Plantagenet powers on

The ranges of Bluff Knoll near Plantagenet vineyards, which help produce quality, complex wines.

Winestein uncorked

In the last week of our wine school we talked mostly about one of the most consistent and classiest wineries this side of the country - Plantagenet.

The winery sources grapes from its five vineyards, all in the cool-climate Great Southern region of Mt Barker.

Barrels of Mt Barker shiraz from Plantagenet in the Great Southern wine region of WA.

Three different ranges of wine are produced - Hazard Hill (around $13), Omrah (around $18) and Plantagenet ($22-40) - and all are very good quality and superb value.

The vineyards are close to the Southern Ocean and a touch inland, creating very different style wines to those produced in the Swan Valley and Margaret River.

Winemaker Andries Mostert, who joined us for our final session, spoke fondly of the wines, which are mostly spicy and feminine in structure. There's no big bold Barossa-style reds here. It's all elegance at Plantagenet.

Their mature vines help soften and structure the tannins from the grapes, with Andries saying 2008 was as "close to a perfect vintage as you can get".

The cool nights and warm days of the Great Southern are perfect climatic conditions, especially for varieties such as riesling, which Plantagenet and Mt Barker in general do exceptionally well, rivalling Australia's best from the Clare and Eden Valleys.

Crop levels were slightly lower, meaning a higher concentration of fruit.

But as you can see from the tasting notes below, vintage variation is alive and well at Plantagenet, which is great to see. Tasting - and making - the same wine, year after year, must get a little boring...

UNCORKED | Plantagenet Wines

2008 Mt Barker Riesling, 11.7%
94pts, $22
A mixture of grapes added complexity. Citrus/floral grapes were mixed with delicate/textural grapes to create a definitive rieisling. Tight and structured at first to help the wine age gracefully. Very minerally, with high alcohol and biscuity flavours on the nose, and lovely honey and toasty overtones on the palate. Acid is critically important to carrying riesling, with fruit concentration and complexity needed to balance the wine. This shows all of this, and will easily age for 10 years.

2007 Mt Barker Chardonnay, 13.5%
94pts, $25
Chardonnay is a favourite of winemakers as they use different fermentation techniques and oak to be extra creative with the wine. This one was aged in new (25%) and old (1-4 years) French oak. Bottled in February after nine months on oak and a further four in the bottle, this one is a very clean, spicy, biscuity chardy. Good concentration of fruit with indigenous yeast from the vineyard used to impart some funky flavours to the grape and add further complexity to the wine.

2005 Mt Barker Shiraz, 14.5%
93pts, $40
Long berry flavours with a tobacco/licorice smell. Typical, cool-climate greenery on the nose, with lovely silky tannins and nice spice. Secondary flavours of leather, tobacco and dust are starting to form. Deep flavour and great length from a warm vintage.

2007 Mt Barker Shiraz, 14.5%
94pts, $40
This is more tight and clean than the 2005 and from a warmer vintage (and different winemaker). It's a pretty serious wine - peppery, spicy, with real pizazz and punch. It's full on, ripe and alcoholic but still elegant.

2007 Mt Barker Cabernet Sauvignon, 14.5%
95pts, $35
The addition of merlot, cab franc and malbec give this a Bordeaux feel. Cabernets are all about structure and layers. Some can have that bad green, capsicum flavour, while ones from good soil produce those lovely tobacco, leathery, olive flavours. This is the latter. It has such a delicate structure, is incredibly refined and will age well given its finesse. A powder-coated cabernet - silky, refined and in its place.

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