Yearly Archives: 2009

Wine review — Angullong, Freeman and Chapel Hill

11 October 2009Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Angullong Fossil Hill Orange Region Sangiovese 2008 $20
Angullong Fossil Hill Orange Region Barbera 2008 $20
The Crossing family’s 220-hectare Angullong vineyard undulates in and out of the Orange District because of its varied altitude – the vines located above 600 metres are in, and everything else is out. The climate clearly suits these two Italian varieties and winemakers know how to capture the individuality. The sangiovese is medium bodied with dry, savoury tannins gripping a subtle core of sweet and sour cherry-like flavours, finishing lean, dry and savoury. The bright and zesty Barbera is packed with vibrant summer-berry flavours, given flesh by very clever oak maturation. Fine tannins give a dry, savoury finish. See www.angullong.com.au

Freeman Secco Hilltops Rondinella Corvina 2004 $30
This is a brilliant Aussie take on the classic reciotto della Valpolicella Amarone style of Verona, Italy, made from dried grapes. Brian Freeman established his vineyard at Young from just six cuttings each of the Veronese varieties, rondinella and corvina in 1999. Rather than go the whole hog like the Valpolicella Amarone makers, Brian uses mainly fresh grapes, adding a portion of dehydrated berries during fermentation. The result is a very full, ripe red with a distinctive ripe black-cherry flavour with undertones of port and prune and a pleasantly tart, savoury edge. It’s a delicious and distinctive red and looking very young at five years’ age. See www.freemanvineyards.com.au

Chapel Hill McLaren Vale Il Vescovo Savagnin 2009 $20
Earlier this year Australian growers, including Chapel Hill, learned to their surprise that their prized plantings of the Spanish white, albarino, were, in fact, traminer, also known as savagnin. There’d been a gigantic stuff up in Spain decades back and, as a result, the CSIRO imported a woolly pup (for the full story go to www.chrisshanahan.com and search ‘albarino’). At Chapel Hill’s Kangarilla vineyard the variety thrived and made such good wine that winemaker Michael Fragos stuck to his knitting and simply changed his Il Vescovo label from ‘albarino’ to ‘savagnin’. It’s subtly aromatic and smoothly textured with a bone dry, savoury flavour.

Beer review — 3 Ravens and Rogue

7 October 2009Beer reviewChris Shanahan

3 Ravens 55 American Pale Ale 330ml $4.50
Apologies to Edgar Allan Poe – Once upon a midnight drear, I snapped the cap of this beaut beer, from the Ravens Brewing Co of Thornbury, Victoria: Dense white foam, typical of fresh, bottle-conditioned beer; high-toned, citrus-like hops aroma; opulent, malty, fruity palate cut with zesty, fresh, bitter hops.

Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar 650ml $16.50
I’m blockading an Aldi hazelnut chocolate addiction with Rogue’s idiosyncratic brew. It’s luxuriously malty and chocolaty with an echo of hazelnut, a lick of sweetness, a bitter hops twist and a care-banishing alcohol content of 6.2 per cent. It’s from Newport, Oregon, USA, and available from Plonk, Fyshwick.

Wig & Pen releases its first bottled beer

7 October 2009BeerChris Shanahan

Canberra’s Wig & Pen Pub Brewery recently released its first bottled beer, Kembrey Regional Ale, after sixteen years serving only draft beer, brewed on-premise.

It sounds simple enough. But in fact it’s a major step presenting significant risks because fresh beer is the best beer. The passage of time, and every step away from the fermentation vessel – including packaging, transportation, handling, storage, and service – increases the risk of spoilage. For tiny brewers like the Wig, the move from fermentation vessel to keg to tap to the customer’s glass is about as efficient and low risk as beer service gets.

Bottling beer is fraught with risks for small brewers, required the right equipment and meticulous attention to detail. Brewer Richard Watkins says that after much research he and owner Lachlan McOmish decided to work with the De the Bortoli family’s Red Angus brewery, Griffith.

Richard made and bottled Kembrey Ale in Griffith with Red Angus brewer, Neil Cameron.

It’s now available at the Wig & Pen for $4 a 330ml bottle, $19 a 6-pack and $68 for a case of 24. Richard says they’ll brew and bottle a few more batches before stepping up production and cautiously expanding distribution.

