By John Rozentals.
Yes indeed. The name on the label is a familiar one — and for good reason.
Andrew ‘Ox’ Hardy: has launched an eponymous range of wines.
Andrew ‘Ox’ Hardy’s great-great-grandfather was the Thomas Hardy, founder of one of the country’s most respected wine dynasties and often referred to as the ‘Father of the South Australian Wine Industry’.
Now Andrew has launched the Ox Hardy label, an eponymous range of wines that represents a rare and precious combination of people, vineyard, history and winemaking provenance.
Starting very much as a hobby around the turn of the century, Andrew and his late father, Bob. started making small amounts of shiraz from the last remaining block of 1891 ‘Ancestor Vines’ on their family’s Upper Tintara Vineyard in South Australia’s McLaren Vale.
The wine from those aged ‘Ancestor Vines’ is definitely being eked out, but there are much more generous quantities available of 2016 shiraz under the gaudy Upper Tintara Vineyard label.
It has been sourced from vines grown of the family’s original property, and in 2018 Andrew revived the old slate open fermenters that were used by Thomas and fell into disuse in 1923.
WINE REVIEWS
Empathy 2018 Rosé ($30): It seems that Australian winemakers aren’t the only ones waking up to the fact they there’s nothing girly-ish about dry, flavoursome rosés, especially for summer lunchtime drinking. The Empathy brand of Californian Gary Vaynerchuk (otherwise known as GaryVee) has just landed in Australia and leading the way is a very handsomely packaged, quite delicious rosé. Check out www.vinomofo.com.
Penley Estate 2017 I Love SHZ ($15): Here’s a real bargain from www.vinomofo.com and there are no prizes for guessing the variety of this Coonawarra dry red. And it is — wait for the drum roll, please — a shiraz. And as well as being smart looking, it’s great drinking at the price. It’s a powerful and heady mix offering regional mintiness and varietal blueberries. I’d match it with beef — the Vinomofo website suggests going Mexican with beef fajitas — or a good mature cheddar.
WINE OF THE WEEK
Ox Hardy 2016 Upper Tintara Vineyard Shiraz ($38): I said that the label was gaudy. Well, you can’t get much gaudier than the strongest, brightest pink on a deep bluish purple. Fortunately the wine in the pack is really very good — a bold, generously flavoured, full-bodied shiraz that just about screams its McLaren Vale origins at the lucky imbiber. It’s packed with dark berry flavours and deserves at least a decade’s cellaring — or the best steak you can throw on the grill. Whichever comes first.
