All posts by Chris Shanahan

Canberra’s new brewer

13 April 2016Beer, PeopleChris Shanahan

Capital Brewing Co team, from left to right: Nick Hislop, Laurence Kain, Tom Hertel, Wade Hurley, Rich Coombes, Ian Stott

Canberra’s vibrant craft brewing scene becomes even more colourful from 21 April with the launch of the city’s sixth brewer, Capital Brewing Co. The new brewer joins our five existing players, the Wig and Pen Tavern and Brewery, Zierholz Premium Brewing, Tortured Gum Brewery, BentSpoke Brewing Co, and Pact Beer Co.

Canberra bar owners Tom Hertel and Laurence Kain began planning the brewery in June last year with Rich and Sam Coombes. The brothers, founders of the Batlow Cider Co, supplied Hertel and Kain’s Civic bars, Honky Tonks and Hippo Co.

The Batlow connection brings an existing national distribution network to the new venture. More excitingly for drinkers, it gives Capital Brewing Co direct access to one of the holy grails of brewing: a secure supply of hop flowers.

Rich Coombes says Batlow Fruit Cooperative commenced hop growing a couple of years back. As the first hop grower in the state, the cooperative received a NSW government grant and sent orchard manager Andrew Desprez on a study tour of US and New Zealand hop-growing regions.

Coombes says the cooperative harvested its second crop this year and, “Capital takes all of the US Cascade and Chinook varieties”.

Like other brewers, says Coombes, Capital uses pelletised hops. But it also has access to Batlow’s fresh hop flowers at harvest (used this year in Capital Evil Eye Red IPA) and a year-round supply of dried hop flowers, preserved in a cold store at two-degrees Celsius.

Unlike brewpubs BentSpoke or the Wig and Pen, which sell most of their beer on site, Capital Brewing Co intends to be a producer and distributor of beer with a distinct Canberra identity.

Tom Hertel says, “The name is a reference to the area. We [Hertel and business partner Laurence Kain] grew up here and we love Canberra. It’s a great place to live”.

While the three Capital beers being released on 21 April were brewed in Sydney, Hertel and his partners expect to commission their own US-manufactured brewery at Dairy Road, Fyshwick around September or October this year.

Hertel says, “We’re gypsy brewing at a couple of sites in Sydney. This isn’t the same as contract brewing, where someone else brews from your recipe. We rent tanks and have total control”.

Inspired by the San Diego craft beer scene, Hertel and partners brought California brewer Wade Hurley to Australia. Hurley produced the “gypsy” brews in Sydney and will head the Canberra brewing team.

The beers being released tomorrow show a distinct California influence. This reflects the personal tastes of the partners as well as California’s ownership of the strong, hoppy beer styles now being brewed globally.

Hertel describes Capital Brewing Co Trail Pale Ale as an American pale ale style, rich in malt and hops. Evil Eye Red IPA ratchets up the malt and hops even more. And Coast Ale, he says, provides lighter, easier drinking, “Like a California common. It’s a beer you’d take down the coast”.

Initially, Capital plans to sell kegged beer into the Canberra market, beginning with the launch tomorrow. However, production and distribution will expand when the Fyshwick facility opens.

“It’s a 1000-square-metre warehouse”, says Hertel. “We’ll have a large brewery, canning and bottling machines and a touch-and-feel tasting bar where people can watch the whole process”.

Running the brewery with brewer Wade Hurley will be two more Capital partners, Ian Stott and Nick Hislop, with backgrounds in brewery and cider-making logistics and sustainability.

Hertel and Kain recently sold their Honky Tonks bar. However, they retain Hippo and Co and will offer Capital Brewing Co Trail Pale Ale, Evil Eye Red IPA and Coast Ale on tap there from tomorrow. They expect other outlets to offer the beers, but details are not available at the time of writing. Hertel says they will list stockists on their website (capitalbrewing.co).

Canberra’s currant affair goes sweet and sour

13 April 2016Beer, Beer review, PeopleChris Shanahan

Pact and Pen's new brew — Pact and Pen’s new brew

Hello. I’m Tracy Grimshaw. This is a currant affair

A new sour beer made by two Canberra brewers goes under the Pact and Pen label as “Hello, I’m Tracy Grimshaw. This is a currant affair”.

