Monthly Archives: June 2010

Wine review — Moss Wood, Chateau Les Maurins, Barwang, Ravensworth and Shelmerdine

Wine review

Moss Wood ‘Moss Wood Vineyard’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 $90–$100
Margaret River, Western Australia
This is a class act from one of Margaret River’s original and great vineyards, founded by Bill and Sandra Pannell in 1969 and later taken over by Keith and Clare Mugford. It’s blend of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and petit verdot – like a Medoc without merlot. Not that there’s anything missing from Moss Wood 2007 – it’s complete and elegant, featuring layers of ripe berry flavours in a matrix of firm but smooth tannins, seasoned with notes of cedary oak. This is a very good vintage of a wine with a reputation for long-term cellaring.

Chateau Les Maurins 2008 $9.99
Bordeaux, France
Alas, Bordeaux, the world’s cabernet capital bulges with overpriced, mediocre wines. Aldi, though, struck pay dirt with this Chateau Les Maurins. Handing me a glass of it, a friend asked, “What’s that”. “Claret”, I said and indeed it was – a rare example of a wine exactly matching the regional template: medium bodied, distinctly cabernet-like in Bordeaux’s own way and quite firm but not hard. It’s a decent drink-now steak wine at a fair price.

Barwang 842 Chardonnay 2007 $31–$35
Tumbarumba, New South Wales
In the early eighties, Tumbarumba’s pioneering vignerons set their sights on top-shelf bubbly, and succeeded. And the area’s cool climate also delivered superb, finely structured chardonnays. While these originally found their way into big-company flagship blends, including Penfolds Yattarna and Hardy’s Eileen Hardy, Tumbarumba ultimately triumphed in its own right. Many makers now offer beautiful, fine-boned expressions of this regional style. Barwang, made by Andrew Higgins, is a great example. At three years it’s young, fresh, intense and luxuriously textured.

Ravensworth Canberra District Marsanne 2009 $21
Murrumbateman, New South Wales
The Rhone Valley’s marsanne grape makes a variety of white styles, ranging from tough and rough to beautifully aromatic, rich and long lived. After only a few vintages Ravensworth enjoys a cult following as one of Australia’s best versions of the variety. It’s all wild-yeasted fermented in seasoned barrels, giving textural richness and a subtle patina of aroma and flavour over the bright, lemony varietal character. It’s miles removed from our usual white menu and simply delicious from first sip to last. Made Bryan Martin from fruit grown on the Martin and Kirk family vineyards.

Shelmerdine Pinot Noir 2009 $34
Yarra Valley, Victoria
This lovely wine comes from the Shelmerdine family’s biodynamic Lusatia Park vineyard – a high, cool site in the Yarra Valley. The wine captures the high toned, floral aromatics of ripe, cool-grown pinot, then delivers pleasurable depth of juicy, plush, luxurious fruit flavour – backed by serious, but soft, red wine tannins. Stephen Shelmerdine urges to us enjoy the wine in different ways according to the phases of Brian Keats’ Astro calendar. Our bottle gave equal pleasure over three nights.

Tamar Ridge Devil’s Corner Riesling 2008 $16–$22
Tamar Valley, Tasmania
A group of us recently tested Devil’s Corner with the spicy Thai food at Thirst Wine Bar and Eatery, Civic. In a word, delicious. The wine comes from the Kayena Vineyard, on the west banks of Tasmania’s Tamar River. The cool climate produces highly aromatic riesling with vibrant but delicate fruit flavour and comparatively high acidity. The acidity offsets the wine’s fruitiness and touch of sweetness, courtesy of nine grams per litre of unfermented grape sugar. What a great combination – a tease of chilli and a delicate, fruity, not quite dry white.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Coke ups the ante in beer battle

Beer, People

What’s Coke got to do with beer? In Australia it’s made and distributed by Coca Cola Amatil (CCA), owner, as well, of the new 50-million litre capacity Blue Tongue Brewery due to open on the NSW central coast this week.

