letuffeau.com
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Crawford River
Henty, Victoria
“Belinda Thomson, at her family’s estate ‘Crawford River’, makes the finest Riesling in Australia. The Cabernet Sauvignon is not far behind.
John Thomson, Belinda’s father, returned from London to his family property with two options: sell the farm, or make it work as a classic ‘WD’ Merino station. John saw a third and planted vines in 1975, enrolling in Charles Stuart University in 1977 to study Viticulture and Oenology.
The situating landscape appears unremarkable yet beneath the windswept plains (ie: strongly maritime, moderated climate) lies a shelf of clay-limestone that extends over from Mount Gambier with a faint dusting of richer volcanic soils. Some magic must be afoot here with the moderated cool climate, attentive viticulture, and the deep mineral underpinning as the wines are consistently excellent and repeatedly memorable. If my notes seem vague it is because these, like R. Lopez de Heredia, are wines I have lived with for sometime.
Indeed, Will and I’s Nana was a regular visitor to John at the estate, staying close by on property outside Hamilton. The Riesling featured first as an early wine memory. The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, in a Museum Release below, is a benchmark wine for me, following not far behind.
Crawford River does not deserve my faulty notes, it deserves international renown. My affection for them is boundless and my passions reignited with every time I revisit them. They constitute the core of my personal collection and I am immensely proud to stock these wines at Le Tuffeau.
Brava Belinda.”
— David
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Crawford River 2024 Henty Riesling ‘Strata’
(Shelf Price: $45.00)
Offer: $38.00
“The 2024 'Strata' Riesling, from 'young vines' planted in 2000-01 is more open knit and effusive than the 'Estate' Riesling, with a corresponding lower level of intensity. Marked by spicy lime and lime leaf aromas, the olfactory profile has a core of white orchard fruit with complexity in the form of dashes of crushed minerals and peppercorns. The palate is softly contoured, expressive, and with a hint of residual sugar. The finish is mineral inflected and dry. Fleshy elements of white nectarine and yellow apple abound, together with mandarin peel and exotic touches. Moreish without lacking in elegance.”
— David
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Crawford River 2024 Henty Riesling
(Shelf Price: $69.00)
Offer: $59.00
“The Crawford River 2024 Riesling is aromatically reticent on first pour. Aeration brings citrus blossom and honeysuckle, crushed rock up front with a wreathing of makrut lime leaves and the estate signature: mandarin oil. Behind these higher toned aromatics there are deeper, bass notes of frangipane, ripe quince, and an exotic and mystical quality akin to fresh mace. The palate is immaculate: this is a wine both of structure and presence. There is a beautiful, 'tucked-in' quality to the phenolics, the acidity slices through the weighty fullness of fruit and residual sugar, and the wine spreads even at this youthful stage to all corners of the mouth. Quince and a melange of other white orchard fruit, kampot pepper, further crushed citrus leaf, and an intriguing white cherry note. The finish balances length and bread, tingling with minerality and salinity. The very back end, well after other flavours have ceased to linger, is intensely, almost painfully, mineral.”
— David & Will
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III
Crawford River 2019 Henty Cabernet Sauvignon
(Shelf Price: $85.00)
Offer: $72.00
“Strict claret. Vertically layered on the nose, aeration (indeed, vigorous swirling) allows for the revelation of aromatic layers as geological strata: faint mineral notes and black olives, then thyme and mint, following are loam and cigar wrapper, with blue and black fruits at the gravitational centre. This verticality of presence continues on the palate, with tannins in supporting beams. Spice-box and cigar leaf, crushed blackberry, further thyme and black olive; array-like presentation with mineral/graphite undercut. The finish is broader than previous vintages with a St.-Julien breadth meets a Pessac-like gravelly quality.”
— David
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Crawford River 2022 Henty Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Reserve’
(Shelf Price: $115.00)
Offer: $98.00
“Whereas the ‘standard’ Cabernet speaks of broader, more oxygen rich winemaking with oak influence, this Reserve (from a single plot) sees no oak*, purely concrete ferment and elevage.
This is the Reserve Pauillac to the ‘standard’ Pessac. This is a wine of greater verticality than its counterpart. Soaring and immediately present aromatics of red fruits, sage and mint, violets, High Church incense and Cuban claro cigar wrapper, and a fine line of crushed limestone and white pepper. The tannins are simultaneously lighter in weight yet more serious, with a distinct sheeting quality and tensile structuring at play. Crushed blackberry and raspberry, some currants and red cherry; there is a trimming of sage and toasted spices, and support from Greek salted mammoth black olives. Very fine. Will outlive me.”
— David
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Crawford River 2008 Henty Cabernet Sauvignon (Museum Release)
(Shelf Price: $115.00)
Offer: $98.00
“I remember buying and opening a bottle of this wine back around release, probably in 2011. My notes from memory are pretty sketchy, but black olive tapenade, morello cherry, Christmas spice, and grilled thyme come to mine. Bravo John.
Development has softened the darker tones of John’s winemaking in this wine, with brighter red cherry and currant aromatics starting to reveal their secrets, wreathed in broken rock, vine smoke, and cigar leaf. The 2008 is darker than either the 2000 or 2006 I opened recently, with crushed blackberry and that memorial black olive tapenade at centre stage along with leather, faint limestone and spice notes on the close. This is an imposing wine with ample fruit and structure for further aging.”
— David
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* “no oak” - Belinda has mentioned to me a that a small proportion of this wine was held in fully neutral oak vessels while the level on the concrete fermenter dropped enough to accommodate!
If you would like any of the above, would like to come by for a private appointment, or just have some questions — please let us know.