Pact Brewing Company’s Kevin Hingston and the Wig and Pen’s Frazer Brown created the sour, redcurrant-flavoured brew for Melbourne pub, The Ale House Project.

The beer is being served during the Ale House’s “This is red” event between 11 and 24 April.

Hingston says with the Melbourne launch now done, Tracy will go on tap at the Wig and Pen, ANU, and the Durham Arms, Kingston.

The beer, styled on Germany’s Berliner Weisse, derives its sourness from the residues of micro-flora, including lactobacillus, living on the surface of cracked grain. The grain, which also nourished the fast-breeding microbes, was added to a mash of wheat and pilsner malts – all seeped at a Jacuzzi-like 40 degrees before being fermented.

Hingston says the beer, while about double the strength of traditional Berliner Weisse, retains the style’s delicate sourness, offset by the sweet redcurrant.

Beer reviews

Thornbridge Kipling South Pacific Ale (UK) 500ml $9.45
Like coals to Newcastle, the UK’s Thornbridge brewery uses hops from Nelson, NZ. The hops give a distinctive fruity aroma to a beautifully harmonious, golden-coloured ale. The lively palate really sings with smooth, sweet malt, offset by flavoursome and lingeringly bitter, refreshing hops. This is a wonderful, balanced example of a beer revealing the full gamet of a unique hop variety’s aroma, flavour and bitterness.

Schlenkerla Oak Smoke Doppelbock (Germany) 500ml $7.98
Schlenkerla brewery of Bamberg, Germany, specialises in Rauchbier – an ale made from malt kilned with beech smoke. The brewery’s extra-strong (eight per cent alcohol) oak-smoked variant provides a slightly more subtle smokey experience. Charcuterie-like aromas and flavours permeate the opulent, malty, bitter palate.

Wine review – Mr Riggs, Mount Majura, Tower Estate

10 April 2016Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Mr Riggs “The Truant” McLaren Vale Shiraz 2014 $17–$19
For a winery producing just 20 thousand dozen bottle a year, Mr Riggs offers a surprisingly large number of labels, albeit of a very high quality. Riggs’ starting point for McLaren Vale shiraz, “The Truant”, sells for a modest $17 or so. His website also offers six other McLaren Vale shirazes, ranging in price from $16.67 to $50 a bottle. “The Truant”, named for a school-wagging Riggs forefather, combines bright, fresh, shiraz flavours with McLaren Vale’s underlying earthy, savoury characters. Smooth, soft tannins complete a sturdy, satisfying, drink-now dry red.

Mount Majura Canberra District Sweet Molli 2015 500ml $22
Winemaker Frank van de Loo recommends Sweet Molli with fruit or fruit-based desserts. Though distinctly sweet, Molli’s not the uber sticky kind as in late-picked and botrytis-affected dessert wines. Indeed she’s a comparatively delicate sweetie, with fresh acidity, the vibrant pear-like flavour of good pinot gris, and a light bite of spirit. Van de Loo sets the pinot gris grapes fermenting, then arrests the fermentation by adding neutral grape spirit. The wine retains its natural acidity, which offsets the sweetness of the unfermented grape sugar. It’s a delicious, refreshing and distinctive wine. And unlike most fortified wines contains a table-wine-like 13.5 per cent alcohol.

Tower Estate Hilltops Shiraz 2013 $30
Hunter-based Tower Estate makes regional specialties from across Australia, including Coonawarra cabernet sauvignon, Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc, Tasmania Pinot Noir and this slurpy shiraz from the Hilltops region. Just how all this ties in with a Hunter identity is anybody’s guess, and I suspect must confuse visitors to the awesome cellar door in Pokolbin, heart of the lower Hunter Valley. Still, Tower can do what it likes and, in this instance, they’ve made something we can all like: a bright and excellent Hilltops shiraz. Vivid fruit, juicy mid-palate, medium body and a touch of spice give great drinking pleasure now.

Wine review – Hardys, Domain Day, Eden Road, Stella Bella, Moppity Vineyards, West Cape Howe

6 April 2016Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Hardys Bastard Hill Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2013
Bastard Hill vineyard, Yarra Valley, Victoria
$60
Formerly released under parent company Accolade Wines’ Yarra Burn label, this gorgeous chardonnay comes from a single block of the very cool Bastard Hill vineyard. “At something like 32 degrees it’s a hard hill to work on”, says winemaker Paul Lapsley – a real bastard for worker and tractor alike. The wine combines dazzling fresh nectarine- and grapefruit-like varietal flavours with the subtle structural and flavour influences of fermentation and maturation in oak barrels. It tastes supremely fresh at three years’ age and provides irresistibly good drinking now. However, its vitality, flavour depth and harmony should see delicious flavour development with further bottle ageing.