The brewery is vastly bigger than the original, located in the Hunter Valley. And it’s part of a larger joint venture with SAB Miller one of the world’s largest brewers. CCA already distributes the Blue Tongue beers and SAB Miller’s international brands, Peroni Nastro Azzuro, Peroni Leggera, Grolsch, Pilsner Urquell, Miller Genuine Draft and Miller Chill.

Industry sources say CCA already has ten per cent of the fast-growing premium beer market. And the new brewery gives it the capacity to expand production of the local brands and to brew the international brands under licence – just as its major competitors Lion Nathan and Fosters already do with brands like Beck’s and Stella Artois.

There’s already speculation that CCA, through SAB Miller, might bid for Carlton United next year when Foster’s splits its wine and beer divisions. But CCA boss, Terry Davis, who cut his business teeth in the wine industry at Cellarmaster Wines then Foster’s, says not at the current share price.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Beer review — Flying Dog and Carlsberg

Beer review

Flying Dog Old Scratch Amber Ale 330ml $7.12
From Frederick Maryland, Old Scratch, with its beautiful Ralph Steadman label, turns the flavour button up high. The colour’s deep amber and it’s big on rich malt flavour, slick-texture and assertive, bitter hops offsetting the rich malt. Won a gold medal at the recent Australian International Beer Awards.

Carlsberg All Malt Premium Beer 330ml 6-pack $16.99
Well, it doesn’t take much to be called “premium” these days. Perhaps the price tag’s enough. Ever-popular Carlsberg, brewed these days by Foster’s, is a decent, clean, fresh mainstream lager with a straightforward palate and delicate bitter finish. It’s what brewers call a “session” beer, meaning you can down a few without flavour overload.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Wine review — Four Winds, Gundog, Majella, Ravensworth and Lerida Estate

Wine review

Four Winds Alinga Vineyard Canberra District

  • Riesling 2009 $15.99
  • Cabernet Merlot 2008 $15.99

Gundog Estate Gundaroo Shiraz 2008 $16.99
Early in May six Canberra wineries formed a collective to market good value local wines. They’ve set up display stands in about 20 local retail outlets, says Sarah Collingwood of Four Winds Vineyard, and offer a range of wines at under $17 a bottle. Alinga Riesling 2008, made by Collingwood’s sister Jaime Lunney, is a fresh, light bodied drop with pure varietal flavour and pleasing touch of residual sugar – an all purpose refresher or good company to spicy food. Alinga Cabernet Merlot also offers great value. And Gundog Estate’s shiraz is another very good expression of Canberra’s fine-boned, ripe but spicy and savoury shiraz style.

Majella Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 $30–$33
Some call vintage 2008 a schizophrenic vintage – the story of great fruit harvested before a prolonged, intense March heatwave and shrivelled fruit harvested afterwards. There’s some of this schizophrenia in this extraordinary Majella cabernet, product of the Lynn family’s vineyard, southern Coonawarra. Coonawarra’s elegant, right? Well this one weighs in at 15 per cent alcohol, it’s as black as Hades and one sip carries a bucket of flavour. This is the beginning of the split personality: it’s so powerful and alcoholic, but, yes, it’s still elegant. Further, the strong minty, leafy aroma suggests unripeness. But no, it’s ripe, supple and ripples with soft, juicy tannins.

Ravensworth Canberra District Shiraz Viognier 2008 and 2009 $27
Lerida Estate Canberra District Shiraz Viognier 2008 $59.90
Drinking Canberra shiraz is like being on a perpetual group honeymoon – all sweet, juicy pleasure. Just as we’re getting used to Ravensworth 2008’s ripe-berry-and-spice flavours and taut, savoury dry tannins, along comes its younger sibling from the 2009 vintage. It’s all sensuous, sweet fruit from aroma to palate, with slippery, soft tannins – and a brooding, moody depth that’ll retain your interest tomorrow, too. Lerida Estate is the sauce to Ravensworth’s stock – a simmering, concentrated version of the shiraz viognier blend: bold, saucy, voluptuously fruity and with real staying power. There’s a touch of class in all these wines.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Wine investing ain’t easy

Wine

If you think you can make a killing buying wine, think again. Unless you can buy at or near wholesale price and pick the winning vintages, you’re unlikely to turn a dollar. Prices realised at auction by the Penfolds blue-chip reds released in May each year tell the story. On the positive side, the high turnover of Penfolds reds means you can always cash your cellar in, and cut you losses more readily than you can with lesser brands. But the sad truth is, you’re generally better off buying aged Penfolds reds at auction than acquiring the new vintages on release.

