Noon Winery

Wines from Noon Winery are made in small quantities by hand, using traditional open fermenters and basket presses, with maturation in small and large oak for 18 months before bottling without fining or filtration.

The estate was started by Drew’s father David, a former French teacher. Production is based on estate-grown old Grenache bush vines, and historically David purchased a little Shiraz to blend with the Grenache to produce the signature red, Eclipse.

Noon also produces some Cabernet because it was perceived as a premium red wine by Australians then. Very little has changed over the past 27 years, but from 1987 onwards Noon only bought fruit from the Borrett family at Langhorne Creek, providing a consistent, single-vineyard source for Cabernet and Shiraz.

No plan to expand to avoid losing control, quality and consistency, Drew now took over from his father, and with his wife Rae, managed this 10 acres of chocolaty sandy loams and red clay soils, with the vines originally planted between 1934 and 1945.

Drew was a trained oenologist before becoming a winemaker and one of the few Masters of Wines in Australia.

I have recently tasted the 2004 Eclipse and below is my tasting note:

 

Appearance

Bright and clear, it has deep ruby color, with fading garnet rims and legs.

Nose

Clean, with medium (+) intensity aromas of black fruit of blueberry and blackberry, some red fruit of raspberry and red cherries, pungent spice of licorice and pepper, kernel notes of roasted almond and , mineral notes of tar, maturity notes of game. The wine is developing.

Palate

Dry with medium acidity, the wine has medium (-) tannin of ripe and smooth texture, with high alcohol but only a bit warming. It has a medium (+) body and medium (+) intensity flavors of black fruit such as plum and dark cherries, pungent spice of pepper, oak notes of toast, kernel notes of walnut, mineral notes of tar. The wine has a medium finish.

Conclusion

Very good Australian Grenache-Shiraz blend, but the cork was broken upon opening, which was shared by some other tasters of the wine from the same vintage. Despite that, the wine has a good intensity on the nose, showing a nice range of complex characters. On the palate it is robust, strong with an alcohol level but not too overwhelming. The palate is reasonably concentrated with a nice finish, though the length was not phenomenal. It is ready to drink now and at peak, not supposed to further age.