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2016 Tahbilk "1927 Vines" Marsanne Nagambie Lakes Victoria

2016 Tahbilk "1927 Vines" Marsanne Nagambie Lakes Victoria

96RP
95JH
93DC
92JS

96

Wine Advocate

Review Date: 11/2024

The 2016 1927 Vines Marsanne is a soft golden with pale lemon glints. It aromatically leads with torched lemongrass, scratched citrus, straw and crushed shells. In the mouth, the wine offers us a fresh, kaleidoscopic view of the potential of Marsanne. If anything, this feels fresher than some of the younger vintages of Tahbilk Marsanne I have reviewed recently, and I believe that is down to the “Benjamin Button”-like quality of this bottle-aged beauty—it gets younger as it goes along. Tahbilk was established in 1860, and these vines were planted considerably later, in 1927. The wine offers everything I am chasing: full flavor at lower alcohol, textural complexity, width and length of flavor through the finish and long-term cellaring prospects. This cuvée offers better depth of flavor and complexity than the estate bottling and, as an eight-year-old wine on release, offers sensational value for money at about $45 AUD/$29 USD. 11% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. (EL)

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Price: $27.99
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Professional Reviews

95

James Halliday

Review Date: 05/2022
1927 Vines is a fine example of the amazing versatility of the marsanne grape. It is probably its purest expression, capturing its essential beauty early and then allowing bottle age to bring complexity. From 2016 we see lovely florals emerging on the bouquet, showing signature honeysuckle, grilled grapefruit and almond development. Belies its age with a youthful energy and drive across the palate, lively acidity matched by a soft texture. By no means at its peak. (JP)

93

Decanter

Review Date: 04/2024
Medium-bodied, with bright, citrussy acidity. Good intensity of flavour, still very much in the house style – lean and bone dry. Slight hint of toast coming through the smoky lime skin and grapefruit. Much lighter and more athletic than a Northern Rhône example, a very different expression: stylistically it's a cross between Crozes-Hermitage and Hunter Valley Semillon. Has more flinty depths than the winery's standard Marsanne. Feels like this is only starting to come into its own now, with a long life ahead. (MW)

92

James Suckling

Review Date: 02/2024
This Marsanne is from what is ostensibly the oldest vineyard of the variety in the world. This said, it is made in a very protective Australian fashion: picked early, handled reductively and bequeathed with mid-term bottle age before release, with ample opportunity for longer term cellaring. Yet, the style is far from the capacious, textural examples of expressions that befit the natural proclivity of the variety. The end result is riffs on barley water, lemon-drop candy and tonic. A bit prosaic, but for many locals it is considered an expressive wine of a higher order, perhaps, than that which I am suggesting. Drink or hold. (NG)

Staff Reviews

Cary Herrman
Review Date: 09/2025
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The 2016 Tahbilk "1927 Vines" Marsanne is a wild ride. Right out of the glass it hits with a strong diesel note that carries onto the palate, wrapped up in plenty of funky character. Beneath the funk there's a waxy, textural weight and a salty edge that keeps it lively. Not your typical Marsanne - this one leans hard into the savory, evolved side, with an intensity that fans of bold, unconventional whites will appreciate.
Kerry Kennell
Review Date: 08/2025
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Produced from some of the oldest Marsanne vines in the world, the hand-harvested fruit was handled semi-oxidatively with controlled amounts of oxygen to heighten flavors and texture. A low and slow fermentation over 20 days in stainless steel fermenters assures varietal correctness. Aged in-bottle for six years prior to release, its naturally high acidity makes it a great candidate for further aging. Medium-bodied, bone dry and linear—a laser beam of lemon zest is softened by harmonious notes of fresh ginger, sundried hay, and lightly toasted white bread with a kiss of flinty smokiness in the finish.

Notes

Established in 1860, Tahbilk is one of Australia's most iconic and historic family-owned wineries. Located in the Nagambie Lakes sub-region of the Goulburn Valley in central Victoria (about 75 miles north of Melbourne), Tahbilk is a winery that “should be visited at least once by every wine-conscious Australian,” as Jeni Port of the Halliday Wine Companion recently wrote. Most well-known for their seriously old vines — Marsanne planted in 1927 and pre-phylloxera Shiraz planted in 1860 — Tahbilk also presents serious value, offering incredibly well-made wines for very reasonable prices. A true piece of Australian wine history, the wines of Tahbilk should be on every wine collector’s radar.

Product Details

Origin: Victoria, Australia

Type/Varietal: Marsanne

SKU: #1844431

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