Yearly Archives: 2011

Pinot takes off

16 November 2011WineChris Shanahan

Australian wine drinkers are taking to pinot noir in ever-greater numbers. And they’re prepared to pay far more for it then they do for other varieties.

Pinot noir, once a footnote in Australian red-wine sales figures, accounted for six per cent by value of retail red wine sales in the year to September 2011, according to Nielsen data.

Vintage Cellars liquor executive, Grant Ramage, says the same Nielsen data reveals pinot as “the fastest growing of the major varieties” at 21 per cent for the year, compared to nine per cent for shiraz (which accounts for 26 per cent of red wine sales) and five per cent for cabernet sauvignon.

The figures also reveal that we pay more, on average, for pinot than for shiraz or red in general – $17.50 retail a bottle for pinot, $12.50 for shiraz and $8.49 for red wine overall. (Not directly related, but of interest, is the premium we paid for sauvignon blanc ($11.60) compared to chardonnay ($8.34) – indicating Marlborough’s huge dominance of the sauvignon blanc market).

Ramage believes “a lot of New Zealand’s success with pinot noir was built on sauvignon blanc”. He says difficulties encountered by New Zealand pinot producers in some export markets forced prices down. Combined with the strong Australian dollar, this led to greater numbers of good, under-$20 pinots arriving in Australia.

Encouraged by the popularity of sauvignon blanc from the same producers, Australian retailers frequently promoted their pinot noirs. “This unlocked volume and interest”, says Ramage, probably converting many drinkers to a red style they’d not enjoyed before.

At the same time, Australian producers (they still account for the majority of pinot sales) had also got their act together. Several decades of growing pinot in suitably cool climates, and a huge amount of viticultural and winemaking effort, had lifted the quality of our best wines to a very high level (and priced accordingly).

A spinoff was the development of increasing numbers of convincing pinots at under or around $20 a bottle. This, along with New Zealand developments, set the scene for pinot’s, growth based on a unique “pop” market.

While several rungs down the quality ladder from pinot elites – like Mornington’s Main Ridge Estate, Gippsland’s Bass Phillip Estate or Central Otago’s Felton Road – these new, cheaper wines look, smell and taste like pinot noir. They’re recruiting new drinkers.

However, because good pinot’s more expensive to produce than good shiraz, the starting price is higher – around $20 a bottle versus around $10. But, as the Nielsen figures confirm, growing numbers of people seem happy to pay the premium.

In Australia, pinot noir remains a niche variety, accounting for a little under five per cent of our red grape harvest at 36 thousand tonnes in 2011. Take out the portion that goes to sparkling wine and pinot for red-wine production makes up perhaps four cent of our red output.

As a cool-climate variety, planting is concentrated in the far south and at high altitudes, notably in the Yarra Valley, Gippsland, Mornington and Bellarine Peninsulas, the Adelaide Hills and Tasmania – the latter with huge potential.

In New Zealand, it’s the dominant red-wine variety at around 30 thousand tonnes annual production, and third in volume – a nose behind chardonnay and a couple of laps behind sauvignon blanc (177 thousand tonnes in 2009). About one quarter of New Zealand’s pinot noir goes to sparkling wine production.

A portion of people converted by the lovely new, inexpensive pinots seem certain to move up the chain, tempted by the great diversity of styles now on offer. Anecdotal evidence says drinkers seem fascinated by the variety’s variability. They share the passion of producers for the many regional, sub-regional and individual vineyard wines now emerging.

While sales of the great wines of Burgundy are insignificant in volume and value in relation to the total market, they remain still the gold standard for Australian producers – in style, winemaking technique and the belief that individual sites should be allowed expression.

I’ve reviewed a couple of current-release examples below from one of Mornington Peninsula’s exciting producers.

Ten Minutes by Tractor Mornington Peninsula
10X Pinot Noir 2010 $32
A general Mornington Peninsula blend, largely from earlier ripening sites downhill from the company’s sites on Main Ridge. Features bright, red fruit character, medium body and fine tannins.

Ten minutes by Tractor Mornington Peninsula
Estate Pinot Noir 2009 $46
A blend from the later ripening Judd, McCutcheon and Wallis vineyards on Main Ridge – darker fruit characters, fuller body, rich texture and tighter more assertive tannins.

