Tim Smith Barossa Mataro 2012 (Barossa, SA)
14%, Screwcap, $36
Source: Sample
www.timsmithwines.com.au

If ever there was a poster wine for the new face of Barossa Mataro (or Mourvedre for the rebels) then it is this wine. It comes not from a new winemaker, but instead from proper journeyman Tim Smith – who has more than a few Barossan vintages under his belt.

Why this wine works is quite simple really – it is so bloody pure. It tastes ripe, generous and gently rich, unencumbered by excessive oak or artifice and tapping instead into the magic of old vine Mataro from a super vintage. Actually, Tim credits much of the success of this wine simply down to treating the fruit with the lightest of touches, with his belief that Mataro needs far less new oak than many give it, with the variety also benefiting from some careful oxidative handling to address its reductive nature.

The en result here is a generous and quite energetic Mataro with an almost carbonic like black jube juiciness. It’s much more approachable than your usual gruff and tannic Barossa Mataro, lifted by sweet berry oak and looking utterly black fruited, yet still finely structured enough to keep it savoury (and delicious).

A lovely expression of Barossa Mataro.