Tony Love – National Wine Editor for taste.com.au and The Advertiser Newspaper, SA.

Wholesome Flavour $12
H by Haselgrove 2009 Cabernet Merlot

With a winery based in McLaren Vale, most of the fruit for this crackingly good wine comes from around the same region, with a decent splash also from the Adelaide Hills and Padthaway.  It’s worth noting its great fruit too, beautifully blackcurranty with a satisfyiung wholeness, good structure and backbone to develop for a few years yet.  A brilliant bargain.

Rating:  4 glasses – A cut above
Value:  Sensational
Food:  Black olive braised beef

Ross Noble – Wine Writer for The Courier Newspaper, Adelaide Hills, SA.

Eighteen top wines for Father’s Day
Salute:  Bella Vigna Shiraz

Haselgrove was acquired by four Italian Australians in 2008.  Greg Clack is chief winemaker.  The Haselgrove Bella Vigna Beautiful Vineyard Shiraz 2009 is sourced from some of McLaren Vale’s best vineayrds and it shows in the depth of flavour.  There are ripe raspberry and blackberry aromas and falvours and well intergrated oak.  It is a rich, and rewarding wine that deserves prime beef or game, or maybe full flavoured cheeses.
$25 – Mail Order

In 2008 the business was acquired by four Italian-Australian wine stalwarts:  Don Totino, Don Luca, Tony Carrocci and Steve Maglieri.  The wines are released in four ranges:  at the top, the Il Padrone The Boss Series; next the Bella Vigna (Beautiful Vineyard) Series; then the Primo Taglio First Cut Series; and at the entry level, the ‘H’ by Haselgrove Series.  Exports to Europe and Asia.

Four Glasses out of Five

Bella Vigna McLaren Vale Shiraz 2008

Right in the mainstream of McLaren Vale style; sumptuous blackfruits, dark chocolate and cedar are intertwined with ripe tannins; good length and balance.  Screwcap.  14.5% alc.  Rating 93.  To 2020.  $25

Il Padrone The Boss McLaren Vale Shiraz 2007

Some colour development; the complex bouquet of blackfruits, mocha oak and dark chocolate leads into a medium- to full-bodied palate with more of the same; a barrel selection, but all new French oak, made only in exceptional vintages – curious, because ‘07 was certainly not exceptional, rather the reverse.  However, hyperbole to one side, this is a very good wine.  Screwcap.  14.5% alc.  Rating 93.  To 2027.  $48

Bella Vigna Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2009

Light straw-green; a thoroughly appealing mix of citrus/lime and tropical fruits; the finish lingering and long in the mouth.  Screwcap.  12% alc.  Rating 90.  To 2012.  $20

EPICURE WINE & STYLE – SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Ralph Kyte-Powell, 14th March 2010

H by Haselgrove Cabernet Merlot 2008 $12

McLaren Vale winery Haselgrove is enjoying a fresh start under new ownership.  This sharply priced young cab-merlot is a crowd-pleasing commercial style.  Black-fruit and minty aromas are clean and appetising, and the palte is smooth, slightly fruit-sweet, gulpable and very soft. (Screw cap, 13.5 percent alchol.)

Cellaring? no.
Food idea: Lamb Chops
Three Stars, $$

1 H by Haselgrove 2008 Shiraz
$9-$12
The start-up range from this McLaren Vale collection, with a solid wave of shiraz fruit and lifted fragrance, as well as earthy touches and complexity. The H level cabernet merlot is quite a serious wine, too.

2 Haselgrove Primo Taglio (First Cut) 2008 Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon
$15-$19
Everything you could want from this blend, with lemon curd and tropical juices coming together as a classic dry white with a spike of soursob.

3 Haselgrove 2007 IL Padrone Shiraz
$50
Fruit from gnarly old vines goes into making this bright, beautiful shiraz with elements of coffee and mocha underneath a lovely violet lifted aroma. Lively, fresh and vivacious.

The Advertiser – Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A famous McLaren Vale winery now boasts Italian magic, writes Tony Love

The Advertiser – Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Today we’ll speak only Italian.  The words, a wicked smile, and a jab in the ribs come from prominent Italian businessman Don Totino, who owns the food-and-wine distribution company Festival City. Don also owns a wine company, Totino, based in the Adelaide Hills, and in the past two years he has joined three other southern Italian-Australian business identities in breathing life back into Haselgrove, set in the midriff of the McLaren Vale wine region.

The Haselgrove family brand has a history stretching back a century, but in the past two decades it struggled and found itself taken over by Bankwest in 2002, until early 2008. Grasping the potential of the name, Don and his colleagues-fellow Calabrians Don Luca, Tony Carrocci and Campobasso-reared Steve Maglieri-joined forces to rebuild the new Haselgrove into a successful wine company which highlights its Italian personality on its labels but remains securely attached to traditional varieties and blends.

While winemaker Greg Clack works with sauvignon blanc, simillon and chardonnay in his white spectrum, the classic shiraz, cabernet and merlot in reds, the new Haselgrove range includes the titles Primo Taglio (First Cut), Bella Vigna (Beautiful Vineyard) and the flagship IL Padrone (The Boss) shiraz in table and sparkling styles. No sangiovese. No nebbiolo. No vermentino.Good, straight, mod-Oz varieties that begin in a very smart $9-$12 value range, packaged “H” by Haselgrove.

