Another cracking wine from Mount Majura, this time a blend of Tempranillo (56%) Shiraz (31%) Graciano (13%) aged in older wood. I haven’t seen a lot of Graciano aorund, I’d be interested in seeing what else is being done with this variety here. These kind of blends are really showing potential in Australia, and the resulting show a bit of Spain, a bit of France, but show through very much as Australian. Putting an Aussie stamp onTempranillo can only be a good thing.
There was a little pile of foam wine mailers in my office when I got back from the US, a couple of bottles from Mouth Majura was stashed away at the bottom. Complete with a hand written note (I haven’t had one of those in years!) from Frank, the winemaker. I’ve had a couple of bottles of this wine, of various vintages, over the years and I’ve always been impressed. But this is taking CanberraTempranillo to another level. Canberra has a couple of features that make it, on paper at least, an ideal proposition for growing Tempranillo: climate and limestone in the soil. There is an old wifes tale in Spain that the best Tempranillo grows in soil rich in limestone…
I've heard a lot about the Tempranillo produced by the crew at Mount Majura, all very good things of course. The Canberra region is very similar in climate to Rioja Alta, 600-700 meters in elevation, warm enough to get the grapes ripe but very much cool climate. Even the soil types are similar, clay loam with [...]