Seppelt has been doing some brand re-arranging, creating what it describes as its ‘Terrain’ range of fighting varietals, priced around $10. The Chardonnay 1996 is the better wine, with youthful estery notes over pineapple/tropical fruit, assertive oak and hints of light malolactic influence. The Cabernet Sauvignon 1994 shows typically muddy riverland fruit with genuinely varietal stewed plum/blackcurrant flavours and astringent tannins. They replace the Black and Gold Label ranges and will win plenty of friends. So will Seppelt’s new Moyston wines – a spicy Cabernet Shiraz 1993 (15.1) and a typically juicy, forward Unoaked Chardonnay 1996 (14.8) – which resurrect a famous old label originally associated with the Western Districts of Victoria. It’s only a personal view, but I’d rather they’d let the Moyston name rest in peace, if the only alternative was to give it to a couple of wines priced at $7. That said, the soft, fleshy, drink-now red is clearly one of the best around at that price. It’s easy to think too deeply about such matters, but are Seppelt trying to tell us something by giving their new Terrain wines a label design clearly taken straight from their premium fortifieds, which cost twice as much for half the quantity?
