07/12/11: Up the Creek, 'On the Grapevine' Colin Kirkpatrick, Dec 2011
Cedar Creek High Trellis Reserve Shiraz 2008 It’s a dark, rich red with hints of purple and a sweet aroma of raspberries, warm earthy spices and a subtle hint of mandarin oranges in the background. The wine has a surprisingly soft mouth-feel but it’s really full-bodied and dry, with plenty of attractive berry flavour. You might even detect the flavour of chocolate and woody spices. There’s an excellent firm foundation of soft tannin, which lingers on into the slightly oaky finish. I find this tannic touch very attractive, because it helps to firm-up the wine’s texture.
This is a well-balanced and attractive wine, and at 14% alcohol is near the top end of the scale for table wine. You’ll probably prefer it with food. The makers suggest Beef Wellington (a kind of beef en croute) char-grilled meats or pasta. Give the wine plenty of air and serve it cool.
Cedar Creek Original Block Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 This really looks gorgeous. It’s a deep red with purple hues, very long legs in the glass and has a pleasing oily, expensive look. The aroma is rich and fruity, powerful and intriguing, with black berries, dark fruit, herbs and the faintest suggestion of soft spices. Give it time, and you might pick up a kind of woody chocolate aroma too. Before I forget, the “Original Block” in the name refers to the area of first-planted grapes and therefore the oldest and best in the vineyard. After the sweet aromas, the rich dry taste comes as a pleasant contrast. It’s full-flavoured certainly, with black berries and plummy fruit up-front and a good foundation of soft tannins. There’s a lingering finish with more hints of soft tannin and slightly oaky overtones.
This is a rich, smooth and velvety wine that needs a fair bit of air contact. Give it time and you’ll be rewarded by a superb rich and fruity aroma that develops as the oxygen gets to work. Although the wine is dry, there’s the faintest hint of sweetness on the palate. But notice the year! It is already four years old and doing very well. The wine’s firm structure seems to suggest that it will soldier on for a few more years yet and improve in the process.
Wines of this type (especially like this one at 13.5% alcohol) tend to be best with food and this would make a splendid partner for roast beef dishes. The back label suggests pheasant or venison too.
03/11/11: Meet the Brookfords, On The Grapevine, Pattaya Mail, Colin Kirkpatrick, Nov 2011
When I was a student in London during the last century, Australian wine had a pretty dodgy reputation. In the 1960's, you could buy flagon-shaped bottles labelled, to the chagrin of the French "Australian Burgundy". An rough old stuff it was too. However, in recent decades Australian wine has improved beyond all recognition. Australia is now a world leader in terms of both quantity and quality. Interestingly, some French wine-makers have started giving their wines distinctly Australian-sounding names. Now that, if you ask me, is richly ironic.
Brookford Colombard Chardonnay 2010, Australia Both these wines are entry level wines from the respected Cranswick stable, known best for its excellent varietals. The Colombard grape variety hails from the Charente region of South Western france, where it is usually distilled for Cognac. it is also quite popular as a blender in California and South Africa and is now being grown in Texas of all places. In Australia, Colombard ranks as Number Five in the wine production stakes. It has a high natural acidity, so it's a good choice for blends.
This is a light gold with a delicate aroma of apricots. I thought I could smell ripe peaches too as well as a faint hint of herbs. I think I picked up a suggestion of boiled sweets as well. Well, that's what it says in my notes. There's a lovely soft mouthfeel with a zesty, crisp tingle of bright acidity that makes you sit up and take notice. This is probably because 85% of the blend is Colombard. It's quite a light bodied wine at 11% alcohol with the fruit well up-front. The wine was fermented in stainless steel tanks and this of course helps to preserve the natural freshness and zing.
There's a longish citrus finish too, making this a most attractive and well-balanced wine. It would make a jolly good aperitif, but the makers suggest that it would make a good partner for shellfish, Asian salads, roast chicken or creamy pasta dishes.