Lesson for Canberra winemakers — always put your best foot forward

7 October 2009WineChris Shanahan

A couple of weeks back well-known author James Halliday rated 13 Canberra wines among his top 100 in New South Wales. Buoyed by this, our local vignerons threw a dinner at the members’ dining room in old parliament house. The dinner paired flights of the Halliday 13, plus a ring-in from Hilltops, with food prepared by Janet Jeffs’ Ginger Catering – the ingredients coming from Canberra and surrounding regions.

Halliday’s top 13 unsurprisingly emphasised the strength of Canberra shiraz, which accounted for five of the thirteen wines. Surprisingly, until you enquire into conditions of entry, sauvignon blanc and blends (three wines) outscored riesling (two wines). And cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and one dessert riesling earned one spot each on the elite list.

The glaring omission from the list is Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2008. On form it ought to have held number one spot in Canberra. And Halliday’s 97-point rating for it in his Australian Wine Companion 2010 should, in theory, put it as NSW’s top red, one point ahead of Collector Canberra District Reserve 2007 and Tulloch ‘Hector’ of Glen Elgin Limited Release Hunter Shiraz 2005.

The omission of so many of our top rieslings and the Clonakilla shiraz, though, gets back to quantity-based entry conditions, not skulduggery or inconsistency. It simply underlines the limitations of any rating system – and especially one endorsed, seemingly, by the NSW Government and the inherent pressure to spread the goodies around the regions.

While minimum quantity requirements ensure that drinkers have access to the winners, they skew the results for a small region like Canberra. The dinner would unquestionably haft lifted another few notches had we seen more riesling and our only (to date) red legend.

For Clonakilla’s Shiraz Viognier is to Canberra shiraz what Grange is to Penfolds – the halo over our region; the sizzle at our barbecue. And even if we make a handful of half decent sauvignon blancs and blends, they’re about knee high in quality and interest to our rieslings.

What this says to our vignerons is by all means harness third-party endorsement like Halliday’s, but don’t let it drive your agenda totally. You all know what out best wines are. So have the confidence to run with them. A showcase is just that; it shouldn’t hold any also-rans.

For the price of a dozen Clonakilla and the confidence to nudge the sauvignon blanc and blends aside with rieslings, we could’ve had a really stunning Canberra line up. Oh, and one last quibble, what was a shiraz from the Hilltops region doing in a Canberra line-up? It’s another beautiful Clonakilla wine anointed by Halliday, but it ain’t from Canberra.

A high point of the dinner was the grand setting – pre-dinner drinks in the members bar then an ‘oh, wow’ moment as the doors rolled back for us to surge into the members dining area.

We left the bar with a little sadness though, as only two of the five canapés had come our way and only one of the two rieslings. The Helm Classic 2008 is a favourite and we savoured it. But we would’ve loved another taste of the Wallaroo 2008, a delicious drop from Hall.

The well thought out menu produced a few gems: the simple pleasure of Gingerbread Bakery sourdough dunked in fresh, peppery, piquant Homeleigh Grove Olive Oil, from Hall (see www.homeleighgroveolives.com.au); and a mouth watering fricassee of Lake Bathurst rabbit, roasted root vegetables, Jerusalem artichokes and cardamom jus.

The latter came with three contrasting reds – the big, ripe, needs-more-bottle-age Lerida Estate Shiraz Viognier 2007; the sublimely elegant Clonakilla O’Riada Shiraz 2008 and the spicy, tangy Collector Reserve Shiraz 2007.

Another three shirazes followed, tastily matched with Wyntrade lamb shoulder (www.wyntradelamb.com.au) and smoked, semi-dried tomato and mushroom ragout: Capital Wines The Frontbencher Shiraz 2007, an outstanding medium bodied style with distinctive firm, tight, tannin structure and great cellaring future; the perfumed, sumptuous and soft Clonakilla Hilltop Shiraz 2008 (but why, oh why was it at this dinner?); and a fading Four Winds Vineyard Shiraz 2005.

The final course put three Small Cow Farm cheeses (Robertson, NSW – www.smallcowfarm.com) alongside the bright but savoury and dry Ravensworth Sangiovese 2008; the austere Yarrh Wines Cabernet Sauvignon 2006; and the marvellously intense, fine, brisk and sweet Lark Hill Auslese Riesling 2008, from our district’s highest vineyard.

