Monthly Archives: June 2012

Coopers celebrates 150 years

13 June 2012Beer, Beer review, PeopleChris Shanahan

In May, Coopers released a new ale, celebrating 150 years in brewing. It all began on 13 May 1862, when Thomas Cooper stepped up from brewing in the family bathtub to commercial production.

By the late twentieth century, Coopers had carved a niche for itself, selling bottle fermented ales, then home brew kits. Somehow, the company endured in family hands across decades of brewing industry consolidation, outlasting all the other independents. Then, despite its tiny market share, Coopers became our largest Australian-owned brewery last year, after SAB Miller swallowed Foster’s.

The 150^th anniversary brew (selected by the late Thomas Cooper, says the label) is a bottle-fermented ale – but well removed in style from the other Coopers beers.

This is an opulent, fruity beer with a much stronger than usual (for Coopers) emphasis on hops – both in the citrusy aroma and assertive bitterness.

Coopers Thomas Cooper’s Selection Celebration Ale 355ml 6-pack $20
What a celebration – even long-dead granpa Cooper comes to the party. He’d be happy, though, as descendents Tim and Glenn Cooper brewed up a lovely ale for the firm’s 150^th anniversary. It’s reddish coloured, fruity, with citrusy hops high notes, generously flavoured and finishing hoppy and lingeringly bitter.

Mudgee winemaker’s quest for good low-alcohol wine

13 June 2012People, Vineyard, WineChris Shanahan

President of the NSW Wine Industry Association and vice president of the Winemakers Federation of Australia, David Lowe, sees a well-funded anti-alcohol lobby shifting its focus from beer and spirits to wine. The wine industry needs to respond, he believes. And one response should be to produce wines with less alcohol.

He says, “The push for low alcohol wine is consuming me at present”. And he’s covering the mission personally on two fronts: in a collaborative, so-called ‘Chablis’ project, working with other Mudgee producers on lower alcohol, leaner chardonnay styles; and in his Tinja red and white, which are also preservative-free.

Lowe’s contribution to the Chablis project is a chardonnay from his Nullo Mountain vineyard, located 1,100 metres above sea level at nearby Rylstone. The very cool conditions here favour the accumulation of flavour at comparatively low sugar (and hence alcohol) levels. Sold under Lowe’s Louee Nullo Mount label, the 2011 (a particularly cold year) pushes the concept to the limit – and perhaps beyond the threshold of many drinkers. The searing acidity of the 11 per cent alcohol wine accentuates the intense grapefruit varietal flavour – but also marks it as a wine for future drinking, most likely an outstanding one.

But in warmer regions like Mudgee, unripe flavours present perhaps an even bigger challenge to would-be makers of low alcohol wine. In warm areas ripeness tends to lag well behind sugar levels. And the winemaking challenges compound when, like Lowe’s, the wines are also preservative-free.

Lowe launched his first preservative-free wine, a merlot, five years ago under the Tinja label – named for his Mudgee vineyard, some 700 metres lower than the Nullo Mountain site.

The push into lower alcohol, preservative-free wine puts Lowe’s wines in a tiny, developing niche market.

Increasingly sensitive to sulphur himself, Lowe says sulphur-free wines appeal to people with a sulphur allergy, people with bronchial problems, some people recovering from surgery and to a new breed of younger people “who think they’re being poisoned by preservatives”.

He believes these young people appreciate “innovation and new things. They’re fascinated that a wine can be preservative-free, low in alcohol and still taste decent”.

But he cautions us to note the difference between “no added preservatives” and “preservative free” messages on labels. The difference is that sulphur occurs naturally and can be present even if a winemaker adds none. “Preservative-free” wine means literally no sulphur – and that requires fine attention to detail, like selecting fermentation yeasts that doesn’t produce sulphur.

Happily, picking grapes earlier to produce less alcohol provides some of the extra protection a no-sulphur wine requires. “A low pH means less microbial problems”, say Lowe. “But picking early also introduces green-spectrum flavours”.

