Monthly Archives: October 2016

Sensational 2012 Grange leads Penfolds 2016 releases

12 October 2016Vineyard, Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Winemaker Peter Gago in Penfolds Magill Cellars, Adelaide

Led by a sensational Grange vintage, Penfolds will release its 2016 collection across Australia on Thursday 20 October.

The predictably impressive line up, includes many highlights: Reserve Bin A Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2015, Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz 2014, Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 2014, Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz 2014, Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2014, RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz 2014, Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 and Grange 2012.

It also raised a couple of doubts. Will the leesy, lemony 2014 Yattarna Chardonnay flesh out and blossom with age? Will the fruit in Magill Estate Shiraz 2014 eventually absorb the wine’s abundant oak? Winemaker Peter Gago’s confidence in both gives hope. He’s a credible source. But should buyers shoulder the risk, or wait and come back to the secondary market a few years down the track?

I base my notes on the wines on a pre-release press tasting hosted by Penfolds in Melbourne on 20 September. As the wines haven’t been released yet, I’ve quoted Penfolds recommended retail prices. For most wines, prices should fall below these levels as retailers fight for your business.

Penfolds Bin 51 Riesling 2016
Woodbury vineyard, Eden Valley, South Australia
$30
Bin 51 shows the soft, round, easy drinkability of rieslings from the 2016 vintage. The aroma combines floral and citrus varietal characters which carry through to a round, juicy seductive palate. Keen acidity accentuates the citrus-like varietal flavour as it cleans up and dries out the mildly grippy finish.

Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay 2015
Tumbarumba, NSW
$45
The lowest priced of Penfolds three chardonnays shows its cool origins with grapefruit- and white-peach-like varietal aromas and flavours. These form the heart of a delicious, pure, varietal dry white – though fermentation and maturation in older French oak barrels added significantly, if unobtrusively, to its elegant structure, texture and flavour.

Penfolds Reserve Bin A Chardonnay 2015
Adelaide Hills, South Australia
$100
Turn up the volume. After the subtle, pure, elegance of Bin 311 we arrive at a powerful chardonnay combining intense fruit with equally intense winemaking-derived flavours. However, the great fruit comfortably absorbs the influence of new, charry oak (40%), spontaneous fermentation and full malolactic conversion (a secondary fermentation converting malic acid to lactic acid). Lemon-butter-like varietal flavour and tang; charry, spicy oak; and nutty, lees-maturation flavours all come together in an impressive, elegant, fine-boned chardonnay.

Penfolds Bin Yattarna 2014
Derwent Valley and Central Highlands, Tasmania 73%;
Adelaide Hills, South Australia 27%
$150
Is the emperor naked? Winemaker Peter Gago urges patience and time for the 2014 flagship to show its best. Certainly it’s delicate, leesy, lemony, taut, and austere at this stage. Will the underlying nectarine-like flavour blossom with age, as Peter believes? Yattarna’s provenance supports his belief, but buying it remains an act of faith.

Penfolds Bin 2 Shiraz Mataro 2014
McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley, Langhorne Creek and Wrattonbully, South Australia
$35
Penfolds blend of the Rhone’s shiraz (aka syrah) and mataro (aka mourvedre or monastrell) goes back more than half a century. The 2014 combo offers mouth-filling shiraz softness, tempered by spicy, savoury mataro. It starts soft and juicy, ends with a pleasant acid-tannin bite

Penfolds Bin 8 Cabernet Shiraz 2014
McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley, Wrattonbully, Padthaway and Coonawarra, South Australia
$45
Lots of ripe, upfront fruit and soft tannins give drink-now appeal to this blend of cabernet sauvignon (52%) and shiraz (48%) – although a chewy, Penfolds richness suggests good drinking for some years yet. Cabernet contributes herbal and blackcurrant-like notes that punch through the generous shiraz and background sweet oak.

Penfolds Bin 138 Barossa Valley Shiraz Grenache Mataro 2014
Barossa Valley, South Australia
$45
Bin 138 takes us away from the multi-region blend to Penfolds’ heartland, the warm Barossa Valley. Deep with crimson rim, almost opaque. Earthy, beetroot- and black-cherry-like aromas, with the aromatic, musk-like lift of grenache. Mouth-filling, warm flavours reflect the aroma. Earthy, spicy, fruity finish with soft tannins.