From this and other tastings it’s clear that 2008 was a great vintage for Canberra for both red and white wines. And because they’re available in greater quantities than the frost devastated 2007s, they should be more easily accessible. The 2008 whites, released for the most part last year, are now running down, but the reds are just coming into the market and will be worth pursuing.

The connection between local wines and food, too, is strong. It’s a passionate theme for Janet Jeffs, but that’s a story for another day.

Wine review — Nick O’Leary, Lerida Estate and Capital Wines

4 October 2009Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Nick O’Leary Canberra District Riesling 2009 $24
Nick O’Leary Canberra District Shiraz 2008 $28
In Canberra recently, Wolf Blass sunk the boot into Hardys, suggesting they contributed nothing before departing the local wine scene. What Wolfie didn’t say was that Hardys won the ‘champion wine’ trophy (for shiraz) at the local show in both 2005 and 2006, generated the planting of some of our leading vineyards and left behind two accomplished winemakers, Alex McKay and Nick O’Leary. Hardy’s contribution was pivotal to the Canberra District we know today. And without Hardys we wouldn’t have young Nick O’Leary’s delicious, fine-boned shiraz, nor his beautiful, crisp, delicate, dry riesling. These are absolutely top-notch, fairly priced wines.

Lerida Estate Lake George Shiraz Viognier 2007 $38.50, Pinot Gris 2009 $28, Botrytis Pinot Gris 2008 375ml $24.50
Jim Lumbers and Anne Caine originally set their sights on pinot noir as Lerida’s flagship variety. But shiraz, in tandem with the white viognier, pretty quickly left pinot in its dust, demonstrating just how well suited it is to our district. The latest release, a gold medallist at the recent Canberra Regional Wine Show, sits at the bigger, riper end of the regional style at around fifteen per cent alcohol. But the deep, vibrant varietal fruit gobbles up the alcohol, leaving a juicy, elegant medium bodied red to enjoy over the next decade. The pinot gris is fine, dry and thickly textured; and the gold-medal-winning sticky is a dessert in itself.

Capital Wines Canberra District The Whip Riesling 2009 $18, The Senator Chardonnay 2008 $ 22
These are big-value offerings from Capital Wines, the joint venture between the Mooney and McEwin families – the Mooneys looking after viticulture and marketing while Andrew McEwin makes the wine. The delicate, intensely flavoured dry riesling (a gold medallist at the 2009 Canberra Regional Show) comes mainly from a Gundaroo vineyard planted to the Geisenheim clone by the Mooneys in 2001 and subsequently sold to the Lamberts. The chardonnay comes, smartly rebadged under the new venture, is one of a long line to come from the Kyeema Vineyard, Murrumbatemen. There are plenty of clever winemaking inputs, but the core flavour is intense, melon-like varietal fruit.

Beer review — Sierra Nevada and St Peter’s

30 September 2009Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale 350ml $6.10
Sierra Nevada, from Chico, California, is in the classic American pale ale style – big on aromatic, citrus-like hops aroma and flavour and backed by generous sweet malt. In some, the malt and hops can be in overdrive. But this one struts the style without snapping your head off.

St Peter’s Suffolk Ale 500ml $8.00
The water’s drawn from the chalk layer deep below the brewery, in St Peter’s Hall, and the hops and malt are Suffolk-grown. The result is a fruity-malty ale with an assertive hops bitterness – a bitterness that comes without the high-toned citrus character seen in American style pale ale.

Cider on the move

30 September 2009CiderChris Shanahan

Am I imagining it, or has there been an increase in cider drinking? If there is, it’d fit with our decade long rush into premium beers of all styles.

Certainly there’s a reasonable range of ciders now being imported from the classic cider-producing areas of south-western England and Normandy, France – not that you’ll find them in every liquor store, though.

Last year at 1st Choice, Phillip, I discovered the joys of Norman pear cider in a bottle of Le Pere Jules Poire de St Desir-de-Lisieux (Leon Desfrieches). Close your eyes and think, not of England, but of Normandy, just across the channel. This is fruit country. And what better way to preserve fruit than by making eau-de-vie or cider.

