Brand’s Laira One Seven One Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $65
No. 1 block, Brand’s Laira vineyard, Coonawarra, South Australia
Reminiscent of a digger on Anzac Day, the bottle bristles with hard-won gongs; 19 golden stickers, representing 12 gold medals and seven trophies. The wine, previously released as The Patron, comes from a block of vines planted by Eric Brand in 1971. McWilliams owns Brands now and clearly provide all the resources Peter Weinberg requires to coax the best from the vineyard and capture fruit quality in the wine. This is intense, elegant cabernet of a very high order. High alcohol makes the finish a little hot – one tiny blemish in a near perfect wine. The 2010 vintage won the cabernet section of the recent Winewise Championships.

Tar and Roses Sangiovese 2012 $21–24
Heathcote, Victoria
Don Lewis and Narelle King make wine in Spain as well as in Victoria, offering Miro, a multi-varietal Spanish blend and, from Australia, nebbiolo, sangiovese, shiraz, tempranillo and pinot grigio. Lewis and King note the balance between tannin and acidity in Italy’s thin-skinned sangiovese and write, “It is known for its earthy more than fruity notes”. Their comments sum up this delicious red. It’s medium bodied with ripe, cherry-like fruit flavours tightly bound by the assertive, fine tannins and brisk acidity. The earthy, savouriness and persistence of the tannins sets it apart from Australia’s generally more fruity red wine styles.

Juniper Crossing Chardonnay 2011 $20
Juniper Estate vineyards, Margaret River, Western Australia
Juniper Estate’s entry-level chardonnay is fermented and matured in oak barrels, 15 per cent of them new. But the lively freshness of the wine and juicy fruit flavour demonstrate the easy drinking beauty of modern Australian chardonnay – where oak barrels build texture and add only subtly to wine flavours, enhancing, not belting the fruit. For $20, perhaps less if the retailers give it a run, you get absolutely delicious, satisfying drinking.

Holm Oak Wild Fermented Riesling TGR 2012 $22
Holm Oak Vineyard, Tamar Valley, Tasmania
Forget everything you know about Australian rieslings before trying Rebecca Duffy’s version. She picks the grapes early, with high acidity and low sugar, then allows the unclarified juice to undergo a spontaneous fermentation in oak barrels. This is in contrast to the conventional method: fermenting at least partially clarified juice in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks with a selected yeast strain. The result is a sweet (30 grams per litre of sugar), low alcohol (eight per cent) riesling of intense, apple-like varietal flavour with dazzling acidity offsetting the sweetness. A low-level but persistent earthiness reminds us of the wild ferment, though this becomes just part of a unique and appealing sweetie.

Katnook Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 $34–$40
Coonawarra, South Australia
Katnook Estate, Coonawarra’s second largest vineyard owner after Treasury Wine Estates, is part of Wingara Wine Group, owned by Spain’s Freixinet. Despite changes of ownership, however, Wayne Stehbens remains winemaker after thirty-odd years. In 2010 he made the best cabernet I’ve seen from the estate in several years. It’s Coonawarra cabernet as it should be – fully ripe, with precise, black-olive varietal aromas and flavours and sufficient flesh on the mid palate to carry the firm but fine tannins inherent to the variety. It should drink well over the next ten years.

Marchand and Burch Chardonnay 2011 $73
Porongurup, Great Southern, Western Australia
Marchand and Burch is a collaboration of Burgundy’s Pascal Marchand and Western Australia’s Jeff Burch, owner of Howard Park Wine. For this wine, the pair sourced fruit from Porongurup, a small, elevated region about 50 kilometres north of Albany. The comparatively cool site produces intensely flavoured chardonnay capable of responding well to wild-yeast fermentation in oak barrels – a more thought-provoking wine, for example, than the easy-drinking Juniper Crossing chardonnay reviewed today. The power of the fruit, in conjunction with the barrel work, produced a multi-layered wine to linger over and marvel at.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 13 March 2013 in The Canberra Times and goodfood.com.au

Wicks Estate Adelaide Hills Shiraz 2010 $16.15–$20
Wicks Estate’s gold-medal winning shiraz appealed strongly to me while judging the recent Winewise Championship in Canberra. Against powerful competition, it failed to make the finals. But it offers absolutely delicious drinking right now. Estate-grown and made, it shows the ripe-berry, spice and medium body of cool-grown shiraz – the fresh, juicy, berry flavours, in particular, light up a gentle, completely seductive palate. The winemaker says, “the elegant fruit and tannin structure will reward careful cellaring”. This may be true. But it’s hard to imaging the wine every being more charming than it is now, just bristling with fruit.

