Wynns Coonawarra Estate
Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $19.80–$35
Wynns’ dark, crimson-rimmed favourite presents a distinctly Coonawarra side of cabernet, including black-olive and cassis-like flavours, bound up in sweet, spicy oak. It’s a buoyant, balanced cabernet – generous but elegant, with fine, firm tannins. It remains one of Australia’s best value, long-term cellaring wines. It’s probably better now than it’s ever been. As I write, Woolworths-owned Dan Murphy is offering it at $19.80 as part of six-bottle buy. At this price, it’s probably one of the best value cabernets in the world. While it drinks well now with high-protein food (this softens the tannins), it can cellar for decades under the right storage conditions.

Cumulus Wines Orange Chardonnay 2009 $30
Winemaker Debbie Lauritz used all the best chardonnay making techniques on this pleasing wine – only free-run juice, fermentation with both wild and cultured yeasts in new French oak barriques, lees stirring and partial malolactic fermentation. Free-run juice means a fine texture and intense fruit flavour. All the other bits mesh aroma, texture and flavour with that fruit. Add a couple of years’ age and we get a full-flavoured chardonnay (grapefruit and white peach varietal character), a honeyed, mature note and a vibrantly fresh, richly textured palate. It’s ready to drink now and would make good company for Christmas lobster and prawns.

Seppelt Chalambar Grampians Bendigo Shiraz 2009 $18.95–$26
Across years of corporate ownership changes, Seppelt’s Victorian reds retained their identity and quality under the long reign of winemaker Ian McKenzie then, in recent years, Emma Wood. Today’s highly polished wines contain fruit from both long-established vineyards and others planted on plum Victorian sites during the 1990s. The often-discounted Chalambar, a blend from the Grampians and Bendigo, offers vibrant, sweet, red-berry flavours with delicious, cool-climate spices and a touch of cedar-like character from maturation in French oak. The wine delivers layers of satisfying flavours and a deep, rich, smooth texture. Brilliant wine at the price.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011
First published 18 December 2011 in The Canberra Times

Brown Brothers Pinot Noir Chardonnay Pinot Meunier NV $18.95–$22
King Valley, Victoria
At the top end, Australia’s cutting edge bubblies, like Arras, come up against the French originals in both price and quality. At the bottom, any number of clean, fresh, but fairly bland bubblies do the trick. In the middle ground, Brown Brothers impresses because skilled winemaking adds a patina of complex flavours and textures around exactly the right type of fruit flavours. This comes from the classic Champagne varieties grown in cooler parts of Victoria’s King Valley and Whitlands Plateau.

Terra Felix E’Vette’s Block Mourvedre 2009 $17.50–$25
Lake Marmal (near Bendigo), Central Victoria
We associate the late-ripening mourvedre with much warmer regions than Bendigo. But, though not as inky black as a Barossa version, the wine delivered full, ripe flavours, with mourvedre’s undercurrent of spice, earth and quite firm, savoury tannins. The combination of bright fruit and savoury, fine tannins worked particularly well with the mildly spice food served at Ethiopia Down Under, Pearce shops.

Golden Ball Shiraz 2008 $50
Golden Ball Vineyard, Beechworth, Victoria
We tend not to go all the way on a first date. But James and Janine McLaurin’s wines push straight to the top shelf. Their 2005 and 2008 Gallice (cabernet-merlot-malbec) impressed for intense flavour, smooth tannins and elegant structure. But good as they were, the shiraz kept drawing us back – a ripe, full flavoured wine (14.4 per cent alcohol) but with delicious, spicy, savoury cool-climate flavours and fine-boned, silky tannins. It’s available at www.goldenball.com.au

Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese 2010
(Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben) $15.79
Urziger Wurzgarten vineyard, Mosel River, Germany
Thank you Costco for importing this pristine, screwcap-sealed Mosel. We visited the Mosel in September, renewing our love for the region’s unique, delicate rieslings. But this is by far the cheapest, high-quality version we’ve found in Australia. From the Wurzgarten vineyard, near the central Mosel village of Urzig, it captures the region’s unique, exquisite, delicate balance of acidity, sweetness and intense varietal flavour. Food match: none. Chill and enjoy on its own (alcohol just eight per cent).

