Chablis (Michel Bouchard) 2009 $14.99
This is one of three French chardonnays we bought from Cosco recently – a direct import, along with other two, Chablis (William Fevre) 2009 $18.99 and Puligny-Montrachet (Louis Latour) 2008 $42.99, already reviewed in my Wednesday column. Like the other two, Michel Bouchard’s wine presents really good value as it offers the key characteristics of Chablis at a low price. Chablis, the northernmost and coolest outpost of Burgundy makes comparatively austere, bone-dry chardonnays noted for their minerality – and once described as like sucking pebbles. This one fits the template but also has some mid-palate texture, presumably from ageing on yeast lees.

Chapel Hill McLaren Vale Bush Vine Grenache 2009 $30
What a beautiful wine this is, capturing the rich, earthy flavours of old McLaren Vale bush vines (vines grown as individual bushes, without trellising) planted in 1926 and 1952. Winemakers Michael Fragos and Bryn Richards say the grapes were hand picked and the wines made in small batches in open fermenters “to facilitate a long, slow, gentle extraction”. Subsequent maturation in older French oak hogsheads further ameliorated the tannins. The result is a pure grenache featuring the buoyant fruit aroma and flavours of the vintage – with a background of spice and soft, earthy tannins. Rachel Steer looks after the venerable old vines.

Shaw Vineyard Estate Canberra District Shiraz 2009 $22
Shaw Vineyard Estate of Murrumbateman offers a rich cellar door experience – including food by Flint in the Vines and a range of colourful direct-import Italian ceramics. Several quality tiers of wine on offer include this “premium” shiraz at $22 – a fair enough price, though I wonder what “premium” means. It’s a fairly big, ripe shiraz in the Canberra context, with quite strong, deep fruit flavours pushing up through the also solid tannins and slightly hot affect of alcohol. It’s a style to drink over the next four or five years. The estate is owned and run by Graeme Shaw and family.

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

Alsace Riesling Grand Cru Schoenenburg 2008 (Dopff au Moulin) $24–$30
Schoenenbourg vineyard, Riquewihr, Alsace, France
Approach this glorious Dopff wine with an open mind. Forget Australian riesling, or German. The floral, citrusy nose says riesling – but the accent’s unique, suggesting power and weight. The palate delivers this – intense flavour, subtly viscous texture and a seductive, sweet kiss (but not too sweet) of residual grape sugar, offset by harmonious, assertive acidity that attenuates the flavour and gives a lingering, fresh, dry finish. Its dessert-sweet cellar mate, Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Sporen 2008 ($26.40–$33) is of the same calibre. Imported by Dan Murphy.

Richard Meyman Wines Colebrook Road Pinot Noir 2010 $27–$35
Coal River Valley, Tasmania
Richard Meyman buys selected batches of grapes and has wine made for his own label – much as Australia’s great earlier wine merchants did. In this case it’s pinot noir grown in the Coal River Valley, near Hobart, and made into wine at Frogmore Creek by Alain Rousseau. It’s a complete success – bright and medium coloured, with fragrant, musk and cherry varietal aroma, a faint stalky note and a delicate, juicy, soft, loveable palate. It’s available from Glebe Liquor, Annandale Cellars and at www.richardmeymanwines.com.au

Villa Maria Private Bin Pinot Noir 2009 $24.69–$30
Marlborough, New Zealand
When I first visited New Zealand in 1984, George Fistonich, Villa Maria’s owner, produced some of the country’s best reds at his Vidal Winery, Hawkes Bay. Across all those year’s Fistonich’s wines maintained their quality edge, even after expanding south to Marlborough, where Sir George’s team now makes some of the region’s best value pinot noir. The new release offers generous but elegant, pinot flavours and structure at a fair price. The Cellar Selection 2009 ($38–$46) offers more intensity, tannic grip and longevity.

Chapel Hill Parson’s Nose Shiraz 2010 $15.20–$17
McLaren Vale, South Australia
It’s deep and purple with an amazing pure, sweet, fruitiness – like crushed, ultra-ripe black cherries, seasoned with a lick of liquorice and bag of spices. On the palate, Parson’s Nose moves from fruitiness to “wineyness”, the deep, lush fruit pulsing up through the strong, firm tannins. Winemaker Michael Fragos says it’s all McLaren Vale and all matured in French oak. It’s a very good regional varietal, easy to drink now because of its plush fruitiness, but capable of developing savouriness with a year in bottle.

