2004 Mantons Creek Tempranillo

2004 Mantons Creek Tempranillo

$40

Blind tasting

Rachel and I went down to Mornington Peninsula in Victoria in 2009 and stumbled across Mantons Creek as a B&B and not a winery. The vineyard had just changed hands and the new owner Frederick was spending his days clearing some over grown parcels and replanting different grapes where they should have been planted originally. There was no cellar door and the B&B was an absolute bargain considering we were the only ones in the vine front Chateau.

At that stage, guests were offered a free bottle from the Mantons Creek range but without a cellar door we had no idea what to choose. At lunch we were asked where we were staying, the response was convincing, "you have to try the tempranillo, there was a byo showcase for wine makers and Frederick brought one from 2003. It blew everyone away!"

Turns out Mantons Creek is the only vineyard to grow tempranillo.

As for the wine itself, it is a very dark ruby with a very strong almost pungent nose which I'm very excited about.  It's a little stinky (in a good way) with black currant syrup, raisins and milk chocolate with a fantastic earthy undertone which gives it great depth and structure.

The recipe reads as a cup of stewed raspberries, tsp of ground cloves, a pinch of black pepper and a sprinkling of greated dark chocolate.  All in all a very rich yet smooth result.

Highly recommended...

88 points