Yearly Archives: 2012

Penfolds releases Grange, St Henri, Magill Estate, RWT, Bin 707 and Bin 169

9 May 2012People, Vineyard, Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

I tasted Penfolds’ blue-chip reds ahead of the 3 May release date – missing the “mine’s smaller than yours” retail price scrum invariably accompanying the release. Therefore, by the time you read this, prices at major retail outlets will likely have tumbled below the recommended prices I give below.

Yet again under winemaker Peter Gago, we see a magnificent suite of reds built for long-term cellaring. Each shows its own distinctive character. And all, except St Henri, bear the deep purple thumbprint of Max Schubert, genius Grange creator.

Retailer discounting notwithstanding, prices have moved up steadily in recent years, marking the internationalisation of the Penfolds brand – underpinned increasingly, like Bordeaux and Burgundy, by the rising wealthy classes in China.

With the exception of Grange, the wines come both cork and screwcap sealed. I recommend the screw cap in all instances. Grange comes only with cork at this stage, though Penfolds’ trials with other seals for very long-term cellaring will result ultimately in a cork alternative.

Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2008
Price: $95
Grapes: Shiraz 91 per cent; cabernet sauvignon 9 per cent
Regions: Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek and Adelaide Hills
Maturation: 1,460 oak vats, more than 50 years old
History: Developed by John Davoren in the early 1950s; first commercial vintage 1957.
Style: Elegant, medium-bodied shiraz without the input of new oak, a thumbprint of most Penfolds reds
Tasting note
Deep red colour with a vivid purple hue at the rim; pure, ripe, and youthful mulberry-like varietal aroma; the beautiful, pure fruitiness flows through to a supple, juicy palate – the fruit layered with fine-boned, drying, savoury tannins. This is big but typical St Henri – elegant, understated, no oak in sight and built for long-term cellaring. Can be enjoyed now, but from experience should drink best from 15 years of age and continue to evolve for decades (reliably under screw cap).

Penfolds Magill Estate Shiraz 2009
Price: $130
Grapes: Shiraz
Regions: Penfolds Magill Estate vineyard, Magill, South Australia
Maturation: 12 months in 67 per cent new French and 25 per cent new American oak hogsheads; balance in one-year-old French hogsheads.
History: Initiated by retired Grange creator, Max Schubert, with support of Penfolds executives, following mooted redevelopment of the suburban Magill site. First vintage 1983.
Style: Medium bodied, finely textured shiraz reflecting seasonal conditions in the 5.2-hectare vineyard.
Tasting note
Deep red/black colour with youthful crimson and purple tones at the rim; the aroma combines ripe varietal fruit and spice meshed with oak (an effect produced by barrel fermentation says Peter Gago); has quite an acid attack after the St Henri – accentuating both the vibrant berry flavours and the well-integrated oak characters. Layers of assertive but velvety fruit and oak tannins add texture and carry through the finish with the fruit. A particularly good Magill with good cellaring potential – best drinking after another two or three years in the cellar.

Penfolds RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz 2009
Price: $175
Grapes: Shiraz
Regions: Barossa Valley, usually northern and western areas.
Maturation: 14 months in 60 per cent new, 40 per cent one-year-old French oak hogsheads
History: Trialled from 1995 by John Duval. First vintage 1997, released in May 2000. Winemaker Peter Gago says RWT helps protects Grange from periodic suggestions to lighten it up.
Style: An aromatic, opulent and fleshy expression of Barossa shiraz, contrasting with the power and intensity of Grange. Matured in French, not American oak.
Tasting note
Deep, dense red/black colour with purple rim; the nose delivery highly aromatic plummy fruit mixed with sweet, spicy French oak, promising a wine of opulence; the palate delivers the promise – big but graceful, combing ripe Barossa shiraz flavours with sweet oak and layers of juicy tannin. There’s a meaty note too, reminiscent of the browned outside of char-grilled steak, adding a umami dimension to the fruit/oak amalgam. RWT 2009 should drink very well after another few years of maturation and evolve well for a decade or two if well cellared.

