An unnamed wine writer’s response to the Tomlinson family’s invite to the Lenton Brae tasting: “What? 21 vintages of white wines? They’ll be stuffed!”
…not quite verbatim, but you get the gist.
I’ll be honest - before the tasting I had preconceived notions of the ageability of Margaret River white blends, but as I’m a sucker for a vertical tasting and had been impressed with the quality of Lenton Brae wines since my introduction to the family-owned Wilyabrup winery, not attending never crossed my mind.
But first, the abridged Lenton Brae story: Lentone Brae began as part of a 160 acre lot on Caves Road in Margaret River’s Wilyabrup sub-region and had been partially planted by Moss Wood owner Bill Pannell. The initial lot was then sub-divided into three sub-divisions with town planner and architect Bruce Tomlinson (the man who had performed the sub-division) and his wife Jeanette deciding to buy one of the sub-divisions after Pannell’s glowing praise of the land’s soil. While the dream was to replicate Burgundy in Margaret River, initial plantings of pinot and chardonnay fared badly and were ravaged by Rutherglen Bug, leading to a call being made to ex-chief government viticulturalist Bill Jamieson to appraise the carnage.
“You Wilyabrup people are going to make some of Australia’s best dry red wine one day, but not from pinot,” he said. “I think you should face up to starting Lenton Brae again on the basis of no pinot noir at all. Pull them all out, dead or alive. I believe you should restructure the red and white varieties using Bordeaux as the example because of climatic and maritime similarity.”
Based on positive signs shown by Semillon at Xanadu, the variety was then planted at Lenton Brae together with several hectares of sauvignon blanc and the decision made to focus on a dry version of the now-perennial Margaret River semillon sauvignon blanc blend. In 1987, the grapes were picked for the first bottle of Lenton Brae sem-sav and even though the maiden release was “cowardly” labelled as semillon only, the winery’s vision has always been to produce one wine from the two varieties. In the early days, Bruce Tomlinson and Bill Jamieson even blended the two varieties pre-fermentation to further the integration and synergy of the wine.
During the 21 vintages between ‘87 and now, many events have helped write the Lenton Brae story. Perhaps most important was the chapter titled 1995: the year that “prodigal” son Edward returned to the family winery after spending three years as a flying winemaker having experienced vintages in South Africa, New Zealand and California. As if having to quickly adapt to life on the land after leaving a dream New York job in wine retail wasn’t hard enough, the ‘95 vintage was hot and early ensuring that year’s tiny crop ripened early. Semillon was sourced at a premium price and blended with the estate fruit to produce a stunning wine that still looks fresh to this day. Edward’s first “home” vintage was certainly a memorable one.
While stock levels at Lenton Brae meant it wasn’t possible to taste the fruit of all the winery’s 21 vintages, the 16 wines presented provided an intriguing snapshot in the mouth (and on the eye if you’re a design tragic like me) of the role played by Lenton Brae in establishing the popular Margaret River SSB style. Congratulations to the Tomlinsons of Wilyabrup and all those who have played a role in the last 21 years of Lenton Brae. May you continue to define and redefine the semillon-dominant SSB style for 21 more. www.lentonbrae.com
2007: Earliest vintage at Lenton Brae. Fresh, sauvignon blanc dominant nose of tropical fruit. Intense, vibrant, wine with lots of power. Grippy acidity adds to the “oomph” factor. Good length. Much more balanced on the finish. 17
2006: Latest vintage thus far at Lenton Brae. Flint, matchstick and grass aromas. Palate is still packed with vibrant, tropical fruit. Still looking very lively. Succulent, persistent. Good length. 17.5
2005: Outstanding vintage. Lots of green bean characters. Balanced wine. Great texture and power across the mid palate. Ticks all the boxes for a good SSB blend: succulent and juicy and striking perfect balance between poise and power. 18
2004: First vintage to feature barrel-fermented semillon. Shy nose. Fresh, lively acidity still flows freely through the wine. Chewy tropical fruit character. Juicy finish. Lots of “succulent” texture. Less fruit but more texture than last three wines. 16.5
2003: Good vintage: warm, dry with early ripening. Fresh, juicy, vibrant. Flavour profile leans more towards the apple and pear spectrum. Nice length. Shows softer acidity. 17
2002: An outstanding vintage. Also first year the Lenton Brae SSB blend was sealed under screw cap. Outstanding wine. Still showing incredible freshness. Semillon characters open up on the nose with time. Palate features juicy, chewy acidity wrapped around layers of citrus character with a distinct flash of lemon peel. Still so fresh, an amazing wine that could have been made closer to six months ago rather than six years. Huge persistence and length. 18.5
After the first bracket, bottle variation and the wonders of cork started to wreak havoc with the 2001 vintage onwards and I suspect there were many different sets of tasting notes leaving the tasting.
2001: Salty, tending on black bean character on the nose. Good texture. Wine shows some hotness. Semillon dominant flavours. Succulent. Nose started to get a little bit better with time. 15
1999: Very green, very capsicum characters. Pongy, sock-like nose. Very developed and rounded toasty flavours but nice texture. 15.5
1998: Very dark, almost bronzed colour. Hints of cork taint in our table’s bottle. Appealing honeyed characters in the mouth, almost looked like a botrytised wine style. Juicy, succulent, intriguing. 16-
1997: Sweet marmalade and apricot characters. Rich and ripe palate: again, almost a dessert style of wine. Good balance between the fruit richness and acidity. Good persistence. Very classy and an exciting career path for the sem-sav blend style. 17.5
1996: Semillon-dominant nose of honeyed lanolin. Still looking fresh and there’s a squirt of acidity in the palate keeping things interesting. Rounded semillon flavours in the mouth. Succulent and juicy. Remarkable freshness. 17.5
1995: Edward Tomlinson’s first vintage as winemaker at his family’s winery. The product of an outstanding hot and dry vintage that produced very low yields, this wine was supplemented with Great Southern semillon bought at a premium price, but the investment has paid dividends. Smells of dinner table greens drizzled with honey but to taste, still looks very youthful. Could easily be mistaken as a 2005 blend. Wonderfully balanced, gentle acidity, excellent fruit weight. Includes a delicious hint of nut on the succulent and subsiding finish. Terrific wine. 18
1993: Cinnamon aromas. Juicy, bright, still fresh. Starting to show its ages around the edges but the high natural acidity is still working like a vinous Oil of Ulan. Soft and gentle drink. 16+
1990: Fresh, breezy nose. Still showing signs of vibrancy. Some toastiness. Flavour profile still show sparse signs of tropical fruit. Enjoyable juicy and succulent texture, but a touch short on tangible fruit character. 16
1989: Candied orange and lemon peel on the nose. Honeyed. Vibrant. Traces of candied giner on the palate. Oranges reveal themselves on the finish. Juicy, interesting style. 16.5
1987: Orange peel nose. Developed. Some peanut characters. Rounded texture but sour palate. Looks like it’s getting close to “past it”, if not already there. Savoury, last hurrah burst of lemon and lime on finish. 14.5