Ten Minutes by Tractor Mornington Peninsula
McCutcheon Pinot Noir 2009 $75
From the late ripening McCutcheon vineyard on Main Ridge – reveals a broad spectrum of pinot character: dark fruits, savoury and gamey notes, a touch of stalkiness and a particularly rich, velvety texture.

Wine review — Pizzini, Yering Station, Brown Brothers, Philip Shaw, Dandelion and Evans & Tate

16 November 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Pizzini Sangiovese 2009 $26.90–$30
King Valley, Victoria
Several Pizzini brothers emigrated from Italy’s Trento Alto Adige region in the 1950s, ultimately settling in Myrtleford and growing tobacco. With tobacco increasingly on the nose, in 1978 second-generation Fred Pizzini planted vines in the King Valley, originally as a supplier to Brown Brothers. In 1994 Fred and wife, Natalie, launched their own brand. By this time they’d been growing Italian varieties for a decade. Son Joel now makes the wines, including this impressive sangiovese. It’s medium bodied with vibrant cherry-like varietal flavour and a deep, tasty savoury vein. The savoury, assertive, soft tannins combine with the fruit to provide a unique and rewarding drinking experience.

Yering Station Village Chardonnay 2010 $25
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Yering Station, first planted to vines by the Ryrie family in 1838, is today part of the Rathbone Wine Group. The group also owns Xanadu Margaret River, Parker Coonawarra Estate and Mount Langi Ghiran Pyrenees. Yering’s new ‘Village’ label salutes the Burgundian concept of wines from a general vicinity sitting one rung lower on the quality ladder than those from individual sites. Flavour (melon and grapefruit-like), finesse and elegance are the keywords for this appealing example of modern, cool-climate chardonnay.

Brown Brothers Prosecco 2011 $22.90
Banksdale Vineyard, King Valley, Victoria
The King Valley, with its strong Italian heritage, has become a hot spot for this delicate sparkling wine, modelled on the originals from northeastern Italy. The style emphasises lightness, freshness and delicate fruit flavour – in this instance reminiscent of tart, just-picked, new season granny smith apples. This pleasant tartness is an endearing, unique feature of good prosecco, making it an excellent but unobtrusive aperitif and all-round food wine.

Philip Shaw No. 89 Shiraz 2009 $50
Koomooloo Vineyard, Orange, New South Wales
Philip Shaw’s glorious, demure, slow-evolving wine, appears upstaged at present by its fruit-riot, precocious, $17–$20 sibling, “The Idiot” Shiraz, winner of three trophies at the 2011 Sydney wine show. With a little aeration, though, Shaw’s flagship reveals the intensely spicy fruitiness and heady aromatics of cool-grown shiraz – with layers of supple, smooth, fine, ripe tannin. The inclusion of one per cent of the white viognier in the blend no doubt contributes to the aroma and supple texture.

Dandelion Vineyard Wonderland of the Eden Valley Riesling 2011 $30
Colin Kroehn vineyard, Eden Valley, South Australia
What a wonderful story and sense of place lie behind this wine. It’s summed up on the back label, “Colin Kroehn has tended his Eden Valley riesling for 66 of his 86 years. Our [wine] is made entirely from his vineyard which was planted in 1912 and thrives to this day”. The “we” being a small group of wine people intent on presenting wines from unique vineyard sites. The wine shows varietal floral and lemony aromas – characters reflected on an intensely flavoured, dry palate of rare delicacy.

Evans and Tate Classic Cabernet Merlot 2010 $13–$15
Margaret River, Western Australia
Evans and Tate, part of the McWilliams family since 2007, offers tremendous value across its range – starting with this budget-priced, genuine Margaret River blend. Sourced from the central and northern parts of the region, it’s a medium bodied blend, featuring sweet, verging on floral, varietal red-berry aromas. The particularly vibrant berry flavours provide juicy, easy drink-now pleasure at a modest price.

Beer review — Wig & Pen and Tooheys

16 November 2011Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Wig and Pen Multigrain 285ml glass $5
We savoured the wholemeal goodness in the Wig’s new cask-conditioned ale, brewed from rye, barley, corn, oats and wheat. It’s a hand pumped beer, meaning less gassy fizz – an attribute that sits well with gentle, creamy palate and invigorating citrusy hops character. It’s another original, more-ish brew by Richard Watkins.

