Bleasdale Frank Potts Langhorne Creek Cabernet Blend 2012 $26.60–$30
Bleasdale cabernet blend honours company founder and Langhorne Creek pioneer, Frank Potts. In 1858, Potts planted vines on the flood plain of the Bremer River, which runs through Langhorne Creek. The area’s mild maritime climate, produces outstanding cabernet, with a distinctive mid-palate fleshiness. Potts’s descendants demonstrate this deliciously in their Frank Potts blend of cabernet sauvignon (65 per cent), malbec (15 per cent), petit verdot (11 per cent), merlot (five per cent) and cabernet franc. While cabernet shapes the wine, the other varieties add greatly to the perfume, flavour volume and caressing, soft tannins.

Geoff Merrill McLaren Valle Bush Vine Shiraz Grenache Mourvedre 2010 $16.50–$25
With so many raw young 2013 reds arriving on the market, it’s satisfying to drink a maturing wine from the 2010 vintage. Three years’ bottle age adds mellow and savoury dimensions to Geoff Merrill’s appealing blend. Merrill says, “I love this wine because the grenache is taken from an 80-year-old dry-grown vineyard at Blewett Springs [a sub-region of McLaren Vale]”. The grenache gives perfume, mid-palate flesh and softness to this generous wine, based on rich, savoury McLaren Vale shiraz. The grippy backbone comes from the mourvedre component.

Tahbilk Nagambie Lakes Marsanne 2014 $11.95–$19.50
Tahbilk, the Purbrick family’s lovely old property on an anabranch of the Goulburn River, established marsanne long before Rhone Valley varieties became fashionable in Australia. Tahbilk marsanne drinks well and it takes on a golden, honeyed richness with age. The introduction of a screw cap from 2002, and a brightening of the fruit character in the last decade, makes it bright and lovely for current drinking and a safer cellaring bet than ever. The 2014 offers distinctive citrus and passionfruit-like flavours and a distinctive full, dry palate.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published:

• 25 October 2014 in goodfood.com.au
• 26 October 2014 in the Canberra Times

d’Arenberg The Dead Arm Shiraz 2010 $65
McLaren Vale, South Australia
At a recent tasting, drinkers gravitated to d’Arenberg The Dead Arm and drained the bottle ahead of the others on the table. Tasters acknowledge the lush, elegant beauty of Lark Hill Shiraz Viognier 2013 and the drink-now appeal of Serafino Sorrento Shiraz 2013. But the intriguing power, richness and burly tannins of the inky deep d’Arenberg wine upstaged them all. At four and a half years, it tastes young and vigorous – suggesting a long cellaring life in a consistently cool, dark cellar.

Lindemans Bin 65 Chardonnay 2014 $5.60–$10
South Eastern Australia
Lindemans Bin 65 began as an export brand in the 1980s and was later introduced to Australia. The brand suffered terribly following the disastrous Rosemount move into Southcorp Wines in 2001. The Lindeman brand fared little better after Foster’s acquired Southcorp in 2005, or after Foster’s pushed the under-performing wine division out on its own as Treasury Wine Estates in 2011. But the brand team now hopes to resurrect Bin 65 and its cellar-mates with a label redesign. Good luck to them. The wine, however, offers fresh, clean, easy drinking and offers particularly good value when on special.

Oakridge Local Vineyard Series Chardonnay 2013 $36
Guerin vineyard, Yarra Valley, Victoria
Winemaker David Bicknell is on the money again in the warm 2013 vintage with this full flavoured but delicate chardonnay He writes, “A traditional winemaking approach was used to produce this wine – hand pick and whole-bunch pressing direct to 500-litre French oak puncheons for a natural fermentation followed by an 11-month maturation on lees”. Ripe varietal flavour – at the citrus and melon end of the spectrum – provides the wine’s attractive fruitiness, which works harmoniously with the funky, spicy and textural elements introduced by barrel fermentation and maturation.

Mount Horrocks Riesling 2014 $28–$33
Watervale, South Australia
Stephanie Toole’s 2014 riesling shows the full flavour of a warm vintage. Lime-like varietal flavour remains at the centre of the wine, with fresh acidity giving structure and length to the finish. For such a young wine, however, the palate texture is particularly rich attractive – a characteristic of good riesling, but not always apparent in youth. “The reds have deep colour and intense flavour, and the whites look great, very generous in flavour with good acidity”, says O’Toole of the 2014 wines.

