Mike Bennie’s one of a kind. Wine writer, critic, host, presenter, judge and entrepreneur, he’s an encyclopedia of wine knowledge. If you get the chance, go to an event hosted by Mike, you’re guaranteed to have a fabulous time and walk away a little more knowledgeable about wine and many other things!
We love showing our wines to Mike. He’s a straight shooter and Adam responds candidly to his direct questions. Mike has a way to capture and share Adam’s winemaking thoughts, ambitions and processes in his reviews.
Adam showed Mike our wines on a recent trip to Sydney, here are a few review highlights.
2016 SubRosa Pyrenees Nebbiolo – 94 points
“…Style-wise it reminds me a bit of Olek Bondonio’s wines of Barbaresco.
It’s a vibrant, pure-feeling expression, loaded with perfume, lashed with savoury, iron-filing and graphite-tannins, bright in fruit flavour, dusted with attractive spice. There’s also a distinct vibrancy here, a cheery, cherry-kissed feel that’s easy for earlier access, despite there being cool, amaro-like acidity and a sheath of building tannin. It drives assertively then lingers with sappy fruit and minerally feel. It’s such a pleasure. It’s great.”
2016 SubRosa Grampians Pyrenees Shiraz – 93 points
“Beefy kind of wine but still holds a dedicated freshness and vitality, despite the rich, darker fruits, sense of earthiness, strong lick of dark choc-liquorice. The glossy texture is lovely, a light burr of tannins adds more grunt. It’s not a huge wine, per se, but it is memorable in the way bolder flavour can stain the palate and mind. It’s done well.”
2016 SubRosa Malakoff Estate Pyrenees Shiraz – 95 points
“… if you haven’t cottoned onto SubRosa, you should. You’ll be thanking yourself down the trail when these start commanding higher prices and generally being difficult to find. No doubt.
Svelte, seamless, succulent wine. Dark cherry, sarsaparilla, lavish spice scents, with all this doubling back into the palate. It slips softly over the palate leaving a slick of that spice and blackcurrant fruit character, with tannins just gently holding shape. If you like ‘syrah’, let’s say, with some concentration, this is excellent.”