Yearly Archives: 2008

A chat with Chuck Hahn

Beer

Shock, horror! After all the build up in this column there’s to be no James Squire Hop Thief this season. Brewer Chuck Hahn tells me we may see a new Aussie-hops version in the future, after the American and Kiwi based brews we saw in earlier brews.

Meanwhile, says Chuck, if the hopheads want hops he suggests James Squire Pilsener – to my taste one of the most assertively hopped local brews cast squarely and uncompromisingly in the robust Bohemian mould.

It recently won the World Beer Cup’s gold medal as the best Bohemian-style Pilsener – a victory that saw Chuck fielding calls from the world’s beer press, including one from the Czech Republic’s Pilsen region.

But Chuck’s not saying why there’s no Hop Thief this year. Perhaps it’s the distraction of a new winter warmer that’s on its way – a high alcohol ale seasoned with Australian pepper berries, added towards the end of the boil. It’ll be released in the first week of July.

Meanwhile there’s still a little of Chuck’s summer specialty — Mad Brewers Raspberry Wheat beer — out in the trade. This is a light, dry, pleasantly tart ale seasoned with raspberries (3.5 tonnes of them) and a touch of mint.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2008

Wine review — Mistletoe, Bowen Estate & Bidgebong

Wine review

Mistletoe Hunter Valley Home Vineyard Semillon 2008 $18 & Broke Verdelho 2008 $18; Tulloch Hunter Semillon WA Sauvignon Blanc 2008 $16
These are the first three 2008 whites to hit the tasting bench. Mistletoe’s semillon, at 9.5 per cent alcohol, has the tangy, face-twisting, eye-watering impact of fresh grapefruit – an oddity at present but one that’ll no doubt be mollified by time and sit well with fresh fish and lemon. Their verdelho, though, is juicy, sappy, fresh and ready to enjoy now. It’s from a single vineyard at Broke, one Valley over from Pokolbin. Tulloch’s Hunter-Western Australia blend is another low-alcohol drop at 10.5 per cent. It’s on the lean, herbal side of sauv blanc and seems to rely on a bit of residual sugar to fill out the palate – it’s fair value at $16.

Bowen Estate Coonawarra Shiraz 2006 $28.20, Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 $28.20, Chardonnay 2007 $20.30
Bowen’s new chardonnay shows melon-like variety flavour, barrel influence and has the slightly fat, sweet finish typical of the Aussie style. It’ll be a handy cellar door wine, but not one to stand out in the retail world. The reds, however, hit the excitement button and I wonder if, perhaps, we’re seeing the influence of new generation Emma Bowen, daughter of founders Doug and Joy Bowen. The shiraz is sensational with its bright berry fruit, elegant structure and velvety, smooth texture – the best for years in my view. The cabernet impresses, too. It’s got some leafy notes, but they’re just seasoning to a substantial and satisfying Coonawarra classic.

Bidgeebong Icon Series Tumbarumba Chardonnay 2006 $34, Gundagai Shiraz 2005 $22
Bidgeebong’s Icon Series 2006 gives some of our $60-plus chardonnays a run for their money. It’s a finely sculpted, pale, dry style showing the class of high, cool Tumbarumba – it’s lean, taut and dry but rich and smooth at the same time, with years of cellaring ahead. Watch Tumbarumba it’s taking off in its own right and moving away from its past as source of premium blending material for the big companies. Winemakers Andrew Birks and Keiran Spencer have come up with another winner, too, in the rich, plummy, supple and savoury Gundagai Shiraz – a bargain. But one query gentleman – what’s with the daggy labels?

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2008

Sipping from the top shelf — Aussie wines that came our way

People, Vineyard, Wine, Wine review

We recently lined up a dozen top-shelf Aussie reds in a Chateau Shanahan masked tasting. There were just two of us at the bench – forming our judgments without discussion, then, at the end of each bracket comparing our impressions, and later unmasking the bottles.

In the few days following the sip-and-spit tasting, we consumed the bottles over various meals to see how they held up in real life. We include these impressions in the notes below.

We don’t pretend that the wines in the tasting are a true cross section of top-end Australia. They were just samples of new-release wines that’d come our way in the week or two before the tasting – and include old favourites as well as two new faces.

