Monthly Archives: May 2014

Wine review – Moorilla, Brothers in Arms, Quara Estate, Port Phillip Estate, Xanadu and Mount Horrocks

Moorilla Muse Pinot Noir 2012 $48
Moorilla vineyard, Derwent Valley, Tasmania
David Walsh bought Moorilla from the Alcorso family in 1995. But it’s only in recent years we’ve seen the wines consistently achieving outstanding quality under winemaker Connor van der Reest. Two new-release pinots demonstrate that quality. Praxis 2013 ($30), from the Matthias vineyard, Tamar Valley, presents the fragrant, fruity, silky and soft drink-now face of pinot – with a pleasing, fine tannin structure. But Muse 2013, from the original Derwent site (now also home to Walsh’s MONA gallery) presents some of pinot’s profound beauty – a wine of greater dimension, with more concentrated fruit flavour and a chewier, built-to-last tannin structure.

Brothers in Arms Side by Side Malbec 2012$27
Metala vineyards, Langhorne Creek, South Australia
Malbec remains a niche variety in Australia, with just 2,500 tonnes harvested in 2013 (about 180 thousand dozen bottles). Though widely used as a blender, it makes sturdy, satisfying wines in its own right. Brothers in Arms, grown and made by the Adams family, owners of the historic Metala vineyard, offers a fragrant, rich and joyous expression of the variety – a big, friendly, fruity wine with loads of soft tannins.

Quara Estate Malbec 2012 $19
Cafayate Valley, Salta, Argentina
Malbec, the black grape of Cahors, France, arrived in Argentina in 1852. Today, plantings in Argentina total around 31 thousand hectares, dwarfing France’s 5,000 hectares. The country’s signature variety is easy to love. First, it’s big, rich and delicious. And second, with such large volumes being made, the price is reasonable. Quara Estate’s is a lovely example, providing excellent drinking at around $19. Canberra importer, Alex Stojanov, of Latin Grapes, says it’s sprinkled around Canberra retailers (including Plonk, Fyshwick Markets, where I tasted it) and restaurants. He expects the 2013 vintage (not tasted yet) to replace the 2012 shortly.

Port Phillip Estate Quartier Arneis 2013 $26
Red Hill, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
A number of Australian winemakers, principally in Victoria’s King Valley, now cultivate arneis, a white variety first documented in Piemonte, Italy, in the fifteenth century. Port Phillip Estate’s version, from a vineyard at Red Hill on the Mornington Peninsula, presents a lively, full-flavoured expression of the variety, with unique, sappy, slightly pear-like flavours and savoury, vigorous dry finish. The 2013 seems a little fleshier than the 2012. Winemaker Sandro Mosele writes, “[the wine] comes from a 0.61-hectare parcel planted in Red Hill. Handpicked fruit is whole-bunch pressed, tank fermented without inoculation in stainless steel tanks”. Four months lying on spent yeast cells rounds out a delicious wine.

Xanadu Next of Kin Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2013 $16–$18
Margaret River, Western Australia
Margaret River’s signature blends of sauvignon blanc and semillon come in a spectrum of styles – ranging from sip-and-savour, long-lived oak fermented versions like Cullens, to bouncy, light and fruity styles like Next of Kin. It captures the pungent, penetrating side of sauvignon blanc (sometimes described as “canned pea”), filled out on the palate by the semillon component. It’s a love-it or hate-it style, made to drink icy cold and as close to vintage as possible.

Mount Horrocks Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 $30–$38
Clare Valley, South Australia
In this elegant cabernet, winemaker Stephanie Toole demonstrates the great finessing of Australian regional wine styles now underway. Clare Valley makes good cabernet. But more often than not in the past they’ve tended to be on the burly side. Nothing wrong with burly on a cold winter’s night. But Mount Horrocks lifts the style to a higher level, delivering even more drinking pleasure. The pure varietal perfume and flavour, balanced palate, and smooth tannins put it way above the pack, although the wine seems somewhat leaner than the 2010 reviewed two years ago. O’Toole sources the fruit from a single vineyard on her estate.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 28 May 2014 in the Canberra Times

Wine review – Wolf Blass, Tulloch and Mount Horrocks

Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 $12.35–$15
Wolf Blass, part of Treasury Wine Estates, produces what can be a confusingly wide range of wines. But at any price point they’re reliably up there with the best of their peers. The mid-priced Yellow Label range generally combines wines from a number of the best South Australian regions for the variety. This information isn’t revealed on the label. But very clearly by the aroma, flavour and structure of this 2012 cabernet, they are the right regions. The wine gives true cassis and leafy varietal flavour, with a generous mid palate and the firm but fine tannins that define the variety.

