Helen’s Hill Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2010 $30
Helen’s Hill “old block” vineyard, Coldstream, Yarra Valley, Victoria
Helen’s Hill, established in 1997, is an elevated 60-hectare Yarra property, with 44.5 hectares under vine and a winery producing under two labels – Ingram Rd and Helen’s Hill. When they established the vineyard, the owners paid great attention to matching grape varieties to soil types and microclimates – successfully, judging by this wine. There’s a floral high note over the ripe, cherry-like varietal aroma. The cherry character follows through on a ripe, juicy palate, with earthy, savoury undertones and firm but velvety tannins.

Yangarra Estate Cadenzia 2010 $28
Yangarra Vineyard, McLaren Vale, South Australia
Some years back, a number of McLaren Vale producers adopted the name “Cadenzia” to promote its blends of grenache, shiraz and mourvedre. Yangarra’s version, based on grenache from old bush vines planted in 1946, offers generous, ripe flavours in a supple, fleshy palate, cut by the savoury, firm tannins of mourvedre. The 100-hectare Yangarra vineyard, consisting of 35 blocks, is located in McLaren Vale’s Blewitt Springs sub-region.

Yalumba Y Series Shiraz 2010  $9.49–$14.95
South Australia
Wineries around the world use animal-derived products to soften their wines. These “fining” agents include egg white, casein (dairy) and isinglass (fish). In a vegan-friendly move, Yalumba’s Y Series wine now come free of these products, meaning a little more grip in the whites and perhaps a rustic bite to the reds. The latest shiraz delivers full, ripe, vibrant, plummy shiraz flavour, with a spicy note and a good load of drying, slightly edgy tannins.

O’Leary Walker Watervale Riesling 2011 $17.50
Grace family vineyard, Watervale, Clare Valley, South Australia
David O’Leary and Nick Walker produce two Clare rieslings, one from the Watervale sub-region, the other from the cooler Polish Hill River, nine kilometres away. In the cool 2011 vintage we prefer, by a small margin, the Watervale wine. It appeals for its intense, pure, delicate, lime-like varietal flavour and racy, fresh, drying acidity. It’s an aperitif wine now, with the bracing acidity to handle the briny attack of oysters; with bottle age the texture and fruit flavour will build, making it suited to a wider range of foods.

Capital Wines The Whip Riesling 2011 $19
Murrumbateman, Canberra District, New South Wales
Canberra’s 2011 rieslings need bottle age. They have flavour. But as the lovely Whip riesling demonstrates, the flavour’s still pushing through the austere acid of the cold season. I find the Whip a little too austere to enjoy in its own right now, although all that acidity and lemony varietal flavour work well with salty, savoury and fatty foods (fish and chips, for example). But the powerful riesling flavours underlying the acidity ought, with time, dominate and push the mature wine higher up the star-ratings.

Louis Roederer Brut Premier Champagne $75–$85
Champagne, France
Family-owned Louis Roederer shows, deliciously, why real Champagne remains the benchmark. It has the assertive pinot flavour and structure more typical of a vintage Champagne, with a unique and lovely elegance, freshness and lightness – courtesy of the chardonnay component. There’s nothing hit and miss about this. It gets back to great grapes from the company’s highly rated vineyards, skilled winemaking and blending – including the use of two-to-five-year-old reserve wines – and a minimum three years’ maturation in bottle. This was our favourite of several New Year’s eve NVs.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2012
First published 1 February 2012 in The Canberra Times

Capital Wines The Abstainer Canberra District Rose 2011 $19
As a show judge I’ve copped my fair share of rose classes – line-ups of wines ranging in colour from pale onion skin to lurid lipstick pink; from cloyingly sweet to achingly dry; and from flabby soft to searingly acid. The better ones, of whatever shade, display fresh fruit flavours, rather than just sweetness, and finish clean and fresh, whether slightly sweet or very dry. The Abstainer, made from early-picked cabernet franc and a touch of merlot, sits at the pinker end of the spectrum and delivers the lovely floral, fruity high notes of cabernet franc, a savoury grippy undercurrent and a refreshing dry finish.

Capital Wines The Swinger Canberra District Sauvignon Blanc 2011 $19
O’Leary Walker Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2011 $16.50–$18
“I’d like to say it’s selling like hotcakes”, writes Capital Wines’ Jennie Mooney, “but it’s more than that, it’s selling like sauvignon blanc”. Here we see two contrasting styles of the white variety currently sweeping all before it. The Swinger (from Lawson Vineyard, Hall) presents a fuller bodied, off-dry, citrusy, still quite tart fresh face of the variety. O’Leary Walker (from the O’Leary Vineyard, Oakbank), at just 11 per cent alcohol, is more aromatic, featuring an intense passionfruit-like character that carries right through a delicate, herbaceous, bone dry palate – finishing with the brisk intensity for fresh lemon juice.

