Smith and Hooper Wrattonbully Cabernet Merlot 2012 $16.15–$21 During the red wine boom of the mid nineties, Australia’s large winemakers began broad-acre vine plantings at Wrattonbully, adjoining Coonawarra’s north-eastern boundary. Ten years later, the area contributed large volumes of high quality fruit for many popular wine brands. But nobody new for sure how high fruit quality might go in future. And ten years on, we know quality can be about as good as it gets in Australia. The area now contributes to some of our greatest wines, but also produces lovely, elegant reds like this inexpensive Smith and Hooper blend.
Kangarilla Road McLaren Vale Terzetto 2013 $30 Terzetto, meaning threesome, combines three varieties – sangiovese, primitivo and nebbiolo – all vastly different beasts. Sangiovese and nebbiolo originate in Italy. But primitivo, originally from Croatia (its oldest name there is tribidrag), thrives in southern Italy and in California as zinfandel. Primitivo gives the wine its bold fruit flavour, augmented, says winemaker Kevin O’Brien, by sangiovese. Nebbiolo, the noble grape of Piedmont, gives the wine its firm backbone and savoury complexity. Exotic flavours, medium body and savoury, firm tannins set Terzetto apart. This is our second review of the wine, the first done on the tasting bench and this one over a meal.
Yering Station Little Yering Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2013 $17.10–$18 The Rathbone family’s Yering Station produces some of Australia’s finest chardonnays, including their estate chardonnay ($38) and reserve chardonnay ($90). Happily, the quality of their craft trickles down to the affordable Little Yering Chardonnay. This a really gorgeous white, built on mouth-watering, cool-climate varietal flavours, reminiscent of nectarine and citrus. But the fruit comes with extra layers of aroma, flavour and texture derived from oak barrels. You get a lot of wine for a modest price.
Simao and Co Vintage Fortified 2014 Alpine Valleys and Glenrowan, Victoria $48 This is the story of a seventh generation winemaker, six grape varieties, purple feet and a totally slurpy wine inspired by Portugal’s vintage ports. In 2013, winemaker Simon Killeen left the old family business, Stanton and Killeen, and shortly afterwards struck out on his own. Like his late father, Chris Killeen, Simon loved Portuguese port. Inspired by a vintage in the Douro Valley in 2012, he made Simao 2014 by applying traditional Portuguese techniques – including foot-stomping of crushed bunches, stalks and all, and hot fermentation – to shiraz, tinta roriz, alicante bouschet, tinta barroca, durif and touriga nacional. He fortified the wine with neutral brandy spirit. This brought the alcohol content to 20.5 per cent, arrested the fermentation and left around 60 grams per litre of sugar in the finished wine. The result is a ripe and vibrantly fruity wine, made even juicier by its slight sweetness and cut by the racy tang of brandy. It’s in the approachable, elegant style of Portuguese vintage port, but should age gracefully for some decades.
Vickery Riesling 2015 Zander family Quarry and Kosi blocks, Eden Valley, South Australia $23 Last year MD Wines launched Vickery Watervale Riesling 2014, made jointly by former Leo Buring riesling maker, John Vickery, and Phil Lehmann. In 2015 the pair produced two rieslings, one from Watervale (reviewed two weeks back), the other from the Eden Valley. The Eden Valley lies a little further south on the Mount Lofty Ranges than Clare and, being cooler, produces a different style of riesling. The 2015 shows a highly aromatic, floral side of the variety with a strong but delicate, dry palate combining apple- and –citrus-like varietal flavours and powerful acid backbone.
West Cape Howe Two Step Shiraz 2013 WCH Langton vineyard, Mount Barker, Great Southern, Western Australia $24–$28 For good reason shiraz remains Australia’s most widely planted grape variety. Our vignerons harvest around 400 thousand tonnes of it every year, putting it a nose in front of chardonnay’s 380 thousand tonnes, but streets ahead of nearest red rival, cabernet sauvignon’s 220 thousand tonnes. Almost every region has its shiraz, in styles driven largely by climatic differences. In Western Australia’s deep south, West Cape Howe 2013 combines bright, fresh red-berry flavours with the black pepper character seen in cooler climates. There’s a savoury element, too, so it all adds up to an appealing, distinctive expression of our national red specialty.