Tulloch Vineyard Selection Hunter Valley Chardonnay 2013 $18
Tulloch Winery, located at Pokolbin in the lower Hunter Valley, sources grapes its Vineyard Selection chardonnay from Denman, in the upper Hunter. Although a less revered location than Pokolbin, the upper Hunter nevertheless produces an appealing, generally lighter bodied style of chardonnay. For a fair price, Tulloch’s delivers a pure, peach-and-citrus varietal aroma. This varietal purity comes through, too, on the crisp, fresh, smooth palate. At a little under 13 per cent alcohol, it’s a little lighter bodied than mainstream Australian styles.

Mount Horrocks Watervale Shiraz 2012 $39
Winemaker Stephanie Toole says she crushed a portion of the whole bunches for this wine by foot. But there’s not a trace of old-sock, or any other undesirable traits in this beautifully refined but full-bodied shiraz from Watervale, at the southern end of the Clare Valley. The inclusion of whole bunches introduces stems into the fermentation and any pre- or post-ferment maceration. Provided the stems are ripe, the practice introduces desirable changes to a wine’s tannin structure and subtle, pleasing stalky notes to the aroma and flavour. That element seems barley noticeable in Toole’s very slinky, slippery shiraz.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 25 May 2014 in the Canberra Times

Wine review – Four Winds,, Tyrrell’s, St Hallett, Howard Park, Horrock and Curly Flat

Four Winds Sangiovese 2013 $25
Murrumbateman, Canberra District, NSW
Italy’s sangiovese is gradually carving a niche for itself in Canberra, with several successful wines, including this brilliant new release from Four Winds, Murrumbateman. Winemaker Bill Crow says he tends the property’s 300 sangiovese vines personally. They’re particularly vigorous, he says, and in 2013 he dropped much of the crop on the ground – reducing the yield from an unripen-able 20-tonnes to the hectare to just under nine perfectly ripe tonnes. The small crop produced just 140 dozen bottles. It’s medium bodied wine, showing exuberant, bright fruit flavours, cut through with the variety’s tight, fine, savoury tannins. It drinks deliciously now and may evolve for another few years in bottle.

Tyrrell’s Lost Block Semillon 2013 $16–$20
Lower Hunter Valley, NSW
Tyrrell’s makes many Hunter semillons, ranging from the austere-when-young, long-lived Vat 1 to the softer, juicier Lost Block. But that’s soft and juicy in the unique Hunter semillon context – for this light bodied wine weighs in at a mere 11.5 per cent alcohol, a featherweight by Australian standards. Though light bodied, the wine provides loads of flavour, reminiscent of lemongrass and lemon, with all the vivacity that implies. The price varies considerably, so watch for the retailer specials.

St Hallett Butcher’s Cart Shiraz 2012 $30
Barossa Valley, South Australia
The latest addition to Lion-owned St Hallett’s shiraz line up comes from a range of Barossa Valley sub-regions, including Ebenezer, Stockwell and Marananga. The wine found tonnes of support at a recent tasting of shirazes from Coonawarra, Lucindale (near Coonawarra), Orange, Watervale (southern Clare Valley) and Beechworth. It’s a refined version of Barossa shiraz, in that it’s medium rather than full-bodied. The ripe fruit flavours, plump mid-palate and tender tannins were pure Barossa – a combination that benefited from a subtle use of American oak.

