Yearly Archives: 2011

Wine review — Cofield, Tscharke, Rutherglen Estates, Alkoomi, Mitolo and Domain A

2 November 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Cofield Provincial Parcel Beechworth Chardonnay 2009 $36
Beechworth, Victoria
There’s a stylistic salute to Rick Kinsbrunner’s legendary Giaconda chardonnay in Damien Cofield’s first vintage from the region. The salute includes the notable influence of barrel fermentation and maturation, minerality, finesse, flavour intensity and deep, smooth texture. This is a striking and lovable chardonnay, looking young and fresh two and half years after vintage. Cofield has a few runs on the board with his other wines, so this is a label to watch.

Tscharke Girl Talk Savagnin 2011 $18–20
Marananga, Barossa Valley, South Australia
As cooler areas inexorably dominate production of the crisp, zesty white styles demanded by consumers, warmer areas like the Barossa seek niches to keep their whites relevant. Damien Tscharke pioneered the Spanish variety, albarino, only to find it was savagnin. In the cool 2011 vintage the variety produced a fragrant, refined version of the style, with a modest alcohol level of 12.5 per cent and comparatively low acidity. The mid palate’s soft, juicy and smooth textured with a pleasant savouriness setting it apart from, say, sauvignon blanc or chardonnay.

Rutherglen Estates Viognier Roussanne Marsanne 2009 $29.95
Shelley’s Vineyard, Rutherglen, Victoria
In warm Rutherglen, Rutherglen Estate cultivates the Rhone Valley white varieties, viognier, roussanne and marsanne. Fermented as separate components in oak barrels and later blended, the trio make a full bodied but graceful, soft dry white of great appeal. Viognier gives weight, flavour and texture; roussanne boosts the aroma while mollifying viognier’s tendency to oiliness; and marsanne, say the makers, gives it longevity. It’s a delicious and unique blend, all the better for a couple of years’ bottle age.

Alkoomi Shiraz 2010 $15.89
Frankland River, Great Southern, Western Australia
Merv and Judy Lange established Alkoomi in 1971 and in 2010 handed the reins of the 80,000-case estate to their daughter Sandy and her husband Rod Hallett. Alkoomi’s entry-level shiraz, made from estate-grown fruit, offers vibrant, plummy varietal flavour in the sinewy, savoury, spicy regional style. The medium-bodied wine offers an enjoyable variation on the Australian shiraz theme – quite different in flavour and structure from its cool climate peers in Canberra or warm climate versions from, say, McLaren Vale or the Barossa.

Mitolo Jester Shiraz 2009 $28
McLaren Vale, South Australia
Frank Mitolo sources his Jester shiraz from McLaren Vale’s Willunga subdistrict. Mitolo writes the maritime climate contributes to, “ an even ripening period and the development of rich fruit flavours and ripe tannins”. Mitolo’s words dovetail with the tasting experience of a big, generous, harmonious shiraz full of fresh, ripe fruit flavour and soft tannins. Mitolo matured Jester in older French oak previously used for his flagship G.A.M. Shiraz.

Domain A Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 $70
Coal River Valley, Tasmania
From Tasmania’s pinot country comes this extraordinary cabernet sauvignon made uncompromisingly for long-term cellaring – and without a hint of the green, weedy character we might expect at this latitude. First impressions are of violet-like perfume and concentrated blackcurrant-like flavour, mingled with an assertive oak character (not surprising after 36 months in new French barrels). However, as the wine aerates, the varietal flavour asserts itself at centre stage of an amazing, if idiosyncratic, concentrated, sweet-fruited red of great elegance.

Terroir — getting down to earth

2 November 2011WineChris Shanahan

The French term terroir, having no equivalent in English, now pops with increasing frequency in Australian wine literature. The word, encapsulating all the factors giving wine a sense of place, pops up in a spectrum of contexts. These range from matter-of-fact observations of flavour differences between neighbouring vineyards to highly romanticised notions that we can actually taste a vineyard’s soil and underlying bedrock in the wines it produces.