Tooheys Old Black Ale 375ml $16.99 6-pack
Pubs in Moruya and Batemans Bay continue to sell Toohey’s delicious, gentle dark ale, known simply as “black”. Also available in bottle it offers fruity ale notes and subtle, refreshing bitterness with distinctive underlying flavours of roasted coffee and malt. Pubs serve it too cold, but try telling that to the locals.

Craft brewers to join forces

16 November 2011Beer, PeopleChris Shanahan

Australia’s craft brewers are at last to have a national body to promote their product, liaise with government and advocate their interests.

Unlike the wine industry with its strong national promotional and representative bodies, craft brewers have been a fragmented lot despite their growing presence in the market.

Brewers behind the new national body (with state chapters) began working on the project in May and in July circulated a draft prospectus to the industry. In November they established Craft Beer Limited and called on brewers to join the association and participate in the election of a board.

The brewers behind the initiative are Brad Rogers and Jamie Cooke (Stone and Wood Brewing, Byron Bay), Brendan Varis (Feral Brewing Company, Swan Valley), Dave Bonighton (Mountain Goat Beer, Richmond Victoria), Miles Hull (Little Creatures, Fremantle), Owen Johnston (Moo Brew, Hobart) and Adam Trippe-Smith and Bruce Peachey (McLaren Vale Beer Company.

Wine review — Chrismont, Kingston Estate and Pizzini

13 November 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Chrismont King Valley La Zona Prosecco NV $22
In 2007 Arnie and Jo Pizzini planted the Italian white variety, prosecco, in their vineyard at Cheshunt, in Victoria’s King Valley. With it they emulate the light, delicate dry sparkling wines made with the variety in northeastern Italy. La Zona starts as a still table wine matured on yeast lees for a few months before being blended with components from earlier vintages then undergoing a secondary fermentation in steel tanks. It’s a unique style – pale, comparatively low in alcohol, at 12 per cent, and with a light, delicious, pleasant, intensely tart, dry palate.

Kingston Estate Adelaide Hills Mount Benson Pinot Gris 2011 $13–$15
Proprietor Bill Moularadellis offers tremendous value in this blend from two South Australian regions – the Adelaide Hills and Mount Benson (in the vicinity of Robe and Coonawarra on the Limestone Coast). Winemaker Brett Duffin writes, “The 2011 vintage in Adelaide Hills saw lower yields than previous years, however, the fruit that was harvested experienced extended ripening which delivered vibrant acidity and flavour profiles”. This probably accounts for the wine’s two gold medals (Rutherglen and Riverina shows). The wine delivers pear-like varietal flavour on a particularly lively, fresh palate, with some of the beginnings of variety’s textural richness and viscosity.

Pizzini Victoria Arneis 2011 $22–$24
Once used to tame Barolo’s fierce tannins, this Piedmontese white variety now makes a unique dry white on its home turf. It also seems to have settled happily in Fred and Katrina Pizzini’s King Valley vineyard, offering an alternative to the familiar flavours of our usual white varieties. The 2011’s pale coloured, medium bodied and bone dry, featuring delicate, lemon and grapefruit-like flavours and a pleasantly sappy, savoury finish. For an illuminating account of the Pizzini family’s arrival in Australia in the 1950s and ultimate shift from tobacco growing to winemaking, see “history” at www.pizzini.com.au

Jimmy Watson trophy finally on track

9 November 2011People, WineChris Shanahan

The Jimmy Watson trophy is to wine drinkers what the Melbourne Cup is to once a year punters. We’ve all heard of it. There’s a buzz each year as the Melbourne show unveils the latest winner. And for the winner, especially if it’s a little known winery, victory can be a fast track to glory.

This year the coveted crystal and silver jug travelled to Tasmania for the first time, won by Nick Glaetzer for his Mon Pere Shiraz 2010, a blend from the Tamar and Coal River Valleys.

By my reckoning, it’s only the fourth wine in the trophy’s 50-year history to have been the final, bottled product at the time of judging. Until recently the line up was the domain of raw young reds not due for blending, let alone bottling, for many months. I detail below why this was so – and why it made the Jimmy Watson not only Australia’s best-known wine award but also its most reviled by critics, including me.