Toolangi Chardonnay 2014 Toolangi vineyard, Dixon’s Creek, Yarra Valley, Victoria $25.65–$28 Garry and Julie Hounsell planted Toolangi vineyard at Dixon’s Creek, Yarra Valley, in 1995. They hand the fruit over to various winemakers including, for chardonnay, David Bicknell of Oakridge and Willy Lunn of Yering Station. Bicknell makes the higher priced “Estate” chardonnay ($38), while Lunn makes this classy drop, which is also estate grown. It shows the juicy nectarine-like varietal flavour of Yarra chardonnay bubbling through the textures and flavours derived from fermentation and maturation in oak barrels. Taut acidity pulls all the flavours together into one totally enjoyable whole.
Schild Estate Grenache Mourvedre Shiraz 2013 Barossa Valley, South Australia $14.25–$18 Who can resist the sweet, ripe fruit flavours of the Barossa in a favourable vintage like 2013 – a year marked by warm, dry conditions “but without any significant periods of severe heat”, write the Schild family. Their 2014 blend leads with the appealing aromatics and ripe, red-currant-like flavours of grenache. The other varieties come into play on a solid, earthy palate, backed by mourvedre’s rustic tannins and spice and the generous flavour and softness of shiraz. This is an easy wine to love – and the price is right.
Willow Creek Vineyard Pinot Noir 2013 Willow Creek vineyard, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria $33.25–$40 Established in 1989, Willow Creek arrived in the comparatively early days of Mornington Peninsula pinot noir. At the time grape growers and winemaker were learning how to manage the variety in the vineyard and winery. The blossoming really began in the 1990s, followed by a great finessing this century, as ever-better fruit arrived in wineries. In Willow Creek 2013, winemaker Geraldine McFaul captured the fruit flavour of of a warm season in a cool climate. The seasonal heat shows in the great ripeness and richness of fruit flavour and firm, grippy tannin structure. This powerful combination should nourish the wine through a long cellaring life.
Tasting Grange 2011, Penfolds Magill Estate, 25 August 2015. Photo: Chris Shanahan
The release of Penfolds wines on 15 October will create a great wave of publicity, intense retail activity and widespread consumer interest, especially in the heady prices.
Are the wines worth their asking prices? Can buyers resell the wines profitably? Or, as has happened so frequently in the past, will auction prices fall below retail levels?
Many people hoard Penfolds wines, whether to drink, gift, resell or, unintentionally, bequeath (what a wake).
However, speculation in wine remains as fraught and risky as any investment; perhaps even more so as wine generates no income – just the hope, often illusory, of a capital gain. Meanwhile the wine risks spoilage, breakage and dinner party raids.
Best then to look at the one great certainty Penfolds provides: the distinctive style, exceptional quality and long-term cellaring potential of the top reds – an quality now shared by the whites, albeit with generally shorter cellaring windows.
Penfolds Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling 2015 $30 From a good Eden Valley vintage comes this floral and lemony riesling. A core of plump fruit gives it immediate appeal. But its intensity, delicacy and strong line of acid suggest long-term cellaring.
Penfolds Bin 311 Tumbarumba Chardonnay 2014 $40 Ultra-fresh Bin 311 2014 combines melon-rind and grapefruit-like varietal flavours with the texture and the slightly funky, biscuity influence of fermentation and maturation on yeast lees, without obvious oak flavours.
Penfolds Reserve Bin A Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2014 $100 Spontaneously fermented in mostly new (82 per cent) oak barrels, Reserve Bin A shows a powerful, if oaky, face of chardonnay. Despite the power, oak and yeast-lees character, the wine shows lemon-zest freshness in a bold style.
Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay 2015 Coal and Derwent Valleys, Tasmania; Adelaide Hills, South Australia $150 Like Hardys with its Eileen Hardy flagship, Penfolds quest for the finest cool-climate chardonnay led it steadily south to Tasmania, which now contributes the majority of fruit. This is profoundly good, oh-so-fine chardonnay. Another bottle please.
