Hungerford Hill Tumbarumba

• Pinot Noir 2009 $27–$30
• Chardonnay 2009 $27–$30

Southcorp Wines merged with Rosemount Estate in 2001 and in 2002 sold its Hungerford Hill Brand to the Kirby Family. Michael Hatcher now makes the wines, including these two from Tumbarumba, in the company’s winery at Pokolbin, Hunter Valley. The chardonnay’s intense, cool-climate nectarine-like varietal flavour melds seamlessly with barrel-derived characters; brisk acidity adds structure and freshness – adding up to a vivacious, complex white. Tumbarumba’s pinots tend to be on the lighter side and fine boned, but with good varietal flavour depth. Hungerford Hill 2009 throws in a pleasing tight but fine tannin structure and savoury note or two.

Amungula Creek Canberra District Pinot Noir 2008 $16
Amungula is the second label of Brian Schmidt’s 1.1 hectare, Maipenrai Vineyard on the Yass River Valley. At 760 metres it’s one of Canberra’s highest vineyards (they vary from about 550 metres to 860 metres). Maipenrai’s planted entirely to six clones of pinot noir, managed to yield a miserly 2.5 to 4.0 tonnes a hectare. Schmidt writes that he’ll release the flagship Maipenrai 2008 next year – all three barrels of it. Meanwhile there’s about six barrels of Amungula. It reveals a spectrum of pinot aromas and flavours – from a touch of stalkiness to ripe berries. Despite the light colour, it has a good depth of flavour and the silky but firm structure of good pinot.

Houghton Wisdom Frankland River Shiraz 2008 $26–$32
Frankland River has a unique niche in Australia’s wide and impressive spectrum of shiraz styles. And it’s expressed clearly in this very good wine from Houghton, part of Constellation Wines Australia. At the heart of the wine is beautifully fragrant, ripe, juicy berry flavours (like mulberry and blueberry). As the wine breathes, the ripe berry aromas, tinted with lovely oak, become more apparent. On the medium-bodied palate, though, the berry flavours become a core of sweetness, tightly wrapped in firm, savoury tannins. That savouriness and grip, in combination with the underlying teasing, juicy fruit, sets the style apart from other Australian shirazes.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Draytons Vineyard Reserve Shiraz 2009 $30
Pokolbin, Hunter Valley, New South Wales
John Drayton and winemaker William Rikard-Bell say they made this from the Drayton family’s unirrigated Bull Paddock Block, planted in 1965. At a refreshingly modest 13 per cent alcohol, it’s medium bodied and spicy with a substantial grip of savoury, youthful tannins. It’s a world removed from the plump, juicy styles of other warm areas. While it’s enjoyable now with high protein food, it’ll settle into the unique and beguiling “Hunter Burgundy” style with a few years’ bottle age.

Tar and Roses Pinot Grigio 2009 $18
Strathbogie Ranges and Nagambie, Central Victoria
Call it “grigio” or  “gris”, it still means grey – although the skins of this pinot noir mutant can be pink, too. Hence, the pale grey/pink rinse in Tar and Roses, attributable, write winemakers Narelle King and Don Lewis to, “the exposed fruit being affected by the extreme conditions of 2009”. Behind the colour rinse, though, is a thoroughly enjoyable, bone-dry white, with the backbone and grip of pinot, a pleasing pear-like varietal flavour and a textural richness derived from partial barrel fermentation and maturation.

Winbirra Le Marechal Viognier 2008 $25
Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
In Canberra we’re more likely to see the white viognier as a minor component with shiraz. On its own it tends to make fat, slightly oily-textured whites, dripping with apricot-like varietal flavour. But there’s a finer version, too, exemplified by the barrel-fermented wines of Condrieu, in France’s Northern Rhone Valley. Winbirra approximates this style. It’s fine boned but silk smooth with crystal-clear, delicate apricot-and-ginger varietal flavour – backed by subtle barrel-derived aromas, flavours and texture.

