Monthly Archives: January 2012

Wine review — Capital Wines and O’Leary Walker

29 January 2012Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Capital Wines The Abstainer Canberra District Rose 2011 $19
As a show judge I’ve copped my fair share of rose classes – line-ups of wines ranging in colour from pale onion skin to lurid lipstick pink; from cloyingly sweet to achingly dry; and from flabby soft to searingly acid. The better ones, of whatever shade, display fresh fruit flavours, rather than just sweetness, and finish clean and fresh, whether slightly sweet or very dry. The Abstainer, made from early-picked cabernet franc and a touch of merlot, sits at the pinker end of the spectrum and delivers the lovely floral, fruity high notes of cabernet franc, a savoury grippy undercurrent and a refreshing dry finish.

Capital Wines The Swinger Canberra District Sauvignon Blanc 2011 $19
O’Leary Walker Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2011 $16.50–$18
“I’d like to say it’s selling like hotcakes”, writes Capital Wines’ Jennie Mooney, “but it’s more than that, it’s selling like sauvignon blanc”. Here we see two contrasting styles of the white variety currently sweeping all before it. The Swinger (from Lawson Vineyard, Hall) presents a fuller bodied, off-dry, citrusy, still quite tart fresh face of the variety. O’Leary Walker (from the O’Leary Vineyard, Oakbank), at just 11 per cent alcohol, is more aromatic, featuring an intense passionfruit-like character that carries right through a delicate, herbaceous, bone dry palate – finishing with the brisk intensity for fresh lemon juice.

O’Leary Walker Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 $22
This is an exceptional cabernet, sourced from two Clare sub-regions – the Doctor’s block in the cool Polish Hill River area; and 50-year-old, dry-grown vines at Armagh, near Clare township. Winemakers David O’Leary, Nick Walker and Keeda Zim the wine undergoes a spontaneous ferment in small vessels, hand plunging the cap and pumping juice over to break up the cap and control the temperature. A post-ferment maceration on skins helps soften the tannins before the wine’s pressed off into new and used oak barrels for maturation. The result is a deep coloured, aromatic wine of pure cassis-like varietal aroma and flavour, rich mid-palate and firm cabernet tannins.

Wine review — Man ‘O War, Jip Jip Rocks, PHI, Seville Estate, Yalumba and Jeir Creek

25 January 2012Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Man O’ War Dreadnought Syrah 2009 $45–$50
Eastern Waiheke Island, New Zealand
Waiheke Island, to the east of Auckland, lies at about the same latitude as Bendigo, Victoria, and Naracoorte (just north of Coonawarra), South Australia. The three regions, though, produce starkly different cool-climate shiraz styles – probably driven by significant climate variances. The flavour alone suggests Waiheke as the coolest site. The intense, white pepper character of Man O’ War syrah (shiraz) suggests very cool ripening conditions – barely warm enough to struggle across the ripening line. But having done so, it’s a glorious example of fine-boned, supple, silky-textured shiraz.

Jip Jip Rocks Shiraz 2010 $16–$19
Padthaway, South Australia
There’s nothing like a masked tasting to strip away the pretence of wine, allowing a modestly priced red like Jip Jip to rate in the Sydney International Top 100 – and earn a “Blue Gold” medal for its compatibility with food. Sourced from the Bryson family’s 170-hectare estate at Padthaway, and made by Ben Riggs, Jip Jip leads with appealing floral high notes. These come through, too, on a delicious fruity, supple, mid-weight, softly tannic palate. It’s a lot of fun to drink right now and should hold for several years.

PHI Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2010 $65
Lusatia Park Vineyard, Woori Yallock, Yarra Valley, Victoria
PHI is a joint venture, established in 2005, between Leanne De Bortoli and husband Steve Webber (winemakers) and Stephen and Kate Shelmerdine, grape growers. PHI pinot comes from selected rows of vines on the Shelmerdine’s elevated Lusatia Park vineyard, in the cool south-eastern edge of the Yarra. Webber makes the wine at De Bortoli winery, Yarra Valley. PHI 2010 made history in November 2011 as the first pinot to carry off the wine-of-show award at the National Wine Show. The name PHI means perfect harmony and balance – and the wine delivers it. This is great pinot noir by any measure.

