Author Archives: Chris Shanahan

Canberra’s vintage of a lifetime

Posted on 2 May 2012 by Chris Shanahan

Canberra’s vintage from hell, or vintage of a lifetime, turned out to be both, and bit in between as well. Canberra vignerons wrote off swathes of diseased fruit, adding to shiraz crop losses caused by poor fruit set early in the season. But by carefully handpicking healthy fruit, and in some cases weeding out diseased berries in the winery, the district now has its generally sound, albeit much reduced, 2012 vintage in the vat.

Riesling specialist Ken Helm, hopeful but apprehensive during February’s pre-vintage rain, emailed triumphantly on 16 March, “We are finishing our Riesling today. The fruit is outstanding and it is the vintage of my lifetime.”

A month later, the voice at the other end of the phone says, “It’s still the vintage of a lifetime. The wines are finished [fermenting] and they’re incredible. We will have a reserve riesling this year, but the crop’s down 50 per cent”.

Helm attributes the crop losses to berry splitting, caused by rain, followed by outbreaks of the mould, botrytis cinerea. However, the cool season, recording just four days over 30 degrees, encouraged steady flavour development and good acid retention in riesling grapes.

Helm says riesling achieved flavour ripeness at low sugar levels and exceptionally high acidity of 10.5 to 11 grams per litre. During fermentation and subsequent cold stabilisation, however, acidity dropped to a more palate friendly 7.5 to eight grams a litre – ideal numbers in dry wines of 10.3 to 10.5 per cent alcohol.

Helm expects to release his 2012 Classic Dry and Premium rieslings in August or September. And for only the second time in 40 years, he made a botrytis-infected sweet riesling. He says the 3.5 tonnes of fruit yielded just 800 luscious litres.

Helm’s other specialty, cabernet sauvignon, suffered less than shiraz in the adverse conditions. Nevertheless, he anticipated a 30 per cent drop in the coming crop from neighbour Al Lustenburger’s vineyard.

Clonakilla’s Tim Kirk says he’s “astonished at how it’s turned out. The fortunes of Clonakilla, and Canberra in general, hang on shiraz. We were worried botrytis would explode and lead to big crop losses. We saw this in some vineyards, which were unpickable. Not so in Clonakilla vineyard”.

Kirk recalls in the comparably cool, wet 2011 season leaving half his shiraz on the vine. The fruit had set with thin skins, making it vulnerable to disease. In 2012, however, the vines produced a small crop of disease resistant, thick-skinned berries – all successfully harvested.

Kirk believes the shiraz “may prove to be extraordinary, but we’ll wait and see”. Pressing the wine after three weeks post-ferment maceration on skins, Kirk observed, “very dark colour and fantastic flavours”. It’s high in acid, he says, but malolactic fermentation (a secondary fermentation that reduces total acidity) is yet to occur. Kirk believes cool seasons like 2012, where fruit struggles to ripeness but gets there, are potentially the greatest.

Kirk picked riesling early, ahead of the rain, looks to be “a very fine, bony style along the lines of 2011 – acid driven, fresh and appley, but delicious”. He held back unfermented juice which can be added back after ferment should the wine need rounding out.

Cabernet and merlot ripened fully but nevertheless show the herbaceous character of the cool year. Viognier developed good flavours at low sugar levels. There’s not much of it, says Kirk, and it’s definitely suited to Clonakilla’s elegant style – far removed from the syrupy versions made in warmer climates.

Sauvignon blanc and semillon, picked early to avoid disease, look a little on the green side, says Kirk, but a tiny pinot noir crop produced good looking wine, driven buy its tannin structure.

At Lerida Estate, Lake George, Jim Lumbers reports big drops in quantity. Merlot yielded better than last year and despite botrytis infections, “we have some very good fruit”, he says. “The whites are great, especially pinot grigio”.

“Pinot noir looks glorious. We’re pressing it, it looks fantastic, and so does the 2011. But we never would’ve dreamt it”. Lumbers say he picked pinot very early, hoping to beat diseases, but feared green, unripe flavours in the wine.