Pindarie Barossa Valley La Femme Savagnin 2011 $16
A friend brought this to a tasting where it provided attractive, light, refreshing distraction from a run of solid reds. The wine comes from Pindarie vineyard, on the Barossa Valley’s western ridge. Most likely the owners thought they were planting the Spanish variety albarino. But Australia’s “albarino” stocks turned out to be savagnin blanc and wines made from the variety are now generally marketed simply as “savagnin”. The light-bodied, vibrant wine leans more to savouriness than fruitiness – making it good company for the black olives sitting near it at the tasting. The website (pindarie.com.au) now offers the 2012 vintage.

Tar and Roses Central Victoria Pinot Grigio 2012 $18
The light bronze tint of Tar and Roses points to the origin of pinot grigio (or pinot gris, literally “grey pinot”) – a mutant of Burgundy’s noble red variety, pinot noir. Like the red version, the white mutant grows best in cool climates. But the range of flavours (or lack of it) and styles varies so widely in Australia, it’s sometimes hard to believe they’re all made from the same variety. This one, however, captures much of the elusive pinot character, in this instance a full-bodied, crisp, richly textured, bone-dry white with a notably savoury, tannic bite.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 10 January in The Canberra Times

Jacob’s Creek Reserve Chardonnay 2012 $10.70–$18
Adelaide Hills, South Australia
The high quality of South Australia’s 2012 whites shines through again in Jacob’s Creek Reserve Chardonnay. We quaffed a couple of bottles with Thai food in Terrigal a few weeks back, alongside the Pewsey Vale Riesling 2012, also reviewed today. I rated Pewsey Vale a better match with the spicy food. But an after-dinner glass of the bone-dry, more savoury chardonnay couldn’t have been nicer. It delivered the full, but refined, deep, nectarine-like flavour of cool-grown chardonnay – the flavour completely integrated with minerally, fresh acidity. We bought two bottles for $24 at Vintage Cellars, but Dan Murphy offers it as I write at $10.70 each in six-bottle lots. A few days after our Terrigal dinner, it won a trophy at the Royal Sydney Wine Show.

Bay of Fires Pinot Noir 2011 $32.30–$37
Tasmania
In November, Bay of Fires 2011 won the National Wine Show pinot noir trophy, repeating the success of the 2009 vintage at the 2010 show. And last month it hauled in the trophies again at the Royal Sydney Wine Show. We tried it over dinner recently alongside Giaconda Yarra Valley Beechworth 2008 ($85.49) and Eileen Hardy Tasmania Yarra Valley 2008 ($61.75). Eileen Hardy, Bay of Fires cellar mate, won the day. But runner up, Bay of Fires, ticked all the pinot boxes, except that of maturity. It’s a baby now, but a beautiful one, and only needs time for the intense, fine, fruit to take on secondary savoury, earthy notes. This is a beautiful pinot, largely undiscovered.

Pewsey Vale Riesling 2012 $14.95–$18
Pewsey Vale Vineyard, Eden Valley, South Australia
Pewsey Vale riesling comes from the Hill-Smith family’s 50-hectare Pewsey Vale vineyard, located on the edge of the Eden Valley. Louisa Rose makes the wine just a few kilometres down the hill at the Yalumba Winery, Angaston, centre of the Hill-Smith wine operations. We bought our bottles ($16.66 each) at Vintage Cellars, Terrigal, as company – perfect, as it turned out – for Thai food. The full, fruity, limey richness of an outstanding vintage and ultra-fresh acidity meshed well with the fresh ingredients and sweet, tangy, spiciness of the food. A couple of the diners preferred Jacob’s Creek Reserve Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2012 (wine of the week). But the majority voted with their tongues, draining the riesling bottles first.

Dandelion Vineyards Legacy of the Barossa
30-year-old Pedro Ximenez $27.50 375ml
Lindner vineyard, Barossa Valley, South Australia
Fortunately for drinkers Australia’s treasure trove of wonderful old fortified wines seldom reflect the true price of production. Dandelion’s wonderful pedro ximenez, for examples, averages 30 years in oak barrel from a hoard established by the Lindner family in 1944. In the old days, before Europe reclaimed its wine names, we might have called this “oloroso sherry”. But the maker now uses the varietal name for a magnificent, luscious, yellow-rimmed, amber-orange fortified. It delivers the concentrated autumn-leaf flavours and tangy, fiery edge unique to ancient, oak-aged fortified wines.

