REVIEWS

BUSH TRACK WINES  ★★★★★

BUSH TRACK WINES  CHARDONNAY 2018 – 96 GOLD

At first this all about restraint, a seemingly gentle wine with soft acidity. Yet there is flavour with creamed honey, lemon curd with more savoury inputs. It sits right. Nothing is forced. It is long, pure and a pleasure to drink.

BUSH TRACK WINES SHIRAZ 2018 – 95 GOLD

A lovely, elegant style that’s fragrant with florals, licorice and woodsy spices. It’s well composed, medium-bodied with a core of juicy fruit tempered by finely grained tannins. And while there’s a vibrancy, it also lingers long on the finish.

BUSH TRACK WINES SANGIOVESE CABERNET 2018 – 92 SILVER

Vibrant purple-red hue; intriguing nose of wet concrete, Campari boot polish, then wafts of spice red fruits take over. While not a big wine, the tannins are neatly compact and textural. Tangy and moreish.

BUSH TRACK WINES CONMARA SHIRAZ 2017 – 93 SILVER

A new reserve label – only two barrels made – one of which was new. The oak sticks out, drying the finish a tad, but it should settle in time and likely to change the score. Underneath is the excellent fruit off this Whorouly vineyard, all dark berries with Alpine herbs, licorice and smoked meats.

BUSH TRACK WINES ROSÉ 2019 – 88 BRONZE

Pretty aromatics and flavours from rose petal, red licorice to sweet raspberries, strawberries and lemon sorbet.

Jane Faulkner – Halliday Wine Companion 2021

BUSH TRACK CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2017 – 92 POINTS

It’s suggestive of cabernet rather than being overtly varietal, if that makes sense.

Most of all though it’s delicious to drink. Juicy and boysenberried before being curranty and dusty. Cherry-berried I think I called it the last time I tasted it. There’s some spearmint on the nose, which gives it an attractive sense of lift. It’s good. It drinks very well.

BUSH TRACK SHIRAZ 2017 – 93 POINTS

20% new French oak. 130 dozen. Shiraz from one of the best growers in the Alpine Valleys, made by Jo Marsh.

Resin, toast and vanilla flavours ripple straight into plum, red cherry, graphite and sweet spice. It has both volume and texture but it’s also impressively persistent. It sits just above medium in weight and while oak is a little overt at present it will all fall into line before long. I’d expect this to have a long and rewarding future.

BUSH TRACK SANGIOVESE CABERNET 2018 – 92 POINTS

I suspect that this is a new wine to the range.

It’s a medium-weight red, perhaps just lighter than that, with redcurrant and creamy vanillin oak as the mainstays. It certainly feels smooth and polished in any case, a factor complemented by refreshing acidity. There’s a bit of chew to the finish, and excellent balance. It’s fresh and clean, always good things. Be interesting to see this in another couple of years; it feels as though it has more charm to come.

Campbell Mattinson – The Wine Front

BUSH TRACK WINES  ★★★★☆

BUSH TRACK SHIRAZ 2017 – 95 GOLD

20% new French oak. 130 dozen. Shiraz loves this part of the world and here is yet more proof. Plum and red cherry flavours come rippled with graphite and sweet spice; it has both volume and texture but it’s also impressively persistent. Not a big wine, but so well balanced, formed and flavoured.

BUSH TRACK CHARDONNAY 2017 – 93 Silver

Bursting with flavour, complex to boot, and well honed through the finish. The asking price is almost laughable given the quality on offer. Flint, charred peaches, fig and and various sweet spice notes. It puts on a show and then ripples deliciously into the distance.

BUSH TRACK CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2017 – 92 Silver

Fresh style of cabernet with cherry-berry flavours running freely throughout. It has shape but it’s an accessible style, willing and able to be consumed young. Fine, dusty tannin will serve it well should you wish to hold onto it.

BUSH TRACK ROSÉ 2018 – 91 Silver

Made with shiraz. Sweet fruited but with handfuls of dry spice flying through the back-palate. Raspberry, anise and red cherry flavours with nectarine about the edges. It’s a most attractive wine.

Campbell Mattinson – James Halliday Wine Companion 2020

GOLD MEDAL WINNER!

Bush Track Shiraz 2017

OVENS VALLEY SHIRAZ 2016 – BUSH TRACK WINES – 93 Points

Ovens Valley shiraz. Those magical words. 70 dozen only. Made by Jo Marsh.

It’s a beautifully perfumed wine. Floral, sweet with fruit, spicy around the edges. The palate continues the theme, offering plump anise and cherry-berry flavours along with cocoa and highlights of orange. It’s pretty, it’s flavoursome, it’s delicious. Keen buying too.

BUSH TRACK CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2016 – 92 Points

Cabernet Sauvignon from the Alpine Valleys region. 90 dozen only I believe.

You’d go this any day of the week. It’s really good drinking. It’s balanced, fleshy, well ripened and satisfying. It tastes of redcurrant and anise, spearmint and (subtle) vanilla cream. It’s well polished and textural. Put simply, it’s a joy to drink.