Domain Day Riesling 2015
Mount Crawford, Barossa Valley, South Australia
$18.05–$22
With Orlando technical director Mark Tummel, Robin Day assembled the first Jacob’s Creek blends in the mid seventies. The label grew from nothing to become one of Australia’s most successful global wine brands, now owned by French company, Pernod Ricard. Day went on to become chief winemaker at Orlando, where he made more riesling than perhaps any other winemaker of his time. He later set up Domain Day. He’s selling up to write a book of travel anecdotes. But we can still enjoy Domain Day wines, including this full-flavoured, fresh, dry citrusy riesling.

Eden Road “The Long Road” Pinot Noir 2014
Maragle and Courabyra vineyards, Tumbarumba, NSW
$24–$28
While Canberra’s specialties remain shiraz and riesling, Murrumbateman’s Eden Road heads down another path altogether. Winemaker Nick Spencer says, “Our top two selling wines by far are pinot noir and pinot gris”. For “The Long Road”, Spencer uses pinot noir from two Tumbarumba vineyards: Maragle, at 405 metres elevation; and Courabyra, located 30 kilometres to the north at 730 metres. The warm 2014 season produced a comparatively generous blend for this cold region, with juicy, delicious underlying varietal flavours, cut through with pleasant “stemmy” notes (from the inclusion of whole bunches in the ferment). Silky texture and fine, soft tannins complete a very drinkable, well-defined pinot.

Stella Bella Sangiovese Cabernet Sauvignon 2013
Margaret River, Western Australia
$28.50–$30
Stella Bella’s mouth-watering blend of Tuscany’s sangiovese with Bordeaux’s cabernet emulates a Tuscan style that arose in the 1970s. Thumbing their nose at Chianti regulations, adventurous winemakers mixed cabernet and merlot with the local, approved varieties. Though banned from using the local wine appellation, they succeeded under their own proprietary labels. That they were onto something shows in Stella Bella’s blend. The colour’s pale, but the savoury–fruit aroma appeals instantly. And the palate delivers a delicious combination of savour, bright fruit and sangiovese’s distinctive rustic tannins. One bottle won’t be enough.

Moppity Vineyards Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
Moppity vineyards, Hilltops, NSW
$32
Being slightly warmer than Canberra, the Hilltops region makes slightly fuller, rounder styles of shiraz and fleshier, riper styles of cabernet sauvignon. After a lot of hard work in the vineyard, cabernet is now emerging as a standout variety for Moppity Park’s Jason and Alecia Brown. Their 2014, winner of a trophy and seven gold medals, offers ripe red-currant-like varietal aroma, overlaid with a sweet and spicy oak character. The ripe fruit flavours flow through to a fleshy, medium-bodied palate, cut with fine, firm cabernet and oak tannins. The wine’s good performance the recent Winewise Championships is a reminder of what good cabernet are made in nearby Hilltops region.

West Cape Howe Two Peeps Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2015
Two People’s Bay, Albany, Western Australia
$17–$20
Winemaker Gavin Berry fancies sauvignon blanc and semillon from a couple of vineyards about 15 kilometres east of Albany. One sniff of the wine confirms the sites bring out the pungent, herbal and “canned pea” character of the varieties, distinctive to Western Australia’s cool south. Berry ferments some batches in oak barrels, others in stainless steel tanks. The combination of techniques captures the pungent fruit character of the varieties and adds a pleasing, chewy texture.

More craft brewers, fewer wineries

6 April 2016Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Australia’s 250 craft brewers employ 1200

As per-capita beer consumption in Australia declines rapidly, the number of craft brewers continues to increase. IbisWorld says, “Robust demand for craft beer has resulted in the number of craft breweries increasing over the past decade to 250 in 2015–16.

In contrast, reports the Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Directory 2016, winery numbers recorded two consecutive years of decline to 2468 in 2016, down from the all-time high of 2573 in 2014.

According to IbisWorld, Australia’s widely dispersed craft breweries employ around 1200 people and enjoy annual sales of around $377million – about 9.5 per cent of the $4billion beer market.

