d’Arenberg The Peppermint Paddock Sparkling Red NV 6 Pack

90 POINTS

Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front

This is a non-vintage but it’s just come in, so I presume it’s either current or about to be. My experience with this wine is that its quality can be erratic – I didn’t, for instance, like the bottle I tasted last year – so you’d want to make sure you’re getting this release. Because this has been cleaned up and brightened considerably. It is in very good form. Bright purple to look at and full of purple/blue/red berried fruit flavours. Good form from go to whoa. Even a touch of tannin. I’d reckon this could even improve with (short to medium term) age.

Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front

Australia’s most famous chambourcin, most probably, though it also includes shiraz and graciano nowadays. New packaging, including legible back label text, is an improvement. It’s a bit confronting at first but you’d have to say that this delivers a shedload of flavour. It’s confronting because it’s so ribald. It’s a blaze of red flavour, if that makes sense. It’s all redcurrant and red cherry, strawberry liqueur and red roses. It has volume of fruit, often missing in sparkling red. There are clips of vanilla cream and, dare I note it, peppermint too. It definitely sits in ‘you have to like this kind of thing’ territory.