dark fruits, earth, spice, mocha and old jamacian chocolate.

One interesting thing that Tom does with some red parcels is that instead of adding acid to the wine, which is pretty much the norm around these parts, he sometimes adds a little riesling to the red batch to keep them in balance.

At this point it’s probably time for some gratuitious smallgoods porn….Tom and friends slaughter 2-3 pigs every Winter, butcher them and make some absolutely amazing produce….unfortunately it isn’t up for sale and is used for bartering….surely I have something I can swap somewhere?

A barrel of 2010 Ebenezer Mourvedre, from a sandy patch in the usually RBE/red/yellow clay dominant sub-region was stunning…..earthy and savoury, supple and silken in the mouth with fantastic focus and drive across the palate.

A 2010 Nebbiolo from Macclesfield was tight with impressive drive but is a long way off from coming out of barrel (Francois Freres)…..a 2010 Nebbiolo from Woodside resting in Sirigue oak was richer, with red fruits and a touch more structure. Another Macclesfield Nebbiolo is small oak(120L Sirigue) was savoury, perfumed and fragrant with lovely richness and a touch of V.A. lift.

And finally a couple out of bottle……

2010 Shobbrook Ebenezer Mourvedre

Vibrant, pure and earthy, dredged with deep spice and grilled meats….there is something elemental about this wine….red & dark fruits, star anise it is supple & textured with an appealing freshness and acid line that makes it appear concentrated yet light on its feet. $40

2009 Shobbrook Seppeltsfield Shiraz

Suave, perfumed black and dark fruits, blackberry esssence, spice, dark chocolate and licorice….again with a super pure structure and great vitality, freshness and presence on the palate.

So it looks like there will be some cracking wines coming out of the Shobbrook shed over the next few months and if you into no or low sulphur naturally made wines…..these could be just the ticket for you…. I’ll be grabbing some for myself and in the meantime I’ll be scatching for smallgoods bartering ideas…..c’mon think David!