How are we to judge wines like Curly Flat that come out of the blue, grab the attention of critics around the world, clean up at wine shows and sell out quickly at $30 and $40 dollars a bottle?

Slowly, sustainedly and over many bottles over many years is my answer.

But first impressions count, too. And thinking back over more than thirty years in the trade, few new comers have hit the wow button as Curly Flat does.

That first impression came in June last year when Phillip and Jeni Moraghan, Curly Flat’s owners, showed their full sequence of chardonnays and pinot noirs from the first vintage, 1998, through to the then not-released 2005s.

Apart from a microbial blemish in one of the reds, it was a good to exciting line up with the best, to my palate, being the 2004 vintages of both the chardonnay and pinot noir (see Top Drops).

Even more importantly, the wines grew in interest over lunch prompting a resolve, fulfilled in January, to visit Curly Flat in Victoria’s Macedon region.

The name, says Phillip Moraghan, salutes Michael Leunig’s imaginary ‘Vineyard at Curly Flat’ where, ‘The locals have never bothered to describe the taste or construction of their wines but after drinking a couple of glasses they are inclined to become very eloquent in describing the way it makes them feel”.

Inspired by the wines of Burgundy – and how they made them feel — Phillip and Jeni decided in the late eighties to make their own pinot noir and chardonnay in Australia. After an eighteen-month search, they selected a very cool site, suited to the Burgundy varieties, in the Macedon Ranges, on the southern side of the Great Divide.

Between 1992 and 2000 they planted fourteen hectares of land to pinot noir (69 per cent), chardonnay (26 per cent) and pinot gris (5 per cent).

The Moraghans chose four different clones of chardonnay and five of pinot noir to encourage complexity in the wines. Now, as the vines mature, the fruit from each plot is handled, fermented and barrel-matured separately.

This gives Phillip a rich palette of flavours to work with in the winery and, over time, builds a history of how each plot and clone performs. As well, having so many small barrel components means a better final blend as barrels that don’t make flagship grade can go to the second label, Williams Crossing.

But the essence of Curly Flat’s wine flavours lies in the vineyards. These were purpose chosen for chardonnay and pinot noir; they’ve been trellised to best capture their flavours; and Phillip’s vineyard team pays fanatical attention to maintenance – especially in labour-intensive shoot thinning and green harvesting to reduce yields.

The combination of site selection, clonal selection, vineyard management, small-batch fermentation and maturation and an uncompromising approach to blending appear to be the elements that put Curly Flat chardonnay and pinot noir ahead of most.

Getting back to how we judge it, well, it’s judged every time someone takes a sip. And on that basis I’m prepared to pay the asking prices. Surely these are realistic considering the effort that goes into the making and the quality delivered.

But as to where Curly Flat sits in the world hierarchy of pinot and chardonnay, that’s a matter for many judgements, by many people over a lengthy period of time. And the verdict will ultimately be expressed in the price.

WINE REVIEWS

Curly Flat Pinot Noir 2004 $46 & Williams Crossing Pinot Noir 2004 $20
Curly Flat’s two pinot noirs come from five pinot clones spread over six distinct sections of the vineyard planted in 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000. Small batch making of the separate clones and separate blocks, followed by maturation of each component in French oak casks of varying provenance and age, produces a surprising diversity of styles. Those components considered not up to scratch go to the delicious, lean, dry and savoury Williams Crossing label (a great bargain), leaving the best barrels for Curly Flat – a succulent and serious red that deserves to be on every pinot lover’s radar. See www.curlyflat.com

Curly Flat Chardonnay 2004 $35 & Williams Crossing Chardonnay 2005 $15
Curly Flat’s chardonnays come from four clones planted on four vineyard sub-plots in 1993, 1996, 1997 and 2000. The various batches undergo a variety of winemaking approaches and, except for a small tank component, are matured – and for the most part fermented — as separate components in French oak barrels of varying ages and from different coopers. The best barrels go to the Curly Flat blend – a convincing top-shelf white in which high natural acid binds together intense fruit flavour and barrel-derived complexities. At less than half the price Williams Crossing delivers more up-front, drink-now fruit flavours, but still punches above its weight. See www.curlyflat.com

Curly Flat Lacuna Chardonnay 2005 $24
Ferment all of your chardonnay in barrels and you risk missing a part — a lacuna — one high, pristine flavour note that ties all the others together. For winemaker Phillip Moraghan it’s the pure-fruit component used to tune up what’s in the blending vat. Hence the name and source of this zesty, fruity chardonnay fermented in stainless steel tanks. What isn’t used to spruce up the Curly Flat flagship goes to the Lacuna label – an unoaked chardonnay displaying distinctive, cool-climate, grape-fruit-like varietal character accompanied by the subtle flavours and texture derived from maturation on spent yeast cells. See www.curlyflat.com

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2007

There’s a fascinating wine pilgrimage you can make driving to or from Melbourne: heading south on the Hume Highway, take the Kilmore exit, at Kilmore turn right towards Lancefield and at Lancefield follow the Woodend Road through to Newham, and then the signs to Hanging Rock Winery.