Half Moon Moonlight Shiraz 2011 $21
Half Moon Vineyard, Braidwood, NSW
At a stretch of the imagination, such a fine-boned shiraz may well have been ripened under moonlight. More likely though it’s light-to-medium body and peppery, spicy varietal flavour reflect a cold vintage in a cold location. Despite adverse vintage conditions, though, the grower clearly harvested sufficient healthy fruit for Alex McKay to make a really attractive, early-drinking style. It’s lighter bodied, but rich on varietal flavour, with a taut, elegant structure and savoury tannins creating a food-friendly finish.

Peter Lehmann Stonewell Shiraz 2008 $90–100
Stonewell, Barossa Valley, South Australia
Peter Lehmann’s flagship shiraz gets its name from Stonewell, a favoured shiraz growing sub-region in the western Barossa Valley. The wine, capable of ageing for many years, evolved in style over time from a fairly burly, oaky style to the finer product we enjoy today. Winemaker Andrew Wigan’s gradual refinements allowed full, ripe, shiraz to shine through in its unique Barossa way. This is a densely coloured, crimson-rimmed red with deep, sweet fruit cut through with chewy, tender Barossa tannins – a bold, time-proven Barossa statement.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 6 March 2013 in The Canberra Times and goodfood.com.au

Devil’s Corner Pinot Noir 2011 $14.95–$21.90
East Coast and Tamar Valley, Tasmania
It takes grapes grown in suitably cool climates to make ripe and tasty but elegant wines. This rationale, applied particularly to pinot noir and chardonnay, led Brown Brothers of Milawa, Victoria, to buy Tamar Ridge, Tasmania, from Gunns in 2010. The purchase gave Browns a winery, vineyards in the Tamar Valley and on the East Coast, and the Tamar Ridge and Devil’s Corner brands. These were good wines already. But Brown Brothers’ winemaking and marketing skills broadens their distribution and tweaks the quality. The beautifully re-packaged Devil’s Corner range includes this convincing, lighter bodied pinot noir. Spicy, savoury and peppery notes season the vibrant varietal fruit flavour. And fine tannins add their grip to the silky, easy palate. The recommended price is $21.90, but it’s available for as little as $14.95. These are keen prices for cool-grown, high quality, drink-now pinot.

Devil’s Corner Pinot Grigio 2012 $15–19.90
Tasmania
Pinot noir’s white-grey mutant, pinot grigio (or gris) delivers its best flavour when it’s grown in a cool climate like Tasmania’s. Devil’s Corner’s version captures the variety’s elusive pear-like flavour on a richly textured palate, cut with pleasantly tart tannins and acids – the latter at a higher level than we generally see in the variety. This is a positive feature as means greater freshness and suitability with food.

Holm Oak Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 2012 $20–$25
Tamar Valley, Tasmania
Winemaker Rebecca Duffy and husband Tim lease the 12-hectare Holm Oak vineyard from Rebecca’s parents, Ian and Robyn Wilson. The Duffys grow, make and bottle all of their wine on site. The excellent 2012 vintage produced a highly aromatic sauvignon blanc, tempered by barrel fermentation of about one fifth of the blend. The barrel component also added texture to an otherwise exuberant, fruity, dry sauvignon, leaning towards the passionfruit end of the variety’s flavour spectrum.

McWilliams 1877 Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 $65
McLaren Vale and Coonawarra, South Australia and Hilltops, NSW
McWilliams’ flagship red follows an old Australian tradition of blending components from several different regions. In the age of terroir, where wines are expected to exude a sense of place, some might question this approach. But ideology aside, it’s a brilliant, seductive and sumptuous wine built to last. The vinyl-lounge packaging belies the quality within – a ripe, fragrant, elegantly structured, slurpily delicious red, still in the full flush of youth at five years.

Mr Riggs Piebald Syrah 2010 $27
Adelaide, South Australia
The official Adelaide “Super zone” embraces a diversity of South Australian winemaking zones, including the Mount Lofty Ranges, Fleurie and Barossa. Drill down through the zones and the super zone contains every region north of Kangaroo Island and Victor Harbour in the south to the Clare Valley in the north. Winemaker Ben Riggs draws shiraz (syrah) from cooler sites across this diverse landscape to make Piebald – a fine-boned, spicy style of shiraz. In the excellent 2010 vintage this delivers luscious, sweet fruit, layered with fine, tender tannins – a wonderful, drink-now combination.