Mount Avoca Shiraz 2009 $25–$27
Pyrenees, Victoria
Winemaker John Harris writes, “As we come off the back of the incredibly challenging 2011 vintage, where no reds at all were made from our estate vineyard, it is extremely pleasing to be able to release wines from one of the best red wine vintage in the last 10 years”. And to John, we say, it’s extremely pleasing to drink a wine of this calibre – buoyant and ripe, red-berryish with spice and a touch of black pepper, full but elegant palate and firm, savoury tannins. It’s a strong, distinctive wine built for the cellar.

Bella Riva Pinot Grigio Vermentino 2010 $15–$17
King Valley, Victoria
The King Valley’s vines took off in the nineties as the area’s Italian-descended families turned their backs on tobacco growing – changing vices, so to speak. And two Italian winemaking families from Griffith, New South Wales, joined them – Miranda and De Bortoli. Among De Bortoli’s vines are pinot grigio, a mutant of pinot noir, and the Italian white variety, vermentino. De Bortoli’s low alcohol (12.5 per cent) blend of the two provides richly textured, pleasantly tart, savoury drinking, very much in the Italian style.

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

Lark Hill Canberra District Riesling 2011 $30
What sort of riesling do we get from Canberra’s highest, coolest vineyard in a wet, cool growing season? Probably the sort of riesling Lark Hill made in previous cool periods. It’s pale coloured and aromatic in a pure, minerally, lemon-citrus way. The minerality and lemon-citrus flavours come through, too, on a pure, scintillating palate of great delicacy. High acidity accentuates the fruit flavour. The Lark Hill website notes, “A cool summer and mild autumn resulted in a return to our normal long-term average heat summation, giving delicate flavours, vibrant acidity and a lower final alcohol”.

Tar and Roses Central Victoria Pinot Grigio 2011 $18
Pinot grigio (= grey) lives up to its name here, giving this “white” wine a pale grey-pink tint. It’s sourced from the Nagambie Lakes (74 per cent) and Strathbogie Ranges (26 per cent) and matured on yeast lees in older oak barrels for one month. This treatment accentuates the wine’s rich, smooth texture, an important element in wines made from this variety. It’s a little more perfumed than most pinot grigios, revealing a touch of pear-like character and even a hint of strawberry. The palate’s rich, soft and delicious – another very good wine from winemakers Don Lewis and Narelle King.

Campbells Rutherglen Tempranillo 2010 $18.90
The total volume of the Spanish red variety, tempranillo, remains small. But plantings are widespread and the variety performs well in a range of climates, including Canberra’s – notably at Mount Majura. It’s a niche variety that may well move mainstream in the long run as it offers the full, upfront fruit flavours Australian drinkers are used to, but with a difference. Campbell’s version is in the drink-me-now style, offering mouth-filling, vibrant blueberry like fruit flavours – quite distinct from, say, cabernet or shiraz. After the initial hit of fruit, quite firm, savoury tannins move in, adding to the savoury impact of the wine.

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

Chapel Hill Il Vescovo Tempranillo 2010 $20
McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Today we review two tempranillos, each emphasising a different facet of this Spanish variety. Chapel Hill’s version, made by Bryn Richards, leads with fruit – big, joyous buckets of it, ripe and mulberry like, gushing from the glass, up your nose and down your throat. Delicious stuff. Then tempranillo’s tannins kick in, adding another dimension to the flavour, not to mention a firm, but not hard, savoury finish. This is happy, slurpy tempranillo to enjoy in the full glory of its youth.

Tar and Roses Tempranillo 2010 $24
Alpine Valleys and Heathcote, Victoria
Winemaker Narelle King writes, “the exceptionally low yields in 2010 from our tempranillo vineyards has produced a wine of deep concentration and powerful varietal character showing rich, ripe raspberries with classic chalky tannins”. The wine’s power, tannin and concentration contrast with the juicy fruitiness of the Chapel Hill tempranillo reviewed today. Vibrant red-berry fruit flavours mollify the pervasive tannins. Together they make a distinctive, well-balanced wine, probably with some cellaring ability.