Best’s Bin No. 1 Shiraz 2013 $23.75–$25
Great Western, Grampians, Victoria
Best’s of Great Western, Victoria, produces a range of shirazes, some of great longevity. In 2000 the Thomson family, introduced Bin 1 shiraz at a lower price and made in a softer, drink-now style. The latest release, from the warm 2013 vintage, offers a brilliant crimson-rimmed colour, sweet, intense summer-berry aromas and a vibrant palate, brimming with those berry flavours. Pepper-like character is less apparent in the warm vintage, though a general spiciness adorns the fruit and fine, soft tannins give structure and length to the finish.

Xanadu Next of Kin Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 $15–$18
Margaret River, Western Australia
Margaret River’s Xanadu, owned by the Rathbone family, makes some of Australia’s best cabernets, including the impressive $65-a-bottle Stevens Road Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 reviewed here in August. As so often happens in the wine industry, the skills learned and applied at this level, eventually flow down to lower priced products, like Next of Kin. While the cheaper red doesn’t offer the profound depth and longevity of the Stevens Road wine, it rates among the very best drink-now style cabernets in Australia. It offers genuine cabernet aroma, flavour and structure, with a particular emphasis on bright, juicy fruit flavours.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 21 October 2014 in goodfood.com.au
and 22 October 2014 in the Canberra Times

Castro’s Ligador McLaren Vale Cabernet Malbec 2012 $20
With his new release Ben Riggs suggests a parallel between the blending arts of a cigar maker (ligador) and a winemaker. Both craftsmen, says Riggs make “the whole greater than the sum of its parts”. Riggs argues his case with this blend of cabernet sauvignon and malbec. He sourced the cabernet from the Malpas Road area of Willunga and the malbec from the Church Block vineyard in McLaren Vale. The wine’s delicious bright, fresh, red berry characters come with a load of fine tannins that give an elegance to the structure. This is a very good wine at the price.

Xanadu Next of Kin Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2014 $18
Margaret River’s signature blends of sauvignon blanc and semillon come in a spectrum of styles – ranging from sip-and-savour, long-lived oak fermented versions like Cullens, to bouncy, light and fruity styles like Next of Kin. It captures the pungent, penetrating side of sauvignon blanc (sometimes described as resembling “canned pea”), filled out on the palate by the semillon component. It’s a love-it or hate-it style, made to drink icy cold and as close to vintage as possible. The recently released 2014 vintage delivers the style’s vibrant, fruity freshness plus a rich, smooth texture.

Xanadu Next of Kin Margaret River Chardonnay 2013 $18
Xanadu, part of the Rathbone family wine group, makes some of the best whites and reds in Western Australia’s Margaret River region. Knowledge and skill acquired in making their top-shelf chardonnay trickles down to the more modestly priced Next of Kin. Few wines at this price can claim 100 per cent barrel fermentation (10 per cent of it new), a portion of spontaneous fermentation and nine months maturation in those barrels. These techniques season the wine’s attractive melon-like varietal flavour with attractive spicy and savoury notes and also add richness to the texture.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 18 October 2014 in Fairfax digital media
and 19 October in the Canberra Times

Chatto Pinot Noir 2013 $50
Huon Valley, Tasmania
Canberra-raised Jim Chatto now heads the winemaking team at McWilliams. On the journey to that position, Chatto fell in love with Tasmanian pinot noir while making wine there from 1998 to 2000. Though subsequently Hunter based, he established a small pinot noir vineyard in the Huon Valley from 2007 following a six-year search for the right location. He describes the site as “warm, well-drained but in a very cool region, right on the edge of viticultural possibility”. At a recent masked tasting, Chatto 2013 displayed the beautiful fruit of the site in vivid detail – a shimmering, bright wine of medium body and tight structure, with underlying savoury character. It has what can only be described as “pinosity” – an elusive, defining character that pinots either have or don’t have. It’s a brilliant wine from young vines, suggesting the best are yet to come.

Castro’s Ligador Shiraz Mataro 2012 $18–$20
McLaren Vale, South Australia
Ben Riggs’s new release suggests a parallel between the blending arts of a cigar maker (ligador) and a winemaker. Both craftsmen, says Riggs make “the whole greater than the sum of its parts”. Riggs argues his case with this blend of shiraz and mataro (aka mourvedre) from various parts of McLaren Vale. Not having tasted the parts, we can only say the whole is very good: a full-bodied red with considerably more tannin structure than we’d expect from shiraz alone, thanks to the mataro component.

