2012 Grey Sands The Mattock $N/A

Rita and Bob Richter are committed to producing distinctive wines for the long haul from their Glengarry site just outside Exeter in the Tamar Valley. But how far is a long haul? This week's opening of The Mattock from the 2012 vintage suggests a decade at least for these wines, and perhaps closer to 20 years from the most favourable of seasons. 

This 2012 looked more Bordeaux than many Bordeaux of similar ilk. Deep and almost inky in the glass, the wine still displayed plenty of rich ripe plum pudding/mulberry fruit aromas on first pour. And they built in crescendo with a little air. The palate is suitably complete, sumptuous, delicious even, with a neat dose of ripe tannins to drive the finish and offer some austerity as a welcome counterpoint to all that fruit opulence. 

It was made under contract by Peter Dredge - now the face behind Dr Edge - then firmly ensconced at Bay of Fires as the South Australian company's senior winemaker.

The 2012 vintage provided a welcome return to wine production for the no-compromise Richters. They totally abandoned their crop from the previous season, choosing to make no wine at all rather than something plain and ordinary from their low-yielding, fastidiously tended vineyard. The weather gods just weren't on their side that year.

This 2012 drank very well indeed from an early age, as you might expect from a rich triple blend led by Merlot and Malbec. Its youthful exuberance did much to mask the ripe, fine-grained tannins and neat savoury acidity that framed its structure. So there's every likelihood that the current release 2016 will be genuinely age-worthy too if you have hankering to find out what becomes of these well-crafted wonders with a bit of patience and some cool cellaring conditions. 

Those clever Richters have taken you part way there already.

Source: Cellar door purchase on release

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