First Creek Winemaker’s Reserve Semillon 2010 $35
Hunter Valley, New South Wales
Hunter Valley winemaker of the year, Liz Jackson, made this delicious, delicate semillon. It’s a really high quality example of the lower-Hunter style – low in alcohol (11.5 per cent), light bodied and delicate, with distinctive lemony and lemongrass flavours and even a hint of lanoline. It’s a style that gathers weight, texture and gravitas with extended cellaring. Indeed, at one year we detect first signs of maturing texture – though the best remains a decade off.

Stefano Lubiana Primavera Chardonnay 2010 $28–$30
Lubiana Vineyard, Derwent Valley, Tasmania
Steve Lubiana writes the big 2010 vintage compensated for a 2009 vintage reduced by poor flowering and fruit set. And in a rare double at this latitude, he rates quality among the best in his 20 years on the property. It’s a wonderful example of modern Australian chardonnay – vibrant, subtle and refined, but with deep flavour, full body and rich, fine texture. The underlying varietal flavour of white peach and grapefruit reflect the cool growing climate – as does the taut, fresh acidity.

First Creek Winemaker’s Reserve Shiraz 2008 $42
Canberra District, New South Wales
Several Hunter winemakers sniffed around Canberra for shiraz in 2008 – a disastrous year for the variety in their district. In this case the Silkman family’s First Creek and winemaker Liz Jackson struck gold. The wine’s at the bigger end of Canberra’s medium bodied style, combining really classy oak with vibrant, fresh, spicy fruit flavour. It’s a great example of oak and fruit working together. In this instance the oak seems to boost the fruit flavour, making the palate that little bit plumper and juicier.

Bowen Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $30
Bowen Estate Vineyard, Coonawarra, South Australia
Doug and Joy Bowen established their 33-hectare vineyard in 1972. In recent years daughter Emma joined the family business, boosting the workforce and probably contributing to a lift in wine quality. The Bowen’s latest release shows the particularly aromatic fruit of the vintage – in this instance a pure mulberry-like varietal fragrance meshing perfectly with a sweet cedary note of oak. This sweet, cedary fruit-oak combination carries through to the rich, elegantly structured palate.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011
First published 31 August 2011 in The Canberra Times

Rutherglen Estates Rutherglen Durif 2008 $19–$21.95
This is a comparatively tame expression of durif, a variety noted for its impenetrable colour, colossal tannins and high alcohol – endearing features to its die-hard fans. The estate’s marketing manager, Patrick Gehrig writes the wine, “is deliberately picked at varying levels of ripeness, not only to maximise the broad spectrum of flavours and aromas that the variety can display, but produce balanced, well structured and refined wine without the excessive alcohol levels which durif is often associated with”. It’s refreshing to find such a forthright and honest press release. It captures the essence of this big, warm, tannic but soft red.

Bowen Estate Coonawarra Shiraz 2009 $27.55–$30
There’s been some criticism of high alcohol in Australian red wines. It’s a complex subject, as even comparatively low-alcohol wines can appear hot and alcoholic, while in others like this beautiful Bowen Estate shiraz, high alcohol (15 per cent) simply disappears without trace into the sweet, ripe, supple fruit. It might be big, but it’s still graceful and elegant – a great joy to drink now and probably for a decade or more into the future. It seems even juicier and fruitier than the previous vintage. It’s made by father and daughter team Doug and Emma Bowen and at the bigger end of the current Coonawarra shiraz spectrum.