Seville Estate The Barber Pinot Noir 2010 $16.95–$22
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Even the cheapest of Seville Estate’s three pinot noirs rates very highly in the pinot stakes. It’s sourced from “30 year old vines off the original Morgan’s vineyard”, declares the black label. Good winemaking captures the lovely flavours of this fruit in a medium to deep coloured wine of enticing perfume, plush, black cherry varietal flavour, silky texture and fairly firm tannic backbone. We found a little more to like every time we returned to the bottle. It should evolve well with another five or six years bottle age, perhaps longer.

Yalumba Y Series Pinot Grigio 2011 $9.49–$14.95
Multi-regional blend, South Australia
In the great Australian tradition, Yalumba sources grapes widely for its outstanding Y series blends. Pinot grigio sourcing extends in some years to the Barossa and Eden valleys, Limestone Coast, the Adelaide Hills, Northern Adelaide Plains and Riverland. Winemaker Louisa Rose says the cooler areas provide the aromatic high notes and warmer areas body and texture. A wild-yeast ferment also contributes to the texture. She says the 2011 comes mainly from the cooler Limestone Coast, Eden Valley and Adelaide Hills regions – creating a wine with pear-like varietal aromatics and a richly textured, off-dry, savoury palate.

Jeir Creek Viognier 2010 $30
Murrumbateman, Canberra District, New South Wales
Rob and Kay Howell’s cellar-door only viognier captures the variety’s unique, lush, juicy, apricot-like flavours – without descending into the oiliness or hardness that often mars the viognier experience. Rob Howell says he fermented and matured the wine in new French oak barrels. Too much new oak can overwhelm viognier. But in this instance the water-bent oak’s subtle, spicy flavours complement the vibrant, fresh fruit. The wine’s available at the cellar door, Gooda Creek Road, Murrumbateman or at www.jeircreekwines.com.au

Exciting wines from Canberra’s Long Rail Gully

25 January 2012People, Vineyard, WineChris Shanahan

At a regional shiraz dinner a few years back, Garry Parker told me he approached wine marketing as he did building a career as a barrister from 1963 – on the belief that good performance would attract a following.

And that’s exactly what he’s achieved at Long Rail Gully Wines – a deep respect among his winemaking peers and well-informed consumers, if not yet with the wider acclaim his wines deserve.

With wife Barbara and son Richard, Parker established Long Rail Gully at Murrumbateman in 1998 as a serious business investment, capable of standing in its own right.

Richard Parker managed the venture from the outset. As a science graduate from Sydney University, he’d helped manage the family’s wheat, sheep and canola interest out west. But he recalls resisting a move into vines – concerned about the instability of the market.

However, Hardy’s move into Canberra, with the promise of a fixed-term grape contract, settled the argument and underpinned the family’s new venture in the short term. At the time Richard was half way through an agricultural science degree at Charles Sturt University.

“I was able to flip this into wine science”, he says, recalling how his mates said he’d not have to worry about viticulture as he’d know more about vines than the lecturers by the time he’d finished planting.

The family established the bulk of the 22-hectare vineyard, one of Canberra’s largest, in 1998 and in recent years replaced some of the cabernet sauvignon with pinot gris.

The vineyard now has seven hectares of shiraz, four of riesling, about three hectares each of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and pinot gris and one of pinot noir. These are rounded figures

While the grape contract with Hardy’s underpinned the early years, Long Rail Gully planned its own brand from the outset, making its first wine in 2001, just three years after establishing vines.

The business now has several strands – grape sales to other makers (including Clonakilla, Capital Wines, Eden Road and a couple of Hunter producers), contract winemaking for other grape growers and making the Long Rail Gully Range (current releases reviewed below).