Howard Park Porongurup Riesling 2013$26.80–$34
Porongurup, Great Southern, Western Australia
In 2010, Howard Park added a second riesling to its range from Western Australia’s Great Southern region. We tasted the original vintage at the Denmark winery, where we learned that it comes from a pair of 25-year old vineyards in the Porongurup sub-region – a rocky outcrop in the Albany hinterland. The 2013 offers great purity and intensity, the lemony varietal flavour seemingly strung along the wine’s acidic backbone. This is a very smart and enjoyable riesling with the potential to please for many years if well cellared.

Horrocks Nero d’Avola 2012 $37
Watervale, Clare Valley, South Australia
Winemaker Stephanie Toole says her new nero d’Avola “is the result of first tasting this [Sicilian] variety at Cul de Sac, a wine bar in Rome, in 2003. Further research, including a visit to Sicily in 2005, convinced me that it should be planted in the Clare. So I did”. Toole made just 100 cases. Our red-wine-and-curry group put it to the test recently with spicy food, alongside several shirazes. Following a fruit-juice-like Western Australian shiraz, Mount Horrocks, at first, showed nero d’Avola’s solid, tight tannins. But the appealing ripe-fruit flavours soon pushed through. The lively fruit, a lick of vanillin oak and the savoury, tannic finish proved an enjoyable combination, and well removed from mainstream Australian reds.

Curly Flat Williams Crossing Pinot Noir 2012 $30
Curly Flat vineyard, Macedon Ranges, Victoria
Williams Crossing, Curly Flat’s second label, consistently impresses for its quality to price ratio, and not surprisingly. The Moraghans manage the vineyards and winemaking as if every batch were headed for the $48 Curly Flat label. Individual barrels declassified from that blend go to the Williams Crossing vat – and the quality gap isn’t as great as the price difference suggests. Winemaker Ben Kimmorley writes, “These releases marks a step up for us. Put simply, we have decided to make it harder for a barrel to qualify for Curly Flat. The result is a lift in each wine”. I’ve not tried the 2012 Curly Flat Pinot Noir yet, but this Williams Crossing is outstanding as it offers true pinot aromas and flavours and textures and the fine, firm backbone seen in the best examples of the variety.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 21 May 2014 in the Canberra Times

Wine review – Joseph Perrier, Wolf Blass and Taylors

Joseph Perrier Cuvee Royale NV Brut Champagne $47.49–$49.99
This Dan Murphy import first arrived in Canberra in the mid 1970s, imported by local wine merchants, Farmer Bros (RIP). In the late 1980s Joseph Perrier NV sweetened the meeting of a Canberra Times Sunday editor with her soon-to-be husband. The couple toasted their wedding with it in 1989, and celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary with it this month. It was the first real Champagne I tasted (in 1976). And even now, decades after my last commercial attachment with the brand, I rate Joseph Perrier as one of the gentlest, loveliest and best vale of non-vintages on the market. The price hasn’t moved in five years.

Wolf Blass Yellow Label South Australia Chardonnay 2013 $12.35–$12.99
Wolf Blass Yellow Label range occupies the middle turf of the brand’s three colour coded segments – red label for generic blends, yellow label for varietals (chardonnay in this instance) and gold label for regional-varietal matches (for example, Barossa shiraz, Adelaide Hills chardonnay). For these big blends, the company draws fruit widely to achieve an acceptable quality to price ratio. Yellow Label chardonnay sits in the high bronze to silver medal standard as it presents pure melon and peach varietal flavour of great freshness, with a smooth texture and dry, clean finish. Grapes come form Padthaway, McLaren Vale, Coonawarra and the Adelaide Hills.

Taylors Clare Valley Shiraz 2013 $13–$19
You can pay $19 for Taylors Shiraz. But as a perennial consumer favourite, its price regularly gets the chop from retailers. As I write, it’s on offer for as little as $13. The 2013 provides particularly rich, gutsy drinking. The ripe, sweet aroma – reminiscent of black cherries – leads to a big, juicy palate. While the initial impression is of endless fruit, waves of firm, rustic tannins soon ripple through giving the wine a dry, gripping finish. Mitchell Taylor attributes the flavour intensity to growing-season weather. “This was one of the driest growing season in around 150 years”, he said.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 18 May 2014 in the Canberra Times