Port Phillip Estate Chardonnay 2011 $35
Port Phillip Estate, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
Winemaker Sandro Mosele’s vintage report recounts the story of a cold, wet growing season, with summer rainfall the highest since 2003 and, ironically, the highest minimum summer temperatures in a decade fanning mildew and botrytis. Ultimately, writes Mosele, by “dropping any fruit that started to show signs of botrytis, we obtained a clean harvest”. The barrel-fermented wine combines grapefruit-like varietal flavour (and accompanying high acidity) with richer underlying white peach flavour, cut through with funky notes derived from barrel fermentation. The wine’s high acid, silky, fine texture and intense flavour suggest some benefits from short-term cellaring.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 27 February 2013 in The Canberra Times and goodfood.com.au

Devil’s Corner Tasmania Chardonnay 2012 $14.25-$17
Few new releases offer as compelling a reason to buy as Devil’s Corner. It delivers high quality at the right price. And it all gets back to growing grapes where they perform best. In this instance Tasmanian chardonnay – grown in the Tamar Valley and the East Coast, near Freycinet– delivers intense white peach and citrus varietal flavours on a dazzling fresh palate of great purity. There’s no oak; and the amazing thing is that the fruit stands on its own. Brown Brothers’ expertise completes the story. They acquired Tamar Ridge, its vineyards and the Devil’s corner brand from Gunns in 2010.

Tahbilk Nagambie Lakes Shiraz 2009 $16.15–$23.30
The wide gap between the recommended and on-special price indicates the strong appeal of this old and solid wine from the Purbrick family. The historic property lies at a similar latitude to Coonawarra. But the continental climate (versus Coonawarra’s maritime one) means a significantly different wine style. Both are medium bodied. But Tahbilk’s are more spicy and savoury with quite strong, sometimes tough tannins giving a firm grip to the wines. At four years’ the shiraz offers satisfying drinking – its savoury flavours and assertive tannins well matched to high-tannin food, especially red meats, and also to more savoury, spicy food, like pepperoni pizza.

Tahbilk Nagambie Lakes Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $14.90–$23.30
If you’re driving to Melbourne it’s worth the detour off the Hume Highway, via Violet Town and Nagambie, to Tahbilk. The cellar door and café sit on a beautiful anabranch of the Goulburn River, a short walk from the historic nineteenth century underground cellars. Vines, too, date from1860, though most were planted after the Purbrick family purchased the property in the 1920s. Winemaking passed direct from Eric Purbrick (first vintage 1931) to his grandson, Alister Purbrick, the current winemaker. Tahbilk’s medium bodied cabernet delivers rich, ripe varietal flavour, the underlying fresh fruit cut through with assertive, satisfying tannins.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 24 February 2013 in The Canberra Times

Chandon Vintage Brut Rose 2008 $27.85–$35
Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania
Chandon’s bubbly rosé combines material from the Yarra Valley, King Valley, Goulburn Valley, Strathbogie and Macedon, Victoria; the Adelaide Hills, South Australia; Great Southern, Western Australia; and the Coal River Valley, Tasmania. Winemaker Dan Buckle says it comprises 30 individual cuvees, including a pinot noir component fermented on skins – source of the lovely salmon-pink colour. The quality of the fruit, prolonged ageing on yeast lees and the red-wine component all contribute to a round, soft, creamy-textured scrumptiously fruit bubbly. We served it with baked whole salmon from FishCo, Fyshwick. The fruitiness matched with sweet flesh, while the fresh acidity cut through the fat. Buckle emailed, “this is my go-to wine for yum cha at the moment”.

Mt Monster Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 $15
Padthaway, South Australia
The Bryson family owns two vineyards, totalling 170 hectares, at Padthaway on South Australia’s Limestone Coast, about an hour’s drive north of Coonawarra. The family manages the vineyards and marketing of its Moorambro Creek, Jip Jip Rocks and Mt Monster brands but they hire Ben Riggs to make the wines. Cabernet performs well in the mild maritime climate, producing this bright, clearly varietal, medium bodied version for current drinking.

