Monthly Archives: July 2009

Beer and cider review – Kosciuszko Brewing and Napoleone & Co

8 July 2009Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Kosciuszko Brewing Company Pale Ale – schooner $4.50
The Banjo Paterson Inn, Jindabyne, now has on tap (and in bottle from next month) its first Kosciuszko Pale Ale, brewed on site by Lion Nathan’s Chuck Hahn. It’s a deep golden colour, with a beautifully fresh, aromatic hops aroma. The palate’s malt-rich, smooth, ultra fresh and cut through with those tasty, bitter hops.

Napoleone & Co Yarra Valley Apple Cider 330ml $5
This is the second batch of cider from Yarra Valley orchards established in 1948 by the Napoleone family, owners of Punt Road Winery. It combines several varieties – including granny smith, pink lady and Johnny gold. It’s pale coloured and fresh with a zesty, refreshing acidic bite in the finish.

Wine review — Ravensworth and Mount Majura

5 July 2009Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Ravensworth Murrumbateman Marsanne 2008 $21
Ravensworth Murrumbateman Viognier 2008 $21
These amazingly good whites cement Bryan Martin’s place as one of Canberra’s best winemakers. They’re Rhone varieties, grown at Murrumbateman and made by Bryan at the Clonakilla Winery – a top environment, it seems, for making every notable variety in the district. Both taste as if they’re barrel fermented – a useful winemaking technique when, as in these wines, the aerobic environment boosts texture and complexity without inserting overt oak flavours. The marsanne is the more restrained of the two, but deep, complex and fresh, without the fatness of chardonnay. Viognier is tame (for the variety) with delicious white peach/nectarine flavours.

Ravensworth Murrumbateman Sangiovese 2008 $21
The aroma’s appropriately hand waving, ebullient Italian – bursting bright, fruity and friendly from the glass. The palate starts with the same dazzling, fresh charm. But there’s a deeper undercurrent of firm, gripping tannin, giving the wine an enjoyable, savoury, bone-dry grip. It’s a medium-bodied red, in the Canberra mould, revealing clearly the flavour and structure of this ancient, indigenous Italian variety. The bright, pure fruit gives a modern Aussie accent to a grape that dominates the Italian landscape, most notably in Chianti country, Tuscany. See www.ravensworthwines.com.au

Mount Majura Canberra District Shiraz 2007 $26
Frank Van Der Loo’s 2006 shiraz topped (in my notes) a recent masked line up of three striking shirazes. The other two, Langhi Ghiran Grampians 2005 and Delacolline Port Lincoln 2003 (a very peppery newcomer made for the vineyard owners by O’Leary Walker) were impressive in their own ways. But the Majura wine charmed for its silky, supple texture and deep, pure spicy varietal flavour. It’s a classy, distinctive drop and though sold out reminded me how very good the more solid, and still available, 2007 vintage is. What really impressed in the tasting was how easy it was to pick it as a Canberra wine – a sure sign of a maturing regional specialty.

Light up a Marlborough — the trouble with wine regions

1 July 2009WineChris Shanahan

A Wine Intelligence survey, released at the London International Wine Fair in May, reveals that wine drinkers in the USA and the UK – our two biggest markets – show little awareness of Australian or New Zealand wine regions.

Even after a decade of dominance by Australian wine imports in both countries, just 38 per cent of the 1002 UK drinkers and 10 per cent of the 2069 Americans surveyed were aware of the Barossa Valley. Marlborough, New Zealand’s largest wine region fared even worse, being recognised by only 27 per cent of UK and 12 per cent of USA drinkers.

While the report partly quantifies the challenge ahead for our wine regions, it also confirms the important role regions play in consumer wine-buying decisions.

In both the UK and USA, about half of wine drinkers rated region of origin as ‘important’ or ‘very important’ cues when buying wine. Strangely, though, two thirds of the British but only half of the Americans rated country of origin as important or very important.

Not surprisingly, UK wine drinkers showed the highest level of awareness, and understanding of the wines, of the long-established European names, Champagne, Burgundy, Chablis, Bordeaux, Chianti, Beaujolais, Cava, Rioja, Cotes du Rhone Loire and Provence.

Americans seemed familiar with fewer regions and their wine styles than the Brits, with the Napa Valley (USA), Champagne, Bordeaux, Chablis and Chianti at the fore. However, even though the Americans showed little recognition of the regional names Beaujolais, Alsace, Cava, Rioja and Prosecco, they made valid comments about the wine styles behind those names.

This suggests a wider importance for regional names to Americans than the figure for buying cues suggests. Clearly there’s an understanding of wine styles behind some regional names even if the buyer doesn’t recognise their geographic meaning.

