There’s never been a better time to buy wine. Equally, there’s never been a more confusing time for wine drinkers. For the very glut of producers and labels currently forcing prices down forms an intimidating wall of brands that confounds even professional wine judges.

The diversity of choice and competition-driven low pricing is good, of course. But confusion comes because on any one day at any price you’ll find wines that were made to sell at that price and offer fair value (or, sometimes, poor value) and wines that were made to sell at a much higher price but are now reduced and offer superior quality.

Take, for example the just-released Wynns Coonawarra Estate Shiraz 2004 (reviewed below). It really does sell for $21 or $22 when not on special. And given its quality, fifty-year pedigree and cellaring ability, that’s a fair price.

Well, it is until you see 1st Choice, Philip, advertising it at $11.40 by the dozen. At that price none of the brands made to sell at $11-$12 a bottle – and found on the shelves away from the red-hot specials — can hold a candle to it.

Unfortunately, Wynns at $11.40 has been and gone between deadlines for this column. But the fact that it happened, and that the market remains tough for producers, almost certainly means that it’ll be back somewhere in the competitive Canberra retail landscape. So, watch for the second coming.

Similarly, really good $17-ish reds – Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2003 and Hardys Oomoo McLaren Vale Shiraz 2004 – have popped up in several retail outlets in recent months at $8.90 a bottle by the dozen.

The former, a multi-region blend, and latter, a straight regional varietal, simply blow the purpose built $9 reds away. These are perennial favourites with retailers, so pile in whenever the numbers come up.

The list of white, red and bubbly bargain goes on. More than ever the astute buyer, cherry picking the best specials, drinks appreciably better wine than the casual or confused buyer grabbing a bottle on the way to dinner or believing that a high price tag is necessarily the best cue to quality.

But what consumer research has consistently shown is that really knowledgeable buyers make up a tiny minority of the wine drinking population and that, faced with such wide choice, most drinkers don’t know where to start.

So how do you identify the gold dust?

If you’re not immersed in wine lore, it’ll take some effort. But it’s possible if you seek advice from wine reviews or a couple of good reference books – and crosscheck these with the weekly press and Internet specials. The effort will be rewarded as it will give you the choice of drinking the quality you’re used to at a lower price or stepping up the quality ladder without paying more.

While favourable reviews from trusted critics make a reliable guide, they’re not always at hand may not cover all of the styles you’re interested in.

It’s therefore useful to invest in two reference books, both of which are updated each year: James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion 2006 ($29.95) and The Penguin Good Wine Guide ($??) by Huon Hooke and Ralph Kyte-Powell.

You could use one or the other. But the combination gives you Halliday’s form guide to 2001 wineries plus Hooke and Kyte-Powell’s wine-by-wine ratings. Armed with these and a list of specials you’ll be on the money.

WINE REVIEWS

Wynns Coonawarra Estate Shiraz 2004 $11.40 to $22
Wynns is a magnificent, cellaring red prone to bouts of discounting. Hopefully the $11.40 price offered by 1st Choice last week will come around again somewhere in Canberra. Made by Sue Hodder, the 2004 — benefiting from vineyard rejuvenation and a shortening of time in oak — is fragrant, medium bodied and oozing juicy, Coonawarra berry flavours. Shame on Wynns marketers, though, for lacking the courage to roll it out in screw cap. Hiding behind a ‘test the market’ screen, they’ve limited screw-cap stock to Vintage Cellars. That was fine five years ago as the technology emerged. But it’s now both proven and accepted. Restricting distribution merely deprives many drinkers of the best stock available.

Champagne Taittinger Brut Resérve NV $74.95
With a little more chardonnay in the blend than most NV’s (40 per cent versus about 33 – the remainder pinot noir and pinot meunier), good old Taitts is on the light and cheery side of Champagne, albeit with a rich and creamy mid-palate. Served recently at Chateau Shanahan after a bottle of the intense, pinot-driven Lanson 1996, the guest smile-gauge spun crazily. It could’ve been the second bottle phenomenon. But, no, a sober sip says this is a lovely, delicate aperitif style with the lightness of chardonnay and yummy brioche-like nuances of pinot meunier, the lesser of the two pinots, but indispensable nevertheless.

d’Arenberg McLaren Vale d’Arry’s Original Shiraz Grenache 2003 $15 to $20
d’Arry Osborn, father of present d’Arenberg winemaker, Chester, bottled the first of the famous ‘red stripe’ labels in 1959 and in the following two decades made d’Arenberg ‘Burgundy’ an Aussie favourite. The mellow, soft style appealed when young but also aged well for decades – attributes it retained after dropping the French place name, Burgundy, in favour of varietal labelling. The new release is a robust expression of the style with an appealing earthy richness and smoothness plus, being a year older than many new releases, a satisfying red-wine character that comes only with time. The fruit is so delicious that it carries 15 per cent alcohol with ease.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2005 & 2007

The sheer delicious pleasure of drinking riesling, young or old, and the efficacy of screw caps for both early drinking and cellaring wines came through at the recent National Wine Show exhibitors’ tasting.

