Balnaves of Coonawarra The Blend 2011 $19–$20
Coonawarra fared better than many other regions in the cold, wet 2011 vintage. And within Coonawarra, thick-skinned cabernet sauvignon proved more resilient to fungal disease than shiraz did. Balnaves’ blend – comprising mainly cabernet sauvignon, with a little merlot and cabernet franc – captures the region’s fragrant, ripe-berry aromas, rich flavour and fine-boned structure impressively well for a wine at this price. Firm but fine tannins cut through the supple, ripe, berry flavours, giving true cabernet authority. Doug Balnaves established vineyards in 1975. These days, daughter Kirsty Balnaves looks after marketing, son Peter Balnaves tends the vineyards and former Wynns winemaker Pete Bissell, makes the wines.

Bay of Stones South Eastern Australia Chardonnay 2012 $18
Orlando Wines produces the Bay of Stones brand for the on-premise trade. Therefore, you won’t find it in retail outlets. However, if you’re dining in a pub, club or restaurant with a lacklustre wine list, as we did at The Mooring, Tomakin, recently, it’s a very good wine and likely to cost under $20 a bottle. It’s a bright, rich, modern style with clear varietal flavour and smooth texture. Quite likely it’s a cousin or sibling of Jacob’s Creek, one of the world’s best value chardonnays, made in the same Barossa winery.

Paxton McLaren Vale Tempranillo 2011 $20–$25
Paxton’s certified biodynamic tempranillo survived the cold, wet 2011 vintage to produce an attractive dry red for current drinking. The aroma suggests summer berries and spice – pleasant characters that come through on the medium bodied palate. Tempranillo’s tannin, however, keeps the palate lean, tight and savoury, making it good company for protein-rich or savoury food. David Paxton and family sourced the grapes from their Thomas Block and Landcross Farm vineyards. I’ve tasted many Australian tempranillos recently and believe Spain’s most widely grown red variety has an hospitable new home in Australia.

Copyright Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 29 September 2013

Neudorf Tom’s Block Pinot Noir 2011 $31–$39
Moutere, Kina Beach and Lord Rutherford vineyards, Nelson, New Zealand
Driving through Nelson in summer, tall stands of hops stand out before the neat rows of vine come into focus. In this lovely, sunny-but-cool spot on the south island’s north-western edge, Tim and Judy Finn make beautifully elegant table wines, first imported to Canberra in the early nineties. Their entry-level pinot noir displays the great delicacy and beauty of this variety when grown in the right climate and made with tender loving care. This is a lighter style of pinot, but deceptively so as the juicy richness and silky texture grow in attractiveness as you sip through the bottle.

Port Phillip Estate Salasso Rose 2013 $21-85–$29
Port Phillip Estate vineyard, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
Like sauvignon blanc, rose shows it best when it’s fresh from the vine, with fruit in overdrive. Port Phillip Estate’s latest takes that vibrant, fresh fruitiness – in this instance the strawberry-like flavours of pinot noir – then adds a slick and slippery texture that boosts the overall exuberance and juicy pleasure of the palate. Fermentation with wild yeasts in a mix of old oak barrels and concrete tanks, followed by maturation on the spent yeast cells, accounts for much of the texture.

Wynns Coonawarra Estate
John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 $100–$150
Northern Coonawarra, South Australia
Wynns new releases include this stunning John Riddoch Cabernet – as good a wine as any in the line up since the first vintage in 1982. The outstanding 2010 vintage arrived a decade or so after viticulturist Allen Jenkins and winemaker Sue embarked on a complete makeover of the parent company’s extensive Coonawarra vineyards. And Hodder took full advantage of the new small-batch winery, husbanding grapes from the Alexander area, near the winery, and O’Dea vineyard, through fermentation and into top-quality French oak barrels. The result is a marvellously aromatic cabernet stamped with class and built for long cellaring. The wide range of retail prices indicates how little power parent company, Treasury Wine Estates, has over market pricing.

Maxwell Four Roads Grenache 2011 $16–$22
McLaren Vale, South Australia
Maxwell’s seductive grenache comes from vines approaching 90 years of age – grown originally as individual bush-pruned vines, but trained to a trellis in recent years. They’re hand pruned, hand picked and converted into a fragrant, fruity, spicy, medium-bodied dry red with soft, mouth-caressing tannins. Australian grenache sometimes shows a confection-like character – a big turnoff fore red wine drinkers. But this one’s red wine all through, stamped with the marks of the variety, the region, the vineyard and the maker – and all at a modest price.