This wonderful quote, from Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf, captures some of the emotion evoked by terroir:

“I am not fond, for everyday at least, of racy, heady wines that diffuse a potent charm and have their own particular flavour. What I like the best is a clean, light, modest country vintage of no special name. One can carry plenty of it and it has the good and homely flavour of the land, and of earth and sky and woods. A pint of Elsasser and a piece of good bread is the best of all meals.

“And this too was odd: that somewhere in a green valley vines were tended by good, strong fellows and the wine pressed so that here and there in the world, far away, a few disappointed, quietly drinking townsfolk and dispirited Steppenwolves could sip a little heart and courage from their glasses.”

Hesse’s comforting pint of Elsasser occupies a special place among the world’s wine terroirs. For Alsacian (Elsasser) wines bear a strong regional thumbprint, distinctly, recognisably different from the same varieties grown in Germany, Australia or elsewhere. They therefore evoke a sense of place in a sensory dimension as well as the emotional one Hesse describes. The two, of course, can be linked.

Once the domain of the French and their wine naming system, based on regional and vineyard names, the concept of terroir now permeates the vocabulary and marketing of fine wine around the world.

France’s Burgundy region provides perhaps the greatest historical example of marketing on the basis of terroir – defining vineyards by the quality of wines they’ve produced over hundreds of years.

So deeply entrenched are the prestige and attributes of wines from Burgundy’s many communes and individual vineyards that their names convey real meaning about style and quality to wine lovers around the world.

It’s an example of terroir succeeding as a marketing tool on a regional, sub-regional and individual basis. Importantly, the style and quality of wine produced over great periods of time defined the vineyards.

In Australia we talk of terroir on scales large and small. The larger picture includes regional specialties like Barossa shiraz, Canberra shiraz, Tasmanian pinot noir, Hunter semillon and Margaret River cabernet. Driven largely by climate, these marked style differences form the basis for regional, varietal marketing – terroir on a larger scale.

At the micro levels, wine style variation from vineyard to vineyard, or even within rows of a single vineyard, remain sources of wonder and puzzlement to winemakers. How can similar vines in such close proximity produce such different wines?

More often than not, these varied components end up in the blending vat. But increasingly our winemakers, driven by fascination with subtle style variations, offer separate bottlings from individual vineyards, plots within vineyards or, in one lovely Barossa example (Eperosa LRC Shiraz), from a single row of vines.

This is terroir-based marketing at the micro level, driven by winemaker judgment and enthusiasm, not market research or focus groups. Where wine drinkers share the enthusiasm and buy the wines, then we can say that defining a wine by its origin coveys real meaning.

These minute subdivisions now come from many directions. In the Barossa, for example, a growing number of independent winemakers source fruit from special little plots. Dean Hewitson’s Old Garden Mourvedre, from a few rows of vines planted in 1853, is a fine example.

And on the Chateau Shanahan tasting bench we’re lining up single vineyard chardonnays and pinot noirs from Yarra Valley producer Giant Steps and Mornington Peninsula maker, Ten Minutes by Tractor. These outstanding producers, no doubt inspired by Burgundy, base their appeal to drinkers on the subtle flavour differences driven by neighbouring sites.

The factors creating the differences all roll into the word terroir, defined by Dr John Gladstones, in Wine terroir and climate change (Wakefield Press 2011), as “the vine’s whole natural environment, the combination of climate, topography, geology and soil that bears on its growth and the characteristics of its grapes and wines”.

In this brilliant book, Gladstone explores this complex topic in painstaking detail, component by component, shedding light on the main drivers of wine style. But the vital and elusive piece that escapes even Gladstones is the origin of unique flavours, thought to be terroir driven, of some wines.

But even if full understanding of terroir remains tantalisingly out of reach, we remain fascinated “that somewhere in a green valley vines were tended by good, strong fellows” just for us.