Penfolds Bin 23 Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir 2014 $40 Winemaker Peter Gago takes Bin 23 pinot in a unique direction. It’s gutsy, firm and clearly Penfolds in one respect. But the inclusion of whole bunches, a wild ferment and no filtration gives the wine a deep, earthy, savoury, tannic character well removed from fragrant, pretty-fruit styles. People will either love or hate its idiosyncrasy.
Penfolds Bin 150 Marananga Barossa Valley Shiraz 2013 $80 That Marananga, in the western Barossa, is home to some of Penfolds’ favourite shiraz, shows in Bin 150’s irresistible, ripe, juicy fruit flavours. And the fruit comes in layers with plump, ripe tannins, and the uplifting influence of first-class oak.
Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 McLaren Vale, Padthaway, Coonawarra, Wrattonbully, Barossa Valley, South Australia $80 From a diversity of regions, ranging from warm to cool, Bin 407 shows definitive, ripe varietal flavours of cassis and black olive, with an overlay of sweet oak and the variety’s authoritative, firm tannins.
Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2013 Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Padthaway, Wrattonbully, Coonawarra, South Australia $80 The ripe, alluring aroma that’s neither cabernet nor shiraz, leads to a tremendously vibrant, buoyant palate, seamlessly combining cabernet’s power with shiraz’s subtle, juicy, flesh. Oak lifts the whole wine and firm tannins wash through a great Bin 389, with long-term cellaring potential.
Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2012 Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills, Robe, Clare Valley, South Australia $100 (Wine of the release) An inviting, sweet, fruity-earthy shiraz aroma leads to a buoyant, lively palate with deep, sweet, red-berry shiraz flavours – caressed by the finest, softest tannins imaginable. This is one of the best ever – a truly great Australian shiraz, destined to evolve for decades.
Penfolds Magill Estate Shiraz 2013 $130 One of the best Magills yet, from a warm vintage, retains the distinctive, elegant and medium bodied style. Ripe, plummy, jube-like fruit aromas lead to a warm, lively, seductive palate, where the high-quality oak gives thrust and spice to the lovely fruit.
Penfolds RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz 2013 $175 RWT shows a fragrant, fruity, supple side of Barossa shiraz, supported by high-quality French oak; it contrasts strongly with the power, and American oak influence, of Grange. Luscious fruit flavours, reminiscent of ripe, black cherry, saturate the 2013’s palate, combining lusciously with ripe, soft tannins and an appealing cedar-like character, derived from maturation in French oak barrels.
Penfolds Bin 169 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 $350 Bin 169 cabernet provides an elegant contrast to the great power of Bin 707. In the warm 2013 season, Bin 169 leads with ripe, blackcurrant-like varietal flavour, with a touch of leafiness. Sweet oak and tannins come in waves, washing through the ripe fruit flavours and giving a uniquely “Penfolds” experience. I would expect Coonawarra’s elegance to emerge as the wine matures over the next few decades.
Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley, Wrattonbully and Coonawarra $500 Bin 707 resembles Grange in its dense, crimson-rimmed colour, distinct barrel-ferment character and unique elements of its aroma. However, these are mere seasonings to a potent cabernet, built on amazingly concentrated fruit, in a matrix with powerful, ripe tannins, partly oak derived. Like Grange, Bin 707 becomes increasingly finer and elegant with very long term cellaring. It’ll be a wonder and a joy to experience the journey of this great vintage.
Penfolds Grange 2011 Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Magill Estate, South Australia $785 From one of the coldest, wettest vintages on record, comes a successful Grange, whose sweet, ripe fruit belies the cold season. The fruit proved flavoursome enough to absorb 17 months’ maturation in new American oak hogsheads. The palate combines fruit, oak and winemaking inputs in typical Grange style. But the vintage character shows in the way the supple, ripe fruit bubbles up through the tannins on a softer, more approachable palate than usual. However, even soft, easy-drinking Grange (1982, for example) ages well, and I’d be surprised if the 2011 isn’t drinking well 30 years from now.
Penfolds supplied these recommended prices ahead of the 15 October release. Expect retailer discounts.
Canberra’s brewers generally greet spring with a slew of new brews.