The higher prices paid for craft beers, says IbisWorld, means industry revenues continued to grow – albeit at a sluggish 0.2 per cent a year between 2011 and 2016 – despite declining per-capita consumption.

Beer reviews

Fuller’s 1845 Ale (UK) 500ml $8

Amber malt and Golding hops set the colour and flavours for Fuller’s 6.3 per-cent-alcohol, bottle-conditioned 1845 ale. It pours a deep, glowing rosewood colour, blanketed with a steady, creamy head. The opulent, treacly, sweet-malt palate melds harmoniously with deep, strong, bitter hops. It’s a warming cold-weather beer, served at around 10 degrees.

Graf Arco Pilsener (Germany) 330ml $4.95

Graf Arco provides a textbook example of the German pils style: pale lemon-gold colour; pleasant grainy, malty aroma, seasoned with a herbal, hop character; and a palate of intense hops bitterness. Sweet malt flavours offset the bitterness to some extent, but the hops bitterness lingers on, clean and refreshing.

Wine review – Tim Adams, Schild Estate, West Cape Howe

3 April 2016Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Tim Adams Clare Valley Semillon 2012 $18.05–$22
Wines labelled “semillon”, unaccompanied by the magic words “sauvignon blanc”, appeal to a narrow audience. But there’s no reason why this should be so as the variety offers terrific drinking with distinctive flavour. The light bodied, low-alcohol versions from the Hunter Valley drink beautifully for decades. Tim Adams, on the other hand, provides an altogether different take on the variety. He harvest grapes riper than Hunter styles ferments and matures eighty per cent of the blend in French oak barrels. The wine retains semillon’s distinctive, vibrant, lemon- and lemongrass-like flavour on a lively, full, smooth palate with a pleasant vanilla-lie input from the oak.

Schild Estate Barossa Valley Shiraz 2013 $17.09–$22
Winemaker inputs at times overwhelm or mute climate-driven regional or sub-regional characteristics in a wine. Indeed, even the best palates would struggle to affix sub-regions to a masked range of Barossa shirazes from a number of makers. However, tasted on its own and in full view of the label, Schild 2013 shows the bright, red-fruits varietal character of shiraz grown in the cooler southern end of the valley. Family vineyards around Lyndoch and Rowland flat give the wine its appealing fresh fruit flavours. And though it weighs in at a solid 14.7 per cent alcohol, the wine sits light and soft on the palate.

West Cape Howe Frankland River Malbec 2014 $22
While malbec adds perfume, intense colour and strong tannins to red blends, it can also make excellent stand-alone wines. It’s the signature red of Argentina, for example. And in Australia, notably at Langhorne Creek, it makes sturdy, satisfying reds that differ in taste and structure from old favourites like shiraz or cabernet. Over in the west, West Cape Howe makes an outstanding version from the remote Frankland River region. The deep, crimson-rimmed colour, cherry-like aroma and plush, juicy palate appeal tremendously. After the first hit of fruit, the variety’s firm tannins take hold, though in harmony with the sweet fruit.

Wine review – Robert Stein, Cockburn, Domain Day, Irvine, Majella, Van Volxem

30 March 2016People, Vineyard, Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Robert Stein Riesling 2015
Stein and Mirramar vineyards, Mudgee, NSW
$25
With his 2015 vintage, winemaker Jacob Stein takes us away from traditional floral, delicate Australian rieslings. Thirteen per cent alcohol puts it at the bigger end of the variety’s style spectrum. Then spontaneous fermentation on skins of a component, and barrel-fermentation in old oak barrels of the pressings, bring extra weight and grip to the palate. The result is a ripe, full, dry (if not bone dry) white that retains citrus-like riesling flavours and racy acidity. This is an impressive and interesting riesling, heading off in its own direction.

Rockburn Pinot Noir 2013
Gibston and Parkburne, Central Otago, New Zealand
$38–$43
At two degrees south of Australia’s southernmost vineyards, Central Otago produces wines of greater body and ripeness than we might expect at the latitude. But the area’s dry, sunny, continental climate produces distinctively powerful pinots that fetch high prices in world markets. Rockburn provides a taste of the style in a warm year. Vibrant, dark-cherry-like varietal flavours back an assertive palate, comprising fruit, warming alcohol (14 per cent) and strong, fine, drying tannins. Winemaker Malcolm Rees-Francis writes, “This pinot is generously proportioned but remains taut for the moment”. I agree. A year or two in bottle should bring all the flavour elements together.