(Thanks to David Farmer’s www.glug.com.au for Herman Hesse’s lovely quote)

Cider review — Old Mout

2 November 2011CiderChris Shanahan

Old Mout Pear Scrumpy Cider 330ml $4.99
This is one of five imports from Old Mout Cider, Nelson, New Zealand. The range includes classic apple, apple scrumpy, feijoa and cider and boysenberry and cider. This full-bodied, high alcohol cider (eight per cent), though pale in colour, delivers full, ripe pear flavour and a delicate, fresh finish.

Stone brewed in Byron Bay

2 November 2011Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Each year Byron Bay’s Stone and Wood brewery makes a batch of “stone” beer, emulating a technique from the middle ages. The brewers heats large stones on a wood fire, then drops the stones into the kettle.

Brewer Brad Rogers writes, “apart from the obvious heating effects, the brewing stones also caramelised the brew to create subtle but rich toffee-like flavours”.

Rogers adds that as they make just one batch of stone beer a year, “you have a long time to contemplate the results of your efforts, and take those learnings and start to formulate what evolutionary steps the next year’s creation will involve”.

The evolutionary steps in 2011 included variations to the malt selection, boosting the toffee character, and adjustments to the hopping regime (Tettnang and Hallertau varieties), countering the extra maltiness. It worked. See the review below.

Stone and Wood Stone Beer 2011 500ml $9.90
This small-batch, one-off, copper-coloured brew leads with toffee, roasted grain and spicy hops aroma. The smoothly textured palate reflects the aroma, delivering rich, toffee-like malt flavours with a roasted grain edge and assertive, but well balanced, clean hops bitterness.

Wine review — Grosset, Tscharke and Tulloch

30 October 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Grosset Springvale Vineyard Watervale Riesling 2011 $36
Grosset Polish Hill Riesling 2011 $49
Despite widespread crop losses to mildew and botrytis, the wet, cold 2011 vintage delivered stunning quality in some white varieties where growers kept disease at bay and processed only clean fruit. The cool growing conditions produced higher than average acidity which, when combined with fully ripened fruit, meant the sort of intense, fine flavours seen in these two brilliant rieslings from Clare winemaker, Jeffrey Grosset. The Watervale wine shows delicate lime-like flavours and minerality; the Polish Hill is more austere in structure with amazingly powerful flavours underneath the acidity. These are exciting wines capable of long-term cellaring.

Tscharke Only Son Marananga Vineyard
Barossa Valley Tempranillo 2010 $25
We snuck this in towards the end of a tasting of tempranillos from across Australia. The variety seems adaptable to a wide range of climates, producing different styles in different areas. Damien Tscharke’s version, sourced from vineyards at Marananga, Western Barossa Valley, bear the regional thumbprint of full body and soft tannin, within the varietal spectrum. The colour’s notably deeper than wines from cooler areas and the palate’s full, ripe, fleshy and round – but still vibrant and varietal. The tannins, though soft for tempranillo, permeate the fruit and complete the red wine story. This is a really high-class example of this fascinating variety.

Tulloch Hunter Valley Verdelho 2011 $12.35–$16
Tulloch Hunter Valley Vineyard Select Verdelho 2011 $20
Verdelho, from the Island of Madeira, has a long history in Australia, originally as a valued component in fortified wines. But like the red varieties shiraz and mourvedre, it moved easily into the world of table wine, principally in our warmer growing areas. Tulloch’s cheaper version captures the sappy, tropical and citrusy varietal characters pretty well in a grape-fresh, refreshing off-dry style. The vineyard selection version, from Denman (upper Hunter) and Pokolbin (lower Hunter) turns up the intensity of sweet, juicy fruit flavours and finishes a little drier. They make an interesting alternative to sauvignon blanc in the fruity, drink-now style.

Tempranillo — a growing taste

26 October 2011People, Vineyard, Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

With production of a mere 3,000 tonnes annually, it’s tempting to dismiss tempranillo (a Spanish red variety) as a footnote to Australia’s 1.5 million tonne wine industry. But as the industry repeatedly demonstrates, big new things, and even niche new things, grow from modest beginnings, often driven by producer enthusiasm.

Great modern examples include the chardonnay boom of the eighties and nineties and the sauvignon blanc flood of the new century.