Clonakilla Riesling 2013 $32
Murrumbateman, Canberra District, NSW
While Tim Kirk’s Clonakilla led the way with Canberra shiraz, neighbour Ken Helm carried the riesling banner, ultimately establishing the variety as the district’s great white specialty – and Helm Premium Riesling as one of Australia’s benchmarks. While it’s far from being a two-horse race – Canberra now makes many fine rieslings – recent Clonakilla vintages ride comfortably with Helms at the front of the pack. Kirk’s latest release, from the warm and sunny 2013 vintage, impresses for its delicate, intense floral and citrus varietal character, carried refreshingly across the palate by brisk natural acidity.

Hope Farm Mataro 2010 $17.99
McLaren Vale, South Australia
Mataro, also known as mourvedre, arrived in Australia 180-odd years ago. The variety thrived in our warm, dry, wine-growing regions where it performs as well in fortified wines as it does in table wines – in the latter generally blended with shiraz and grenache. However, a recent tasting demonstrated mataro’s appeal in its own right. Drinkers, some of them unfamiliar with the variety, preferred the rich, ripe flavours and earthy, rustic tannins of Hope Farm over several more polished and expensive reds. Barossa wine merchant, David Farmer, bottled just one puncheon of the wine and offers and sells it through his website.

Copyright Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 25 September 2013 in the Canberra Times and goodfood.com.au

Tscharke Barossa Valley The Master Montepulciano 2011 $24
Barossa winemaker Damien Tscharke claims to be the first in Australia to establish the Italian red variety, montepulciano. Best known in Italy’s Abruzzo region, montepulciano makes large volumes of wine. At its best, it’s robust and fruity with rustic tannins that work well with food. Tscharke’s medium-bodied Barossa version offers vibrant fruit flavours, reminiscent, vaguely, of blueberries with a bit of pepper and spice thrown in – all wrapped in the variety’s rustic, satisfying tannins. Tscharke’s success with the wine in such a lousy vintage, suggests even better drinking in future seasons.

Fareham Estate Clare Valley Riesling 2013 $8.99
The back label carries geologist–wine merchant David Farmer’s enlightening description of the Clare Valley, “… an area of 14 kilometres east–west by 33 kilometres north–south and straddles a north trending series of ridges and valleys of striking beauty. Five ridgelines rising to 500 metres separate the four wine valleys. The main road between the southern Clare town of Auburn and the northern town of Clare travels along the most important wine valley. Just north of Auburn is the pretty town of Watervale settled in 1851”. Farmer sourced this delicate, lime-like, dry riesling from Watervale and offers it on glug.com.au.

Hereford Heathcote Shiraz 2012 $14.25–$15
The Hereford brand – along with Grunter’s Original Wipeout, Erin Cream and Tisdall wine – belongs to the French-owned Ballande Groupe. They make Hereford shiraz exclusively for the Woolworths-owned Dan Murphy chain. The wine, sourced from Heathcote Victoria and made by David Crawford, offers a safe and easy-drinking, affordable expression of the region’s rich, savoury flavours. The soft tannins and up-front fruit make it a drink-now wine, so need to cellar. And move on to the next vintage when this one runs out.

Copyright Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 22 September 2013 in the Canberra Times

Four Winds Vineyard Riesling 2013 $22
Murrumbateman, Canberra District, NSW
Rieslings from Four Winds vineyard have won wine-show awards, including gold medals, in the past – under the Four Winds label and for other winemakers sourcing fruit from the vineyard. But Sarah Collingwood says the thrill went up a notch when the 2013 vintage won the trophy as best riesling at this year’s NSW Small Winemakers Wine Show. The vineyard’s first trophy winner, made by Collingwood’s sister Jaime and brother-in-law Bill Crowe, is about as appealing as young riesling gets. Its pure floral and citrus aroma leads to a vibrant, delicate, deliciously fruity dry palate. Some Canberra rieslings need a year or more in bottle before the fruit outweighs the acidity. But Four Winds sits right in the drinking zone now, though I suspect it will age well for some years.