His team used sorting tables to eliminate diseased berries. The juice appeared very pale at first, but after fermentation the wines show good, if not deep colours, delicate violet-like aromas and amazing ripe fruit flavours.

The much-reduced shiraz crop, says Lumbers, looks very good and should make the cut for Lerida’s flagship shiraz viognier blend.

Up on the Lake George escarpment, Lark Hill’s Chris Carpenter reports a reduced but healthy crop with no losses to disease. The family’s Murrumbateman vineyard, however, suffered extensive hail damage. The Carpenter’s lost all of the shiraz from the vineyard, but harvested sangiovese and small amounts of the Rhone Valley white varieties marsanne, roussanne and viognier.

From the slopes of Mount Majura, Frank van der Loo reports that after a long wait for reds to ripen, they did, showing “fantastic deep colours but very low quantities”. Crop losses resulted from a combination of disease and weather-related poor fruit set.

The whites, says van der Loo are “good to excellent, showing the vintage raciness – long, steely acid, even in pinot grigio [a notably low-acid variety]”. He says the reds will be lighter bodied but deeper coloured than usual.

Posted in People, Vineyard, Wine | Comments Off

Beer review – Grand Ridge and Lord Nelson

Posted on 2 May 2012 by Chris Shanahan

Grand Ridge Yarra Valley Gold 330ml $3.35 Yarra in name, but brewed in Gippsland, Victoria, Yarra Gold is a deep amber ale offering sweet, golden-syrup-like, malty aroma, cut with resiny hops. The palate reflects the aroma with its generously, smoothly malty fullness, balanced by a delicious, clean, lingering, bitter hoppiness.

Lord Nelson Three Sheets Pale Ale 330ml $3.50 Three Sheets is brewed at the historic Lord Nelson hotel in Sydney’s Rocks area. The colour’s a mid gold and the aroma combines sweet maltiness with fresh, citrusy hops character. On the brisk palate, the sweet malt and citrus hops harmonise beautifully, inviting another sip as the lingering hops bitterness cleans off the finish.

Posted in Beer review | Comments Off

French cider makers target Australia

Posted on 2 May 2012 by Chris Shanahan

On 28 March, ubifrance.com – the French trade commission’s Australian website – highlighted the phenomenal growth of cider sales in Australia.

According to the site, Australia’s cider market totalled $300 million in 2011–12. The market grew at a compound growth rate averaging 19.1 per cent per annum over the previous five years and at an astonishing 35 per cent in 2011.

The article attributes much of the growth to the sheer diversity of cider styles, the growing number of brands and widespread advertising and event sponsorship.

The article points out the difference between “industrialised ciders with flavourings and added sugars to hide their defects” and suggests “real cider lovers ask for a real Australian legislation defining what cider actually is”.

The French take the opportunity to highlight the pure and natural traditional styles from Brittany and Normandy and the formation of Cider Australia to give a voice to Australian producers.

Posted in Cider | Comments Off

Wine review — Knappstein, Jacques Lurton and Chateau Vaugelas

Posted on 29 April 2012 by Chris Shanahan

Knappstein Clare Valley Shiraz 2010 $17–$22 We tasted Knappstein Clare Valley 2010 alongside the contrasting Alex McKay Canberra District Collector Reserve Shiraz 2011 ($58, reviewed in next Wednesday’s Food and Wine). Knappstein delivers the full, ripe, juicy flavours of the warm Clare Valley – a big, round, soft expression of shiraz ready to enjoy now and for another four or five years. Collector, on the other hand, showed the intense peppery flavours, medium body and lean, taut structure of a very cool Canberra vintage – a coy, succulently tannic wine needing time to reveal its layers of flavour.