Stanton and Killeen Fortified Vintage 2005 $45
Rutherglen, Victoria
Inspired by Portugal’s elegant, ethereal, long-lived vintage ports, the late Chris Killeen, led the way in their Australian equivalents. He adopted classic Portuguese varieties and moved decisively away from our traditional heavier, jammy styles. The 2005 is simply beautiful – magnificently luscious, with complex, subtle spirit notes, silky, ethereal texture and, though sweet, finishing dry, thanks to the spirits. It’s destined to age beautifully, becoming more ethereal and elegant as the decades roll by. It’s made from shiraz (32 per cent), durif and the Portuguese varieties tinto cao, tinta roriz and touriga nacional.

Mount Beautiful Pinot Noir $34.95
Cheviot Hills, North Canterbury, New Zealand
This is an exciting start for a new producer. David and Leigh Teece planted vines at Cheviot Hills (about 100km north of Canterbury on the South Island) in 2004 and mad their first pinot in 2007. Their second vintage sits at the pale, delicate end of the pinot spectrum – quite a contrast to the burlier styles from Central Otago, to the south. It’s highly perfumed and purely varietal with an attractive earthy undertone. The palate’s fine-boned with a sweet core of fruit and assertive but soft tannins providing a proper red-wine backbone.

Crittenden Estate Los Hermanos Homenaje e Cataluna 2009 $30
King Valley and Patterson Lakes, Victoria
Garry Crittenden and his son Rollo have been great pioneers of alternate varieties in Australia. In this blend, a tribute to the reds of Spain’s Catalonia region, Rollo combines the Spanish variety tempranillo with mataro (monastrell) and grenache (garnacha). The aroma’s vibrant – built on ripe berries and spice with a touch of pepper. The lively, medium bodied palate reflects the aroma.  And firm, savoury tannins check the lovely, plush berry flavours. It’s a wine that slips down easily and you wonder where the bottle went.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Moppity Vineyards Hilltops Riesling 2010 $23
Moppity’s cheaper sibling, Lock and Key Riesling 2010, won the trophy as best riesling at the recent Winewise Small Vignerons Awards. The more expensive wine walked away without a medal. But it’s unquestionably the better wine of the two with its lovely floral aroma, fresh, intense lime-like varietal flavour and zesty, bone-dry finish. It’s not uncommon for better rieslings to flourish months, or sometimes a year or more after release as the delicate fruit flavour’s sometimes masked by high acidity. The cheaper versions, on the other hand, tend to flaunt it all from day one.

Bowen Estate Coonawarra

• Shiraz 2008 $30
• Chardonnay 2009 $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’s made by father and daughter team Doug and Emma Bowen. Their chardonnay’s a full, vibrant style featuring pure, melon-like varietal flavour and a noticeable overlay of high-quality new oak.

Rutherglen Estates

• Shelley’s Block Marsanne Viognier 2009 $13–$16
• Burgoyne’s Block Mourvedre Shiraz Grenache 2008 $13–$16

Rutherglen Estate’s white blend provides quite a departure from our usual menu of white-wine flavours – led by the exotic, apricot-like richness of viognier. It’s a full flavoured drop and richly textured, though the alcohol’s a comparatively modest 13 per cent. And the red blend chips away at the Rutherglen stereotype – there’s no blockbuster here. Rather it’s fragrant and medium bodied with a delicious, gentle core of ripe-berries and spice and pleasant, rustic bite of tannin. Rutherglen Estates, with five vineyard sites, claims to be the largest grower in the Rutherglen region. We’ve been impressed with the quality and value of wines tasted to date.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Mt Langhi Shiraz 2007 $85
Grampians, Victoria
This extraordinary wine, now part of the Rathbone Wine Group (Yering Station Yarra Valley, Mount Langhi Ghiran Grampians, Parker Coonawarra and Xanadu Margaret River) comes from shiraz vines planted in 1963 at about 350 metres above seal level, in the shadow of Mount Langhi Ghiran. The particularly cool climate produces the distinctive graceful, spicy, elegant Langhi style – now being finely polished, under the Rathbones, by winemaker Dan Buckle and viticulturist Damien Sheehan.