Penfolds Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz 2014
Coonawarra, South Australia
$45
Four hundred kilometres south of the Barossa, Coonawarra’s cool maritime climate produces the elegant, fine-boned Bin 128 shiraz that contrasts with the opulence of the warm-grown style of Bin 28. Finessing in the Coonawarra vineyards and winemaking in recent years saw a maturing of the style. Medium to deep, crimson-rimmed colour; fragrant and attractive aroma showing a cool-climate floral side of shiraz; sweet, red-berry and spice flavours; elegant, succulent palate with fine tannins giving backbone and satisfying dry finish.

Penfolds Kalimna Bin 28 Shiraz 2014
Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek, Wrattonbully, Port Lincoln and Clare Valley, South Australia
$45
Although originally from Penfolds’ Kalimna vineyard in the northern Barossa, Bin 28’s sourcing diversified as production increased. However, it retains its full-bodied warm-climate shiraz style – spectacularly so in 2014: Opaque red-black with crimson rim; aroma of black cherry with savoury soy- and black-olive like notes; big, generous palate of sweet, pervasive fruit, meshed in soft, mouth-coating tannins. Warm, rich, satisfying – and a litmus of Penfolds quality.

Penfolds Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz 2014
Marananga, Barossa Valley
$90
Kalimna in the northern Barossa remains the capital of what some call “Grange country”. However, the Grange mantle extends to Marananga in the western Barossa and, following extensive planting of the in the 1990s, volumes increased sufficiently to create a sub-regional expression in Bin 150. “Opaque red-black with crimson rim; intensely aromatic, combining, plums, earth, oak and that special, alluring Penfolds lift; gorgeous, seductively plush plate, juicy and lively, with sensuous fruit – aided and abetted by plush, pillow-soft tannin. A complete and unique red”.

Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
Wrattonbully, McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley, Coonawarra and Clare Valley, South Australia
$90
Textbook cabernet sauvignon: “Deep red-black with crimson rim; varietal aroma of blackcurrant, herb and mint with subtle undertone of oak; lively, fresh palate reflecting the aroma, mouth-filling but elegantly structured with assertive though fine cabernet tannins”.

Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2014
Barossa Valley, Wrattonbully, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra, South Australia
$90
Built for long-term cellaring, Bin 389 combines cabernet and shiraz from two warm regions – the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale – and two significantly cooler areas –Wrattonbully and Coonawarra. It’s an harmonious combination in the dense, powerful Penfolds style: “Opaque red-black colour with crimson rim; aroma of earth, soy, black olive and ripe black cherry; buoyant, dense palate, saturated with dark fruit and savoury character, reflective of the aroma; layered and deeply integrate tannins”.

Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2013
McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, Padthaway and Port Lincoln, South Australia
$100
In the Penfolds red line-up, St Henri alone matures in 50+ year-old large oak vats rather than small barrels. However, the absence of obvious oak flavour doesn’t rule out other winemaker influences. Winemaker Peter Gago describes St Henri as “Cleverly propelled by just the right amount of formics and VA [Peter’s italics]” – jargon for compounds that develop naturally in the presence of air and in small amounts can give life and vivacity to wine. (Grange creator Max Schubert, at times criticised for the amount of VA [volatile acidity] in Grange, confessed to ruining a few batches). However, individual thresholds for detecting these compounds vary, meaning those with greater sensitivity may be distracted by them. “Deep red-black with crimson rim; a touch of VA lifts the subtle fruit aroma giving the wine another dimension; glorious palate – elegant and refined with intense, potent pure ripe-cherry-like fruit, bound with grippy but ripe and fine tannins. Beautiful wine, destined to evolve for decades”.

Penfolds Magill Estate Shiraz 2014
Magill Estate, Adelaide, South Australia
$130
In late 1982 Max Schubert’s hand-written proposal to the board of Adsteam (Penfolds owner at the time) resulted in the creation of Magill Estate Shiraz in the 1983 vintage. Schubert’s proposal, supported by Penfolds chief executive Ian Mackley and general manager Jim Williams, saved the inner-suburb vineyard from the bulldozer. The vineyard produces a medium-bodied style. In 2014, a substantial wine, with superb fruit, seems dominated by new oak. The fruit may absorb the oak over time, but only time will tell.

Penfolds RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz 2014
Barossa Valley, South Australia
$200
Where Grange shows the immense power of warm-grown shiraz matured in American oak barrels, RWT captures a more refined expression, matured in French oak. “Deep red-black with crimson rim; intensely floral, aromatic expression of shiraz with a spicy note and cedar-like perfume from the barrels; oh, so fine palate of ripe, buoyant shiraz fruit, layered with fine tannins and spice that could be derived from both the fruit and oak”.

Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
Barossa Valley, Padthaway and Port Lincoln, South Australia
$500
Bit by bit Bin 707 closes the price gap on Grange. An equivalent wine in quality, if not yet in reputation, 707 ages gracefully for decades. Chateau Shanahan occasionally marvels at the 1986, one of the greatest 707s of all and, I believe, a more complex wine than Grange of the same vintage. The 2014 reveals all the dark and brooding glory of Bin 707: impenetrable, crimson-rimmed, red–black colour; deep, succulent varietal blackcurrant flavours; additional savoury elements, reminiscent of soy and charcuterie; a distinctive, sweet oak character that permeates the fruit, but with time will disappear into it; and powerful but fine oak and fruit tannins to see the wine through decades of cellaring. This is a great wine.

Penfolds Grange 2012
Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale, South Australia
$850
One of the great vintages. “Opaque red-black colour with vivid crimson rim; earth, sweet, ripe fruit, oak and black-olive flavours all swirl together into one deep, powerful whole of great vibrance, freshness and layered depth. This is Grange in all its idiosyncratic glory. Best drunk from about 15 years after vintage”.

Canberra’s sensational 2015 reds

11 October 2016People, Vineyard, Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Canberra’s 2015 vintage produced sensational reds, perhaps the best in the district’s history. The quality – now in the glass for all to enjoy – justifies the superlatives sprinkled around like water at harvest time last year.

At Lerida Estate, Lake George, Malcolm Burdett says, “It’s the best ever. Better than the 2013”. Greg Gallagher, Gallagher Wines, Murrumbateman, agrees. At harvest last year he said, “I think this is the best vintage I’ve done in this district”. A year on, with his 2015 reds bottled (but not released) he’s calling them “perfect”, a result of ripening conditions from mid-January to late March being “fantastic”.

At Hall, Alan Pankhurst rated it “a bit better than 2013”, while at Murrumbateman Ken Helm declared, “It has outdone even 2013. It ticked every box and is the best across all varieties. If we get a better vintage than this, I’ll be very, very surprised. It’s a cracker”.

More expansively, but in a similar vein, Mount Majura’s Frank van de Loo writes, “[2015] probably was my best vintage ever, certainly exceptionally good – we had fairly mild conditions through summer, a bit more humid and cloudy than we otherwise like, but then fine and mild as we got to vintage, which seems a pretty magic combination”.

At the end of harvest last year, Alex McKay (Collector Wines) said, “ [outstanding quality] is most obvious in the reds, though there’s a lot of good riesling. The best vintage to date has been 2013. But 2015 is up there and may be better”.

Winemaker Nick O’Leary explained how elements of the outstanding season translated into great wine. Healthy vine canopies, resulting from adequate ground moisture and mild temperatures, produced healthy, plump, juicy, properly ripened grapes with no signs of shrivel. In turn this meant generally trouble-free, complete ferments.

Those healthy, properly ripened red grapes delivered harmonious reds with vivid colours, vibrant varietal flavours, ripe tannins and fresh acidity.

While no vintage proves to be all good or all bad (though I’ve yet to see a dud 2015) benign seasons produce a high average quality as well as great highlights. The good years also mean that even the simpler, early release, drink-now reds offer richer fruit and superior all-round drinking satisfaction

A good example is the juicy, drink-now Yarrh Mr Natural Shiraz 2015 ($25). Winemaker Fiona Wholohan says, “Making a wine like this needs perfect fruit” and doubts she could make it at all in lesser seasons. She simply de-stemmed and crushed the grapes to tank, and then let nature takes its course. There were no additions (such as yeast nutrient, tannin or acid) other than sulphur dioxide, an essential preservative, at bottling. You cannot do that with such delicious results without perfect grapes.

Comparably juicy flavours and drink-now appeal were also part of Ravensworth’s now sold-out Sangiovese 2015 and Garnacha Tinto Y Cinq-Sao 2015 – wines capable also of some cellaring. Also sold out is Ravensworth Hilltops Nebbiolo 2015, an elegant, lovable, and probably long-lived expression of this Piedmont variety. We enjoyed a bottle recently at Temporada – indicating that some of the sold-out wines may still be in restaurants or bottle shops.

However, most of the 2015s are either in the market now or being held back by the makers for later release. Tastings in the winery and on the Chateau Shanahan bench left no doubt about their sizzling quality.