O’Leary Walker Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 $22
This is an exceptional cabernet, sourced from two Clare sub-regions – the Doctor’s block in the cool Polish Hill River area; and 50-year-old, dry-grown vines at Armagh, near Clare township. Winemakers David O’Leary, Nick Walker and Keeda Zim the wine undergoes a spontaneous ferment in small vessels, hand plunging the cap and pumping juice over to break up the cap and control the temperature. A post-ferment maceration on skins helps soften the tannins before the wine’s pressed off into new and used oak barrels for maturation. The result is a deep coloured, aromatic wine of pure cassis-like varietal aroma and flavour, rich mid-palate and firm cabernet tannins.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2012
First published 29 January 2012 in The Canberra Times

Man O’ War Dreadnought Syrah 2009 $45–$50
Eastern Waiheke Island, New Zealand
Waiheke Island, to the east of Auckland, lies at about the same latitude as Bendigo, Victoria, and Naracoorte (just north of Coonawarra), South Australia. The three regions, though, produce starkly different cool-climate shiraz styles – probably driven by significant climate variances. The flavour alone suggests Waiheke as the coolest site. The intense, white pepper character of Man O’ War syrah (shiraz) suggests very cool ripening conditions – barely warm enough to struggle across the ripening line. But having done so, it’s a glorious example of fine-boned, supple, silky-textured shiraz.

Jip Jip Rocks Shiraz 2010 $16–$19
Padthaway, South Australia
There’s nothing like a masked tasting to strip away the pretence of wine, allowing a modestly priced red like Jip Jip to rate in the Sydney International Top 100 – and earn a “Blue Gold” medal for its compatibility with food. Sourced from the Bryson family’s 170-hectare estate at Padthaway, and made by Ben Riggs, Jip Jip leads with appealing floral high notes. These come through, too, on a delicious fruity, supple, mid-weight, softly tannic palate. It’s a lot of fun to drink right now and should hold for several years.

PHI Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2010 $65
Lusatia Park Vineyard, Woori Yallock, Yarra Valley, Victoria
PHI is a joint venture, established in 2005, between Leanne De Bortoli and husband Steve Webber (winemakers) and Stephen and Kate Shelmerdine, grape growers. PHI pinot comes from selected rows of vines on the Shelmerdine’s elevated Lusatia Park vineyard, in the cool south-eastern edge of the Yarra. Webber makes the wine at De Bortoli winery, Yarra Valley. PHI 2010 made history in November 2011 as the first pinot to carry off the wine-of-show award at the National Wine Show. The name PHI means perfect harmony and balance – and the wine delivers it. This is great pinot noir by any measure.

Seville Estate The Barber Pinot Noir 2010 $16.95–$22
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Even the cheapest of Seville Estate’s three pinot noirs rates very highly in the pinot stakes. It’s sourced from “30 year old vines off the original Morgan’s vineyard”, declares the black label. Good winemaking captures the lovely flavours of this fruit in a medium to deep coloured wine of enticing perfume, plush, black cherry varietal flavour, silky texture and fairly firm tannic backbone. We found a little more to like every time we returned to the bottle. It should evolve well with another five or six years bottle age, perhaps longer.

Yalumba Y Series Pinot Grigio 2011 $9.49–$14.95
Multi-regional blend, South Australia
In the great Australian tradition, Yalumba sources grapes widely for its outstanding Y series blends. Pinot grigio sourcing extends in some years to the Barossa and Eden valleys, Limestone Coast, the Adelaide Hills, Northern Adelaide Plains and Riverland. Winemaker Louisa Rose says the cooler areas provide the aromatic high notes and warmer areas body and texture. A wild-yeast ferment also contributes to the texture. She says the 2011 comes mainly from the cooler Limestone Coast, Eden Valley and Adelaide Hills regions – creating a wine with pear-like varietal aromatics and a richly textured, off-dry, savoury palate.

Jeir Creek Viognier 2010 $30
Murrumbateman, Canberra District, New South Wales
Rob and Kay Howell’s cellar-door only viognier captures the variety’s unique, lush, juicy, apricot-like flavours – without descending into the oiliness or hardness that often mars the viognier experience. Rob Howell says he fermented and matured the wine in new French oak barrels. Too much new oak can overwhelm viognier. But in this instance the water-bent oak’s subtle, spicy flavours complement the vibrant, fresh fruit. The wine’s available at the cellar door, Gooda Creek Road, Murrumbateman or at www.jeircreekwines.com.au

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2012
First published 25 January 2012 in The Canberra Times

Brokenwood Beechworth Pinot Gris 2011 $20.89–$25
We’re seeing excellent pinot gris from the 2011. The variety prefers a cool climate and in vineyards that avoided the fungal diseases of the cool, wet vintage, varietal flavours really sing. This version, from Brokenwood’s Indigo Vineyard, Beechworth, compares pear-like and citrusy flavour with just a hint musk. The full, richly textured palate is soft, but exceptionally vibrant and fresh. A tiny kiss of residual sugar (5.3 grams a litre) adds subtly to the richness, making the wine suited to quite rich foods such as terrine, pate and, as Brokenwood suggests, foie gras.