Jacques Lurton The Islander Kangaroo Island The Red 2008 $20 Like Spike Milligan’s a bit of a book and a book of bits, Frenchman Jacques Lurton’s budget wine seems a bit of a red and red of bits – combining malbec, cabernet franc, co-fermented shiraz and viognier and grenache. In the French context this could be a Bordeaux-Cahors-Rhone Valley blend. On Kangaroo Island, however, the varieties happily cohabit, producing this rich, easy drinking red. Malbec leads the flavour and structure of a clean, fresh wine, with quite a firm spine of savoury tannins that leave a satisfying bite in the finish.

Chateau Vaugelas Corbieres 2009 $15.99 Corbieres, a sub-region of France’s massive Languedoc-Roussillon wine growing area, produces rich, warm, earthy wines, based on the red variety, carignan. In this Costco import, carignan, grenache and shiraz contribute 30 per cent each to the blend, and mourvedre the final 10 per cent. It’s deeply coloured, with a bright crimson hue. The aroma suggests bright, fresh ripe fruit – a promise delivered on the lively, full palate. Savoury, earthy flavours sit behind the fruit, matching the earthy, firm, dry finish of this solid, warm-climate red. Nice wine, dear Costco, but how about screw caps for the Australian market?

Posted in Wine review | Comments Off

Wine review — YarraLoch, De Bortoli, Church Road, Tim Adams, Punt Road and Chalmers

Posted on 25 April 2012 by Chris Shanahan

YarraLoch Stephanie’s Dream Pinot Noir 2010 $50 Coldstream, Yarra Valley, Victoria Stephen Wood owns the YarraLoch brand and vineyards and wine is made under contract by David Bicknell. In 2010 the pinot’s an absolute stunner with its brilliant, medium hue, delicious perfume and thrilling, deeply layered palate. It’s produced from two clones of low-yielding pinot, converted to wine through three different fermentation techniques – including labour-intensive foot stomping and hand plunging for two components. The fermentations use a combination of wild and inoculated yeast and maturation is in range of French oak vessels of varying age and size. The result is pristine, highly concentrated, elegant pinot with deep underlying savouriness. Should evolve well for many years.

De Bortoli Windy Peak Pinot Noir 2010 $11.40–$1410 Yarra Valley, Victoria The profound finessing of Australian wine now underway means we can marvel at a glorious pinot, like the Yarraloch Stephanie’ reviewed here today – or simply enjoy the exuberant varietality of a Windy Peak. The former flourished for days on the tasting bench – a wine with a future as well as a present. The latter provided a slurpy, pure-pinot juiciness, complete with tannin structure and rich texture – at its best the day we opened it.

Church Road Chardonnay 2010 $21–$26 Hawkes Bay, New Zealand Church Road, founded in the 1890s, now sits with Australia’s Jacob’s Creek and New Zealand compatriot wine brands, Brancott Estates and Stoneleigh, under the ownership of France’s Pernod Ricard. Church Road seems to be a style in transition from old-fashioned, turbo-charged oak-fruit-malo-leesy gob-filler, to a more refined modern style. I hear the 2011’s finer again than the 2010, which still sits in the big, ripe, juicy, richly textured style – clearly revealing the winemaking influences on the lovely fruit flavour. It’s a very appealing drink, but may be a little over the top for some palates.

Tim Adams Riesling 2011 $19–$22 Clare Valley, South Australia Tim Adams’ searingly bone-dry riesling attacks with the intensity of unsweetened, fresh squeezed lime juice – exquisitely delicate and mouth puckering at the same time. It’s a little too mouth puckering to enjoy on its own. But the high acidity works well with fish, cutting through the oiliness; and it enhances the briny bite of oysters. The combination of intense flavour, delicacy and high acidity also suggest outstanding long-term cellaring potential. Over time, the varietal flavour and texture of wines like this build in very pleasing ways.

Punt Road Merlot 2010 $24–$27 Napoleone Vineyard, Coldstream, Yarra Valley, Victoria Winemaker Kate Goodman made just 500 dozen of this wine from two older blocks of the Napoleone vineyard (established 1983). Goodman writes, “the fruit was crushed and soaked for three days to aid colour and flavour extraction. After fermentation, it was pressed and matured in a combination of new and seasoned oak for 12 months”. The result is vividly coloured wine of medium hue and body. The vibrant, fruity flavour comes coated in soft tannins. But these seem to tighten up a after the first glass – showing us that we should never take merlot too lightly.

