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(Archive)
Divine
Scott
Wasley -Issue 40 August/October 2005
2004 Mount Horrocks Semillon $27 &
2004
Chardonnay $25
A stunning pair of wines. Both are barrel-fermented,
aged on lees for eight months, and bottled under screwcap.
Both are clever, rather than obvious, working on length,
savouriness, balance and a building of effect, rather
than overt fruit power and/or bludgeoning oak. Both
are delicious and will cellar well for quite a while.
Firstly, and for mine, particularly the semillon
: aromas of baked apple, flowers, Clare Valley soil
and pear, all nice and savoury-seeming, rather than
glyceric. The palate is deep and soft but in no way
unctuous, being cut and underpinned by a fantastic flash
of broad minerality. The lovely spicy-apple flavour
is given definition by softly gripping fruit tannin,
meshed with gentle oak and acidity. Wonderfully tasty,
beautifully integrated – a wine of grace, style and
tremendous flavour.
The chardonnay is equally superbly
assembled, with fruit/ oak/acid working brilliantly
together. At first, it's slightly reserved - probably
because the excellent structure pushes the flavour further
towards the back half of the palate. It's all about
a really long seamless, nicely spicy-grippy back half
where the citrus peel, sandalwood and macadamia flavours
settle in for the long haul. Great stuff.
Maryann
Egan
Donna
Hay Magazine
2004 Mount Horrocks Clare Valley Semillon
May/June
2005
Boutique wineries can now be found throughout Australia.
If you're looking for something new or unique, why not
give the little guys a chance?
Limited Editions
Fermented in the barrel, this Semillon has plenty of
texture and a hint of honey and cloves. Terrific with
cream of zucchini soup.
John
Fordham
Wine Column, The Sunday Mail
Body and Soul Magazine
April 24, 2005
You could say that Mount Horrocks vigneron Stephanie
Toole is on track with her latest Clare Valley releases
seeing they were vintaged in the old railway station
at Auburn.
Her 2004 Chardonnay ($24.00) and 2004 Semillon ($27.00)
are classy efforts from a top-flight winemaker who competes
with her illustrious partner Jeffrey Grosset for fame
and success at Clare.
Benchmark
Six
Australian Vignerons Magazine,
September/October 2004
Mount Horrocks 2003 Semillon
The Mount Horrocks Semillon is a single vineyard wine
from Watervale. The vines are hand-pruned and the fruit
is hand-picked into small picking bins before being
crushed and de-stemmed. Free run juice is kept separate
from pressings, which are on-sold. Fermentation is started
off in stainless steel and transferred to French oak
barriques after a couple of days. Fermentation is in
40 per cent new and the rest one and two year-old barriques.
The wine is fermented to dry. The wine is lees stirred
every two weeks for three months and left on lees to
mature for around nine months in total. It is then bottled
under stelvin closure and released three months later.
It is a very bright, light gold with a lime-green tinge
to the rim. The nose is filled with a remarkable purity
of fruit, which is underpinned by rich oak of the highest
quality, and creamy barrel ferment characters. The mouth-filling
voluptuous fruit is rounded out with textural qualities
from regular lees stirring, barrel fermentation and
extended maturation in top quality French oak. Ripe
apple, spice and restrained silky tannins. My aim is
to make a distinctive, elegant semillon with balance
of oak and fruit being of utmost importance. A wine
that can be enjoyed while young, but with the added
advantage of being able to age for 10 years of more.
Winemaker – Stephanie Toole
MAX
ALLEN
The Weekend Australian Magazine,
August 7-8, 2004
2003 Mount Horrocks Semillon $27
If you like a little more oomph and weight to your white
wine, then this superb oak-matured semillon from the
Clare Valley should do the trick nicely. It has beautiful
smells of vanilla and buttered toast, leading onto a
full-flavoured, tangy palate, but finishes elegant and
fine.
Info: www.mounthorrocks.com
Or 08 8849 2243
RALPH
KYTE-POWELL
The Melbourne Age, Epicure Magazine,
20 July 2004
UNCORKED
Mount Horrocks Semillon 2003
Rating: 
$$
One of the best semillon-based whites from the Clare
Valley, this consistent wine has an appealing nose of
dry herbs and straw with a fair measure of oak. Don't
be put off by the wood influence, it's entirely appropriate
to the style. In the mouth, it's smooth with nutty-toasty
rich flavour, good texture and a dry finish.
Ageing? Drink over two years
Food ideas : Teriyaki chicken; stir-fried scallops.
$25-$27
JOHN
FORDHAM
The Sunday Telegraph, Sydney, 16 May 2004
2003 Mount Horrocks Semillon
Wine of the week
Unlike Hunter Semillons, this Watervale stunner spent
a considerable period in oak which accounts for its
splendidly integrated flavours.
JEFF
COLLERSON
The Sydney Daily Telegraph, 12 May 2004
Mount Horrocks 2003 Semillon
There is no more underrated white than Semillon from
South Australia's Clare Valley. This is one of the best
to emerge from the region. Unlike Hunter Semillon, which
is unusually unwooded, this was barrel-fermented in
a mixture of new and old French oak. The attractive
bouquet shows lime and grassy tones while there are
lemon zest flavours and good acidity on the complex
palate.
