Back on the surface, I had to wait a bit longer before hitting the tasting trail, and things didn't look promising when we arrived at Leeuwin Estate and sighted a tour bus.
Fortunately, as I discovered when I made my way into the Cellar Door, the occupants were on a tour of the winery, the tasting area had a good lengthy bar that could handle a tour group plus unassociated tasters and the woman running the operation could maintain a couple of separate ongoing conversations.
One such conversation apprised me of the existence of a Museum Release of the Art Series Riesling, which has been a long-term favourite benchmark non-Clare/Eden Valley style at the very reasonable freight free price of $242. Remembering that the current vintage (the 2008) was going for that price anyway, a dozen comprising couples of the 2008 and the preceding five vintages was a foregone conclusion and an ideal way to build up the stocks of some very good bottle aged Riesling.
The tasting started with a sparkling Brut Pinot Noir Chardonnay (4/5, $33 or $181.50/6), a quite acceptable nicely yeasty drop in a style that doesn't turn up too often in Margaret River or in the Little House of Concrete sampling repertoire, then moved into Art Series territory with the Riesling (4.5/5 $22 $242/dozen) lighter on the citrus and minerality than the South Australian equivalents, but still quite excellent.
The 2009 Siblings Sauvignon Blanc Semillon (4/5, $23 $252/dozen) was one of the best expressions of the blend I tried in the area, while the 2009 Art Series Sauvignon Blanc (5/5 $30 $330/dozen) was unbelievably good and had me shaking my head at the continuing cut-price Kiwi Savalanche (think I'm joking? Halliday gave it 96 points and described it as an exceptionally fine and elegant rendition of sauvignon blanc).
It was a step or two backwards with the 2009 Classic Dry White (4/5 $17.95 $197.50/case) that was still great value for the price. The Cellar Door attendant described it as fruit salad in a glass, and wasn't far wide of the mark. I was also quite taken by the 2007 Prelude Vineyards Chardonnay (4.5/5 $31.50 $346.50/case) which was a great example of the direction Australian Chardonnay is taking, with pronounced grapefruit and pear notes on the nose but paled alongside its big brother, the 2007 Art Series Chardonnay (5/5 $89 $979/case) which was absolutely sublime. My tasting note reads Wish I could afford it by the case.
Given the stellar quality of the whites, the reds were always going to be a tricky proposition, but I liked the 2007 Siblings Shiraz as a value for money lighter everyday drinking style (4/5 $23 $253/case) while the 2007 Art Series Shiraz (4.5/5 $36.50 $401.50/case) and the 2005 Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon (4.5/5 $59 $654.50/case) were right up there with the rest of the Art Series range, the nose on the Cabernet being particularly delightful. I wasn't quite as taken by the 2004 Prelude Vineyards Cabernet Merlot (4/5 $28.50 $313.50/case) but that's probably as much about my reaction to the blend as the embarrassment of riches that preceded it.
Madam had spent much of the time I was in the Cellar Door prowling the spectacularly landscaped grounds for photographic purposes, and once we were back in the car on the way out I was quite willing to take it easy for the rest of the day, given the quality of what I'd just tasted and the visual riches that surrounded us. It would have been very easy to find the next stop anticlimactic, but once we'd headed down the road and turned into our next stop the eyes were set upon by an equally spectacular landscape in the grounds of Voyager Estate.
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