Wine review – Seppelt, Sugarloaf Ridge, Penfolds, Paxton, Yalumba and T’Gallant

Seppelt Drumborg Vineyard Pinot Noir 2012 $35–$45
Drumborg, Henty Region, Victoria
Former Seppelt winemaker Ian McKenzie once described Drumborg as the first landfall north of Antarctica. Indeed, the cold vineyard site near the southwestern Victorian coast struggled for decades after Karl Seppelt established it in 1964. During the two-decade McKenzie era from the early 1980s, the vineyard was renovated and extended, with significant pinot noir plantings added in 1986 and the mid nineties to those Seppelt had established in 1966 and 1968. McKenzie passed the winemaking baton to Emma Wood in the early 2000s and it passed, via Adam Wadewitz, to Adam Carnaby in 2012. The latter two produced this exceptional wine in 2012 from the 1986 and mid 1990s’ vines, says Carnaby. An exceptional wine, it offers a refined, harmonious and sensuous, but tightly tannic expression, of pinot noir, in keeping with the cool 2012 vintage.

Sugarloaf Ridge Pinot Noir 2010 $35
Sugarloaf Ridge vineyard, Carlton River, Tasmania
We enjoyed Sugarloaf Ridge pinot recently with tender, juicy duck at Malamay Restaurant, Barton. The sweetness of the duck matched the opulent fruit of the wine, though a leaner, more tannic style of pinot might have dealt better with such a fatty dish. Certainly the wine’s on the big, fruity side of pinot, and clearly varietal. But there’s more to good pinot than fruit, so hopefully the style might evolve so that savoury flavours and tannins restrain the overt fruitiness in future vintages. Fruit for the wine is grown at Sugarloaf Ridge vineyard, Carlton River, and the wine is made by Julian Alcorso at Winemaking Tasmania.

Penfolds Bin 128 Shiraz 2012 $31.90–$40
Coonawarra, South Australia
Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz 2012 was a standout in a recent tasting of the Penfolds bin-number reds released in March. Among the most cellared, traded and talked about wines in the country, the best vintages (like Bin 128 2012) age well and provide satisfying drinking. The 2012 is a particularly fragrant wine, mixing floral and red-berry aromas, with a touch of mint, often seen in Coonawarra reds. The supple, deep fruit on the palate pushes up through the substantial but soft tannins. The richness and harmony of the wine suggests fairly long-term cellaring potentially given cool, stable conditions.

Paxton The Guesser Cabernet Shiraz 2011 $15
Paxton vineyards, McLaren Vale, South Australia
The Guesser comes from three of the Paxton family’s biodynamically managed McLaren Vale vineyards, Thomas block, Jones block and Quandong Farm. This is the second vintage of the family’s modestly priced red blend, made by Michael Paxton, son of founder, David Paxton. A blend of cabernet sauvignon (52 per cent) and shiraz 48 per cent), wild-yeast fermented The Guesser delivers the Vale’s rich, ripe, vibrant fruit flavours mingled with a load of rustic, satisfying, firm tannins.

Yalumba Christobel’s Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2013 $10.45–$16
Barossa, South Australia
Yalumba’s popular Christobel’s blend (named for proprietor Robert Hill-Smith’s mother) has seen a number of identities in the 20-odd years since it was created. The current version – in its bright, botanical label – combines Barossa semillon (66 per cent) with Barossa sauvignon blanc (34 per cent). It’s a world removed from the lighter versions of this blend from the cooler Margaret River region. But the warm-grown semillon component provides its own enjoyable lemony flavours and body – without the herbal tang these varieties show when grown in cooler regions.