Even before recent changes to the class rules by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria, and to the trust deed by the Watson family, bottled exhibits had represented an ever-greater proportion of entries. These had risen to 75–80 per cent of the total by 2009. The shift resulted from a run of earlier vintages, wines spending less time in oak, shifting the judging from July to October, and the show’s decision to admin two-year olds into the ranks.

This year, however, following sustained lobbying from within the industry and columns like this, the rules changed for the better. An RASV press release from June 2011 states, “New in 2011, the Jimmy Watson classes will accept bottled wines only and will continue to include one and two-year-old red wines. Wines entered into the Watson classes this year are eligible to be put forward by judges into other red classes, providing the wines with further opportunities to win varietal trophies”.

The latter change benefited Nick Glaetzer’s Mon Pere Shiraz, which went on to win a second trophy as best “Rhone style or shiraz”.

The trophy now rewards wines fundamentally different from those that triumphed in the early years – a shift from rewarding the big, bold and immature to the bright, fruity and approachable. It’s a natural progression. But it’s worth reflecting, too, on the trophy’s origins.

In 1962 Jimmy Watson, wine merchant, died. At his funeral, a hat passed amongst Watson’s loyal followers, raising funds to sponsor an annual “Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy” for the best one-year-old red wine at the Melbourne Wine Show.

There are those who still remember Jimmy with fondness – none more so than his son Alan as he presides, with his son, over the Jimmy Watson Wine Bar founded by his father all those years ago.

But somewhere along the way, the trophy took on a life of its own – a farcical, commercial life far removed from the world Jimmy Watson inhabited during his lifetime.

Alan Watson remembers his father as a wine pioneer – a man who cheerfully weathered the sneers of some fellow Australians for nothing more than encouraging the consumption of table wine with food. In those days wine was just plonk.

Bill Chambers, maker of superb Rutherglen fortifieds and long-term chair of judges at the Melbourne wine show, once told me that he recalled Watson’s Wine bar in the late 1950s. There were bottles everywhere as a leather-apronned Jimmy, a great showman, worked with two rubber tubes to bottle a hogshead of red before lunch – an enviable feat in Chamber’s view, and one Jimmy Watson was proud of.

In those days Bill Chambers worked up in the Clare Valley with the Stanley Wine Company. He remembers Melbourne Wine Merchant, Doug Seabrook, buying hogsheads of raw young Clare Valley reds, many of which he sold to Watson. By all accounts it was these vigorous young reds, and not only those from Clare, that interested him most of all.

In an interview some years back, Alan Watson told me that his father’s business was not originally a watering hole as it is today, but a bottle shop where the owner selected and bottled everything himself. But Watson’s great enthusiasm attracted a ring of disciples. They soon began bringing food to the shop and adopting a liberal interpretation of licensing laws that permitted patrons to taste wine before purchasing.

The clientele, enthralled by Watson, showman and extrovert, came from all walks of life. But with Melbourne University just up the road from Watson’s Lygon Street premises, academics and students swelled his ranks of followers. Eagerly they swallowed his message.

“Dad tried to move the trade into another era”, reminisced Alan Watson. “He wanted wine to be seen as an everyday occurrence, something to be consumed with meals”. He also urged patience, encouraging customers to cellar the immature, purple, one-year-old reds that were the bulk of his trade.

Jimmy Watson was an educator of old and young alike according to Bill Chambers, long-time chair of the Melbourne show. “Students, professors, everyone brought their tucker down the road before heading up to Watson’s to drink wine. But he was a showman and I can’t remember him drinking much himself”.

Watson’s senior disciples, mostly academics and businessmen, gravitated to an upstairs room, eventually dubbed by Watson as “The House of Lords”. It was these most ardent and articulate followers who passed the hat at Jimmy Watson’s funeral, thus perpetuating his name in the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy to be awarded to the robust, year-old reds he so loved.

For the next ten years the Jimmy Watson Trophy – now a household word amongst wine drinkers – remained unknown to wine consumers and of only minor interest to wine companies.

Bill Chambers judged in Melbourne from the early 1960’s. He recalls little fuss over the Watson Trophy until the Berri Co-operative’s success in 1973. Then, recalls Chambers, after an heroic celebration, winemaker Brian Barry boarded the plane carrying the Murray River’s first major trophy.