Wine making demands considerable capital investment, so the Parkers now have on site a very large, insulated winery, all the right winemaking gear and even a bottling line (most Canberra producers use a mobile bottling contractor).

The Parkers are about to export to China. Exports will include purpose-made wines, now in barrel, as well as the Long Rail Gully range. Richard says the standard wines are to be cork sealed to meet market demands. But the premium wines will be screw-cap sealed – emphasising the quality benefits of the seal.

Long Rail Gully wines are available at selected outlets and cellar door. See www.longrailgully.com.au for details.

Long Rail Gully Riesling 2011 6-pack $17 ($92 for 6)
Pale straw to lemon colour; lime-like varietal aroma with a floral lift; intense lemon and lime varietal flavours on the palate, carried by the delicate, tart acidity of the cool vintage, with a touch of musk in the dry aftertaste. The wine continued to drink well for days after opening, suggesting a long cellaring life. It’s blended from the two clones in the vineyard: Geisenheim, contributing leaner lime and spicy notes; and McWilliams Eden Valley clone, lending lime and musk.

Long Rail Gully Pinot Gris 2011 $ 20 ($110 for 6)
Winemaker Richard Parker sees this as his stand-out white of the vintage – not surprising for a variety that thrives in cool ripening conditions. Although it’s only slightly more alcoholic than the riesling (12.1 versus 11.5 per cent) it’s considerably fuller bodied, with a rich, silky texture. This reflects the making technique: a component tank fermented to capture fruit flavour and aromatic high notes; another portion fermented and matured on yeast lees in old oak barrels, to build body and texture. The result is a vibrant, fresh wine, leading with a pear-like varietal aroma and flavour, with layers of succulent stone-fruit flavours adding further interest – all of this embedded in the rich, silky texture.

Long Rail Gully Pinot Noir 2010 $30 ($162 for 6)
A cellar door favourite and the priciest wine in the range, Long Rail Gully pinot noir challenges the notion that the variety doesn’t suit Canberra. This is a class act, certainly not reaching the heights of our best shirazes, but delivering the real pinot experience. The initial impacts are of fragrant, vibrant, varietal red berries with a stalky note – probably derived from whole bunches included in the ferment – and a smooth, velvety texture. With aeration, more savoury “umami” flavours arrive – layering the fruit with an earthy, beef-stock note. There’s drinking pleasure galore in this wine. A tasting of the 2005 vintage confirms its keeping ability.

Long Rail Gully Merlot 2005 and 2006 $22 ($119 for 6)
Is bottle age part of the marketing plan, we ask Garry and Richard Parker? Alas, no, they say. Merlot doesn’t sell; it seems to be giving way to pinot. But the almost-sold-out 2005, and 2006 that follows, offer delicious drinking – and a great opportunity to experience the extra flavour dimension that comes with bottle age. These are highly aromatic, plummy wines with the deep, sweet, earthy, chocolaty notes of age, a pleasant leafy edge and plush, juicy tannins.

Long Rail Gully Shiraz 2008 and 2009 $24 ($129 for 6)
These beautiful wines reveal the great strength of Canberra shiraz, albeit in contrasting styles. The almost-sold-out 2008 reveals a peppery side of shiraz not often seen in Canberra. In this instance we see both white and black pepper, the former normally associated with very cool conditions and sometimes with unripeness.

In Long Rail Gully it’s as if the grapes accumulated sugar (sugar ripeness), while flavour ripeness lagged behind – a common situation in warm Australia. However, ripeness, tinged with white pepper, seems to have just staggered over the line, giving a wine of 14.5 per cent alcohol and distinct, just-ripe white pepper flavour. This is a very pleasing flavour in one of our district’s better shirazes.

The 2009, however, moves another step up the quality ladder. Here, aromatic, floral red-berry varietal flavours stand at the centre – reminiscent of shiraz from France’s tiny Cote-Rotie region. The supple, sweet palate and savoury, spicy background flavours add to this impression. The wine’s delicious to drink now but should cellar well for many years. It’s phenomenally good – and undervalued. But don’t count on that lasting as it’s like to attract attention.

