Like Oakridge, being taken over by the listed ex-Woolworths liquor arm Endeavour Drinks hasn’t hurt Chapel Hill’s wine quality. Rock solid McLaren Vale wines, and with little shift in the pricing.
Chapel Hill The MV Mourvedre 2022
Great colour – a deep, but not thick-coloured thing, with just a little purple. Bitumen, dried fruit, figs. That withering blackness and licoricey bitterness that Vale Mourvedre packs, and the leathery tannins too. This is such a great example of style and variety – a black and deep Mourvedre exploration that threatens to get too bitter and dark but pulled back from the brink by puckering tannins. Real good. Best drinking: now to ten years (and some). 18/20, 93/100. 14%, $33.
Chapel Hill The MV Grenache 2022
A divergence in the Chapel Hill Grenache style with this ’22 version. This is a more mid-weight, red currant and raspberry mode of Chapel Hil Grenache, with more whole berry red lolly fruit, lighter extraction (so less tannin drive than the norm) and a pretty profile. It all makes for a very affable, fleshy style of Vale Grenache and a real bush vine showcase, even if it’s a less substantial wine than some vintages. V. drinkable. Best drinking: within ten years. 17.7/20, 92/100. 14%, $33.
Chapel Hill The MV Shiraz 2022
Essence of McLaren Vale Shiraz. Acres of mid-palate generosity, lots of really quite soft and generous purple fruit and the oak just adds in a little milk chocolate generosity. This is so rounded, so enveloping, needing just a bit more back palate intensity for higher marks, but I’ve had plenty of Shiraz lately for twice this price that wouldn’t be as inviting and full-flavoured. 17.7/20, 92/100. 14.5%, $33
- Best drinking: now to ten years
- Score (out of 20): 17.7
- Score (out of 100): 92
- Alcohol %: 14
- RRP (in $AUD): 31
- Winery website: https://www.chapelhillwine.com.au/
- Would I buy it?: a few glasses.
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