Chalmers Fiano 2010 $20–$27 Euston, Murray Darling region, New South Wales Fiano, an ancient Italian white variety widely planted in southern Italy and Sicily, seems at home in the Chalmers family vineyard at Euston, New South Wales. Kim Chalmers says they ferment two thirds of the blend in stainless steel, but complete the other third in old French oak barrels. They blend the barrel-aged portion with the stainless steel component, then age the blend in bottle for a year “to accentuate fiano’s unctuous texture and allow the highly acidic and delicately stone-fruity variety to develop some roundness and weight”. The leesy barrel component dominates the aroma. Nevertheless a unique, pleasantly tart, savouriness pushes through.

Posted in Wine review | Comments Off

The finessing of Australian chardonnay

Posted on 25 April 2012 by Chris Shanahan

Quietly, as the great wave of New Zealand sauvignon blanc swept across Australia, Australian winemakers perfected chardonnay. Despite sauvignon’s dominance on Australian dinner tables over the last decade, chardonnay remained our most widely planted, consumed and exported local white variety.

Where sauvignon blanc unleashes it true character only under cool growing conditions, chardonnay makes tasty varietal wines across a surprisingly broad range of climates. And even if it retreats from the hottest Australian growing areas, chardonnay’s here to stay in a diversity of climates – from the warm Hunter Valley, to moderate Margaret River to cool southern Victoria and Tasmania.

Chardonnay arrived in Australia in the nineteenth century. But it rose to prominence only after an explosion in table wine consumption during the 1970s and 1980s.

When it did take off, demand exceeded supply for the best part of a decade. According to one early eighties estimate, Australia sold more chardonnay than it produced. And to stretch their precious chardonnay supplies, some makers blended it with hard-to-sell semillon. But the successful, if curious, semillon-chardonnay hybrid faded as chardonnay production grew.

Pioneering small vignerons planted chardonnay in cool climates, modelling their wines on the superb oak-fermented whites of Burgundy, especially the renowned vineyards of Corton Charlemagne and Puligny and Chassagne Montrachet.

The steady, and ultimately profound achievements of these pioneers, though, occurred parallel to the rise of mass-produced, largely warm-climate chardonnay.

In the late seventies few Australians drank chardonnay, if only because we produced so little of it. Those that did, probably cut their chardonnay teeth on Burgundy or even one of the growing number of Californian versions.

As chardonnay plantings exploded during the eighties, our winemakers learned how to deal with what was for them a new variety. Never in our long winemaking history had our vignerons faced such large volumes of grapes from newly planted vines.

Not surprisingly, they threw every winemaking trick they knew at it – oxidising grape must, fermenting in oak barrels, fermenting in stainless steel and transferring finished wine to barrel, encouraging malolactic fermentation, ageing on yeast lees and adding oak chips.

In the early days when much of the crop probably delivered little grape flavour, these practices tended to overwhelm varietal character. But the wines proved popular, attracting many fans to the rich, peachy, buttery style – the latter a reference to a strong buttery, or sometimes butterscotch or caramel-like, flavour derived from the secondary malolactic fermentation (converting malic to lactic acid and reducing total acidity).

Later, consumer resistance to more over-the-top styles sparked a rash of “unwooded” chardonnays, notable for their blandness, or in some instances, reliance on a buttery malolactic character. The late, great Len Evans described these as a great con – not arguing against unoaked chardonnay per se, but against the cynicism behind so many of the bland offerings.

Meanwhile, winemakers were making progress, albeit slowly. Tyrrell’s, for example, began making chardonnay in the 1970s after Murray Tyrrell famously pinched cuttings from a neighbouring Penfolds vineyard.

