Monthly Archives: January 2013

Wine review — Dandelion, Maipenrai, Moss Wood, Punt Road, Penny’s Hill and Hartz Barn

30 January 2013Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Dandelion Wonderland of the Eden Valley Riesling 2012 $22–$27.50
Colin Kroehn Vineyard, Eden Valley, South Australia
God knows where Colin Kroehn’s riesling grapes went before Dandelion’s bright young people came along. But since their arrival we’ve tasted some of the finest, most delicate Eden Valley riesling on offer – a particularly juicy, taut and delicate wine in the 2012 vintage. The Dandelion team includes Carl Lindner, Brad Rey, Zar Brooks and Elena Brooks, winemaker. Octogenarian Colin Kroehn tends his venerable old vines, planted in 1912.

Maipenrai Pinot Noir 2010 $34
Maipenrai vineyard, Sutton, Canberra District, New South Wales
Heavy rain before vintage split 80 per cent of the pinot grapes on Brian Schmidt’s Maipenrai vineyard. “We were spared botrytis”, writes Schmidt, “and the remaining fruit ripened under near perfect conditions. To ensure high quality, our fruit was picked by 100 people who went through the vineyard, grape by grape, and cut out all the split fruit. We were only able to produce two barrels”. It’s a successful wine and a pleasure to drink. We enjoyed it beside the Moss Wood Mornington wine, also reviewed today. They’re contrasting styles – Maipenrai offering bright, deep fruit flavours cocooned by the assertive tannins that seem to characterise the vineyard’s wines. There’s also a juicy texture, a touch of oak pushing through and a teasing, biting savoury element adding to the excitement. Available at $100 for 3 bottles at maipenrai.com.au

Moss Wood Pinot Noir 2010 $45
Dromana, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
Moss Wood makes two pinots – one from estate vineyards in Margaret River, the other from Mornington Peninsula. I served the estate wine masked to a couple of experienced wine people and neither identified the variety – though we all enjoyed it as a lovely, medium-bodied dry red. The Mornington wine, on the other hand, could’ve been nothing but pinot, and a very good example of it. It’s fragrant, silky, smooth and seamless, with “pinosity”, an elusive element setting pinot apart from other red varieties.

Punt Road Chemin Chardonnay 2011 $40
Napoleone vineyard, Yarra Valley, Victoria
Punt Road’s new wine, made by Kate Goodman, comes from the oldest vines on the Napoleone family’s vineyard. The cool season naturally pushes the wine towards the lighter, finer end of the chardonnay spectrum – characteristics enhanced by hand harvesting and gentle handling. Two thirds of the wine was fermented in barrel; the remaining third on skins in tanks. As a result the wine shows the finesse and rich but soft texture resulting from barrel fermentation, with a little tweak of soft tannins from the skin contact – all held together by bright, zingy acidity.

Penny’s Hill Skeleton Key Shiraz 2010 $35
Penny’s Hill Vineyard, McLaren Vale, South Australia
Could McLaren Vale be getting the drop on its South Australian, warm-climate shiraz rival, the Barossa Valley? I’ve seen no research to support this, but over the past few years I’ve heard many casual wine drinkers talking up the Vale’s shiraz – far more than’ve spontaneously spruiked for the Barossa. The latest praise flowed over this beautiful Penny’s Hill wine, made by Ben Riggs. It shows the Vale’s generous, bright, sweet fruit flavours, backed by velvety tannins and complex earthy and savoury notes – a full-bodied, satisfying wine without the hotness or heaviness sometimes seen from warmer regions.

Hartz Barn Reserve General Store Riesling 2011 $25–$31
Eden Valley, South Australia
Chris and Robyn Scroggy’s Quarterdeck restaurant, in a converted boatshed on Wagonga Inlet, Narooma, offers fresh seafood in a beautiful, casual, quirky setting. The wine list reflects the tastes of Quarterdeck patrons, meaning we skip over a long list of sauvignon blancs (“they love Marlborough”, says Chris Scroggy) to the solitary riesling – a wine seemingly made for fish and chips. From the cold 2011 vintage, its brisk acidity cuts through the fat and salt like lemon juice, while the more delicate floral notes and fruity flavours simply add to the drinking pleasure. It’s available online and in selected restaurants on the south coast.