Barolo (Araldica Flori) 2006 $17.49
Barolo, Piemonte, Italy
Like the Mosel reviewed above, the price of Costco’s Barolo seems delightfully at odds with prevailing market expectations. Perhaps it reflects Costco’s great buying power. Certainly it demonstrates smart buying, for these are good, if not cutting edge, examples of their styles. If you’re into gamey meats, this light-coloured, austere, tight and tannic red could be just what you’re after. It may not appeal to lovers of big, round, juicy wines (like Barossa shiraz). But if you love ‘em with a bit of thrust and bite, this could be it.

Dominique Portet Fontaine Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 $20
Yarra Valley and Heathcote, Victoria
Some time back veteran winemaker Dominique Portet handed over to his son, Ben, maker of this beguiling blend. It’s one of those “don’t mind if I do” wines, where the first glass, hardly noticed, becomes two – or three. Suddenly the bottle’s gone, and you want more. A bright and aromatic wine, Fontaine combines the elegance and backbone of Yarra Valley cabernet with the power and savouriness of Heathcote shiraz.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011
First published 14 December 2011 in The Canberra Times

Cherubino Great Southern Riesling 2011 $35
Cherubino Pemberton Sauvignon Blanc 2011 $35
As a winemaker for BRL Hardy (at the time the biggest vineyard owner in Western Australia) Larry Cherubino developed an intimate knowledge of the state’s vineyards – a knowledge he now exploits with great aplomb in producing his own wines. His Great Southern Riesling 2011 combines intensity of flavour and textural richness with a unique delicacy – an exciting, racy riesling to enjoy with salads and cold cuts. Cherubino makes several sauvignons, including this full-flavoured, soft version from Pemberton. It combines sauvignons distinctive herbaceous with a subtle touch of oak-derived spice and savouriness.

Eden Road Canberra District Riesling 2011 $21
Shortly after vintage this year, Eden Road wines purchased Doonkuna Estate, Murrumbateman, then relocated from Kamberra Winery, Watson, to the heart of Canberra’s shiraz and riesling country. By then, winemaker Nick Spencer had already made this distinctive Murrumbateman riesling – fermented in 2,500-litre old oak vats. This is an unusual technique in Australia (stainless steel is the norm), but commonplace in Alsace and Germany. This micro-oxidative technique generally mutes primary fruit flavour and adds texture. In Spencer’s wine, the pleasantly tart, lemony character of the cool 2011 vintage cuts through the rich, fine texture, leaving a lingering, clean, fresh aftertaste.

Zonte’s Footstep Canto di Lago
Langhorne Creek Sangiovese Barbera 2010 $17.49–$20
Like the name, the wine combines bits of Italy and Australia.  A 50:50 blend of the Italian varieties sangiovese and barbera, Canto di Lago (song of the lake), brings together the sweet, brisk, piquant, summer-berry flavours of barbera and the firm, fine savoury tannins of sangiovese. The same blend made in Italy probably wouldn’t much resemble this all-Australian effort. It reflects the unique growing conditions of Langhorne Creek, cooled by breezes from nearby Lake Alexandrina, and a modern Australian approach to winemaking – capturing the pure, clean flavours of the grapes and sealing them in a bottle with an hygienic screw cap.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011
First published 11 December 2011 in The Canberra Times

Cherubino Sauvignon Blanc 2011 $35
Porongurup, Great Southern, Western Australia
So many mediocre sauvignon blancs around. But occasionally a wine, usually from France’s Loire Valley, challenges that prejudice. The latest challenge comes from Larry Cherubino’s beautiful 2011 from Porongurup, a rocky knob, just north of Albany, Western Australia. This is a delicate, gentle, soft, subtle expression of the variety. It’s delicious from beginning to end, starting with a delicate herbal and citrus aroma and flavour, then expanding to include the sympathetic, spicy, savoury thrust of French oak. This is a thrilling white from a master winemaker. See www.larrycherubino.com

Hewitson Miss Harry 2010 $21.85–$24
Barossa Valley, South Australia
The 11^th vintage of Miss Harry combines five red varieties from 25 sites across the Barossa. “Five of these were over 100-year-old vineyards and half of the remaining were well over 50 years”, writes winemaker Dean Hewitson. Grenache (44 per cent of the blend) lends the wine its ripe, floral and spice aroma; and shiraz (39 per cent) adds body and savoury, spicy flavour. The other varieties (mourvedre, carignan and cinsault) play their role, too, in this vibrant, spicy, soft and richly textured, medium-bodied dry red – a charming red, well suited to Christmas cold cuts, especially ham.

