Helm Canberra District Cabernet Sauvignon 2007  $27–$32
There’s bad news and good news. First the bad – frost decimated Ken Helm’s cabernet crop in 2007. And now the good news – the small, crop, much of it second-growth fruit, developed ripe flavours at low sugar levels, meaning lower alcohol wine. And more good news – Ken backed off on the new oak, using mainly two and three year old barrels. The result is a fragrant, elegant, delicious cabernet, rippling with sweet, supple varietal fruit, counterbalanced by cabernet’s assertive, drying tannins. This is a big step away from the too-oaky wines of past vintages, liberating the bright, berry fruit flavours.

Wynns Coonawarra Estate Shiraz 2008 $9.90–$20
Put this and the cabernet in the next column on your bargain-watch list. Both are phenomenally good wines and occasionally the big retailers prices slash the prices to ridiculously low levels. It’s a beautifully aromatic, vibrant, cool climate shiraz featuring ripe but spicy and juicy fruit flavours and ever-so-fine, soft tannins. It’s sourced from central and northern Coonawarra and matured for just six months in older French and American oak barrels. I suspect, however, that another few months in oak and an extra year in bottle might have taken this to an even higher level. It drinks well now and will flourish for decades if well cellared.

Wynns Coonawarra Estate  ‘Black Label’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 $19–$32
A severe frost in October 2006 nipped much of the 2007 vintage in the bud, reducing production of Black Label by 80 per cent. What’s left, though, is a world-class cabernet, at the elegant end of the Coonawarra spectrum. The colour’s vibrant and limpid. And though the aroma’s ripe and purely varietal, the palate is medium bodied, with the unique, and delicious, underlying power and structure of Coonawarra cabernet.  It’s already drinkable and showing some savoury notes. But there’s the depth and harmony here for a good ten years, probably more, in a good cellar.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Can a wholesale import business focussed on sweet Italian wine succeed in Australia? Canberra’s Brian and Carol Keil, with Italian based Imogen McNamara, will soon know. With the first shipment of their Pilgrim Wines now in Australia, the Keils paraded their sweeties, and a few dry wines as well, in front of the Canberra trade two weeks ago.

I offer my impressions below. But bear in mind that distribution has barely begun and prices are estimates only, based on list wholesale price. You should send queries about pricing and availability to brian.keil@pilgrimwines.com.au

DRY WINES

Maso Martis Brut Rosé 2009 (Trentino) $90 750ml
A very good, if very young, 100 per cent pinot noir bottle-fermented bubbly rosé, with a strong acid backbone that seems slightly separate from the intense varietal flavour. Distinctive style, but when you can buy 1999 Pol Roger Champagne for around $80, it’s hard to see value in this youngster.

Volpe Pasin Sauvignon 2008 (Colli Orientali del Friuli) $60 750ml
A bright, fresh, intensely flavoured, finely textured sauvignon blanc. It’s pure and varietal but not as in your face as Marlborough styles. $60 seems a lot to pay for sauvignon, especially when you can buy similarly restrained styles from Sancerre (in France’s Loire Valley) for $20–$30.

Russiz Superiore Friulano 2008 (Friuli Venezia) $60 750ml
Made from the friulano grape, also known as sauvignon vert, sauvignonasse and, formerly, as tocai Friulano. The wine’s reminiscent of gewürztraminer in its grapey intensity, viscous texture and firm finish. Idiosyncratic and not to my taste.

Volpe Pinot Grigio (Colli Orientali del Friuli) 2006 $82 750ml
There’s no doubting the intensity of varietal flavour. But it’s marred, in my opinion, by oak flavours that aren’t integrated with the fruit. It reminded me of poorly oaked wines we made in Australia thirty years ago, before our vignerons learned to ferment (not just mature) whites in oak barrels.

Palari Faro 2006 (Sicily) $117 750ml
Did I miss something? Let’s, euphemistically, call this much-awarded red “rustic”.

Marco Donati Sangue di Drago 2007 (Trentino) $82 750ml
Made from old teroldego vines (the variety shares a parent with shiraz), this unique wine is bright, crimson rimmed and brimming with succulent, jube-like aromas and flavours. The palate’s velvet textured with fine, bone-dry tannins.