Curly Flat Chardonnay 2011 $42–$47
Curly Flat vineyard, Macedon Ranges, Victoria
In a year notable for skinny wines, Curly Flat 2011 stands out for its luxurious richness, power and elegance – a stately chardonnay from the maker of some of Australia’s finest. Curly Flat’s Phillip Moraghan writes, “Much has been written about the difficulties of vintage 2011, yet we see it as a triumphant year for our vineyard and team. Our vintage 2011 tee-shirts carry the motto ‘divided we stand’, acknowledging the role of our horizontally divided lyre trellis system in warding off the downy mildew demons”. Moraghan’s team not only defeated disease, but also coaxed the berries to a perfect ripeness that underpins this beautiful, barrel-fermented and –matured white.

Goat Square Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2010 $9.99–$16.99
Barossa Valley, South Australia
Barossa based David Farmer works much as traditional ‘negociants’ do in France. He buys grapes, juice and wine, then makes, blends, matures, bottles, labels and sells it. The majority comes from the Barossa, but he ventures the length of the adjoining Mount Lofty Ranges to the Clare and Eden Valleys and Adelaide Hills, and further south to McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek. He looks for richness and ripeness of the kind displayed in this classic Barossa blend of grenache, shiraz and mataro – a rich, earthy and savoury red with just a little bite of alcoholic astringency in the finish. Farmer is the sole outlet (via glug.com.au), and sometimes offers it on special at $9.99 a bottle.

Terrazas de los Andes Malbec 2010 $27–$30
Mendoza, Argentina
Terrazas de los Andes is a brand of luxury goods group, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, distributed locally by Moet Hennessy Australia. We discovered it at Taze Restaurant, Civic, where they offer it by the glass. It’s a big, dark, brooding wine and a thoroughly enjoyable example of Argentina’s great red specialty. There, the main determinant of style is vineyard altitude, in this instance about 1000 metres above sea level. The black colour, powerful, ripe fruit and mouth-coating tannins make it good company with red meats. It’s a distinctive style and very easy for fans of big Australian reds to adapt to.

Innocent Bystander Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2012 $21–$24
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Innocent Bystander delivers the goods every year as a tasty, satisfying example of modern Australian cool-climate chardonnay. Bright, fresh, varietal flavours resembling grapefruit and melon underpin the wine. But there’s lots more going on in the background – a result of a couple of different approaches to fermentation in seasoned French barrels (some with ambient yeast, some selected strains), followed by maturation and lees stirring in those barrels.

Wynns Coonawarra Estate Shiraz 2012 $15–$20
Wynns Coonawarra Estate, Coonawarra, South Australia
Winemaker Sue Hodder visited Canberra recently, promoting the new releases from Wynns Coonawarra Estate. The release includes some of Australia’s greatest reds as well as grey label shiraz, one of the best value reds on the market. Hodder lets the fruit hold centre stage, from the flashing crimson colour, to the pure fruity, spicy, slightly peppery varietal aromas and flavours to the soft, satisfying, medium bodied palate. It’s pure Coonawarra and made for drinking over the next four or five years. Wynns Black Label Shiraz is the one for cellaring these days, but more on that next week.

Copyright Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 18 September 2013

McKellar Ridge Canberra District Riesling 2013 $22
You won’t find grape vines in McKellar, but their home address became the name of Brian and Janet Johnston’s wine label. Brian Johnston makes McKellar Ridge wines at the Point of View vineyard, Murrumbateman, sourcing fruit from Point of View and neighbouring growers. The Johnston’s riesling, from the Briar Hill vineyard, suggests yet another very good year for the variety in Canberra. At just 11 per cent alcohol it sits lightly on the palate and delivers, intense, citrusy varietal flavour and a dry, tending to austere, fresh acidic finish. (Available at cellar door and mckellarridgewines.com.au).

Punt Road Napoleone Vineyard Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2012 $22.80–$25
The name commemorates an 1850s vineyard located on Melbourne’s Punt Road, as it rises steeply from the Yarra River towards Toorak Road, in what is now the salubrious suburb of South Yarra. The vineyard is long gone. But the Napoleone family – Yarra Valley orchardists since 1948, and grape growers since 1987 – took the name for their label, inspired by an 1856 photo of the punt, the road and the vineyard. Kate Goodman makes the wines, including this outstanding 2012 chardonnay – a rich but finely textured, barrel-fermented dry white from the Napoleone vineyard at Coldstream.

