The 2010 Squitchy Lane Cabernet Sauvignon is now available, at cellar door and in restaurants and bottle shops in Melbourne. It will soon be available in Sydney also.
As you are probably aware, we didn't release a straight Cabernet from the 2009 vintage, so this is the first since the highly succesful 2008. There is some good news--we think it's pretty good--and some bad news--there isn't much of it. The barrel selection process for this wine is ruthless and unforgiving. If a barrel isn't of the highest quality, it doesn't make the cut. Such barrels are blended into our Red Square wine where they add some backbone and authority to the Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
Now, normally at this point I would write a detailed tasting note for this Cabernet. However, this time I would like to ignore that traditional approach and focus instead on a particular feature that makes this wine what it is (the tasting notes can be found on our website if you are interested).
The striking feature of this wine is its sheer drinkability. It's just about the most enjoyable wine I can recall drinking--so much so that I am not inclined to evaluate this wine in the normal terms when I drink it but rather just take a purely sensorial delight in its flavour.
I can best explain what I am driving at in this way--you open a bottle as you are cooking dinner, thinking you will have a glass and then enjoy the remainder at the table as you eat. Unfortunately, when it comes time to sit down, you find the bottle is nearly empty. The wine is so damn tasty that you haven't noticed how much you have drunk.
My wife and I have fallen for this trap a few times so now I delay opening the bottle.
This wine has harmony, balance, lightness of touch, elegance and finesse and it just TASTES GOOD.
No need for intellectual tasting notes. One word will suffice--MORE!
Visitors to Squitchy Lane often comment on the beauty of the vineyard and of the views to the Yarra Ranges beyond.
Indeed, but there is also beauty closer at hand, in the trees surrounding the cellar door.
It's hard to recall the decade of drought that we have only recently escaped. The trees have benefited from the last two years of heavy rainfall.
People often ask us about the origin of the winery name, Squitchy Lane. Well, here's a tongue-in-cheek answer, taken at yesterday's wine and food festival at Southbank. You don't find lanes much more squitchy than this (it's taken from behind our stand):
It certainly was an interesting day. Sincere thanks to all the lovely people who turned out in the rain to taste the wines of Victoria, the great majority of which were from small producers who don't often get a chance to show their wines in Melbourne.
Here's a shot of Robyn pouring a glass of 2010 Pinot Noir:
I was continually amazed at the enthusiasm and knowledge of the visitors. They loved wine, so much so that they were willing to wear one of those silly ponchos, ruin their good shoes and generally squelch around in mud in order to taste some of Victoria's best wines.
Woodstock or Glastonbury, depending on your generation.......
And it's on again today but at least the rain appears to have stopped.
Once again, thanks to all our visitors. I hope you had as much fun as we did. We look forward to meeting you again at the cellar door, especially at our sausage day on April 28.
Of course, there is a real reason for the name Squitchy Lane but you will need to look on our website to find it.
Here is a bin of our 2012 Sauvignon Blanc awaiting transfer to the winery for crushing, pressing and fermenting in barrels whence it will become our 2012 Fume Blanc. In barrel, the ferments have a similar character to the 2011 wine, probably tighter and more lifted in fruit profile than the 2010. By the way, I think the 2010 Fume Blanc could lay claim to being the most successful Squitchy Lane release ever. Now, success can be measured in many ways and I will admit to a rather non-scientific approach but I base my findings on the following:
--it's just about sold out
--more restaurants list this wine than any other Squitchy Lane release
--just about every cellar door visitor who tries it is immediately won over. I think it has the best strike rate of any wine on tasting
--it's a new label, with a new name, and therefore has no precedent
And what's more, the 2011 is every bit as good. In fact, I think it's a little better.
The 2012 harvest was going beautifully until the rain. We have picked the Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and now have to wait a few weeks for the Cabernets and Merlot. We were lucky in that we picked most of the fruit before the rain. We finished yesterday with a small parcel of our Burgundy clone Chardonnay.
So far, everything looks good. I'll give a special mention to the Pinot Noir--and even though it is very early in its life, this vintage looks exceptionally promising. To be continued......
