Does anybody out there have an Australian Aboriginal to English translation dictionary or perhaps an Aboriginal Rosetta Stone program?
We have no idea where the Australian winemakers dig up these lip twisting, unpronounceable names for their wines, but it sure is a puzzle. The latest name added to the Aboriginal name collection is Kilikanoon. We would like to see you say that if you have a cold or hay fever.
Here again, the name on the label has nothing to do with the wine in the bottle. In the case of Kilikanoon, their wines are quite good.
Kilikanoon Mort’s 2012 Block Riesling ($20) We have often said there is nothing like a true German riesling; well, we were wrong. The Kilikanoon Mort’s 2012 Block Riesling can easily stand up to any of the upper-end classical German rieslings.
Germany is about as far away from Australia as you can get without leaving the planet, but you wouldn’t believe it when you taste this wine. The problem with most non-German rieslings is they do not have enough fruit acid and therefore tend to be flabby and centered around the sugar. This wine does none of that. The Kilikanoon Mort’s 2012 Block Riesling manages to capture that true German magic and bottle it.
The wine displays the traditional melding of floral aromas and the fruity flavors of pink grapefruit with a hint of melon. Although this wine is not of German origin, it definitely deserves your attention.
Kilikanoon 2010 Killerman’s Run Shiraz Grenache ($20)Those Aussies are at it again with creative blending, or using wines that are not often blended together. This time, it is the very Australian shiraz and the very French/Hispanic grenache. On paper, that blend appears to be somewhat questionable, in the glass and on the palate. However, it works. The use of grenache is a daring move as it is a grape that can take off on its own direction and can truly vex a winemaker.
This wine shows good balance and integrated structure as well as full ripe fruit, supported by firm, but controlled, tannins. The wine explores the flavors of cherries and blackberries, backed up by hints of cloves and cinnamon. These flavors carry over to the finish, which is long and complex.
Kilikanoon Block’s Road 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon ($20) This cab is presented in a traditional and natural style. It is full of flavor and stresses all the attributes of a cab and none of its weak points.
Many of the cabs from warm weather vineyards suffer from a lack of fruit acids, while playing up the fruitiness. This is why cabs from California’s Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Central Coast are so well received, as the climate there is cooler than other parts of the state. The same holds true for the Kilikanoon Block’s Road Cabernet Savignon.
After careful husbanding of the vines, the grapes were hand-picked to assure only sound, unblemished and fully ripened grapes would be used for this wine. After the fermentation, the wine was placed into small French oak barrels, where it was allowed to age for 22 months.The final act was to bottle without any filtration or clearing so as to allow the wine to remain as natural as possible.
What resulted is a deeply colored, deeply flavored wine that displays a cherry and currant aroma with a hint of vanilla and deep cherry/berry flavor, as well as background flavors of tobacco and cedar. True to the nature of this wine, the finish is powerful, loaded with fruit and very long.
Any comments we could make on the Kilikanoon Block’s Road Cabernet Savignon would be akin to gilding the lily and would not do justice to a truly fine and reasonably priced wine.
Nixa resident Bennet Bodenstein is a wine columnist and manages ArticlesOnWine.com. He can be reached at frojhe1@att.net.
