Not many negatives about these labels

Estate Grown. Single Vineyard. These terms can be thrown onto a wine label as hollow, shallow marketing jargon. But when they’re on there for the reasons of passion and authenticity as demonstrated by the juice inside the bottle, then they hold far more integrity. These 2 wines are part of reasonably large portfolio from Longview, located in the Adelaide Hills.  Whilst there’s a quirkiness to the imagery of the labels (some may cringe to find animals on the front), they certainly give depth to the story of Longview.

Cows. Not always a primary colour.

2012 Blue Cow Chardonnay

Lemon/gold colour. Medium nose of butter kissed lemon & stonefruits. A sweetness drifts in and out, almost baked pastry. Medium weighted in the mouth, there’s reasonable acidity hiding behind lashings of citrus lemon and stonefruits nectarine. A slightly more sweet peach profile also commands attention towards the finish enhanced with warmth from high-ish alcohol. Oak has been used wisely and just enough to provide complexity. Plenty of steely, linear mid-palate zip to make this an enjoyable mod-oz chardonnay in the sub $20 category

Alc: 13.5%

RRP: $19.50

Yakka. Synonymous with hard work. Apt for the business of winemaking

2010 Yakka Shiraz

Leather, spice, mint and plush purple & red fruits. Just smells drinkable! Medium acid and medium tannin to give structure. Headed towards full bodied but not blockbusting, lots of perfectly ripe juicy berries. Again, oak has been used well to give toasty highlights. Lovely savoury, almost cool climate, spice but with a rounder mouthfeel due to the again high-ish alcohol. Very slurpable. I’ll be interested to see where this goes in a few years time, but I think that it’s doing its job right now. Drink up.

Alc: 14.5%

RRP: $27

Both wines samples courtesy of Longview Vineyard