Eldorado Road Onyx Durif 2014
Durif is one of those grapes that, despite endless promise, never quite gets beyond ‘solid’. The variety is great if you want thick and deep reds, but for something a bit more ethereal and complex? Nup.
This Eldorado Road Onyx Durif, however, is different. I slipped it in amongst a broad bracket of full bodied reds without expecting much – Durif discrimination in action. Yet it surprised me in a big way. Head-turning Durif.
Produced from a single vineyard in Rutherglen, this was open fermented and had an extended time on skins. That handling – time on skins in particular – has helped give this a dimension beyond chunky, lush plum fruit methinks. There’s still plenty of thick fruit (and oak), but it’s so fresh and vital with nary any of the ‘hanging on until the fruit gets phenologically ripe’ cooked plums you’d see in a 14.9% Durif. Top it off with gritty, sandy tannins and the whole package, while dense and full, is entirely satisfying. It feels almost exuberant and lithe for a big wine, like a hulking full-forward who can sidestep.
More Durif like this, please. Best drinking: 2019-2030. 18.5/20, 94/100. 14.9%, $35. Would I buy it? I’d go a few glasses for sure.
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5 Comments
Who is the reviewer?
Who wrote this review?
Um, I did?
I write all the reviews on here Roger – have a squizz at the ‘about me’ section on the side (down the bottom if you’re on mobile).
Roger is probably taking the pee eye ess five out of you Andrew, but leave me to admonish him for his ignorance. Hopefully he is not a cask wine drinker.
Back to you Andrew. I didn’t realize how tough a marker you are. How on earth could you not buy this one, not a case full but some, as an alternative varietal after the great shpeil ? As Pauline Hanson used to say, Please Explain. Cheers.
Ha.
Seriously though, there aren’t many wines that I would buy whole bottles of. A glass or two, maybe even share a bottle, but to want to put some in the cellar I’d have to imagine a point when I could actually drink this.
Large, full flavoured Shiraz and Durif – in particular – I can admire, but I’m just not sure when I’d drink them, and certainly lots of them. There’s a crucial difference between appreciating and wanting to go out and buy. If that makes sense.