Champagne Bollinger Special Cuvee $55.90–$110
Champagne region, France
Tumbling Champagne in Australia, began with parallel importing by the big retailers, but now seems driven more by the strong dollar, intense competition and reportedly declining sales in big export markets. You can still pay over $100 for good old Bolly, but as I write, Dan Murphy offers it at $55.90 as part of a six-bottle buy. Bollinger remains one of the most delightful non-vintage Champagnes, in its own distinctive style – full-bodied, but amazingly delicate and lively. The flavour and structure reveal a high pinot component (pinot noir 60 per cent, pinot meunier 15 per cent) ­– but chardonnay provides the liveliness and adds to its elegance.

Dal Zotto Pucino Prosecco $19.95–$22
King Valley, Victoria
Prosecco’s Italian home is the Valdobbiadene district, near Conegliano in the Veneto region. The variety makes light, delicate aperitif-style sparkling wines, usually tank fermented (Charmat method) and served as young and fresh as possible. Otto Dal Zotto, born in Valdobbiadene, released his first Australian prosecco in 2004, claiming it be the first Australian-made version on the market. It’s a terrific alternative to the other bubbly styles, with its light body, low alcohol (11.5 per cent) and zesty, lemony but soft palate. The King Valley, with its strong Italian heritage, is now Australia’s heartland for this style.

Eden Road Wines The Long Road Shiraz 2010 $22
Gundagai, New South Wales
In the 2011 Canberra Regional Wine Show, three 2010 shirazes won gold medals – Clonakilla Hilltops ($25), Eden Road Gundagai ($45) and Eden Road The Long Road ($22). Judges ranked Long Road, the cheapest, as the best of three, albeit by a small margin. If the judges found little quality difference between the $22 and $45 Eden Road wines, they surely noted the marked style differences between the siblings (both from Gundagai). The Long Road portrays the bright aromatics of shiraz. This character comes through, too, on the medium bodied palate, that includes a spicy, savoury seam.

Eden Road Wines Gundagai Shiraz 2010 $45
Gundagai, New South Wales
Fractionally lower in alcohol (13.1 per cent versus 13.4 per cent) than its sibling, reviewed above, this single-vineyard wine expresses more of the peppery, spicy, savoury side of shiraz – with an overall tighter, firmer more assertive palate. There’s bright, aromatic fruit, too. But the savouriness, persistent, firm but fine tannins and buoyant, juicy fruit flavours pushing through, make this a particularly satisfying red. See www.edenroadwines.com.au

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011
First published 7 December 2011 in The Canberra Times

Lindemans bin range whites $6.65–$10

• 85 Pinot Grigio 2011
• Bin 65 Chardonnay 2011
• Bin 90 Moscato 2011
  

Lindemans popular bin range began as an export brand in the 1980s, then expanded into the domestic market, only to recede ignominiously following Rosemount’s reverse takeover of Southcorp Wines and Foster’s subsequent swallowing of Southcorp. It’s rebuilding now under Treasury Wine Estates (spun-off from Foster’s). The pinot grigio owes as much to bright acidity as it does to varietal flavour; the chardonnay is excellent at the price with its fresh, crisp, peachy varietal flavour and smooth texture; and the new moscato pleases with its in-your-face but sweet grapey flavours.