Calvados and poire William – Normandy’s classic apple and pear brandies – offer, just like the region’s other fruit eau-de-vies, a teasing impression, or spirit, of the fruit that made them. But cider provides a more direct connection to the fruit flavour, and a drink more suited to our hot summer. Pere Jules was as delicate, fresh and crisp as a just-ripe, just-picked pear, and offered a similar balance of sweet-fruit and tart acid, at just four per cent alcohol.

At last we know where to find more of the same. Watch this column.

Canberra show needs its benchmarks

30 September 2009WineChris Shanahan

Once again judges at the recent Canberra Regional Wine Show praised the strength of Canberra’s shiraz and riesling. What the commentary didn’t reveal though is the statistical dominance of shiraz from the neighbouring Hilltops region.

Hilltops fielded just nine of the forty-seven wines in the two shiraz classes but won seven medals – an extraordinary 78 per cent strike rate. Even more extraordinary, it won three of the six gold medals – one for every three wines exhibited. And for the second year a Hilltops wine took out the honours as top wine of the show. This year Eden Road Wines The Long Road Hilltops Shiraz 2008 shared the honour with Helm Canberra District Premium Riesling 2008; last year the award went to Chalkers Crossing Hilltops Shiraz 2005.

But the strength of a few wines from Hilltops doesn’t deny the beauty of some Canberra shirazes. Winning three gold and three silver medals from thirty entries – a ten per cent strike rate for each – is impressive. What’s not so impressive is the short tail of six bronze medals, meaning a total medal strike rate of just forty percent. In other words the judges rated the majority of Canberra shirazes as pretty ordinary wines.

That should be a wake-up call for the district. It’s the sort of result expected in emerging regions, where there’s a chasm between the best and the worst and the quality of the average wine is poor. However, the numbers might’ve look better had a number of key makers exhibited in the important 2008 vintage class. Many that might have entered, could not for the simple reason that their wines were either not bottled or just bottled and not yet ready for showing.

Where were entries from leading makers Clonakilla, Mount Majura, Collector, Brindabella Hills and Ravensworth? How do you benchmark a region’s wines without the benchmarks? And what’s the real value of a medal when the champs, especially Clonakilla, don’t run?
Judges don’t get to see the region’s true depth and diversity; other exhibitors miss out on full benchmarking; and the marketing opportunities presented by the show results become more limited.

The Limestone Coast and Hunter wine shows, for example, benefit greatly because local icons Wynns and Tyrrell participate. If, for example, you’re a Hunter semillon, shiraz or chardonnay maker, winning a medal in company with Tyrrells sends a strong message about your quality. Good on Bruce Tyrrell. It takes confidence and guts to put prestigious wines on the line year after year. He doesn’t need to.

In Canberra, our dominant riesling maker, Ken Helm, exhibits every year. His success in the local show and at other events make Helm riesling the local benchmark. Other makers benefit from being judged alongside Ken’s Classic Dry and Premium Rieslings.

Though it’s our dominant class, shiraz could be even richer if we had the local benchmarks in the show. Clonakilla’s shiraz viognier is now seen as a world-class wine; and its cellar mates, the O’Riada Canberra District Shiraz and Hilltops Shiraz are beautiful wines. But they’re not in the show.

It’d be wonderful for the district if one day Clonakilla’s Tim Kirk – an ardent wine show judge and recipient of industry largesse through the Len Evans Tutorial – entered these graceful wines in our show. As well, the National Capital Agricultural Society, organiser of the show, might consider moving the judging back by a few months. This would allow makers to finish their previous-vintage shirazes for inclusion in the taste offs.

In this year’s show the three top scoring shiraz gold medallists, all from Hilltops, were Eden Road Wines The Long Road Shiraz 2008, Grove Estate The Cellar Block Shiraz Viognier 2008 and Chalkers Crossing Shiraz 2006. The other three gold medallist, all from Canberra, were Lambert Shiraz 2008, Tallagandra Hill Shiraz Viognier 2008 and Lerida Estate Lake George Shiraz Viognier 2007.