Coming home from Melbourne, take the airport freeway — ignore the Tullamarine exit — and continue north on the Calder highway. Take the second Woodend exit, follow the signs to Newham and from there the signs to the winery.

Either way it’s a short detour with a huge payoff. But be prepared to linger in the tasting room as Hanging Rock offers one of Australia’s greatest cellar experiences.

Why here, you might ask, on a southerly, elevated site on the Great Divide where most grapes, even in the warmest vintage, simply don’t ripen sufficiently to make table wine?

It’s a description that also fits France’s Champagne region – a climatically marginal wine area producing annually about 300 million bottles of top-shelf bubbly.

The marginal climate at fifty degrees north means that chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes struggle to the high-acid ripeness behind Champagne’s unique, delicate flavours.

Thirty years ago no Australian winemaker could even approximate these flavours for the simple reason that we didn’t have the right grapes growing in the right region. Yes, we’d long since replicated Champagne methods. But we’d applied them principally to neutral varieties, like ondenc.

By the early eighties several winemakers, including Dominique Landragin, Brian Croser and John Ellis, had been thinking of possible cold growing sites at high altitudes or low latitudes, including Tasmania.

For Ellis the search – based on a brief to a geologist to find the coldest site in Australia – led to Jim Jim hill in Victoria’s Macedon region. John and his wife Ann bought the site, established chardonnay and pinot noir on Jim Jim’s cold southern slope and established a winery.

While the site was chosen specifically to make world-class sparkling wine, commercial reality meant the production of table wines using sauvignon blanc, gewürztraminer and pinot gris from Jim Jim and other varieties from neighbouring regions.

For a visit to cellar door, the starting point – perhaps the highest point – are the sparkling wines reviewed in Top Drops. These are unique in Australia, not just for the extraordinary fruit flavour with its Champagne like intensity, but for the texture and complexity added by the making and maturation methods.

All top-end bubblies receive prolonged bottle maturation on yeast lees. But the Hanging Rock sparklers spend three years in old oak on lees prior to bottling. This is not so much about oak but about the oxidative environment, contact with lees and prolonged ageing – something that makes the flavour of this unique fruit flourish.

And if you love Bollinger, the French classic that’s also fermented and matured in old oak, you’ll appreciate the comparable nuances in Hanging Rock.

It’s worth the trip for the bubblies alone. But the a range of shirazes from Heathcote ($27 to $60), varietals from the Jim Jim vineyard ($24 to $27), regional varietals under the ‘Yellow Label’ ($16-$20), single vineyard specialties ($18 to $27) under the ‘Black Label’ and the delicious ‘Rock Range’ at $12 guarantees an exciting tasting experience.

And the journey seems set to continue as John and Anne Ellis’s children, Ruth and Robert, have joined the business as marketer and winemaker respectively.

WINE REVIEWS

Rock Riesling 2005, Rock Red 2004 $12
Hanging Rock Winery’s Rock range gives cellar door visitors a real alternative to the discounted big-company brands offered in retail stores. Riesling 2005 – a Strathbogie Ranges/Swan Hill blend – is a delicious, dry expression of the variety and offers outstanding value at $12. The most popular of the range, though, says Ann Ellis, is Rock Red 2004, a fresh, fruity, medium bodied style with vibrant acid and fine, soft tannins. It’s a blend of shiraz, pinot noir, malbec and grenache – strange but effective bed partners, in this instance. The range includes, as well, merlot, rosé, semillon sauvignon blanc and chardonnay. Available at www.hangingrock.com.au

Hanging Rock Rosé Brut $27, NV Brut Cuvée $49, Cuvée Six $110
Hanging Rock’s sparkling wines are unique and sit at the very tip of Australia’s quality pyramid. Quality begins in a now mature, south-facing vineyard rising from 650 metres above sea level near the winery to 700 metres on the slopes of Jim Jim hill. This extremely cool site (too cool to grow table wine) produces the intense-flavour, high-acid pinot noir and chardonnay essential in making top-notch bubblies. The wines from these superb grapes flourish in the long journey from vineyard to bottle (see main story) to emerge as bubblies of unique complexity. They possess great freshness and beautiful fruit flavour as well as a patina of characters derived from prolonged cask and bottle ageing.

Hanging Rock Heathcote: Shiraz $60, Cambrian Rise Shiraz 2003 $27
The Heathcote region — a little to the north of the Hanging Rock winery and vineyard at Macedon – provides shiraz for several Hanging Rock reds. The flagship Heathcote Shiraz 2003, an impressively powerful, balanced and potentially long-lived drop, comes principally from the Athol’s Paddock vineyard near the centre of this 110-kilometre long region. The delicious, soft, approachable-now Cambrian Rise Shiraz 2003 is a blend from seven vineyards sprinkled the entire length of the region. And Rowbottoms Shiraz 2003 ($33) expresses the striking ‘white pepper’ character of a single vineyard at the cooler southern end.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2007

For Melbourne-bound motorists the high-country around Beechworth and Bright and, on the return trip, in the vicinity of Macedon, offers rich food, wine and beer pickings.

