The Pannell Family are pleased to invite you to their Spring Release Tastings to be held in Applecross, Wednesday 2nd of September 2009 and Nedlands, Thursday 3rd of September 2009, for your invitation email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

A highlight of the ‘Spring Tasting’ will be the opening of five vintages of the Picardy Chardonnay for your appraisal. This will be a real treat!  On the night, each order placed will go in the draw to win a magnum of 2002 Pinot Noir.

New Releases

2009 PICARDY SAUVIGNON BLANC/SEMILLON

This is the second Picardy Sauvignon Blanc from the estate. Pemberton shows all the signs of emerging as a great Australian Sauvignon Blanc region and Picardy will help the cause greatly with this vibrant white. It was made from three Sauvignon Blanc clones, each contributing to structure and complexity. It also contains eighteen percent Semillon for texture, mouthfeel and palate length. The fruit was sourced entirely from the estate, dry grown, cane pruned and handpicked. It offers lively tropical fruit, lime and varietal perfumes. The palate is fresh, balanced and full of tropical fruit characters, lemon, lychee and hints of passionfruit. There is also a tight, flinty mineral character, distinctive grassy notes, and a robust acidity making this a great food wine. The finish is dry, crisp and highly satisfying. Perfect with fresh oysters or pan-fried whiting or even by itself on a warm summer’s day.

2008 PICARDY CHARDONNAY

If any Western Australian winery is leading the field in refining and changing the face of top flight Chardonnay then Picardy would have to be it. This delicate, varietal fruit-laced, seductive white is a pleasure to drink. This one dances in the glass, is streamlined, powerful yet sophisticated - a Lamborghini Chardy, if you will. Bill and Dan have conducted trials with new yeast strains in recent years and have created a very impressive, unique Pemberton Chardonnay. On the nose there are very subtle buttery notes overlaid by soft floral, peach and apricot nuances. The palate has gentle citrus and ripe flavours of honeydew melon, grapefruit and pineapple tightly knit with gentle, spicy vanilla oak.  Secondary characters include lime, hazel nut, lemon and honey. The wine finishes long and satisfying with balanced yet lingering citric acidity. The limited use of oak and the right yeast strains have been key to the unique character of this alluring white. A wine that is perfectly matched with creamy seafood pasta or lightly seasoned poultry dishes.  

2007 PICARDY TETE DE CUVEE PINOT NOIR

A fabulous Tete De Cuvee that is arguably the best TDC so far by Picardy. A sampling of the same wine over a 48-hour period revealed a Pinot of beautiful ever-changing complexity, excellent fruit definition, plenty of volume and lacy tannins. A vibrant ruby red in the glass, the nose shows loads of spicy cherry and strawberry aromas, with hints of earth, sweet leather and the merest whiff of oak. Rich fruit flavours come to the fore on the palate, with delicious cherry, plum and savoury notes running through to a long, supple finish. There’s also a lovely combination of gentle sweet and sour fruit characters – a true hallmark of good pinot noir - adding to what is a fascinating wine. The Pannells are the first to tell you the journey to perfecting Pinot is long and winding, but this wine is proof they are getting very close to their ultimate goal! For me this is quintessential Pemberton Pinot Noir. It is a beauty right now and but will develop and mellow over the next 5-8 years.

Previous Releases

2007 PICARDY PINOT NOIR

This Pinot is top class and on par with the marvellous 2005 vintage and expresses the very best of the Picardy terroir. The style is light to medium-bodied with a ruby red colour. Rich aromas of strawberry, cherry and vanilla oak are interlaced with the tell-tale leather and earthiness of this seductive Burgundian icon. On the palate there is pronounced red berry fruit, mineral, earth, leather, sap and a touch of spicy oak. Light, fine, dry tannins and fresh clean acidity dominate the flavour. The wine has perfect balance and weight and finishes dry and spicy with excellent length. This tastes a lot like top end Burgundy and would have to be one of the best value premier Pinots in Australia. Really alluring stuff that is almost too easy to drink! With each passing season Bill and Dan Pannell get ever closer to the perfect WA Pinot.  This wine now contains 15% of the clone 777 which Bill and Dan feel is having an impressive impact on the wine.