Look at Grange. You can buy the stunning, just released 2005 for between $500 and $550 a bottle, cellar it carefully for decades, then enjoy it. But you can pick up the 2004 at auction for about $485 (based on Langton’s most recent hammer price plus buyer’s premium and GST). The magnificent 2002 you can have for just $440. Or for the great 1983 vintage, now in full bloom, pay $436; or perhaps enjoy the supple and lovely 1982 at $345.

Note though that the market demands a little more for some of the acknowledged great vintages: 1998 fetches about $570, 1996 $461, 1990 $635 and 1986 $670. While the sellers of some of these vintages might make a nominal profit, real returns vary considerably and may be negative, especially where the original purchase occurred after the release of the 1990 Grange in 1995, when prices took off sharply.

For example, if you bought the 1986 at $100 in 1991, based on a hammer price of $583, you’d receive about $520 from an auctioneer today – a handy nominal margin of $420, but perhaps a more modest $245 in real terms. But if you’d bought the 1990 for $300 in 1995, you’re nominal margin today would be around $196, probably about $30 in real terms – a poor return on $300 invested fifteen years ago.

And if you auctioned your 2004 Grange, bought last year for $500, you’d walk away with just $380 – goodbye $120! Conclusion: if you drink Grange, buy it at auction. Caveat: talk to the auctioneer, be sure the wine has been well cellared; this becomes even more important over long periods of time.

And what of the other Penfolds blue chips? Magill Estate is a shocker. Cellar door price of the just-released 2007 is $114.99. But the 2006 recently fetched $82.80 at auction, the 2005 and 1996 $74.75. Again, buying mature bottles at auction seems to be the go.

Likewise the auction price of RWT Barossa shiraz, launched from the 1997 vintage, lags the retail price. It’s a fabulous wine, as good as Barossa shiraz get. The recently released 2007 retails for around $175, but you can buy the extraordinary 1998 at auction for about $122 or the wonderful 2002 for around $140.

There’s a glimmer of financial hope for St Henri lovers as word spreads that this elegant shiraz ages beautifully for decades. Last year the 1955 vintage fetched $5,750, the 1957 $8,108 and the 1959 $2,939. Admittedly these fetch a premium for scarcity – but this should be seen against St Henri’s growing reputation and a general rise in is price at auction

However, $89.99 retail for the current release 2006 vintage is quite a premium over the $67 auction price for the 2005. But where the 1983 Grange fetches less at auction than the current 2005 at retail, St Henri 1983 at around $153 is well above current vintage retail price. Similarly 1975 vintage fetches around $170 and 1971 around $674.

This groundswell of support for mature St Henri vintages points to good value even in the current vintage, especially where retailer discounting brings it close to the auction price of recent vintages.

Like Grange, Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon, took a significant leap in price after the release of the 1990 vintage. However, for years it struggled to maintain the increase, though recent auction prices suggest it’s firming.

The new release 2007 sells at around $190 retail – well over the $147 fetched at auction by the 2006 vintage. However, the 2004 recently sold for $196, 1998 for $231, 1996 for $236, 1990 for $217 and 1986 for $220. These don’t necessarily imply a good return for the seller, but as for St Henri, the mature vintages at auction cost more than the current one at retail.

The real bargains for auction buyers seems to be with the next run down of Penfolds reds. For example, the current release Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 retails at around $55. That vintage can already be bought at auction for about $35, the 2006 for around $28 and the 2002 for $36.

Likewise the solid, juicy Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz ($25–$34 retail for the 2007 vintage), recently fetched $21.85 at auction. The older vintages, however, move up a little, but not much, considering their ages – 2002 $30, 1998 $47.15 and 1971 $137.