Style for any variety varies across the district, partly because of vineyard site and management, but also through winemaker inputs such as whether they include stems in the ferment or variations in oak-maturation regime.

But there is a vintage style – like a fine-tuning of the almost perfect 2013s. These remain some of the best wines made in the district, noted for ripe fruit, assertive tannin structure and potential for the best to age gracefully for many years.

The 2015s emphasise the ripe fruit flavours more, while retaining mouth-caressing ripe tannins, but not the assertiveness of the 2013s. The result is simply irresistible, satisfying drinking from wines destined to rise to the top wherever they show up in Australia’s wine show circuit.

Shiraz and shiraz-viognier blends, Canberra’s specialty, lead the way. But the vintage also produced notable tempranillo, sangiovese, merlot, pinot noir and nebbiolo among the wines tasted to date – and there are many more yet to come.

The 2015s provide a great buying opportunity for wine drinkers to explore the Canberra District’s deeply flavoured, medium bodied style at its best. Many of the wines are already in the market. Others are due for release either late this year in the first half of 2017. The wines reviewed below are all from the Canberra District, with the exception of Ravensworth nebbiolo, sourced from the neighbouring Hilltops region.

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE 2015 REDS

Shiraz and shiraz-viognier

Nick O’Leary Shiraz 2015 $25
Seductively fragrant and floral, with spice and soy-like savour.

Nick O’Leary Bolero Shiraz 2015 $55
Deep and savoury with concentrated fruit, power and elegance. Superior quality.

Yarrh Mr Natural Shiraz 2015 $25
Delicious and juicy. Drink it up – slurp, slurp.

McKellar Ridge Shiraz Viognier 2015
Round, plush and seductive, the palate ripples with vibrant, ripe-berry flavours. Gold medalist in the Royal Queensland and NSW Small Winemakers shows.

Four Winds Vineyard Shiraz 2015 $30
Typical Canberra red fruits and spice flavours, plush and lovely.

Lerida Estate Shiraz 2015 $26.50
Fragrant and fruity, with Canberra spice and slightly firmer tannic bite distinctive of this vineyard.

Lerida Estate Shiraz Viognier 2015 $85
More powerful and brooding that Lerida’s straight shiraz, backed by quite firm tannins. Should cellar well.

Ravensworth Shiraz Viognier 2015 $36
Buoyant, lively and exciting, combining fruit, savour and substantial though silky structure. One of the best.

Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2015 $96
Sensational and still the district’s finest. Shows more stemmy character than usual (from inclusion of whole bunches in the ferment) but this is a positive both for flavour and smooth texture in a wine of this calibre.

Pinot Noir

Long Rail Gully Murrumbateman Pinot Noir 2015
A lovely pinot, showing fragrant fruit and the complexity of whole-bunch ferments. Great to drink now and over the next four or five years.

Lerida Estate Lake George Pinot Noir 2015 $26.50
A world apart from the Long Rail Gully style, nice fruit underling the assertive tannin structure. Not your typical Australian pinot.

Lerida Estate Cullerin Lake George Pinot Noir 2015 $35
Like a concentrated version of the entry-level pinot, fruit and tannin multiplied. The tannin structure is reminiscent of Burgundy, not Australia.

Other varieties
Four Winds Vineyard Sangiovese 2015 $30
A lighter, juicy version of this Italian variety, with fine, savoury tannins.

Mount Majura Tempranillo 2015 $45
A wine of exceptional flavour depth, displaying tempranillo’s distinctive, pervasive tannins. Take a bow Frank van de Loo, this could be Canberra’s next red specialty after shiraz.

Mount Majura TSG 2015 $34
This blend of tempranillo, shiraz and graciano, thrills with its vivid purple colour, sweet, seductive aroma and vibrant, harmonious palate.

Lerida Estate Georgianus 2015 $16.50
A pot-pourri of leftovers blended to give affordable medium-bodied drinking with Lerida’s distinctive firm tannins.

Lerida Estate Merlot Cabernet Franc 2015 $26.50
Lerida’s local take on St Emillion’s classic blend shows the true power and tannic muscle of merlot in a good season. Needs time.

TASTED AND LOVED BUT NOT YET RELEASED

Mount Majura Shiraz 2015 $34 – for release November 2016
A winner of gold medals at the NSW Small Winemakers Show and Winewise Small Vignerons. Demonstrates the immense appeal of the vintage.

