5 From Hamilton’s Ewell Vineyards

About a week after the Xanadus arrived, these five showed up at our door like orphans looking for a good home, and who were we to turn them away? Hamilton’s Ewell Vineyards, established in 1838 by Richard Hamilton, Jr., was South Australia’s first commercial winery, and operated successfully for over a century before a period of corporate ownership in the early 80s. Mark and Deborah Hamilton have relaunched the winery with the intention of producing premium wines, and these selections comprise their debut release in the USA. The prices listed are suggested retail.

2000 Hamilton’s Ewell Vineyards Barossa Railway Chardonnay, $12.99, 13.5% alc.: A medium straw to pale gold in color, this was 90% fermented in stainless steel, and 10% in new French oak hogsheads. It features nice enough pear on the nose, with a little asparagus on the side; the understated oak adds a subtle note of butterscotch. It’s almost a saliva sucker, with plenty of acidity on the palate, and the flavors generally echo the aromas, with some added minerality. It has good balance, a nice mouthfeel and a decent finish, making for a quite pleasant, if unexceptional glass of Chardonnay. The price is good for what’s in the bottle, and it might be interesting to see what a year or so in the cellar would do for it.

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2000 Hamilton’s Ewell Vineyards Barossa Ewell Cabernet Sauvignon, $17.99, 14% alc.: There’s an ever so slightly cloudiness to the dark garnet color of this wine; it saw twelve months in a mixture of new, one, two three and four year old French and American barriques, and it’s obvious from the sweet oak, red currant, raspberry and what Kim called, "that same cherry stick candy from my youth," on the nose. These more or less follow through on the palate, with an added cassis Cabernet character and hints of tobacco that promise to develop with time. Well balanced, with a good mouthfeel, at least a few years of tannins that don’t keep you from enjoying it now, good acidity and a nice finish, we both like this a lot. Excellent QPR here, and a good match for a mixed grill of chipotle rubbed flank steak, asparagus and truffle mashed potatoes.

2000 Hamilton’s Ewell Vineyards Barossa Stonegarden Grenache-Shiraz, $15.99, 70% Grenache, 30% Shiraz, 14% alc.: This ruby dark garnet is also slightly cloudy, and this bottle was also slightly corked. I was able to get something of a read on it, although I could only handle about three or four tastes. It also saw twelve months in a mixture of new, one, two three and four year old French and American barriques and hogsheads. A little burnt rubber and road tar blows off on the nose, leaving a sweet oak, raspberry, blackberry, red currant bouquet with earthy undertones that is reflected in the flavors. Not terribly complex, it has good acidity, unobtrusive tannins, and a decent, if not overlong finish. Had this bottle not been corked, it would have been pleasant and easy to drink, and a good match for just about any grilled red meat on the barbie.

2000 Hamilton’s Ewell Vineyards Barossa Railway Shiraz, $17.99, 14.5% alc.: This deep dark garnet Shiraz saw the same general barrel aging strategy as the last selection, and features sweet oak, red currant, raspberry "cherry stick" flavors and aromas that are shaded with hints of toast and rhubarb. A little road tar mostly blows off of the nose. It has good acidity and a few years worth of tannins, but it loses a little something on the mid-palate and finish, and doesn’t have the depth of fruit to soak up the oak, which becomes more pronounced with air. Not a bad wine, by any means, but not a particularly impressive one, either.

1999 Hamilton’s Ewell Vineyards Barossa Fuller’s Barn Shiraz, $29.99, 14.5% alc.: This inky garnet was produced from thirty year old vines of Fuller’s Vineyard, and saw twenty months in a mixture of new, one, two three and four year old French and American barriques and hogsheads. Finally, here we have some deeper, darker plum and blackberry character to go with the sweet oak, but without as much cherry stick as the other reds, but there’s not much complexity at this point either. It shows less oak on the palate, with deeper fruit than the others, good acidity, and a finish that isn’t as long as it could be, mainly because the tannins clamp down on it. Five years or so should see some development, as this does reveal little hints of coffee with air, and when I returned for a second taste an hour later, it showed less overt oak and somewhat hard fruit that has plenty of depth. I’d like this better if it cost $5 or $10 less.

It should be interesting to see how the Hamiltons progress with their drive to reestablish their Ewell Vineyards as a major player in the Barossa Valley. These wines are all sound and well made (the corked Grenache-Shiraz being an aberration that is to be expected occasionally), but while we’d not turn down a glass of any of them, we’d probably only buy the Cabernet Sauvignon, easily our favorite here.

Hamilton’s Ewell Vineyards Wines are imported by William Grant and Sons Inc, Edison, NJ.

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February 2002