Jim Barry Clare Valley

• Lodge Hill Riesling 2011 $16–$20
• Watervale Riesling 2011 $13.99–$18

In a generally flat riesling market, Peter Barry reports a 40 per cent increase in riesling sales over the last year. He crows, too, about 2011, “as a wonderful vintage in Clare for riesling”. Now we can judge for ourselves in these two rieslings from the Barry family estate – one for the elevated Lodge Hill vineyard near Clare township, the other from the Florita vineyard at Watervale in the valley’s south. The Lodge Hill wine shows lemony varietal flavour, delicacy and length. The Watervale wine seems more minerally with some background lime-like flavours. Both impress for their delicacy and lively acidity – features of this cool vintage.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011
First published 28 August 2011 in The Canberra Times

Stanton and Killeen Classic Muscat $40 (500ml)
Rutherglen, Victoria
Every so often this classic wine passes our lips and we fall in love with it all over again. It’s produced from the variety muscat a-petit-grains-rouge and fortified with spirit shortly after fermentation begins. This leaves a strong, sweet red wine that takes on a magic lusciousness over many years in barrel. “Classic” sits on the second rung of the age-based quality ladder, requiring 5–10 years barrel age and 200–280 grams per litre of residual grape sugar. Stanton and Killeen’s, average age 12 years in barrel, combines luscious, vivacious raisin like flavours with lovely patina of barrel age.

Louee Nullo Mountain Chardonnay 2010 $25
Louee Vineyard, Nullo Mountain, Rylstone, New South Wales
Mudgee winemaker David Lowe made this unique wine from early-picked grapes grown at 1100 metres above sea level. At this altitude the grapes develop adequately ripe flavours at low sugar levels (as they do in, say, France’s very cool Champagne region). The result is a tasty, dry chardonnay at just 10.5 per cent alcohol. Lowe compares it in style to Chablis (Burgundy’s northernmost chardonnay outpost) – and there’s certainly an echo of this in the wine’s delicious, light, minerally flavour and bone dry finish. We might call it a Chablis style with Australian characteristics.

Stefano Lubiana Primavera Pinot Noir $27–$34
Lubiana Vineyard, Derwent Valley, Tasmania
More and more we’re seeing Tasmania as Australia’s pinot-central, especially this special little site on the Derwent – next door to the equally promising Derwent Estate. Steve and Monique Lubiana producer several pinots on site – this early drinking style, the more substantial “Estate” ($45) and exquisite “Sasso” ($90). This year’s Primavera presents a seductive musk, spice and savoury aroma – characters that continue in the elegant, utterly delicious, finely structured palate. It drinks well now, but for all its upfront charm has the depth and structure to age for five or six years.

Barwang Shiraz 2009 $15.19–$20
Barwang Vineyard, Hilltops, New South Wales
Barwang continues the style we’ve noted in other Hilltops shirazes from the 2009 vintage – aromatic, rich and fleshy with heaps of soft tannins. Farmer Peter Robertson planted the first vines on Barwang (and the region) in 1969 and by the late seventies occasionally drove his ute over to Canberra looking for customers. Even in those early days we could see the fruit quality. Robertson sold the vineyard to McWilliams in 1989, they expanded it to 100 hectares and now produce big volumes of amazingly good value reds like this.

Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riparosso 2009 (Illuminati) $11.99
Northern Abruzzi, Italy
Dino Illuminati’s winery sits on a high ridge with stunning views east to the Adriatic and west to the Apennines. With his son Stefano, he specialises in rich, earthy reds made from the local variety, montepulciano – styles he’s restlessly polished and perfected in the vineyard and winery over a lifetime. He offers two entry-level reds – Riparosso 2009 at $11.99 and Ilico 2008 at $13.99 – imported by Dan Murphy. Riparosso is the earthier, firmer of the two – a great wine with roasted red meats; and Ilico offers similar rich flavours but with softer, rounder tannins.

Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
Colline Teramane Riserva Zanna (Illuminati) 2006 $39.99
Illuminati’s flagship red comes from the Zanna vineyard. Like the other Illuminati wines reviewed here, it’s made from the montepulciano grape. But it comes from the Colline Teramane zone and qualifies for Italy’s highest wine classification, Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Guarantita. At five years’ age, the colour’s remains a deep, vivid red and the aroma suggests black cherries, with herbs and spice. The palate’s juicy, deep and cut through with firm, savoury, drying tannins. This is a distinctive, thoroughly enjoyable red with a good cellaring life ahead. It’s imported by Woolworths and sold through Dan Murphy outlets.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011
First published 24 August 2011 in The Canberra Times