No one expects tempranillo to overtake shiraz or cabernet, our two most voluminous red varieties — nor, perhaps, even to be the next big thing. But despite its small total production, tempranillo has the attention of 286 wine companies, say the organisers of tempra neo, an annual workshop aimed at understanding and promoting the variety.

Local organiser, Mount Majura’s Frank van de Loo, says the organising group held this year’s workshops in Melbourne, Brisbane, Kingscliff and Canberra. In Canberra the events attracted full houses to both the consumer and trade events, says van de Loo.

Van de Loo, maker of Canberra’s leading tempranillo, initiated the workshop in 2010 with other tempranillo makers – La Linea (Adelaide Hills, South Australia), Tar and Roses (Alpine Valleys and Heathcote, Victoria), Running with Bulls (Barossa Valley and Wrattonbully, South Australia), Gemtree Vineyards (McLaren Vale, South Australia) and Mayford (Porepunkah, Victoria).

At the workshops, the group presented a mixed field of 18 Australian tempranillos, broken into three brackets of six wines. In an accompanying booklet, they wrote, “They have been chose from as wide a range of regions, climates and soils as we can find, to illustrate the regional expression of tempranillo around Australia.

Thanks to Frank van de Loo we reproduced the tasting, bar one wine, at Chateau Shanahan and later conferred with him on his impressions from the workshops. I’ve incorporated his comments into the tasting notes below.

The line up confirms to me the suitability of the variety in many parts of Australia, giving it a versatility, perhaps, comparable with shiraz. It also reveals the “mainstream” and distinctive flavour of the variety, suggesting to me that, over time, it may become a significant contributor here.

Tempranillos from the tempra neo workshops 2011

Running With Bulls Barossa 2010 $19.95
Running With Bulls Wrattonbully 2010 $19.95
These offer a terrific tempranillo starting point and demonstrate that sometimes less is more. The winemaker input, especially in relation to oak maturation, appear minimal, allowing the varietal expression of the two regions full reign. Both offer bright, pure fruit flavours, the Barossa with soft, juicy tannins to match. The Wrattonbully wine (from several hundred kilometres further south) introduces an earthy, savoury flavour element and firmer tannins. Surprisingly, says van de Loo, people tended to favour the Wrattonbully style – by a large margin in Canberra where five out of six buyers of a mixed tempranillo six pack opted for Wrattonbully over Barossa.

Topper’s Mountain New England 2009 $25
Frank van de Loo says many tasters at the workshops, drew comparison between this and his own Mount Majura, mainly through a shared hint of eucalypt and comparable tannin structures. It’s a delicious wine – the more it breathes, the greater the volume of vibrant red berry fruit flavours emerging (with the merest touch of eucalypt). The tannin structure is fine and soft.

Gemtree Vineyards Luna Roja McLaren Vale 2010 $25
Van de Loo says the wine received broad support at the workshops, where tasters described it as “interesting” and “reminiscent of French wine”. The winemakers, including its maker, Mike Brown, however, lamented its “brett” character – a spoilage caused by the unloved brettanomyces yeast. There’s lovely fruit under the brett, but once you’ve learned to identify brett you can’t forgive it.

Oliver’s Taranga Small Batch McLaren Vale 2009 $38
This is a big, round, soft red. But for me the vanilla-like influence of oak, while sweet and pleasant in its own way, overrides the varietal flavour. As the two Running with Bulls wines demonstrate, less intervention is better with new varieties.

Pfeiffer Winemakers Selection Rutherglen 2010 $30
Van de Loo heard many positive comments on the initially shy wine. However, after a few hours’ aeration, delicious red fruit flavours emerged, checked to some extent by fine, firm tannins.

Mayford Alpine Valleys Tempranillo 2010 $35
This was another of the top wines in the line up. It showed class from the moment it splashed into the glass, then held its power and depth for a couple of days afterwards on the tasting bench. It offers a wonderful tension between concentrated, sweet, restrained fruit and firm, fine, savoury tannins.

