Wine Review: Eloquesta's A Boy With Fruit

My recent travels took me to Mudgee in Central NSW, somewhere that I sadly hadn’t got around to visiting for many years. A couple of things immediately became apparent. For starters, the coffee has improved exponentially since I last slid into a café chair in that historic country town. And secondly, the wines coming out of Mudgee are pretty delicious.

There were many wines that impressed on my recent visit but I was drawn to what Stuart Olsen is doing with his vinous gear, sourcing fruit from Mudgee and Orange and approaching his winemaking in a thoughtful manner; innovating and not afraid of experimentation.

Here we have a blend of whole-berry Semillon (80 per cent) and Viognier (20 per cent) from a couple of higher altitude vineyard sites in Mullamuddy and Rylestone. Fermented together, crushed under foot and gently plunged by hand before being pressed off into a combination of old oak casks and stainless steel tanks before bottling.

Aromatically there are all sorts of good stuff going on: citrus and stone fruits, lemon balm, apricot kernel, wild herbs, frangipani, paw paw, green apple and Earl Grey tea all pop into the olfactory view.

It is a textural, slinky little number. An intriguing balancing act between richness and line plays out on the palate with lovely fruit purity and a gentle phenolic sheen that tugs ever so gently on the roof of the mouth before trailing off with a crisp, savoury swagger. Good drinkin’.

eloquesta.com.au