Eden Road Two Trees Grenache Shiraz 2006 $75 (screw cap)
A 50:50 blend of grenache and shiraz, 89 per cent from the Eden Valley with a small amount of grenache from the Clare Valley and shiraz from Colbinabbin, Heathcote. 300 dozen produced.

Along with the Eden Road V06 shiraz below, this is a first release from Canberra based Cooper Coffman Wine Company. It’s based on very low yielding, very old vines, lending some credibility to the hefty price tag. It’s a juicy, opulent wine showing distinctive jube-like grenache flavour mingling with liquorice-like character of Eden Valley shiraz. There’s a touch of porty ripeness and alcoholic warmth. But it’s balanced and easily passed the ‘bottle test’ – the leftovers from the masked tasting drank beautifully to the last drop a few days after the tasting.

Eden Road V06 Shiraz 2006 $220 (screw cap)
Sourced from a block of shiraz vines, planted in the 1890s, on Cooper Coffman’s Eden Valley vineyard. The vines yielded just 1.2 tonnes to the hectare in 2006 from which Martin Cooper made 300 dozen of.
Putting the price aside for a moment, this is a buoyant and fragrant, supple and generous, soft and elegant, pure shiraz of a very high calibre. Martin Cooper says most of the small production is to be hand sold in export markets, so discussion of the $220 price tag may prove academic.

Jacob’s Creek Centenary Hill Barossa Valley Shiraz 2003 $42 (cork)
Produced from the Willandra Vineyard and other old sites along Jacob’s Creek, Southern Barossa Valley.
There’s some terrific fruit at the heart of this wine from the difficult 2003 vintage. But there seemed to be a battle between the fruit and the oak – and the oak won. We tried to like it, but even at a post-tasting meal we couldn’t get past the intrusive oak.

Penfolds Magill Estate Shiraz 2005 $100 (cork)
Sourced from blocks 1, 2 and 3 of the Penfolds Magill Vineyard, Adelaide.
This is the wine that saved the historic Magill site from sale and subdivision. On 9 October 1982 retired Grange creator, Max Schubert, hand wrote for the Adsteam board (then owners of Penfolds) a six foolscap page proposal (never published) of what the wine should be like, how to make it and the economics of doing so. Max’s proposal began with this description of the wine that he envisage: ‘To make a French Chateau style red wine, distinctly different to the Grange Hermitage style, in that body weight and colour would be approximately half that of Grange, whilst aroma, flavour and character would be individual and pronounced’.

The board endorsed Max’s proposal and Penfolds made the first Magill Estate wine in 1983. Over the years Magill developed a bit more weight than Max had originally envisaged. This was essential fine-tuning of the style as the early vintages proved to be a little too lean. But it remains distinctive and has an elegance that I’m sure would’ve pleased Max.

In our tasting the 2005 showed ripe but spicy varietal character that we associate more with cool areas, not sunbaked suburban Adelaide. The ripe, spicy fruit interplayed beautifully with spicy oak, creating one of the most enjoyable wines of the tasting – one that slipped down pleasurably over the next few days.

Grant Burge Meshach 2003 $120 (cork)
Sourced principally from old vines on Grant Burge’s Filsell vineyard, located between Lyndoch and Williamstown, southern Barossa Valley, supplemented with fruit from other 100-plus-year-old vines.
Reflecting the warm year and the region, this is a big, ripe and porty wine. But like it’s southern Barossa neighbour, Centenary Hill Shiraz above, the oak outweighed the fruit. Remarkably, the wine looks better now, three days after opening – suggesting that it’ll age for many years. But it’s not, to my taste, one of the better vintages of Meshach.

Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2004 $90 (cork)
Sourced from the Barossa Valley, Langhorne Creek and the Adelaide Hills. Unlike the other Penfolds reds, matured in large old oak vats – no new oak, no small barrels.

For a while St Henri hid behind the comparatively oaky wines in the tasting. But its appeal grew with each sip. It’s all about ripe, dense, round, soft pure shiraz. From experience St Henri’s at its best beyond ten years of age – and therein lies my caveat. Why, oh why, dear Penfolds winemakers when you bottled it, in the age of the screw cap, did you put such a crappy little cork in it? St Henri and your customers deserve better than this.