Sam Miranda King Valley 2009 $30
To my taste, this was a sound but unexciting wine, not pushing many tempranillo buttons.

Capital Wines the Ambassador Canberra District 2010 $27
This old and much loved friend, often enjoyed on its own, looked good among its peers. The keynotes are pure, red fruit aroma and flavour, elegant, cool-climate structure and very fine, pleasantly grippy tannins.

Mount Majura Vineyard Canberra District 2010 $40
One of my top wines of the tasting, Mount Majura showed some similarities to Topper’s Mountain in the workshops (see above). However, to me it’s a more concentrated expression of tempranillo. Its quite firm, tight tannins form a matrix with the deep, sweet underlying fruit.

Glandore Estate TPR Hunter Valley 2008 $35
First sniff – generic, earthy Hunter red aroma pinpoints its origins; then the plummy, juicy fruit flavour kicks in, not as fleshy as shiraz, with a spicy note, a little more oak than I like and a soft, fine finish.

Tahbilk Nagambie Lakes 2010 $15.45
The cheapest wine in the work shop was well received, says Frank van de Loo. It offers pleasant primary fruit and a solid tannin backbone for a medium-bodied, comparatively low-alcohol wine (12.5 per cent).

Sanguine Estate Heathcote 2009 $30
Sanguine, another star of the line up, flourished for several days on the tasting bench. It offers big volumes of alluring fruity, savoury, spicy aromas, backed by juicy fruit depth on the palate and solid, chewy but elegant tannins.

Tar and Roses Alpine Valleys and Heathcote 2010 $24
Like a nut, there’s sweetness inside this wine, but you have to work at it to find the kernel. A few hours after splashing and pouring, the fruit peeped through the tight mesh of tannin. Finally, one of the better wines in the tasting, just a little off the pace of the top few (Mayford, Sanguine and Mount Majura).

La Linea Adelaide Hills 2010 $27
La Linea split the room, says van de Loo, as people drifted towards or away from its pretty, fruity aroma and flavour. It certainly stands out from all the other wines because of that. Partners David LeMire and Peter Leske attribute the extraordinary (and lovely) fragrance to their coolest vineyard, Llangibby.

Stella Bella Margaret River 2009 $30
We tried to like this but found the fruit not quite up to the 14 per cent alcohol. The lack of fruit flavour, too, allowed the spicy oak flavour to come through. It’s a clean, well-made wine and pleasant enough but to our taste needs more fruit intensity.

Bunkers The Box Margaret River 2009 $20
Another pleasant, fault free wine but lacking fruit intensity and varietal definition.

Wine review — Shaw Vineyard Estate, Pewsey Vale, Skillogalee, Peter Lehmann, Grosset and Mount Horrocks

26 October 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Shaw Vineyard Estate Isabella Riesling 2009 $28
Shaw vineyard, Murrumbateman, Canberra District, New South Wales
Almost two years after its release, Graeme Shaw’s delicious Isabella Riesling 2009 remains available at cellar door and on the wine list at Flint in the Vines – the restaurant adjoining the cellar door. This is where we reacquainted ourselves with Isabella, following the recent Murrumbateman field day. Cellar door manager Tanya Shaw, Graeme’s daughter, says it’s now their biggest seller – and little wonder. A couple of years’ bottle age adds another dimension to the mouth-watering lime-like flavour of this delightful wine. Made by Ken Helm and Graeme Shaw.

Pewsey Vale Riesling 2011 $16.15–$23
Pewsey Vale Vineyard, Eden Valley, South Australia
This gold medal winner at the recent International Wine Challenge, comes from the Hill-Smith family’s 50-hectare Pewsey Vale vineyard, located on the edge of the Eden Valley. Louisa Rose makes the wine just a few kilometres down the hill at the Yalumba Winery, Angaston, centre of the Hill-Smith wine operations. It’s a little softer than I’d expected from the cool vintage, but shows the season’s intense, delicate, citrusy flavours and bright fresh acidity. It’s a dry style and ready to drink now, but has the potential to evolve well in bottle for a decade or so.