Matilda Bay opens Melbourne brewpub

25 January 2012BeerChris Shanahan

In December, Foster’s announced plans to shift its Matilda Bay brewery from Dandenong to Port Melbourne and open a café bar on site. The brewery’s already operational, with the café due to open shortly.

In some ways the move takes Matilda back to its Western Australians origins in 1984, when it brewed small batches for direct sale through the Sail and Anchor Hotel.

Carlton and United Breweries (now part of Foster’s) bought Matilda Bay twenty-odd years ago and later moved the brewing east, to Cascade, Hobart, with, from 2005, the small-batch “garage brewery” at Dandenong.

The opening of Port Melbourne reconnects the brewery with a direct outlet – much as rival brewer Lion Nathan has done with its James Squire brand. James Squire began at Camperdown, Sydney, but now has brew houses making and serving its beers in Melbourne City, Melbourne Dockland and Perth.

Beer review — North Coast Brewing and Swell Brewing

25 January 2012Beer reviewChris Shanahan

North Coast Brewing Acme California India Pale Ale 355ml $5.99
The enticing aroma leans to fruitiness and toffee-like malt, with a sweet note from the substantial alcohol (6.5 per cent). The fruit, malt and alcohol follow through onto the plush palate, then they’re swept along with intense, lingering bitterness of hops in overdrive – a distinctive take on this widely interpreted beer style

Swell Brewing Co Golden Ale 500ml $8.60
Swell Brewing, founded by stepbrothers Dan and Daniel Wright, and Dan’s wife, Corinna, brew their beer down in McLaren Vale’s wine country. Golden Ale, a medium-bodied beer, offers light malt flavours, cut with spicy, zesty, citrusy hops flavour and drying, moderate hops bitterness. It’s an easy drinking style.

Brokenwood, Capital Wines and Stefano Lubiana

22 January 2012Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Brokenwood Beechworth Pinot Gris 2011 $20.89–$25
We’re seeing excellent pinot gris from the 2011. The variety prefers a cool climate and in vineyards that avoided the fungal diseases of the cool, wet vintage, varietal flavours really sing. This version, from Brokenwood’s Indigo Vineyard, Beechworth, compares pear-like and citrusy flavour with just a hint musk. The full, richly textured palate is soft, but exceptionally vibrant and fresh. A tiny kiss of residual sugar (5.3 grams a litre) adds subtly to the richness, making the wine suited to quite rich foods such as terrine, pate and, as Brokenwood suggests, foie gras.

Capital Wines Canberra District

The Backbencher Merlot 2010 $25
Kyeema Vineyard t Reserve Merlot 2010 $46

What is merlot? Is it dry or sweet; soft or firm? Few varieties create more confusion, a fact not helped by the misidentification in Australia of cabernet franc as merlot, just as the variety gained some momentum. It’s a key variety of Bordeaux, more often than not blended with others, but capable of standing on its own as rich, but elegant, with abundant, sometimes firm, tannins. It’s a specialty of Capital Wines – the Backbencher revealing a plummy, elegant, soft face of the style; and the flagship, from the Kyeema Vineyard, showing greater power and chewier tannins – but nevertheless an elegance as a great and unique Canberra red.

Stefano Lubiana Collina Chardonnay 2008 $60
WOW! We decanted Collina a couple of hours before enjoying it, slowly, with a meal. It’s an extraordinary chardonnay, giving more weight to my belief that our finest chardonnays are destined to come from Tasmania. An intensity of varietal fruit flavours (grapefruit and white peach), both generous and ethereally fine, put this in the top ranks of Australian barrel-ferment and matured chardonnays. Winemaker Steven Lubiana says the vineyard site is rocky and gravelly, “providing plenty of sun, and just enough miserable soil for a plant to put down its roots and maintain a tenuous grip on life”. It’s available at www.slw.com.au

