Brook Eden Tasting Notes

These notes, which also appear in the Tastings section of the site, are grouped together here for easy reference.


Brook Eden 2009 Chardonnay (4.5* $29/$25.60 Vintage Club) Soft peachy style with great elegance. Could drink any number of these in vast quantities, but they've yet to find a niche in the LHoC wine/food matching environment apart from the roast chicken, which isn't a seven days a week proposition, which it'd need to be to cover the rising Oz Chard wave. Fantastic wine but looking elsewhere....

Brook Eden 2010 Chardonnay (4.5* $? presumably somewhere between $32 and $27) Straw coloured, tightly wound perfumed nose that offered the promise of interesting things to come and opened up quite a lot over time, as did (surprise, surprise) the palate. Soft across the taste buds with peaches and a hint of cream that'll presumably come through increasingly as the wine develops in the bottle. Elegant style with plenty of interest that'll be worth investigating, say, in about three months and again when the Winter 2012 Vintage Club pack arrives on the doorstep. Given the fact that it's not on sale to the public yet, and presumably won't be for a while it's not one for the summer drinking order, but further down the track…

Brook Eden 2009 Pinot Gris (4.5* $20) Straw-coloured, fragrant nose with loads of pear notes. An impressive subtler style that's quite delicious with plenty of lingering flavour. Definitely one to reorder.

Brook Eden 2009 Pinot Noir (4.5* $?) Impressive medium-bodied style that continues the process of converting a Pinot-sceptic. Supple palate with cherry and berry overtones and soft tannins. Will need to be quick if looking to order as it won't be released until some time in 2011 and they only made 1900 bottles. Still, could definitely be tempted!

Brook Eden 2010 Pinot Noir (4* $32 Vintage Club when it comes out? RRP should be around $39) Deep bright medium red with traces of purple in the glass, savoury bouquet with cherry notes and a medium bodied mouthfeel with soft tannins and a variety of (probably still under-developed) flavours across the palate. Still very young, but I suspect it has what it takes. Will be interesting to try it again in the 2013 Vintage Club pack…

Brook Eden 2010 Pinot Rose (4* 15.5 points $22.50) Lighter colour than some we've tried recently, with more than a touch of strawberries and cream on the palate. Not as well balanced as it might be, but still pleasant summer drinking. Reorder will depend on what else is going into the box and how much space is left.

Brook Eden 2009 Riesling (4.5* $22.50/ $20 Vintage Club) Nicely balanced expression of the regionality you get with the variety, with depth of flavour and crisp acid. Will probably be looking at some more if/when I line up for the Pinot Rose.

Brook Eden 2010 Riesling (4.5* 18.5 points $22.50) Pale straw, almost transparent in the glass, with generous notes on the nose and a crisp finish once the lime characters have passed over the palate. Very tasty lunchtime style that's definite reorder material with the Pinot Gris and the Pinot Rose and the rest of the bottle will probably go down well with tonight's Thai style curry.

Brook Eden 2009 TRS Riesling (4* $22.50) Lower alcohol (11%) semi-sweet (TRS = 30g/litre residual sugar) in a German Kabinett style. Pale straw,  subtly fragrant nose, softly elegant with interesting interplay between acid and sugar. One of the numerous off dry Rieslings emerging onto the market and worth further investigation for those who like that dash of sugar. 

© Ian Hughes 2012