Wine-rating systems

30 January 2013WineChris Shanahan

I favour a simple like-dislike button, comparable to Facebook’s thumbs-up icon, as a credible wine-rating system. Failing that, a five-star rating, in half-star increments, or the Australian wine-show system’s bronze, silver and gold medal ratings, based on a 20-point scale, both give a broad quality ranking without splitting hairs.

However, the 100-point scale, popularised by America’s Robert M Parker, increasingly dominates the global scene and will inevitably become the standard for Australian wine shows (and already adopted by many critics). Brisbane Show and the Canberra International Riesling Challenge adopted it last year. Sydney trialled it in 2012 and intends going the whole hog this year.

Fortunately, Brisbane and Sydney at least settled on the same rating scale: 84–89 points for bronze medals; 90–95 for silvers and 96–100 for golds. And since both shows intend sticking with medals, consumers may not, at first, notice the difference between the 100-point system and 20-point scale it replaces.

That is, until successful producers begin adding scores to the gold, silver and bronze medals adorning their wines. The temptation may prove irresistible, especially for those with scores in the nineties – and a wine consumer now well and truly exposed to the 100-point system.

As well, wine show catalogues, now little read outside the industry, may attract wider consumer readership, if only because of greater familiarity with 100-point ratings. The old 20-point system probably meant nothing to the average wine lover.

Indeed, this is one of the points argued by supporters of 100-point rating – that the scores will help make wine shows more relevant to the consumer.

Part and parcel of 100-point ratings, is the dubious perception that only wines scoring 90 or above deserve attention.

While producers, traders and critics often slam this attitude, it’s completely understandable given the confusing number of wines available. And it’s little different, in principle, than a phenomenon observed for decades by producers and retailers – that gold medals and trophies sell wine; silver and bronze medals do not.

This says only that an insecure consumer, faced with a bewildering choice, takes the impartial advice of wine shows or critics and plumps for the best. Since they can always find a 95-point wine at any price point, why buy the 89-point one?

This desire to help readers buy well also explains why publishers, including The Canberra Time and the larger Fairfax group, demand ratings from their wine reviewers.

While Fairfax overall embraces the 100-point system, this magazine chooses five-star ratings – my preferred system.

This seems more in tune with the percipient English writer, Hugh Johnson. He once commented after judging at the Sydney wine show, “I judge wine by loving it or hating it … and there’s not much in between. I love vitality in a wine, the sort of wine where one bottle is not enough… giving wines points creates a spurious sense of accuracy and if you can believe it means something when someone gives a wine 87 points out of 100 then you would believe anything.”

Like Johnson, judges, critics and consumers all seek exciting wines. And I believe he’s dead right about the spurious sense of accuracy in 100-point ratings – hence, my preference for a broader scale.

I don’t see how wine shows, or anyone who’s judged in wine shows, can adopt the scale with a straight face. Scoring always involves compromises by individual judges and either aggregate or average scores across a panel of three. That’s how committees work and how a truly democratic system should – allowing full expression of individual views, but finally reaching a decision.

Under the 20-point scoring system, wine shows award medals on the aggregate scores of three judges: 46.5–50.5 for bronze medals, 51.0–55.0 for silver and 55.5–60 for gold.

Under the 100-point system, however, shows will award medals based on the average score of three judges – for example, if one judge rated a wine at 83 points (one point below bronze), another gives it 86 and the third awards 89 (the highest bronze score), the aggregate is 258 points for an average of 86.

In the argy-bargy following each judging session, I can already see judges madly adjusting scores to achieve just the right average. Now that will be an exercise in futility.

There’s little difference in principle between the two systems. However, in the past if consumers saw the results at all, they probably saw the medals, not the aggregate score that led to it.

Under the new system, if shows and exhibitors publicise the points, then we’re likely to see scores, as in the example above, that no judge actually awarded. And could anyone interpret the relative merits of wines rated, say, 86 and 88 – by a committee of three? Sounds spurious to me.

