It has been one of the most remarkable wine weeks of my life. After all that had gone before, it was only appropriate that we should finish with two of the most remarkable wines I have ever tasted. James Godfrey from Seppeltsfield presented the final session on Fortifieds, and this started off well and just got better. The list of wines reads:
Morris Show Amontillado, Rutherglen
Seppeltsfield Museum Oloroso DP104, Rutherglen
Seppeltsfield 2005 Vintage, Barossa Valley
Seppeltsfield DP90 Rare Tawny, Barossa Valley
Grant Burge 30 year old Tawny, Barossa Valley
Penfolds Great Grandfather Series 1, Barossa Valley
Campbells Isabella Rare Topaque Muscadelle, Rutherglen
Seppeltsfield Paramount Rare Topaque Muscadelle, Rutherglen
Morris Old Premium Liqueur Topaque Muscadelle, Rutherglen
McWilliam’s Show Reserve Muscat, Hunter
Morris Old Premium Liqueur Muscat, Rutherglen
Campbells Merchant Prince Rare Muscat, Rutherglen
Chambers Rare Muscadelle, Rutherglen
1928 Morris Liqueuer Muscat, Rutherglen
Seppeltsfield 1909 100 year old Para, Barossa ValleyThe final three on this list were served blind as a separate flight. The Chambers was utterly remarkable. Then came the 1928 Morris Muscat. It was viscous - almost solid, and clearly very old. But when I tasted it I was profoundly moved. I felt quite emotional: this was one of the most incredibly complex and profound wines I’ve ever been lucky enough to taste. No spitting. Just awe. The room was hushed as clearly many others were similarly moved. As if that was not enough, the Seppeltsfield 1909 Para was also mindblowing: darker, more intense and with a huge weight of sweet and savoury complexity. I’ve never had two wines quite as amazing as these before, and next to each other, too! A great way to conclude a memorable week.
The Buzz
Harpers Wine & Spirit - Australia, October 2009
Andrew Catchpole, Harpers Wine & Spirit supplement editor, travelled to Australia earlier this year and reports on the discoveries he made:
Songlines - Australia is at a turning point as it seeks to move on from its easy-going image of yesterday and celebrate its maturing legacy of fine and regionally distinct wines.
Australia is at a turning point as it seeks to move on from its easy-going image of yesterday and celebrate its maturing legacy of fine and regionally disctinct wines.
Like so many songlines coming together, this supplement aims to present a fresh insight into Australia, while conveying the excitement, passion and quality being delivered in the wines.
After a break of almost four years from touring Australia’s vineyards it was refreshing to return Down Under recently to catch up with the good and the great in Victoria. Refreshing not just because winter in Victoria’s high country is as chilly as any London winter’s day, but also because there is a palpable sense of a reinvigorated and renewed direction in the Australian wine industry. And, in many ways, the wines of Victoria perfectly encapsulate the messages that are coming out of Australia today.
The cool of winter is a great time to taste,with wines poised and palate fresh. At cellar door after cellar door, I was met by elegant, fresh Chardonnays, perfumed, sensual Pinot Noirs, spicier, intense, yet finely structured, Shirazes, and finally, warmed by the raisiny rich fortified wines of Rutherglen. Across regions and within, the wines spoke eloquently of climate, people and a sense of place, of terroir.
All this helped impress that Australia has been fine-tuning the way in which it presents itself to the world. Within this renewed focus, much emphasis is being placed on the highest quality wines, on Australia’s still evolving, but already Australia is at a turning point as it seeks to move on from its easy-going image of yesterday and celebrate its maturing legacy of fine and regionally distinct wines well defined, sense of regionality, with this year’s Landmark Australia Tutorial and Regional Heroes campaign as highlights of this move. It is precisely these themes that are examined in this supplement. Taking Victoria as a microcosm for Australia as a whole, we look at the quality of the fine wine offering, exploring both this and the maturity of Australia’s regionality through blind tasting, round-table debate and interviews with leading winemakers from Victoria and across the diverse states.
Elsewhere, we canvass opinion-formers in both the UK on and off-trades and invite feedback from those involved in the Regional Heroes promotion, also assessing how our retail and restaurant environments compare with the innovative wine scene in Victoria. This is topped off by interviews with wine critic James Halliday and Wine Australia’s Lisa McGovern for good measure.
Remarkable in all aspects…
The feature story in this week’s Cuisine & Wine Asia is an interview with Lim Hwee Peng CSW about his involvment in the Landmark Australia Tutorial:
Telling Australia’s Fine Wine Story
There just isn’t another better name for this wine conglomeration. Remarkable in all aspects, the recently concluded Landmark Australia Tutorial is truly a landmark event. Consider this – the event’s executive committee is made up of the who’s who in the wine world (the likes of Andrew Caillard MW, Michael Hill Smith AM MW and Gordon Gebbie, among others), then there’s the whole list of master tutors (Max Allen, Tom Carson, James Halliday and a host of others) and not forgetting also the panel of twelve international guests from the UK, US and Singapore, just to name a few. To further prove the vastness of this event, from the picture above, it’s beyond doubt a sight to behold – 248 wines were tasted in a span of five days!