Penfolds RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz 2005 $160 (cork)
Made from Barossa shiraz selected for opulence and fleshiness.
The first vintage in 1997 was lovely, the second in 1998 remains the best Barossa shiraz I’ve tasted. And the 2005 isn’t far behind. It’s fragrant, generous and fleshy with bright, varietal fruit flavours that mesh perfectly with the high quality French oak. This is a superior wine.

Brown Brothers Patricia Shiraz 2004 $54 (cork)
Fruit sources: 33 per cent Brown Brothers’ Heathcote vineyard; 33 per cent Dinning’s Vineyard, King Valley; 34 per cent Glenkara vineyard, Western Victoria.

I suspect a poor cork might’ve let Patricia down, muting the fruit and allowing oak and tannin to take over and dry the wine out. We’ll try another bottle some time.

Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 $175 (screw cap)
Fruit source: Barossa Valley (including Kalimna Vineyard Block 42), Coonawarra and Padthaway.
They call it ‘Grange cabernet’ and there’s a strong family resemblance in the dense colour and combined flavour of sweet American oak and powerful fruit. Of course, the flavour and structure is cabernet, not shiraz. It gets a bit of stick from other winemakers these days because of the American oak. But to me it works and gives the wine its distinctive thumbprint. Like Grange, it begins to hit its straps at about fifteen years of age. By then its showing cabernet’s elegance and fragrance with deep, sweet, underlying fruit. The elements are all there now in the outstanding 2005. But it really isn’t meant for current drinking. Its cellaring record makes it a great long-term ‘memento’ wine.

Jacob’s Creek St Hugo Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 $42 (cork)
Source: Coonawarra, principally the northern end.
This was our value-for-money pick of the tasting. It’s classic Coonawarra cabernet, featuring power with elegance and textbook cabernet flavour (ripe berries with a leafy edge) and structure (firm but not hard). Its perfume and flavour blossomed during the tasting and the bottle drank well three days later. Unlike the Bin 707, St Hugo provides outstanding drinking now. It will probably evolve well for another five or six years at least.

Grant Burge Shadrach Barossa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 $55 (cork)
Fruit source: Grant Burge’s Corryton Park Vineyard, on the slopes of Mount Crawford, Eden Valley, plus very rich fruit from several smaller Barossa Vineyards.

First impressions were of a simpler wine, with ripe, varietal aroma and a brisk but earthy, chocolate-rich palate. While it lacked the immediate appeal of the St Hugo, the flavours built over time. It’s a solid, complex cabernet with its best drinking four or five years away.

Cape Mentelle Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 $85 (cork)
Fruit source: Cape Mentelle’s Wallcliffe Vineyard, Margaret River.
It’s a wine with a big reputation but I suspect a dodgy cork took the edge off our sample. It wasn’t corked, but there was a dusty smelling hint and then a very dry finish that didn’t fit with the otherwise beautiful fruit. We’ll hold judgement until we try another bottle.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2008

Australia 2008 — vintage vignettes

Wine

No vintage is all good or all bad. And it seems that 2008 was a mix of both extremes – from tales of woe and withered fruit in South Australia’s March heatwave to delight at a riesling vintage that may measure up to the legendary 2002.

While water shortages continued to plague growers along the Murray River, some inland regions, Canberra included, benefited from intermittent summer downpours that boosted crops beyond early-season expectations.

Near the mouth of the Murray, at Langhorne Creek, on Lake Alexandrina, growers coped more or less successfully with severe water shortage. Then part way through vintage an extraordinary burst of heat wrought considerable damage to crops.

Guy Adams, from Brothers in Arms vineyards, describes a schizophrenic, before-and-after the heat vintage. ‘Water aside’ he writes, ‘the growing season was sensational and as picking drew near we were very excited by the physiological balance we had achieved with the vineyard and fruit overall’. Vintage ran smoothly for ten days before ‘the longest, most brutal heat event ever experienced in modern times in our state’. The heat persisted from 2 March to 18 March.

In its first week, it brought ripening on in a rush and those with fermentation capacity harvested reasonable material. But the second week dehydrated the remaining crop, much of which stayed on vines or came into wineries at extraordinary sugar levels.

