Vegan friendly – Terra Mãe translates to “motherland”
The fruit used in this wine, is estate grown in Rutherglen. Not in the motherland as you might think after the first sniff of dusty fruit.
Tinta Roriz, Tinta Cão, Tinta Barroca and Touriga Nacional, is primary a blending grape used in Port wines. I should also point out; Tinat Cão, is rare in Australia.
In the glass: The wine is a claret / violet colour.
On the nose: The first thing that struck me was the oak and old world aromas with dusty red berries.
A wine I fell in love with from the first sniff and described as very European.
In the mouth: an almost seamless, no lumps or bumps, wine made from Portuguese grape varieties.
For me it was rather old-world. The wine showed a genteel power with some elegance with a little complexity as the wine opened over an hour or so.
Soft fruit tannins are in balance with the fruit weight. The wine itself is so easy to enjoy with its chocolate smooth mid-palate, wrapped in dark plum with Cherrie hints.
I personally loved this wine, purely because it was not what I was expecting from Rutherglen, Number one Number two, it actually tasted more of Portugal rather than Rutherglen.
Thus making me think there is a big future for these varieties in Rutherglen.
The wine is so easy to drink and enjoy with or without food, however, I always have a stash of good quality duck sausages from the South Melbourne market in the fridge.
The truth is it is an easy meal with some mashed potato and it works with so many different wines.
I found the fat duck sausages on a bed of creamy mash was a simple and perfect match to the dusty European fruit flavours and soft tannins in this very interesting blend from Stanton & Killeen.
Michael Lillis
