Chris Shanahan: Wine review — Seville Estate, Mr Mick and Jacob’s Creek

Seville Estate Yarra Valley

Pinot Noir 2010 $30
Reserve Pinot Noir 2010 $60

Apart from the price, what’s the difference between Seville’s $30 pinot and $60 reserve pinot? In keeping with the laws of diminishing returns it’s more like a 20–30 per cent quality difference, not 100 per cent. And the differences are subtle – both wines offering a variation on a family style. They’re both pale to medium coloured and both reveal fruity, stalky and gamey varietal characters and quite a firm, fine backbone of drying tannin. The reserve version offers a little more volume in the aroma and concentration and silkiness on the palate – a character that will probably increase with bottle age.

Mr Mick Clare Valley Riesling 2011 $12–$16
Mr Mick is Tim Adams’ recreation of the old Leasingham Bin 5 riesling, created by his mentor Mick Knappstein back in the 1970s. Adams led a buyback of the historic Clare winery earlier this year but as the purchase didn’t include the Leasingham name, named the wines after his late boss. This is a fresh, light, lemony riesling with a soft mid-palate and fresh, almost-dry finish. It’s made for early drinking. Adams sourced the fruit from the Rogers vineyard (once part of Leasingham) that he now owns jointly with his wife, Pam Goldsack.

Jacob’s Creek Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $13.30–$18
The Jacob’s Creek reserve range, once multi-regional blends, recently moved to single-region sourcing and labelling. The wines have always been outstanding at their price points and always contained material from our better regions. But the move to regional labelling gives better marketing support to the quality of the wine in the bottle. In this instance, for a modest price, we enjoy an outstanding expression of Coonawarra cabernet. It’s pure varietal in its berry, black olive and leaf aroma and flavour, its rich, firm palate and elegant structure.