To mask the green flavours in the white wines, Lowe says he “squeezes pretty hard on the skins, and includes the pressings”. This lifts the pH slightly, softening the palate, but it boosts colour and flavour, adds texture to the wine and the phenolics are a natural anti-oxidant.

For both reds and whites, oxygen is the enemy. Handling then requires vigilance at every stage. Lowe sees high quality fruit as the first line of defence – small, thick-skinned berries, hand picked and transported intact to the winery – resistant to breakage and invasion by microbes and air.

From fermentation until 24 hours before bottling, the wines must remain saturated with carbon dioxide, with zero exposure to air. “Bottling is the hardest bit”, says Lowe, calculating the ultimate bottling temperature and what pressure the screw cap can stand. “It’s tricky physics”, he explains, wandering off into Henry’s law (William Henry, 1803), dealing with pressure, gas and solubility of gas in liquid.

The subject’s too arcane even for a modern wine back label. But Henry’s law helped Lowe solve a tricky conundrum in a production chain that had to remain oxygen free.

And after five vintages, we see a really appealing 12.5 per cent alcohol Lowe Tinja Organic Preservative-free Merlot 2012. The first preservative-free white also appeals. It’s a blend of verdelho and chardonnay, from a Rylstone vineyard at 650 metres, weighing in at just 10 per cent alcohol.

The protective winemaking technique, says Lowe, means they can never be complex wines. But by they’re vibrant, fresh, clean and a pleasure to drink. And he’s promised himself to bring the alcohol levels down by about one percentage point each year – aiming to get the white down to seven or eight per cent.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2012
First published 13 June 2012 in The Canberra Times and in the online editions of The Melbourne Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, WA Today and Brisbane Times

Wine review — Andrew Thomas, Under and Over and Brown Brothers

10 June 2012Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Thomas Sweetwater Hunter Valley Shiraz 2010 $35
Thomas Motel Block Shiraz 2010 $50
Hunter winemaker Andrew Thomas recently released four single vineyard shirazes from the 2010 vintage – delicious variants on the earthy, medium-bodied Hunter theme. The delightfully named Sweetwater, from Belford, offers floral aromas and a juicy, fleshy, soft palate – lovely to drink now but probably good to cellar for up to a decade. The dry-grown vines on Motel Block vineyard, planted in 1967, produce a more concentrated, firmer wine than Sweetwater. It retains the unmistakable earthy, sweet flavours of Hunter Shiraz and the medium body. The combination of sweet, powerful fruit and firm tannins may preserve this wine for decades.

Under and Over Heathcote Shiraz 2010 $11–$13
Under and Over is a McWilliams brand comprising three regional specialties – pinot gris from the King Valley Victoria, chardonnay from Tumbarumba NSW and this shiraz from Heathcote, Victoria. Vignerons in the region, McWilliams included, make much of the “ancient Cambrian soils”. But this is a loosely used term and, most certainly, the soils haven’t been lying around on the surface since the Cambrian era 500 million years ago. (For a geologist’s overview, see A comment on the red soils of Heathcote Heathcote by David Farmer). With equal certainty the region grows beautiful shiraz, including this bright, savoury, grippy, medium bodied style made by Nicholas Crampton and Corey Ryan.

Brown Brothers Single Vineyard Heathcote Shiraz 2010 $23–$30
In its search for grapes suited to modern table wines, Brown Brothers wandered far from its base at Milawa, on the hot Oxley Plains. They initially pushed south to the higher, cooler reaches of the King Valley. But in the nineties, they established a vineyard on the Mount Camel Range, in Victoria’s Heathcote region – source of this appealing red. What do you get for about double the price of the other Heathcote shiraz reviewed today? Well, not double the quality, but a significant lift – principally in the sweeter, more concentrated fruit flavour and finer, silkier tannin structure.

Merlot confuses everyone, even Miles

6 June 2012People, WineChris Shanahan

A recent string of letters in The Canberra Times reveals mixed perceptions of merlot, Australia’s third most planted red wine variety.