Penfolds Grange Shiraz 2007
Price: $625
Grapes: Shiraz 97 per cent; cabernet sauvignon three per cent
Regions: Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Magill Estate
Maturation: 21 months in new American oak hogsheads
History: Developed by Max Schubert from the 1951 vintage.
Style: Powerful and unique expression of warm-climate shiraz capable of very long term cellaring. Becomes finer and more elegant with prolonged bottle ageing
Tasting note
Dense red/black colour all the way to the rim; an all-Grange aroma – ripe, penetrating and idiosyncratic; enormously powerful, mouth-puckering palate; an exquisite, exotic lump of flavour and texture, all in one piece, the many components inseparable from one another. Somewhat firmer and without the particularly buoyant fruit of the 2006 vintage – a typical Grange expression of the vintage. Are there any other Australian wines as good as this? Yes. Are there any others that taste like this? No. This is unique. Best drinking should be from 15 years and beyond – for many decades if well cellared.

Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Price:$250
Grapes: Cabernet sauvignon
Regions: Coonawarra, Barossa, Wrattonbully, Padthway
Maturation: 13 months in new American oak hogsheads
History: First made in 1964 from cabernet grown in Penfolds Kalimna vineyard, Barossa Valley. Discontinued between 1970 and 1975 because of cabernet shortages. Relaunched 1976 and not released in 1981, 1995, 2000 or 2003.
Style: A powerful style in the mould of Grange. Know affectionately within Penfolds as “Grange cabernet”.
Tasting note
Dense red/black colour with brilliant purple rim; a beautifully aromatic Bin 707, led by sweet, ripe, dark berries, typical of Coonawarra cabernet, seasoned by sweet oak; beautiful, sweet, dense, ripe fruit pushes through the firm, griping tannins on the palate. The overall impression is of power with elegance in a wine we know from experience retains its clear varietal character for decades, becoming finer and more elegant with age. This is a classy Bin 707, at home with lamb or beef now, but likely to be at its best in fifteen years or more. Chateau Shanahan’s 1986 still drinks perfectly, so no rush with the 2009.

Penfolds Bin 169 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
Price: $250 but available only at the cellar door.
Regions: Coonawarra
Maturation: Fine-grained French oak hogsheads
History: New under this label, but Penfolds made a Bin 169 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon in 1973 – the best parcel from the vintage.
Style: Winemaker Peter Gago says Bin 169 is to Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon what RWT Shiraz is to Grange – a fragrant, elegant expression of a regional specialty, matured in French rather than American oak. Gago believes Bin 169 will protect the unique Bin 707 style just as RWT protects Grange.
Tasting note
Not tasted this year, but sampled previously on a couple of occasions with Peter Gago, Bin 169 easily sits with Australia’s finest cabernets – a pure, vibrant, luxuriously textured expression of Coonawarra. Bound to sit near the top of any masked tasting of cabernets from anywhere in the world.

Wine review — Moorilla Estate, Fox Creek, Innocent Bystander, Elevation and Evans and Tate

9 May 2012Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Moorilla Estate Muse Pinot Noir 2010 $48
Tasmania
Under David Walsh’s ownership, Moorilla Estate (founded 1958) gained not only the Museum of Modern and New Art, but a new winemaker and a complete revolution in its vineyard and winery management. The changes were under way when I visited winemaker Conor van der Reest at Moorilla in 2009. With the 2010 Muse pinot, van der Reest brings home the bacon. This is a glorious, completely irresistible pinot. It flourished on our tasting bench for four days, revealing layers of aroma, flavour and texture.

Moorilla Estate Praxis Chardonnay 2011 $30
Tasmania
Moorilla’s Daniel McMahon writes, “Praxis is selected for upfront fruit intensity with softness to the structure after tasting all the barrels after six months.” Moorilla’s more expensive, potentially longer-lived Muse wines spend another year in barrel. Praxis 2011 chardonnay’s inviting, clean, fresh citrusy varietal aroma leads to a shimmering, vital palate. The wine’s high natural acidity accentuates the intense but delicate flavours and gives a beautifully clean, fresh, dry finish. We’ll review the Muse chardonnay next week.

Fox Creek JSM Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc $21.85–$24
McLaren Vale, South Australia
This original, clever blend, based on shiraz, uses the two cabernet varieties to add different dimensions. First impression is of a highly aromatic red with buckets of slurpy, sweet, juicy fruit on the mid palate. The aromatic high notes come, presumably, from the cabernet franc component. And the big, soft palate and soft tannins start with shiraz. However, two cabernets affect the palate, too – cabernet sauvignon tightening up the structure and adding mint and chocolate notes. The cabernet franc adds a racy element. It’s made to drink now.