Collector Rose Red City 2015 $32 – for release April 2017
Alex McKay’s blend of sangiovese and other Italian varieties provides spice, savour and red-currant-like flavours with taut, drying tannins.

Collector Marked Tree Shiraz 2015 $28 – for release April 2017)
A less fleshy style, showing pepper, spice, and whole-bunch character, combined with red-berry flavour and grippy, savoury finish.

Collector Reserve Shiraz 2015 $58 – for release April 2017)
An impressive, multi-dimensional wine featuring ripe, dark-cherry like fruit, spice, and soy-like savour. Taut structure and chewy richness make this one of the best.

Wily Trout Shiraz 2015 $28 – for release early 2017
Irresistibly ripe, plush and lovely, this wine elevates Wily Trout from bronze-medal to gold-medal standard.

Four Winds Vineyard Tom’s Block Shiraz 2015 $75 – for release March 2017
Earth, spice, fruit and oak saturate the palate of an exceptional shiraz.

Clonakilla O’Riada Shiraz 2015 $36 – for release late 2016 or early 2017
A fragrant wine offering berry, spice and a gentle, understated but gorgeous drinking.

Clonakilla Syrah 2015 barrel sample – for release April 2017
It’s not even bottled yet but shows an Hermitage-like rivalry for Clonakilla’s flagship shiraz–viognier blend. Extraordinary fruit flavours.

Gallagher Shiraz 2015 $30 – for release late 2016 or early 2017
A distinctive shiraz showing the juicy richness of the vintage with intense black-pepper like flavour of cool-grown shiraz. Seductive.

Gallagher Merlot 2015 $25 – for release late 2016 or early 2017
An earthy, densely flavoured wine with merlot’s persistent, grippy tannins.

TASTED AND LOVED, BUT SOLD OUT AT THE WINERY

Though sold out at the winery, these wines may be still be around in restaurants or retail shelves.

Ravensworth Hilltops Nebbiolo 2015 $28
Ravensworth Estate Sangiovese 2015 $36
Ravensworth Garnacha Tinto Y Cinq-Sao 2015 $32

Wine review – Ravensworth, Nick O’Leary, Long Rail Gully, Mount Majura

4 October 2016Vineyard, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Ravensworth Charlie-Foxtrot Gamay Noir 2016
Johansen vineyard, Tumbarumba, NSW
$36
In its second vintage, Charlie-Foxtrot gives us Bryan Martin’s Tumbarumba–Canberra interpretation of France’s Beaujolais style – a fresh, fruity, drink-now red made from the gamay grape. Of a light to medium hue with vivid crimson colour, the wine very cleverly combines bright fruit flavours and freshness with smooth texture, savoury earthy notes and a dry, pleasantly grippy finish.

Nick O’Leary Riesling 2016
Canberra District
$20–$22
Canberra winemaker Nick O’Leary made three rieslings in 2016 – this blend from four Canberra vineyards; White Rocks from Geoff Hood’s original Westering vineyard (now part of the Lake George Winery vineyard); and the third from Tumbarumba. The Canberra blend provides delicate, dry drinking with invigorating Granny-Smith like acidity and lime-like varietal flavour. It’s ready for spring and summer drinking but should evolve in bottle for a decade.

Long Rail Gully Pinot Gris 2016
Long Rail Gully vineyard, Murrumbateman, Canberra District
$19.80–22
Winemaker Richard Parker makes the Canberra specialties, shiraz and riesling, but also makes delicious versions of pinot noir and pinot gris, varieties generally associated with cooler growing than Canberra. His new vintage pinot gris provides fuller-bodied, grippier drinking than, say, riesling, with a round, rich palate, smooth texture and a fresh, pear-like aftertaste. The extra weight and texture comes from barrel-fermentation and ageing of a portion of the blend.

Mount Majura Tempranillo 2015
Mount Majura Vineyard, Canberra District
$45
When does a variety move from “alternative” to mainstream? If the answer is when it becomes widely grown, made and loved, then Spain’s tempranillo is now an Australian staple. Mount Majura made its first Tempranillo in 2003. Vine and winemaking maturity thereafter tweaked the style so much that it became the winery’s flagship. And in the great 2015 vintage, Frank van de Loo lifted the bar even higher, delivering a wine of intense ripe, black-cherry-like fruit flavour combined with a deep savouriness, reminiscent of soy. The variety’s distinctive, chewy tannins cut through the fruit, giving a long, satisfying finish.