Senator Humphries set the ferret running when he wrote, “In March, through the letters page of the Canberra Times, Ian de Landelles and I agreed on a wager: I bet that the next leadership speculation to hit the national headlines would be about the Labor Party; he, the Liberal Party. At stake is a nice bottle of red. I’m partial to a Merlot, please, Ian”.

Former Running Shop owner, Brian Wenn, shot back, “So Gary Humphries (Letters, May 4) is partial to a merlot. Gary, merlot isn’t wine. It is a low quality anaesthetic substance which is sometimes blended in with real red wine like shiraz and cabernet to soften any sharper edges. No one expects you to drink the stuff by itself. I refer you to that great movie ‘Sideways’, in which the lead character, a wine connoisseur, profoundly states, ‘I’m not drinking merlot’. Quite right!”

Begging to differ, Ross McKay of Gungahlin, offered, “I have the greatest respect for Brian Wenn (Letters, 8 May) but he has fallen for getting Hollywood mixed up with reality. Some of the greatest wines in the world are merlot-based. Chateau Petrus comes to mind. I’m sure that Mr De Landelles is giving Senator Humphries a bottle of Petrus”.

Graciously conceding defeat to Humphries in another letter, Ian De Landelles added, “However, given our long-term friendship, I look forward to his invitation to share a glass of merlot with him as we discuss the nation’s political future”.

On one side of the debate Gary Humphries and Ian De Landelles – cheered on tongue in cheek by Petrus loving Ross McKay – seem happy drinking merlot, and perhaps even the prospect of sharing the same bottle.

That leaves Brian Wenn (he once called me a drinker with a running problem; so I gave up running) alone on the letters page sinking the boot into merlot. He calls on Miles from Sideways for support, summoning the unforgettable lines, “No, if anyone orders merlot, I’m leaving. I am not drinking any f…g merlot”. (But he did; and we’ll come back to that later).

Perhaps more than any other variety, merlot creates confusion (fanned in the early days when much of Australia’s “merlot” turned out to be the generally lighter cabernet franc). It’s perceived variously as bland and sweet, a light and easy drinker, a low quality anaesthetic for blending with real reds, an elegant and noble blending companion for cabernet sauvignon or full-bodied and voluptuous, as in Chateau Petrus of Bordeaux.

One thing’s for sure in Australia – it’s a very important variety, third in volume after shiraz and cabernet. In 2009 (our most recent “normal” vintage), Australian vignerons harvested 403,000 tonnes of shiraz, 247,000 tonnes of cabernet sauvignon and 126 thousand tonnes of merlot – a country mile ahead of fourth placed pinot noir on 28,000 tonnes.

With that volume, and spread across so many regions, it’s almost inevitable for merlot to assume a number of identities. The style of wine it makes can be determined by climate, vineyard management, grape yields, winemaker preferences or a combination of these factors. For example, wine made from an irrigated, warm-climate, high yielding vineyard might be light, fruity and soft – and the maker might even leave unfermented grape sugar in the wine to fill the mid palate.

At the other end of the spectrum a winemaker in a cooler area might restrict yields to produce more concentrated flavour, usually from small berries. We see this, for example, in Capital Wines’ Kyeema Vineyard, Murrumbateman – where the merlot wine begins life dark and tannic, needing years of bottle ageing. Other good examples of straight merlot are Coldstream Hills Yarra Valley and Parker Coonawarra Estate.

Chateau Petrus remains the model for this style. I’ve visited the vineyard a couple of times, tasting the impenetrably deep, fragrant, voluptuous young wine – after schlepping through the dense, wet clay of the vineyard. On one occasion Christian Moueix, whose family has a long association with Petrus, served the marvellous, maturing (still voluptuous) 1982 vintage.