Wine review — Mount Langi Ghiran, Dominique Portet, Seppelt, Vasse Felix, Atlas and Redbank

18 January 2012Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Mount Langi Ghiran Cliff Edge Shiraz 2008 $22.79–$30
Mount Langi Ghiran Vineyard, Grampians, Victoria
For the first time Mount Langi Ghiran’s popular Cliff Edge shiraz comes entirely from estate-grown fruit, some of it from the estate’s oldest vines. It’s about as sexy as shiraz gets at the price – beautifully, sweetly aromatic with a vibrant, fruity palate to match. A spicy, savoury flavour undercurrent and silky tannins make it the complete red for early drinking – though the flavour intensity and layers of tannin mean good short to medium-term cellaring.

Dominique Portet Pinot Noir 2010 $42
Leongatha South, Gippsland, Victoria
Leongatha South, to the south east of Melbourne, produces at times dazzling pinot noirs, exemplified by those made at Bass Phillip by Phillip Jones. Dominique Portet captures some of the region’s magic with this lovely, lighter-bodied pinot noir. It’s highly aromatic, expressing the cooler, stalky end of the varietal spectrum. This character comes through, too, on a delicious, silky palate that grows in interest with every sip until, all too quickly, the bottle’s gone.

Seppelt Drumborg Riesling 2011 $27–$35
Drumborg Vineyard, Henty, Victoria
In 1964, well ahead of Australia’s table wine boom, Karl Seppelt planted grapes at Drumborg, southern Victoria, first landfall north of Antarctica. The cool site struggled for decades but ultimately produced outstanding grapes and elegant, potentially long-lived table and sparkling wines. In the very cool 2011 vintage, the vineyard produced this extraordinary riesling with intense but delicate lime-like varietal character and lean taut structure (pH2.88 and acidity of 9.6 grams per litre, for the technically minded). It’s a wine destined for greatness over time and worth considering if you’re after a wine to cellar for a special event decades in the future.

Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $30–$40
Margaret River, Western Australia
Virginia Wilcock’s outstanding red combines cabernet sauvignon (88 per cent) with 11 per cent malbec and one per cent merlot. There’s a violet-like floral lift to an aroma that includes varietal blackcurrant and a sweet, cedary character from the French oak. All these flavours flow through to the elegant palate, which, despite its supple smoothness and fleshy, fruity, core, finishes with the fine, lingering bite of the variety. It’s easy to drink now but has the intensity and structure to cellar well.

Atlas Riesling 2011 $25
Watervale, Clare Valley, South Australia
Winemaker Adam Barton sources grapes from sites he favours in the Clare and Barossa Valleys – in this instance from “a single patch of old, dry-grown riesling, situated on sheltered east-facing slope”. Hand picking, de-stemming and low juice extraction rates produce a delicate riesling with lime-like varietal aroma and flavour and pleasant minerally touch. The palate’s delicate, fine and dry and likely to reveal more over the coming years. This is a brand to watch. See www.atlaswines.com.au for purchasing details.

Redbank Garganega 2010 $25
Myrrhee Ridge Vineyard, King Valley, Victoria
Garganega is the principal variety used in Soave, a well-known savoury dry white from near Verona in Italy’s Veneto region. Redbank’s first vintage was fermented with wild yeast, matured in older oak barrels and blended with 10 per cent fiano, another Italian white. The result is full-bodied dry white with pleasing melon rind and citrus flavours and pleasantly tart, firm finish. It’s a long way from our usual fare and worth trying.

Argentina vignerons target the world

18 January 2012WineChris Shanahan

Argentina’s wine export graphs sweep ever upwards, like the slopes of the Andes that bound the country’s vineyards. In recent years this once domestic-focused industry set about exporting in earnest and now competes with Australia in the world’s major markets.

Figures provided by the Argentina embassy show exports of malbec, the country’s leading red variety, grew about tenfold between 2002 and 2010 – from 850 thousand nine-litre cases to 8.6 million cases. Exports of the signature white, torrentes, grew from 140 thousand cases to 664 thousand cases in the same period.