Innocent Bystander Mule Shiraz 2010 $30
Paxton’s Gateway vineyard, McLaren Vale, South Australia
Well-known McLaren Vale grape grower, David Paxton, established the Gateway vineyard early last decade and completed its conversion to certified biodynamic in 2011. Paxton sells fruit from the vineyard to Yarra-based Innocent Bystander for their new single-vineyard range, comprising viognier, sangiovese and this shiraz-viognier blend. It’s a richly textured but fine-boned, silky style combining bright, ripe fruit flavours with underlying McLaren Vale savouriness. The blend is 96 per cent shiraz with four per cent viognier.

Elevation Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 $49
Pedestal Vineyard, Margaret River, Western Australia
Elevation provides a highly aromatic, pure expression of the cabernet sauvignon grape – capturing a spectrum of its varietal characters. Ripe, sweet berry flavours give the wine a sweet supple core. But a leafy, herbaceous note pushes through, saying, ahem, I’m a cabernet – an indisputable fact brought home by the solid by soft tannin structure. The Pedestal vineyard is located at the highest point of Margaret River’s Wilyabrup Valley. Pedestal Wines is a partnership between Greg and Kerilee Brindle and Larry and Edwin Cherubino.

Evans and Tate Classic Shiraz Cabernet 2010 $13–$15
Margaret River, Western Australia
Now part of McWilliams Wines, Evans and Tate Classic offers big-company reliability, correctness and value – if not excitement. The wine’s aroma reveals a floral, sweet-fruited side of shiraz. This bright fruitiness comes through, too, on the palate. But here a little cabernet astringency kicks in, adding grip and an elegant structure suited to this medium-bodied style. This is an extension of the “Classic” range, a term originally used in the eighties in conjunction with light, crisp, blended white wines. Notable early adopters were Wolf Blass and Evans and Tate.

Beer review — Stone & Wood and Little Creatures

9 May 2012Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Stone and Wood Jasper Ale 500ml $6
Byron Bay’s Stone and Wood Brewery recently released its third beer, a beautiful red-coloured ale, inspired by “German alt, American amber ale and English brown ale styles”, says the press release. It’s a full-bodied, smooth, malty style cut with a delicious herbal, hoppy flavour and lingering bitterness.

Little Creatures Pale Ale 330ml 6pack $18.99
While hops play a dominant role in Little Creatures, it’s not in the eye-popping, palate wrenching, malt-versus-hops arm wrestle we see in some hops-focused brews. A fresh, orange-zest-like aroma, derived from fresh hops flowers, sets the tone for a distinctively rich, aromatic, refreshing brew that’s easy to love, hop-head or not.

Australia’s top 100 beers

9 May 2012BeerChris Shanahan

We’ve just grabbed the second edition of The critics’ choice – Australia’s best beers ($19.95, Scribal Publishing 2012). It’s a slim, advert rich book, set in an eye-wrenching sans serif typeface (compounded by a too-dark background colour in the early pages) only an advertising agency would choose.

Struggle through, though, and discover Australia’s top 100 beers as rated by a mix of retailers, journalists, bloggers, venue operators and brewers. Members of the group independently listed their favour beers tasted from any source during 2010.

They then ranked their selections, awarding 50 points to the top beer, 49 to the second and so on, then sent their ratings to a coordinator. The aggregated scores determined the beers on the top 100 list, ranked in order of their scores.

Top three on the winner’s dais were Feral Brewing Company Hop Hog India Pale Ale, Stone and Wood Pacific Pale Ale and Little Creatures Pale Ale (reviewed below).

Wine review — All Saints, Moorilla and Seville Estate

6 May 2012Wine reviewChris Shanahan

All Saints Estate Rutherglen Marsanne 2010 $18.70–$22
The Rhone Valley white varieties seem a better bet than chardonnay for full-bodied dry whites in warm regions like Rutherglen. All Saints makes two versions – the richer, fuller, barrel fermented Family Cellar ($30) and this stainless steel fermented version featuring the variety’s bright citrus flavours. Early picking means a comparatively low alcohol content (12.2 per cent) and less of the viscous, oily texture the variety sometimes displays. The creamy texture behind the vibrant fruit comes from a brief period in barrel on the yeast sediment left by its big brother, says winemaker Nick Brown.

Moorilla Tasmania Praxis Pinot Noir 2011 $30
I visited Moorilla in late 2009 during a period of transition – reflected in the varying quality of wines on tasting, some pre-dating new winemaker Conor van der Reest’s arrival. Shortly after our visit, owner David Walsh opened his Museum of Old and New Art on the same site. And three years on, the wines reflect all the vineyard and winemaking changes van der Reest had in train in 2009. His Praxis pinot delivers a pure, intensely aromatic expression of the variety, laced with the delicious, telltale stalky character of whole-bunch fermentation. The intense fruitiness continues on a vibrant, silky palate, inviting another mouthful.