Lindemans bin range reds $6.65–$10

• Bin 50 Shiraz 2010
• Bin 45 Cabernet Sauvignon 2010
  

You can expect the whole bin range to be discounted periodically, bringing the price down substantially from the recommended $10. The $6.65 price tag is Dan Murphy’s advertised price, in six-bottle lots, at the time of writing. The reds are both really good wines. Both are built to drink now and focus on pure, vibrant varietal flavours without the deeper, more savoury and tannic notes you’d expect to find in more expensive wines. The shiraz is round and juicy with soft, easy tannins. The cabernet has the variety’s leafy edge and lightly astringent bite.

Peter Lehmann Barossa $12.70–$18

• Portrait Shiraz 2009
• Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
  

Peter Lehmann Wines, saved some years back from corporate raiders by Switzerland’s Hess Family, now simply gets on with the job of making good Barossa wines. For about double the price of the Bin 50 and Bin 45 reviewed above, you get wines of notably greater dimension. The shiraz is still plummy, vibrantly fruity and varietal, but the fruit’s denser and more deeply layered with tannins, in the soft Barossa style. The cabernet is strong and assertively varietal, both in flavour and its muscular, firm tannin structure. The wines are often discounted, hence the wide price range.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011
First published 4 December 2011 in The Canberra Times

Arete The Chatterbox Shiraz 2010 $18–$20
Andy Kalleske Cemetery Block, Koonunga, Barossa Valley, South Australia
Winemaker Peter Bate’s amazingly delicious, drink-now shiraz comes from a single vineyard in the Barossa’s Koonunga sub-region. It features highly aromatic fruit (floral and musk like) with similar richness, vibrance and freshness on the palate. The juicy, ripe fruit literally ripples across the palate, the essence of the Barossa style ¬– including the soft, almost tender tannins. In short, it captures Barossa generosity and softness while avoiding over-the-top alcohol, tannin and oak. It’s exciting to find such a pure regional style at such a modest price. See www.aretewines.com.au

Pike’s Merle Riesling 2011 $38
Clare Valley, South Australia
Pikes produces two Clare Valley rieslings – a $23 blend from the family estate and contract vineyards and this flagship from the family’s “Gill’s Farm” and “Hill” blocks at Polish Hill River, a Clare sub-region. In the cool 2011 vintage Merle seems even more austere and minerally than normal. But under the austerity lies a seam of intense, lime-like varietal flavour on an oh-so-delicate, dry palate. It’s delicious now but destined to evolve for many years as that brisk, steely acidity protects the evolving fruit flavour.

Yering Station Little Yering Pinot Noir $17
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Wines of this calibre, at the price, surely play a role in making pinot noir Australia’s fasting growing major red wine variety (retail volume up 21 per cent in the year to September), albeit off a small base. In the past, cheaper pinots tended to present bright fruit flavours without underlying savouriness or structure. Yering Station, one of our best pinot makers, captures all of these elements in this drink-now version sourced from its own vineyards and selected contract growers.

Port Phillip Estate Salasso Rose 2011 $18.90–$22
Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
We’re not great fans of vegemite or rose, though we taste both periodically just to make sure. Vegemite remains in our yuk bin. But this year we’ve enjoyed at tastings (not yet at the dinner table) several flavoursome, soft, dry roses, including Port Phillip Estate’s Salasso. It’s made from shiraz kept on skins just long enough to pick up a rinse of attractive pink-to-onion-skin colour. The fruit flavour’s strawberry like, but checked by a pleasant savouriness on a palate’s that’s soft, fresh and dry but richly textured.

d’Arenberg The Beautiful View Grenache 2009 $99
The Beautiful View sub-region, McLaren Vale, South Australia
At a recent tasting we compared five McLaren Vale grenaches – d’Arenberg’s The Beautiful View 2009, Derelict Vineyard Grenache 2009 ($30) and Blewitt Springs 2009 ($99) plus Noon Eclipse 2007 (no longer available) and Wirra Wirra The Absconder 2010 ($65). The flavours ranged from primary fruit (waiting to become wine) to the more earthy, savoury, winey and mature. d’Arenberg’s The Beautiful View (a McLaren Vale sub-region) appealed as the most complete and subtle – an exciting, if fully priced wine, with probably long-term cellaring potential.