Sassy Pinot Noir 2010 $30
Sassy vineyard, Orange, NSW
In 2005 Fliss and Rob Coles moved uphill from Cowra to Orange’s brisker climate – establishing a vineyard, including three clones of pinot noir, at an elevation of 900 metres. Their first pinot, a light to medium bodied style made by neighbour Peter Logan, delivers vibrant, delicate pinot aromas and flavours. Fine tannins give it a gently, dry, savoury finish. It’s a well-made wine with lovely fruit – one to watch in future as the vines age, delivering deeper, more complex flavours.

Tahbilk Eric Stevens Purbrick Shiraz 2007 $69.95
Tahbilk vineyard, Nagambie Lakes, Victoria
Alister Purbrick, makes this wine from older shiraz vines (average age 35 years) on Tahbilk’s extensive vineyards, located on a beautiful anabranch of the Goulburn River. It’s a medium bodied red, with intense, verging on syrup-rich, plummy, spicy fruit, cut by assertive but soft tannins – far from the more aggressive styles we once say from Tahbilk. The wine drank beautifully over several days – a satisfying memento to Purbrick’s grandfather and mentor, the late Eric Stevens Purbrick.

Jacob’s Creek Reserve Riesling 2012 $10.70–$18
Barossa, South Australia
The on-special price of Jacob’s Creek Reserve often drops close to the standard price of the cheaper Classic Riesling. In 2012 they’re both outstanding dry rieslings – the slightly fuller-bodied reserve version offering greater floral character on the nose and brisk, lime-like varietal intensity on the palate. Even at full price it offers good value but becomes a bargain on special. Should provide outstanding drinking over the next five or six years.

Picante Espana Grande Meseta Tempranillo Shiraz 2010 $13.99
Meseta, Spain
Picante Espana gives us a clean, fresh modern, screw-cap sealed take on Spain’s great red specialty, tempranillo, tempered by shiraz. The bright, spicy and fruity aroma (like a compote of fresh summer berries) appeals greatly. After an initial hit of vibrant fruit on the palate, tempranillo’s firm tannins close in, adding a mouth-watering savoury element to the otherwise fruity and delicious wine.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 20 February 2013 in The Canberra Times and goodfood.com.au

Angoves Vineyard Select Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 $18
South Australia’s 2010 vintage produced excellent red wines, with vibrant fruit flavours and smooth, round tannins. We see this from the Barossa in the north to Coonawarra in the south. In this instance Angove’s Vineyard Select gives us the true Coonawarra cabernet sauvignon experience at a comparatively low price. The elegant wine delivers vibrant, ripe, red-berry varietal character, subtly seasoned with sweet oak. Grippy but fine, smooth tannins complete the cabernet picture and there’s just a hint of varietal leafiness in the aftertaste. The back label suggests cellaring, but I see it as a medium-bodied, drink-now wine.

Lindemans Bin Series whites 2012 $5.45–$10
Cheap wines can be a good litmus of vintage quality. The recently reviewed Jacobs Creek Riesling 2012, for example, being one of the best under-$10 whites you’re ever likely to buy. The perennial unpopularity of riesling allowed its makers to source fruit from the best riesling-growing regions, despite the low price. Lindemans Bin 65 Chardonnay 2012 and Bin 95 Sauvignon Blanc 2012, on the other hand, come from warm inland regions rather than the best areas for those varieties. In the mild 2012 season this translated to vibrant varietal flavours and great freshness – meaning good drinking at a low price.

Cherubino Permberton Sauvignon Blanc 2012 $35
As Hardy’s winemaker in Western Australia, Larry Cherubino enjoyed access to a thousand hectares or more of plum vineyards across the state’s south, including Margaret River, Pemberton and the various sub-regions of Great Southern. Since going solo in 2005, Cherubino and wife Edwina source fruit from their own Frankland River vineyard and growers in Margaret River, Pemberton and the Porongurups. Cherubino’s sauvignon blanc offers a subtle and lovely alternative to the Marlborough style. It leans to the passionfruit-like riper end of the varietal spectrum, in a charming way, with fresh, soft acidity and fine, smooth texture.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 17 February in The Canberra Times

Tahbilk 1927 Vines Marsanne 2003$45
Tahbilk vineyard, Nagambie, Victoria
Winemaker Alister Purbrick’s late grandfather, Eric, built Tahbilk’s reputation for marsanne, a Rhone Valley white variety. Alister worked alongside his grandfather after graduating as a winemaker, eventually taking the reins. Over time, he finessed the potentially long-lived style, brightening and freshening the fruit in the basic marsanne and absolutely mastering it in this special bottling from the estate’s oldest marsanne vines. At ten years it remains absolutely fresh and vibrant – the mouth-watering, citrusy flavours showing barely a hint of honeyed aged character. At 11 per cent alcohol, it sits lightly on the palate and invites another mouthful.