And while some argue for the merits of a standard 100-point system, ratings among critics may vary considerably, not necessarily reflecting the wine-show bronze, silver and gold categories. Already, ratings by individual critics vary, as you’d expect of individual opinion, underlining the fact that that’s all it is.

Most consumers will continues to feel insecure about wine and, quite sensibly, take advice from wine shows and critics with due scepticism. I, for one, see the supposed precision of the 100-point system as a distraction from wine’s infinitely variable hues and tones.

Surely it’s better for readers if critics attempt to give some sense of a wine’s style, then a broad view of its quality – whether gold, silver or bronze; somewhere on the five-star scale; or even categorised, as Canberra’s Winewise magazine does, as highly recommended, recommended, agreeable, acceptable or unacceptable.

Beer and cider review — Batlow and Holgate

30 January 2013Beer review, CiderChris Shanahan

Batlow Premium Cider 330ml 4-pack $16
What a contrast between the sweet, bland, mass-produced ciders and the crisp, crunchy apple-in-a-bottle taste of Batlow Premium – an off-dry, tart, cider made from apples grown within a 30 kilometre radius of Batlow. The company says it uses only freshly crushed apples, not concentrate, and adds no sugar. And it tastes like it.

Holgate Brewhouse Temptress Chocolate Porter 330ml $6.50
It’s not a heatwave brew, but at a tad over six per cent alcohol, Chocolate Porter suits those cool Canberra nights. It’s a porter, made from seven different malts, boosted by the addition of cocoa and vanilla beans. The vanilla sits well in the background. But the cocoa adds luxurious chocolate flavours and texture.

Wine review — Centenary of Canberra

27 January 2013Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Centenary of Canberra Chardonnay Pinot Noir Cuvee Centenary $30
In 2008 a group of local winemakers produced a shiraz and a riesling for release in Canberra’s centenary year, 2013. But, writes vigneron Allan Pankhurst, “Only about 300 cases of each were produced of which half is already earmarked for use by the ACT government and key organisations for the centenary celebrations. So I thought there was both more wine needed and a more celebratory style would be complementary to the other wines. Hence the sparkling came after – from the 2011 vintage”. Canberra’s sparkling specialist, Greg Gallagher, made and blended the wine with Jeir Creek’s Rob Howell. It’s available at canberrawines.com.au/centenary.

Centenary of Canberra Riesling 2008 $30
Several of Canberra’s top riesling makers collaborated on this blend back in 2008. A panel tasted samples from the vintage, selected suitable parcels and recommended the final blending ratios. Roger Harris (Brindabella Hills Winery) finished and bottled the wine with assistance from Mr Riesling, Ken Helm. The result is very pleasing indeed. The delicate wine combines lime-like varietal character with the mellow, honeyed notes of five years’ bottle age. Age also takes the edge off the acidity that makes Canberra riesling a little too austere in youth. It’s at its drinking peak right now – a delicious example of Canberra’s white specialty. (Available at canberrawines.com.au/centenary).

Centenary of Canberra Shiraz 2008 $35Canberra’s centennial red blend comprises parcels of shiraz selected by a panel of winemakers, then blended and bottled by local red royalty: Eden Road’s Nick Spencer, Collector’s Alex McKay and Clonakilla’s Tim Kirk. It’s moving into its peak drinking period – with the strength and freshness to hang in for a few more years. The colour’s remains red and youthful. And the aroma and flavour retain underlying bright berry fruit character, now meshed with delicious spicy and savoury notes. It’s medium bodied and tightly structured with an assertive grip of fine tannins in harmony with the savoury flavours. (Available at canberrawines.com.au/centenary).

Beer review — Grand Ridge and Matilda Bay

23 January 2013Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Grand Ridge Brewery Brewer’s Pilsner 330m 6-pack $18
Grand Ridge’s original beer, first tasted years ago at the brewery in Mirboo North, Gippsland Victoria, retains its original style. It’s an assertive Czech-inspired brew, big on malt, with a caramel-like richness, and cut through with the bracing, pungent aroma, flavour and lingering bitterness of Saaz hops – a robust and distinctive style.