He observed that the Pomerol district (home of Petrus) produced the greatest of all expressions of merlot from its wet clay soils; while the free-draining limestone soils of nearby St Emillion produced more austere wines. In both Pomerol and St Emillion, winemakers pair merlot with cabernet franc. The Petrus vineyard comprises 95 per cent merlot, the rest cabernet franc, Moueix said, but more often than not the wine comprised only merlot.

But in Australia, as in France, winemakers generally blend merlot with other varieties. We see this at its best in Margaret River, in particular, and Coonawarra, usually with cabernet sauvignon, but to a lesser extent with petit verdot, cabernet franc and malbec.

The truth is, merlot can make stunning wine. Even Miles loved it. But that’s the irony in Sideways. He finally quaffed a treasured, much mentioned Chateau Cheval Blanc 1961 (from the Bordeaux sub-region, St Emillion) from a paper cup. Did he recognise the blend of merlot and cabernet franc?

Wine review — Andrew Thomas, Brown Brothers, Cumulus Wines and Balnaves

6 June 2012Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Andrew Thomas Kiss Shiraz 2010 $60
Pokolbin Estate Vineyard, Pokolbin, Lower Hunter Valley, NSW
On 4 May, Andrew Thomas released four outstanding single vineyard Hunter shirazes, including the two reviewed today – the drink-now DJV and potentially long-lived Kiss. From a vineyard planted in 1969, Kiss reminds me, in its finesse and understatement, of the legendary Lindemans Bin 1590 Hunter Burgundy 1959. It’s of a medium hue and body, an aroma combining bright fruit, Hunter earthiness and the subtle spice of French oak. These carry through to the intense, elegant, perfectly balanced palate. This is a unique Australian style – and a great wine by any measure.

Andrew Thomas DJV Shiraz 2010 $30
Lindeman Ben Ean Vineyard, Pokolbin, Lower Hunter Valley, NSW
Ben Ean vineyard gave its name to Lindeman’s popular “moselle” of the 1960s, though the wine shared no physical connection with the vineyard. In this brilliant blend, Andrew Thomas uses shiraz from those venerable old Hunter vines, co-fermented with nine per cent semillon verjuice. This results in a highly fragrant, supple, juicy, fruity, medium bodied red. The bright fruit, medium body and soft tannins provide exciting current drinking. Once again the warm Hunter delivers the suave elegance we expect from cooler areas.

Brown Brothers Limited Release Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2011 $24.90
Banksdale Vineyard, King Valley, Victoria
Brown Brothers’ single-vineyard chardonnay shows the influence of the unusually cool season. The flavour moves down the varietal spectrum, from the stone-fruit flavours of the warmer 2010 vintage, towards lemon and melon rind. And the alcohol declines from 13.5 per cent in 2010 to 12.5 per cent. With the flavour change comes the pleasing impact of higher acidity – all against the equally pleasing textural and flavour influences of barrel fermentation and maturation.

Cumulus Wines Chardonnay 2009 $30
Orange, NSW
Winemaker Debbie Lauritz used all the best chardonnay making techniques on this pleasing wine – only free-run juice, fermentation with both wild and cultured yeasts in new French oak barriques, lees stirring and partial malolactic fermentation. Free-run juice means a fine texture and intense fruit flavour. All the other bits mesh aroma, texture and flavour with that fruit. Add a couple of years’ age and we get a full-flavoured chardonnay (grapefruit and white peach varietal character), a honeyed, mature note and a vibrantly fresh, richly textured palate.

Balnaves Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $35
Dead Morris and Walker Vineyards, Coonawarra, South Australia
Balnaves cabernet appeals for the power of its tannin coated varietal flavours – reminiscent of blackcurrant and black olives. Despite its power, the wine’s elegantly structured and capable of ageing well. Its cellar companion, The Tally 2009 ($90), seems even more tight-knit and concentrated, requiring years in the cellar – a big, elegant, multi-dimensional red, firmly in five-star territory. Both wines are sealed with ‘Pro Cork’, a natural cork protected by a thin polymer membrane, like a wrinkled old skin over the cork.