Frankland Estate Poison Hill Vineyard Riesling 2012$27
Poison Hill Vineyard, Frankland River, Western Australia
Frankland Estate makes three rieslings from individual vineyards within the Frankland River region. Last time we drove through the area, in late 2010, it was baking hot and the countryside look dry as a plank. It didn’t feel like riesling country. But the saviour is a cool ocean breeze, pushing in from the south, ameliorating the hot breath of the continent, and making delicate riesling like this possible. It’s full flavoured for riesling, but the low alcohol (10.5 per cent), bright, fresh citrusy varietal character and dusty, dry finish give it a delicious, appealing lightness and pleasant tartness on the palate.

Frankland Estate Isolation Ridge Shiraz 2010 $32
Isolation Ridge vineyard, Frankland River, Western Australia
Frankland River gives yet another Australian interpretation of medium-bodied shiraz – different again from, say, Canberra, Hunter and the Pyrenees. The palate’s strikingly pure with spicy, ripe-berry varietal flavours. But there’s a savoury undertone and a supple, silky texture contributed by the fine-boned tannins. The tannins also dry out the finish with a savoury bite that seasons the lingering berry fruit flavours.

Xanadu Shiraz 2010 $29
Xanadu Stevens Road vineyard, Margaret River, Western Australia
Like Coonawarra, Australia’s other great maritime cabernet specialist, Margaret River makes decent shiraz, too – albeit not as consistently well as it does cabernet. This version comes from a single vineyard and included whole berries in the ferment, partial barrel fermentation and a touch of the white variety, viognier. It’s a solid shiraz that remained intact for days after opening – a slightly chewier, chunkier wine than its WA mate, Frankland Estate, reviewed today, and with some alcoholic heat in the finish.

Quilty Black Thimble Shiraz 2011 $28
Burundulla, Mudgee Region, NSW
Des and Emma Quilty make just 450 cases of wine a year, says their website, “hand plucking the best possible grapes from the most interesting parcels of land. In this instance Des Quilty made just 175 dozen bottles from “low-yield vines in the hills just south of Mudgee. Now Mudgee’s a generally warm area, but this wine shows a pepperiness normal associated with much cooler places – suggesting the influence of the unusually cold season. There’s a bit of magic to this medium-bodied, idiosyncratic wine.

d’Arenberg Vintage Fortified Shiraz 2006 $40
McLaren Vale, South Australia
In the old days we would’ve called this vintage port. But the name now belongs exclusively to Portuguese winemakers, while our fortified makers revert to regional and varietal naming. This is a traditional Australian style, made from very ripe shiraz, sourced from old, low-yielding vines. It was partially fermented before the addition of fortifying brandy arrested the fermentation. This created a big, sweet wine, combining intense, juicy, ripe shiraz flavours, integrated with clean, heady brandy character. At seven years, it’s soft, approachable and still very fruity – and set for a long, long flavour evolution in the bottle. It should drink well for decades.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 13 February 2013 in The Canberra Times and goodfood.com.au

Mt Monster Limestone Coast Chardonnay 2012 $15.95
The Bryson family owns two vineyards, totalling 170 hectares, at Padthaway on South Australia’s Limestone Coast – about an hour’s drive north of Coonawarra. The family manages the vineyards and marketing of its Moorambro Creek, Jip Jip Rocks and Mt Monster brands but they hire Ben Riggs to make the wines. For a time Padthaway produced some of Australia’s leading chardonnays, until the focus moved to cooler sites further south. However, the area continues to make tasty chardonnays with a distinctive melon-like varietal flavour – in this instance without the influence of oak.

Mt Monster Limestone Coast Shiraz 2011 $15.95
In the cold, wet 2011 vintage, the Bryson family harvested a much-reduced shiraz crop three weeks later than usual. The winemaking technique – static fermenters and controlled temperatures – is aimed at preserving bright, ripe berry flavours, then building in soft tannins by leaving the wine on skins for a week or so after completion of the fermentation. It’s a successful approach as it captures the region’s lovely berry flavours and elegant structure in a soft, drink-now style with chewy, soft tannins on the mid palate.