Red Knot by Shingleback McLaren Vale Shiraz 2010 $9.40–$14.95
Shaw and Smith Adelaide Hills Shiraz 2009 $40
Brothers Kym and John Davey own and manage the 100-hectare Shingleback vineyard – a big enough operation to produce outstanding regional wines across a range of price points. Their entry-level Red Knot shiraz presents a bright and fruity face of the Vale, backed by savoury and earthy notes. It offers huge value, especially during periods of intense discounting. Shaw and Smith produces the Adelaide Hill’s benchmark shiraz – distinctly cool climate in its fine, elegant style. In 2009 the fruit seems particularly aromatic with a floral note boosting the vibrant red-berry character. There’s great flavour depth and an amazingly silky, smooth texture.

Tahbilk Nagambie Lakes Shiraz 2008
and Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 $16.15–$19.95
The Tahbilk property sits on an anabranch of Victoria’s Goulburn River – rich, gently undulating country, spotted with massive, ancient eucalypts. It’s been in the hands of the Purbrick family since early last century and for a great deal of that time was run by Eric Purbrick, grandfather of the current custodian, Alister Purbrick. The extensive vineyard plantings cover many eras – starting with a block of shiraz planted in 1862. Even in a hot year like 2008, this comparatively cool region produced limpid, elegant wines with the property’s signature backbone of firm tannins. These are delicious, tight, savoury wines, far removed from Australia’s generally “fruit bomb” style.

Tulloch Hunter Valley Semillon 2011 $16
Fresh from the vine comes this lovely example of the Hunter Valley’s idiosyncratic, love-it or hate-it semillon style. It’s a comparatively soft expression of the style and therefore suited for early drinking – unlike some of the more austere versions that show their honeyed, toasty best only after 10, 15 or even 20 years in the bottle. It hits the scales at a modest 11.3 per cent alcohol, making it a particularly good company with lunch. The flavours are lemony and lemongrass-like, particularly brisk and fresh, but soft and refreshing in this light-bodied style – ready to drink now or over the next two or three years.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011
First published 21 August 2011 in The Canberra Times

Lark Hill Gruner Veltliner 2011 $40
Lake George Escarpment, Canberra District, New South Wales
Following a suggestion from Jancis Robinson, a visit to Austria tasting its signature variety – and the fortuitous discovery of two vines in Tasmania – the Carpenters of Lark Hill propagated gruner veltliner from cuttings, then planted 1,000 vines in 2006. The Carpenters say the wine sits in style somewhere between the delicacy of riesling and opulence of chardonnay. The third vintage, from the cool, wet 2011 vintage, says they’re on a winner. It’s a pale lemon-green colour, with an appealing aroma like melon rind and spice and a full, richly textured palate, with a refreshing line of acidity.

Maipenrai Vineyards Amungula Creek Pinot Noir 2009 $13.33–$18
Sutton, Canberra District, New South Wales
Maipenrai’s Brian Schmidt describes this unfined and unfiltered (but limpid) red as “not your typical inexpensive pinot”, and adds it “will be best in five years”. In the warm 2009 vintage Schmidt produced just 10 barrels of pinot noir – four destined for the flagship Maipenrai label (released in December) and six to the second label, Amungula. And he’s right that it’s not your fluffy, strawberry-like cheapie. It’s a solid pinot, the aroma showing earthy, stalky pinot aromas laced with oak – and the palate revealing similar flavours, plus a rich texture. Firm tannins permeate the wine, giving it a rustic charm.
Footnote, 5 October 2011: Congratulation Brian on your Nobel Prize for physics.

Lark Hill Viognier Dark Horse Viognier 2011 $25
Dark Horse Vineyard, Murrumbateman, Canberra District, New South Wales
Today’s wine story discusses the Carpenter family’s recent purchase of the Dark Horse Vineyard, Murrumbateman. The acquisition gives them a stake in the main game in town – shiraz – and its sometimes fermentation companion, viognier. But viognier has a life of its own, too. In this case it’s a comparatively low-alcohol version (12.5 per cent), fermented with wild yeast. At this level of ripeness, viognier doesn’t present its full-bore, apricot-like flavour or viscosity. It’s a far more subtle wine, richly textured but not over the top, with an echo of apricot and ginger.