Fruit that came in ahead of the heat, particularly shiraz, malbec and petit verdot, produced good wine, says Guy. But the later ripening cabernet, always a problem in a hot vintage, fared poorly. This gels with reports of good pre-heat Barossa shiraz and ordinary post-heat cabernet from Foster’s chief winemaker Chris Hatcher in a recent interview.

The pre and post heat story applies across eastern Australia in varying severity – from mild in Canberra to dramatic in South Australia’s McLaren, Clare, Langhorne Creek and Barossa areas.

In Clare, the Hardy-owned Leasingham Wines, one of the district’s largest producers, crushed about eighty per cent of its fruit before the heat. Winemaker Simon Osicka rates this year’s riesling ahead of 2007’s on all counts and says that ‘shiraz and cabernet sauvignon, harvested in the period prior to an early March heatwave, have produced wines with great fragrance, density, full flavour and length’.

Leasingham’s 3,983 tonne 2008 harvest was up ninety five per cent on last year’s drought reduced crop.
From Glenrowan, northeastern Victoria, Baileys’ winemaker, Paul Dahlenburg, reports a high quality 2008 vintage, with yields down about thirty per cent on normal. That was infinitely better than 2007, though, as frost reduced fruitfulness, then seventy days of bushfires tainted whatever wine was made. In the end, according to Paul, ‘all red and fortified wine from the 2007 vintage will not be released under the Baileys brand’.

Across Canberra, we’re hearing reports of a bumper, high-quality crop, following near devastation by frost and drought in 2007. It was, for example, a record, if early, harvest for Ken Helm at Murrumbateman. He rates 2008 riesling with the outstanding 2005s.

Canberra’s biggest winemaker, Cooper Coffman winery, reports good volumes and quality from nearby Tumbarumba and Hilltops regions. Martin Cooper says viognier from the Elvin Group’s Holt vineyard is outstanding and he’s impressed with shiraz from the Wily Trout vineyard at Hall. Some local fruit however he sees as having been grown for quantity not quality.

Down in Coonawarra heavy October rain pushed the vines and fruit along. Thereafter, it was a dry season with less than ninety millimetres falling in the following six months, says Wayne Stehbens of Katnook Estate.

Vintage started and finished early and the heat wave shrivelled some fruit, especially cabernet sauvignon. Most whites ripened ahead of the heat and are of good quality. But if red quantities are down, makers report some pretty exciting parcels.

From nearby Wrattonbully, Stonehaven winemaker, Sue Bell writes, ‘It was the most relentless and rapid vintage I’ve ever experienced. The heatwave at the end kept us on our toes and if anything, strengthened the ties between viticulture and winemaking’. Sue rates cabernet from Wrattonbully and neighbouring Coonawarra as ‘amongst the best I’ve ever seen’.

Western Australia’s largest winemaker, Hardys, reports moderate crops, with an early vintage in the warmer Swan Valley and normal picking times to the south at Margaret River, Pemberton, Frankland River and Mount Barker.

Hardys’ Houghton winemaker, Rob Bowen, sees shiraz and cabernet as the highlights, comparing the latter to the very good 2004s.

While the Hunter Valley struggled with torrential vintage rain (what’s new?), it seems New South Wales’ newest official region (admitted to the national register in January), New England, turned out the quality. Port Macquarie based John Cassegrain writes, ‘Chardonnay is the standout this vintage. The fruit analysis and flavours from both New England and Tumbarumba are so exciting. The acid and Baumé ratios are perfect, at levels almost unheard of’.

These vintage snapshots barely touch our vast and varied winemaking landscape. The real vintage story will unfold as the 2008 wines begin to flow, starting with the whites over the next few months.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2008

Beer review — Cascade & Weihenstephaner

Beer review

Cascade First Harvest Ale 330ml 6-pack $19.99
This is the juicy, fresh, beer equivalent of Beaujolais. It’s built on plump, sweet malt flavour that’s cut through with the fresh, bracing pungency of just-picked hops. As well, the hops provide a brisk, teasing, lingering bitterness that slightly outweighs the malt sweetness. Limited availability as Cascade produced only 4,300 cases.