Bowen Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
Coonawarra, South Australia
The 2008 continues a recent resurgence in wine quality from Bowen Estate – operated by Doug and Joy Bowen and daughter, Emma. It’s as pure an expression of cabernet as you’re likely to find – absolutely ripe, but not overripe, with deep, sweet berry flavours a plump (for cabernet) mid palate, persistent, strong-but-gentle tannins and Coonawarra’s signature elegance. It’s already irresistible. But the fruit depth and structure suggest a good cellaring life.

Lock and Key Riesling 2010 $12–$15
Hilltops, New South Wales
In a pattern common to Australian wine shows, modestly-priced Lock and Key outscored wines up to four times its price to carry off the Winewise Riesling Trophy a few weeks back. It’s an attractive, full, crisp, fruity riesling – perfect company for Asian food – and it’ll probably never be better than it is now. But I’ll back Ken Helm’s two silver-medal 2010 rieslings – and a few others overlooked by the judges –to power through in the months ahead as their intense fruit emerges from behind the austere acid of extreme youth.

Philip Shaw No. 11 Chardonnay 2008 $30
Orange, New South Wales
I can’t recall a better Orange chardonnay than Rosemount Estate1994, made by Phillip Shaw when he was chief winemaker for the company. There’s more than an echo of that superb wine in Shaw’s 2008. This is a pristine, cool-climate style – pale, finely structured and unevolved, with intense white peach and grapefruit varietal flavour, taut, spritely acidity and subtle, interwoven barrel-derived characters. It’s a style to enjoy now or in its evolution over the next five or six years, perhaps longer.

Black Chook Shiraz 2009 $13–$17
McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek, South Australia
Black Chook is a free-ranging blend of shiraz, with a dollop of viognier, from McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek. It roams the same coop as the Woop Woop, Penny’s Hill and Mr Riggs wines, all made by Ben Riggs as part of the Galvanised Wine Group. Like all the tastiest chooks, it’s big, plump, juicy and ready for the table now.

Draytons Vineyard Reserve Semillon 2006 $30
Pokolbin, Hunter Valley, New South Wales
Not everyone likes the idiosyncratic lower-Hunter semillon style. But for those who do this is a brilliant and delicious example. At four years it’s just beginning to reveal the textural richness that comes with age. The pale straw colour, twangy, lemony acidity and crystal-clear lemon and lemongrass varietal flavour provide good current drinking. But experience with the style says it’ll grow more interesting over the next decade, taking on a lovely toasty character. It’s from Drayton’s Oakey Creek Vineyard, established in 1899.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Mount Majura Canberra District TSG 2008 $21
Mount Majura, Australian Capital Territory
Mount Majura’s TSG (tempranillo shiraz graciano) won gold for the second consecutive year in the 2010 Winewise Small Vignerons Awards. This year’s award winner, the velvety 2009 vintage, is due for release next year and it’s probably a shade more intense even than current-release 2008 – a delightful drop featuring ripe, blueberry-like fruit flavour with a distinct peppery note that winemaker Frank van de Loo says might come from the graciano component.

Picardy Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc 2008 $25
Pemberton, Western Australia
Most Australian cabernet blends salute the firm, cabernet-dominant styles of Bordeaux’s Medoc sub-region. But this merlot-led blend looks more to Saint-Emilion, another major Bordeaux sub-region, for inspiration. It’s fragrant – courtesy of the merlot and cabernet franc – and medium bodied with a juicy, plump kernel of fruit, elegant structure and fine tannins holding it all together. It’s made by Dan Pannell from estate-grown fruit and probably best within five years of vintage.