Balnaves Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $35
Dead Morris and Walker Vineyards, Coonawarra, South Australia
What a close call it was between Balnaves and Majella in this week’s tasting – two outstanding Coonawarra cabernets, both definitively regional, but different nevertheless. Balnaves appealed for the power of its tannin coated varietal flavours – reminiscent of blackcurrant and black olives. Despite its power, the wine’s elegantly structured and capable of ageing well. Its cellar companion, The Tally 2009 ($90), seems even more tight-knit and concentrated, requiring years in the cellar – a big, elegant, multi-dimensional red, firmly in five-star territory. Both wines are sealed with ‘Pro Cork’ – a natural cork protected by a thin polymer membrane.

Majella Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $31–$33
Majella Vineyard, Coonawarra, South Australia
In the tasting-bench arm wrestle with Balnaves, Majella gained the advantage on several fronts, starting with its slightly more vivid, crimson colour. But it was the aroma that drew us in. It really sang, thanks, in part to a perfect matching of oak and fruit. The combination lifted the fruit aroma, adding sweet floral notes to a wonderful cedar-like character that combined oak with Coonawarra’s beautiful, vibrant blackberry-like varietal flavour. The very friendly, juicy palate closely reflected the aromas. But for all its harmonious, drink-now appeal, it’s a wine of substance and complexity needing time to reveal its best.

Peter Lehmann Semillon 2010 $9.50–$11.90
Barossa, South Australia
Semillon grows well in Australia’s warm regions although its identity varies from era to era. In the eighties as the chardonnay boom took off, it found a marriage of convenience in blends, principally filling in for the chardonnay shortfall. For a time it found favour in oak-matured Clare and Barossa “white burgundy”. And today, it’s more likely to be seen in company with sauvignon blanc – a far more compatible union than its old one with chardonnay. Then there’s straight semillon, like this lovely, light, lemon, lemon-grassy, low alcohol (11 per cent) dry style developed by Lehmann as an affordable white with distinctive regional, varietal flavour.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011
First published 17 August 2011 in The Canberra Times

Clonakilla O’Riada Shiraz 2010 – wine of the week $35–$45
Murrumbateman, Canberra District, New South Wales
In a recent tasting we paired each of Clonakilla’s three Canberra District wines with another fine shiraz, either from Australia or France – stepping through the wines in pairs. O’Riada, a blend from four vineyards, and containing five per cent viognier, thrilled with its high-toned floral, spice and musk aroma. A stalky note, presumably from including whole bunches in the ferment, threaded through the aroma and beautifully silky, smooth palate. It’s the most upfront and charming now of the three wines – a marked style contrast to its companion wine, the earthy but magnificent Meerea Park Hunter Valley Hell Hole Shiraz 2007 ($37).

Clonakilla Syrah 2009 and Shiraz Viognier 2010 $85–$100
Murrumbateman, Canberra District, New South Wales
Forced to pick between Clonakilla’s flagship reds, Syrah from the great 2009 vintage edges slightly ahead of the Shiraz Viognier blend – but it’s a tight call and in any group there’ll be preferences either way. The Syrah’s highly fragrant but also savoury, brooding and tannic, in a seamless, perfectly balanced way. Shiraz Viognier 2010 leads with a distinctive violet-like aroma. This comes through, too, on the vibrant, red-berry-laden, richly textured, smooth palate. These are extraordinary wines requiring cellaring – or a good splash if you’re drinking them now. (Companion wines were Mount Langi Ghiran Grampians Langi Shiraz 2007 and Cote-Rotie 2007 (Les Vins de Vienne).

Jim Barry Lodge Hill Shiraz 2009 $18–$20
Lodge Hill Vineyard, Clare Valley, South Australia
The Barry family’s Lodge Hill Vineyard sits high up in the Clare Valley’s eastern ranges and consistently produces very high quality, good value riesling and shiraz. We loved the 2009 at a shiraz and curry night – its pure, plump, fruity softness carrying deliciously through a range of spice and chilli flavours and heat. Lovely fruitiness seems to be a hallmark of the vintage in South Australia’s warmer regions. Peter Barry writes, “vintage 2009 was one of the finest, most rewarding and classic in recent memory”.