Weihenstephaner Vitus Weizenbock 500ml $7.99
This is a luxurious, strong (7.7% alcohol) wheat beer. It’s light coloured but has a dense, persistent foam; appealing, sweet, fruity aroma (boosted by the alcohol); a full, warm, velvety palate; and a lingeringly fruity aftertaste with wheat beer’s characteristic refreshing acidity. It’s bottle conditioned and therefore has a fine haze.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2008

A cascade of hops-driven ales

Beer, Beer review

Canberra’s Wig & Pen launched this year’s first hop-harvest beers – three idiosyncratic styles described here recently. Then Foster’s Cascade First Harvest Ale arrived on retail shelves this month, albeit in limited quantities – just 4,300 cases. Max Burslem, Cascade’s brewer, says that this year’s First Harvest Ale, the seventh vintage since its release in 2002, features three new Tassie-grown hops varieties as well as Tassie barley.

It’s come a long way since the first beer – a lager-like ale, I recall, from a team with little lager making experience. But Max says his brewers, through experiment, ‘developed quite a knowledge’ over the years, culminating in a pretty exciting 2008 ale.

It uses early harvested barley – malted especially for First Harvest – and a touch of roasted malt to give a deep amber colour. Max had also been working with local hops growers to have the three new varieties to the brewery within hours of harvest, at their resiny, oily, aromatic peak.

He added the bittering hops, ‘Guy Fawkes’, early in the boil, ‘Mill Line’ a little later for flavour and, finally, just before the boil ended, ‘Strickland Falls’ to give passionfruit and citrus aromatics.

Cascade First Harvest Ale 330ml 6-pack $19.99
This is the juicy, fresh, beer equivalent of Beaujolais. It’s built on plump, sweet malt flavour that’s cut through with the fresh, bracing pungency of just-picked hops. As well, the hops provide a brisk, teasing, lingering bitterness that slightly outweighs the malt sweetness. Limited availability as Cascade produced only 4,300 cases.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2008

Wine review — Ravensworth

Wine review

Ravensworth Canberra District Marsanne 2007 $22–$25
Ravensworth Canberra District Viognier 2007 $25–$28
These white Rhone Valley varieties love Canberra growing conditions. Viognier carved its niche here, both in its own right and as an adjunct to shiraz, a decade ago. But marsanne emerged only recently in a series of excellent wines from Bryan and Jocelyn Martin’s Rosehill Vineyard, Murrumbateman, planted in 2000. Both wines undergo spontaneous fermentation in oak barrels, where the combination of wild yeasts and oxidative environment add substantially to the texture and subtly to aroma and flavour. The viognier’s big but fine with distinctive apricot-like varietal flavour. The marsanne somewhat more subdued though still tending to a velvety richness.

Ravensworth Canberra District Sangiovese 2007 $22–$25
Ravensworth Hunter Valley Shiraz 2007 $25–$28
Bryan Martin planted sangiovese on his Murrumbateman vineyard in 2000. Like the marsanne described above, sangiovese was little known in the district at the time but, on the strength of those under Ravenswood label, appears to be well suited to the area. The 2007 seems the strongest yet, with a wonderful, savoury fragrance and a taut, fine palate, reminiscent of fine Chianti. Hunter shiraz in Canberra? Why not? Bryan bought a parcel of grapes from Pokolbin and used ‘Canberra shiraz’ techniques to make it. It’s a deeply coloured wine with, purely varietal in aroma and flavour and featuring the Hunter’s very soft, easy-on-the-gums tannins.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2008

Beer barons — old world styles; Aussie flavours

Beer, Beer review, People

Richard Adamson of Sydney’s Barons Brewing says that he and partner Scott Garnett wanted to “have a serious go” at the premium beer market by offering something unique.

And they kicked off in November 2005 with the release of an excellent high-alcohol (5.8 per cent) brew – Black Wattle Superior Wattle Seed Ale, seasoned with roasted wattle seed.

At the time, Adamson’s planned to add more brews featuring native Aussie ingredients. And since we first reviewed Barons two years back, he’s added a bottle conditioned Belgian-style wheat beer (reviewed below). It’s seasoned with lemon myrtle, rather than the orange peel and coriander favoured by Belgium’s benchmark, Hoegaarden.