Held in Barossa Valley, this wine event is the most significant investment to date in telling Australia’s fine wine story to the world via these twelve international guests. Singapore was represented by Lim Hwee Peng CSW. He is the partner of WineCraft Marketing & Services, a registered wine marketing company. He is also an award-winning wine journalist and a regular contributor at Cuisine & Wine Asia. About the event, Lim had this to share, “I personally find this tutorial a rare and prestigious one and it could well be one of the wine programmes in the wine world that a serious wine professional should participate as part of their wine learning journey.” It truly is a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience for the participants as the event allowed them to learn first hand from many renowned Australian vintners and wine professionals.
Though it was only held for five days, according to Lim, there were many highlights and it was almost impossible to pick just one that really stood out. For him, what stood out were the three wise and knowledgeable wine tutors – Michael Hill Smith MW, Andrew Caillard MW and Dr Tony Jordan. He had this to offer, “The lubricant of the tutorial, Smith kept the momentum of each session progressing smoothly. Caillard, the calm and steely tutor, is a walking historical reference of Australian wines and its industry. Last but not least, Jordan is the down-to-earth vintner who provided all the technical information of Australian viticulture and vinification.” Moreover, he also said that having some of Australian wine greats such as James Halliday, Brian Croser and Ian Riggs being part of the event was a surreal encounter.
To have an article devoted to a wine event but not have anything to say about the wines tasted would be a travesty. Thus, it’s only apt for Lim to share with us some of the 248 wines that he tasted along with the other international guests at the event….“The Riesling segment showcased the purity and elegance of what Eden Valley and Clare Valley can produce. Australian dry Rieslings are definitely a force to be reckoned with.” He went on to say, “The Pinot Noir segment is a personal favourite. It displayed a huge potential for this grape variety. I particularly enjoyed the wines from Mornington Peninsula, Yarra Valley and Macedon Ranges.”
Click to read the full article.
More than just Shiraz…
Taken from Forbes.com, Tyler Colman, one of the inaugural Landmark Australia Tutorial participants writes about how Australian wine is under appreciated:
Underappreciated Australian Wines
Starting in the mid-1990s until last year, Australian wines enjoyed eye-popping growth as a menagerie of kangaroos, wallabies, koalas and penguins stormed the supermarket and wine-shop aisles. Australian shiraz became synonymous with the big, sweet, high-alcohol “fruit bombs.”
The growth of wine from Down Under was so rapid that in 1996 the Australian government’s wine authority drew up a 30-year sales target for the industry–and reached it 20 years early. Unfortunately, starting last year, consumers who previously scooped up the look-alike shirazes are now reaching for the wines of other countries–ignoring the great-tasting wines Australia makes.
Cheap or boozy shiraz, it turned out, wasn’t much of a stepping stone to the good stuff. While overall wine sales are flat in the U.S., worldwide exports of Australian wine declined 17% year over year from 2007 to 2008. Yet, amazingly, even when you throw in a 13-year drought, bush fires earlier this year, static domestic demand and a global financial crisis, Australian wine is still much more than a one-trick pony.
Shiraz and chardonnay, as ubiquitous as they may seem on the retail shelf, account for only half the vineyard acreage in Australia. In fact, there are over 60 distinct winegrowing regions and 2,300 producers there–making everything from zippy whites such as Brokenwood Semillon to lean reds like Giant Steps pinot noir–and even super-sweet dessert wines, such as Chambers muscadelle. And the wines either clock in at wallet-friendly prices or are just plain great examples of the grape.
European Grapes, Aussie Style
If you think of Riesling as a sugary-sweet wine from Germany, then Australian Riesling will change your mind in a hurry. Almost all the wines are dry and have lively, mouth-watering acidity, making them excellent and refreshing wines for summer. And for your picnic convenience, they are almost all bottled in screw cap. Try the excellent Grosset from Australia’s Clare Valley in South Australia or the value Rocky Gully from Margaret River in Western Australia.Some of the white grapes from France’s Rhone Valley–such as marsanne and viognier–have also found a good home in Australia. These grapes can make big wines, low in acidity and often high in alcohol that can handle as well as an SUV. But in the right hands, they are like a Mustang, with a lot of horsepower and a relatively low price tag.
Yalumba viognier, for example, costs about a third of what the variety runs for when it comes from Condrieu, a small appellation in France’s Northern Rhone Valley, yet the Yalumba still delivers the lush apricot flavors the variety is known for when it’s at its best. And the Tahbilk marsanne from Central Victoria is only $10, but still has a rich texture.
Pinot noir has gotten off to a slow start in Australia, in part because of the country’s quarantine restrictions on new plant material–but the variety is gaining in production and popularity. Many of the country’s microclimates are cool, thanks to either higher altitude or the cooling effect of the Great Southern Ocean; cool temperature is widely believed to help pinot vines thrive.
Unfortunately, not very many of the small-production pinots are exported to the U.S., but the ones you’re likely to find on these shores come from the Yarra Valley, near Melbourne. Try the aforementioned Giant Steps, which is loaded with dark fruit flavors but isn’t overpowering.