Dominio di Bagnoli Friularo Vendemmia Tardiva 2001 (Veneto) $81 500ml
Late picked friularo grapes give this red particularly ripe fruit flavours that jut through the high acid and austere tannins. It’s idiosyncratic and ageing well but I suspect uninvited microbial guests may be behind the accompanying “rustic” notes.

SWEET RED WINES

Maso Martis Moscato Rosa 2008 (Trentino) $94 375ml
Who can resist muscat – especially a limpid, delicately pink, penetratingly musky, aromatic luscious one like this. Simply delicious.

Bonotto delle Tezze Raboso Passito 2007 (Veneto) $84 500ml
The Bonotto family’s sweet red offers a tour de force of deep purple colours and sweet-and-sour juicy, fruity, stalky flavours. It’s made from late picked air-dried grapes and matured for two years in small oak barrels.

Dominio di Bagnoli Friularo Passito 2001 (Veneto) $82 750ml
Proprietor Dr Borletti makes his passito from friularo grapes dried in the estate’s grainary. The wine is matured in oak barrels for three years and emerges intensely raisin like and sweet, lifted by volatile acidity (aka vinegar – a minor but useful component of all wines).  But underlying the seductive sweetness are the very dry, grippy, firm, red-wine tannins.

Le Salette Recioto della Valpolicella 2005 (Veneto) $101 500ml
This wine could’ve been a blend of very ripe, sweet black cherries laced with balsamic vinegar – complex and fascinating but way out on the vinegar limb. It certainly stretches the concept of wine to the limits and tests the boundary between wine and vinegar – intense, sweet fruitiness being the flux.

Trabucchi Recioto della Valpolicella 2005 (Veneto) $129
Like the Le Salette wine above, the flavours resemble super ripe, sweet black cherries; but there’s little balsamic in this recioto; instead very dry, persistent, red-wine tannins acting as a foil to the plush, sweet fruit. A wonderful and distinctive drink.

Tramin Gewurztraminer 2007 (Alto Adige) $80 375ml
This is a richly textured but very fine, luscious, barrel-aged, late-picked gewürztraminer, that avoids the heaviness and hardness often associated with the variety.
Tramin Gewurztraminer Terminum Vendemmia Tardiva 2006 (Alto Adige) $130 375ml
Sample cork tainted; unable to rate. Dear Italians, wake up to screw cap.

SWEET WHITES

Le Salette Passito Cesare 2005 (Veneto) $87 500ml
This is made from dried malvasia and garganega grapes and aged in oak for twenty months. Presumably this oxidative process explains the wine’s slightly bronzed colour and touch of sherry-like tang overlying the intensely sweet, dried-fruit flavours.

Suavia Recioto di Soave Acinatum 2005 (Veneto) $86
This beautiful, fine, soft wine is made from dried garganega grapes, fermented and matured in oak barrels. The shimmering lemon-gold colour belies its age and fit with its lively, luscious, lovely apricot-like flavours.

Trabucchi Recioto di Soave 2005 (Veneto) $110 500ml
This another glorious recioto di Soave, this time fermented in steel tanks and matured in oak. Luscious, apricot flavours are at the core, but there’s a beautiful lift and buoyancy and a lively, fresh acidity drying out the finish.

Marco Cecchini Picolit 2006 (Friuli-Venezia-Guilia) $110 500ml
A comparatively dull wine after the Soaves, presentable and luscious with flavours reminiscent of honeycomb; but, alas, didn’t push our buttons.

Marco Cecchini Verlit 2006 (Friuli-Venezia-Guilia) $85 500ml
This is made from dried verduzzo grapes fermented and matured in oak barrels ¬– a winemaking regime that adds a slightly varnishy, sherry-like complexity to the concentrated, luscious sweet fruit flavours.