BentSpoke, Braddon, offers Farrer’s Wheat, its first wheat beer, and Reflector, a malty, hoppy beer made by a bunch of dads on Father’s day.
The Wig and Pen, Llewellyn Hall, offers Aviator Bock, a strong beer for heroes, alongside mid-strength Aqua Amandi wheat ale for the lunch crowd; English Brown Ale and London Porter for cooler days; and Grassy Eider, a hand-pumped, high alcohol (6.6 per cent) variant of Irish red ale.
Pact Beer Co is launching 42.2 Summer Ale at the Old Canberra Inn on 5 November, as part of Canberra Beer Week. “It’s a refreshing lawn-mowing beer with enough hops to keep the beer nerds happy”, says brewer Kevin Hingston.
Christoph Zierholz offers Old Fashioned Bohemian Lager and a Burragorang Bock, both contract brewed for George IV Inn, Picton, but available also at Zierholz Fyshwick and Canberra University outlets.
Beer reviews
Green King Abbot Ale 500ml $7.99 Suffolk-based Greene King brews beer runs pubs, restaurants and hotels across the UK. Their mid-amber coloured Abbot Ale offers fruity and malty aromas and flavours on a generous, warm palate. After a few sips, a refreshing bitterness begins to build, offsetting the malt sweetness delciously.
Konig Ludwig Weissbier 330ml $4.90 Konig Ludwig, an outstanding example of the Bavarian, bottle-conditioned wheat style, comes from the Warsteiner brewery. Be seduced by its cloudy, pale golden colour; abundant white head; sweet, fruity aroma and rich, creamy palate with a zesty, ultra-fresh finish.
The Vintner’s Daughter Riesling 2015 Vintner’s Daughter vineyard, Murrumbateman, Canberra District, NSW $28 In September 2014, Ken Helm’s daughter Stephanie Helm and husband Ben Osborne bought Yass Valley winery and vineyards at Murrumbateman. The couple’s first riesling, from the excellent 2015 vintage, showed its class a few months later when it won the trophy as best riesling of the 2015 Winewise Small Vignerons Awards. It’s an auspicious start for the new Vintner’s Daughter brand. It’s an absolutely delicious riesling, delivering pure, varietal, floral and citrus flavours, cut through with shimmering, fresh acidity. A small amount of residual grape sugar rounds and softens the palate, but it remains fine, delicate, dry and suited to medium-term cellaring.
The Vintner’s Daughter Gewurztraminer 2015 Vintner’s Daughter vineyard, Murrumbateman, Canberra District, NSW $28 The pink-berried gewürztraminer grape is one of several clonal mutations of the very old savagnin vine. It produces distinctly different wine from the other variants, though they have the same genetic fingerprint. Savagnin blanc, for example, makes savoury, taut, dry whites. In contrast, gewürztraminer produces highly aromatic whites with distinctive musk- and lychee-like characters and, quite often, a viscous texture. Stephanie Helm and husband Ben Osborne’s version revels in gewürztraminer’s aromatic qualities, in a very clean and pure but not overwhelming style. The dry palate reflects the aroma and is supported by zippy, fresh acidity.
Logan Shiraz 2013 Orange, NSW $28 The altitude of Orange’s vineyards ranges from 600metres to around 1100 metres, meaning the region suits many grape varieties. Shiraz works well in the lower, warmer sites. But even so, these are cool conditions for the variety and the wines, as Peter Logan’s demonstrates, are spicy and medium bodied rather than burly and bold as they can be in warmer areas. The warm 2013 season gave Logan a particularly juicy, sweet mid palate which, combined with its soft tannins, means easy and delightful drinking now.
Tahbilk Roussanne Marsanne Viognier 2014 Tahbilk vineyard, Nagambie Lakes, Victoria $22–$24 Australia’s marsanne specialist still uses fruit from vines planted in 1927, though the variety was first planted on the property in the 1860s. Recent plantings of marsanne’s Rhone Valley companions, roussanne and viognier, now join it in a three-way blend, led by oak-aged roussanne, which makes up 46 per cent of the blend. The combination yields a full-bodied, richly textured, savoury dry white with an appealing bite to the finish – a characterful white, well removed from our usual fare. The three-way blend seems the way to go with these varieties: marsanne and, even more so, viognier, can be too much on their own; while fairly neutral roussanne has the ability to subdue its raucous Rhone Valley mates.
