Chris Shanahan: Wine review — Tulloch, Angoves and Domain Day

Tulloch Vineyard Selection Hunter Valley Semillon 2012 $20
Established in 1895, Tulloch wandered in the corporate wilderness from 1969 under varying corporate umbrellas until Jay Tulloch and family bought back the farm from Southcorp in 2001. Christine Tulloch now works as general manager under her dad, Jay. The new release comes from a single lower-Hunter vineyard. The wine weighs in at just 11 per cent alcohol and offers varietal citrus and lemongrass aromas and flavours – and a lean, tight, bone-dry finish. The low alcohol, light body and unique flavour make a good alternative to our generally more heady wines.

Angoves Long Row Riesling 2012 and Shiraz 2010 $6.90–$10
When crusty old Angoves rev up their labels, it’s like trading in the old Kingswood for an old Camry. Like the cars, Angoves Long Row wines offer reliability at a fair price – or even bargain prices when the big retailers have a go. In traditional Australian fashion, Angoves achieves the high quality to price ratio by blending material from top-notch growing regions into a base of Riverland wine. The riesling, at an unusually low 9.5 per cent alcohol, offers pleasant, fresh, floral and citrus flavours on a crisp, medium dry palate. The sturdy shiraz offers ripe plummy flavours with good tannin structure.

Domain Day Mount Crawford Garganega 2011 $18.05–$22
Garganega is the key grape in Verona’s famous dry white, Soave. It’s an Italian native – and perhaps one of its most promiscuous as recent DNA studies suggest it’s a parent of seven other varieties. Robin Day says his planting was Australia’s first. From it he makes a full-bodied, distinctively flavoured dry white which, in the cool 2011 vintage, seem particularly aromatic and intensely flavoured. A touch of passionfruit in the aftertaste adds zest to a vibrant, savoury dry white whose basic fruit flavour defies description. Day calls it preserved pear; I see more melon rind. Whatever you call it though, it works. And it’s a world away from chardonnay or sauvignon blanc.