Cantine Viola Moscato di Saracena 2007 (Sardinia) $122 500ml
What an extraordinary wine – it’s a golden-amber colour; the aroma is high-toned and penetrating with subtle, underlying caramel notes. The palate is lively ¬– the plush, sweet, caramel and toffee flavours tempered by an intense, acidic backbone. It’s made from gently heated, crushed malvasia and guarnaccia grapes, with slowly-dried moscato grapes added.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Braided River Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009 $14–$19
The Crossings Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009 $14–$19
New Zealand’s Ager Sectus Wine Estates, controlled by Peter and Debbie Cutfield, owns the ‘Braided River’ and ‘The Crossing’s brands. Winemaker Matt Mitchells says the bolder, traditional, in-your-face Braided River wine is an all-of-Marlborough blend. But the more restrained ‘The Crossings’ comes from the company’s extensive vineyards in the cooler Awatere Valley (to the south of the earlier-planted Wairau Valley). It’s paler in colour and lighter bodied with a taut acid backbone carrying the delicious, pure, tropical-fruit varietal flavour – something of a surprise from such a cool area, more noted for capsicum-like flavour from the other end of the spectrum.

Braided River Marlborough Pinot Noir 2008 $17–$22
The Crossings Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009 $20–26
Marlborough’s unique, sunny, cool climate makes it the world’s sauvignon blanc capital. And its pinot is set to achieve similar status. Braided River, an all-of-Marlborough blend, offers pure, ripe varietal flavours, fleshed out by high-toast oak.  It’s soft but built like a real red and ready to enjoy now. The vividly coloured ‘The Crossings’ heads in a less fleshy, finer, more intense flavour direction. In tandem with the fruit, the fine but assertive tannin structure (derived from a range of oak types and extend maceration on skins) make for satisfying, complex drinking at the price.

Brokenwood Hunter Valley

• ILR Reserve Semillon 2004 $45
• Maxwell Vineyard Semillon 2005 $36

Mount Pleasant Lovedale Hunter Valley Semillon 2005 $65

We sipped this delicious, maturing Hunter trio over four days without noticeable degradation of wine quality – few whites could achieve this.  Brokenwood ILR 2004 (10 per cent alcohol) sits on the austere end of the style spectrum – dry as cucumber skin, brisk as limejuice and showing first hints of age. Maxwell 2005 (11 per cent alcohol) seems a little fuller and softer by comparison and it’s lemony rather than limey. Its vintage mate from the 1940s Lovedale vineyard (11.5 per cent alcohol) is a little deeper coloured but dust dry, with jaw dropping flavour intensity and gripping, dry acidity.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Have you heard about the trans-Tasman sauvignon blanc pipeline to Bondi? Neither have I. But we’re swimming in the stuff and the tap’s not about to be turned off. In 2009 New Zealand exported 43.8 million litres (equivalent to 4.9 million dozen bottles) of wine to Australia. About ninety per cent of that was white wine, the majority of it sauvignon blanc.

The New Zealanders began planting sauvignon like crazy decades ago, sprinting to keep up with an insatiable international thirst. While the GFC imposed a momentary pause, exports began to gush again in 2009, albeit at the expense of producer margins.

With little capacity to move an estimated 30-million litre surplus domestically, New Zealand vignerons simply slashed prices – and international buyers opened their order books. Exports flooded out, accelerating in late 2009, possibly to create storage space for vintage 2010.

Exports to Australia, New Zealand’s biggest market, grew 40.9 per cent from 31.1 million litres in 2008 to 43.8 million litres in 2009. But the growth came at considerable cost to vignerons, as the price per litre fell 21.6 per cent, from $NZ9.53 to $NZ7.57.

Similarly, volume to the United Kingdom leapt 30.3 per cent from 31.1 to 41.2 million litres while the price per litre fell 17.2 per cent to $NZ6.74 from $NZ8.14. Running against this trend, Americans and Canadians imported greater volumes and paid more per litre. But Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands drove producer prices down significantly.

In Australia, the lower buying prices and proliferation of brands, many created by retailers and wholesalers, quickly translated into greater shelf, fridge and floor space and significantly lower retail prices.

While this no doubt expands the market for New Zealand sauvignon blanc, much of it is at unsustainable prices – the result of sheer distress. This creates a serious dilemma for well-established producers. They may have spent years building the Marlborough brand, suddenly to find customers becoming competitors and dozens of opportunistic labels cashing in cheaply on the good will they’ve created.

These operators don’t have the marketing overheads of leading brands, so little wonder we’ve seen prices plunging to all-time lows – dragging the strong brands along, too. We should lap it up while we can – perhaps for another few years — but eventually supply and demand will realign and prices will once again reflect the cost of production.