Rich, Ripe Reds
Cabernet sauvignon, the signature grape of Bordeaux and Napa, has found a home in two particularly good growing areas in Australia: the Margaret River in Western Australia and Coonawarra in South Australia. Margaret River has a maritime influence and iron-rich soils that tend to give the wine a minerality and earthiness; Coonawarra cabernets tend to have more fruity character perhaps thanks to the terra rossa soils of red earth over limestone.Australia can hold its own with red Rhone Valley varieties as well, such as mourvedre (pronounced more-VED). Even if you haven’t tried one from France, the Hewitson Old Garden mourvedre is one from Australia worth tracking down. The deep-rooted vines were planted in 1853, and the mourvedre variety loves the Australian heat; the end result is a powerful, dark purple wine with gamey aromas.
To paraphrase Dr. Strangelove, the Australians need to start worrying and learn not to love the (fruit) bomb that is all too often Aussie shiraz. Their world wine domination plan has presumably been significantly revised (since American palates soured on some styles of shiraz) and will hopefully involve bringing more of Australia’s diverse wine flavors to foreign shores. We can all raise a glass of Riesling or cabernet to that.
Dr Vino provides his take on Australia’s fine wines
A historic tasting Down Under - Bin 60A, Grange, Hill of Grace - taken from drvino.com
Eyebrows arching, James Halliday spots an opening and intercepts the ball. He dribbles to the other end of the court, pulls up for a jumper right before the three point line, shoots, and scores! Orlando over the Lakers at the buzzer!
Okay, Halliday, the 71 year old former vintner and author of some fifty wine books, wasn’t really in the NBA finals. But a tasting last week in the Barossa Valley did showcase some of Australia’s most amazing wines of all time. By showcasing talent old and new, it was kind of like one of those sports questions about who would be better head-to-head, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar vs LeBron James or Hank Aaron vs A-Rod kind of thing. While the younger wines showed some flash, for me it was the seniors that stole the show.
Andrew Caillard of Langton’s, an auctioneer, told us that it took him nine months to arrange the tasting, adding that many of the bottles were among the last available. He presented a history of Australian wine making and how the wines we were tasting were landmark wines in one way or another.
While I knew that mature cabernet could be incredible, I wasn’t so sure about mature shiraz.
First up was the 1954 Seppelt Great Western Hermitage K72 Shiraz Great Western Grampians. Looking very mature in the glass, almost tawny in color, I thought it was going to be shot. Despite only muted aromas, the wine was actually holding together well and had a good balance and finish.
Next was the 1955 Penfolds Bin 95 Grange. Inspired by a trip to Bordeaux, Max Schubert of Penfold’s decided he wanted to make a grand vin a l’australien–or something like that. So he took the best shiraz and cabernet grapes he could, blending regions as well as grapes, and put them in open top fermenters and then finished the fermentation in small American oak barrels. The first vintage of the wine was 1951 but it wasn’t sold; 1952 was the first commercial vintage and is no longer good. The 1955 we had was a wine originally developed for the show circuit and was showing very well. Much more red than the Seppelt K72, it was also more youthful, richer, rounder with a hint of shiraz sweetness on the finish. A mature wine to be sure, but very rewarding. Incidentally, this bottle was recorked under the Penfold’s recorking program, which can provide a greater degree of certainty that a bottle will still be in good condition since it has been tasted by a member of the Penfold’s staff (with a wee dram of the current Grange added for topping up any ullage–love that word).
The 1955 Wynns Coonawarra Estate, Michael, shiraz followed. An excellent and interesting wine, with more meaty and savory aromas than the first two. Caillard described the wine as a “freak,” since there was no power shiraz produced in the Coonawarra and the wine was low alcohol.
But the wine of the day, and one of the best wines I have ever tasted, was the 1962 Penfolds Bin 60A, a blend of Coonawarra Cabernet and Barossa Shiraz. I had the good fortune of tasting this wine last fall in New York, and, sadly, the bottle I tried was off. This bottle, however, was on. Big time. It’s the wine tasting equivalent of a buzzer beater and a walk off grand slam all in one. Although it has that kind of excitement, an important difference is not the power of those moments but rather the delicacy and elegance of the wine, with aromas of cigar box and dried fruits, a fine tannic structure with a finish that lingers for the whole afternoon.
As if that wine alone wouldn’t have made the tasting, there were fifteen more. Next was another Penfold’s Grange, this time a 1971 vintage. As you may recall from a magazine article I once wrote about finding birth year wines, 1971 is always a vintage that I keep an eye out for. (The wine’s success in the auction market for a time made it a barometer of economic activity according to a leading think tank.) Max Schubert, the winemaker, apparently did not like to add acid and in this case picked the grapes early and the resulting wine was a deliciously refreshing 11.5% alcohol. Andrew Caillard said that they did add “heaps and heaps” of tannins, which are still present today although finely integrated. The wine is really in a good place today.
Next we had four wines from the eighties, an 82 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet, John Riddoch, a mature cabernet that was tasting great, the idiosyncratic 1985 Wendouree Shiraz Clare Valley with its odd hint of iodine, the 1986 Henschke Hill of Grace, probably Australia’s most famous single vineyard wine still with a toasty oak influence, and 1986 Brokenwood Graveyard Vineyard shiraz Hunter Valley that still had quite lively acidity.
Up next was the 1990 Mount Mary Vineyard Lilydale Cabernets Quintets, a lighter but rewarding style of cabernet that showing very well with a secondary blackcurrant note, lovely delicacy and great precision with no greenness or herbaciousness. Apparently Robert Parker described this wine as a “cru bourgeois.” The 1995 Cullen Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot, Margaret River still had a lot of tannic vigor that Andrew Caillard amusingly described as “a hairy armpit, long hair style wine that is no shrinking violet.”
