Frankland Estate Isolation Ridge Mourvèdre 2021 (12 Bottles) Frankland River, Australia

by CellarHand

$599.00 GST Included

AUSTRALIA WIDE SHIPPING INCLUDED

We’ve found this lightness of touch in the last few years with Mourvèdre. We’re getting really good stuff out of the skins – a redcurrant brightness that plays so nicely off the earth and charcuterie. That intrigue – those extra twists and turns on the palate – is what we’re looking for. – Brian Kent, Frankland Estate

Mourvèdre was first planted on the Isolation Ridge Vineyard in 2005. From 2014 it has been released irregularly as a varietal wine under our “small batch” label in the manner of Grüner Veltliner or Touriga Nacional. With the maturity of the vines – together with our deepening understanding of the grape and the wine it wanted to be – we’re thrilled to announce its ascendancy to the Isolation Ridge range. It is also a key component in Isolation Ridge Syrah, SmithCullam Syrah and – for the first time in the 2020 vintage – Olmo’s Reward. The grapes were destemmed and fermented in small, open pots.

The wine was pressed reasonably quickly after primary ferment to keep the tannins in check, then matured in puncheons for 14 months. We love this wine’s savoury aspect and the way it highlights the elegance with power that comes from Isolation Ridge. With vine age, the signature ferrous notes are clearly written. This wine has an exciting future.

Vibrant, translucent ruby in colour. The nose has notes of rose petals, musk and lavender with cranberry, redcurrant, morello cherry, pastrami, sweet spices and terracotta. Though complex, the nose presents as pretty and compact with underlying stoniness, which precisely mimics the first impression in the mouth.

There’s small red-berry brightness to the medium-bodied palate, and gradually those charcuterie and dry-earth notes emerge with iodine and graphite. Musky, petally perfumes waft over terracotta on a pin-point finish with powdery tannins. An understated wine with real intrigue. – Hunter Smith, Frankland Estate

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About Frankland Estate

Frankland Estate is a second-generation winery run by brother and sister Hunter and Elizabeth Smith, with Elizabeth’s husband Brian Kent at the winemaking helm since 2010.

Our upbringing on Isolation Ridge gives incredible collective insight into the wines as they make their way from vine to barrel, bottle to glass. We are free to offer opinions and challenge convention, which is vital when you strive to make the best of what you have. We owe an enormous debt to our parents, Judi Cullam and the late Barrie Smith, for their faith and vision in planting vines on Isolation Ridge way back in 1988. They set the tone for the integrity, character and respect for place that are at the heart of all we do.

We live on this land, and this entails all sorts of privileges, benefits and responsibilities. Raising a family here is just one reason to maintain this natural haven. We will pass on this land in even better condition than we found it. Not only that, but in order to oversee the natural balance of the vines – to pay attention to their needs so they yield the most impeccable fruit – you need to be immersed in them, as deeply and constantly as possible. This is the only way to see a simple and seamless transition from beautiful fruit to beautiful wine. The past decade has seen a host of those small, patient, painstaking tweaks in the vineyard and winery that, we hope, make Frankland Estate inimitable and unmissable.

CellarHand

CellarHand is a fine-wine importer and wholesale distributor, with a portfolio featuring some of the most sought-after estates of Germany, Austria, France and Italy, as well some of the greatest producers from Australia and New Zealand. Our ethos has always been to build a portfolio as you’d construct the perfect wine list. We work with small, family producers who express the best of their regions. The wines we sell are the wines we enjoy, and the people who make them are like family to us. They are wines that taste of where they come from, and though they’re steeped in history and stamped with the signature of their terroir, they’re more than ever relevant – and desirable – to the Australian diner of today.