An Australian icon – Tahbilk Marsanne 2019
- 95
- $11.5
- Drink by: 2020 - 2028
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WINNER of a Winepilot Trophy for the greatest value wines in Australia.
The most under-rated white wine in Australia? Marsanne. No other grape variety is quite so invisible.
Enter Tahbilk, a producer in Central Victoria, and the hero in the story of Marsanne in Australia having grown, championed and, at times, single-handedly, doggedly, encouraged us to give it a go.
Tahbilk Marsanne is the standard, the benchmark by which I judge all others. It is resolute and timeless in style, a classic. The 2019 vintage is strong, a brighter presence in the glass than the 2018, with a delicacy that sometimes reminds me of Riesling. Signature honeysuckle, jasmine aromas – aromatic and lifted – with lemon blossom.
The palate is generous with grapefruit pith, fruit peel, lemon and an almond mealy-ness. The grape is not naturally blessed with high acidity and so it’s picked early (alcohol is 12%) and it is that early-picked lemony acidity that is going to hold this wine on its journey.
Did I mention that Marsanne also ages a treat??
Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.
