Houghton Frankland River Crofters Shiraz 2013
Crofters won a gold medal in the same 2014 National Wine Show of Australia shiraz class topped by Canberra’s Lerida Estate Shiraz Viognier 2013 ($49.95). Just half a point out of 60 (55.5 versus 56) separated the two wines. The quality gap, however, is greater than that slim margin suggests – highlighting what a “bumpkin calculus” wine scores can be. If the Houghton wine lacks the finesse of the Lerida, it offers – at one-third the price – pure drinking pleasure with its sweet, perfumed aroma, vibrant palate and fairly solid, savoury tannins, typical of Frankland River.

Willem Kurt Alpine Valleys Vermentino 2014 $25
If you’re visiting Beechworth, Victoria, Mike and Heather Allen’s Press Room tapas bar offers savour food and a well-selected range of local and Spanish wines. We enjoyed several by-the-glass wines, including this very good vermentino, made by Daniel Balzer. Originally from Sardinia, the Liguria coast and Corsica, the variety seems well suited to Australia’s warm, dry conditions – in this case from the north-eastern Victorian Alpine Valleys region. Willem Kurt is a savoury, tangy, pleasantly tart, lighter bodied dry white, well suited to savoury food. (Available at willemkurtwines.com.au).

Ten Minutes by Tractor 10X Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay 2013 $13
An Australia day lunch at Ten Minutes by Tractor winery confirmed the great beauty of the company’s wines – and their ageing ability. The superb, maturing Wallis Vineyard Chardonnay 2011 and Judd Vineyard Pinot Noir 2010 thrilled with every mouthful; and both should continue to evolve for many years yet. And in the cellar door area, 10X Chardonnay 2013, from the Osborn, Judd and McCutcheon vineyards, displays the flavours of a warm vintage in a cool climate. Generous melon and white-peach-like flavours, with a brisk, grapefruit-like acidity lie at the centre of this richly textured barrel-fermented dry white.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2015
First published 8 February 2015 in the Canberra Times and on Fairfax digital sites.

Capital Wines Gundaroo Vineyard Riesling 2014 $28
Gundaroo, Canberra District, NSW
In 1998, Mark and Jennie Moonie planted Geisenheim clones of riesling on a north-facing, protected slope at Gundaroo. They sold the vineyard to Ruth and Steve Lambert in 2004. But in 2013, by now the owners of Capital Wines, they bought grapes from the vineyard for a special single-vineyard riesling – a wine of outstanding quality. The second vintage, from the 2014 vintage, shows similar class, with its delicate, alluring perfume and intense, Germanic palate. This winner of four trophies is pure and beautiful riesling of a very high order.

Eddystone Point Pinot Noir 2011 $25.70–$30
Derwent Valley, Coal River Valley and East Coast, Tasmania
Eddystone Point, a new brand, comes from Accolade Wines’ Bay of Fires winery, Tasmania. This is the winery behind the Tasmanian components of Eileen Hardy Pinot Noir, one of Australia’s finest pinots, and the outstanding Bay of Fires Pinot Noir. Eddystone gives us the Tasmania pinot experience, from an expert team, at a more modest price. Tasted on a number of occasions, it captures pinot’s vibrant red berry flavours but also provides much of the deeper, more savoury and silky textured elements of the variety.

Moores Hill Tasmania Pinot Noir 2013 $34
Tamar Valley, Tasmania
Some kind soul send a bunch of impressive Tasmanian pinot noirs, including Moores Hill and Eddystone Point reviewed today. In the warm 2013 vintage, Moores Hill, run by Julian Allport, Fiona Weller and Lance Weller, produced a fuller version of pinot than the Eddystone. Pure, ripe-cherry-like varietal aromas and flavours gave the wine instant appeal. Behind the fruit lay a satisfying, smooth tannin structure and deeper, earthier pinot characters.

