Houghton Crofters Margaret River Pemberton Chardonnay 2013 $15.70–$19
Western Australia’s Houghton brand was long ago absorbed into Hardys and is now part of the Accolade Wine Group. Under Hardys, Houghton expanded its WA offerings well beyond its Swan Valley base, along the way benefiting from Hardys Australia-wide focus on top-end chardonnay, which ultimately stretched through Tasmania, southern Victoria, high-country South Australia and NSW and the best sites across southern Western Australia. Under the Crofters label Houghton offers a delicious, fresh, modern chardonnay style, featuring generous, crystal clear melon- and stone-fruit-like varietal flavours, seasoned with subtle oak influences.

Houghton Crofters Frankland River Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 $15.70–$19
While Western Australia’s Margaret River region ranks among the world’s greatest cabernet sauvignon regions, the variety also performs well further east, and further inland, at Frankland River – an area generally more noted for shiraz. The deep, crimson-rimmed 2012 offers and alluring perfume of ripe berries combined subtly with the sweet spiciness of French oak. The sweet berry and oak characters flow through to the palate. But Frankland River’s characteristic deeper savoury notes and firm tannins push through, giving grip and character, if not finesse, to a most appealing red.

A by Arras Premium Cuvee Tasmania $19.90–$25
Hardys quest for top bubblies led to Tasmania and the creation of House of Arras. Under ownership of Accolade Wines, House of Arras continues to make sparklers of extraordinary quality under winemaker Ed Carr. The top wines sell for $50 to $150 a bottle. But this new release provides an affordable, drink-now introduction to Arras. It’s a blend of pinot noir (60 per cent), chardonnay (33 per cent) and pinot meunier, sourced from Pipers River and the Derwent and Tamar Valleys. The combination gives full flavour, creamy texture, great finesse and a unique acidity that accentuates fruit flavour.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published:

• 15 November 2014 in goodfood.com.au
• 16 November 2014 in the Canberra Times

Coldstream Hills Reserve Chardonnay 2013 $52.65–$60
Briarston, Coldstream G and House vineyards, Yarra Valley, Victoria
Following the sensational, taut, slow-evolving 2012 reserve bottling, the warmer 2013 vintage produced a plumper wine with its fruit on full display just a year and a half out from vintage. But that’s plumper in the cool-climate context as this remains an elegant, refined style of chardonnay. It offers mouth-watering fruit, backed with fresh, lively acidity and the rich texture derived from fermentation and maturation on spent yeast cells in oak barrels. Coldstream Hills Reserve sits consistently near the top of Australia’s chardonnay pile.

McGuigan Bin Series No. 7000 Chardonnay 2013 $11–$13
New South Wales
The confusing label detracts from this popular quaffer. The three gold medals refer to McGuigan’s overall performance at the International Wine and Spirit Competition, not to the wine in the bottle. And the back label refers to the Hunter Valley and its ability to produce “rich, full-flavoured wines such as the wonderful fruit and citrus flavours here”. The address on the label is also Hunter Valley. But “New South Wales” is given as the region of origin, making it anybody’s guess about where it comes from, perhaps even the Hunter. The wine itself is soft, vibrant and richly textured – big on oak-based texture, but more subtle on varietal fruit flavour.

Windowrie Family Reserve Shiraz 2012 $25
Windowrie vineyard, Cowra, NSW
An avenue of prunus trees provided dappled shade for this year’s late October Windowrie long lunch. In windless 36-degree heat, chef Anna Wong catered for about 100 guests, showing the same flair that made her now-closed Neila restaurant, Cowra, one of Australia’s great regional eating spots. Windowrie’s bright, medium-bodied wines (made on the property) sat well with the food. In particular, the Family Reserve Shiraz 2012, served lightly chilled, provided fresh, cherry- and spice –like varietal flavours on a soft and refreshing palate. Watch windowrie.com.au for details of next year’s lunch. It’s an outstanding day out. Price this year was $110, wine and beer included.

Oakridge Local Vineyard Series Guerin Vineyard Pinot Noir 2013 $36
Guerin vineyard, Gladysdale, Yarra Valley, Victoria
Oakridge’s David Bicknell makes a number of pinot noirs from various Yarra Valley vineyards and sub-plots. The wines show a family resemblance as well as flavour and structure differences, sometimes quite marked, other times very subtle. Wines from the Guerin vineyard consistently appeal to me. In this instance the wine’s a little darker and fuller than the 2012 reviewed last year. But it remains purely varietal in its vibrant fruit and underlying savouriness. Sumptuous texture and fine, firm tannins complete the pinot picture.