Seville Estate Yarra Valley The Barber Chardonnay 2010 $18–$20
Seville’s Barber range complements its estate-grown wines while still offering an expression of Yarra Valley flavours. The 2010 chardonnay, made from both contract and estate-grown fruit, presents pure, tingly cool-climate varietal flavours (citrus and melon rind) in a bright, refreshing drink now style. It has good mid-palate richness and texture, but the focus never moves from the zesty fruit. Made by Dylan McMahon. This is a great example of the finessing of Australian chardonnay styles over the last twenty years – growing it in the right places, capturing the varietal flavour and not overwhelming it with winemaking tricks.

Wine review — Collector, Peter Lehmann, Punt Road, Kangarilla Road and Red Knot by Shingleback

2 May 2012Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Collector Reserve Shiraz 2011 $58
Kyeema and Fischer vineyards
Murrumbateman, Canberra District, New South Wales
The first 2011 Canberra shiraz to hit the tasting bench sets the bar very, very high indeed. Showing the cool season, it’s a lean, elegant style, backed by intense, pepper and red-berry varietal flavours and succulent tannin. Decanted, splashed and tasted over several days, the wine retained its brilliant colour and beautiful freshness – yielding layers of flavour. It’s definitely one for the cellar. Winemaker Alex McKay says because of pent-up demand (there was no 2010) he’s releasing it early – in the first week of July. He’ll release the cheaper Marked Tree Shiraz 2011 in August.

Collector Lamplit Marsanne 2011 $32.95
Fischer and Rosehill vineyards,
Murrumbateman, Canberra District, New South Wales
Like the Ravensworth marsanne reviewed here recently, Alex McKay’s Lamplit points to Rhone Valley white varieties as better bets than chardonnay for Canberra vignerons. It’s a pleasing and sophisticated wine – savoury, richly textured (but not fat) and underpinned by a gently, citrusy varietal flavour, subtly meshed with a pleasing character derived from barrel ageing on yeast lees. The slightly fuller and rounder (but now sold out 2010) indicates benefits from bottle ageing – and that this could be a slow and graceful evolution. McKay says both wines underwent full malo-lactic fermentation, adding texture, and the 2011 contains a splash each of viognier and roussanne.

Peter Lehmann Wigan Riesling 2006 $28.49–$32
Eden Valley, South Australia
Peter Lehmann’s glorious aged riesling comes from “a single vineyard from the southern end of Eden Valley, with an elevation of some 500 metres and shallow rocky soils”, says winemaker Andrew Wigan. He rates the 2006 season, “one of the greatest white wine vintages the Barossa has ever seen”. We can’t argue. It pours a glowing, green-tinted, pale golden colour; the aroma reveals the pleasing toasty overlay of bottle age on the deep, delicate lime and lemon varietal flavours. It’s a beautiful wine – a delight to drink now and likely to provide pleasure for another decade or more.

Punt Road Chemin Syrah 2010 $39
Block 5, Napoleone Vineyard, Yarra Valley, Victoria
Kate Goodman’s striking red pushes the boundary on Australian shiraz. Its medium body, fine structure and peppery, spicy flavours are givens of the Yarra’s cool climate. But the winemaking techniques – including a wild yeast ferment and 100 per cent whole-bunch fermentation – introduce their own textures and flavours to the wine. The inclusion of whole bunches (which means stems), enriches the tannin structure while inserting a notably stalky aroma and flavour. This is intriguing and distracting at the same time, drawing us back again and again for another mouthful. Before long the bottle’s empty and we conclude Kate’s onto a winner.

Kangarilla Road The Veil Savagnin Blanc 2011 $20 500ml
McLaren Vale, South Australia
Winemaker Kevin O’Brien created Kangarilla’s pleasantly tart take on the idiosyncratic vin jaune wines of France’s Jura region. The wines, matured in oak barrels under a film (or veil) of yeast, take on a savoury, tart, nutty character reminiscent of sherry. O’Brien’s richly textured wine delivers the zesty freshness of savagnin, with a light, tart, savoury sherry-like overlay. It’s a delicious and original aperitif style, more subtle than sherry and a more modest 13 per cent alcohol.

