Monthly Archives: May 2015

Wine review – Sevenhill, Bowen Estate, Yalumba, Penfolds, d’Arenberg and Sassafras

6 May 2015Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Sevenhill Cellars Inigo Riesling 2014 $18.80–$20
Sevenhill Cellars vineyards, Clare Valley, South Australia
In 1851 the Society of Jesus established Sevenhill Cellars, the Clare Valley’s first winery. The Jesuits still run Sevenhill from magnificent stone cellars where they make amazingly concentrated wines from their own extensive vineyards. Inigo – the cheaper of their two rieslings (the other, St Francis Xavier, sells for $35) – seduces the palate with a sensuous, drink-now opulence. Seduction begins with the pure citrus-and-floral varietal aroma. But it’s the slick and slippery palate that makes the earth move. More please.

Bowen Estate Shiraz 2013 $28.50–$33
Bowen vineyards, Coonawarra, South Australia
For a cool-climate Coonawarra shiraz, Bowen’s is of heroic proportions: high in alcohol at 15.5 per cent, pulsing with rich, very ripe fruit flavours, made even more succulent by a mother-load of soft tannins. If these descriptors seem at odds with Coonawarra’s demure template, they come with a few caveats. Despite the wine’s size and power, the fruit flavours remain in the regional ripe-berry spectrum and there’s an elegance to the structure, albeit obscured slightly by the high alcohol.

Yalumba FDR 1A Cabernet Shiraz 2010 $36.10–$43
Eden Valley, South Australia
“We have a new deal on FDR”, announced the sales rep in nineteen seventy something. Undeterred by collective groans in Farmer Brothers’ buying office, he poured samples. We duly applauded what was to be one of the few successes of the Barossa’s appalling 1974 vintage. That was the first vintage of a blend that, on the strength of the Eden Valley cabernet component, became 100-per-cent Eden from the 2010 vintage. At five years’, it tastes young and fresh, with the deep berry, mint and firm tannin character of Eden cabernet, rounded and softened by shiraz. It’s an outstanding red with decades of slow evolution ahead of it.

Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay 2013 $34.80–$40
Tumbarumba, NSW
In the early nineties Penfolds put its mind to making a white flagship – a white equivalent to Grange, eventually released as Yattarna, from the 1995 vintage. Though the search began with semillon, riesling and chardonnay, the latter fairly quickly became the sole focus. During this search, Tumbarumba chardonnay made the initial cut, but soon bowed out to components from the Adelaide Hills and, later, Tasmania. However, Penfolds didn’t abandon Tumbarumba altogether and the region generally contributes partly or solely to the brilliant Bin 311 – a rich, fine and sophisticated chardonnay. It has immediate drinking appeal and potential to evolve in the cellar for several years.

d’Arenberg High Trellis Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 $18–$20
d’Arenberg High Trellis vineyard, McLaren Vale South Australia
Only a comparatively small proportion of under-$20 reds have the stuffing to cellar well. But an earthy, fruity, richness and savoury, rustic tannins give High Trellis cellarability as well as grippy, drink-now appeal. The wine, produced from a nineteenth-century vineyard, shows clear varietal cassis- and mint-like varietal flavours and firm but friendly tannins. The chewy, richly textured palate has a wholemeal goodness, partly because winemaker Chester Osborne doesn’t fine of filter the wine before bottling.

Sassafras Gamay Ancestral 2014 $24
Johansen vineyard, Tumbarumba, NSW
In 2014, Quarry Hill’s Paul Starr branched out and produced a sparkling rose by applying the ancestral method to red gamay grapes. The method involves a standard fermentation, with just enough skin contact to extract the pink colour. The maker refrigerates the wine to arrest the fermentation while it retains a small amount of residual sugar. After bottling, the sugars undergo a secondary fermentation, creating carbon dioxide and a very fine haze from the spent yeast cells. Starr’s wine, sealed with a stainless steel crown, offers an attractive pink colour, a modest level of effervescence and gamay’s alluring strawberry-like aroma and flavour. The zippy, fresh, fruit-sweet palate finishes pleasantly tart and dry.