Repeating this pattern, only 10 per cent of American buyers were aware of the Barossa as a region, but about three quarters of them showed some understanding of the region’s styles. Figures for UK buyers were about 38 per cent regional awareness and 80 per cent familiarity with the styles. This suggests that in both countries the Barossa name is synonymous with a wine style rather than a region.

Wine Intelligence asked respondents what words came spontaneously in response to regional names. When asked about ‘Barossa’ the commonest British responses were ‘Australia’, ‘red’, ‘good’, ‘shiraz’. The American response was a less emphatic ‘red’, ‘Spain’, ‘good’, ‘wine’, ‘Australia’, ‘great’, ‘Italy’ and ‘California’.

From the English, ‘Marlborough’ prompted ‘New Zealand’, ‘cigarettes’, ‘strong’, ‘white’ and ‘sauvignon blanc’. And the Americans weighed in with ‘cigarettes’, ‘New Zealand’, ‘good’ and ‘sauvignon blanc’.

Perhaps the greatest opportunity for Australian and New Zealand exporters lies in the tremendous goodwill towards us in the UK and USA – especially in comparison to other exporting nations.

Asked to rate their affinity to various countries, their people and their cultures, 78 per cent of British and 73 per cent of American respondents rated Australia as ‘positive’ or ‘very positive’ – putting us at the top of the list. New Zealand came in second with the British at 70% and third for the Americans 61% (behind second placed Italy on 71%).

Italy and Spain fared well in the affinity test, but poor old France, creator and doyen of so many classic wine styles, rated just 56% with the British and 46% with the Americans.

Perhaps this lack of empathy is a countervailing force to the widespread knowledge of their regions and styles – and a continuing opportunity for our winemakers.

And a warning bell I hear in the survey figures applies as much in Australia as it does in the UK, but probably not to America. The most powerful cue affecting buying choice in the UK is ‘promotional offer’, rated by 73% of respondents as ‘important’ or ‘very important’. In the USA ‘promotional offer’ rated only fourth, behind grape variety, recommendation by a friend or family and familiar brand.

The primacy of the retail offer in Britain reflects the enormous power of the major national retail chains. The same applies in Australia where our two biggest retailers now account for perhaps half of all sales.

While competition is unquestionably a force for good, keeping a lid on prices, too much market power can limit entry to markets for smaller wine players, especially when the focus is more on price than on quality. The power of our big supermarkets could well stifle our wine industry’s planned focus on regional identity.

Beer review — Batemans Triple and Samuel Smith Tadcaster

1 July 2009Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Batemans Triple XB Classic Premium Ale 500ml $7.11
This lively copper-coloured beer ticks all of ale’s aroma, flavour and bitterness boxes – in its own rich, complex discrete style. The malt:hops balance is superb and the extra vibrance on the palate probably comes from the inclusion of wheat malt in the blend. This is an exciting and easy-to-drink beer.

Samuel Smith Tadcaster Taddy Porter 500ml $8.28
The line between stout and porter is to some extent arbitrary, but Taddy sits towards the robust end of the porter style. It’s deeply coloured, velvet smooth and balances seductive chocolaty, roasted-grain flavours against its lingering, dry, bitter finish. Despite the complexity and strength of flavours it’s oh so pleasant to drink.

Warming winter ales from the British Isles

1 July 2009Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Like the stouts reviewed last week, English ales suit Canberra’s winter climate. As a group they’re fruity, rich and malty, and a joy to drink at a mild 5–10 degrees.

They vary in colour from pale tan to inky black and in flavour from mild and subtle to rich and chocolaty, with a corresponding variance in hops bitterness.

The richest pickings I’ve seen in Canberra are at Plonk, in the Fyshwick Markets, where there seems to be a continuous flow of new beers from around the world.

A recent raid on their shelves yielded a handful of outstanding English beers (all in satisfying 500ml bottles).

The mid-amber coloured Ridley’s Old Bob Strong Premium Ale ($7.28) features deep, supple, smooth maltiness, beautifully offset by hops aroma and flavour – a harmonious brew built on East Anglian pale ale malt and Fuggles hops.

The low-alcohol Manns Brown Ale ($6.03) focuses on rich, treacly malt flavours with little bitterness. It contrasts gently with the assertive, chocolaty, roasted grain flavours and drying hops bitterness of Taddy Porter, below.

Greene King Strong Suffolk Vintage Ale (7.29) – matured in oak for two years – is another powerful but balanced brew. It’s a fireside ale featuring high alcohol and warm toffee flavours.