Bleasdale Mulberry Tree Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 $16–$20
Langhorne Creek, South Australia
We don’t need to look far to see the relationship between a maritime climate and top quality cabernet sauvignon: France’s leading cabernet region, Bordeaux and Australia’s two cabernet stars, Coonawarra and Margaret River. Less trumpeted, but source of outstanding material is Langhorne Creek near Lake Alexandrina. Here Bleasdale winemaker Paul Hotker writes, “I’ve learned in my time here that the cooling lake breezes make our cabernets themselves”. His budget-priced Mulberry Tree demonstrates this with its clear varietal aroma and flavour and firm but not hard tannins. It provides excellent drinking at a fair price

Stella Bella Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2013 $19–$22
Margaret River, Western Australia
We could call Margaret River the Bordeaux of the south – not only for its cabernet-based reds, but for its pungent, refreshing complex dry whites, blended from semillon and sauvignon blanc. The better examples like Stella Bella barrel ferment a portion of the blend to build the texture, body and complexity of the wine. Many vineyards contribute to this blend and all are fermented separately (one third of every batch in barrels, says the winemaker). The final blend offers ultra-fresh citrus-like fruit flavour, with the pungent and herbal character of the varieties and a fine, soft texture.

Tapanappa Chardonnay 2013 $39–$45
Tiers vineyard, Piccadilly Valley, Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Brian Croser’s 2013 chardonnay delivers the rich, ripe, peachy varietal flavours of the warm vintage. Although Croser fermented then matured the wine for 10 months in oak barrels (30 per cent of them new), Tapanappa stands apart from many contemporary barrel-fermented chardonnay styles. Missing are the sulphur compounds that season so many others, and the flavours associated with the secondary malolactic fermentation, which Croser blocks. His approach leaves ripe varietal flavour at the centre, lifted by fresh natural acidity and coated with the sensuous texture derived from the time in barrel.

Mount Horrocks Clare Valley Cordon Cut Riesling 2014 $39
Clare Valley, South Australia
Stephanie Toole’s delicious sticky always impresses for its pure, varietal riesling aromas and flavours – reminiscent of fresh limes. The wine’s lime-like, racy acidity cuts through the luscious sweetness, accentuating the flavour, offsetting the sweetness and providing a stunning, fresh, clean finish. The wine is just 11 per cent alcohol, giving appropriate lightness to such a delicate and irresistible drop.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 15 October 2014 in the Canberra Times

Hardys Chronicles Twice Lost Langhorne Creek Pinot Grigio 2014 $16
During the nineties our major companies, and some private investors, planted broad acres of vines at Langhorne Creek to feed the wine-export boom then underway. With ample water, a warm climate, tempered by nearby Lake Alexandrina, the area produced healthy yields of high quality fruit – which, of course, is exactly what attracted investors there in the first place. Generous, soft, varietally pure red wine remains the area’s real specialty. But white wines perform well, too, albeit without the distinction, in my view, of the reds. Hardys pinot grigio delivers fresh, clean, pear like varietal flavours on a soft and refreshing palate.

Tim Smith Barossa Mataro Grenache Shiraz 2013 $24.50–$28
Former Yalumba winemaker Tim Smith struck out on his own in 2002, following a trip to France’s Rhone Valley in 2001. In his 2013 vintage three-variety Rhone-inspired blend, Smith used a smaller proportion of firm, spicy mataro (also called mourvedre) than he did in the 2012, though it remains the dominant variety at 45 per cent of the total. Floral, soft grenaches contributes 33 per cent and rich, earthy shiraz 22 per cent. It’s perhaps a tad fuller bodied than the 2012, but continues in the highly aromatic style, with rich, juicy, spicy, mid-palate fruit and assertive but smooth tannins.

Mount Horrocks Clare Valley Semillon 2013 $30
Stephanie Toole’s semillon provides the full body and texture of an oak-fermented white but unique flavours, far removed from our usual oak-fermented tipple, chardonnay. Semillon’s unique lemon- and lemongrass-like characters come through in both the aroma and flavour and give delicious vigour and life to the deep, satisfying palate. Though fermented and matured entirely in oak barrels, it’s the fruit flavour, finesse and texture that appeal most of all, meaning the oak barrels did their job without intruding. O’Toole makes her wines from 10-hectares of vines in the Clare Valley. Her semillon comes from the Watervale sub-region at the southern end of the valley.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 11 October 2014 in goodfood.com.au and 12 October 2014 in the Canberra Times