All Saints Estate Family Cellar Rutherglen Marsanne 2013

Fifty year old Marsanne vines! Wow. People often forget that we have some serious old vine resources of less mainstream varieties (like century old Trebbiano vines in the Hunter).

This comes off the All Saints family estate in Rutherglen. Hand harvested, wild fermented in barrel and aged on lees for 18 months (tidy handling), it’s full, ripe and chunky, the nose all pear with a dash of honeysuckle. That carries through onto a palate that is full, the oak and lees just adding more weight, before a pithy phenolic finish.

Interesting to compare this to the Warner Vineyard Rhone blend. It’s much larger, warmer, thicker and easier to like initially, but after a while that slight heaviness marks this as just behind. Quality wine regardless, and a reminder of the charm of Marsanne. Best drinking: 2016-2019. 17/20, 90/100. 13.5%, $35. Would I buy it? I’d go a glass.