On a recent jaunt the Chateau Shanahan team abandoned the disgraceful Hume Highway at Albury for the uncrowded back roads from Wodonga to Beechworth and Bright and then on to Dixon’s Creek in the Yarra before popping out in Melbourne, watching tennis and then loitering around Macedon, before the final sprint home.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2007

Lovely Beechworth owes much of its wine reputation to the jaw-dropping prices achieved by Giaconda, Castagna and Savaterre. But that’s not the end of the area’s wine story. It’s not even the beginning.

In fact, the area’s modern history began with the establishment of Smiths Vineyard in 1978 – located just on the Wangaratta end of town next to Pennyweight, founded in 1982. And there are lots more, as well – about thirteen by my count.

While the high-priced legends remain must-try wines for the deadly serious, a random wander is probably more enjoyable for the casual drinker. And that means all the idiosyncrasies that are part and parcel of the boutiqus scene: from the earthy, more-ish sangiovese of Amulet, to the magnificent chardonnays of Sorrenberg and Smiths, to the sherry styles from Pennyweight’s quarter-century-old solera.

And for après-cellar door, there’s Bridge Road Brewery (confusingly in Ford Street, not Bridge Road) where winemaker-turned –brewer, Ben Kraus, makes and serves fresh from tap a range of outstanding and highly distinctive beers. These go beautifully with the fresh pretzels made by his Austrian partner Maria.

Less than an hour’s drive away in Bright, the new Bright Brewery, too, serves fresh brewed beer just three paces from the vats. It’s a refreshing stop before crossing the road to Simone’s Restaurant.

You’ll have to book to enjoy Patricia Simone’s Umbrian inspired magic. And allow at least three hours to relax, savour the food and be a little adventurous with George Simone’s wine list. He offers a select range of local and Italian wines by the glass and backs this with a more comprehensive selection by the bottle.

From Bright, it’s about a three hour scoot back down the Hume, via Benalla and Mansfield, or via Seymour, to either Healesville or Dixon’s Creek in the Yarra.

Our preferred route is Dixon’s Creek as the road passes De Bortolis Winery and Restaurant – another fine watering hole.

Leanne de Bortoli’s Italian heritage shapes the food but her husband Steve Webber’s French orientation influences the increasingly elegant wine styles from the property. The new sauvignon 2006, for example, is delicious, bordering on sensational.

The cellar door offering was recently expanded to include the Richard Thomas cheese room. Richard, a driving force in Australian boutique cheese production, founded Milawa cheese in the eighties.

In the new venture with De Bortoli Richard matures a range of classic cheeses under controlled temperature and humidity and offers these – along with styles made for him by small manufacturers – at the cellar door and in the restaurant.

Loaded with cheese, it’s a short but fragrant drive into broiling, mid-January Melbourne. There’ll be one more food adventure before the trip northwest to Macedon and Woodend for new craft beer and wine encounters – including perhaps the best sparkling wines in Australia and the new hotshots of the Aussie pinot and chardonnay scene. Stay tuned.

WINE REVIEWS

Arnaldo-Caprai Umbria Poggio Belvedere 2003 $21
Umbrian wine on an Aussie wine list is a rarity. But it’s appropriate at Simone’s of Bright, an institution more than a restaurant, where Umbrian born Patrizia Simone’s delicious food harmonises with husband George’s wine list. On a recent visit this sangiovese/ciliegiolo blend hit the spot with stuffed, boneless pigeon and slow braised goat. Assumedly it was the ciliegiolo grape – sometimes called the cherry grape – that gave the wine an extra lift and seemed to mollify the austere tannins of the more familiar sangiovese. Available direct from the importer, call Maurizio at Arquilla Wines 03 9387 1040.

Santa Barbara Le Vaglie Verdicchio di Castelli di Jesi 2005 $28
We plucked this bone dry Italian white from the wine list at Da Noi, the legendary Sardinian restaurant in South Yarra. Made from the indigenous verdicchio grape — grown on the coastal plain, near Jesi in the Marche region – it’s a full-flavoured, utterly dry style with a tart, bordering on bitter, edge that grew in appeal as successive portions of a sensational antipasto arrived. This is as good a Jesi verdicchio as I’ve seen, if not a match for the best from the more elevated Matelica region to the west. Available direct from the importer, call Maurizio at Arquilla Wines 03 9387 1040.

Ringer Reef Alpine Valleys Merlot 2002 & 2004 $28
Annie and Bruce Holm’s Ringer Reef vineyard sits on the high side of the Bright to Wangaratta road, at Porepunkah, Victoria. Rare – perhaps unique –- in Australia, all of the 3.2-hectare vineyard, bar 400 vines, is planted to merlot. Annie and Bruce established the vines in 1998, made the first wine in 2001 and currently offer the Merlot 2002, with the 2004 vintage due for release in a few months. The quality progression is notable, though all three vintages to date show exceptional fruit depth and ripe, fine tannin structure – commendable achievements with this difficult but potentially great variety. See www.ringerreef.com.au