And as the focus shifts from bargain-basement sauvignon blanc, we might notice just how much bubbly and pinot noir we’re shipping across the Tasman. It’s not enough to fill the Bondi pipeline – but these are top-end wines. And pinot noir, now in its infancy, could create a new market much as Marlborough sauvignon blanc did – gradually during the eighties and nineties, then dramatically this century.

And I’m backing Marlborough to lead the charge again. It remains by far the largest of New Zealand’s wine regions, accounting for 16,682 of its 31,057 hectares of vines. Hawkes Bay comes a distant second with 4,928 hectares. The much talked about Otago region has just 1,540 hectares, albeit more narrowly focused on pinot noir and chardonnay than Marlborough.

But for all the talk of Central Otago and Martinborough pinot noir – and these are creating New Zealand’s international pinot image – Marlborough is the variety’s engine room. It’s the biggest producer – but almost certain can almost certainly equal the quality of pinots coming out of Central Otago and Martinborough.

In Canberra last, New Zealand winemaker Matt Mitchell said that some Marlborough vignerons worried that by focusing on cheaper pinot, rather than cutting edge stuff, the region might already have typecast itself as a bulk producer.
In fact, Marlborough has a unique opportunity with pinot noir. It has already created a market from virtually nothing  and is now the leading player in Australia’s pinot niche. In the year to June 2009, the New Zealanders exported four million litres of red to us, the majority of it pinot noir, at a value of $NZ9.07 a litre).

Even ten years ago we barely had a beverage pinot noir market in Australia. With the exception of a tiny minority of top-end wine drinkers, Australians held deep suspicious of the variety – and for good reason. Most the cheaper ones of the time tasted more like rose than red wine.

Marlborough converted us, through popular wines like Oyster Bay, Montana and Stoneleigh, to a belief that lighter, elegant pinot can be a decent red. It doesn’t have to lack substance.

After the dust settles on the current wine surplus, watch for New Zealand, led by Marlborough, to take pinot to the world. It’s set to become the sauvignon blanc of red wine.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Collector Canberra District Reserve Shiraz 2008 $46
Alex McKay’s Collector Reserve 2008 won four trophies at the recent Sydney Royal Wine Show, topping Aussie greats like Vasse Felix Cabernet and Best’s Bin O Shiraz. Alex sourced the shiraz from the Kyeema Murrumbatemen Vineyard – and added a few buckets of the white variety, viognier, from Kyeema and Wayne and Jenny Fischer’s vineyard. Since its release late last year the wine has largely absorbed the telltale sappy/herbal notes derived from whole-bunch fermentation, leaving just a leafy hint. This seasons the flavour and adds savouriness and grip to the deep, supple, very fine palate. This is a glorious wine and a world away from our traditional styles. See www.collectorwines.com.au

Chandon Pinot Gris 2009 $25–$28
Freeman Hilltops Fortuna 2008 $22–$25
At a recent tasting this contrasting pair, based on the white variety, pinot gris, divided the audience. The all-pinot gris Chandon 2009 – from Victoria’s King and Yarra Valleys – appealed for its combination of brightness and fine, smooth, silky texture, probably the result of partial barrel fermentation. Brian Freeman’s wine, from the nearby Hilltops region, appealed to those with a taste for more savoury, slightly grippy dry whites. Brian blends it from pinot gris with smaller amounts of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, riesling and aleatico – source, says Brian, of those savoury, pleasantly tart tannins.

Morambro Creek Padthaway

• Shiraz 2007 $19–$22
• Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 $19–$22

Since the sad decline of the Lindemans brand we hear little of the Padthaway region, on South Australia’s Limestone Coast, an hour’s drive north of Coonawarra. The success of Lindemans Padthaway Chardonnay during the eighties and nineties, and for a little while this century, drew this very large producing region to the attention of wine drinkers. Alas, much of its produce disappears into anonymous multi-regional blends. But occasionally we see elegant, tasty wines like this pair from Morambro Creek carrying the regional flag. These tasty, easy-drinking wines give us a glimpse of what this region can deliver in abundance. See www.morambrocreek.com.au

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010