HUON HOOKE TASTINGS - Top Aussie Red

Good Living, June 30, 2009

Picardy Pinot Noir 2007

From the Pannell family’s Pemberton vineyard, a lovely, light-bodied, fine-boned pinot with strawberry and red cherry aromas. Smooth and easy on the palate, its intensity belies its lightness so it even goes with steak.  Fragrant, stylish, delicious. Now to four years.

Score: 92/100

Food: Roast quail

2007 PICARDY SHIRAZ

This could well be the best Shiraz produced at Picardy. The result of another cracking vintage, it has the uniquely robust yet elegant signature of top Pemberton Shiraz. The colour as a deep red-purple and immediately proclaims the wine is full of ripe fruit, depth and character. On the nose it is rich with spicy dark berry, hints of white pepper, raisin and subtle floral notes from the small portion of viognier. The palate offers fleshy, gently persistent berry and plum fruit flavours with edges of subtle spice. Again the presence of viognier imparts a smooth and luscious mouth-feel and the tannins are long and sweet on a velvety finish. The wine is eminently approachable now, but will be a masterpiece in five years time. It would be a simply wonderful accompaniment with roast beef or a rich winter lamb casserole. Decant this wine a couple of hours before drinking. A milestone in Picardy Shiraz.

THE BIG RED WINE BOOK 2009/10

By CAMPBELL MATTINSON AND GARY WALSH

Picardy Shiraz 2007 Release

The kind of wine that encourages you to drink more red wine - not that we need any encouragement! Peppery, red and blackberries, fresh, meaty and stylish. In the mouth the balance is the thing - no alcohol heat, purity, fine tannins and a long finish. It's complete, and it's very good.

DRINK: 2009-2016

SCORE: 94

Tasted: Jun 09, By GARY WALSH

PICARDY SHIRAZ 2007 RELEASE
Strikes me when I taste this (second time around now, first was in January for BRWB) that this is a Shiraz made like a Pinot, which also strikes me as a good thing. This is my pick of the 2007 Picardy red releases.Red fruit dominant (cherry and raspberry) with a shake of pepper and meaty complexity - vanilla oak present and correct, but well in the background. It’s medium bodied, nutty and savoury with a pleasing sense of dryness and freshness. Exemplary balance and a fair old lump of finesse…and something of a bargain too.

Rated: 94 Points

Drink: 2009 – 2017 2007

PICARDY MERLOT, CABERNET SAUVIGNON, CABERNET FRANC

A classic Bordeaux blend that is always refined and attractive at Picardy in the best vintage years. The 2007 harvest just happened to be one of these and this wine is ample proof of a great year coupled with considered, hands-on winemaking. In fact, it is rather reminiscent of the best reds from the Right Bank. Aromas of plum, raspberry, briar, licorice, earth and cedar/vanilla oak. On the palate it is medium to full bodied with plum, raspberry, cassis, earth and subtle cedar flavours. The fruit was pristine and ripe at picking across the three varieties – and it shows. Tannins are ripe and silky, giving an amazing texture to this wine. Acidity is clean and fresh for this blend. The finish is lingering and satisfying.  A delicious food wine that is always in the top five of this blend in Western Australia.

PANNELL FAMILY 2006 SHIRAZ CABERNET

The latter part of the 2006 vintage was very cool and damp, and the Pannells had problems ripening and obtaining the structure in the Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon that they would have liked. This has produced a wine which did not quite meet the Picardy quality standards so it has been declassified and is offered to the mailing list at $10 per bottle. But don’t be mistaken, this is still a very good wine for the price – indeed better than many Shiraz cabernet blends at twice the amount! It’s a great early drinking blend. The aromas are of d ark plum, raspberry, leather and subtle spice. Medium bodied, the palate offers plum, raspberry, white pepper, cassis and cedary notes – all of which have a pleasant underlying sweetness, which is bonus for this cool vintage. Tannins are gentle and a little grainy and acidity is well controlled. Not a heavyweight, but a delicious friendly style for the winter months, and at a fabulous price! Great with a beef roast or hearty stew.*Bill and Sandra, when at Moss Wood, similarly declassified the 1978 Cabernet Sauvignon which became the 1978 Moss Wood Dry Red. This wine went on to become known as one of the best value for money wines released from Western Australia.

PLEASE NOTE
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