The 1996 Clarendon Hills Australis was included as emblematic of the cult wine scene, which Caillard admitted that even he hadn’t really seen coming. The 1994 Clarendon Hills sparked controversy since it didn’t do well on the Australian show circuit but Robert Parker bestowed it with a 96 point rating, sparking demand around the world. The wine was made from 75 year old vines and 100% new French oak barrique aging. In the glass today, the aromas had an odd blend of plummy red fruits and menthol while it tasted disjointed and tannic.
Of the remaining wines (see the full list here), I wanted to particularly highlight the 2001 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier. Hailing from vineyards around the national capital of Canberra (and some joked that it’s the best thing to ever come out of Canberra), the wine is a beautiful blend of Shiraz with a touch of viognier. In this case it was about seven percent Viognier cofermented with Shiraz but that has been declining in recent vintages. The hardest thing about adding Viognier, in my view, is to get Viognier that is as good as the shiraz since Viognier can be a pretty rough and tumble category. But in this case, the Viognier gives the wine tremendous aromatic lift and this particular wine was singing.
From JancisRobinson.com: Landmark Australia - Day 5
A long week with a fitting conclusion from Landmark Australia tutorial participant, Julia Harding MW posted on Jancis Robinson’s website:
At last night’s dinner, fatigue was starting to show among the participants and the tutors and so the usual commentary on the wines by the evening’s guests went by the board and the kitchen seemed to take pity on us with a slightly lighter (less meat-heavy) menu. Try as I might, I couldn’t quite muster the strength to make worthy notes on the last five reds (though the last two were particularly tannic) and I left the table before the Stanton and Killeen Vintage port-style wine. It was all just getting too much of a good thing. However, I did very much enjoy the Rieslings and the Pinots. KT and the Falcon’s Peglidis was as pure and more steely (and drier) than the Melva the previous evening and caused a spirited debate between myself and Frank Kämmer, the only German in the group and a very experienced sommelier, as to whether the Peglidis was closer to a Saar Riesling (me) or to a wine from the western Rheingau (him). I yielded to his superior knowledge of German Riesling and greater firepower but didn’t change my mind!
The Main Ridge Pinot was delicious, as was Brian Croser’s 2008 from Foggy Hill, though in quite different styles and at very different stages of evolution.
With dinner:
2006 Petaluma Croser Pinot Noir/Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills
2008 KT and The Falcon Peglidis Vineyard Riesling, Clare Valley
2005 Radford Wines Riesling, Eden Valley
2007 The Lane Beginning Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills
2006 Savaterre Chardonnay, Beechworth
2007 Tapanappa Foggy Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir, Fleurieu Peninsula
2008 Tapanappa Foggy Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir, Fleurieu Peninsula
2004 Main Ridge Estate Half Acre Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula
2006 Mitchelton Crescent Shiraz/Mourvèdre/Grenache, Nagambie Lakes
2005 Mitchelton Crescent Shiraz/Mourvèdre/Grenache, Nagambie Lakes
2007 The Yard Riversdale Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Frankland River, Great Southern
2007 Cherubino Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River
1998 Wirra Wirra The Angelus (Dead Ringer) Cabernet Sauvignon, McLaren Vale
2006 Wirra Wirra Dead Ringer Cabernet Sauvignon, McLaren Vale
2004 Wirra Wirra Dead Ringer Cabernet Sauvignon, McLaren Vale
2005 Stanton and Killeen Vintage, Rutherglen
Had to start ultra early this morning (Friday), to get packed and checked out before the first session. Today was even more of a military exercise than usual as there was no slack in the lunch start time - we were due at Peter Lehmann’s fine cellar door for lunch with winemakers and press and had to fit the sparkling and fortified sessions in before that. And the inevitable group photo.Talking of photos, the most astonishing sight of the week was all the wines we had tasted lined up along the wall of the hotel courtyard. With only a press-button camera, I couldn’t do it justice (see picture below) but it highlighted what a remarkable and intense week it has been. But I am getting ahead of myself.
The sparkling wine session was led jointly by Ed Carr, Group Sparkling Winemaker for Constellation Australia, and Dr Tony Jordan, who until recently held various senior positions with Moët Hennessy at home and around the world, ending up as CEO of Domaine Chandon Australia, Cape Mentelle and Cloudy Bay. He told me he was hoping to work a little less than in the past but it didn’t sound very likely, given everything he had lined up. (He also makes his own Spear Valley wine at Spear Valley.)
It was unfortunate that the tight schedule meant we had to race through these traditional-method sparklers, all made from Chardonnay or Pinot Noir or a blend, and the occasional contribution of Pinot Meunier. There was a strong diversity of styles, depending very much on the varieties, the sweetness level, the use or non-use of oak in the making of the base wines, and the period of ageing on the lees, etc, as you would expect for a wine that is so dependent on its handling in the winery. I particularly liked the House of Arras ‘Grand Vintage’ Chardonnay/Pinot Noir and the Domaine Chandon Brut Rosé Pinot Noir, which was handy since the former was made by Ed Carr and the latter by Tony Jordan!