While the on-ship price of malbec peaked at $US35.52 a case in 2008 (after rising from $US27.28 in 2002), volumes barrelled on during the GFC mark 1 – rising from 4.2 million cases in 2007 to 8.6 million in 2010. The price fell back to $US34.80 a case in 2009, then recovered most of its lost ground to $US35.44 in 2010.

The price of torrentes, however, remained on its Andes-foothills-like trajectory without interruption, rising from $US16.86 a case in 2002 to $US27.86 in 2010.

There’s an upward trend, too, if we track Argentina’s vineyards a couple of thousand kilometres northwards – from Patagonia, at about 41 degrees south, to Salta, around 24 degrees south of the equator. As we move north, the temperature warms up. Wine grapes don’t like this, as they give their best flavours when ripening in mild to cool conditions. So, to compensate, vignerons plant their vineyards at ever-higher altitudes.

Argentina’s lowest vineyards, in the upper Rio Negro Valley, Patagonia, sit at around 200 metres above sea level. But at Molinos, Salta, not far short of the Bolivian border, vineyards can be found at up to 3,000 metres. The average altitude of vineyards, claim the Argentineans, is 900 metres above seal level.

Giving that an Australian perspective, Canberra’s Lark Hill Vineyard reaches 860 metres at its highest point, and vineyards in Orange can be as high as 1,100 metres (although most are lower). According to Wine Australia website our highest vineyard, at 1,320 metres, is at Guyra, New South Wales (latitude 30 degrees south).

Mendoza, Argentina’s largest wine-producing area – just below the mid-point of the north-south vineyard spread – produces 80 per cent of the country’s wine. Its 160 thousand hectares of vines, planted between 457 and 1,780 metres, are about the same as Australia’s total plantings.

With an annual rainfall of a desert-like 200mm a year, Mendoza relies on rivers flowing out of the Andes for irrigation. And because the dry climate all but rules out fungal disease, the area’s vignerons enjoy a significant competitive advantage over producers from other countries.

This is because vineyard-management costs can blow out during extended periods of mild, wet weather. Just ask any Canberra vigneron about the endless hours spent spraying against mildew and botrytis (and the additional vineyard labour costs) in the lead up to last vintage.

But Mendoza’s 200mm rainfall seems generous compared to La Rioja’s 130mm. Indeed, of Argentina’s major winemaking regions, Catamarca (to the north) alone receives significantly more rainfall – and then a mere 432mm, well below Adelaide’s 549mm, Canberra’s 629mm or the lower Hunter Valley’s 900mm.

Because of the arid climate, the Argentineans refer to the wine regions as oases, and list five for the Mendoza region – Northern Mendoza, Eastern Mendoza, Mendoza River, Uco Valley and Southern Mendoza.

Abundant water, cheap land and low disease pressures have been key factors attracting foreign investors into Argentina, and especially Mendoza, over the last 20 years.

In a piece published on www.glug.com.au, geologist-turned-wine merchant, David Farmer, notes a report in Britain’s Daily Mail, 17 July 2011, on the sale of Estancia Punta del Agua – a 405-thousand-hectare estate in San Juan province, 165 kilometres north of Mendoza. Farmer reports that much of well-watered land appears suited to grape growing. And it’s selling for less than $25 a hectare.

On a visit to Mendoza in 2004, Farmer had noted, “The great bulk of wines are made from grapes off flat lying vineyards. And the soils are very fertile being the product of glaciation, which grinds rock to a flour-like texture. Mendoza is like an elevated version of our wine region, Griffith. The potential viticultural land stretches hundreds of kilometres north and south. Provided there is enough water, you could grow the world’s entire wine supply right here.” (The full report provides unique insights into Argentina’s wine landscape).