Faced with 1400 wines and just four hours’ tasting time, quick forays into chardonnay, cabernet and shiraz turned to a dedicated look at the 119 rieslings entered across seven classes. Better a leisurely taste of one variety than snippets of everything – especially with such rich pickings on offer.

While the older wines, which we’ll get to later, tell us a lot about the future direction of many younger wines, the current release 2005’s present the best buying opportunities. It was a great vintage.

But very young rieslings are notoriously difficult to judge. Almost invariably at wine shows simpler commercial wines outscore the long-lived classics. Then, as the years roll by, the best wines blossom – providing huge drinking pleasure and raking in gold medals.

In the National’s premium 2005 riesling class, for example, Yalumba’s inexpensive ‘Y’ riesling with 52/60 points outscored its cellar mates – the slightly more expensive Pewsey Vale (51) and the company flagships, Heggies (46.5) and The Contours (44).

Similarly, Leo Buring’s flagship, Leo Buring Leonay DW 117 – a glorious, if austere drop, at 45.5 points languished behind its cellar mates, Buring Clare Valley on 46.5 and Buring Eden Valley on 49.5.

So if the judges reward the second best wines, what are we to make of it? My interpretation is that it’s partly human fallibility – especially when faced with a long line up of delicate, high acid wines; and, partly as a consequence of this, wines of greater fragrance and upfront fruitiness tend to win the day.

And in great years like 2005 a silver medal winning Yalumba Y at $9 to $12 provides really delicious drinking. But you only have to taste older vintages of Heggies and The Contours where, ultimately, quality lies. Indeed, the 2003 Heggies won a gold medal and trophy at the National while The Contours won gold medals for the 2001 and 1999 vintages.

By the way, the top two rieslings in the 2005 premium class are the exceptions that prove the rule: Peter Lehmann Reserve Riesling 2005 (55.5 points, gold medal) is a stayer but struck me as much fuller and richer than normal. The 2003 and 2001 also won gold in another classes.

And Jacob’s Creek Steingarten 2005 (56 points, gold and trophy) is stylistically different from earlier vintages. Normally austere and slow evolving, the 2005, says winemaker Bernard Hickin, was intentionally made to be fuller and riper with an eye on the American market.

In the museum class Steingarten 1997 won gold. But at the exhibitors’ tasting all three of the cork-sealed bottles available tasted different while the screw-capped gold medallists – Pewsey Vale The Contours 1999, Richmond Grove Watervale 1999 and Richmond Grove Watervale 1998 – showed a beautiful combination of maturity and freshness.

Those Richmond Groves, by the way, are perhaps the white bargain of Australian wine. They’re delicious when young, age beautifully and sell for as little $12.90. Unfortunately the lovely gold-medal winning 2005 (small volume commercial classes) won’t be released until September next year. But it’s worth noting as a must-buy.

While the Clare and Eden Valleys almost monopolised the gold medal spots, Houghtons staked a claim for Frankland River, Western Australia, with its minerally and dry 2002 vintage.

WINE REVIEWS

Yalumba ‘Y’ Series South Australia Riesling 2005 $9 to $12
Despite the humble price, ‘Y’ comes from the Barossa and the Eden Valley, key riesling areas. And in the hands of the Yalumba team, you can always count on the flavour and freshness being there. With 52 points out of 60 and a silver medal at the National Show, it outscored many much higher priced 2005 vintage wines. Over time, those wines may overtake ‘Y’. But for current drinking when you want tonnes of fruity aroma and flavour combined with zippy freshness, this is where the value lies. It should continue to drink well over the next two or three years.

Helm Canberra District Premium Riesling $ $33
Ken Helm’s been talking the riesling talk for decades. Now, deservedly, he’s walking the walk with this stunningly good wine. It’s the product of years of incremental adjustments to a winemaking regime applied to the very best grapes from Al Lustenberger’s fastidiously managed Murrumbateman vineyard. All it took was thirty years’ hard work, fuelled by vision, and a benign 2005 growing season that seems to have brought out the best in the variety. This is a wine with a seriously long future: it has the classic citrus and mineral aromatics and taut, intense, steely-yet-delicate palate of classic riesling. This is a great achievement for Ken and a very significant wine for the Canberra district, too. Cellar door phone number is 6227 5953.

Peter Lehmann Eden Valley Riesling 2005 $13 to $16
More often than not the very best rieslings reveal more as they age. This was reflected in the recent Barossa wine show results and at the National in Canberra. Amongst the 2005 vintage contenders, the flagship rieslings generally rated behind cheaper commercial releases. But, over time, we are sure to see those delicate, steely flagships surge ahead. Meanwhile, as these mature, there’s huge drinking pleasure in the more revealing, slightly cheaper rieslings like this triple-gold-medal winner from Peter Lehmann. With lovely aromatics, delicious fruit and taut, ultra-fresh, dry finish, it’s a stunning summer drink. Sensational at the price and has good cellaring potential.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2005 & 2007