First taste: First Drop new releases, Barossa & McLaren Vale reds with an Iberian twist

It has been even more Portugal-focused than usual this last week or so. I’m back in Portugal for the second time in two weeks while, back home in London, Wines of Portugal held their Annual Tasting and Portuguese specialist importer Raymond Reynolds hosted a meet the winemakers tasting. Even the latest Australian samples to wing their way to me from Down Under had an Iberian twist!

Winemaker Matt Gant has worked in Portugal and, before setting up First Drop with John Retsas, worked for St Hallett who have a quite a collection of Touriga Nacional vines. The top notch Portuguese variety has been a feature of First Drop blends but Gant has now gone all out, producing a 100% Touriga. Like the utterly startling sparkling Trincadeira he sent me shortly after I visited, this newbie has great varietal and regional character both.

Clever fruit sourcing and clever winemaking typify Gants’ and Retsas’ wines and they’re bloody drinkable to boot. So much so that the First Drop cellar features a bar! Below are my notes on the Touriga and four of the five accompanying bottles which came with it. Though from the tricky (wet) 2011 vintage, I found First Drop Pintor Barossa Tempranillo too sweet for my palate so I’ve not written it up.

First Drop Nacional 2012 (McLaren Vale)

This single vineyard Touriga Nacional comes from the Willunga foothills in the south of McLaren Vale, which is why it’s cheekily dubbed “Vinho do Vale.” The vineyard is at 130m above sea level on deep alluvial stony clay loam. The wine was aged sur lie for 15 months in 3 and 4 year old French oak hogsheads and bottled unfiltered. It has great varietal character – rock rose, with plum and black cherry which notes follow through on a palate well supported by rich ripe tannins. There’s a hint of garrigue and earthy chocolate too. Texturally it’s rounder and “thicker” than I’d expect from a Portuguese-born Touriga (less acidity, more sweetness), but it’s very well done.

First Drop JR Gantos Quinta do Sul Cabernet Sauvignon Touriga Nacional 2010 (McLaren Vale)

Touriga is pretty assertive but Cabernet Sauvignon – 90% of this blend – much more so. From the same vineyard as the Nacional JR Gantos reveals blackcurrant and cassis with rock rose (the Touriga!) and mint to the nose. In the mouth the Cabernet makes the running with blackcurrant, cassis some riper blueberry and – classic McLaren Vale – savoury black olive notes. The finish is juicily persistent – nice freshness here. The oak (all French, 50% new) is well worn too. The back label recommends pairing this wine with Stilton. Personally I’d go for stilton-topped, garlic-studded Portobello mushroom “burgers” roasted in red wine!

First Drop Half & Half Shiraz/Monastrell 2012 (Barossa)

I like the old worldish label of this wine which suits this gritty, medium-bodied, savoury red very well. Sourced from three quite elevated Barossa vineyards – one in the south west at 300m on red brown clays with shale, another in the north east at Moculta in Eden Valley at 330m on clay over ironstone and last, much higher at 550m, another Eden Valley vineyard on clay over ironstone and quartz. Half & Half is a little earthy to nose and palate with leather, liquorice and linseed to its spicy blackberry and damson fruit. The Shiraz fleshes out the Monastrell (a.k.a. Mataro/Mourvedre) but the latter’s tannins lend a pleasingly rustic bit of grip. Again, good freshness to the finish. A great bistro wine – unpretentious but interesting.

First Drop Mother’s Milk Shiraz 2012 (Barossa)

Slurpability is the mantra at First Drop, no more so with Mother’s Milk. This is a brilliantly easy-going but authentic Barossa Shiraz with gently sweet, juicy, sappy black fruits with earthy, loamy chocolate undertones and damask rose lift. The finish is long and fluid. No new oak and not a hint of overripeness or over-extraction. Very good and sourced from two vineyards, one in the west of the Barossa at 180m above sea level on deep red clay, the other from north of Seppeltsfield in the west of the Barossa at 285m above sea level on clay over limestone.

First Drop Mothers Ruin Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 (McLaren Vale)

From the same McLaren Vale vineyard as JR Gantos and the Touriga Nacional this 100% Cabernet has a rich nose and palate with cedary cassis, blueberry and savoury leather notes. A subtle hint of leafiness and, on day two, floral, violet notes bring lift. Nice weight with freshness and fine-grained tannins make for a well-balanced wine.