It’s been years since I last braved the cool westerly winds and Dagwood Dog fuelled crowds of the Brisbane “Ekka”, but this year I’ll be there with bells on! And not because of sideshow alley, the 350 different show bags on offer, or the fashion and farm animals, but rather, simply to indulge my love affair with the McLaren Vale.
In what is a very clever marketing exercise, the team at Rosemount Estate are bringing their “mobile McLaren Vale” to the Fashion Pavilion at the showgrounds this year.
It may be a toffee apple and fairy floss free zone, but if you feel like escaping the crowds, you can enjoy a complimentary sample of some of the McLaren Vale’s great wines from Rosemount Estate. Even the exceptional M.V. Collection from the Rosemount Estate range will be on offer, including the award-winning Cabernet from the spectacular 2012 vintage. But if you can’t treat yourself to a day at the Ekka, I reckon it’s still worth treating your taste buds to a bottle of the Rosemount M.V. Collection Estate Shiraz 2012. The McLaren Vale M.V. Collection is a new range to Rosemount and sits at about twice the price of their hugely successful Diamond Range. And that the McLaren Vale produces a Shiraz this good is unsurprising given that the region has the benefit of old vines (the first plantings were in 1838) and the Shiraz grape accounts for about 51% of the 7,463 hectares of vines under cultivation.
The 2012 M.V. Estate Shiraz is typically deep and vibrant red in the glass and exhibits all the fleshiness up front that you’d expect of a McLaren Vale Shiraz but, where at times, the Shiraz from the region can be so plump and mouth-filling that it appears overripe in a preserved plum kind of way, the M.V. Collection retains its modesty through the winemaker’s careful use of oak and tannin to subdue the otherwise exuberant and generous fruit. The result is an intense yet seductive wine that remains true to regional character. It’s a tremendous compromise between power and elegance and at the $25 price point, pretty good value for money.
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