In the riesling classes, Canberra wines dominated, with gold medals for Gallagher 2009, Capital Wines ‘The Whip’ 2009, Helm Premium 2008, Wallaroo 2008 and Brindabella Hills 2002. Centennial Vineyards from the Southern Highland also earned gold for its Woodside Riesling 2008.

High, cool Tumbarumba made a clean sweep in the two chardonnay classes, earning gold medals for Barwang 2008, Eden Road The Long Road 2008 and Barwang 842 2006, as well as several silver medals.

Cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir fared poorly overall. Pinot classes produced no gold medallists, just a couple silvers for Eden Road Tumbarumba 2008 and Mount Majura 2004. And Tallagandra Hill earned a gold medal for its Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc 2008 as did Barwang for a 1998 Hilltops cabernet sauvignon.

And if you look hard enough, you’ll always find inexplicable anomalies in any show results. Mount Majura’s delicious Tempranillo Shiraz Graciano 2008 failed to rate a medal in the Canberra Regional show but won gold in the Winewise Small Vignerons Awards just a few weeks earlier. And Capital Wines ‘The Whip’ Riesling 2009 won gold in the Canberra show but nothing in the Winewise event.

The result overall make a good shopping list. But these striking inconsistencies tell us to take any judgement with a grain of salt. You can see the full show results at www.rncas.org.au

Wine review — Disaster Bay, Peter Lehmann, Murdoch Hill and Toolangi

27 September 2009Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Disaster Bay Pambula River Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2009 $20
In 2000 Dean O’Reilly planted about a hectare of vines on his parents Pambula River farm. The site was too cool for the Bordeaux red varieties, but the whites, semillon and sauvignon blanc, perform well. Dean crushes the grapes on site then transports the juice to Murrumbateman and makes the wine under the tutelage of Andrew McEwin. It’s barrel fermented, in the Bordeaux style, and at just 12.5% drinks deliciously – cleverly made, light and subtle. It’s available in the better restaurants around town and by the glass at Tongue and Groove, in the city. Dean recently won a place in the prestigious Len Evans Tutorial.

Peter Lehmann ‘Layers’ Barossa Red and Adelaide White $14–$16
Semillon, muscat, gewürztraminer, pinot gris and chardonnay are the unlikely partners in Peter Lehmann’s new non-vintage white blend. It’s a bit like putting the grape equivalents of Kevin Rudd, Malcolm Turnbull, Wayne Swan, Tony Abbott and Steve Fielding into one bottle. Surprisingly, it’s an harmonious, soft, gentle blend with none of the idiosyncratic individual varieties starring. The generous, soft red is less political – more like a back room gathering of diverse but like-minded individuals, bent on a single purpose. Shiraz, mourvedre, tempranillo, grenache and carignan were always going to work together – and do so deliciously.

Murdoch Hill Adelaide Hills The Cronberry Shiraz 2007 $22
Toolangi Yarra Valley Shiraz 2006 $25
Here’s a couple of contrasting and attractive cool-climate shirazes – one from South Australia; the other from Victoria. The Downer family’s Murdoch Hill, made by Brian Light and Michael Downer, is the more robust of the two ¬– it’s rounder and a touch more alcoholic with juicy, savoury shiraz flavours and extra palate weight derived from oak maturation (see www.murdochhill.com.au). Julie and Garry Hounsell’s wine, from the Yarra Valley’s Dixon Creek sub-region, shows an even cooler face of shiraz. The flavours are more at the pepper and spice end of the shiraz spectrum, with the taut, elegant structure that goes with that territory (see www.toolanngi.com).

Beer review — Samuel Smith and Cooper’s

23 September 2009Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Samuel Smith Organic Best Ale 550ml $9.40
This very fruity, piquant ale comes from Tadcaster, Yorkshire. The colour’s mid amber-gold; it has a luxurious, long-lasting head; and the palate, though rich and malty, is cut with tangy acidity and well-balanced hops. There’s an overall impression of richness and complexity without heaviness.

Cooper’s 62 Pilsner 355ml 6-pack $16.99
In 1862, as Abe Lincoln grappled with the rebellion, Cooper’s founded its wonderful ale empire. They perfected ale making but made occasional rebellious forays into lager land. Alas, the latest raid, a fresh but tepid shot at Bohemia’s pilsner style, lacks the palate weight or bitterness of this classic style.