Skillogalee Riesling 2011 $21–$24
Skillogalee Vineyard, Clare Valley, South Australia
With a lower pH and higher acidity than the Pewsey Vale riesling, Skillogalee, from the estate’s highest slopes (around 500 metres), shows a certain austerity. But under the acidity lie rich, deep riesling flavours and structure. These will surely build with bottle age as the youthful acerbity falls away. That drying acidity makes Skillogalee a good aperitif or oyster wine in its youth. The food matching options will expand over time as the wine fills out and softens.

Peter Lehmann Dry Riesling 2011 $15.20–$18
Eden Valley, South Australia
Winemaker Andrew Wigan says he sourced material for this wine from six Eden Valley vineyards, the fruit all picked early, processed separately and blended later. This is the softest and least acidic of the rieslings reviewed here today, though not lacking the vibrant natural acidity that gives life to the very delicate fruit flavours. A touch of residual sugar (about seven grams per litre) nicely fills out the palate without adding overt sweetness. Soft, fruity freshness makes this a versatile drinking style. Enjoy now or over the next three or four years.

Grosset Off-Dry Riesling 2011 $32
Watervale, Clare Valley, South Australia
Largely as a response to high acidity, German winemakers learned to arrest fermentation, leaving unfermented grape sugar in their rieslings. The sugar offset the acidity, leaving delicate, low-alcohol, fruity wines of great freshness. The cold 2011 vintage in Australia created the conditions for comparable, though more alcoholic, styles here. Jeffrey Grosset demonstrates the style well. High, minerally acidity and tangy, lime-like varietal flavour sit well with a kiss of grape sugar and leave a really clean, refreshing, lingering finish. Will flourish with bottle age.

Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling 375ml $35
Clare Valley, South Australia
For the first time ever, Stephanie Toole’s benchmark sticky shows the extra luscious intensity and acidity caused by botrytis cinerea. Normally the wine’s a pure, sweet riesling, made from berries that shrivel on the vine as a result of the canes being cut. In 2011 botrytis leant a hand to this shrivelling process, noticeably influencing the flavour and structure. This extra dimension and intensity more than compensate for the slight step away from the wine’s usual pure, lime-like varietal character. Will probably cellar for decades.

Unravelling beer and cider lore

26 October 2011BeerChris Shanahan

For an overview of the world’s beer, mead and cider styles, America’s Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) offers a comprehensive style guide through its website, bjcp.org, and free iPhone app, BJCP styles.

As BJCP exists to train and certify beer judges, the guide uses brewing jargon liberally and assumes some knowledge of beer – so it helps to Google the terms. But even if you don’t, the guide still delivers a clear overall impression, history and commercial examples of 23 major beer families.

These include pilsner, bock, English and American pale ale, porter, stout, India pale ale, German and Belgian wheat beers and specialties like fruit, spice and smoked beers.

The section on mead may attract fewer readers. But the overview of apple and pear cider styles seems pertinent given their exploding popularity in Australia.

Wine review — Seville Estate, Mr Mick and Jacob’s Creek

23 October 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Seville Estate Yarra Valley

Pinot Noir 2010 $30
Reserve Pinot Noir 2010 $60

Apart from the price, what’s the difference between Seville’s $30 pinot and $60 reserve pinot? In keeping with the laws of diminishing returns it’s more like a 20–30 per cent quality difference, not 100 per cent. And the differences are subtle – both wines offering a variation on a family style. They’re both pale to medium coloured and both reveal fruity, stalky and gamey varietal characters and quite a firm, fine backbone of drying tannin. The reserve version offers a little more volume in the aroma and concentration and silkiness on the palate – a character that will probably increase with bottle age.

Mr Mick Clare Valley Riesling 2011 $12–$16
Mr Mick is Tim Adams’ recreation of the old Leasingham Bin 5 riesling, created by his mentor Mick Knappstein back in the 1970s. Adams led a buyback of the historic Clare winery earlier this year but as the purchase didn’t include the Leasingham name, named the wines after his late boss. This is a fresh, light, lemony riesling with a soft mid-palate and fresh, almost-dry finish. It’s made for early drinking. Adams sourced the fruit from the Rogers vineyard (once part of Leasingham) that he now owns jointly with his wife, Pam Goldsack.