Domain Day “S” Saperavi 2004
Mount Crawford, Barossa Valley, South Australia
$24–$35
Impressed by its longevity, winemaker Robin Day planted the Georgian red variety saperavi at Mount Crawford. Day writes “I have my vineyard and cellar door on the market as I aim to retire and write (an anecdotal travelogue is half written)”. While we wait for Day’s hilarious stories, his wines seep into the market, sometimes at very low prices. His 2004 saperavi, for example, can be found on winerobot.com.au for $24 by the dozen, while Dan Murphy offers the 2005 vintage at $28–$29. The 2004 appeals for its warm, earthy, mellow aroma and rich, firm, medium-bodied palate. It’s fully mature now and a delight to drink.

Irvine “The Estate” Shiraz 2014
Barossa Valley, South Australia
$25–$28
The Wade and Miles family recently purchased Jim Irvine’s brand and Eden Valley property. The revamped label now draws fruit from wider sources, including the Wade and Miles family’s Barossa Valley vineyards. Sam Wade writes, “The wine styles are also moving towards a fresher, brighter style in response to the changing palate of the consumer”. However, the Barossa’s warm-to-hot climate hasn’t changed. So the new, lighter style shiraz belies the reality of its warm origins. It’s a very pleasant, clean, fruity red of medium body, soft tannin and drink-now appeal.
Majella Shiraz 2013
Majella vineyard, Coonawarra, South Australia
$30–$35
Majella shiraz caught our attention from the very first vintage, 1991 – the year the grape-growing Lynn family began its gradual, and now complete, transition to winemaker. Their shiraz, though elegant and fine boned in the Coonawarra style, nevertheless requires cellaring to bring out its best, perhaps even more so in the powerful 2013 vintage. Behind the light, vivid, limpid colour lie deep, sweet berry fruit flavours, tightly bound up in fine but assertive fruit and oak tannins. The wine has its charms now, but from past experience we can expect the delicate and lovely fruit to flourish with a decade or so of cellaring. First reviewed in July 2015, the 2013 vintage looks even better half a year later, especially given its outstanding cellaring record.

Van Volxem Saar Riesling 2013
Saar River, Mosel wine region, Germany
$35
Roman Niewodniczanski’s historic wine estate, at Wiltingen, Germany, makes a range of single-vineyard rieslings as well as this dazzling blend from steep sites on the Saar River. At Manta Restaurant, Woolloomooloo, bone-dry Van Volxem 2013 served both as an aperitif and company for a variety of juicy, NSW oysters. Delicate yet intensely flavoured, with a laser edge of acidity, the wine suited the food, the moment and the setting. The unique combination of power and delicacy of Saar and Mosel rieslings comes from the very cool growing conditions at around 49 degrees north. The Saar flows north into the Mosel near Trier. Wines from both rivers belong to the official Mosel wine region. Imported by Fox Beverages and available by order through fine wine retailers.

Top beer judge calls for balanced beers

30 March 2016Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Highly flavoured brews need balance

If you thought the hoppy IPA you downed last night finished all hops and bitterness, you’re in good company.

Little Creature brewer and head judge of the Australian International Beer Awards, Warren Pawsey, has called for balance in beers – especially highly flavoured brews laced with hops, spice or smoke.

He was speaking at The Institute of Brewing and Distilling 2016 Convention, held 14–18 March in Sydney.

In brewsnews.com.au, James Atkins writes, “Pawsey said hopped beers such as India Pale Ales often lack malt sweetness on the finish giving the beer a thin body, which means hop flavour and bitterness dominate”.

Pawsey believes the beers “aren’t train wrecks but many of them could be tuned up to be a bit more balanced”. Pawsey’s solution to the problem, reports Atkins, is in “improving raw materials selection and brewhouse processes”.

Beer reviews

Guinness 1798 Limited Edition Double Extra Stout 750ml $49.90
Perhaps “limited edition” refers to its availabiliy in Australia only through Dan Murphy outlets. It’s a beefed up Dublin-brewed Guinness, black as ebony, with a warming nine per-cent alcohol content. Bitter–sweet malt, roasted-grain and dark-chocolate flavours easily take on the alcohol and hops, leaving a bitter chocolate aftertaste.