At a vertical tasting in the early nineties, Tyrrell’s how well the seventies chardonnays had aged, while the eighties wines had turned fat, flabby and tired. In the seventies, they’d made the wine much as they made semillon. In the eighties, they’d adopted all the tricks described above. It took a decade to realise they’d gone too far.

Rather than retreat to the techniques of the seventies, though, they retained the Burgundian practices that suited Hunter grapes. This meant less new oak, more temperature control in the maturation environment and the complete abandonment, for a time of malolactic fermentation. Bruce Tyrrell questioned at the time why they’d used this acid-reducing technique in a warm area where grapes often lacked acidity.

They’ve continued to fine-tune their approach, making a distinctive, complex chardonnay capable of long-term cellaring. We continue to enjoy mid-nineties vintages at Chateau Shanahan.

By the mid nineties, the finessing of Australian chardonnay was well advanced, especially at the top end. The vines and winemaking skills of small makers had matured. And the big companies had poured resources into their flagship products. Penfolds produced its first Yattarna Chardonnay in 1995 and by the turn of the century its quality was as good as any in the country. Likewise, by 2000 Hardys flagship Eileen Hardy chardonnay had settled largely into the style and fruit sourcing it has today.

What the big companies learned flowed down into better, finer, mass-produced products, too. Meanwhile mid-tier companies, notably De Bortoli and McWilliams, developed their own styles – joining the big and small makers in the chardonnay revolution.

The finessing we’ve witnessed over the last 20 years puts Australia firmly among the world’s top chardonnay producers. The world talks about our shiraz now. But chardonnay could be the variety that finally breaks the stereotype of us as one big, hot county making homogenous wine.

Posted in Wine | Comments Off

Beer review — Brewboys and Wigram Brewing Co

Posted on 25 April 2012 by Chris Shanahan

Brewboys Maiden Ale 330ml $4.42 South Australia’s Brewboys makes its beers and offers them for tasting at its cellar door, Regency Road, Croydon Park Adelaide. Their deep-amber Maiden Ale appeals for its luxurious head, lovely, citrus-like hops aroma, smooth, malty palate and tart, citrusy, moderately bitter finish. A resiny hops flavour dominates after a few glasses.

Wigram Brewing Co Bristol Best Bitter 500ml $8.08 No, not from England, but Christchurch, New Zealand – though brewed in the English ‘best bitter’ style, a branch of the pale ale family. This one’s deep amber in colour with a big, malt-sweet, opulent palate. And just when it seems a little too malt sweet, layers of countervailing hops bitterness flood the palate.

Posted in Beer review | Comments Off

The punter’s top beers of 2011

Posted on 25 April 2012 by Chris Shanahan

The increasing reach of social media gives us a glimpse into what thousands of drinkers voted as their favourite premium brews of 2011.

On 26 January, the popular Local Taphouse Blog (www.thelocaltaphouse.blogspot.com) named “the hottest 100 Aussie craft beers” from a selection of over 800 products.

It’s an eclectic blend of names, where tiny brewers rub shoulders with the craft arms of brewing giants Lion Nathan and Foster’s.

In the top 20, for example, Foster’s fielded 13th favourite, Matilda Bay Fat Yak – while Lion Nathan got a look in with 18th-placed Knappstein Enterprise Brewery Reserve Lager and beers from Little Creatures and White Rabbit (in which it holds a stake) in second, fifth and tenth places

Australia’s third largest brewer, Cooper’s, earned 16th spot with its perennial favourite, Pale Ale.

The top three beers were Byron Bay’s Stone and Wood Pacific Ale, Little Creatures Pale Ale and Feral Brewing Company Hop Hog.

