Chris Shanahan: Wine review — Ladbroke Grove, d’Arenberg & Pizzini

Ladbroke Grove Coonawarra Riesling 2005 $17.99
This is a little producer to watch. Ladbroke’s Killian Cabernet 2001 won three trophies in the 2003 Limestone Coast Show. This year it was the riesling’s turn. After topping a strong 2005 vintage riesling class it went on to win the Karl Seppelt Trophy. Fruit comes from a northern Coonawarra vineyard, contracted to Ladbroke Grove and made in the Di Giorgio Winery by former Wynns winemaker, Peter Douglas. The wine springs out of the glass with its floral and lemon varietal aroma then lights up the palate with vibrant, very fine lemony flavours. Refreshing, delicate, minerally acids give the wine structure and length – and probably longevity, too.

d’Arenberg ‘The Feral Fox’ Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir 2004
We all know and love d’Arenberg for its traditional, robust but graceful McLaren Vale reds, built on shiraz, grenache, mourvedre and cabernet sauvignon. But there’s an innovative side to Chester Osborne’s winemaking as well with a raft of lovely Rhone-Valley white styles created in recent years and seriously good chardonnay and pinot noir emerging from the Adelaide Hills. This latest pinot is particularly convincing as it captures the variety’s heady perfume, delicious, plush palate and real red-wine complexity — complete with firm, fine, grippy tannins. And all of this comes in a wine that’s deceptively pale (by McLaren Vale standards). But that’s the enigma of good pinot.

Pizzini King Valley Sangiovese 2004 $25.99
Fred Pizzini visited Canberra last week presenting his King-Valley-grown Italian varietals – the red sangiovese and nebbiolo and the white arneis and verduzzo — at Vintage Cellars, Manuka, and Australian Wine Brokers, Braddon. This is an impressive line up of beautifully made, brightly flavoured wines that truly express the individuality of each variety – capturing even the elusive fragrant, elegant, tannic magic of nebbiolo, the grape of Piedmont’s Barolo. To get a glimpse of Pizzini’s touch (it’s a vineyard to bottle approach) try this sangiovese. It’s fresh and clean with the variety’s delicious ‘bitter cherry’ flavour and fine, dusty, drying tannins. Cellar door phone 03 5729 8030.