Capital Wines The Treasury Late Picked Riesling 2011 375ml $25
Capital’s Jennie Mooney says fruit for this wine came from four Canberra District vineyards – Lambert’s Tallagandra, Four Winds and Long Rail Gully. The cold wet season resulted in large crop losses, largely because of fungal disease. However, we’ve seen many very good, albeit lighter style reds from the vintage and some intensely flavoured high acid whites, like this one. That’s a good combination in a sticky as the acid provides a delicate balance to the sweetness – in this case tinged with the attractive orange-marmalade-like flavour of botrytis (although Mooney says the majority of the fruit as clean at harvest).

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 10 February 2013 in The Canberra Times

Windy Peak Shiraz 2012 – $11.40–$14
Heathcote, Victoria
Sometimes less is more. And that’s what makes modestly priced Windy Peak wine of the week. It isn’t over-oaked. It isn’t over extracted. It isn’t tricked up in any way as some cheaper wines can be. It simply delivers what it says on the label – shiraz from Heathcote, Victoria. We expect and get something from that regional-varietal combination: a riche but medium-bodied dry red with bright, spicy, shiraz flavour and a soft but savoury bite of tannin – a satisfying wine to enjoy now. Clever winemaking gives it an appealing combination of bright fruitiness and mellow red wineyness: the winemakers mature part of the blend in older oak casks (giving mellow, red wine character) and the balance in tank to retain fruitiness.

Capital Wines Ministry Series The Whip Riesling 2012 $19
Murrumbateman, Canberra District, NSW
The attractive Whip riesling comes from four different Murrumbateman vineyards, writes Capital’s Jennie Mooney. Approaching its first birthday, the wine’s delicate lime-like flavours are beginning to rise above the racy acidity – suggesting even better drinking ahead as it evolves over the next two or three years.

Capital Wines Ministry Series The Ambassador Tempranillo 2011 $27
Kyeema Vineyard, Murrumbateman, Canberra District, NSW
The Ambassador won gold at last year’s regional wine show, demonstrating how even the rottenest vintages, like 2011, can produce decent wines – largely through amazing amounts of work in the vineyard. It’s a medium bodied red, far removed in style from Spanish tempranillo. The sweet core of ripe berry flavours comes with a dash of spice and the savoury bite of the variety’s distinctive tannins. This vintage will probable be at its best over the next two or three years.

Tower Estate Pinot Noir 2011 $30
Cradoc and Coal River Valley, Tasmania
In Not my memoirs (Union Publishing, Sydney, 2012) the late Len Evans recounts the story of the Hunter Valley’s Tower Estate, his final creation and scene of one of the greatest wakes in history. Evans mentions the quest for Tasmanian pinot noir, and here we see a blend from the Panorama vineyard, near Cradoc, and the Meadowbank vineyard in the Coal River valley. It’s a pleasing, moreish wine, ticking most of the pinot boxes. I think Len would’ve seen it as a promising start.

Robert Stein Riesling 2012 $40
Stein Vineyard, Mudgee, NSW
What does Mudgee stand for as a winemaking region? I’ve visited there, judged there, and tasted wines from there since the late seventies, all without spotting a regional hero. Chardonnay stood out more than any other. Riesling, however, didn’t register until Robert Stein’s caught our attention a few years back. Winemaker Jacob Stein, sources riesling from the family’s mature vines, at an altitude of 600 metres – considerably higher up than most Mudgee vineyards. Almost certainly the cooler site gives Stein riesling its racy edge and intense, fine, lime-like varietal flavour. It’s beautifully made and a pleasure to drink, from first drop to last. Should age well for many years.

Clover Hill Brut Rose Cuvee Exceptionnnelle 2008 $55
Pipers River, Tasmania
Over Christmas we drank quite of lot of French non-vintage Champagne in this price range and generally rated them well below comparably priced Tasmanian bubblies from the House of Arras, Pirie and Clover Hill. The French, however, pulled away once we move into the more expensive vintage Champagnes. Clover Hill Rose, a blend of pinot noir and pinot meunier, appealed for its delicate, supple fruitiness and gentle texture, derived from prolonged ageing on yeast lees.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2013
First published 6 February 2013 in The Canberra Times