Posted in Beer | Comments Off

Wine review — Peter Lehmann, Squitchy Lane and Zema Estate

Posted on 22 April 2012 by Chris Shanahan

Peter Lehmann Barossa Portrait Semillon 2011 $18 Peter Lehmann Barossa Margaret Semillon 2006 $25.65–$32 In the late 1990s Peter Lehmann winemaker, Andrew Wigan, moved away from ripe, oak-fermented semillon styles to an earlier-picked, fresher unwooded style. The lighter, fresher, lower alcohol wines appealed to wine drinkers. Lehmann recently released two versions of the style. Portrait Semillon 2011, appeals for its zesty, citrusy, bone-dry lightness (10.5 per cent alcohol). And Margaret Semillon 2006, sourced largely from 80–90 year old vineyards, weaves the magic of nutty and honeyed flavours of bottle age to the delicate, zesty theme. Wigan rates 2006 as “one of the greatest white vintages the Barossa has ever seen”.

Squitchy Lane Vineyard Yarra Valley Fume Blanc 2011 $26 Squitchy Lane Vineyard Yarra Valley Pinot Noir 2010 $32 Californian winemaker Robert Mondavi coined the term fume blanc in the 1960s. The term saluted the Loire Valley sauvignon blanc, Pouilly Fume, and differentiated Mondavi’s dry wine from its sweet competitors. The term took off in Australia in the eighties but is rarely used now. It usually indicates a sauvignon blanc that’s been oak fermented. In this case, winemaker Robert Paul made 420 cases from fruit grown on Mike Fitzpatrick’s vineyard at Gruyere, Yarra Valley. The barrel influence mutes sauvignon’s fruity exuberance, but adds texture and delicious layers of flavour derived from contact with spent yeast cells.

Zema Estate Coonawarra Shiraz 2008 $23.75–$26 Zema winemaker, Greg Clayfield (formerly of Lindemans), offers a few comments on what makes Zema shiraz special, “There is a good diversity of vineyards, from the subtly cooler Cluny block at the southern end of the renowned terra rossa strip, to the comparatively riper and drier Glenroy block at the northern end of Coonawarra… complemented by the home block which sits right in the heart of the original John Riddoch Fruit colony”. The 2008 vintage weaves together juicy, delicious, ripe-berry and spicy shiraz flavours with sweet but subtle oak and persistent, very fine tannins – a wine that should evolve well over the next decade.

Posted in Wine review | Comments Off

Wine review — Swinging Bridge, Kilikanoon and Domaine A

Posted on 15 April 2012 by Chris Shanahan

Swinging Bridge Orange Sauvignon Blanc 2011 $18.95 Marlborough, New Zealand, dominates Australia’s sauvignon blanc market. But our cooler Australian regions like the Adelaide Hills and Orange often give the Kiwis a run for their money, albeit in different styles. This one, from the Ward family vineyard at Orange, captures an exuberant, passionfruit-like, pure and fruity face of the variety. The striking passionfruit aroma, flows through to a delicious, riotously fruity palate that sings with fresh acidity and finishes crisp and dry. Vignerons Tom and Georgie Ward attribute the wine’s flesh and texture to lees stirring and partial barrel fermentation.

Kilikanoon Blocks Road Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $30–$35 We placed Blocks Road in a recent line up of cabernet from seven different Australian regions. The widely varied climates represented in the tasting delivered a range of styles, consistent with their origins – like the chalk and cheese represented today by the warm Clare Valley and cool Tasmania. Our Clare wine, from very low yielding vineyards, showed rich, ripe, intense, chocolate-like varietal flavour of the warm region. Layers of firm, ripe tannin supported the rich fruit flavours, creating a big but not heavy wine that looked better and better with increasing aeration.

Domaine A Stoney Vineyard Tasmania Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 $30 From the heart of pinot noir country, in Tasmania’s Coal River Valley, comes this beautiful cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, petit verdot blend. Owner Peter Althaus writes that it’s grown on a warm, north-facing vineyard. And, no doubt, intense vine management and restricted yields allow cabernet to ripen at this latitude. Despite 33 months in oak barrels, the lovely, elegant varietal aroma dominates the aroma and flavour – showing both ripe berries and an attractive leafy edge. There’s an interplay between the fruit and tannins, the overall impression being of finesse and elegance.

Posted in Wine review | Comments Off

Author Archives: Chris Shanahan

Categories

Archives