The golden rules for buying at auction are to check the provenance, bid within your limit and don’t forget to add the buyer’s premium of 15 per cent to your bid price as that’s what you’ll actually pay. If you’re selling, negotiate the commission with the auctioneer after shopping around. Alternatively, if you have top quality, well-cellared wines, contact the buying departments of the large retailers as they’ll sometimes buy direct, generally at around current auction price.

The last point reinforces that auction prices are, in effect, wholesale prices for older wines – what sells for $100 becomes $150 retail or even more in restaurants. This explains, in part, why auctions are, in general, better for buyers than they are for sellers.

It also explains why if we’re after a really good old red, like Grange, buying the mature wine at auction can be better than buying the young wine and cellaring it.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Beer review — Samuel Smith and Zywiec

Beer review

Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery Pale Ale 500ml $8.55
This is a lovely, warming, malty winter ale made, says the label, using water from the original brewery well sunk in 1758. While fruit and malt dominate the nose, they’re joined on the wine-rich palate by a delicious, pervading hops bitterness and firmness. It’s a complex but very easy-drinking style.

Zywiec Porter 330ml $4.95
Pow! Head-spinning alcohol of 9.5% rings the warning bells – and turbo charges Zywiec’s deep, brooding flavours of roasted coffee, dark chocolate and smoky cigar butt. Certainly it’s a cold weather brew, welcome in a Polish winter for sure, and perhaps at times in Canberra.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Wig and Pen shines at Australian International Beer Awards

Beer

Judges at this year’s Australian International Beer Awards sipped 1,112 brews from across the world. The catalogue of results makes mouth-watering reading as it lists all of the medal winners across the show’s 19 categories.

Some might be hard to track drown in Australia. But the long honours list includes plenty of readily available beers from breweries of all sizes.

Canberra’s Wig and Pen Brewery covered itself in glory as it has consistently for more than a decade. It won three gold, four silver and four bronze medals across an impressive range of styles. The brewery won golds for its Lambic style Tarty Blonde, Belgian-style Staggered and monumental Russian imperial stout, The Judges Are Old Codgers (but good judges, nevertheless).

But brewer Richard Watkins showed even more versatility. His other medal winning styles included barley wine, Kriek fruit beer, two intense hop-season ales, and a range of pale and dark ales in the Australian, British, American and Irish styles.

The judges’ champions from each of the major categories came from Oregon USA, Dunedin New Zealand, Colorado USA, Western Australia, Copenhagen Denmark, Hunter Valley New South Wales, Sydney New South Wales, Boston USA and Kansas City USA.

The catalogue is available at www.beerawards.com

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Wine review — Ant Moore, Hewitson, Bleasdale, Barwang, Amisfield and Balnaves

Wine review

Ant Moore Marlborough Pinot Gris 2009 $22
In 2002 former AIS student, Anthony Moore, moved to New Zealand, made wine at Isabella Estate, established his own vineyards in Marlborough’s Awatere, Waihopai and Wairau Valleys, later launching his own label. His delicious, pinot gris, from the Ant’s Nest vineyard, Waihopai Valley, delivers a fresh-pear like varietal flavour only ever achieved in very cool growing conditions. It’s crisp, dry and smoothly textured without the fatness that sometimes detracts from the variety.

Hewitson Lu Lu Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2010 $22
Sauvignon Blanc’s the white equivalent of Beaujolais – rippling with juicy, fresh-from-the-vine, grapey flavours, and never better than when it’s first released. While Marlborough dominates the market, Australia’s high, cool Adelaide Hills hits the mark, too, albeit in a different style. Dean Hewitson’s estate-grown version captures the exuberant, riper tropical-fruit end of the spectrum. It shimmers with passionfruit-like flavours, finishing brisk and dry.

Bleasdale Langhorne Creek ‘Second Innings’ Malbec 2008 $15
Malbec, Argentina’s signature red variety, barely hits the scale in Australia, accounting for just two thousand tonnes of our annual 900-thousand-tonne red harvest. But it’s an attractively perfumed, generously flavoured variety as we can see in this bargain from Bleasdale, Langhorne Creek’s oldest winery.  There’s no artifice here – just buckets of bright fruit flavour, reminiscent of very ripe mulberry, laced with soft, velvety tannins.