Grant Burge Summers Chardonnay 2013 $28
Eden Valley and Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Australia’s current golden age of chardonnay provides us with an extraordinary diversity of styles. Almost universally, the best are fermented in oak barrels and then matured in contact with spent yeast cells. The variations on this approach – combined with the enormous range of sites, viticultural practices and clonal selection – throws up a thousand shades of chardonnay. Grant Burge’s sits in a comfort zone – a complex wine built on vibrant fruit, subtly backed by the barrel influence ­– but without pushing the limits, as some do, on yeast-derived, oak, or other winemaker inputs. It’s simply a pleasure to drink.

Bleasdale Second Innings Malbec 2012 $15–$22
Langhorne Creek, South Australia
In a promotional poster for its three 2012 vintage malbecs, Bleasdale neatly sums up the character of the variety as “perfumed as pinot noir, mid-palate of shiraz and structure like cabernet” – or for those not up on wine lore, a perfumed red with a fleshy, fruity palate and firm, dry finish. The company claims to crush 10 per cent of Australia’s malbec in a winery accounting for 0.1 per cent of the nation’s total crush. Bleasdale entry-level malbec offers alluring ripe-plum aromas and a full, fleshy palate but through with soft, smooth tannins.

Bleasdale Double Take Malbec 2012 $65
Langhorne Creek, South Australia
Winemaker Paul Hotker reckons Langhorne Creek’s makes its best malbecs in years like 2012 when cool night breezes come in from a full Lake Alexandrina. A step up from “Second Innings” malbec is the more opulent, powerful $35 “Generations” version. And at the top of the pile, made only in outstanding years, comes the cellar door only “Double Take” – a deep and brooding wine of intense fruit flavours, cut through with persistent, firm tannins. This is one for long-term cellaring, though the strong tannins would disappear, leaving only fruit, if enjoyed with a big, juicy steak. (Available only at bleasdale.com.au).

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2015
First published 3 and 4 February 2015 in Fairfax digital media and the Canberra Times

Eden Road The Long Road Tumbarumba Pinot Noir 2013 $30
Like Clonakilla and Ravensworth, Murrumbateman’s Eden Road winery sources fruit from high, cool Tumbarumba. Pinot noir for The Long Road, says winemaker Nick Spencer, comes from the Courabyra and Maragle vineyards. Restaurant 86, Braddon, offers it by the glass, so we paired it happily with cured kangaroo fillets. It’s a lighter style pinot noir, featuring bright fruit, stemmy notes and fine, silky tannins. It offers fair value and points to Tumbarumba’s potential with the variety. The area was originally planted to pinot for sparkling wine production. The transition to table wine making demands the considerable changes to vineyard management now under way.

d’Arenberg The Sticks and Stones McLaren Vale
Tempranillo Grenache Suzao Tinta Cao 2010 $30
Chester Osborn’s “Iberian Peninsula” blend includes Spain’s tempranillo, grenache (of French origin but equally at home in Spain) and Portugal’s port varieties, suzao and tinta cao. Osborn fermented the various components in five-tonne batches, matured them in older oak barrels, then blended and bottled the wine without fining or filtration. The result is a deeply coloured red that’s surprisingly nimble and gentle on the palate – despite its deep, fruity, tarry, savoury, earthy flavours. A bonus for drinkers are the mellow, integrated flavours of a complex wine allowed to bottle age for four years before release.

Mr Mick Clare Valley Riesling 2014 $13.30–$17
During the 1970s, legendary Clare winemaker Mick Knappstein taught Tim Adams about riesling making in the historic Leasingham winery. Decades later, Adams purchased his old alma mater and resurrected one of Knappstein’s most successful wine styles – a pure, delicate, fruity riesling with the smallest kiss of residual grape sugar – marketed as Leasingham Bin 5 Riesling. Mr Mick 2014 is a beautiful, fresh, tasty, fruity and effectively dry all-round quaffer, perhaps a little rounder and fuller than the 2013 vintage.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2015
First published 31 January and 1 February 2015 in Fairfax digital media and the Canberra Times