Manners Tempranillo 2013 $28
Mudgee, NSW
Well Mannered Wine Company – a collaboration between winemaker James Manners and wine distributor–wine bar owner, Nick Bacon – sources grapes from growers in the NSW high country. In this instance Spain’s tempranillo, grown in Mudgee’s warm, dry climate, produced a medium-bodied, intensely savoury dry red. Spicy, savoury oak plays an obvious role, enhancing the savouriness. The wine finishes with firm, grippy tannins typical of both the region and the variety.

Ad Hoc Straw Man Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2014 $18.05–$21
Margaret River, Western Australia
Larry Cherubino makes a diversity of high quality wines from across Western Australia’s cool south western corner, and under a number of labels. The drink-now Ad Hoc range includes this zesty blend of sauvignon blanc (75 per cent) and semillon. The grassy, herbaceous and tropical fruit characters of sauvignon blanc hits the nose and palate first. But semillon shows its presence in the fleshy, juicy mid palate. This distinctive Margaret River style provides a delicious alternative to straight sauvignon blanc, but with many similarities.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published:

• 11 November 2014 in goodfood.com.au
• 12 November 2014 in the Canberra Times

Bilgavia Estate Hunter Valley Shiraz 2013 $26
Leona and Phil Gunter’s shiraz comes from their vineyard in the Hunter’s Broke–Fordwich sub-region – a valley over from Pokolbin in the valley’s heartland. The Gunter’s bought the vineyard in 2011 and this is their first shiraz, made from just one tonne of grapes. Although the alcohol is a modest 12.5% per cent, this is a full-bodied style, featuring strong, earthy, spicy varietal flavours and pronounced charry and spicy flavours from maturation in oak barrels. Rustic tannins, combined with the earthy flavours, give this wine real appeal.

Shottesbrooke McLaren Vale Estate Series Shiraz 2012 $19–$20
Nick Holmes established Shottesbrooke in 1984 and today makes wine from estate-grown fruit. His 2012 delivers a lot of flavour at a realistic price. A bright and generous red reflecting the ripe, plummy, savouriness of McLaren Vale shiraz, it comes with a substantial load of tannins. These add to the savouriness of the wine and also give a firm, satisfying grip to the finish. The wine shows particular depth of fruit flavour and elegance of structure in this outstanding vintage.

Mr Riggs Watervale Riesling 2013 $20–$22
This gold-medal winning riesling is a collaboration between respected winemakers Ben Riggs and Kerri Thompson, using fruit from the Clare Valley’s Watervale sub-region. Riggs attributes the wine’s quality principally to the outstand grapes coming from the Watervale vineyard. He writes, “Hand pruning allows the best possible shaping and opening of the canopy, to maximise sunlight for growth and even ripening of the grapes”. Meticulous winemaking captured the delicacy and purity of those grapes in this exceptional rich, dry riesling.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 9 November 2014 in the Canberra Times

Tolpuddle Pinot Noir 2013 $75
Tolpuddle vineyard, Coal River Valley, Tasmania
In 2011 Adelaide-Hills-based Shaw and Smith bought the mature 20-hectare Tolpuddle vineyard, located in Tasmania’s Coal RiverValley. The new owners sell the majority of their fruit to other winemakers, but make small quantities of pinot noir and chardonnay for the new Tolpuddle label. In two recent tastings, the inaugural 2012 vintage appealed for its beautiful, juicy, pure varietal flavour and fine, velvety tannins. The just-released 2013 shows similar fruit flavours, albeit a little less fleshy at this stage. Pure, primary fruit flavours push through the fine, smooth tannins, but there’s savouriness and complexity here giving the wine the extra dimension of a first class pinot.

Langmeil Shiraz 2013$ 24.69–$29.50
Barossa Valley, South Australia
In 1996 Richard Lindner, Carl Lindner and Chris Bitter established Langmeil winery on the western edge of Tanunda, on the site of the former village of Langmeil. The boasts a small planting of venerable old vines, planted by Christian Auricht in the 1840s. The partners make a wine, The Freedom 1843 Shiraz, from these old vines. However, the main game is making rich, ripe reds from across the Barossa Valley floor. In the excellent 2012 vintage Valley Floor shiraz delivers particularly vibrant, intense, blackberry-like fruit flavours, held by typically soft and tender Barossa tannins.