Jacob’s Creek Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $13.30–$18
The Jacob’s Creek reserve range, once multi-regional blends, recently moved to single-region sourcing and labelling. The wines have always been outstanding at their price points and always contained material from our better regions. But the move to regional labelling gives better marketing support to the quality of the wine in the bottle. In this instance, for a modest price, we enjoy an outstanding expression of Coonawarra cabernet. It’s pure varietal in its berry, black olive and leaf aroma and flavour, its rich, firm palate and elegant structure.

Lots to think about in riesling challenge results

19 October 2011WineChris Shanahan

What a hard job for judges at Canberra’s International Riesling Challenge – two days discerning the differences among 435-odd mainly young, acidic whites, often in classes more notable for similarities than differences.

But the judges endured and, led by David O’Leary, handed out, by my count, 51 gold medals – a strike rate approaching one gold for every eight entries.

The international event remains dominated by Australian wines. These accounted for about three quarters of entries (about 330), followed by New Zealand with around 42 wines (10 per cent of the total), Germany with about 20 (five per cent) and the United States with about 33 (eight per cent). Miniscule entries from Argentina (one), Austria (two), Canada (one), the Czech Republic (two), South Africa (two) and France (two) make up the balance of the ten-nation event.

And what does it all mean for wine drinkers? Well, we can comb through the catalogue of results at www.rieslingchallenge.com and be pretty confident in the quality of the medal winners – especially the gold and silver medallists. We can also make a note to attend next year’s public tasting with catalogue in hand, or attend a seminar.

And if we look only at Australian results, we confirm traditional wisdom in the dominance of the neighbouring Clare and Eden Valleys (17 golds) and the success of Western Australia’s diverse Great Southern region (five golds). We also discern a rising riesling star in Tasmania. The state won six gold medals and Waterton Vineyards won the trophies for best dry riesling and best wine of the show.

We also see a dusting of gold, if not the mother lode in Mudgee, the Grampians, McLaren Vale and Nagambie Lakes.

How disappointing, though not to see any Canberra wines in the gold-medal list. In fact, it’s not only disappointing, but annoying and puzzling, too – raising a perennial problem of hard-to-explain inconsistencies in show judging.

Just a few weeks earlier Gallagher Murrumbatemen Riesling 2011 won a gold medal in the Canberra Regional Wine Show. In the riesling challenge it fell completely off the judges’ radar. And Brindabella Hills, an also ran in the regional show, earned silver medal in the riesling challenge.

We can explain these inconsistencies in many ways – human error, acid overload, or even in conscious decisions. For example, the judges might decide in one show that a terrific but austere riesling really needs bottle age to show its best; in another show they might say, “yes, but so what, if it’ll be a gold medal wine in future it’s worth gold now”.

Whatever the reasoning, though, it suggests that the catalogue may conceal other very high quality wines that slipped through the sieve this time around. And that’s another reason to attend the public tasting.

The discrepancies, in my experience, tend to occur more among the very young wines, where high acid (especially as seen in many wines from the cool 2011 vintages) obscures the fruit.

The Brindabella Hills silver medallist went on to win the Chief Minister’s trophy for best Canberra District wine. It’s a worthy wine, but the challenge organisers ought to adopt the broader wine show standard of awarding trophies only to gold medal winners.

Although the classes for older rieslings tend to attract fewer entrants, these display the true glories of the variety. The ultimate trophy winner for older wines, Jacob’s Creek St Helga Eden Valley 2002, began life as a steely, austere drop from a cool vintage. Nine years on the power and purity of fruit show through, tinged by the magic of bottle age.

And the practical triumph of screw cap over cork shows in these classes, too, with a gold medal to Richmond Grove Watervale Riesling 1999. This was the second vintage sealed under screw cap and the wine retailed for under $10 a bottle on release. It continues to drink beautifully today, as does the 1998 vintage, the wine that led the modern charge to screw cap, two years ahead of a larger Clare Valley riesling group.