T’Gallant Imogen Pinot Grigio 2013 $18–25
Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
Pardon me for being sceptical of pinot gris (or grigio). It’s a variety I’ve tried but failed to love since first encountering it in the mid 1970s – labelled at the time as Tokay d’Alsace – and in the mid 1980s with Italy’s leaner styles. T’Gallant Imogen draws its inspiration from the strong Alsacian style, offering rich, ripe flavours and a level of viscosity. The flavours are more savoury than fruity, with perhaps a hint of pear, and certainly with alcohol after burn. A lot of people like these wines and this is a pretty good version of that bigger, riper style.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 14 May 2014 in the Canberra Times

Wine review – Illuminati, Williams Crossing and Tyrrell’s

Illuminati Ilico Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2011 $12.35–$16
Woolworths imports Ilico direct from the Illuminati family in Abruzzi, Italy, and offers it through its BWS and Dan Murphy outlets. We purchased our bottle from BWS Kingston for $16, though Dan Murphy offers it for $12.35 in a six-bottle buy. It’s a bargain at that price. This is a refined and elegant expression of the montepulciano variety, though still rich and savoury in its own delicate, understated way. Ilico comes from vineyards at 260 metres above sea level in the highly flavoured sub-region of Contraguerra, between the Adriatic and the Apennines.

Williams Crossing by Curly Flat Macedon Ranges Chardonnay 2012 $27
“Sensational” came to mind as we tasted Williams Crossing. It’s the vineyard’s second label – a blend of barrels that didn’t make the cut for the $42-a-bottle Curly Flat label. Essentially, you get 80–90 per cent of the quality for 35 per cent less outlay – an attractive sum, indeed. The wine offers chardonnay’s luxurious flavour and texture with great freshness and vivacity. It’s the product of fussy vineyard management, individual barrel ferments with wild yeasts and maturation in those high-quality, two-to-four-year-old French barrels.

Tyrrell’s Rufus Stone Heathcote Shiraz 2012 $19–$25
Shiraz presents so many faces in Australia, ranging from delicate and peppery to alcoholic blockbusters. Up in the Hunter, Tyrrells long ago mastered the idiosyncratic local, earthy, medium-bodied style. Then in 1997 they produced their first shiraz from Heathcote, Victoria – an altogether different beast from the Hunter styles. Fifteen years on, the now mature Heathcote style presents concentrated, vibrant berry and spice flavours, with quite firm, savoury tannins on an elegant, medium bodied palate. The Tyrrell winemaking mastery shows in the appealing harmony of the wine. Retailer discounts sometimes bring the price below $20.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 11 May 2014

Wine review – Penfolds, Ross Hill, Mawson’s, Andrew Thomas, Angullong and Kirrihill

Penfolds Bin 138 Shiraz Grenache Mataro 2012 $32–37
Barossa Valley, South Australia
After the skinny 2011 vintage, Penfolds Bin 138 returns to fleshy, juicy form in 2012. Though cooler than normal, the vintage provided sufficient heat to ripen the grapes fully – at the same delivering bold, heady, fruity aromas. The proportions of each variety varies considerably from year to year and in 2012 leads with shiraz (66 per cent), followed by grenache at 23 per cent and the rest mataro (aka mourvedre). Shiraz gives the wine great richness and depth of fruit flavour, but grenache adds greatly to the perfume and vibrant fruit flavour. Mataro is most likely the source of the persistent, grippy tannins behind the fleshy fruit. Could cellar for a decade or so in cool, stable conditions.

Ross Hill Pinnacle Series Shiraz 2012 $36
Ross Hill Griffin Road vineyard, Orange, NSW
During the Orange food week a tasting of Ross Hill’s outstanding Pinnacle shiraz prompted a visit the following morning to winemaker Phil Kerney at the winery. There we smelled the open fermenters of 2014 reds, still ticking over, and tasted the sensational 2013 Pinnacle shiraz and pinot noir from barrel. These are definitely wines to try on release next year. Right now, though, the 2012 Pinnacle shiraz provides magnificent drinking – in the spicy, peppery, taut-structured cool-climate mould. Ripe, delicious fruit bubbles away under the surface of this lovely wine.

Mawson’s Far Eastern Party Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 $12–$16
Wrattonbully, Limestone Coast, South Australia
In the export boom of the 1990s, Yalumba’s Robert Hill-Smith joined the scramble for broad-acre viticultural land in Wrattonbully – an undulating limestone formation sprawling 40 kilometres north–south along the Naracoorte tableland, touching Padthaway to the north and Coonawarra to the south. The vineyard, named for Antarctic explorer Douglas Mawson, is now home to Hill-Smith’s Mawson’s brand. Largely because of the climate, the region produces pure cabernet varietal flavour and the elegant structure we associate with nearby Coonawarra. Skilled use of oak adds complexity to a wine drinking beautifully now, four years after vintage. It delivers satisfying drinking and outstanding value for money. Watch for the retailer discounts.