2005 Domaine Chandon Z*D Vintage Blanc de Blancs Chardonnay, Yarra Valley
2004 Yarra Burn Blanc de Blancs Chardonnay, Yarra Valley
2004 Josef Chromy Wines Pinot Noir/Chardonnay, Tasmania
2004 Brown Brothers Patricia Pinot Noir/Chardonnay/Pinot Meunier, King Valley
2003 House of Arras, Arras ‘Grand Vintage’, Chardonnay/Pinot Noir, Tasmania
2002 Domaine Chandon Vintage Brut Late Disgorged Chardonnay/ Pinot Noir/Pinot Meunier, Yarra Valley
2001 Jansz Late Disgorged Chardonnay/Pinot Noir, Tasmania
2000 Hardys Sir James Tumbarumba Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, Tumbarumba
1998 Petaluma Croser Proprietor’s Reserve Pinot Noir/Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills
1998 House of Arras, Arras Late Disgorged, Chardonnay/Pinot Noir, Tasmania
NV Hanging Rock Cuvee VIII Macedon Late Disgorged Pinot Noir/Chardonnay, Macedon Ranges
MV Bay of Fires Rosé Pinot Noir/Chardonnay, Tasmania
2005 Domaine Chandon Brut Rosé, Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley
1994 Seppelt Show Sparkling Shiraz, GrampianThe fortified session did not disappoint, despite the big build up these wines had been given all week. These were treasures, many rare, and wines to sip and reflect on rather than speeding along but the intensity of flavours in all these wines was show-stopping nonetheless. The tutor for this last session of the week, James Godfrey, is one of the most experienced and committed fortified wine makers in Australia and has just completed his 32nd vintage at Seppeltsfield. Some of the greatest wines in the Seppeltsfield cellar, such as the 100-year old 1909 Para, now thickly viscous and tasting of an astonishing array of coffee, dark chocolate, fruit cake and cloves, were made well before his time, but he takes ultra seriously his role as custodian of these rare dark gems.
Most of the group were particularly besotted by these thick, dark, tooth-rotting elixirs. Although I thought they were stunning, I was very taken by the first two wines in the tasting, the Amontillado and the Oloroso. The former had become fantastically concentrated after more than 40 years in the solera casks but was still delicate on the nose with aromas of nuts and deeply caramelised oranges, even a whiff of iodine. The latter looked and tasted like dark walnuts but still showed finesse and a long tangy finish.
We tasted:
Morris, Show Amontillado, Rutherglen
Seppeltsfield, Museum Oloroso DP104, Rutherglen
Seppeltsfield 2005 Vintage, Barossa Valley
Seppeltsfield, DP90 Rare Tawny, Barossa Valley
Grant Burge, 30 year old Tawny, Barossa Valley
Penfolds, Great Grandfather Series 1, Barossa Valley
Campbells, Isabella Rare Topaque Muscadelle, Rutherglen
Seppeltsfield, Paramount Rare Topaque Muscadelle, Rutherglen
Morris, Old Premium Liqueur Topaque Muscadelle, Rutherglen
McWilliams, Show Reserve Muscat, Hunter
Morris, Old Premium Liqueur Muscat, Rutherglen
Campbells, Merchant Prince Rare Muscat, Rutherglen
Chambers, Rare Muscadelle, Rutherglen
Morris, 1928 Morris Liqueur Muscat, Rutherglen
Seppeltsfield, 1909 100-year-old Para, Barossa ValleyThen straight off to the press/trade lunch and our chance to give feedback on the week, meet more producers and sip a little instead of assiduously spitting. My brief comments were in appreciation of the highly nuanced fine wines I had tasted throughout the week and a suggestion that boredom and security are finely divided when it comes to wine consumption; whereas boredom derives from everything tasting the same, security comes from knowing that everything would taste good.
And now I have my feet up in the spacious Peter Lehmann guest house, with the rain tipping down outside, and don’t have to rush off to dinner. Hurray! In fact I am looking forward to a bowl of cereal or a piece of toast in front of a DVD (though quite a few of the selection look rather patriotic) and then an early night.
Although the Landmark Tutorial is now wrapped up, I still have a full programme of visits in the Eden, Barossa and Clare Valleys over the next three days and then a day at the Australian Wine Research Institute before I fly back on Wednesday, thoroughly exhausted.
Some emotional wine at the Tutorial
Jamie Goode writes about Day 5 at the Landmark Australia Tutorial - “one of the most remarkable wine weeks of his life!” Jamie’s blog:
From drvino.com: Australian Reisling - can it age?
Landmark Australia tutorial particpant, Tyler Colman, yesterday posted this interesting article on his renowned wine blog, drvino.com, about one of his objectives while out in Austrlaia - to find out if Australian Reisling can age or not. Read below for his verdict and comments from some of his readers who have been following the tutorial.
One question that led me to Australia is whether Australian Riesling can age. The wine is almost always released within a year of harvest so the tendency is to drink it young when it can be very refreshing. Riesling from Australia tends to be dry and is almost always bottled under screwcap now.