Matilda Bay Minimum Chips Golden Lager 330ml 6-pack $19.99
Foster’s-owned Matilda Bay launched Minimum Chips in November through the various Woolworths-owned Dan Murphy, BWS and Woolworths Liquor; and on tap at its Port Melbourne Brewery and Bar. It’s a pleasing, full-bodied lager, mid-golden in colour with rich malt and a firm, assertive hops bitterness.

Beer and cider in Coca-Cola Amatil’s sights

23 January 2013BeerChris Shanahan

You can almost feel Coca-Cola Amatil straining at the leash to get back into the blossoming premium beer and cider markets. On December 16, the company’s restraint agreement with SABMiller (owner of Fosters) expires.

When CCA sold its stake in Pacific Beverages to SAB Miller, it agreed to remain out of the Australia beer and cider markets. But CCA made no secret of its intention to return to the market and announced several major liquor acquisitions following its agreement with SABMiller.

CCA acquired Foster’s Group Pacific Limited (renamed Paradise Beverages (Fiji) Limited, owner of a Fiji brewery; entered into a joint venture with the Casella family to brew beer in Griffith, NSW; and recently won the rights to distribute Rekorderlig cider in Australia from 1 January 2014 (number one brand by value in the off-license market, says CCA).

Wine review — Henschke, Red Knot, Hungerford Hill, St Hallett and Hardy’s

23 January 2013Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Henschke Johann’s Garden 2010 $36.09–$45
Barossa Valley, South Australia
Stephen and Prue Henschke’s sensational Johann’s Garden 2010 combines grenache (66 per cent), mourvedre (26 per cent) and shiraz from old, dry-grown Barossa vines. In a recent afternoon’s tasting with Barossa wine merchant David Farmer, it equalled JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett 2007 as wines of the day. The Mosel riesling’s, taut, acid-edged, delicate sweetness contrasted with the voluptuous silkiness of the ripe, spicy, juicy, elegant Barossa red. Most of the world doesn’t know Australia makes wine this good. It’s a gem, delivering amazing drinking pleasure at a fair price – a bargain, in fact, viewed against international competitors.

Red Knot by Shingleback Shiraz 2011 $9.90–$15
McLaren Vale, South Australia
The Davey family’s Red Knot range developed a big following because it offers such value for money – the ultimate accolade being its regular discounting by the big retailers, recognition of its quality-driven pulling power. Like earlier vintages, the 2011 is deeply coloured. However, in this very cool vintage, the flavours lean towards the savoury, rather than fruity, with notably less flesh than normal on the mid palate. It’s a triumph for the vintage and a decent drink, though lacking the flesh and depth of the 2010 vintage.

Hungerford Hill Classic Chardonnay 2010 $30
Tumbarumba, NSW
High, cool, Tumbarumba’s vineyards were established originally for sparkling wine production. However, chardonnay in particular proved suitable for high quality table wine as well and played a part in Penfolds “white Grange” project and the evolution of Hardy’s flagship white, Eileen Hardy. While the big companies’ quest for the best chardonnay moved further south, ultimately to Tasmania, Tumbarumba remains one of the best NSW sites for the variety. Hungerford Hill Classic, newly dressed in the original 1970’s label, shows delicious grapefruit and white-peach varietal flavour, with the spicy, funky edge of good oak and maturation on yeast lees.

St Hallett Blackwell Shiraz 2010 $34–$40
Ebenezer and Greenock, Barossa Valley, South Australia
There’s room for shiraz across the whole climate-induced flavour spectrum – from the edgy, white-pepper tinged New Zealand styles at the cool-climate extreme to the ripe and opulent warm-climate Barossa styles. What some cool-climate ideologists ignore, however, is the large number of drinkers wed to the richer, warmer styles and the extraordinary finessing of these styles over the last 20 years. Stuart Blackwell’s shiraz is a fine example. It’s ripe, full bodied and Barossa to the core. But it’s also vibrant and spritely on the palate, with deep, sweet fruit flavour and lovely, soft tannins.

