Apparently the Whalebone vineyard turns 35 this year, with Brian first sighting it back in the early 80’s when he was working with Geoff Weaver (who was producing Cabernet from it). The vineyard shares the same celebrated soil structure as its Coonawarra neighbours, so it’s of little surprise that Croser was so likely to source it out again.
It’s a bit of a challenging wine to rate, though this wine, most likely due to the deficiencies of a stand-alone varietal Merlot. The nose shows spearmint and eucalypt in a quite leafy and even herbal style, a character that I don’t mind but it can certainly polarise. From here it’s a dry, dusty, taste-the-red-soil savoury dry red of proper appeal and nice dry tannins. My real quibble though is the warm, liquered finish, which derails all the good work of the rest of the wine, literally leaving a rather average taste in your mouth. No doubt it will improve with time, but that heat may only get worse. 17.0/90+