Ariadne Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2013 $8.99
Former Canberra wine merchant, David Farmer, now operates from the Barossa Valley, making a wide range of South Australian regional specialties and selling direct to drinkers through his website (glug.com.au). Farmer’s sauvignon blanc – a blend from vineyards at Hahndorf, Mount Torrens and Forreston in the Adelaide Hills – captures the pungent, fresh fruitiness of the variety well. It’s a bargain at $8.99. Farmer comments, “You need a cool climate to make great sauvignon blanc and the height of the Adelaide Hills vineyards and the closeness of the cooling Southern Ocean provide ideal conditions for this variety”.

Copyright Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 15 September 2013 in the Canberra Times

Wolf Blass Grey Label Shiraz 2011 $28.85–$35
McLaren Vale, South Australia
Wolf Blass chief winemaker Chris Hatcher rates McLaren Vale shiraz as South Australia’s best in the cold, wet 2011 vintage. Blass Grey Label 2011 is classic McLaren Vale in style – densely coloured and crimson rimmed with deep, ripe fruit flavours cut through with mouth-watering savoury character, both oak and fruit derived. It’s a beautiful, modern wine – clean, fresh and vibrantly varietal, but also dark, brooding, savoury and layered with soft tannins. The oak and fruit work particularly well together, and the overall harmony, richness and structure suggest good medium-term cellaring potential.

Wolf Blass Gold Label Shiraz $16.90–$20
Barossa and Eden Valleys, South Australia
If ever you want to taste the difference between Barossa and McLaren Vale shiraz, try Wolf Blass’s Gold and Grey Label shirazes side-by-side. Grey Label presents McLaren Vale’s brooding, savoury character; Gold Label shows the fragrance, fleshy fruit and tender tannins of the Barossa – even in the difficult 2011 vintage. Crop losses were significant in the Barossa. But, as Gold Label demonstrates, some vineyards delivered decent fruit.

Cullen Diana Madeline 2011 $115
Cullen Vineyard, Margaret River, Western Australia
Like Penfolds Bin 707 2010 reviewed in June, Cullen Diana Madeline enjoys a cellaring potential measured in decades, not years. But the wines contrast starkly in style. Bin 707 shows an impenetrably dark, powerful face of cabernet – overwhelmingly dense and tannic as a young wine but becoming increasingly elegant as the decades pass by. Cullen is limpid and approachable on release – a wine of delicate violet-like aroma and seductive, subtle, supple, fine-grained palate. It’s a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec, cabernet franc and petit verdot, planted forty years ago by winemaker Vanya Cullen’s parents, Kevin John and Diana Madeline. The fruit flavours are particularly pure and concentrated in 2011.

Domain Day “l” Lagrein 2010 $30
Domain Day vineyard, Mount Crawford, South Australia
Lagrein is a red variety cultivated in Alto Adige and Trentino, Northern Italy. Recent DNA analysis revealed it as a cousin of shiraz, though that’s unlikely to have been in Robin Day’s mind when he established lagrein at Mount Crawford. Day says, “At its best, it is intensely coloured, rich in flavour and yet soft and easy to drink, so the style is not at all difficult for many consumers to relate to”. And that’s exactly how it went down – people enjoyed its savoury, rustic tannins.

Stonier Pinot Noir 2011 $19.70–$25
Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
One of Mornington’s older wineries continues to impress with the quality of its pinots and chardonnays. It produces a range of very good pinots, starting with this very well priced version that’s often on special at about $20 a bottle. The 2011, though a touch lighter than usual because of the cold season, is nevertheless ripe and silky textured with the perfume, flavour and structure that add up to real pinot. The 2012, due for release at the end of October offers a little more flesh and power.

Stonier Chardonnay 2012 $20.89–$25
Mornington Peninsula
Wolf Blass used to say of red wines, “No wood, no good” – a slogan that applies equally to chardonnay. Unoaked versions, in general, simply don’t cut the mustard. And Australian winemakers have long since learned how to use oak beneficially in chardonnay without injecting overt woody flavours. Stonier’s is an excellent example of the modern, cool-climate style. It uses an unoaked component for fruit purity, but ferments and matures the balance in oak barrels for the texture and complex aromas and flavours this gives. The result is a vibrant, rich, smoothly textured wine of great appeal.

Copyright Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 11 September 2013 in the Canberra Times and goodfood.com.au