Brookford Merlot-Petit Verdot 2010 You've heard of Merlot of course, especially if you've sat through that irritating American movie called Sideways in which most of the actors speak as if they have socks in their mouths. I had to switch on the subtitles before the movie began to make any sense.
In Bordeaux, the comparatively soft and fleshy Merlot is traditionally used to soften Cabernet Sauvignon, which is made of sterner stuff. Of course, these days Merlot has taken on a life of its own and become a major star in its own right.
In case you were wondering about Petit Verdot, it's one of the lesser stars of the red Bordeaux constellation and traditionally used for firming up Cabernet Sauvignon blends. The blending of these two grapes is rather unusual, although becoming popular in parts of the New World.
This wine has 85% Merlot in the blend and is a gorgeous deep purple-red with lots of thick legs forming as you swirl it around the glass. The aroma is very soft and fruity: an attractive smell that reminds me of plum jam, with reminders of red berries and herbs. There are hints of warm spice and oak on the aroma too, giving the impression that the wine is more expensive than it actually is.
The fruit is really up front but the wine is quite dry and firm bodied too. There's also a pleasing foundation of soft tannin. You also get a longish dry finish with more soft tannins. The tannin gives the wine a rather French feel, so if you enjoy light French reds, you'll probably like this too.
Although I would be happy to enjoy this wine on its own, I'd class it as a food wine. At just 12.5% it's an attractive easy drinker that would be great with red meat dishes, stews, pizza and pasta. And by the way, the word Merlot comes from the old French word which means a "young blackbird". I bet you didn't know that !
21/09/11: Top Results for Cranswick Sarus Pair in China
Success for the top tier Cranswick Wines in the newly released China Wine Awards 2011.
A GOLD medal was awarded to our cool climate Cranswick Sarus Chardonnay Pinot Noir 2009, from the Adelaide Hills in South Australia. Cranswick Sarus Shiraz 2009 from the Barossa Valley took BRONZE.
The China Wine Awards are the only awards to judge wines specifically for the Chinese market.
For further details please contact lg@cranswickwines.com
10/08/11: Cranswick Wines in Nepal
Cranswick Wines are delighted to announce that they have appointed Alliance Distributors (P) Ltd, based in Kathmandu, to be their exclusive distribution agent in Nepal.
We are looking forward to a long and successful partnership.
10/08/11: Cranswick Wines at HK Wine Expo 2011
Cranswick Wines will once again be featured at the 3rd Hong Kong Wine Expo (3rd - 5th November) at the HK Convention Centre.
Watch this space for more news on the wines to be exhibited and for Stand Details.
In the meantime if you would like to arrange an appointment with either Graham Cranswick-Smith or Michael Awin please contact lg@cranswickwines.com.
07/03/11: Cranswick Wines at Prowein
With a new stand and the very latest vintages, Cranswick Wines will be exhibiting at Prowein, 27th - 29th March, in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Graham Cranswick-Smith and Michael Awin will be there to show off the exciting 2010 vintages of the Lakefield wines, the Estate range with its Barossa varietals and the pinnacle Sarus Shiraz and Sarus Chardonnay Pinot Noir.
We would be delighted to welcome you to our stand in Hall 6, Stand N71.
For further details or to make an appointment, please contact lg@cranswickwines.com
04/01/11: Cedar Creek has the Best New World Shiraz Under Sing $30
Just before Christmas the Singapore based Lianhe Zaobao Wine Review Challenge 2010 selected our Cedar Creek 2008 High Trellis Reserve Shiraz as their Best Wine under Sing $30 in the New World Shiraz category, a great result!
The Cranswick stable continues to shine in international competitions taking bronze medals for Cranswick Sarus Shiraz 2008, Cranswick Sarus Chardonnay Pinot Noir 2009 and Cedar Creek Soft Press Chardonnay 2009 in the same competition.