Jacob’s Creek Riesling 2012 $6.90–$10
Barossa, Eden and Clare Valleys and Langhorne Creek, South Australia
The latest Jacob’s Creek shows the superior flavour qualities of a great riesling vintage. It won silver medals in the Melbourne and Hobart wine shows, then golds in Adelaide and Canberra’s National Wine Show of Australia. Winemaker Bernard Hickin says the fruit comes from the Barossa, Eden and Clare Valleys and Langhorne Creek. The combination gives the wine well-defined lime and lemon varietal flavours and a delicious fruit sweetness ¬– though the wine remains crisp and dry with only about three grams a litre of residual sugar (below our taste threshold). This is an extraordinarily good wine at the price.

Hardy’s HRB D651 Chardonnay 2010 $25–$30
Pemberton, Western Australia, and Yarra Valley, Victoria
Like the Jacob’s Creek reviewed today, Hardy’s HRB chardonnay won a gold medal at the 2012 National Wine Show of Australia. Where Jacob’s Creek combines riesling from three South Australian regions, Hardy’s crosses the continent, blending richer, fuller chardonnay from Pemberton, Western Australia, with finer, more citrusy material from the cooler Yarra Valley. It’s a pleasing result, showing Hardy’s mastery of chardonnay making and a nice bit of opportunistic blending. But I wonder about the future of cross-regional blends at this price in an age of regional marketing.

Tasting perspectives

23 January 2013WineChris Shanahan

No contrast could’ve been starker. Next to a tired and heavy Eden Valley riesling 1999 a Mosel of the same year seduced with its sweet, delicate freshness.

Australia’s Storton Vineyard Rhine Riesling 1999 didn’t get a second sniff. But Dr Weins-Prum Spaetlese Riesling 1999, from the great Sonnenuhr vineyard at Wehlen, showed the true beauty of the riesling grape. And we savoured it to the hilt.

After this masked tasting (hosted by Jeir Creek’s Rob and Kay Howell), we moved into festive mode – away from the formalities of the tasting bench to all the varied and relax sipping of the season.

Our first outing, in the Hyatt’s courtyard, brought home the huge advances of Australia’s sparkling wine makers over the last thirty years. The Hyatt offered on the day Moet et Chandon non-vintage Champagne at $85. It’s not a bad wine – delicate, in the Moet style, with tiny, lively bubbles, and soft, creamy texture. But where was the excitement?

We found more of this at other events in several Australian bubblies costing $50-$60. The most notable, Pirie Tasmania Blanc de Blancs 2007, drank so much better than Moet NV and several discount Champagnes we tried over the season.

However, our Christmas Champagnes – Pol Roger 1998 and Pol Roger 2000 –provided more drinking pleasure than anything we’ve seen to date from Australia. And even these rate a little behind the Krug Grande Cuvee enjoyed a few months earlier at a Clonakilla event. And sublime as it is, Grande Cuvee pales in comparison to our memories of Krug 1985, Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame Rose 1988 and many other great vintage Champagnes savoured over thirty-six years in the trade.

This demonstrates quite a long pecking order even at the top of sparkling wine quality pyramid.

In the few weeks after Rob and Kay Howell’s masked tasting, where we enjoyed the Weins-Prum 1999 riesling, Mosel twice lit up our festive season. Over lunch under Chateau Shanahan’s 50-year-old gingko tree, JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett 2007 started a long afternoon of wine and conversation with Barossa wine merchant David Farmer.

Again, the fresh, delicately sweet Mosel proved irresistible, outclassing an older Australian riesling. Late in the day, however, Canberra’s Ravensworth Riesling 2012 held up well as a bright, young palate cleanser. A week or so later the light, ethereal delicacy of another JJ Prum riesling kabinett 2007 (from the Himmelreich vineyard, Graach) sat beautifully with food by Debbie Skelton.

Pooley Coal River Valley Pinot Grigio 2011 followed Prum’s riesling at the same dinner and required a significant palate recalibration. There’s nothing subtle about pinot grigio, a mutant of the pinot noir grape. Pooley’s, however, proved comparatively delicate for the variety, showing clear varietal flavour without heaviness – a product, presumably, of the cool climate, accompanied by good vine management and winemaking. The only red to distinguish itself on the night, Collector Reserve Canberra District Shiraz 2009, showed the fragrant, spicy elegance of cool-climate shiraz; it’s a beautiful wine and still evolving.