Arete Single Vineyard Greenock Shiraz 2008 $45
Barossa Valley, South Australia
We’d normally reserve five-star ratings for wines with long, distinguished track records. But quality can’t be denied here. And there’s a solid provenance behind winemaker Richard Bates: winemaking experience at Saltram, Wolf Blass and Penfolds; a stint with barrel cooper Francois Frere and grape sourcing from Shawn Kalleske’s Greenock vineyard, a hotspot of Barossa shiraz quality. It’s a big, dense Barossa style, saturated with shiraz flavour in a flavour-texture matrix with soft tannins and classy oak. Arete is a big, gentle giant best cellared for a few years.

Sam Miranda Arneis 2010
King Valley, Victoria
Arneis (meaning “little rascal”) is a Piedmontese white variety – sometimes blended with the local reds to ameliorate the tannins – makes brisk, pleasantly tart dry whites. Miranda’s version, from the King Valley’s Myrrhee sub-region, combines piquant pear and citrus flavours. The palate’s tight, brisk, dry and light and finishes with a gentle tweak of soft tannin. If you’re over sauvignon blanc’s in-your-face flavours, try this as a tasty but more subtle alternative.

Ross Hill Pinnacle Series Shiraz 2008 $32–$35
Orange, New South Wales
This delicious, medium-bodied red is a blend of the best ten barrels of shiraz made from the Ross Hill vineyards in 2008. It’s gentle and soft with ripe, sweet fruit, well supported in flavour and structure by high-quality oak. It’s squarely in the fine-boned shiraz style now emerging, with subtle variations, along a big swathe of the New South Wales highlands, from Orange to Canberra to Young to Tumbarumba to Gundagai.

Angullong Fossil Hill Pinot Gris 2010 $22
Orange, New South Wales
Because the Orange region is defined partly by altitude, the 220-hectare Angullung vineyard wanders in and out of the regional boundary – walk up a row of vines until you’re 600 metres or more above sea level and you’re in Orange; stand below 600 metres and you’re in the Central Ranges district. This smooth-textured wine, from the higher, cooler slopes, expresses crystal clear,  pear-like varietal aroma and flavour of pinot gris. It’ll probably never be better than it is now in the full bloom of youth.

Copright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Picardy Pemberton

• Pinot Noir 2008 $35
• Chardonnay 2008 $35

There’s a great purity and drinkability to Picardy wines, made in Pemberton, Western Australia, by Bill and Dan Pannell. The pinot’s pale coloured and deeply fragrant, revealing a big part of the pinot spectrum, from slightly stalky to ripe red berries; the palate’s fine and silky textured with a flavour reflecting the aroma. It’s easy to drink, but complex and ought to age well for some years. The chardonnay clearly bears the winemaker’s imprint (barrel fermentation and maturation on yeast lees), but the keynote is the soaring, crystal-clear varietal flavour and brisk, exciting palate. The winemaking elements simply add interest to this delicious fruit.

Arete Barossa Valley “The Chatterbox” Shiraz 2009 $20
This is a sensationally fragrant, vibrant shiraz, made by former Foster’s winemaker and barrel salesman, Richard Bate. The background steered him straight to the oak-maturation and Barossa grape growing sweet spots – and the winemaking shows a spit and polish that escapes many very small-scale makers. Bates made just 350 cases of “The Chatterbox” from two western Barossa vineyards – Andy Kalleske’s Cemetery Block at Koonunga and Shawn Kalleske’s Hill Block at Greenock. The 2009 reds seem, in general, more restrained than the blockbuster 2008s – in this instance providing plush, juicy fruit flavours and tender tannins. Available at www.aretewines.com.au