Step up about $5 into the Primo Taglio label and the shiraz outguns a sauvignon/semillon combo. What they do show also is the commitment from Haselgrove general manager Gordon Grant to focus on whites from the Adelaide Hills and reds from McLaren Vale. “If we can’t make a really, really good bottle of McLaren Vale shiraz for $25, then there’s something wrong,” Gordon  says.

The camaraderie between the quartet is endearing, and their appreciation of wine as a part of daily life is heartening.
Two of the men are brothers-in-law: Don Totino and Don Luca both coming from the same Calabrian village. Both are now successful businessmen, with their fingers in the wine business as well as other successful venturs. Don Luca is in commercial and industrial property and building supplies, as well as his Hills-based Totino label.Tony Carrocci, another post-war Calabrian immigrant, is in commercial, industrial and residential projects with his firm Build Tech Group.

Perhaps the most familiar wine figure is Steve Maglieri, from near Naples, who in 1977 started Maglieri Wines. He has been named McLaren Vale Bushing King twice for making the regions’s wine of the year, then sold to Beringer Blass in 1998. He retained huge swather of vineyard, before beggining over again in 2002 with Serafino Wines in the old McLarens on the Lake complex, expanding that into an impressive local production centre.

How the four work their family, business and wine matrixes is anyone’s guess, but their love of soccer, food and wine, and their cultural family values, are binding elements.And they can never get away from the grape. “Wine is part of our everyday lives,” Don Totino says. “It’s an essential part of social relaxation.”

His father, at 93, still helped work up a batch of homemade wine last year and the boys are plannin to let him ferment some more juice this vintage-just like they all did in Calabria.”My father’s wine is, how you might say, horrible,” Don Totino says. “But he still drinks it. “On his 80th birthday, the lads took dad bottles of Grange and Dom Perignon. But he rejected them. “You can drink this rubbish – I’ll drink my own wine” he said.  Being the boss, the boys bowed to his wishes. “Of course we made him happy,” Don Totino recalls. “We simply drank the Grange ourselves.”

On Saturday 23rd January from 9am to 4pm, Haselgrove Wines will be in Willunga at the ONKA Village as part of the 2010 Tour Down Under ProTour Cycling Event.

Haselgrove will showcase the whole range of wines, giving local punters the first chance to taste and buy the new ranges in a ‘cellar door-like’ atmosphere since their release.

As we do not have a Cellar Door open at the moment, we thought it a great opportunity to show off our wines to the cycling enthusiasts.  The following wines will be available for tasting on the day:

H by Haselgrove Semillon Sauvignon Blanc
H by Haselgrove Chardonnay
H by Haselgrove Shiraz
H by Haselgrove Cabernet Sauvignon

Primo Taglio Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc Semillon
Primo Taglio Adelaide Hills Chardonnay
Primo Taglio McLaren Vale Shiraz
Primo Taglio McLaren Vale / Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon

Bella Vigna Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc
Bella Vigna Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon

The event is free of charge and children are welcome.  There will be food and craft stalls, as well as a couple of other wineries, kids entertainment and live music.  Come and join the fun, we’d love to have your company!

For further details, go to www.onkaparingacity.com and follow the links via ‘What’s Happening’ to the ‘2010 Tour Down Under’ ONKA Village.  See you there!

A GREAT WINE FOR DRINKS WITH FRIENDS OR SERVE WITH PENNE SALCICCIA.
This fruit driven wine is styled for immediate enjoyment.

COLOUR

Deep plum with purple hues and brilliant clarity.

AROMA

Concentrated dark berries with a touch of mulberry, vanilla and cinnamon spice from the oak.

PALATE

Youthful and intense, the palate displays generous ripe plums and dark berries with good flavour persistence and a fine grain tannin finish. An intense and well-balanced young wine.

ALCOHOL  14.5%

PRICE  $12 per bottle, $144 per dozen

Download tasting note

BEST SERVED WITH YOUR FAVOURITE PIZZA OR SPINACH & FETTA PIE.
This fresh fruit driven wine should be enjoyed now.

COLOUR

Ruby red with a purple hue.

AROMA

Lifted blackberry and blueberry aromas with nuances of mocha chocolate and subtle oak complexity.

PALATE

Soft, round and rich with generous blackcurrant, cinnamon and cherry flavours and a lingering finish. A tight tannin structure complemented by subtle nutty oak.

ALCOHOL  13.5%

PRICE  $12 per bottle, $144 per dozen

Download tasting note

BEST SERVED LIGHTLY CHILLED WITH YOUR FAVOURITE SEAFOOD DISH OR TRADITIONAL FISH & CHIPS ON THE BEACH.
This fresh, fruit driven wine should be enjoyed now.

COLOUR

Brilliant very pale straw yellow.

AROMA

Lifted aromas of figs and tropical fruits combine with lime, fresh peach and apricot.

PALATE

An upfront palate of peaches, honey dew melon and fresh apricot which finishes with a hint of residual fruit sweetness.

ALCOHOL  13.0%

PRICE  $12 per bottle, $144 per dozen

Download tasting note

BEST SERVED LIGHTLY CHILLED WITH YOUR FAVOURITE ASIAN DISH OR A CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD.
This fresh, fruit driven wine should be enjoyed in its youth.

COLOUR

Clear and translucent with a youthful green tinge.

AROMA

Showing bright passionfruit and fresh green grass aromas from the Sauvignon Blanc, with depth and citrus lime characters from the Semillon.

PALATE

A zesty palate full of flavour of limes and citrus with a tingle on the tongue.

ALCOHOL  12.0%

PRICE  $12 per bottle, $144 per dozen