The youngest Riesling I’ve tasted was a tank sample of the 2009 Jacob’s Creek Steingarten Riesling. The Steingarten vineyard was originally about 1000 vines planted in the 1960s at the top of Trial Hill, a windy spot on the edge of the Eden Valley. At the outset, it was a single vineyard wine of tiny production. But now although most of the vines come from an altitude of 500 meters, it makes no claim to be site specific; the Steingarten name is a brand. The tank sample was brimming with citrus intensity but not yet really formed as a wine. The 2005, by contrast, was in a very nice spot, exhibiting more muted lime and floral character. The 1998 was oddly phenolic and, while quite solid, not as rewarding today as the 2005.
The Riesling of the trip for me was the 1984 Grosset Polish Hill. The fourth vintage of Polish Hill, it was bottled under cork (they switched to screwcap around 2000) and had mid-shoulder fill (if the bottle had shoulders, that is) and came directly from the cellar of Jeffrey Grosset (pictured right), one of only a few bottles remaining. The aromatics were muted but on the palate, the wine was terrific with a great weight and kind of oily character, great integration. The finish was spectacular and went on and on. (On a related note, his current release 2008 Polish Hill had excellent citrus character akin to the white of a pink grapefruit. The grapes were hand-picked, only free-run juice used, and the resulting wine has integrated acidity and minerality.)
Also of note was the 1973 Leo Buring DWC15 Riesling Clare Valley. Golden in color, it exhibited some of those toasty notes that mature Aussie Riesling is known to have on the aroma and still had layered complexity. It’s still in a good place now but reaching the end of maturity–good thing these were among the last bottles remaining.
The 2002 Peter Lehmann reserve Riesling Eden Valley had toasty, lightly honeyed nose with a strong attack, limey midpalate and expansive, rewarding, and lingering finish. The 1999 Pewsey Vale The Contours Riesling Eden Valley, so called because the rows of vines follow the contours of the hillside, was originally released with five years of age on it. Today it showed more maturity but still had a freshness from good acidity. The 1980 Pewsey Vale Rhine Riesling Eden, golden in color, was interesting but definitely in the “drink now” part of its bottle evolution.
Finally, 1996 Crawford River Riesling Henty was picked late, in May, and has “essentially no botrytis” according to the producer. But to me it had a lovely honeyed note that perhaps had a hint of the noble rot. Quite delicious. I also enjoyed one of the current releases from this producer. But I’ll save that along with some other young, fresh Rieslings for a future post.
As a summary comment here, Australian Rieslings are worthwhile with age and can show bottle evolution even under screwcap. The hardest part is probably not drinking them while they are young. But tasting that magical transformation from lime-fresh minerality of youth to the gently honeyed, toasty quality of mature bottles can be worth the wait.
Search for these wines on wine-searcher.com
Related: “Philip Laffer of Jacob’s Creek on Riesling, petrol, and screwcaps“
Click here for the full article from drvino.com.
From JancisRobinson.com: Landmark Australia - Day 4
Julia Harding MW, one of the participants, writes on JancisRobinson.com about Chardonnay, Pinot Noir (including the rogue DRC, which was considered by all to be disappointing) and blind tastings with Brian Croser AO on day four of the Landmark Australia tutorial.
Today, Thursday, I have even less time than usual between the end of the last tasting and dinner, so I have to skim over the tastings in some cases but full tasting notes will follow later this month.
Dinner last night was on the theme ‘Slow food, slow wine’, with a mixed bag of wines chosen by Australian wine writer Max Allen - either because they were organic or biodynamic or because of the stories attached to them. The excellent, dry, intense but not too fruity Sutton Grange Fairbank rosé, for example, demonstrated the synergy of good neighbours and the complementarity of food and wine from a single region. Sutton Grange is next to a dairy that makes an organic goats’ cheese called La Luna. Sutton Grange uses the whey from the dairy to treat fungal infections on their vines, and the Fairbank rosé pairs beautifully with La Luna. With two biodynamic producers (Vanya Cullen and Julian Castagna) as guests for the evening, there was plenty of debate about the planet, and particularly what Max Allen referred to as the ‘fragile’ country of Australia (fragile because it is so dry and has so many regions with very thin soils).
Other wines I particularly enjoyed were the Cullen Mangan blend from Margaret River and KT and the Falcon Melva Riesling from the Clare Valley. Both shared a fine purity and lovely freshness. The complete list was as follows:
2008 Sutton Grange Winery Fairbank Rosé Syrah/Cabernet/Merlot, Bendigo
2008 Lucy Margaux vineyards & Àuge Ristoranté Vino d’Àuge Saignée Sangiovese, Adelaide Hills
2007 Ngeringa Viognier, Adelaide Hills
2008 Gemtree Vineyards Moonstone Albariño, McLaren Vale
2008 Moondarra Holly’s Garden Pinot Gris, Gippsland
2007 Bass Phillip Estate Pinot Noir, South Gippsland
2006 Ngeringa Syrah, Adelaide Hills
2002 Castagna Genesis Syrah, Beechworth
2002 Castagna La Chiave Sangiovese, Beechworth
2005 Castagna Un Segreto Sangiovese/Shiraz, Beechworth
2007 Cullen Wines Mangan Merlot/Malbec/Petit Verdot, Margaret RiverToday’s tastings focused on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The first, presented by Michael Hill Smith MW, was a very good snapshot of the evolutionary stages of this variety and the range of styles of Chardonnay now being made in different parts of Australia, defined first by region and then by winemaking practices. Heavy oak and buttery sweetness are, at this level of quality, pretty much a thing of the past. For more on this theme, see Jancis’s article Whither Australian Chardonnay?
