What to drink when you miss a Stonewell vertical

It’s not been the triumphant 15th birthday week I had envisioned here at Casa Graham, with a few rough nights and a bit of chaos on a key ‘daytime’ project all culminating in me missing a vertical of Peter Lehmann Stonewell earlier today.

Balls.

So, what do you do when life seems a bit shit? Eat comfort food, and drink comfort wine (and beer). Something generous, gratifying, and rounded. In our case, that translated to steak and beans in this house (but fancy steak) and a long hard think about what constituted ‘comfort wines’.

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This is what I’ve ended up with on the Australian Wine and Drinks Review bench:

Torzi Matthews Old Vines GSM 2022

Dom Torzi is someone who knows how to craft a comforting red wine. The master of Barossan texture, I always appreciate the rounded edges and proper generosity of the Torzi Matthews wines for very fair prices. This GSM is just the most perfectly delicious Barossan red too. Sourced from bush vines ranging from 90-108 years old, the blend is 60/20/20 G/S/M. 25% whole bunches in the mix, wild fermented, matured in old oak. All that for $28? Man. This smells great too – open red fruit, chocolate plum richness, you can feel every part of this. There’s a ripe dark plum push from Shiraz, a solid core of red Grenache fruit, and that olive tapenade old vine Mataro blackness. Nothing obvious or hard, but so mouthfilling and right. What a delicious wine. 18.5/20, 94/100. 14%, $28. Would I buy it? Absolutely.

Yalumba Virgilius Viognier 2020

If you’re going to have a Viognier, it may as well be the bloody best Viognier in the country, right? It was Viognier Day last week too, so I’m on it. What makes Virgilius a step above is the texture – you know you’re drinking Viognier, but it doesn’t feel like a tin of SPC apricots (in juice) has been tipped over your face. This spends 10 months in barrel with some lees stirring, and it shows – there’s oatmeal in among the apricot/peach, and the barrel gives the ‘hello, is that Condrieu calling?’ creamed apricot texture/fruit rich/juicy contrast. There are some pithy phenolics to gve back palate shape too. This vintage feels a bit denser and drying (as typical of the dry dry vintage) but never looks unbalanced. Layers of flavour too. A standout. Best drinking: needs another year in bottle for ultimate harmony then drink over five years. 18.5/20, 94/100. 14%, $50. Would I buy it? Worth a bottle.

Hewitson Baby Bush Mourvedre 2021

Controversially (or not), I often prefer Dean Hewitson’s more approachable reds rather than the big dog releases, largely because of oak. This Mourvedre is a winner, for example, because it’s not oak-touched – it’s just properly expressive. From 24-year-old vines. 50% whole bunches were included in the blend, and the juice matured for 18 months in old oak. Nice Mourvedre character here too. Mid weight, vibrant, and not overdone, has that special black fruit and black jelly baby Mataro vibe and excellent tannins with a withering, drying, limitless black fruit finish. Really good. Best drinking: now and for a decade. But now is good. 18/20, 93/100. 13.5%, $30. Would I buy it? Let’s share a bottle.

Yalumba Paradox Shiraz 2018

This is intended to be a different style of Barossa Shiraz ‘softer, more gentle, velvet-like and savoury’. Glad to say the descriptor is accurate too – blackberry fruit in a real warm-hearted Barossa mode. Oak is more background texture, the fruit is indeed more black and savoury rather than anything luscious. It’s mid-weight, cosseting, if just a little warm, with cushy edges. I rather like it, and boy it fills the brief! Best drinking: good now, no hurry though, it will go a decade. 18/20, 93/100. 14%, $50. Would I buy it? A few bottles easy.

Orlando Hilary Chardonnay 2021

I haven’t seen Hilary in years! Back in my day it used to be Padthaway fruit and called ‘St Hilary’ *settles back into rocking chair*. Now it’s Adelaide Hills fruit, matured in new and used oak and just Hilary™. There are some nice cool reductive notes on the nose to suggest something interesting, though this just ends up a bit obvious. Juicy yellow peach fruit with a layer of winemaking cream, it packs plenty of ripe flavour and it’s fresh enough, but it just feels a little recipe-based. Oak tannins stick out on the finish. Look it’s ok, and it’s familiar enough for today’s proceedings (and #ChardoMay) but I just want it to have more charisma. Best drinking: nowish. 17/20, 90/100. 13%, $35. Would I buy it? A glass.