JEREMY
OLIVER
ONWINE, 7 May 2004
www.onwine.com.au
Mount Horrocks Semillon 2003
(Clare Valley, $24 retail, approx.) 18.5
Full-on semillon whose rich, luscious flavours and textures
effortlessly absorb some pretty high-class oak. Lightly
grassy melon and stonefruit aromas knit tightly with
creamy wheatmeal oak qualities, while the generous,
tangy palate presents a deep, vibrant core or lemon/melon
fruit framed by sweet oak and racy mineral acids. Plenty
of cut and polish, loads of attitude. Drink 2005-2008+.
www.onwine.com.au
Tasted
by Philip White
The Advertiser, Adelaide
April 28, 2004
Mount Horrocks Clare Valley Semillon 2003
93 points
This is the first Clare semi I can recall which matches
the rare intensity and grace of the great Quelltalers
from '82, '84 and '86. Like them, it's been made from
modest-yielding Watervale fruit, and it's spent time
on yeast lees in good French barriques. Melon, citrus,
faint honey and gently fragrant blossoms fill the glass,
and the explosion of pristine flavour which follows
is perfect.
Try yellow curry of carp with saffron rice.
23August 2003
$25
This lovely, lemony wine from South Australia’s
Clare Valley is light wooded and has distinct smoky
characters.
Try with pan-fried barramundi.
19 August 2003
$27
Clare whites in 2002 are more refined and subtle than
usual, with great length and quality. This screw-topped
semillon is all about intensity coupled with refinement:
its lemony and creamy aromas are seamlessly interwoven
with gently nutty oak and the whole thing is in marvellous
harmony.
August/September 2003
Semillon exhibits a wide range of flavours depending
in where it is grown. In the Clare it typically shows
fresh hay and distinct limey characters. This Mount
Horrocks example has also had a short time in French
oak, which has built up the richness and weight while
adding a layer of spiciness. The simplicity of the ingredients
and the mix of these flavours in their individual baking
“parcels” works perfectly with the fresh
limey spices and tight acid backbone of this delicious
wine.
July 2003
Winemaker
has enhanced the natural zesty flavours of her semillon
with gentle use of lemon-spiced French oak. It offers
the best of both white wine worlds, the fresh herbal
and crisp acid flavours of youthful semillon with a
depth and richness typically derived from bottle age
May 28 2003
Semillon has struggled to impress, but a new batch
of 2002s has changed PHILIP WHITE’s mind.
The Mount Horrocks Watervale Semillon 2002 is immediately
polite and conservative, with fruit that’s been
polished until it glows during eight months, no less,
in barrel. Elegant peach and bathpowder aromas deck
its bouquet, and its smooth, green-peach and lime-juice
palate is a picture of health and vibrancy in a mannered,
best dressed way – more Burnside than Bordeaux.
Its slightly smoky oak begins to show some air, which
only reinforces the whole stylistic statement.
April/May 2003
This performance marks a significant rise in status
from the last top 20 Semillon tasting for Stephanie
Toole’s small Clare Valley label. Mount Horrocks
was our highest ranked wooded Semillon and one of the
most consistent performers over two vintages. Only free-run
juice is included in the wine, which is barrel fermented
and aged in French oak (40% new) for nine months. Described
as “outstanding for its intense vanilla, toasty
balance, fineness without leanness, freshness and potential”
with smooth, buttered toast characters.
September 17 2002
This Clare Valley Semillon, from Stephanie Toole’s
Mount Horrocks, is a quietly complex contemporary style
with skilfully applied dabs of oak and lees contact.
Nose and palate have a feel of completeness; the palate
is smooth, well-balanced, dry and fine. Ageing? Should
develop well over five years under its screw-cap. Food
ideas: Lemon Chicken; baked snapper.
Rating
$$
10-11 August 2002
Anyone who might suggest Mount Horrocks wines are but
a clone of Jeffrey Grosset will rightly incur the considerable
wrath of its owner-winemaker, Stephanie Toole, even
though she shares both winery and house with Grosset.
However, I suspect she would not dispute they have one
more thing in common: fastidious attention to detail
in their winemaking. It shows through in the 2001 Mount
Horrocks Semillon (Stelvin-capped, of course; $26.50,
94 points) with its potent, grassy-herbal bouquet infused
by subtle barrel ferment aromas and a palate that has
great mouth-feel, complex yet fine, with the barrel
ferment characters beautifully judged and adding to
its remarkable length. If you are looking for the more
elegant style of Clare Valley shiraz, the 2000 Mount
Horrocks ($38.95, 90 points) should do the trick.
July/August 2002 Issue 103
Pale bright green. Wild, briary perfume of flowers,
freshly sliced pear and honeydew melon, with an undertone
of vanillin oak. Tightly crafted and impressively elegant,
with a fleshy texture given clarity and shape by lemony
acidity and a strong underpinning of slate. Will certainly
develop well in bottle.
May 2002
Exotically floral, a classy, vibrant and briary Clare
Semillon with aromas of pear, melon and freshly sliced
pear fruit and a suggestion of vanilla oak. Long and
creamy, but fine and ethereal, with penetrative flavours
and a lingering, focused and tight-knit lemony finish.
Finely crafted and delicious. Drink 2006-2009.
(93+; $25; 14 per cent alcohol, drink now to 2010)
Halfway through the bottle, with rare salmon steak,
bok chow and mashed spud with Spanish onion and garlic,
it became likely this was the best semillon I've tasted
for years. It's dry, Bordeaux-like white, but better.
It offers a whole range of grassy, weedy, meadow flower
aromas, then a beautifully viscous middle, then a perfectly
grainy, wheaty palate with fine tannin, like citrus
pith. It could even be a great Viognier.
Semillon is the chardonnay of the Clare Valley. It responds
well to a little wood contact. In the hands of a sensitive
winemaker, it can be a fine and subtle wine. CURRENT
RELEASE 1999 Everything about this wine sings. Even
the colour is a brilliant medium yellow. It's shy to
smell, revealing some straw and vanilla scents after
a little breathing, and just a hint of toast. It's barrel-fermented
but not in the slightest oaky. Smooth and ample in the
mouth, with a clean, by finish. Team it with chargrilled
free-range chicken.
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