Over the festive period, we scrolled through the cellar, starting with pinot noir. A couple of old favourites, disappointed and remained in the decanter. Likewise the just-released Holm Oak Tasmania The Wizard ($60) didn’t push our pinot buttons. It’s a big, ripe, fruity red, impressive for the concentration of fruit flavour, but failing what we call the pinosity test. The similarly priced Bannockburn Geelong Serre Pinot Noir 2007 passed this test with aplomb. More pinots like this please.

A run of older wines from the cellar provided highlights, surprises and disappointments. Curse the cork is my first comment. At one dinner we decanted served side by side two cabernets from the 1986 vintage – a great year in both Bordeaux and eastern Australia.

Cork taint ruined the Chateau Pichon Longueville de Lalande 1986, a highly rated wine from Pauillac in Bordeaux’s Medoc region. The wine retained a lovely red colour, even at 26 years of age. And beneath the musty, mouldy cork taint, we could appreciate what might have been. So down the sink it went.

Its companion, however, showed the great glory of aged cabernet. Penfolds Bin 707 1986 (a blend from Coonawarra and the Kalimna vineyard, Barossa Valley), delivered the sweet, complex, cedary, fruity aroma of age, with a special lift and vibrancy – characters delivered also on the beautiful palate. This is a great wine by any measure, destined to drink well for decades to come.

Few wines blossom like this with bottle age. McWilliams Maurice O’Shea Hunter Valley Shiraz 2003, was OK, but not exciting. Penfolds RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz 2001 gave a little excitement, but nowhere near the heights of Bin 707.

And then out came Majella Coonawarra Shiraz 2002 – a good quaffer, we’d hoped, to accompany a late night game of 500. Well, what a gem it was, a red of some dimension and all the better for its long rest under Chateau Shanahan. This was elegant, berry and spice Coonawarra shiraz, sweet fruited and silky textured.

Wine review — Jim Barry, Freeman Vineyards and Stella Bella

20 January 2013Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Jim Barry Lodge Hill Clare Valley Riesling 2012 $21–$23
Jim Barry’s Lodge Hill riesling won gold and an armful of trophies in Canberra’s 2012 National Wine Show of Australia. So, should we fall down in awe, worship at its feet? We picnicked with a bottle and pretty ordinary seafood behind the Yarralumla yacht club. The wine beat the seafood hands down. But it’s for those who like really full, fruity flavours. While, that’s a character of the 2012 Clare riesling vintage, Lodge Hill exaggerates fruitiness to the point it overwhelmed several palates, mine included. Others, including the show judges a month earlier, loved it – demonstrating how much individual taste varies.

Freeman Vineyard Hilltops Rondo Rose 2012 $20
Brian Freeman makes his dry, savoury rose from the Italian red variety, rondinella – a component, with corvina Veronese and molinara, in the wines of Valpolicella. Freeman makes a full-bodied red, adapted from Valpolicella’s Amarone style, as well as this rose. He runs juice off the skins after it picks up a rinse of pink colouring, then ferments and matures it in barrel. This produces a richly textured, pale pink wine that’s more savoury than fruity. The fresh, dry palate, rich texture and savouriness put it ahead of the many too-sweet roses on the market.

Stella Bella Margaret River Scuttlebutt Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2012 $18
Stella Bella Margaret River Scuttlebutt Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $18
Stella Bella’s latest sauvignon blanc-semillon blend includes a splash of the sometimes fat and oily viognier variety – but just enough to add a little richness to the palate. What you get is the herbal, passionfruit-like, zesty Margaret River style with a tad more weight than normal – a delicious drink-now style. Stuart Pym’s elegant, medium-bodied red blend combines shiraz with cabernet sauvignon – a bright, drink-now red with the focus on pure fruit flavours and smooth, fine tannins.