Bourke Street Chardonnay 2011 $18.39–$22
Canberra District, NSW
Local winemakers Nick O’Leary (Nick O’Leary Wines) and Alex McKay (Collector Wines) jointly make the Bourke Street range, including this impressive chardonnay. Their website currently offers the fuller bodied 2010 vintage, but a friend brought the 2011 vintage along to a recent dinner in Moruya. The cold vintage shows in the wine’s comparatively low alcohol (12.5 per cent) and racy, grapefruit-like varietal flavour and acidity. Bottle age now adds body, and the usual barrel-related winemaking tricks season the wine with a touch of butterscotch and the struck-match character of sulphides at a very low but detectible level.

Pikes Eastside Shiraz 2012 $23.75–$25
Polish Hill River, Clare Valley, South Australia
Polish Hill River, a comparatively cool sub-region of South Australia’s Clare Valley, is perhaps best known for its intense, steely, long-lived rieslings. However, Pikes Eastside shiraz proves the region’s worth as a producer of full-bodied shiraz, too. The 2012 vintage appealed strongly in a recent tasting with its ripe fruit flavours and spicy, savoury character. Firm but rounded tannins give the wine the satisfying finish of a real red.

Four Winds Vineyard Riesling 2014 $22
Four Winds vineyard, Murrumbateman, Canberra District, NSW
Whether or not Canberra’s 2014 rieslings live up to the 2012s and 2013s remains to be seen. But they are very good indeed. Several, including Four Winds, would be extremely unlucky not to win gold medals at coming wine shows. The wine is impressively aromatic and purely varietal. The intensity of its flavour belies the mere 11.2 per cent alcohol. However, there’s a sting in the tail: while high acidity accentuates the flavour it also lends some austerity to the palate. This is quite in character for Canberra riesling and is easily resolved by giving the wine another 6–12 months in bottle. (Since writing this review, the wine has won a gold medal and ranked in the top three 2014 rieslings of the Melbourne show).

Hay Shed Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 $25.65–$28
Willyabrup, Margaret River, Western Australia
This week’s toss up for “wine of the week” favoured the new Tasmanian wine over the older, well-established Western Australian. Mike Kerrigan’s wine reveals the glory of cabernet sauvignon in an exceptional Margaret River vintage. As rain and fungal disease ravished eastern Australian vineyards, the west enjoyed a warm, dry season culminating in the beautifully ripe, varietal berry flavours displayed in Hayshed Hill. An elegant wine, it shows deep, sweet flavours, firmly but gently held by cabernet’s authoritative tannins.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published:

• 4 November 2014 in goodfood.com.au
• 5 November 2014 in the Canberra Times

Jacob’s Creek Reserve Barossa Shiraz 2013 $10–$17
The price of Jacob’s Creek Reserve Barossa Shiraz varies widely. But even at full price it delivers rich, ripe, satisfying Barossa flavours. On discount it’s a great bargain. A group of us tasted it recently alongside several more expensive Australian shirazes and the commentary leaned more towards differences in style than relative quality. The wine has a vibrant, youthful colour and the aroma delivers ripe, young, varietal fruit flavours to match. The ripe, plummy palate shows a little shiraz spiciness, with subtle oak helping to flesh out the generous palate. Typically soft Barossa tannins add to its drink-now appeal.

Tolpuddle Vineyard Coal River Valley Chardonnay 2013 $65
In 2011, highly regarded Adelaide Hills winemaker, Shaw and Smith, acquired the mature, 20-hectare Tolpuddle vineyard in Tasmania’s Coal River Valley (20 minutes drive north east of Hobart). They joined a significant push into Tasmania by mainland winemakers searching for the very best pinot noir and chardonnay grapes. Their first release chardonnay, from the 2012 vintage, showed a combination of restraint, elegance and power on its release last year. And now the just-released 2013 shows similar class, albeit in a slightly more rounded and generous styles. The wines share wonderful underlying fruit flavours, intensified on the palate by a thrilling acidity.