Big, juicy, silky malbec remains Argentina’s number one export variety at 8.6 million cases in 2010. Behind malbec comes cabernet at 2.3 million cases, then generic red (probably bonarda) at 1.9 million case, chardonnay at 1.5million case and the local white, torrentes, on 664 thousand cases.

As we saw in a recent tasting, Australian importers are focusing on malbec, bonarda and torrentes. We’ll review some these in coming months.

Grappling with cider

18 January 2012CiderChris Shanahan

Here’s something for would-be marketers to grapple with – what to call a drink made from grapes and apples? Grapple cider, of course, say the Scarpantoni brothers of McLaren Vale.

They’ve been making wine since 1979, but just before vintage in 2011 bought apples from a producer in the Adelaide Hills. The producer wanted them to make apple vinegar for him and the Scarpantonis agreed – but decided to produce something of their own as well.

With the apple supply lined up, they picked chardonnay and gamay grapes, extracted and chilled the juice and waited for the apple crop. A month later the orchardist shipped fresh, chilled apple juice to the winery.

The resulting white and red grapple ciders (70 per cent grape juice, 30 per cent apple juice) are available online.

Oxenberry McLaren Vale Adelaide Hills
White Grapple Cider 12X500ml $90
Oxenberry’s blend of early-picked McLaren Vale chardonnay and Adelaide Hills apples, offers a pleasantly tart flavour, reminiscent of a barely-ripe granny smith apple. Although there’s some sweetness underlying the flavour, the tangy tartness cuts through, leaving a fresh, dry finish. At eight per cent alcohol, it’s strong than beer, weaker than wine.

Oxenberry McLaren Vale Adelaide Hills Red Grapple Cider 12X500ml $90
The colour’s a vivid, light, bright pink rather than red and the aroma could easily pass for a rose wine. Those fresh, simple raspberry/strawberry aromas are challenged on the palate by apple-like flavours and a tangy, tart acidity – probably derived from both early picked gamay and the apples.

Wine review — Seppelt, Mr Riggs and Tahbilk

15 January 2012Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Seppelt Salinger NV $19–$25, Salinger Vintage 2008 $23.75–$30
Non-vintage Salinger – sourced mainly from the Adelaide Hills, Henty and Tumbarumba – ticks all the boxes for bottle-fermented, complex bubbly made from the classic varieties. It’s a soft, delicate, drink-now style, revealing good underlying fruit flavours and the complexities of ageing on yeast lees. Vintage 2008, too, is in the delicate aperitif style, but the palate reveals more intense pinot flavour and even livelier, finer acidic freshness. Salinger almost faded from view during a decade of turmoil at Southcorp, then Foster’s. The quality, however, never faltered, and there’s hope of commercial revival with Treasury Wine Estates now separated from the beer business.

Mr Riggs Adelaide Hills Yacca Paddock Tempranillo 2009 $22–$23
This is a deep, dark, juicy and firm Australian expression of Spain’s tempranillo variety. Winemaker Ben Riggs writes that the variety, “ has big bunches and very thick skins that can be hard to bite into, but which produce good colour and tannins”. In this instance the wine echoes the grape description – deeply coloured with very bright and appealing fruit flavours; and, yes, you have to bite through layers of tannin to reach the fruit. This sets Mr Riggs tempranillo apart from other varieties. The rich, bright, supple underlying fruit flavour is all Australian; the savoury, firm tannins provide the exotic difference.

Tahbilk Nagambie Lakes Marsanne 2011 $12.35–$17.75
If you’re driving to Melbourne, it’s worth the detour, via Violet Town, to Nagambie and on to Tahbilk. The historic property, on an anabranch of the Goulburn River, claims to have the largest planting of marsanne in the world, with some vines dating from 1927. At Tahbilk this Rhone Valley variety makes a distinctive, potentially very long-lived dry white. The aroma and flavour have often been described as honeysuckle-like – something I don’t always detect, but do in the 2011. The style’s grown slightly finer and more delicate over the last decade. But behind the honeysuckle and citrus flavours lie tangy acidity and a firm, savoury bite.