Whicher Ridge Une Rangée Petit Verdot 2016
- 91
- $38
- Drink by: 2021 - 2032
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Fun Wine Fact: Une Rangée refers to the fact that in 2016 Whicher Ridge had just one row of petit verdot. Today, it has two rows and a third is on the way! As you read this, the vineyard’s only row of shiraz is being grafted over to petit verdot.
I guess the grape’s fame is on the rise. The fact that this is the first time the wine has been bottled as a stand-alone wine indicates growing confidence. I think that confidence is well-placed.
The grape, as we know, is blessed (or cursed) with high tannin which in this case is a possible reason for the wine being released as a five-year-old. It arrives formed in a tight mould of tannin but the generosity of black fruits, blueberry, plum and violet more than compensates. So, too, the degree of savouriness to be enjoyed in this wine. It is a strong-minded kind of red full of dark spice and fruit power, nicely structured too and should live a long life.
I haven’t tried too many single variety petit verdot reds from the Geographe region, but maybe this wine’s success will encourage more. Who knows?
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.
