2006

MT Tempranillo

James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2008 Edition

4 1/2 glasses Rating 93/100 Exceptional concentration, power and dark fruit flavours; should be very long-lived. 'MT' stands for Minya Terra, a Portuguese term roughly equivalent to terroir.
Screwcap. 13.5° alc. DRINK 2026

The Adelaide Advertiser 'Top 100 wines of 200', Tony Love, 21 November 2007

Rating 93/100 From Victoria's Bendigo region, this begins with the expansive aromatics of rose bushes and cedars, licorice and vanillin, offering mulit-layered interest of black fruits and plum cake flavours in a soft, juicy palate that's smooth and satisfyingly complex.

Sally Gudgeon, Qantas Magazine, November 2007

A vibrant, unoaked style from Bendigo made by talented winemaking couple Dominic and Krystina Morris. It pays tribute to the fresh and juicy 'joven' (young and unoaked) tempranillos from Spain. It ripples with luscious fruit on the nose and palate; black cherries, blood plums and blackberries, liquorice and spice. Serve it lightly chilled this summer with Portuguese piri piri chicken or tapas.

Huon Hooke, Gourmet Traveller WINE "100 Top New Releases", Oct/Nov 2007

4 stars Rating 92/100 Sweetly ripe blackberry jam, mint and aniseed aromas, fruit-driven and ultra-ripe. Plenty of extract in the mouth; blackberry jam again with lovely sweetness but only 13.5% alcohol. Made for drinking young. DRINK 2012

Jane Faulkner, The Age, October 27, 2007

Pondalowie has made a name for producing intense, dense Tempranillo and the '06 is no different. It has an astonishing deep purple black colour, with fruit intensity - sweet plums, cherries, sarsaparilla and cola notes, with myrtle overtones, fruit sweet on the palate too - a power-packed wine of great concentration that will mellow out in the next few years.

Max Allen, Gourmet Traveller, October 2007

If you want to taste a local version of the classic joven style of Tempranillo - and a great example of how well-suited the variety is to Australia - try this beautiful, fragrant, succulent red.

Jeni Port, 'Central Victorian Supplement', The Age, September 15, 2007

"MUST HAVE WINE"
…Try too their unwooded and fleshy, juicy 'MT' Tempranillo.

Ralph Kyte Powell, Epicure Uncorked, The Age, 21st Aug 2007

Dominic and Krystina Morris' Pondalowie MT from Bendigo, is excellent unoaked Australian Tempranillo. Cleaner and fresher than many Spanish and Portuguese examples, it's dense and earthy, smelling of dark cherries, cola and boiled fruitcake. Deliciously intense, it has rich flavour and a wall of tannins.4 1/2 stars
Ageing: Drink over five years Food ideas: Braised lamb; potato and chorizo casserole.

Nick Stock, The Adelaide Review, July 20 - August 2, 2007

It's hard to gauge the potential for tempranillo in Australia. There's a few vignerons having a play with it, mostly driven by boredom, nostalgia or a recent holiday. Curiosity tends to outweigh both capability and insight and wines are rarely successful.
Not so at Pondalowie. Dominic and Krystina Morris met in the Barossa and used to holiday across on the Yorke Penisula, hence the name. They've developed close ties with Portugal and it is there they learned to tame and craft their tempranillo.
This is about as pure and exuberant as it gets, lifted cranberry, purple cherry and sarsaparilla, no oak at all and not a hair out of place. The palate is supple and even, dense velveteen tannin, fruit delivers everything it should. It really doesn't get much better than this! Rating 93/100

Philip Rich, The Australian Financial Review Magazine, July 2007, pg 85

Deeply coloured and unoaked to capture tempranillo's distinctive dark-berry/cola aromatics, this vibrant, fruit-driven and beautifully made wine is ripe, plush and delicious. Heady stuff to be enjoyed now and over the next couple of years.

Philip Rich, The Australian Financial Review Magazine ('Generation v-know') July 2007

"…Of those making their own wines, a number stood out - including Dominic and Krystina Morris's pure and varietal Pondalowie 2006 'MT' Tempranillo…"

Huon Hooke, "Top Aussie Red", The Sydney Morning Herald 'Good Living Magazine', July 31, 2007

This Bendigo red is a consistently good early drinking style. Minty, blackberry, aniseed aromas; very ripe flavour of sweet, almost jammy, fruit but only 13.5 per cent alcohol. Best within four years. Food; Meaty tapas Rating: 92/10