Andrew Thomas Braemore Semillon 2013 $24–$30
Braemore vineyard, Pokolbin, lower Hunter Valley, NSW
Though sold out at cellar door, Andrew Thomas’s Hunter classic can still be found in some retail outlets. The grapes come from the sandy soils of the Braemore vineyard, planted in 1969. Delicate fruit handling and protective winemaking produce from these grapes a pure, delicate, long-lived expression of the Hunter’s unique semillon style. Delicate and light bodied (10.8 per cent alcohol) in youth with vivid lemongrass and lemon aromas and flavours, the wine will build in honeyed, toasty richness with prolonged bottle age.

Angullong Fossil Hill Tempranillo 2012 $19–$24
Angullong vineyard, Orange
During the export boom of the late nineties, Orange attracted several broad-acre vine plantings, including the Crossing family’s 220-hectare Angullong vineyard. The vineyard straddles the Orange–Central Ranges wine boundary for no other reason other than that part of it lies below the 600-metre altitude mark, Orange’s lower limit. Angullong offered its attractive, medium bodied savoury tempranillo at the outdoor night market during the recent Orange food week. Very comforting it was, too, in the cold, wet conditions. The Great Dividing Range now offers a wonderful diversity of good wines.

Kirrihill Noble Vineyard Fiano 2013 $25
Waikerie, Murray Valley, Riverland, South Australia
Southern Italy’s white variety, fiano, makes a range of styles in Australia, from McLaren Vale’s comparatively polished and suave Coriole, to this more rustic version from South Australia’s hot Riverland district. It offers a drinking experience well removed from our every day fare – with big, ripe, apricot-like aroma, full, slick-textured palate and slightly hot, grippy, tart finish. Hamish Seabrook makes it at Clare Valley-based Kirrihill winery.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 7 May 2014 in the Canberra Times

Wine review – Turkey Flat, Mawson’s and Printhie

Turkey Flat Butchers Block Barossa Valley White 2013 $20–$22
The Rhone varieties marsanne, viognier and roussanne seem well suited to the warm, dry Barossa Valley, producing in 2013 a notably fleshier Turkey Flat blend than the also loveable 2012. The wine offers texture and savouriness, with underlying apricot-like flavours typical of warm-grown viognier. Christie Schulz says she sourced the grapes from vineyards in the Barossa’s Bethany and Stonewell sub-regions. Each variety received its own treatment before blending, including oak maturation for the marsanne component. It’s a delicious and more-ish wine, one of a growing number of similar blends out of the Barossa.

Mawson’s The Vickers Limestone Coast Chardonnay 2013 $15.95
In the export boom of the 1990s, Yalumba’s Robert Hill-Smith joined the scramble for broad-acre viticultural land in Wrattonbully – an undulating limestone formation sprawling 40 kilometres along the Naracoorte tableland and touching Padthaway to the north and Coonawarra to the south. The vineyard, named for Douglas Mawson, is now home to Hill-Smith’s Mawson’s brand. The wine benefits from Yalumba’s long-term work with chardonnay. It captures the appealing, melon and stone fruit flavours of the variety, woven with the texture of skilled oak fermentation and maturation. It delivers richness without heaviness at a modest 12.5 per cent alcohol.

Printhie MCC Orange Shiraz 2012 $36
Printhie shiraz comes from the company’s Phalaris block towards the lowest, warmest point of the Orange district. Even so, MCC 2012 sits at the cooler end of cool-climate shiraz styles. It’s highly aromatic – combining bright, strawberry-like character, overlaid with the spice and white pepper indicative of very cool growing conditions. The latter often points to green, unripe flavours in shiraz. But Printhie just makes it over the line – the white pepper, acidity and fine, firm tannins balancing delicately with the vibrant fruit flavour. We found warmth and comfort in a bottle on a recent cold, wet night at Orange’s recent food week.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 4 May 2014