Success of these older wines highlights the cellarability of these delicious, dry, generally inexpensive styles. While riesling remains a stubbornly niche variety, it provides superb drinking from its youth to old age across dry, semi-dry and luscious, sweet styles.

Canberra’s riesling challenge promotes the variety, puts many outstanding examples under our noses at the public tasting and provides an awards list in its catalogue. Like any show, it doesn’t provide all the answers, it’s not definitive, and there remain many gaps in its ranks, largely because many top producers see no reason to enter shows.

However, a sufficient number of entries from proven and upcoming producers give us outstanding examples of established styles as well as highlighting emerging stars, like Tasmania.

GOLD MEDAL WINNERS

Australia

2011 vintage dry rieslings

Annie’s Lane Quelltaler Watervale (Clare Valley), SA

Neagles Rock Clare Valley, SA

Leasingham Bin 7 Clare Valley

Eden Hall Single Vineyard Series Eden Valley, SA

Pewsey Vale Eden Valley, SA

Trevelen Farm Great Southern, WA

West Cape Howe Great Southern, WA

Moores Hill Tamar Valley, Tasmania

Jacob’s Creek, blend, SA

Casteli, Porongurup (Great Southern), WA

2011 vintage half-dry rieslings

Robert Stein Mudgee, NSW

2011 vintage sweet rieslings

Pooley Late Harvest Coal River Valley, Tasmania

2010 vintage dry rieslings

Cardinham Estate Clare Valley, SA

Eldredge Clare Valley, SA

Kilikanoon Mort’s Block Clare Valley, SA

Reilly’s Wines Watervale (Clare Valley), SA

Tim Adams Wines Clare Valley, SA

Echelon Wines Zeppelin Eden Valley, SA

Pooley Wines Coal River Valley, Tasmania

Tamar Ridge Kayema Vineyard Tamar Valley, Tasmania

Waterton, Tamar Valley, Tasmania

A.T. Richardson Grampian, Victoria

2010 vintage sweet rieslings

Waterton Tamar Valley, Tasmania

Patricks of Coonawarra, SA

Annie’s Lane Botrytis Clare Valley, SA

d’Arenberg The Noble Wrinkled, McLaren Vale, SA

Plantagenet Ringbark Mount Barker (Great Southern), WA

Older vintages dry rieslings

2005 Kilikanoon Mort’s Block Clare Valley, SA

2005 Kirrihill Estate Reserve Clare Valley, SA

2005 Reilly’s Wines Clare Valley, SA

2002 Jacob’s Creek St Helga Eden Valley, SA

1999 Richmond Grove Watervale (Clare Valley), SA

2006 Alkoomi Frankland River (Great Southern), WA

2007 Tahbilk Nagambie Lakes, Vic

Older vintages half-dry rieslings

2008 d’Arenberg The Dry Dam McLaren Vale, SA

Austria

2010 Fred Loimer Kamptel – dry

Czech Republic

2009 Znovin Znojmo Ice Wine, Morava – sweet

Germany

2010 Zimmerman-Graeff and Muller, Mosel – dry

2010 Weingut Anselman Ice Wine, Palatinate – sweet

2010 Weingut Gerog Muller Stiftung Hattenheimer Schutzenhaus Beerenauslese, Rheingau – sweet

New Zealand

2011 Yealands Estate Yealands Way Marlborough – half-dry

2009 Hunters Marlborough – dry

2010 Mud House Waipara – half-dry

2009 Forest Botrytised Marlborough – sweet

2010 Greystone Canterbury/Waipara – sweet

South Africa

2011 Nederburg Reserve Western Cape – half-dry

United States of America

2010 Sheldrake Point Vineyard Cayuga Lake – dry

2010 Chateau Sainte Michelle Columbia Valley – dry

2010 Sheldrake Point Vineyard Cayuga Lake – sweet

2008 Anthony Road Wine Company Martini Reinhardt Selection, Finger Lakes – sweet