For further information or details please contact lg@cranswickwines.com
21/10/10: Cranswick Wines at Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Fair
We will once again be exhibiting at the forthcoming Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Fair, taking place from 4th - 6th November at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Cranswick Wines will be located on their distributor's stand, ABS Asia, which can be found in Hall 3D-D40. The full range of Cranswick wines, including the two Silver medal winning Sarus wines, will be available for tasting, and both Graham Cranswick-Smith and Michael Awin will be in attendance to take you through the range or answer any questions you may have.
To make an appointment or for further details, please contact lg@cranswickwines.com
20/10/10: New Agents For Hong Kong/Macau
Cranswick Wines are delighted to announce the appointment of ABS Asia Ltd, as their agent for Hong Kong / Macau.
ABS Asia is Hong Kong's newest wine company, formed only one month ago. It is an association of three international businesses, all of whom have recognised the importance of the emerging Hong Kong market and linked together with local market specialists Philippe Degrange and Pascal Raynaud, to create ABS Asia. The key focus for the new company is to service the Hong Kong on-trade sector.
Graham Cranswick-Smith commented, "I'm really looking forward to working with the ABS Asia team and am very excited about the future for Cranswick Wines in the territory."
For further information, please contact lg@cranswickwines.com
18/10/10: Sarus Chardonnay takes Silver at the IWSC 2010
When their Southern Hemisphere results were unveiled recently, the International Wine & Spirit Competition in London awarded Cranswick Sarus Chardonnay 2009 a Silver medal. A fantastic result!
We're especially delighted as this is the first vintage of the cool climate Chardonnay Pinot Noir blend from the Adelaide Hills, watch out for the 2010! There is still some stock of the award winning 2009 vintage available, please contact your local Cranswick distributor for further information.
23/05/10: Cranswick Wines add Adelaide Hills Chardonnay Pinot Noir to Sarus Range
Following the successful introduction in 2008 of Cranswick Wines premium “Sarus” Barossa Valley Shiraz, Cranswick is now releasing its 2009 Cranswick Sarus Chardonnay Pinot Noir, from the cool climate Adelaide Hills.
The Cranswick philosophy is to search out parcels of interesting wines from premium Australian regions and the new Sarus Chardonnay Pinot Noir is a superb example of this. Graham Cranswick-Smith, commented on the wine
"Although Chardonnay Pinot Noir is an unusual table wine blend, we were really excited when we first tasted this wine, the addition of 5% Pinot Noir to our Adelaide Hills Chardonnay adds a real touch of elegance and class, as well as providing a point of difference."
Made from 96% Chardonnay with 4% Pinot Noir, all the grapes were sourced from contract vineyards in the cool climate Adelaide Hills. Fermentation took place on French and American oak staves to add complexity to the varietal fruit flavours. The wine was allowed to remain on oak and ferment on lees for two months to provide extra mouth feel to the palate.
Pale straw in colour with a faint green hue, aromas of white peach and citrus with classic grapefruit, apple and overtones on the palate. Long, lingering finish.
14/04/10: Cranswick Estate Adds Barossa GI
In a quest to add value to their "Estate" range of wines Cranswick Wines have moved away from the S.E Australia Geographical Indicator (GI) for their latest vintage and have sourced grapes from the Barossa GI, South Australia.
The Estate range comprises Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio*, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon (Asia only) and Shiraz. (*Pinot Grigio remains S.E. Australia for the time being).
Graham Cranswick-Smith commented "We are delighted to be able to offer our customers a significantly enhanced product. The move to Barossa fruit has added an extra dimension to the wines, providing both greater intensity and elegance." He added "We are not increasing the prices for the new Barossa wines, Cranswick Wines have always represented outstanding value for money and this change reinforces that message. We believe we now offer the best value Barossa wines on the market."
The new wines will be available for tasting at the forthcoming London Wine Trade Fair, where Cranswick Wines can be found on stand M40 - Graham Cranswick-Smith will be on hand to take you through the range, which also includes the new Adelaide Hills Sarus Chardonnay Pinot Noir 2009.
For further details, images or samples please contact: lg@cranswickwines.com