Perhaps we can link the trophy’s rise to fame more with Wolf Blass’s hat trick. He won it in 1974, 1975 and 1976 for his 1973, 1974 and 1975 vintages of ‘Dry Red Claret’. He renamed the wine Wolf Blass Black Label and used the Jimmy as its launching pad. He even proclaimed the triple victory on the neck label of his sparkling wine at the time.

Increasingly since then, to win the trophy was to harvest a windfall. For the hype surrounding each year’s winner virtually guaranteed a wine’s commercial success.

While no amount of hosing down seemed to quell trade or public clamouring for the winner, the fact remained that for most of the trophy’s history, the winning wine had not been the finished product.

This became the source of sustained and intense criticism, principally from those concerned with the integrity of show results. Awarding medals and trophies to unfinished wine simply magnified the chance of fraud, critics claimed.

Even the most meticulously honest winery blending a “representative” show sample across a range of barrels couldn’t say with certainty that what the judges tasted and what went into bottle were exactly the same.

The recent, welcome changes make this history and favour the continuing success of the fruity, easy drinking styles that’ve won in recent years. These are a long way from the wines that Jimmy Watson hand bottled in Carlton half a century ago.

While we won’t see inky, deep, raw wines like a one-year-old Penfolds Grange or Wolf Blass Black Label win the trophy again (as they have in the past), we can at last be assured that the Jimmy Watson winner we buy is the same wine the wine judges liked.

Wine review – Coriole, Howard Park, Tapanappa, Domaine A and Yalumba

9 November 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Coriole Sangiovese 2010 $19–$25
McLaren Vale, South Australia
Mark Lloyd established sangiovese at Coriole in 1985. Over the years the style evolved as Lloyd learned how to manage this native Italian variety. It now appears very comfortable in its skin – a medium bodied red with a core of sweet fruit pulsing under the variety’s more savoury flavours and fine, persistent tannin structure. It’s a subtle, understated red that holds your interest glass after glass. The gentle flavours and medium body belie its 14 per cent alcohol.

Coriole Fiano 2011 $20–$22
McLaren Vale, South Australia
Mark Lloyd discovered fiano in 2000 at Vinitaly, Verona’s annual wine trade show. He writes that he’d been “looking for a white variety from southern Italy that would suit the climate of McLaren Vale”. Impressed by fiano’s aromatics, flavour and texture, Lloyd planted the variety in 2003 and bottled the wine from it separately from 2005. It offers a unique drinking experience, with a fresh melon-like aroma and flavour, a plump, smoothly textured mid palate and a bright, fresh, citrusy finish.

Howard Park Flint Rock Pinot Noir 2010 $23–$27
Great Southern, Western Australia
Western Australia’s vast Great Southern region, tempered by cool southerly breezes blasting in from the Antarctic, pushes out the odd decent pinot noir. The best I’ve seen come from a joint venture between Howard Park owner, Jeff Burch, and Burgundy winemaker, Pascal Marchand. Flint Rock no doubt benefits from this venture, delivering pure, varietal, red-berry characters, meshed with pinot’s spicy and savoury elements and rich, silky texture.

Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cabernet Franc 2007 $80
Whalebone Vineyard, Wrattonbully, South Australia
Whalebone Vineyard, named for a fossilised whale skeleton in the limestone beneath it, was planted by John Greenshields in 1974 and purchased by Tapanappa, a joint venture led by Brian Croser, in 2002. This is the first release of a merlot-cabernet franc blend, inspired by the wines of Bordeaux’s St Emilion sub-region. Ripe, sweet, pure, plummy-earthy merlot dominates the aroma, with an attractive floral lift probably from the cabernet franc. The palate reflects the aroma, with juicy, plummy, earthy merlot at the centre and merlot’s assertive tannins ameliorated by the gentler cabernet franc.

Domaine A Lady A Sauvignon Blanc 2008 $60
Domaine A vineyard, Coal River Valley, Tasmania
Lady A floats aloof and elegant above the field of me-too sauvignon blancs. She combines great purity and intensity of varietal character with an unobtrusive complexity derived from fermentation and maturation in new French oak barrels. Domaine A proprietor, Peter Althaus writes, “I first made this wine in secret for my wife in 1996 as a birthday surprise – she’s a lover of the Pavilion Blanc from Chateau Margaux [Bordeaux]”. Althaus continues to make small quantities of the wine in good seasons. What a glorious, distinctive, unique white it is.