Good Catholic Girl Clare Valley

• “Teresa” Riesling 2009 $25
• “James Brazill” Shiraz 2007 $30

Winemaker Julie Barry (the “head girl”) sourced her riesling from Barry Marsson’s vineyard at Watervale, southern Clare, and the shiraz from in the Armagh Valley, near Clare township. The riesling, though only 11.8 per cent alcohol, sits at the richer end of the regional style spectrum – in its own pure, vigorous, citrus-varietal way. It’s bone and dry best enjoyed with food, rather than as an on-its-own aperitif, as you might with a more delicate riesling. The shiraz weighs in at 15 per cent alcohol but the very rich, ripe fruit, buckets of soft tannins and silky texture completely mask this.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Tamar Ridge Tasmania

• Devil’s Corner Pinot Noir 2009 $18–$21
• Kayena Vineyard Pinot Noir 2008 $28–$31

Devil’s Corner still seems more like grapes than wine, but give it another six months in bottle and it should’ve turned the corner. The fruit flavour’s terrific – pure, ripe, musky pinot backed by fine, dry tannins. It’s sourced from Tasmania’s Tamar Valley and the East Coast. The more robust 2008 comes from Tamar Ridge’s Kayena Vineyard in the Tamar Valley. It’s not as plump as the 2007, perhaps reflecting the vintage, but it has good pinot fragrance, some savoury notes and sufficient fruit to carry the oak. Tamar Ridge is owned by Gunns Limited and managed by veteran winemaker Andrew Pirie.

Bleasdale McLaren Vale Langhorne Creek Tempranillo Malbec 2008 $20–$24
In the good old Aussie cross-regional blending tradition, Bleasdale came up with this novel pairing – malbec from their own Langhorne Creek vineyards and the Spanish variety, tempranillo, from neighbouring McLaren Vale. The wine has malbec’s dense, purple colour. But just where malbec drops off and tempranillo takes over isn’t so apparent in the aroma and flavour. The combination, though, is intensely fruity, bordering on brash. Both varieties carry a fair tannin load so, not surprisingly, the fruit’s mollified by a firm, but not hard, red wine structure.

Chalkers Crossing Hilltops

• Riesling 2009 $18
• Semillon $18

These are made by Celine Rousseau using grapes from Chalkers Crossing’s Rockleigh Vineyard, near Young. The area makes terrific shiraz and riesling (a natural pairing in Canberra and the Clare Valley, too). The riesling is floral and fragrant and strongly varietal, leaning towards the lemon and lime end of the spectrum. The racy, dry, delicate palate carries these citrus flavours deliciously. It’s a great aperitif. Rousseau’s barrel fermented semillon, too, is bone dry with mouth-watering, tangy lemon and lemongrass varietal flavours, saved from austerity by the barrel-derived creamy texture. This is a popular way to make semillon in Bordeaux, though usually in tandem with sauvignon blanc.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Picardy Shiraz 2008 $25
Pemberton, Western Australia
Dr Bill Pannell founded Moss Wood, now one of Australia’s great cabernet producers, back in 1969 and later sold it to the Mugford family. By 1993 Pannell, having tired of cabernet, established Picardy at Pemberton with his son Dan. Among other wines they make this beautiful, highly aromatic, savoury, chocolate-rich shiraz. It’s a medium-bodied style with silky textured, soft tannins – described by the Pannells as a shiraz for pinot lovers.

Grosset Gaia 2006 $55
Clare Valley, South Australia
Jeffrey Grosset’s Gaia – a cabernet sauvignon (75%), cabernet franc (20%) and merlot (5%) blend – belies the burly Clare stereotype with its sweet-berry fragrance, elegance and comparative austerity. It’s all class, and built for long cellaring – the sort of wine that captures your attention with the first sniff, and the interests grows as you sip through each glass. The more robust 2007 has been released but the 2006 is still available in some retail outlets.

