Heirloom Vineyards

McLaren Vale Touriga 2018

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Winner Top 100 Fuller Bodied Dry Red Wines
Grape Varieties
Touriga (100%) McLaren Vale, SA, Australia
Country of Origin
Australia
Alcohol Content
14.5% Alcohol by Volume
Wine Type and Oak Treatment
Still Red with Oak Treatment
Recommended Retail Price
RRP AU $40.00
Buy This Wine

“Strong primary purple colour. Very spicy. Attractive. Dry with fresh acidity on the palate. A nice wine but not a great synergy of flavours with the dish. The wine overpowers the dish.”

“Deep purple hue. Ripe blue fruits, orange rind and chocolate notes on the nose. The palate is ripe blueberry and cassis, toffee-orange and port flavours with a silky mid-palate and fine tannins. The sweet bramble fruits are brought forward and the slightly raisined notes diminished as are the choc-orange flavours. The coconut potato flattens all fruit flavours and complexity in the wine. ”

“Bright black cherry, cassis and red plum, fruity and forward on the nose, well managed tannins add texture and interest to the juicy fresh fruity palate. Food match is perfectly fine but flavour profiles of each might do better with a bigger, bloodier piece of meat?”

“Deep purple colour. Complex, inky aroma. Deep, pure fruit. Rich, fleshy palate, fresh acidity, growing tannins towards finish. With food: Wine is too sweet in fruit characters for the beef.”

“Purple red, bergamot and crushed leaves nose, sweet palate of mulberry fruit and mouth coating tannins and a touch of acid on the finish, the wagyu softens the acid finish to give length and drive, the gratin creaminess. ”

“Inky magenta. Lifted ripe berry and plum fruits, some spicy oak and hints of cheese rind. Rich plum and soft sandy tannin in the mouth. This is a good match between spicy flavours.”

“Big ripe, dried herbs and dark berry, chocolate, toasty oak, some black olives. Big and powerful with lots of toasty oak, herbs, spice, drying yet long tannins. Food: still big, hasn’t done a lot of change.”

The Fuller Bodied Dry Red Wines were judged with

Wagyu, Potato Gratin and Fennel Salad

Presented by chef Marcell Kustos

Ingredients

  • ~100 g Wagyu sirloin/person, sous-vide at 55C, pan fried
Potato gratin: 30 min at 180 C
  • 1 kg potato, 3mm mandolin
  • 1 can of coconut cream (whole)
  • 1 cup vegetable stock
  • 2 shallots, sliced not minced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, sliced not minced
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 20 g salt
  • Pepper to taste
Fennel salad:
  • ½ fennel, thinly sliced, mandolin (preferably very thin with Japanese mandolin)
  • Pickle fennel for 10 min in 100ml water, 100 ml apple cider vinegar, 30 g maple syrup, 10 g salt
  • In a bowl, mix fennel with 1 Tbsp pickling liquid and 1 Tbsp seeded mustard

Method

  1. In a frying pan, add 2 Tbsp oil and fry the garlic and shallots on low heat until golden brown. Add coconut cream, stock and salt.
  2. In a baking dish, layer the thinly sliced potatoes and pour the coconut stock onto them. Bake at 180C for 25-30 min, until cooked, golden brown and creamy. Set aside and let it rest for 20-30 min before serving. In that time, the potatoes will absorb the remaining broth and the gratin becomes even more creamy and easier to slice.
  3. In a bowl, mix fennel with 1 Tbsp pickling liquid and 1 Tbsp seeded mustard.
  4. Pan-fry the Wagyu just until nicely seared and the fat melted. DO NOT overcook as well done steak will not match the wine as well as medium.

The Ted Radke Perpetual Trophy for Best Table Wine made from a Lesser Recognised Grape Variety