Rutherglen Estate Fiano 2009 $21.95
Rutherglen, Victoria
A number of Australian vignerons, mainly in hotter regions, now grow fiano, a white native of Italy’s warm, dry Campania region. Rutherglen Estate’s well made 2009, its second vintage, gives a good impression of what to expect from the variety. It’s clean, fresh, zesty, richly textured and dry. The varietal template says to expect “herbal, nutty, smoky spicy notes and hazelnut”. I found herb and spice and touch of pear – even a nice savoury touch, but, alas, not nuts.

Teusner “The Independent” Shiraz Mataro 2008 $22
Barossa Valley, South Australia
Kym Teusner is one of many young, well connected, energetic winemakers now revealing the beautiful colours and tones of Barossa shiraz, mataro and grenache. “The Independent” – sourced from old low-yielding vines in the Ebenezer, Kalimna and Moppa areas of north Barossa – expresses the ripe, dark-berry flavours, opulence and softness of shiraz, tempered by the spiciness and firm, savoury tannins of mataro (aka mourvedre). This is a wonderful regional specialty.

Printhie Shiraz 2008 $17
Orange, New South Wales
Printhie, founded in 1996, owns 33 hectares of vines at Molong within the official Orange Region boundary. It’s a diverse region, making good chardonnay in the higher, cooler parts and delightful, fine-boned shiraz in the lower, warmer areas. Printhie 2008, made by Drew Tuckwell, appeals for current, medium bodied drinking. It’s in the aromatic, spicy, supple mould – an utter contrast to Teusner’s burlier Barossa style. Fine tannin and comparatively high acid seem to accentuate the vivid fruit flavours.

West End Shiraz 2008 $14.95
Hilltops Region, Young, New South Wales
West End, from the Hilltops region, sits stylistically between the Barossa and Orange shirazes reviewed here. It’s fuller bodied than the Orange wine, but still medium bodied – and delivers the distinctive plump, juicy fruity flavours and soft tannins of Hilltops shiraz. While it lacks the depth, length and polished tannins to get to the next star level, it offers tasty, satisfying drinking at the price Bill Calabria’s team makes it down at Griffith, New South Wales.

Campbells Classic Muscat 500ml $41.90
Rutherglen, Victoria
Rutherglen’s unique, luscious muscats come in four categories – Rutherglen, Classic, Grand and Rare – each representing a step up in age, richness and complexity. Campbell’s basic version, like raisened muscat grapes on a pogo stick, sells for $18.80. But it’s worth stepping up to “Classic”. It’s slightly darker in colour, slightly more olive green at the rim and notably more luscious. It also has the patina of age – a complex of aromas and flavours described by the Spanish as “rancio” – a sniff and a sip brings enlightenment.

Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 $85
Margaret River, Western Australia
I wonder if David Hohnen imagined the class and polish of today’s wines when he founded Cape Mentelle in 1970? Hohnen’s now involved in McHenry Hohnen, but Moet Hennessy Australia, with Robert Mann in the winery, keep Cape Mentelle atop Australia’s cabernet pinnacle. The 2007 is as good as any in the brand’s long history: it’s built on fine, concentrated, ripe varietal flavours, interwoven with sweet, cedary oak and firm but silk-smooth tannins. Mann says the fruits from three blocks planted on the Walcliffe vineyard in 1970 and a parcel from 35 year-old vines at Wilyabrup.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Domain Day Mount Crawford One Serious Riesling 2009 $20
Henschke Eden Valley Julius Riesling 2009 $25–$30
A couple of smart rieslings here – one from the Eden Valley, the other from neighbouring Mount Crawford. We tested them with Chinese food and both did the job well, though in this situation we preferred the vivid, sweet fruit and delicate, dry finish of the Domain Day wine by a small margin. It’s made by Robin Day, a veteran riesling maker and for years, before setting up his own vineyard, head of white wine making at Orlando. The Henschke wine has a tighter structure with rich underlying texture, suggesting a good cellaring future.