Barwang Hilltops Shiraz 2008 $20
Shiraz from the nearby Hilltops region (Young) tends to be slightly fuller bodied than the fine-boned Canberra style, with a drink-me-now fruitiness – a style exemplified by the supple, virtually unoaked, Eden Road 2008, winner of the 2009 Jimmy Watson Trophy. Barwang is a notch up on this for oak-derived complexity. But it shares an appealing, fleshy fruitiness, not unlike ripe black cherries. This is apt, as cherry farmer Peter Robertson planted the first vines on Barwang back in 1969.

Amisfield Central Otago Dry Riesling 2009 $30
New Zealand’s Central Otago region lies two degrees south of Hobart and its climate is marginal for late-ripening varieties. Riesling, for example, barely scraped through in 2009. But what a stunning, delicately floral aromatic wine resulted. It’s moderately alcoholic at 12.2 per cent; and a trace of residual sugar hardly registers on the palate as it’s offset by the flavour intensity, unique textural richness and steely acid backbone. This is thrilling stuff from winemaker Claire Mulholland.

Balnaves of Coonawarra The Tally Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 $90
The Balnaves family began a tentative move from contract grape growing to winemaking in 1990, later building a winery and employing former Wynns winemaker Pete Bissell. Their flagship red, The Tally, shows the great glory of Coonawarra cabernet. It’s saturated with pure, ripe cassis-like varietal flavour backed by classy oak and firm, ripe tannins. It’s a powerful, elegantly structured red built for long cellaring. Balnaves standard Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 ($35) rates only a notch or two behind.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Wine review — Taylors, Madfish, Howard Park and Balnaves

Wine review

Taylors Estate $15–$19

  • Clare Valley Shiraz 2008
  • Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
  • Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir 2009

Taylors built its reputation on bold red styles from its very large Clare Valley Estate. The wines are notably more refined these days, though probably less cellar worthy. But nothing wrong with that if you’re after flavour and drinkability now. The shiraz is generous and soft – clearly a warm-climate style, but not over the top in the tannin, oak or alcohol departments. The cabernet is clearly varietal with ripe, blackcurrant-like flavour and a solid but not too firm structure. The pinot noir, from the Adelaide Hills, is a decent drink but doesn’t really capture the excitement of the variety.

Madfish ‘Sideways’ Margaret River Chardonnay 2009 $18–$20
Howard Park Great Southern Chardonnay 2009 $34–$38
For flavours that grow in interest as you sip through a bottle, tip out the sauvignon and head for modern chardonnay like these gems from Howard Park. They’re as fresh and zesty as any dry white but come with the subtle patina of flavours and textures derived from oak fermentation and maturation. In ‘Sideways’ this is very subtle indeed, mostly textural – it’s a simply delicious, fine-boned wine, built on bright fresh nectarine-like varietal flavour. Howard Park 2009 steps up in flavour intensity and interest – an exceptionally fine and taut but generous chardonnay, showing the more citrus-like end of the varietal flavour spectrum.

Balnaves of Coonawarra

  • The Blend 2008 $19
  • Cabernet Merlot 2008 $24
  • Shiraz 2008 $24

Balnaves, located at the cooler, southern end of Coonawarra, originally grew grapes for local wineries. In1990 the family created the Balnaves brand, having the wine made off site until the mid nineties. After building a winery in the mid nineties they hired former Wynns winemaker Pete Bissell. The wines show real polish – beautifully made and with ripe berry flavours at the core. ‘The Blend’, a mainly cabernet sauvignon and merlot blend is solid and flavoursome in a Coonawarra way. The slightly more expensive Cabernet Merlot shows brighter fruit and finer, more elegant tannin structure. And the Shiraz show ripe berry flavours tinged with varietal peppery notes and assertive, firm finish.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

National Wine Show of Australia hopes to fill the gaps

People, Wine

Canberra’s National Wine Show of Australia recently announced major changes to this year’s event. The Royal National Capital Agricultural Society’s wine show committee, chaired by David Metcalf, hopes to open the competition to a wider range of exhibitors, especially high quality small producers from Australia’s many wine regions.