Maipenrai Pinot Noir 2009 $30–$32
Maipenrai Vineyard, Sutton, Canberra District, New South Wales
Canberra’s Nobel laureate, Brian Schmidt, made just 10 barrels of 2009 pinot with just four elevated to the flagship Maipenrai label. Maipenrai opens a little coy and guarded. But with aeration, its full-blown, savoury pinot noir aroma blossoms, evoking dark fruits, beetroot and earth. On the palate, the savoury, earthy flavours are supported by a brisk acidity – which gives life and vibrancy to the fruit – and assertive, fine-boned tannins – which add to the wine’s silky texture. The savouriness and strong tannin backbone set Maipenrai apart from many of its Australian peers and suggest excellent medium to long-term cellaring prospects. See www.maipenrai.com.au

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011
First published 30 November 2011 in The Canberra Times

Henschke Julius Eden Valley Riesling 2011 $26.90–$34.80
The technical specs read more like something from the cool slopes of Germany’s Mosel than from Australia’s Eden Valley – pH2.88 and acidity of 9.4 grams per litre. A result of the cool 2011 vintage, the unusually high acidity in Julius provides a lean, taut backbone that accentuates the wine’s intense, delicate lime-like flavour. The bone-dry finish and delicious, lingering lime flavours make it a great stand-along pre-dinner drink or good company for delicate seafood. The combination of intense flavour, high acidity and delicacy means potentially long cellaring ability. It’s packaged in the Eden Valley’s new regional bottle.

Gipsie Jack Langhorne Creek “The Terrier” Shiraz Cabernet 2007 $15–$17
Winemaker John Glaetzer’s ties with Langhorne Creek (near Lake Alexandrina) stretch back to the 1960s and his days with Wolf Blass and the creation of the famous grey and black label reds. The area has been called “Australia’s middle palate” – a salute to the generous, rounded flavours of its reds wine so loved by big-company blenders. But in this collaboration between Glaetzer and Ben Potts, Langhorne’s unblended richness stands on its own – a big, warm, friendly wine with a couple of years’ bottle age. Ripe, earthy shiraz leads the flavour, but cabernet’s backbone and distinctive eucalypt notes make an appearance, too.

Barolo (Pio Cesare) 2006 $95–$100
Piedmont’s great red comes from nebbiolo vineyards in the vicinity of Barolo. Typically, it’s deceptively pale in colour and takes on an orange hue around the rim with a little bottle age. The aroma is often floral (rose-like) and voluminous. But the palate, after a cursory sweet kiss, usually attacks with firm tannins that seem completely at odds with the colour and aroma. Pio Cesare’s version ticks all the Barolo boxes (indeed, one of our masked tasters identified it instantly). There’s an elegance to it, and the strong, savoury tannins never quite overwhelm its sweet core of fruit.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011
First published 27 November 2011 in The Canberra Times

Paxton Quandong Farm Shiraz 2010 $21–$30
Quandong Farm, McLaren Vale, South Australia
David Paxton’s biodynamic management of Quandong Farm, located in McLaren Vale’s Seaview Road, focuses on “soil health, bio-diversity and non-chemical weed control”, he writes. All of which he directs at producing excellent grapes – with the flavours displayed in this beautiful shiraz. It has pure, vibrant fruit, great depth, distinctive McLaren Vale savouriness and plush ripe, soft tannins that complete the red wine picture. This is a wonderful, generous warm climate shiraz that seduces rather than overwhelms.

Toolangi Chardonnay 2009 $25
Dixon’s Creek and Yarra Glen, Yarra Valley, Victoria
Garry and Julie Hounsell own the Toolangi vineyard but also source grapes from other Yarra sites controlled by their own viticulturist. They outsource the winemaking, in this instance to Willy Lunn at nearby Yering Station. It’s a fine, restrained, delicious example of modern cool-climate chardonnay – with the focus on white-peach-like varietal flavour subtly adorned with the structural and flavour inputs of barrel fermentation and maturation.