Mount Majura Canberra District Riesling 2014 $27
Canberra riesling earned several big gongs during October. Four Winds Vineyard, Murrumbateman, won a gold medal for its 2014 vintage at the Melbourne show, where it ranked in the top three wines of its class. And at Canberra’s International Riesling Challenge, Mount Majura 2014 riesling won trophies as best dry riesling of the show and best Canberra district riesling. It follows broadly in the style of other Canberra 2014s tasted to date. The first impression of aromatic and delicious, full-throttle varietal flavour changes a little as the wine’s high acidity becomes apparent. The acidity makes the palate refreshing and works very well with food.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published:

• 1 November 2014 in goodfood.com.au
• 2 November 2014 in the Canberra Times

Vickery Riesling 2014 $24
Castine and Brazel vineyards, Watervale, Clare Valley, South Australia
A year after the death of Leo Buring in 1961, Lindemans bought his business and retained his winemaker, John Vickery. Lindemans promptly planted riesling in place of sherry varieties on Buring’s Florita Vineyard at Watervale, southern Clare Valley. And, in time for the 1963 vintage, they installed protective winemaking equipment in the winery. This set the stage for Vickery to emerge over the coming decades as Australia’s master riesling maker. Vickery retired some years ago. But in 2014 he collaborated with winemaker Phil Lehmann on this lovely Watervale riesling. It’s made in the flavoursome but delicate Vickery style – intense lime-like varietal aromas and flavours of great purity, with a clean, dazzling acid backbone and a bit of bite in the dry finish. “Vickery” is part of WD Wines, owners also of Hesketh Wines, St John’s Road and Parker Coonawarra Estate.

Jeir Creek Riesling 2014 $25
Jeir Creek vineyard, Murrumbateman, Canberra District, NSW
Rob and Kay Howell’s Jeir Creek Riesling 2014 won a gold medal at this year’s Canberra Regional Wine Show. Their success adds to the glamour of Canberra riesling, which is now firmly established as the local white specialty. Theirs is an attractive style. The aroma combines lemony and floral varietal characters that come through, too, on a generous, fruity palate. Typical Canberra acidity cuts through the fruit, giving great freshness in a pleasantly tart lemony way. The combination of rich fruit and high acidity promises a pleasant flavour evolution for some years on a good cellar.

Geoff Merrill Jacko’s Shiraz 2010 $23.75–$27.50
McLaren Vale, South Australia
McLaren Vale veteran Geoff Merrill not only makes good shiraz but releases it with a few years’ bottle age. The bottle age adds to the wine’s savouriness and overall “red wine” character. It rated highly in a recent multi-region shiraz tasting, which included wines with far higher price tags. Merrill wine shows bright fruit flavours with regional and bottle-aged savouriness and quite a firm tannin backbone, characteristic of the vintage.

Maipenrai Pinot Noir 2012 $180 for 6 bottles, $100 for 3 bottles
Maipenrai vineyard, Yass River Valley, Canberra District, NSW
Maipenrai’s Brian Schmidt swims against the tide, making pinot in a district renowned for shiraz. But he’s on a high (760 metre), comparatively cool site, and in the cool 2012 season made an impressive, distinctive wine. The colour’s quite pale, which is acceptable for pinot, though I’d like to see more red than garnet hues. The pleasantly stemmy-fruity-savoury aroma is all pinot – a character that flows through to a surprisingly intense, firmly structured palate, with attractive, bright fruit pulsing away under the tannins and low-level oak flavours. The firm, taut style is far removed from the raspberry-strawberry fruitiness of many Australian pinots. I suspect we’ll taste even better things after a few years in the cellar. (Available at maipenrai.com.au).

Rosemount Estate Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre 2013 $25
McLaren Vale, South Australia
You may have lost track of Rosemount’s many labels, but this one with the gold “MV” in a black diamond, offers rich, supple current drinking. Grenache gives the wine its appealing fruity fragrance and round, soft palate, while shiraz adds body and mourvedre chips in with firmer tannins. Overall, though, this wine is all about fruit, soft tannins and easy drinking right now. Rosemount Estate is a brand of Treasury Wine Estates.

Logan Cabernet Merlot 2012 $28
Orange, NSW
Eating raspberries off the vine in a cold climate will give a glimpse of the bright and well defined fruit flavours in Peter Logan’s cabernet merlot blend. That’s the first impression at least. But this is wine and of course much more goes on when fruit’s fermented. Dazzling berry fruit flavours remain at the core. But there’s the leafy note of cool-grown cabernet, the earthiness of merlot and elegant structure and gentle grip of fine tannins. The berry fruit flavours and medium body make this an excellent luncheon red.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published:

• 28 October 2014 in goodfood.com.au
• 29 October 2014 in the Canberra Times

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