Bodegas Catena Zapata “Alamos” Malbec 2014 Mendoza, Argentina $18–$20 Watch out Aussie shiraz. Generous, fruity Argentinian malbec provides comparable drink-now appeal, on its own or with food. We discovered Alamos Malbec 2014 on a cool spring afternoon at Hopscotch Bar, Braddon. The wine’s deep colour, vibrant, fruity perfume and flavour, and soft tannins provided joyous drinking for a niece’s thirtieth birthday. The wine, made by the Catena family, comes from high-altitude vineyards in the Andes. Malbec comprises 85 per cent of the blend, with 10 per bonarda and five per cent shiraz. What Argentina calls ‘bonarda’ is, in fact, douce noire, a red variety of France’s Savoie region. It’s Argentina’s second most widely planted red variety after malbec.
Mauro Vannucci Pietranera Toscana 2011 Carmignano, Tuscany, Italy $45 Like cool water, lapping rough, rocky walls, this Tuscan sangiovese’s sweet fruit flavours slap against rustic, mouth-gripping tannins. Deep, savoury flavours and assertive tannins counter every appearance of the fruit, creating a nevertheless harmonious red wine of two distinct parts – fruity and savoury. The rustic, savoury characters set it apart from the fruit-sweet wines we generally make in Australia. And those savoury characters suited the food of Italian and Sons, where we encountered it. The wine comes from Carmignano, to the west of Florence. It’s available by the glass at Italian and Sons or through the Melbourne importer at rossiandriccardo.com.
Tickets are now available for Beer Day Out, Canberra’s annual celebration of beer and cider. The event runs from 4pm to 9pm on Friday 6 November and noon til 6pm, Saturday 7 November at the former transport depot, Wentworth Avenue, Kingston.
Organisers expect over 30 craft breweries to attend and sell their products, though beerdayout.com.au lists 22 brewers and one cider maker at present.
Three of Canberra’s four brewers – BentSpoke, Zierholz, and Pact Beer Co – will be there, but not our original brewpub, the Wig and Pen. A spokeswoman for the Wig and Pen said they’d be offering in-house events as part of Canberra Beer Week, the broader craft beer festival that includes Beer Day Out.
Beer Day Out will include food offerings from local restaurants and producers and live entertainment. For details and ticket purchases via Moshtix see beerdayout.com.au.
Beer reviews
4 Pines West Coast Red Rye IPA 500ml $9 4 Pines’ latest jaw-dropper combines turbo hopping (around three times the bitterness of VB) and high alcohol (7.3 per cent) in a distinctive brew made from equal portions of rye and barley malt. The brew starts with powerful, resiny, citrusy hops aroma. These flow through to the brisk, spicy-malty palate and give a lingering, bitter–sweet finish.
Bright Brewery Hellfire Amber Ale 330ml $4.30 Bright’s Hellfire emulates full-bodied English ale styles, using English crystal malt to deliver the caramel- and toffee-like characters displayed in the aroma and on the palate. After the initial hit of smooth, sweet, caramel flavours, hops kick in with a mild bitterness that offsets the malty sweetness.
Long Rail Gully Canberra District Pinot Noir 2014 $31.50–$35 Cool Canberra isn’t quite cool enough to make pinot noir to equal Australia’s best. I suspect in the long run the finest pinots in our broader region will come from higher, cooler Tumbarumba. Indeed, Canberra vignerons already source pinot and chardonnay from there. However, Canberra makes very good, if not cutting edge, pinot from several sites, including Long Rail Gully of Murrumbateman. A medium bodied style, it offers pinot’s vibrant red-fruits varietal aromas and flavours on a smooth-textured, dry palate. The finish is soft and dry, with just a hint of pinot’s more savoury flavour pushing through the primary fruit.
