The
New Barossa
Part 18:
Rusden
Magnolia Road, Tanunda, PO BOX 257, Tanunda, SA
5352; Tel: (08)8563 2976; E-mail: canute@internode.on.net;
Web: www.rusdenwines.com.au
Rusden's
Christian Canute in the vineyard
Rusden is one of the success stories of the new
Barossa. Dennis and Christine Canute purchased 40 acres of rather
run-down vineyard back in 1979. Dennis carried on his day job
as a teacher to give Christine, who was a fifth generation grape
grower, the opportunity and funds to begin the work of rejuvenating
the vines.
But this was a tough time in the Barossa: rather than
seeing the old vines as a precious heritage, the Australian wine
industry was shifting its focus to cooler climate areas, and
tragically some old vineyards were being ripped up. Grape prices
were absurdly low.
Fortunately most of the Canute’s old vineyards
survived (although they did take out some old Grenache, Mataro and
Semillon, a decision they now regret) and they carried on selling
their grapes to local wineries. But they kept getting told that
their grapes, grown on these rather undistinguished sandy
Vine Vale soils (left), weren’t up to much by the wineries
they were supplying. Fed up with the low prices they were getting
for what they believed to be good quality fruit, they decided to try
their hand making their own wines.
Things started small, with a bit of homebrew: in 1992
Dennis and his chum Russell made a barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon for
their own consumption, which they labelled Rusden (for Russell and
Dennis). Things grew from there, and in 1997 Dennis’ son
Christian, who was working at Rockford, became seriously involved.
In 1998 7.5 tons were crushed, which grew to 10 tons by the
following vintage.
A few years down the track, and they are hugely
successful. While more than half their crop is still sold to a local
winery, in 2002 they crushed 44 tons. The top wines sell out fairly
quickly, fetching high prices.
Christian
is now fully responsible for the winemaking. He’s a young guy, and
initially I was a little apprehensive about spending time with him
because he has a reputation as a bit of a wild boy. Wild he may be,
but in person he’s a quiet, friendly sort of guy. We tried through
an extensive line-up, including some older vintages. ‘I’m aiming
for balance’, he says. ‘I don’t want to get 8 or 10 years down
the track and have the wines taste of oak.’ Indeed, these are
quite different to some of the other new Barossa wines – perhaps
it’s the sandy soils having an effect. They initially tend to show
as very forward and sweet, but they’re not big black bruisers,
with the fruit tending more to red than black in character. The
mini-verticals showed, though, that despite the initial fruit
sweetness, these are wines which do age very well.
Rusden Christian Chenin 2005
Just 250 cases of this wine are made. It has a really
interesting nose: fruity with a nice fatness and some straw-like
character that for me is one of the signatures of Chenin. The palate
is rich, full and smooth with a creamy texture. Delicious. Very
good/excellent 90/100
Rusden Driftsand 2004
350 cases made. A blend of Grenache, Mataro and Shiraz, this
shows a ripe, lush, sweet nose of liqueur-like fruit. Quite fresh
but very sweet. The palate has more of this liqueur-like quality to
the sweet fruit. A lush style with a spicy finish. Very good+ 88/100
Rusden Christine’s Vineyard Grenache 2004
150 cases made. Sweet, open, opulent nose is very fruity. The
palate is open and rich with soft, concentrated sweet red berry
fruit. Very good+ 89/100
Rusden Christine’s Vineyard Grenache 1999
Fantastic nose: earthy and spicy with some sweet fruit, showing
some almost Rhône-like evolution. The palate is soft and expressive
with a lovely earthiness to the sweet fruit. Nice complexity; a
southern Rhône style. Fantastic. Very good/excellent 93/100
Rusden Christine’s Vineyard Grenache 1998
Striking, spicy nose with an animally, medicinal edge. The
palate is savoury and spicy with a striking earthy character and a
long spicy finish. I guess this is quite bretty, but it works well.
Very good/excellent 92/100
Rusden Ripper Creek Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz 2004
500 cases made. Nice fresh blackcurrant fruit nose with a subtly
minty, herby edge. The palate is concentrated with a soft texture
and bright fruit and acidity keeping things fresh. A really nice
expressive wine. Very good/excellent 91/100
Rusden Chookshed Zinfandel 2003
A remarkable wine and a bit of a rarity: you don’t see many
(if any?) Barossa Zinfandels. 100% new oak is used and the wine
weighs in at 16% alcohol. The nose is sweet, ripe and intense with
dramatic fruit: very distinctive; porty and rich. The palate is
huge, rich and vividly fruited: a big concentrated black wine. The
grapes dry on the vines from 4 tons/hectare to 2. Very
good/excellent 93/100
Rusden Boundaries Cabernet Sauvignon 2003
This was a tough year and Christian reckons it’s the worst Cab
they’ve made. It has a ripe, sweet, opulent nose with a tarry
edge. The palate is rich, intense and quite sweetly fruited with a
red berry character. Sweet and a bit porty. Very good+ 89/100
Rusden Boundaries Cabernet Sauvignon 2002
Sweet distinctive blackcurrant fruit with a subtle herby edge:
nicely perfumed. The palate has lots of soft, pure fruit with nice
structure underneath the fruit. A nice expressive wine. Very
good/excellent 92/100
Rusden Boundaries Cabernet Sauvignon 1998
Quite a classic nose showing some evolution, with earthy,
herb-tinged spicy fruit. The palate is sweet and expressive with
good density of earthy, spicy black fruits. There’s some fruit
sweetness here – it’s a really nice expressive wine. Very
good/excellent 92/100
Rusden Black Guts Shiraz 2003
Very lush, sweet, opulent black fruits nose. Quite dark and
intense with some chocolatey richness. The palate is concentrated,
lush and intense with distinctive liqueur-like sweet fruit character
and some tarry, spicy complexity adding interest. Very
good/excellent 92/100
Rusden Black Guts Shiraz 2002
Some rich, spicy, chocolatey notes join the black fruits on the
nose. Sweet and heady. The palate is concentrated and dense with
bold, ripe, spicy fruit. Tarry almost. An interesting wine with lots
of personality. Very good/excellent 94/100
Wines
tasted October 2005
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