Castlemaine XXXX Gold 375ml stubby 6-pack $15
Full-strength VB and mid-strength XXXX Gold arm-wrestle for top spot among Australian beer drinkers. XXXX Gold impresses as it retains good beer flavours, bitterness and balance despite its 3.5 per cent alcohol content. It’s the antithesis of modern uber-hoppy styles, but it refreshes while delivering just one standard drink per stubby.

Wine review – Bleasdale, Kirrihill, Howard Park

27 March 2016Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Bleasdale Langhorne Creek Second Innings Malbec 2014 $15.15–$22
Bleasdale, Langhorne Creek’s original winery, used malbec for table wines from 1961 (111 years after Frank Potts established the business). Although long a blending wine, malbec now stands on its own under a number of Bleasdale labels. Indeed, winemaker Paul Hotker writes, “We have recently planted three more malbec clones, bringing our total up to nine”. The company’s entry-level Second Innings provides a deliciously fragrant, mouth-filling, juicy, soft expression of the variety at a fair price. The flagship Generations Malbec 2014 ($33.25–$35) provides a more concentrated, tannic experience. It needs a good splash in the decanter or a few more years’ bottle age.

Kirrihill Vineyard Selection Series Watervale Riesling 2015 $18–$20
The 2014 vintage of Kirrihill Watervale riesling weighed in at 11 per cent alcohol, substantially lower than the 12.6 per cent of the 2015 vintage. As both were dry wines, with very low levels of residual grape sugar, we know the 2015 was harvested significantly riper, with a consequent increase in the alcohol content. The alcohol boosted the body of the wine compared to 2014’s, resulting in a less delicate palate. However, Watervale’s distinctive lime-like flavours remain in a rich but very fresh and appealing riesling.

Howard Park Miamup Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2015 $14–$28
A recent tasting of the 2013 Miamup against the current-release 2015 revealed how with bottle age the wine loses much of its more aggressive, herbaceous character. The older, mellower, rounder wine retains enough of the punchy varietal flavour of the two grapes. But it also shows more texture and flavour depth. The 2015, on the other hand, is all about fresh, grapey flavours and the pungent, herbaceous character the two varieties develop in Margaret River. Barrel fermentation of a portion of the blend gives that little extra depth that becomes amplified with bottle age.

Wine reviews – Teusner, Craggy Range, Jacob’s Cree

20 March 2016WineChris Shanahan

Teusner Empress Eden Valley Riesling 2015 $21.90–$23
Bateman Bay’s Starfish Deli very sensibly offers good riesling by the glass. The current tipple, Barossa-based Kym Teusner’s Empress riesling, comes from two Eden Valley vineyards, one of them 50 years old. Teusner takes riesling in a lean, taut direction, sometimes described as “minerally” – well away from traditional highly aromatic styles. The bone-dry wine appeals for its refreshing acidity and delicious, though muted, citrus-like riesling flavours. We enjoyed a glass with Clyde River oysters. But alas these had been washed free of vital brine flavours.

Craggy Range Te Muna Road Vineyard Martinborough Pinot Noir 2013 $45–$55
Craggy Range’s chewy, satisfying drinkability surprised one of our tasters. Coming after a dark, brooding McLaren Vale red, the comparatively pale pinot ambushed his unsuspecting palate. The wine comes from eight clones of pinot growing on the company’s Te Muna Road vineyard at Martinborough, near Wellington New Zealand. The climate suits pinot noir. But there’s more to it than fruit, which is just a starting point for a wine of this calibre. The makers built this wine layer by layer to give us a notable pinot of perfume, fruit, deep, chewy, savoury-earthy flavours, smooth texture and fine, grippy tannins. It’s a complete red with, I suspect, a long cellaring future.

Jacob’s Creek Classic Chardonnay 2015 $8.55–$12
The Jacob’s Creek winemakers, based in the Barossa Valley, draw grapes from across Australia. Each vintage they fill the mighty tanks at Rowland Flat with new wines destined for a worldwide market. Of a night, a halo of light illuminates the sky above the winery, giving the impression of a small city at the valley’s southern end. Despite the great volume produced in the winery, the wines retain excellent varietal fruit flavours and generally provide better drinking than we could hope for at the modest price. The current chardonnay provides vibrant, refined drinking with clear melon- and peach-like varietal flavour on a smooth, medium-bodied palate.