We tasted:
2006 Tyrrell’s Wines Vat 47 Chardonnay, Hunter Valley
2006 Cullen Wines Kevin John Chardonnay, Margaret River
2006 Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay, Margaret River
2006 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay, Margaret River
2006 Shaw + Smith M3 Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills
2006 Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills
2006 Giaconda Chardonnay, Beechworth
2006 Bindi Wine Growers Quartz Chardonnay, Macedon Ranges
2006 Stonier Wines KBS Vineyard Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula
2006 Oakridge 864 Chardonnay, Yarra Valley
2006 TarraWarra Estate MDB Chardonnay, Yarra Valley
2006 Freycinet Chardonnay, Tasmania
2006 Hardys Eileen Hardy Chardonnay, Regional Blend
2006 Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay, Regional BlendThe overall quality was high and I had too many that I liked to single them out here. You’ll have to wait for my tasting notes.
The Pinot Noir tasting that followed was done blind, and the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Romanée Saint-Vivant 2002 Vosne-Romanée thrown in to provide context was considered by all to be disappointing. A dumb phase? A context of more overt fruit styles? Or a case of blind tasting revealing a good deal? I’m not sure.
Again, you’ll have to wait for my tasting notes. They certainly showed that Australian Pinot is far more sophisticated and fine-tuned than many people imagine - as you will see from Jancis’s recent review of the Mornington Peninsula Pinots. We tasted:
2007 Stoney Rise The Holyman Pinot Noir, Tasmania
2007 Bindi Wine Growers Block 5 Pinot Noir, Macedon Ranges
2007 Yabby Lake Vineyard Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula
2006 Stefano Lubiana Estate Pinot Noir, Southern Tasmania
2006 Kooyong Single Vineyard Selection Ferrous Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula
2006 TarraWarra Estate MDB Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley
2007 Felton Road Block 5 Pinot Noir, Central Otago
2003 Ashton Hills Estate Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills
2003 Paringa Estate Reserve Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula
2002 Domaine de la Romanée Conti Romanée St Vivant Pinot Noir, Vosne Romanée, Burgundy
1999 Mount Mary Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley
1997 Bass Phillip Premium Pinot Noir, South Gippsland
1997 Bannockburn Serré Pinot Noir, Geelong
1992 Coldstream Hills Reserve Pinot Noir, Yarra ValleyThe most challenging tasting of the day was Brian Croser’s (pictured) selection of (mostly) blended wines: almost all the wines were predominantly Cabernet or Shiraz. It was challenging because the wines were tasted blind and for each wine we had to answer several questions:
1 Is the wine made in a way to show off the variety/region or is it a ‘winemaker’s wine’?
2 Which region is it from (drilling down to regions within states, eg Margaret River or Great Southern in WA, etc.)?
3 Is it predominantly Shiraz or Cabernet?
4 Is the alcohol high, balanced or low?
5 Is the acidity high, balanced or low?
6 Is the residual sugar evident or high or is the wine dry?
Trying to write tasting notes as well as answer these questions for 20 wines took a bit of doing in the time available. Answers were then gathered by a show of hands for each aspect of each wine. Brian Croser was very encouraging even when the group didn’t do too well overall. There was quite a high level of agreement as to which were regional/varietal and which were winemaker’s wines (generally identified as very big, sometimes overripe, generally highly oaked) but we found the regions and the varieties harder. One wine stood out as the most generally recognised; Clonakilla Shiraz/Viognier 2007 Canberra District stood out for its fine perfume, fine tannins and excellent proportions.
One point Croser was keen to make in his introduction was that 24 of Australia’s 73 wine regions could be classified as cool climate, ie with a mean January temperature of less than 19.5ºC. And it was the cooler climate wines such as the two examples of Shiraz from the Grampians and the Cabernet-based wines from Western Australia that were generally easier to identify.
The best part of the tasting was being able to go back to the wines after their identities had been unveiled and to focus on the key characteristics of certain region/variety combinations. The endeavour also reinforced the key messages of the tutorial - that Australia does make fine wine (if you were in any doubt) and there are clear regional differences in style and character. However, as Andrew Jefford pointed out (he popped in again for this tasting), it was a difficult exercise because you were always weighing up two major variables - variety and region - and which was the strongest determinant in your search for identity.
2005 Plantagenet Shiraz, Mount Barker, Great Southern
2006 Glaetzer Amon Ra Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2005 Brokenwood Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz, Hunter Valley
2004 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz/Viognier, Barossa Valley
2002 Penfolds Grange Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon, Multi-region South Australia
2005 Hardys Eileen Hardy Shiraz, McLaren Vale
2004 Henschke Hill of Grace Shiraz, Eden Valley
2004 Clarendon Hills Astralis Vineyard Shiraz (Syrah), McLaren Vale
2007 Clonakilla Shiraz/Viognier, Canberra District
2005 Clayfield Wines Shiraz, Grampians
2006 Two Hands Wines Bella’s Garden Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2005 Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz, Multi-region South Australia
2005 Seppelts St Peters Shiraz, Grampians
2005 Majella Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra
2005 Cullen Wines Diana Madeline Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot, Margaret River
2006 Balnaves of Coonawarra The Tally Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra
2006 Woodlands Reserve de la Cave Cabernet Franc, Margaret River
2004 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River
2005 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra
2002 Wendouree Cabernet Sauvignon/Malbec, Clare ValleyLooking forward to dinner tonight - not because I am in the least bit hungry but because Brian Croser is going to talk about the current state and the future of Australian wine.