Chablis Champs Royaux (William Fevre) 2009 $18.99
Chablis, Burgundy, France
The back label suggests Costco imported this wine direct, bypassing the distributor, Negociants Australia – hence the wonderfully low price. Chablis, the northernmost point of Burgundy, makes distinctive, pebble-dry chardonnay. In this version, clever barrel maturation added a little flesh and texture to the mid palate without inserting any woody flavours, or interfering with the distinctive minerally flavours and dryness. In the world of Chablis we’d rate this three stars; but in the wider chardonnay market, and taking account of the price, we give it four stars.

Puligny-Montrachet 2008 (Louis Latour) $42.99
Puligny-Montrachet, Burgundy, France
The commune of Puligny-Montrachet abuts the legendary Montrachet vineyards, source of Burgundy’s greatest chardonnays. This wine, another Costco direct import, captures a little of white Burgundy’s magic, albeit discounted by a moist and slightly leaky cork. Despite the slightly darker than appropriate colour (presumably oxidation caused by the poor cork), the wine still shows Puligny’s unique combination of power with finesse. On a Puligny-Montrachet scale it’s a three-star wines, but earns four stars in the general chardonnay market. Dear French winemaker, please switch to screw caps.

Derwent Estate Chardonnay 2008 $29.99
Derwent Estate Vineyard, Derwent Valley, Tasmania
Highly regarded Tasmanian viticulturist Fred Peacock rates Derwent Estate among the best vineyard sites in the state – with part of its fruit going to the production of Penfolds flagship chardonnay, Yattarna. However, the Hanigan family engages Winemaking Tasmania’s Julian Alcorso to turn part of the crop into wine for their own label. We notice the 2009’s available at cellar door, but we picked this bottle up at Dan Murphy, Phillip. We tasted it alongside the two French wines reviewed here today and rated it best by a comfortable margin. It’s amazingly intense, pure and unevolved – showing cool climate grapefruit-like varietal flavour and matching brisk acidity.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2011
First published 10 August 2011 in The Canberra Times

Ten Minutes by Tractor Mornington Peninsula Pinot Gris 2010 $28
Ten Minutes by Tractor offers a range of individual vineyard wines and “estate” blends, like this one, sourced from several Mornington sites – in this instance from the Northway Downs, Spedding and Wallis vineyards. It’s a well-made wine, capturing all of the essential features of good pinot gris – including a bit of grip and slippery texture, courtesy of the grape itself plus fermentation and maturation on yeast lees in older oak barrels. This textural side of the variety’s very important to its overall impact, as the flavour’s subtle – pear-like, with lemony freshness and a pleasant spicy note.

Jim Barry The Cover Drive Coonawarra and Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $18–$20
Cover Drive joins a growing list of beautifully made, inexpensive Coonawarra cabernet sauvignons that really show the unique flavours of this great cabernet district. Jim Barry’s wine adds a little Clare cabernet to the mix, but the aroma, flavour and structure really all say “Coonawarra” – perhaps plumped out a little by the Clare material. Sourced mainly from the Barry family’s southern Coonawarra vineyard it’s a lovely, juicy fruit festival – starring subtly mint-tinted, cassis-like varietal flavour. Flavour input from oak maturation is minimal, serving rather to build the palate and mellow the tannins. It’s ready to drink right now.

Shaw Vineyard Estate Canberra District Winemaker Selection Shiraz 2008 $16 and Cabernet Merlot 2008 $16
Graeme Shaw’s Murrumbatemen vineyard is one of Canberra’s largest with the capacity, says Shaw, of producing 25,000 cases of wine a year. Shaw segments the wines into three price ranges, including the entry-level Winemaker Selection range. The shiraz, a triple silver medallist, seems pretty big for a Canberra wine, showing the heat of the 2008 vintage, the flavours now leaning towards savouriness, with quite a firm tannin structure. The cabernet merlot (one gold, two silver medals) shows both the leafiness of cabernet and chocolate richness of merlot on a soft and easy, drink-now palate.

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