Capital Wines Canberra District

• The Backbencher  Merlot 2010 $25
• Kyeema Vineyard t Reserve Merlot 2010 $46

What is merlot? Is it dry or sweet; soft or firm? Few varieties create more confusion, a fact not helped by the misidentification in Australia of cabernet franc as merlot, just as the variety gained some momentum. It’s a key variety of Bordeaux, more often than not blended with others, but capable of standing on its own as rich, but elegant, with abundant, sometimes firm, tannins. It’s a specialty of Capital Wines – the Backbencher revealing a plummy, elegant, soft face of the style; and the flagship, from the Kyeema Vineyard, showing greater power and chewier tannins – but nevertheless an elegance as a great and unique Canberra red.

Stefano Lubiana Collina Chardonnay 2008 $60
WOW! We decanted Collina a couple of hours before enjoying it, slowly, with a meal. It’s an extraordinary chardonnay, giving more weight to my belief that our finest chardonnays are destined to come from Tasmania. An intensity of varietal fruit flavours (grapefruit and white peach), both generous and ethereally fine, put this in the top ranks of Australian barrel-ferment and matured chardonnays. Winemaker Steven Lubiana says the vineyard site is rocky and gravelly, “providing plenty of sun, and just enough miserable soil for a plant to put down its roots and maintain a tenuous grip on life”. It’s available at www.slw.com.au

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2012
First published 22 January 2012 in The Canberra Times

Mount Langi Ghiran Cliff Edge Shiraz 2008 $22.79–$30
Mount Langi Ghiran Vineyard, Grampians, Victoria
For the first time Mount Langi Ghiran’s popular Cliff Edge shiraz comes entirely from estate-grown fruit, some of it from the estate’s oldest vines. It’s about as sexy as shiraz gets at the price – beautifully, sweetly aromatic with a vibrant, fruity palate to match. A spicy, savoury flavour undercurrent and silky tannins make it the complete red for early drinking – though the flavour intensity and layers of tannin mean good short to medium-term cellaring.

Dominique Portet Pinot Noir 2010 $42
Leongatha South, Gippsland, Victoria
Leongatha South, to the south east of Melbourne, produces at times dazzling pinot noirs, exemplified by those made at Bass Phillip by Phillip Jones. Dominique Portet captures some of the region’s magic with this lovely, lighter-bodied pinot noir. It’s highly aromatic, expressing the cooler, stalky end of the varietal spectrum. This character comes through, too, on a delicious, silky palate that grows in interest with every sip until, all too quickly, the bottle’s gone.

Seppelt Drumborg Riesling 2011 $27–$35
Drumborg Vineyard, Henty, Victoria
In 1964, well ahead of Australia’s table wine boom, Karl Seppelt planted grapes at Drumborg, southern Victoria, first landfall north of Antarctica. The cool site struggled for decades but ultimately produced outstanding grapes and elegant, potentially long-lived table and sparkling wines. In the very cool 2011 vintage, the vineyard produced this extraordinary riesling with intense but delicate lime-like varietal character and lean taut structure (pH2.88 and acidity of 9.6 grams per litre, for the technically minded). It’s a wine destined for greatness over time and worth considering if you’re after a wine to cellar for a special event decades in the future.

Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $30–$40
Margaret River, Western Australia
Virginia Wilcock’s outstanding red combines cabernet sauvignon (88 per cent) with 11 per cent malbec and one per cent merlot. There’s a violet-like floral lift to an aroma that includes varietal blackcurrant and a sweet, cedary character from the French oak. All these flavours flow through to the elegant palate, which, despite its supple smoothness and fleshy, fruity, core, finishes with the fine, lingering bite of the variety. It’s easy to drink now but has the intensity and structure to cellar well.

Atlas Riesling 2011 $25
Watervale, Clare Valley, South Australia
Winemaker Adam Barton sources grapes from sites he favours in the Clare and Barossa Valleys – in this instance from “a single patch of old, dry-grown riesling, situated on sheltered east-facing slope”. Hand picking, de-stemming and low juice extraction rates produce a delicate riesling with lime-like varietal aroma and flavour and pleasant minerally touch. The palate’s delicate, fine and dry and likely to reveal more over the coming years. This is a brand to watch. See www.atlaswines.com.au for purchasing details.

Redbank Garganega 2010 $25
Myrrhee Ridge Vineyard, King Valley, Victoria
Garganega is the principal variety used in Soave, a well-known savoury dry white from near Verona in Italy’s Veneto region. Redbank’s first vintage was fermented with wild yeast, matured in older oak barrels and blended with 10 per cent fiano, another Italian white. The result is full-bodied dry white with pleasing melon rind and citrus flavours and pleasantly tart, firm finish. It’s a long way from our usual fare and worth trying.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2012
First published 18 January 2012 in The Canberra Times