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Cellar Door News
Majella's super premium wine, the 2008 "The Malleea" by Majella has now been released. Once again it's a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz (about 55% Cab and 45% Shiraz) with lashings of new French Oak and all the other trimmings we've come to expect. We think it's one of our best vintages, and certainly those that have tasted the wine agree with us.
We've just exhausted all our stocks of the very popular 2005 vintage of our Sparkling Shiraz. The 2006 vintage is now on sale and we're sure you'll find it just as wonderful as all our previous vintages. Once again it's made from 100% estate grown Shiraz grapes, fermented in the bottle, held on lees for 24 months and sweetened with a good dose of Australian Vintage! Enjoy!
The 2009 Majella Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2009 Majella Shiraz have just been released. The wines look as fantastic as ever. I think they will turn out to be great wines.
You'll find all the details at our WINE SHOP page.
Promotions
It's been a very busy year for us with wine promotions all over Australia and in many of our export markets.
We are halfway through the Good Food and Wine Shows around Australia with only Adelaide and Brisbane to go.
The annual Coonawarra Road Shows are about to start in mid August. You'll find all the information here
Reviews
The latest edition of The Wine Advocate on erobertparker.com has a lovely article by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW on "Affordable Australian Wines". She has given the 2009 The Musician a great review- and equal top points at 91/100.
A copy of her review is below:
2009 Majella The Musician
Majella A Proprietary Blend Dry Red Table wine from
While I never like to pick favorites, Majella-s -The Musician- is a wine that I often drink at home because it so consistently over-delivers on quality, balance and a sense of place for its price. A blend of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon and 43% Shiraz, the deep garnet-purple colored 2009 The Musician Cabernet Shiraz displays wonderfully expressive aromas of cassis, crushed blackberries, some eucalyptus, fragrant violets and red roses plus a waft of lavender. Full bodied and very concentrated, it-s not shy on the structure with crisp acid and medium to firm level of fine grained tannins. The finish is long and juicy with the faintest suggestion of toast. Approachable now, it should continue to drink until 2015.
Majella was represented by The Grateful Palate in the USA, its current importer situation in that market remains unresolved. It is available in around 30 other markets around the world including Canada, the UK and most of Asia.
Matthew Jukes is a wine writer based in the UK. Every year he presents his Top 100 Australian Wines. This year has has included two of our wines.
Firstly the new release 2008 Cabernet:
2008 Majella, Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, SA The aroma on this young wine defies belief – it is one of the most intense and evocative encapsulations of the essence of Coonawarra I have ever experienced. The moments of eucalyptus and mint are invisibly welded into the deep, dark blackcurrant chassis and the entire mass of flavour seems to hover on a million ball bearings as it slides across the palate. Disturbingly approachable already, but clearly with a decade or more to go, this is one of the most accurate and enjoyable Cabernets of the year.
and then the current vintage 2008 Musician:
2008 Majella, The Musician, Cabernet / Shiraz, Coonawarra, SA The Musician has become a bit of a favourite at The Great Australian Red competition, winning gongs every year. In the UK we haven’t quite got our heads around this blend yet, but wines like The Musician and others in this section provide the best value for money red experience that Australia has to offer. Most wines of this breed hail from Barossa or McLaren Vale so a Coonawarra version is somewhat of an anomaly. What’s fabulous about this wine is that it has a clarity of message and a freshness of fruit which should really appeal to our European palates. Get into the groove.
It's an interesting list of Matthew's version of Australia's Top 100. Very few wineries get more than one mention, so we're very proud to have two wines included.
Campbell Mattinson, principal author of Winefront, is one of the first wine writers in Australia to review the newly release Majella 2008 Shiraz:
I always look forward to the Majella red releases and I’ve liked what I’ve tasted so far of 2008 Coonawarra - so was doubly-keen to taste this.
There sure is a lot of oak here. It will seduce many; deter others. It’s quite delicious oak though - musky, vanillin, creamy and sweet. It helps give the wine a miraculous smoothness - to your average red wine drinker, this is manna from heaven. Otherwise expect flavours of plums and cherries and darker blackberries. Nice clip of tannin. It needs another year to settle, but it’s right in the Majella groove. Rated : 92+ Points
A couple of days ago Campbell also wrote about the 2008 Majella Cabernet:
This release made me fall in love with Majella cabernet sauvignon all over again.
It’s just a gorgeous wine. It’s loaded with blackcurrant and dust and mint; it’s tannic and assertive but balanced and smooth; it’s long through the finish and 100 per cent satisfying. The 15 per cent alcohol reading was a surprise to me. It’s ripe and lush yet it feels controlled. Chocolatey oak plays a seductive and appropriate role. A beauty! Rated : 94 Points
Tony Keys in the KROW report looked at the 2008 Shiraz:
"Majella Coonawarra Shiraz 2008: Plums on nose and soft supple top notes but well supported as it travels through the mouth very sound a solid 93 points and value at $28."
.. and Chris Shanahan in the Canberra Sunday Times said of the 2008 Majella Cabernet Sauvignon:"Some call vintage 2008 a schizophrenic vintage – the story of great fruit harvested before a prolonged, intense March heatwave and shrivelled fruit harvested afterwards. There’s some of this schizophrenia in this extraordinary Majella cabernet, product of the Lynn family’s vineyard, southern Coonawarra. Coonawarra’s elegant, right? Well this one weighs in at 15 per cent alcohol, it’s as black as Hades and one sip carries a bucket of flavour. This is the beginning of the split personality: it’s so powerful and alcoholic, but, yes, it’s still elegant. Further, the strong minty, leafy aroma suggests unripeness. But no, it’s ripe, supple and ripples with soft, juicy tannins." Winestate Magazine reviewed the 2008 Majella Cabernet in the July 2010 issue: "A wine with structure and style. Intense colour, complex bouquet and lovely soft, fresh palate. Big stone-fruit and cassis flavours with citrus overtones. Definitely one for the cellar. 5 Stars."
and the 2008 Majella Shiraz:
"Beautiful complex bouquet with a powerful peppery fruit lift. Lovely tight but flavoursome palate – a balance of sweet fruit and oak showing excellent structure and strength. 5 Stars."
Graeme Phillips in Tasmania reviewed the 2008 Shiraz thus;
"Deep purple-black with an unusual but not unpleasant camphor/herbal nose before rip, plummy fruit, vanillin oak and creamy, blackberry liqueur-like flavours come to the fore in the mouth; the palate rich, and full-bodied and weight, balanced by the good tannic firmness of the finish."
Coonawarra News
There is always something happening here in Coonawarra. We're gearing up for the Coonawarra Roadshows and it won't be long until it time for the Cabernet Celebrations in October.
The Coonawarra Vignerons Association has a great website with all the news about Coonawarra, it's wineries, various promotional activities and much more.