ALPINE VALLEY CHARDONNAY 2017 – BUSH TRACK WINES – 92 Points

Estate-grown chardonnay from Whorouly South in the Alpine Valleys.

It starts rich, bold and honeyed but fast hones to a fine point. Indeed it finishes both refreshing and long. This 2o17 release continues the fine form of the excellent 2016. Stonefruit, steel, figs and spice. It’ll be better again in a year’s time.

Campbell Mattinson – The Wine Front

BUSH TRACK WINES  ★★★★

OVENS VALLEY SHIRAZ 2016 – BUSH TRACK WINES – 94 Silver

Made by Jo Marsh. 70 dozen. Beautifully crafted. Medium weight with fruit and spice notes working in delicious tandem. Rips of star anise-like flavour really get the juices flowing. The bones are fine, the fruit is ripe, the spice notes are tipped with light and the finish is ripe and satisfying. Ticks in every box.

ALPINE VALLEY CHARDONNAY 2016 – BUSH TRACK WINES – 94 Silver

A storm of sulphides, a career of stone fruit. This is a wilder, funkier release than previous iterations; a more serious wine, if you like. It leans against boundaries to see where they might break. Importantly it boasts both volume and length, both driven by the fruit rather than by the winemaking. What it does best though is give a clear view of the outer capabilities of Alpine Valleys chardonnay, and for an extremely modest asking price.

James Halliday Wine Companion 2019

BUSH TRACK SHIRAZ 2015 – 93 Points

Made by Jo Marsh, grown by Bob and Helen McNamara. All can be rightly proud.

Terrific example of the joys of Ovens Valley shiraz. Ripe, juicy, a touch meaty, and satisfying from start to finish. More than a little class to boot. Black cherries into plum, a general juiciness, a rub of cedary oak. Beautiful.

Campbell Mattinson – The Wine Front

BUSH TRACK CHARDONNAY 2016 – 94 Points

Estate-grown chardonnay from Whorouly South in the Alpine Valleys. It’s the brand and estate of Bob and Helen McNamara, though the wine itself is made by Jo Marsh.

$25. For a chardonnay of this quality and interest. Remarkable. This is set-you-back-on-your-heels stuff. The only proviso is: it’s awash with sulphides, so if that isn’t your thing then look away. It blooms with stone fruit and grapefruit flavours too though, importantly, and carries on long through the finish; and the longer it sits in the glass the creamier and more integrated it becomes. This chardonnay rocks. I could smell it from across the room. And the taste went on and on.

Campbell Mattinson – The Wine Front

GOLD MEDAL WINNER

Ovens Valley Alpine Valley Shiraz 2015

Gold Medal. Rating 95 points

BUSH TRACK WINES – 4 Stars/5 Glasses

Ovens Valley Alpine Valley Shiraz 2015

All class from its glorious dark purple hue to the glossy feel as it glides across the tongue. Full-bodied with supple tannins, integrated oak, and a whisper of eucalypt, pepper and juniper berries. A core of succulent fruit. Rating 95 and 5 Wine Glasses

Alpine Valleys Cabernet Sauvignon 2015

Rating 92 and 4 Wine Glasses

James Halliday – Australian Wine Companion

BUSH TRACK CHARDONNAY 2015

Grown on the Bush Track vineyard at Whorouly South in the Alpine Valleys.

Sweet with oak but shot with tangy fruit. It’s not a seamless marriage but time should bring them closer together. Vanilla cream meets stone fruit, melon and citrus. Plenty to wrap your lips around. Rated : 88+ Points
Drink : 2017 – 2020

Campbell Mattinson – The Wine Front

BUSH TRACK GRAPES OF WRATH RED 2016

A freak “twister” ripped through the Bush Track vineyard in the Alpine Valleys just prior to the 2016 vintage, decimating the crop – among other things. This wine was put together with some help from friends. It uses cabernet, petit verdot, merlot and durif I believe, donated by Alpine Valley and Beechworth vignerons. I don’t yet have a price. It tastes good. Bright jubey fruit, licks of anise and spice, floral highlights. There’s some grip but not too much. Good body. Plenty of flow. Crackles of spice, even mineral. Excellent drink from start to finish. Rated: 91 Points

Campbell Mattinson – The Wine Front

BUSH TRACK CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2013

Cabernet from Whorouly South in the Alpine Valleys.
It’s softening nicely. It smells of chocolate and lead pencil before gliding effortlessly into a solid, curranty, gently leathery palate. Tannin is firm-ish but the fruit talks it around. It will live for many years but it’s just starting to drink well now. Rated : 89 Points
Drink : 2017 – 2023+

Campbell Mattinson – The Wine Front

BUSH TRACK WINES – 5 Glasses/94 Points

Alpine Valley Chardonnay 2015

You can’t do much more with a single vineyard Alpine Valley chardonnay, starting with the best two Dijon clones (96 and 97). White peach and nectarine open proceedings, grapefruit and apple providing the end of the palate; the oak handling has been impeccable. 94 Points

James Halliday – Australian Wine Companion