Pikes Traditionale Riesling 2011 $20–$23
Polish Hill River, Watervale and Sevenhill, Clare Valley
Pikes is another outstanding 2011 riesling, characterised, writes winemaker Neil Pike, by “amazing natural acidity and excellent varietal definition of the fruit. The only time in my 30 or so vintages in Clare that we did not have to acid adjust the musts”. The natural high acidity accentuates the intense mineral and lime-like varietal flavour and adds delicacy and length to the clean, dry finish.

Yealands Way Premium Selection Pinot Noir 2010 $19–$21
Marlborough and Central Otago, New Zealand
Last week’s feature story mentioned the growing availability of good, modestly-priced pinot noirs rolling in from New Zealand – wines like Yealands Way. The 2010 vintage, combining material from Marlborough and Central Otago, provides pleasant, medium-bodied drinking, with plummy varietal flavours and a tight backbone of fine, savoury tannins. It’s available at Jim Murphy’s, Candamber, Canberra Cellars and Local Liquor, Hughes and Kingston. Yealands belongs to Peter Yealands a pioneer of mussel farming and a successful large-scale deer farmer before venturing into wine production.

Port Phillip Estate Pinot Noir 2010 $38
Red Hill, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
Winemaker Sandro Mosele sources this from a single estate vineyard planted in 1988. He de-stems the fruit (many pinot makers include stems) and allows the wine to ferment spontaneously before moving it to French oak for 16 months. The resulting wine displays vibrant red-berry varietal flavour with a unique, earthy, pinot undertone. These flavours come through on the palate and, with aeration, the flavours and texture expand under the tight framework of fine pinot tannins.

Yalumba The Strapper Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2010 $18–$22
Barossa, South Australia
Yalumba really nails Barossa wine styles now – capturing the distinctive, generous, ripe fruit flavours, while avoiding over-ripe porty character or the over-extracted, over-oaked styles that predominated for a while. In this classic blend, made by Kevin Glastonbury, we’re seduced by fragrant, floral grenache high notes, then satisfied by the full, juicy, slurpy palate and dry but soft, earthy finish. Shiraz fills out the palate; mataro (aka mourvedre) delivers the earthy tannins.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011
First published 23 November 2011 in The Canberra Times

Evans and Tate Classic Margaret River Shiraz Cabernet 2010 $13–$15
Now part of McWilliams Wines, Evans and Tate Classic offers big-company reliability, correctness and value – if not excitement. The wine’s aroma reveals a floral, sweet-fruited side of shiraz. This bright fruitiness comes through, too, on the palate. But here a little cabernet astringency kicks in, adding not only grip, but an elegant structure suited to this medium-bodied style. This is an extension of the “Classic” range, a term originally used in the eighties in conjunction with light, crisp, blended white wines. Notable early adopters were Wolf Blass and Evans and Tate.

Heartland Wines Langhorne Creek Dolcetto Lagrein 2010 $19–$22
Good fruit and very clever winemaking here from Ben Glaetzer, produces unique flavours and enjoyable drinking. It’s a blend of the northern Italian varieties dolcetto and lagrein – the former noted for its aromatics and brilliant colour, the latter for its sometimes-intimidating tannins. The blend is highly perfumed and mulberry-like on the nose with a peppery note; the vibrant fruit and pepperiness continue on the generous palate before the savoury, persistent tannins assert themselves in the finish. Heartland is the creation of Ben Glaetzer, Grant Tilbrook, Scott Collet, Geoff Hardy, Vicki Arnold, Gino Melino and John Pargeter.

Jacob’s Creek St Hugo Barossa

• Shiraz 2008 $49.99
• Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2010 $49.99

Half a decade ago, partly in a nod to regionality, parent company Pernod Ricard moved several upmarket Orlando wines, including St Hugo Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, into the Jacob’s Creek range. Now they’ve extended the St Hugo range with these two magnificent Barossa wines – the aromatic, savoury, earthy blend and the opulent, soft, classic shiraz. At these prices, though, I can’t help thinking they should be more specific about fruit sourcing, especially regarding components from the company’s significant holdings in the vicinity of Jacob’s Creek (yes, it really exists). This was the birthplace of Orlando, creator of the Jacob’s Creek brand.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011
First published 20 November 2011 in The Canberra Times