Wine review — Bay of Fires, Houghton, Penfolds, Wicks Estate and Jim Barry

16 January 2013Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Bay of Fires Pinot Noir 2011 $32.30–$37
Tasmania
In November, Bay of Fires 2011 won the National Wine Show pinot noir trophy, repeating the success of the 2009 vintage at the 2010 show. We tried it over dinner recently alongside Giaconda Yarra Valley Beechworth 2008 ($85.49) and Eileen Hardy Tasmania Yarra Valley 2008 ($61.75). Eileen Hardy, Bay of Fires cellar mate, won the day. But runner up, Bay of Fires, ticked all the pinot boxes, except that of maturity. It’s a baby now, but a beautiful one, and only needs time for the intense, fine, fruit to take on secondary savoury, earthy notes. Some stores still carry the 2009 vintage, an equally beautiful wine revealing where the 2011 might go with bottle age. These are remarkable wines for the price.

Houghton Red Classic Cabernet Shiraz Merlot 2011 $8.55–$10
Western Australia
Houghton’s popular, keenly priced red earned its National Wine Show gold medal in the classes for commercial, large-volume wines. Wines in these classes do not need awards from other shows to enter. The wine’s floral and musky fragrance give it instant appeal – an appeal backed by the bright, fruity palate. Fresh acidity and fine tannins give life and structure to the medium-bodied palate. It’ll never be better to drink than it is right now.

Penfolds Thomas Hyland Cool Climate Chardonnay 2011 $15.25–$24
Predominantly Adelaide Hills, South Australia
We could call Thomas Hyland the forgotten Penfolds range – sitting quietly in the shade of the much-hyped bin and icon wines. The chardonnay debuted in 2001, an offshoot of the “white Grange” project that delivered the flagship Yattarna and Adelaide Hills Reserve Bin chardonnays. The style evolved with the times, and in the 2011 vintage we enjoy a trim, taut wine that looks a steal when the big retailers discount it below $20. At a modest 12 per cent alcohol, it delivers the acid backbone and lemon and grapefruit varietal flavour of the cool vintage. Fermentation and maturation in French oak barrels added nutty and spicy flavours and a smooth, rich texture to support the fruit. Gold medallist at the National Wine Show.

Wicks Estate Shiraz 2010 $16.15–$20
Wicks Estate vineyard, Adelaide Hills, South Australia
This gold medal winner from the Royal Adelaide and National wine shows offers absolutely delicious drinking right now. Estate-grown and made, it shows the ripe-berry, spice and medium body of cool-grown shiraz – the fresh, juicy, berry flavours, in particular, light up a gentle, completely seductive palate. The winemaker says, “the elegant fruit and tannin structure will reward careful cellaring”. This may be true. But it’s hard to imaging the wine every being more charming than it is now, just bristling with fruit. Originally reviewed in May 2012, and retasted in November, Wicks offers quite a thrill for the price.

Jim Barry Watervale Riesling 2012 $13.85–$19
Florita vineyard, Watervale, Clare Valley, South Australia
Jim Barry’s Watervale tasted good on its release last June and even better now as the beautiful fruit flavours unfold – evidenced by its National Wine Show gold medal. From the former Leo Buring Florita vineyard (purchased from Lindemans by the Barry family in 1986) the 2012 hits the palate with impressive lime-like briskness. Dry as a plank, but intensely fruity, it teases and satisfies the palate at the same time. The high acid and fine, intense, lime-like fruit flavour make it an excellent oyster wine. But it’ll mellow and flesh out with cellaring, providing drinking pleasure in various guises for a decade or more.

Bay of Fires Riesling 2012 $25.65–$30
Derwent and Coal River Valleys, Tasmania
The Bay of Fires winery at Pipers River is the Tasmanian arm of Accolade Wines (formerly Constellation Wines and Australia and before that, BRL Hardy). The winery makes table wines and base wines for the wonderful bubblies Ed Carr produces in Adelaide for the Sir James, Bay of Fires and House of Arras labels. This delightful gold medal winner at the National Show, shows a cool-grown face of riesling. It shares some of the apple-like character of German riesling in its own Tasmanian way – with a lean, tight, mineraliness and dry, citrusy, riesling finish.