Baron’s initial release, though, was an English-inspired ale, Extra Special Bitter, that evolved from extensive sampling and a taste-off between a couple of Richard’s recipes and four English favourites: London Pride, Old Speckled Hen, Old Hookey and Adnums SSB.

Adamson released the beer that emerged after the tasting as Barons Extra Special Bitter, but later shortened the name to ESB. They made it originally in 2006 from four hops varieties, Golden Promise malt and a London Ale yeast imported from England.

The back label’s not so specific these days, but it’s true to the original style – a pleasing Aussie interpretation of a classic English bitter.

Barons Black Wattle Ale & Witbier 330ml 6-pack $16.99
These two brews from Barons ‘native’ range include roasted wattle seed and lemon myrtle respectively. They’re subtle inputs and compatible with the smooth, toffee-like malt flavours of the dark Black Wattle Ale and the zesty, lemon-and-clove briskness of the pale wheat-based wheat beer. Available at Plonk, Canberra Cellars and Debacle bar.

Barons Pale Ale & ESB 330ml 6-pack $14.99
Pale Ale is a gold/amber-coloured mild beer that’s creamy textured, fruity and soft with just the right amount of bitterness offsetting sweet malt. ESB (extra special bitter) draws inspiration from classic English ales like London Pride. It has aromatic hops and a brisk, malty palate cut with assertive hops flavour and bitterness.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2008

Wine review — Majella, Le Jardin Francaise, Les Nuages & Henry Pelé

Wine review

Majella Coonawarra The Musician Cabernet Shiraz 2007 $17
This is a sensational red that really couldn’t have come from anywhere but Coonawarra – a blend of seventy per cent cabernet and thirty per cent shiraz from Prof and Tony Lynn’s Majella vineyard. Winemaker Bruce Gregory says the cabernet comes mainly from younger vines (a little over ten years old) and the shiraz from old vines. Unlike Majella’s sturdier, more expensive reds, the Musician finishes its ferment in tanks, not oak, and spends less time undergoing oak maturation. This treatment retains the stunning cabernet aromatics and bright fruit flavours. Shiraz subtly fleshes out the palate of a stunningly vibrant, elegant, medium-bodied red that’s made for early drinking. See www.majellawines.com.au

Le Jardin Francais Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc 2007 $25
Cooper Coffman Wine Company, based at Elvin Group’s Kamberra wine centre, imports this wine from Bordeaux’s Entre-Deux-Mers sub-region. It’s a collaboration between French winemaker, Julien Mette, and Cooper Coffman’s winemaker, Martin Cooper. The Aussie influence can be seen in the beautifully clean, fresh fruit character, preserved by a screw cap. The fruit flavour, of course is all French – delicate and fresh, and displaying a spectrum of sauvignon blanc varietal flavours, leaning towards tropical, but with some herbal notes. It’s not too lean on the palate, as some sauvies tend to be, but it’s also truly dry and light.

Les Nuages Loire Sauvignon Blanc 2006 $13–$15
Menetou Salon (Henry Pellé) 2006 $22–$25
Coles imports these two wines from the Loire Valley, France, and sells them through their Vintage Cellars and 1st Choice outlets. The first, from the Touraine district, has a distinctly un-sauvignon, but appealing, floral aroma and a light, crisp, dry palate with fresh, apple-like flavour in the finish. It’s pleasant and restrained and a world removed from Marlborough sauv blanc. Menetou Salon, a small village near Sancerre (eastern Loire), has long been a producer of racy, delicate, taut sauvignons reflecting the very cool climate. This is a terrific example of the style, perhaps the first to be seen in Canberra for a decade or more.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2008

Those Majella magicians — Coonawarra’s pure terroir

People, Vineyard, Wine

Majella, one of the great Coonawarra estates, built its reputation on rich, complex, elegant reds, built to satisfy and last. Then three years back Majella’s owners, Brian ‘Prof’ Lynn and his brother Anthony, released an early-drinking style, The Musician, a vibrant and aromatic cabernet shiraz blend from the 2004 vintage.