Beer review – Wig and Pen, and Weihenstphan

6 May 2015Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Wig and Pen Velvet Cream Stout half-pint $7
New Wig and Pen brewer, Frazer Brown says he’s making the house stout, “a little less sweet with more roasty, toasty flavours”. Certainly the brew on tap’s consistent with memories of older batches. It’s as opaque as bureaucratic language – but thankfully easier to understand. Wholesome chocolate and roast-grain flavours meld seamlessly with the warmth of six-per cent alcohol and creamy, smooth texture.

Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier 500ml $6.10
It’d been some time between encounters with Weihenstephan brewery’s Bavarian beauty, but it still showed the beauty of a classic Bavarian style. It’s their filtered version and therefore crystal clear. It pours with a luxurious white head and has the style’s definitive, delicate banana-like aroma. The palate’s light and lively, combining subtle, smooth malt with wheat beer’s zesty, fresh finish.

National Press Club sniffs the beer scene

6 May 2015BeerChris Shanahan

Talks between Canberra brewer Christoph Zierholz and National Press Club manager, Paul Butler, led last year to the club’s first matching of food with local beers.

The club’s wine dinners, of course, stretch back decades. Indeed I recall an early 1980s event for the liberal interpretation of “wine tasl ting” adopted by the diners, mainly journalists.

Last year’s beer event featured brews from Canberra’s Zierholz, Wig and Pen, and BentSpoke, as well as Lion, represented by veteran beer man Chuck Hahn.

Zierholz and Butler ran another degustation event in May – this time devoted solely to our local brewers.

Zierholz hopes for more joint promotion of Canberra’s fledgling but highly regarded brewing industry. Like our local wine makers, Canberra’s brewers compete with each other, but can benefit greatly from promotion of the industry as a whole.

Wine review – Stefano Lubiana, Shanahans Wines and Redbank

3 May 2015Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Stefano Lubiana Derwent Valley Pinot Noir 2013 $48
Winemaker Steve Lubiana writes, “vintage 2013 was a vintage that ticked all the boxes: the timing was great, good natural acid with the right volume of fruit/ha, producing softer more approachable wines”. He and wife Monique also celebrated their 20^th vintage at Granton, near Hobart, and their first as certified biodynamic operators. As Steve suggests, the 2013 pinot presents opulent, ripe, soft fruit flavours. It’s a wine of great buoyancy and upfront charm. But there’s much more to it. The juicy varietal fruit forms a matrix of flavours and textures with the soft, abundant tannins and first stirrings of deeper, savoury elements.

Shanahans Silence is Golden Barossa Valley Shiraz 2012 $23.75–$30
Shanahans The Old Dog Barossa Valley Shiraz 2012 $16.20–$20
Independently of one another, an older brother and old mate brought these cellar mates on a coast weekend. The name alone guaranteed a review, though there’s no family or other connection I’m aware of. But I’ve tasted Shanahan wines before and they’ve always delivered true Barossa warmth and richness at a fair price. They’re both from single vineyards in the western Barossa – the first from Greenock the other from an undisclosed location. The opulent, silk-smooth Silence is Golden contrasts subtly with the firmer, more savoury Old Dog. Both wines were purchased at Dan Murphy’s and they’re available at shanahanswines.com.au.

Redbank King Valley Fiano 2014 $21.95
With more romance than reality the back label depicts fiano as a variety “dating back to the days of Roman viticulture”. More prosaically, Jancis Robinson and Jose Vouillamoz in Wine grapes – a complete guide to 1368 varieties, including their origins and flavours, dismiss as futile attempts to link ancient names with modern varieties. They do, however, point to its origins in Campania and mentions of it as early as 1240. At Myrrhee, 700-metres up in Victoria’s King Valley, it produces a full-flavoured, melon-scented dry white with a rich texture and tangy, lemony dryness.