Villa Maria Hawkes Bay NZ Merlot 2013 $17–$20 In 1984, on my first retail buying trip to New Zealand, Marlborough’s vineyards were barely a decade old and the world new nothing of its irresistible sauvignon blanc. Auckland remained the headquarters for most wine companies. And the best reds I tasted were at Hawkes Bay, on the North Island. The most impressive of all came from John Buck’s Te Mata estate and Vidal, owned by Villa Maria proprietor George Fistonich. Fistonich, later knighted for services to the industry, still makes exciting reds from Hawkes Bay, including this keenly priced, fragrant, tasty merlot, with distinctive firm but gentle tannins.
Jim Barry Watervale Riesling 2015 $13.75–$18 As a late ripening variety, riesling generally hunkers down during Clare Valley’s summer heat before developing delicate varietal flavour in the cool autumn. In the rollercoaster 2015 vintage, Jim Barry’s wine from Watervale, southern Clare, shows full body and strong flavours, while retaining delicacy and distinctive lime-like character. The full body perhaps comes from a February heat wave that “resulted in a historical event that saw our riesling, shiraz and cabernet sauvignon all ripening at the same time”, writes Peter Barry. The February heat wave that brought on the ripening arrived after torrential rain and the coolest January in 23 years.
Vickery Watervale Riesling 2015 Brazel, Castine and Koerner vineyards, Watervale, Clare Valley, South Australia $19–$23 This beautiful riesling is a collaboration between riesling master John Vickery (first vintage 1951) and Barossa based Phil Lehmann, winemaker for the WD Wine group, owners of Hesketh Wines, St John’s Road and Parker Coonawarra Estate. Vickery’s involvement extended from fruit selection to “the final classification, where only the very best components were selected by Phil and John for the finalised wine”, writes their partner Jonathon Hesketh. Vickery 2015 is full-bodied style at 13 per cent alcohol. But at the same time it’s refined and delicate, with the juicy, irresistible, lime-like varietal flavours unique to this Clare Valley sub-region. What a great bargain it is.
Tar and Roses Sangiovese 2014 Heathcote, Victoria $20.89–$24 Italy’s sangiovese grape makes an enormously wide range of styles in Australia, depending on clone, growing climate and winemaking approach. Don Lewis and Narelle King source their sangiovese from Victoria’s warm Heathcote region. These grapes have, “consistently given us a rich, full style that we like, always highlighted by assertive tannins, true to the variety”, they write. The medium coloured 2014 starts with bright and vibrant, sour-cherry-like varietal flavour. However, very strong tannins wash in through the fruit, giving a grippy, savoury and very dry finish.
Balnaves “The Blend” 2013 Balnaves vineyards, Coonawarra, South Australia $19–$20 “The Blend” combines merlot (52 per cent), cabernet sauvignon (46 per cent), and a splash of petite verdot from several Balnaves family vineyards. The wine provides a contrast to the similarly priced, prettier, cabernet from Xanadu, also reviewed today. The chocolate-like, earthy richness of merlot leads the blend, which reveals both the ripe-berry character of Coonawarra and deeper, more savoury flavours, backed by quite firm, though gentle tannins.
Xanadu Next of Kin Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 Margaret River and Frankland River, Western Australia $15–$18 Xanadu’s early-drinking cabernet comes principally from the company’s vineyards at Walcliffe, Margaret River, “supplemented with a small portion (13%) of cabernet selected from a mature vineyard in the Frankland River region”, writes winemaker Glen Goodall. The medium-bodied red shows an aromatic, floral side of cabernet. The palate reflects the aroma, and throws in a mint-like seasoning with the fruit, some spice from oak maturation and the variety’s fairly astringent, drying tannins.
Bream Creek Pinot Noir 2011 Bream Creek Vineyard, Marion Bay, Tasmania $34 The beautifully sited Bream Creek vineyards rolls down a mild slope, giving visitors panoramic views east to Marion’s Bay and Maria Island. The cool site, on Tasmania’s lower east coast, was planted to vines in 1974 and purchased by one of the state’s best-known viticulturists, Fred Peacock, in 1990. Peacock’s 2011 pinot reveals the great purity and finesse of the variety grown at this latitude. Bright, cherry-like varietal aroma and flavour underpin a juicy, fine and elegant red, of silky texture and lingering, dry finish. The wine looks very young at four years, with barely a sign yet of the gamier pinot flavours likely to emerge in the years ahead.