It was a jaw dropper at the time, offering pure, brisk Coonawarra flavours at a modest $17 a bottle. Subsequent vintages continued in the same mould. But they’ve been topped, in my view, by the just-released 2007. It’s the juiciest, loveliest red you can imagine – a wine that says heaps about modern Australian winemaking, regional specialisation (in this instance Coonawarra cabernet) and the French notion of ‘terroir’ – and what it might mean in an Australian context.

Regional specialisation (Coonawarra cabernet, Canberra shiraz, Clare Riesling, Mornington Peninsula pinot noir, and so on) touches on the ‘terroir’ concept. But for the French that’s only a starting point. True believers in terroir say not only that wine flavour comes from a complex interplay of geology, soil, climate and culture but that the discerning palate tastes all this in wine. Some even say, less plausibly, that it’s possible to taste the soil in the wine.

At the other extreme, some see terroir as bollocks. They might accept climate’s role in wine flavour, but argue that it’s largely human intervention in vineyard and winery that determine a wine’s flavour. But to them, I say show me the chardonnay that tastes like Chablis but wasn’t grown there; show me the luxury Champagne look-alike that tastes like the real thing; or show me a red that tastes like Majella’s Magician but isn’t from Coonawarra.

These distinctive, inimitable and easy-to-discern examples give terroir credibility. It’s also what fascinates many wine lovers; is the basis of France’s wine naming system; and has become the international language of fine-wine.

It’s also become Australia’s official export branding push as regional specialities, individual ‘icon’ wines and single vineyard wines attempt to build on ‘brand Australia’, established largely on cheaper, multi-regional varietals over the last twenty years.

And this is where a wine as strikingly regional and varietal as Majella’s Musician can have an impact beyond the small volume in the market. How could this be? And does it mean that Majella’s $17 drink-now blend is better than its long-cellaring $28 shiraz or cabernet, or the $66 flagship Malleea?

The answer is no. The more expensive wines are unquestionably better, especially in the long run. But most people buy wine for immediate enjoyment – something that the highly aromatic Musician provides in buckets.

What makes it different from the other wines then, if it’s from the same vineyards and made in the same winery by the same winemaker?

The answer probably lies more in the winery than in fruit sourcing, though that plays a role says winemaker Bruce Gregory.

All of the grapes come from the Majella vineyard, located at the southeastern end of old Coonawarra. The Lynn’s planted their first vines here in 1968 and extended the vineyard during the nineties boom.

Bruce says that cabernet for the Musician tends to come from the younger vines (a relative term here, as they’re more than ten years old) while older plantings provide the smaller shiraz component.

Bruce grades each batch of grapes as they come in during vintage. But all of the reds undergo a similar fermentation regime for the first five to seven days.

At this stage Bruce presses the reds earmarked for premium products into oak barrels to complete their ferments. Magician components, on the other hand, remain in stainless steel tanks.

Bruce says that this creates an important difference between Musician and the other wines. As ‘barrel fermentation builds palate structure at the expense of aroma’, he explains, the premium blends become denser and more complex while Musician retains its high-toned fragrance. The vibrant fruit character shows in the palate, too.

With fermentation complete, the Magician components go for maturation older oak barrels for about a year – an important step in stabilising the wine, softening the tannins and adding some complexity without inserting much oak flavour or aroma.

The final blend includes, as well, a small proportion of oak-fermented wines that’d earlier been earmarked for the more expensive labels. This builds palate richness without taking away the aromatic highnotes.

While Musician is a blend of cabernet sauvignon and shiraz, cabernet dominates the aromatics and flavour. Bruce says that shiraz makes a subtle difference to the aroma. If you smell the final wine, he says, you smell cabernet, but it’s not the same as the cabernet component on its own.

On the palate, though, shiraz adds structure and fleshes out the mid palate, which can be a little lean in straight cabernet. But, again, it’s a subtle, if crucial, influence.

The result is a wine that may seem simple and delicious but is really out of the ordinary. It’s finally about the fruit of an exceptional vineyard in one of the world’s great cabernet growing areas.

Over time the other Majella reds, especially the cabernet and Malleea, reveal unique Coonawarra aromas and flavours in full glory. But Magician, in stripping out some of the winemaking artefacts, delivers it all right now.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2008