Balnaves Shiraz 2009 $24–$27
Balnaves vineyard, southern Coonawarra, South Australia
In 2009 winemaker Pete Bissell included a small amount of the white variety viognier in the shiraz ferment – much as Clonakilla and other Canberra producers do. The addition fits subtly with the Coonawarra wine, perhaps adding to the silkiness of the texture giving a little boost to the sweet aroma. A hefty 14.5 per cent alcohol doesn’t subtract, however, from the wine’s elegant structure. While the influence of oak is apparent, it’s totally compatible with the fruit flavours and adds to the wine’s overall appeal.

Beer review — Kiuchi Brewery and Sierra Nevada Brewer

6 June 2012Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Kiuchi Brewery Real Ginger Ale 330ml $9.50
Many ginger beers seem like alcoholic soft drinks, tempering cloying sweetness with tart ginger. But Kiuchi is all beer – rich, warming (seven per cent alcohol) and malty, with an abundant, persistent head, and delicious deep undercurrent of tangy ginger flavour. The high alcohol and generous malt make it a good winter beer.

Sierra Nevada Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale 355ml $4.50
Deep chocolate brown Sierra Nevada Tumbler looks like it might be syrupy rich. But it gives the crisp, dry crunch of autumn leaves. The palate starts with rich, roasted malt flavours, but quickly dries out – finishing with a pleasing, lingering bitterness, combining hops and roasted malt.

Courageous win for Canberra’s Wig and Pen

6 June 2012BeerChris Shanahan

Canberra’s Wig and Pen really earned its title as best small Australian brewery in the Australian International Beer Awards 2012. The competition attracted 1,345 entries from breweries in 41 countries.

The trophy goes to the small Australian brewery with the highest average score across all the beers it enters – that is, its aggregate score divided by the number entered.

A brewery eyeing the trophy might restrict entries to its strongest. But brewer Richard Watkins courageously entered 14 brews, covering an adventurous, challenging range of styles.

Watkins won 12 medals from the 14 entries (two gold, four silver and six bronze). And the winning styles ranged from the easy drinking, popular Balleyragget Irish Red (silver medal) to the luxurious Lunch with the Monks – inspired by Belgium’s potent Abbey tripel ale style.

Wine review — Balnaves and Redbank

3 June 2012Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Balnaves of Coonawarra Chardonnay 2011 $26–$28
Balnaves makes a good chardonnay every year, a useful add-on to Coonawarra’s main game – reds. But could chardonnay upstage Balnaves’ reds in the cool 2011 vintage? The cool season accentuated the fruit flavour, shifting it towards the lemon and grapefruit end of the varietal spectrum. And the tingly acid backbone gives a special life and lift to a full-bodied yet elegant white. Winemaker Pete Bissell says he fermented it in oak barriques, about half of them new, using a combination of wild and cultured yeast. It should evolve well for another five or so years.

Balnaves of Coonawarra The Blend 2010 $19–$21
Balnaves of Coonawarra Cabernet Merlot 2010 $24
The Balnaves family produces several reds from its extensive Coonawarra vineyard holdings – ranging from these inexpensive blends to a cabernet sauvignon ($35) and The Tally, its flagship, at $90. ‘The Blend’ shows the lovely fragrance and elegance of merlot married with cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc – the medium bodied palate reflects the aroma and leaves a farewell tweak of fine, but assertive tannin. The cabernet merlot blend delivers vibrant varietal berry flavours on a medium palate, with a quite strong, mouth-drying tannin structure (thank you cabernet).

Redbank King Valley Garganega 2010 $25
Garganega – the principal variety of Soave, the well-known savoury dry white from Soave, near Verona in Italy’s Veneto region – seems at home in Victoria’s little Italy, the King Valley. The Redbank winemakers fermented this, their first vintage, with wild yeast, matured it in older oak barrels and blended it with 10 per cent fiano, another Italian white. The resulting full-bodied dry white pleases with its melon rind and citrus flavours and pleasantly tart, firm finish. It’s a long way from our usual fare and worth trying.