From Dermot’s wine blog: I hate blind tastings
Taken from Landmark Australia participant, Dermot Nolan’s, blog today:
What? Another blind tasting? We travelled to the Lovely Maggie Beer’s Farm (both Maggie and the farm are lovely) to meet with one of the great personalities of the Australian wine industry, Brain Croser AO, who decided to put us through a fiendish blind tasting.
Twenty wines, all shiraz and/or cabernet (this included cab. franc), 10 of which were single vineyard, 8 of which were single region and two were inter-regional blends. All we had to do was ask six questions of each wine: was it varietal/regional in style or winemaker wine; was it cabernet or shiraz; where was it from; was the alcohol balanced or too high/low; was the acid balanced or too high/low; and was the sugar high, evident or dry?
So informed, we started and it was a tricky tasting. One wine was more or less equal parts cabernet and shiraz so there were 13 shiraz wines and 9 cabernet wines, as it were, in the tasting. I got 9 of the shiraz wines but only 3 of the cabernets so that was disappointing. I did nail four of the wines, which was nice, even if the shiraz viognier from Canberra is pretty easy to spot!
I found the regional characters hard to spot, which is not the best thing to admit after a four day intensive course on the regions of Australia but looking at my mistakes I was fairly close in climatic feel i.e. I went for a cool region but the wrong one! Still, work to do on this at some later stage.
I nailed the Brokenwood Graveyard, which was great, because the Hunter shiraz style had been a mystery to me before this trip. I also got the Cullen Diana Madeline and, for both of these, very few in the room managed to do this. Nyah boo sucks to ye!
It was a very entertaining tasting and made feel like a young MW student all over again - please let me out of here!!!!!! Interestingly, as Brian went through the results, the group did pretty well, which suggests that the Landmark people have done a good job. So, with that positive note, I’ll sign off.
From Jamie Goode’s blog: Its almost over - final day of Landmark tutorial
Click here for the full article from participant Jamie Goode’s blog.
Just about to embark on the final day of the Landmark Tutorial. We have sparkling and fortifieds for this morning’s sessions, followed by a presentation lunch at Peter Lehmann. Pictured above is the view from my room this morning at 7 am.
Yesterday we had some really interesting sessions. Chardonnay was first up, with tasting taking us through the evolving styles and regional differences. Then Tom Carson (below) delivered an amazing blind tasting of Pinot Noir, with Domaine de la Romanee Conti Romanee St Vivant 2002 as a ringer in the second flight (of older wines). No one picked it. It was, in truth, a disappointing wine - the least aromatically interesting DRC I’ve encountered.
Then in the afternoon, a blind tasting organized by Brian Croser, and held at Maggie Beer’s farm. This was a complex yet fascinating exercise where we had to taste 20 high-end Aussie reds blind, and answer a set of questions about winemaking style (varietal/regional wine or a winemaker’s wine), variety (Cabernet or Shiraz based), region, acid level (high, balanced, low), alcohol level and residual sugar (high, evident or dry). The results were compiled, and I’ll be able to share them in due course.So the Tutorial finishes today. It has been a fantastic, brilliantly conceived and near-flawlessly executed program. It will be sad to leave - both the lovely Louise (that’s the place we’re staying in, not a sheila), and also the wonderful tight-knit group of tutors and participants.
Latest News
- 100% agree! RT @waters_wine: Am convinced Virginia Willcock (from Vasse Felix in Margaret River) is a rock star.
- 11/03/10 10:41pm - @waters_wine are you able to get the Vasse Felix Chardonnay over there? Love their Cabernet from Margaret River as well!
- 11/03/10 8:55pm - @LiveItWithless thanks Greg - you're now in the draw to meet GV. You wouldn't have to travel far, would you!
- 11/03/10 8:48pm - @chapelhillwine oh, you'll be fun at lunch today!
- 11/03/10 6:57pm - Enjoyed a glass of 08 Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay tonight followed by pavlova with banana and passion fruit - yum!
- 11/03/10 11:49am - Do you want the chance to learn how to #crushit and meet Gary V in Sydney? Details at www.wineaustralia.com
- 11/03/10 7:35am - Thanks @malchia - you're in with a chance to meet Gary V in Sydney (details at www.wineaustralia.com) #crushit
- 11/03/10 7:14am - Thanks for RT @TM_Wine @vineyardpaul @mikerism101 @winsordobbin @harshalsha
- 10/03/10 12:17pm - @MattReiser congratulations! Hope to meet with you later this year. How'd you find the tastings & what regions do you want to visit most?
- 10/03/10 7:47am - Can Tasmania be the world leader in cool climate viticulture? http://bit.ly/9xKgfV
- 10/03/10 3:00am
Taken from @winehero- 100% agree! RT @waters_wine: Am convinced Virginia Willcock (from Vasse Felix in Margaret River) is a rock star.