Chapel Hill Old Vine Grenache 2008 $30
McLaren Vale, South Australia
Can red wine and curry co-exist? Our experience is that full-bodied, fruity, soft Australian reds like warm climate shiraz and grenache succeed – as the sweet fruit survives the scorching heat of capsaicin, the alkaloid giving chilli its sting. We road tested Chapel Hill successfully at Jewel of India, Manuka – our sole caveat being that the French oak seemed a little accentuated as the heat rose. Away from the heat, the exuberant fruit and oak harmonised nicely.

Curly Flat Pinot Noir 2006 $46
Macedon, Victoria
At the Winewise Small Vignerons Awards judged in Canberra in early July, Curly Flat 2006 topped a field of French, Australian and New Zealand Pinot Noirs – many, including one from famed Burgundy producer, Domaine de la Romanee Conti, were far more expensive. It’s a sensational wine from Phil and Jeni Moraghan and in the world of pinot noir, it’s positively cheap for this quality. It has more fleshy, mid-palate fruit than the Burgundy style and the tannin structure to evolve for many years.

Bourke Street Canberra District Shiraz 2008 $19
Murrumbateman, New South Wales
The new Bourke Street label is an offshoot of the Nick O’Leary and Collector brands, made by Nick O’Leary and Alex McKay. McKay says there’s some overlap in their grape buying and because they buy whole blocks from growers, not cherry-picking small amounts, they end up with more wine than they need. The result is the refined, elegant Bourke Street shiraz – built on vivid, ripe-berry and spice flavours, fresh acidity and fine tannins.

Mitolo Jester Vermentino 2010 $20–24
McLaren Vale, South Australia
Italy’s white vermentino variety grows principally in Sardinia and Liguria. This one, made by Ben Glaetzer, comes from Frank Mitolo’s vineyard at Willunga, McLaren Vale. It’s just 10 per cent alcohol with simple, fresh-from-the-vine tropical fruit notes dominating the aroma and flavour. The combination of vibrant, fresh fruit, low alcohol and dry, zesty finish make it a good match for light, fresh food. It’s a drink-now wine, so not for the cellar.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Helm Canberra District Classic Dry Riesling 2010 $28
Ken Helm launched his new vintage riesling at the same time as his first book, “Riesling in Australia”, co-authored with Trish Burgess. The book, selling for $49.50 through Winetitles, Adelaide, makes interesting reading, especially for riesling nuts. And the wine makes another strong statement for Canberra riesling, especially as it comes from the small and difficult 2010 vintage. It’s low in alcohol at 11.5 per cent and tastes markedly higher in acid than previous vintages – two endearing attributes as both make for great delicacy, and the acid accentuates the intense, lemony varietal flavour and lingering, brisk finish. This is outstanding and built to last.

Les Petites Vignettes

• Alsace Pinot Blanc 2008 $18–$21
• Alsace Late Harvest Pinot Gris 2007 375ml $28–$33

Les Petites Vignettes is a Foster’s brand, made in France and sealed with screw caps –a great advantage for fresh young whites like this Alsacian pair. In Australia, there’s very little pinot blanc, a white mutant of pinot noir. But it’s reasonably common in Alsace where it makes full flavoured dry whites. This one’s pure and minerally with a spicy note, rich texture and fresh, dry finish. The late picked, dessert-style pinot gris, another pinot noir mutant, is luscious, delicious, viscous and fresh with a firm, finishing tweak of tannin.

Yellow Tail

• Shiraz 2009 $6–$10
• Reserve Shiraz 2008 $11–$15
• Reserve Chardonnay 2008 $11–15

Despite yellow tail’s runaway success in America the Casella family still finds stock to service the Australian market. The basic shiraz can be found on special at $6, or fully priced at $10.  It’s a decent, ripe, full-flavoured style, big on fruit and easy to drink – one to throw down at the BBQ and ask no questions. The reserve version offers ripe, spicy varietal flavours, but its deeper and more interesting, and interwoven savoury flavours, partly derived from oak maturation. Reserve Chardonnay, too, includes a touch of oak, but the main focus is clean, pure melon and peach varietal chardonnay flavour.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010