Champagne Taittinger 2008 Champagne, France $110–$160 There’s sparkling wine and there’s Champagne – the real thing from France’s Champagne region. But the latter isn’t always better than the former. Indeed, too many undistinguished wines bear the prestigious Champagne label. However, really good Champagne, like Taittinger 2008, still sets the world standard. In this instance a 50:50 blend of chardonnay and pinot noir from top-ranking Champagne vineyards forms the base of a remarkably intense, fine, vigorous wine. Completing the picture is six years’ ageing on yeast lees in bottle – the magic bit that gives Champagne so much more flavour and structural dimension than the base wine alone could give.
Spurred by flat beer sales in major markets, the world’s biggest brewer, Belgium’s Anheuser-Busch InBev, confirmed in mid-September it would make a bid for the second biggest brewer (and owner of Foster’s since 2011), Britain’s SABMiller.
“The combined firm would earn roughly half the industry’s profits and sell one in every three pints of beer quaffed worldwide”, wrote The Economist on 19 September.
With a combined output in 2014 of around 600 million hectolitres, the new entity would produce roughly 12 times as much as Japan’s Kirin, owner of Australia’s market leader, Lion.
Lion holds about 48 per cent of the Australian beer market, followed by Foster’s at 42 per cent. Cooper’s, the largest Australian-owned brewer, claims five per cent, leaving the other five per cent to around 150 craft brewers.
Cooper’s boss, Dr Tim Cooper, says the merger would put pressure on industry suppliers and “result in a further loss of diversity”.
Beer reviews
4 Pines Oaked Baltic Porter 500ml $9 The high alcohol content (7.5 per cent) adds body and warmth to 4 Pines robust, oak-matured porter. The brewer’s description of “gooey chocolate syrup” colourfully reflects the slurpy appeal of its roasted- malt-derived flavours. A touch of vanillin from oak maturation completes a complex, very bitter dark ale.
Bright Brewery Staircase Porter 330ml $5.20 The first sniff of Bright Brewery’s strong, dark porter is reminiscent of espresso coffee. The coffee- and chocolate-like flavours, derived from roasted malt, persist on a generous, warming, bitter–sweet palate. The bitterness of roasted grain and hops ultimately triumphs over the sweet malty flavours, giving a dry, firm grip to the finish.
Bremerton Special Release Langhorne Creek Mourvedre 2013 $24 Sisters Rebecca and Lucy Willson make and market a range of mainstream wines as well as little gems like this mourvedre. The variety, originally from France’s Rhone Valley, generally appears as the minor partner in blends with shiraz and grenache. However, several producers, including the Willsons, make stand-alone versions, sometimes sold under the alternative name “mataro” or, in one instance, under its Spanish moniker “monastrell”. Bremerton’s wine shows a highly fragrant, medium-bodied side of mourvedre, featuring slurpy, red-currant-like fruit flavour and fine but assertive tannins.
Tar and Roses Victoria Pinot Grigio 2015 $16.20–$18 Winemakers Don Lewis and Narelle King give us a full-bore expression of this sometimes bland white variety. “Grigio” means grey, and indicates a grey-pink-bronze hue that sometimes finds its way (as it does in Tar and Roses) into the wine’s colour from the skins. The hint of pear in the aroma flows through to a richly textured palate in which the smooth, silky mouth-feel becomes the dominant feature. A hint of sweetness suits this textural style, but it’s offset by mildly grippy tannins and refreshing acidity.
West Cape Howe Perth Hills and Frankland Tempranillo 2013 $17–$20 West Cape Howe tempranillo combines fruit from the warmer Perth Hills and cooler Frankland region, located almost 400km south-east of Perth. Winemaker Gavin Berry says the Perth Hills component contributes earthy, savoury characters while the cool-grown Frankland component provides spicy and berry flavours. The combination gives a richly flavoured, medium-bodied red with deliciously vibrant red-berry-like flavours. Earthy, savoury flavours and assertive tannic finish, typical of the variety, complete a really attractive red wine. The 2013 vintage won gold medals in the Mount Barker and Royal Perth wine shows and a trophy in the latter.