Yalumba Vermentino 2011 $12–$15
Reichstein Vineyard, Renmark, Murray River, South Australia
Italy’s white vermentino grows successfully in Australia’s hot, dry regions, giving growers there some chance of competing with varieties like sauvignon blanc that perform best in cool areas, including Marlborough, New Zealand, and Adelaide Hills, Australia. Yalumba takes the right approach with vermentino, bringing it to market young, fresh and devoid of winemaking frills. It’s a bright, fresh, zesty white with a modest alcohol of 11.5 per cent. However, the palate’s already thickening up, suggesting very early drinking.

Beer review — Crabbie’s and Endeavour

9 November 2011Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Crabbie’s Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer 500ml $7.99
A crafty brew, this one – the Brits down 2.5 million cases year, “tapping into consumer desire for craft”, claims the press release, adding that it’s “made from a base of four secret ingredients”. Our leathery old palate identifies only two – ginger and sugar; a refreshing and proven pop combination.

Endeavour Reserve True Vintage Pale Ale 2011 330ml 4-pack $17.99
Endeavour made its 2011 vintage beers from Tasmanian barley and hops, harvested in January 2011 and March 2011 respectively. Vintage pale ale, containing a touch of wheat malt, emphasises spicy citrusy hops and zesty light palate. Amber ale focuses on sweet malt and herbal hops aftertaste.

Ciders go for glory

9 November 2011CiderChris Shanahan

Results of the Australian Cider Awards 2011 (www.cideroz.com) provide a glimpse of the diversity now available in our exploding market for apple and pear (perry) ciders.

The competition pits imports against local products, freely mixing perry and ciders from craft and large-scale producers. It even provides separate classes for products “using water and/or sugar in production”.

Surprisingly, the judges found but one gold medallist among the hundred-odd entrants. The gold medal winner, Henney’s Dry Cider (UK), just pipped its cellar mate, Henney’s Vintage Cider (silver medal) for top spot in its class.

The other silver medallists were: Henney’s Sweet Cider, Domaine Dupont bottle fermented Bouche Fermier and Reserve (Normandy, France), The Hills Cider Company Dry Perry (Adelaide Hills), Napoleone Pear Cider Traditionelle (Yarra Valley) and Matilda Bay Dirty Granny (Australia).

Phoenix Beers imports and distributes Henney’s and Domaine Dupont.

Wine review — Cofield, Brindabella and Capital Wines

6 November 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Cofield Provincial Parcel Rutherglen Durif 2010 $39
Winemaker Damien Cofield writes, “I love the traditional style of durif being made throughout Rutherglen, but I wanted to make a lower alcohol version that still had full palate appeal”. That Cofield’s “lower alcohol version” weighs in at 13.7 per cent tells us much about this potent regional specialty. Cofield’s version remains a full-bodied red. But the slightly lower alcohol allows the vibrant, fresh fruit flavours to flourish. And the tannins, while abundant, don’t suck the water from your eyes as they do in some of the traditional styles. Cofield attributes the brighter fruit and finer tannin to early picking and prolonged maceration.

Brindabella Hills Canberra District Riesling 2011 $25
If we believe in wine shows, what should we believe about this wine? Is it an also-ran (Canberra Regional Wine Show 2011) or the best in the district (International Riesling Challenge 2011)? Well, we tested a bottle over seafood lunch at Delicio, Braddon, and sided with the Riesling Challenge judges. It’s very pale in colour, with pure mineral and lime-like aroma and a lean, delicate, bone-dry, intensely flavoured palate. The slight austerity of the high-acid 2011 vintage should subside with time as the beautiful fruit asserts itself.

Capital Wines “The Ambassador” Canberra District Tempranillo 2010 $27
We’ve tasted this on a number of occasions now, both in the clinical setting of the tasting bench and in real life with food. In a recent tasting of 17 Australian tempranillos, The Ambassador appeared a little shy at first, shaded by the bigger, more complex wines, but always pleasing in the line up for its purity of fruit, elegance and lack of winemaker artifice. Graduating from the tasting bench to the table, its medium body, harmony and fine, soft, persistent tannins sat comfortably with the meal – demonstrating that subtle, restrained wines can be the best of all.