Red Knot by Shingleback Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 $11.39–$15
Davey Estate Vineyard, McLaren Vale, South Australia
That the discounters frequently trim the price of Red Knot is a sure sign of popularity. And popularity, in this instance, proves that Australia’s savvy palates know a bargain when they see one. This is a great example of modern Australian winemaking – starting with good fruit, principally from the Davey family’s Shingleback vineyard, then capturing the varietal flavour structure in the winery. It’s a ripe, juicy, fruity, fresh, flavoursome, lovable, red made to enjoy now.

Canberra’s vintage of a lifetime

2 May 2012People, Vineyard, WineChris Shanahan

Canberra’s vintage from hell, or vintage of a lifetime, turned out to be both, and bit in between as well. Canberra vignerons wrote off swathes of diseased fruit, adding to shiraz crop losses caused by poor fruit set early in the season. But by carefully handpicking healthy fruit, and in some cases weeding out diseased berries in the winery, the district now has its generally sound, albeit much reduced, 2012 vintage in the vat.

Riesling specialist Ken Helm, hopeful but apprehensive during February’s pre-vintage rain, emailed triumphantly on 16 March, “We are finishing our Riesling today. The fruit is outstanding and it is the vintage of my lifetime.”

A month later, the voice at the other end of the phone says, “It’s still the vintage of a lifetime. The wines are finished [fermenting] and they’re incredible. We will have a reserve riesling this year, but the crop’s down 50 per cent”.

Helm attributes the crop losses to berry splitting, caused by rain, followed by outbreaks of the mould, botrytis cinerea. However, the cool season, recording just four days over 30 degrees, encouraged steady flavour development and good acid retention in riesling grapes.

Helm says riesling achieved flavour ripeness at low sugar levels and exceptionally high acidity of 10.5 to 11 grams per litre. During fermentation and subsequent cold stabilisation, however, acidity dropped to a more palate friendly 7.5 to eight grams a litre – ideal numbers in dry wines of 10.3 to 10.5 per cent alcohol.

Helm expects to release his 2012 Classic Dry and Premium rieslings in August or September. And for only the second time in 40 years, he made a botrytis-infected sweet riesling. He says the 3.5 tonnes of fruit yielded just 800 luscious litres.

Helm’s other specialty, cabernet sauvignon, suffered less than shiraz in the adverse conditions. Nevertheless, he anticipated a 30 per cent drop in the coming crop from neighbour Al Lustenburger’s vineyard.

Clonakilla’s Tim Kirk says he’s “astonished at how it’s turned out. The fortunes of Clonakilla, and Canberra in general, hang on shiraz. We were worried botrytis would explode and lead to big crop losses. We saw this in some vineyards, which were unpickable. Not so in Clonakilla vineyard”.

Kirk recalls in the comparably cool, wet 2011 season leaving half his shiraz on the vine. The fruit had set with thin skins, making it vulnerable to disease. In 2012, however, the vines produced a small crop of disease resistant, thick-skinned berries – all successfully harvested.

Kirk believes the shiraz “may prove to be extraordinary, but we’ll wait and see”. Pressing the wine after three weeks post-ferment maceration on skins, Kirk observed, “very dark colour and fantastic flavours”. It’s high in acid, he says, but malolactic fermentation (a secondary fermentation that reduces total acidity) is yet to occur. Kirk believes cool seasons like 2012, where fruit struggles to ripeness but gets there, are potentially the greatest.

Kirk picked riesling early, ahead of the rain, looks to be “a very fine, bony style along the lines of 2011 – acid driven, fresh and appley, but delicious”. He held back unfermented juice which can be added back after ferment should the wine need rounding out.

Cabernet and merlot ripened fully but nevertheless show the herbaceous character of the cool year. Viognier developed good flavours at low sugar levels. There’s not much of it, says Kirk, and it’s definitely suited to Clonakilla’s elegant style – far removed from the syrupy versions made in warmer climates.

Sauvignon blanc and semillon, picked early to avoid disease, look a little on the green side, says Kirk, but a tiny pinot noir crop produced good looking wine, driven buy its tannin structure.

At Lerida Estate, Lake George, Jim Lumbers reports big drops in quantity. Merlot yielded better than last year and despite botrytis infections, “we have some very good fruit”, he says. “The whites are great, especially pinot grigio”.

“Pinot noir looks glorious. We’re pressing it, it looks fantastic, and so does the 2011. But we never would’ve dreamt it”. Lumbers say he picked pinot very early, hoping to beat diseases, but feared green, unripe flavours in the wine.

His team used sorting tables to eliminate diseased berries. The juice appeared very pale at first, but after fermentation the wines show good, if not deep colours, delicate violet-like aromas and amazing ripe fruit flavours.

