WTN: Hewitson Old Garden Mourvèdre 2003

[Otto]

Hewitson Old Garden Mourvèdre 2003 (Barossa Valley) 15% (f**k me!!!) 26,00€

According to the label this is probably the oldest Mourvèdre vineyard in the world as it was planted in 1853. It also states "Old Garden Mourvèdre was picked fully ripe." I guess that's Ottospeak for "OGM was picked massively over-ripe!" It is matured in "new and old French barrels for 16 months." Anyone know how much of each and how old the old barrels are? The oak isn't sticking out, so they've done this part well. "This Mourvèdre is intense, concentrated and distinctly varietal," the lable goes on to say. Intense and concentrated I'll buy, but not varietal. I get few Mourvèdreish aromas out of it. Well, enough of my propaganda, here's the note:

Very dark red (not quite purple, but almost), deep hue. A bittersweet nose. It manages not to be confected despite the massive sweetness. There is a touch of genuine depth to the nose. Despite a hint of earthiness I fail to see any varietal character in this. The palate is sweetly fruity, with noticable acidity but very soft tannins, very, very big on the fruit department of course. Amazingly the massive alcohol is only noticable very slightly in the aftertaste. I wouldn't have believed such a massive wine to be in balance, but this is. I still don't like it thought.

Why isn't this labelled as Mataro? I thought that was the Aussie name for the variety!

-O-

[Bob Parsons Alberta]

Maybe they thought "Mataro" would not be recognized!! Hewitson around here but not this one. Thanks for posting Otto.

[Ian Sutton]

Otto
I think they've been dropping mataro for mourvedre over the last decade.
Not quite sure what inspired you to pick this bottle up, and I was thinking as I saw the title "that's an odd bottle for Otto's tastes "

One winery I reckon it would be worth you looking out for is Bests of the Grampians region (same area as Seppelt). They don't make showy wines, but most tend to age well. They also do a straight pinot meunier which sounds interesting. Not sure if it's available over there.

regards

Ian

[Otto]

Not quite sure what inspired you to pick this bottle up, and I was thinking as I saw the title "that's an odd bottle for Otto's tastes "

I had a friend over for an early dinner who likes Aussie Shiraz and other big and spoofy wines. I humour her on occasion and buy the sort of wines she likes. Don't worry - I also opened the Cantemerle which was to my taste and let her drink this!

[Jenise]

"Old Garden Mourvèdre was picked fully ripe." Well, you can't say you weren't warned.

Anyone know how much of each and how old the old barrels are? Does it really matter?

"This Mourvèdre is intense, concentrated and distinctly varietal," the lable goes on to say. That means it doesn't taste like Shiraz.

Why isn't this labelled as Mataro? So it will sell to Americans.

Cynical this morning, aren't we.