Queens Pinch Vineyard

Mudgee Australia

Reviews

James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion

Queens Pinch 2008 Select Cabernet Sauvignon: Its deep, rich colour and heady bouquet promise much. One sip is all that is needed to know that the wine delivers effortlessly on those promises. Savour it now over a memorable meal or exercise your willpower and cellar it. This beautiful and complex drop will continue to develop with age.

Kerry Skinner, Weekender, Illawarra Mercury

Every now and again a new wine venture pops up that shows outstanding potential from the start. One of them is the specialist Mudgee cabernet sauvignon producer Queens Pinch which made a stunning debut at last year's Mudgee wine show picking up a couple of trophies and a gold medal. Queens Pinch, owned by former ABC radio identity Andrew Buchanan and his family, was formerly called Cedars and supplied fruit for some of the industry's biggest players including Southcorp (now Fosters). That was until 2004 when the Buchanans purchased the property with the aim of making their own boutique wines. Click here to read the rest of the review

Huon Hooke, Good Living, Sydney Morning Herald

Old winemakers never quit, they just turn up in new boutique wineries. Frank Newman spent 30 years with big South Australian wineries like Penfolds and Angove’s before moving to Mudgee and working for Andrew Harris. Now he’s making wine for the Buchanan family’s new brand, the quirkily named Queens Pinch, and celebrating a double trophy win with his first vintage. The 2006 Queens Pinch Cabernet Sauvignon was judged best Cabernet Sauvignon and best red wine at the ‘09 Mudgee Wine Show. Unfortunately, only 60-dozen bottles were produced.

Geoffrey Milne, former wine reviewer for Nation Review

At a time when we are seeing an ever-increasing number of new wine labels on the market, one wonders how bewildered consumers can find their way through the labyrinth and make sound decisions about what to buy, what to drink it with and how long to keep it to enjoy it at its best. Here is a new range from Mudgee, NSW, which has pinned its hopes on one vineyard and one grape variety, Cabernet Sauvignon, from which three lines are bottled.

Queens Pinch offers a straight Cabernet Sauvignon, a Select Cabernet Sauvignon (in a taller and weightier bottle) and a Rosé, also made from Cabernet; all are elegant, lusciously fruity and splendid with good food. I have long believed that wine belongs with food (and vice versa), so my notes here are based on that belief. Click here to read the rest of the review

John Fordham, The Sunday Telegraph

Following a stellar radio career with the ABC, Andrew Buchanan is now using his considerable communication skills to tap into a growing wine audience. Buchanan, who oversaw the ABC’s 60 regional stations once his own on-air career wound down, is at the helm of the Queens Pinch winery on the outskirts of Mudgee. And the ratings achieved by his debut 2006 Queens Pinch Cabernet Sauvignon at the 2009 Mudgee Wine Show points to the brand’s exciting promise.

Sadly now out of stock, this ripper red won trophies for best red wine and best cabernet sauvignon and a gold medal in the open cabernet sauvignon class. “With one more point, it would have taken out the award for the most outstanding wine in the show,” laments winemaker Frank Newman, who lists impressive careers with Penfolds, Hardys and Angoves before pitching his tent at Queens Pinch.

Newman has now backed up his first vintage triumph with a trio of first-rate 2007 releases: 2007 Select Cabernet Sauvignon ($22), 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2007 Rosé ($15). The Select is a richly driven, complex wine with abundant fruit power and near-perfect balance. For easy-drinking, everyday wines, the introductory cabernet sauvignon and rosé easily fit the bill.

When the Buchanan family bought the vineyard nearly a decade ago, it did so with the knowledge that the fruit quality was the equal of Mudgee’s best. Southcorp (now Foster’s) were ready buyers of its fruit until then but, once the Buchanan’s grabbed ownership, plans fell into place to launch Queens Pinch.