The much-reduced shiraz crop, says Lumbers, looks very good and should make the cut for Lerida’s flagship shiraz viognier blend.

Up on the Lake George escarpment, Lark Hill’s Chris Carpenter reports a reduced but healthy crop with no losses to disease. The family’s Murrumbateman vineyard, however, suffered extensive hail damage. The Carpenter’s lost all of the shiraz from the vineyard, but harvested sangiovese and small amounts of the Rhone Valley white varieties marsanne, roussanne and viognier.

From the slopes of Mount Majura, Frank van der Loo reports that after a long wait for reds to ripen, they did, showing “fantastic deep colours but very low quantities”. Crop losses resulted from a combination of disease and weather-related poor fruit set.

The whites, says van der Loo are “good to excellent, showing the vintage raciness – long, steely acid, even in pinot grigio [a notably low-acid variety]”. He says the reds will be lighter bodied but deeper coloured than usual.

Beer review – Grand Ridge and Lord Nelson

2 May 2012Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Grand Ridge Yarra Valley Gold 330ml $3.35
Yarra in name, but brewed in Gippsland, Victoria, Yarra Gold is a deep amber ale offering sweet, golden-syrup-like, malty aroma, cut with resiny hops. The palate reflects the aroma with its generously, smoothly malty fullness, balanced by a delicious, clean, lingering, bitter hoppiness.

Lord Nelson Three Sheets Pale Ale 330ml $3.50
Three Sheets is brewed at the historic Lord Nelson hotel in Sydney’s Rocks area. The colour’s a mid gold and the aroma combines sweet maltiness with fresh, citrusy hops character. On the brisk palate, the sweet malt and citrus hops harmonise beautifully, inviting another sip as the lingering hops bitterness cleans off the finish.

French cider makers target Australia

2 May 2012CiderChris Shanahan

On 28 March, ubifrance.com – the French trade commission’s Australian website – highlighted the phenomenal growth of cider sales in Australia.

According to the site, Australia’s cider market totalled $300 million in 2011–12. The market grew at a compound growth rate averaging 19.1 per cent per annum over the previous five years and at an astonishing 35 per cent in 2011.

The article attributes much of the growth to the sheer diversity of cider styles, the growing number of brands and widespread advertising and event sponsorship.

The article points out the difference between “industrialised ciders with flavourings and added sugars to hide their defects” and suggests “real cider lovers ask for a real Australian legislation defining what cider actually is”.

The French take the opportunity to highlight the pure and natural traditional styles from Brittany and Normandy and the formation of Cider Australia to give a voice to Australian producers.

Wine review — Knappstein, Jacques Lurton and Chateau Vaugelas

29 April 2012Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Knappstein Clare Valley Shiraz 2010 $17–$22
We tasted Knappstein Clare Valley 2010 alongside the contrasting Alex McKay Canberra District Collector Reserve Shiraz 2011 ($58, reviewed in next Wednesday’s Food and Wine). Knappstein delivers the full, ripe, juicy flavours of the warm Clare Valley – a big, round, soft expression of shiraz ready to enjoy now and for another four or five years. Collector, on the other hand, showed the intense peppery flavours, medium body and lean, taut structure of a very cool Canberra vintage – a coy, succulently tannic wine needing time to reveal its layers of flavour.

Jacques Lurton The Islander Kangaroo Island The Red 2008 $20
Like Spike Milligan’s a bit of a book and a book of bits, Frenchman Jacques Lurton’s budget wine seems a bit of a red and red of bits – combining malbec, cabernet franc, co-fermented shiraz and viognier and grenache. In the French context this could be a Bordeaux-Cahors-Rhone Valley blend. On Kangaroo Island, however, the varieties happily cohabit, producing this rich, easy drinking red. Malbec leads the flavour and structure of a clean, fresh wine, with quite a firm spine of savoury tannins that leave a satisfying bite in the finish.

Chateau Vaugelas Corbieres 2009 $15.99
Corbieres, a sub-region of France’s massive Languedoc-Roussillon wine growing area, produces rich, warm, earthy wines, based on the red variety, carignan. In this Costco import, carignan, grenache and shiraz contribute 30 per cent each to the blend, and mourvedre the final 10 per cent. It’s deeply coloured, with a bright crimson hue. The aroma suggests bright, fresh ripe fruit – a promise delivered on the lively, full palate. Savoury, earthy flavours sit behind the fruit, matching the earthy, firm, dry finish of this solid, warm-climate red. Nice wine, dear Costco, but how about screw caps for the Australian market?