The event, held in Canberra each November, bills itself as the grand final of the Australian wine show circuit. But in recent years the show had fallen far short of this aspiration with notable gaps in the tasting line up.

The show’s failure to attract entries from many of Australia’s top regional producers hadn’t gone unnoticed. Feedback about its shortcomings had come from the judges, the major sponsor, Vintage Cellars (with 1st Choice and Liquorland, owned by Wesfarmers), from this column and other sources.

By the end of last year the show organisers were listening and preparing for change. On 9 December 2009 I received this email from then chair, Brian Graetz, “As the newly appointed Chair of the National Wine Show, I was very interested in your recent comments about the gaps in our ranks. This issue has interested me for some time and I’m now looking forward to the challenge of being able to do something about it.

“Over past years we have become a little precious about qualifying shows largely, as I understand it, in response to an industry preference for recognising true regional shows at the expense of other shows (e.g. Cowra) and competitions. However, as you say, there is no structured show system at present and I doubt that it would work, as issues such as timing and stock availability intrude and exhibitors are not necessarily enamoured of entering multiple shows in a structured system. Moreover, my own recent comparative analysis of show results (wines exhibited at more than one show) provides no statistical justification for an overly-restrictive approach.

“My view is that we should be aiming to see the best wines from whatever legitimate source, within reasonable and manageable limits; being overly exclusive is not an advantage. As one step in this direction, we will be reducing volume requirements in premium classes next year”. Graetz’s email then discussed increasing the number of wine shows feeding into the national.

In mid May 2010 the RNCAS announced details of the changes, effective for the 2010 judging in November. By reducing volume requirements in premium classes, accepting medal-winning wines from five additional wine shows and introducing classes for single-vineyard wines, the RNCAS hopes to widen the show’s catchment.

As well, the show will no longer accept entries from New Zealand. David Metcalf says the show judges, led by current chair of judges, Tom Carson, pushed for this change. Metcalf added the New Zealand entries numbered only about seventy, so there’d be little practical affect on the show and the focus would now be totally on Australian wine.

Reduction of the quantity requirements could attract more entries from small makers. Under the old rules a maker might qualify for the national by winning a medal in another approved show, but be ruled out for not having enough wine. For example, last year Ken Helm’s Premium Riesling 2009 qualified by winning the top gold medal in its class at the Royal Melbourne Show. But he’d made only 375 dozen, where the national demanded a minimum of 500 dozen. This year the quantity falls to 250 dozen. Helm applauds the change and says he’ll now enter the national when he meets its other requirements.

From 2010 the national will accept gold and silver medal winners from five additional events – the Canberra, Margaret River and Yarra Valley regional shows, the Winewise Small Vignerons Awards and the Alternative Varieties Wine Show. As well, the list of approved events now includes all of the capital city shows, and these regional and state competitions: Adelaide Hills, Barossa, Clare Valley, McLaren Vale, Limestone Coast, Hunter Valley, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia.

Metcalf believes the show can easily absorb more entries. By restricting entries in recent years, the numbers had dropped to about 1,300 wines in 2009. But he says four panels, each judging 150 wines a day, should cope well with about 1800 entries in the three days preceding trophy judging.

While these changes should plug some of the gaps in the show, the committee has further challenges. You can’t, for example, take a comprehensive look at Australian pinot noir and chardonnay without including wines from Mornington Peninsula and Macedon. Similarly, showings of riesling and shiraz ought to include wines from Great Southern, Western Australia.

Wines from these regions might make their way to the national through the Victorian and Western Australian Shows, but their paths aren’t as clear-cut as wines from regions with their own shows. This suggests that Metcalf and his committee should look closely at the gaps in the years ahead and find ways to plug them. He says this is on the cards.

And in a nod to regional specialisation, the show this year launches a series of new single-vineyard classes. Exhibitors need just one dozen wines to qualify. Metcalf says there’ll be classes for riesling, semillon, chardonnay, pinot noir, shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, other whites and other reds. The top-scoring gold medallist from each class will go to a taste-off for the new best single-vineyard wine trophy.

Since the proof of the pudding is in the eating, we’ll have to wait until November to see how effective the changes are.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010