Penfolds Reserve Bin 08A Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2008 $80–$90
Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay 2007 $120–$130
Penfolds ‘white Grange’ project of the nineties produced the flagship, Yattarna Chardonnay and several other spin offs, like this Bin 08A from the Adelaide Hills – a taut, bone-dry, intense style showing quite strong aromas and flavours derived from maturation in barrel on yeast lees. It’s built to last. The vivid, beautiful Yattarna combines fruit from the Derwent Valley, Adelaide Hills and Henty, Victoria. But the real magic, I suspect, comes from the Tasmanian component, sourced from Derwent Estate. If Penfolds are serious about chardonnay they ought to buy this vineyard and produce an estate wine from it – that’s where the future lies.

Teusner Barossa Valley Joshua 2009 $28
Joshua is Kym Teusner’s unoaked blend of 60 per cent grenache, 30 per cent mourvedre (or mataro) and 10 per cent shiraz, sourced from very old vines (up to 95 years old, says Teusner) mainly from the Barossa’s Ebenezer, Kalimna, Greenock and Moppa sub-regions. It’s a brilliant, completely irresistible drop led by the fragrance and juicy suppleness of grenache. In fact, the fruit’s off the leash and romping as soon as the cap comes off the bottle. Under the boisterous grenache, though, lies the fine, tannic backbone and spiciness of mourvedre and the weight and richness of shiraz.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Cullens Kevin John Chardonnay 2008 $75
Margaret River, Western Australia
Our best winemakers invariably bring a wide frame of reference to their work. Vanya Cullen, for example, stages a tasting of the world’s best chardonnays every year in the family winery. It’s a benchmarking exercise that’s helped lift Cullens Chardonnay, named for Vanya’s late father, into Australia’s top tier. It’s a subtle, fine, beautiful wine that grows on you, building in intensity and interest with every sip. We savoured our bottle over a trout salad at Yellow Bistro, Potts Point.

Majella Shiraz 2008 $28
Coonawarra, South Australia
Excuse the disgusting slurping sounds. But you have to chew, even frolic, in a shiraz this voluptuous. It’s a surprising wine for Coonawarra – big on alcohol at 15% and big on fruit. But there’s no heat in the alcohol and no jammy, overripe flavours in the fruit – just pure, varietal berries. And typical of Majella there’s a well judged dollop of oak meshed with the fruit flavours. This is a seductive drop indeed; simply irresistible.

Shaw Vineyard Estate Premium Cabernet Merlot 2008 $25
Murrumbateman, Canberra District, New South Wales
Graeme Shaw and Bryan Currie make both a straight cabernet sauvignon and this blend with 15 per cent merlot – all sourced from Shaw’s Murrumbateman vineyard. They’re polished wines featuring pristine varietal fruit flavours. But the blend, to my taste, is the more complete wine of the two. There’s a little more plummy ripeness in the aroma and a tasty bulge of ripe fruit on the mid palate, presumably the merlot, filling out the famous cabernet hole.

Turkey Flat Mourvedre 2008 $35
Barossa Valley, South Australia
Turkey Flat vineyard dates from 1847. The Schulz family bought it in 1870. But the Turkey Flat label appeared only in 1990 when Peter and Christie Schulz took over. In recent years they’ve spared a portion of wine from their old mourvedre vines for special bottling. It’s a late ripening variety and Schulz reckons this, and a vigorous canopy, saved it from the Barossa’s savage March 2008 heatwave. The resulting tiny, black berries made a distinctive, delightfully fruity, savoury wine.

Grove Estate The Italian Sangiovese Barbera 2008 $20
Hilltops, New South Wales
What do you get when you cross two Italian varieties – taut, savoury, pale, tannic sangiovese with fruity, fleshy, crimson-rimmed, acidic barbera? Well, for Brian Mullany and the gang at Grove Estate you get a tasty medium-coloured, medium bodied Italian-style quaffer. There’s a nice core of fruit laced with the sort of savoury, drying tannins that go well with savoury food and char-grilled meats of all kinds. This is just the entry wine for this impressive vineyard. Watch for more.

Mount Horrocks Semillon 2009 $27
Clare Valley, South Australia
They say the word “semillon”, unaccompanied by “sauvignon blanc” on a label is the kiss of death. Perhaps “they” haven’t tried Stephanie Toole’s glorious Clare Valley version. It’s completely oak fermented and matured – a process that, sensitively executed, accentuates the pure, lemony varietal flavour while adding structure, texture and complexity, but not oakiness. It’s a mile away from the idiosyncratic, austere Hunter style of semillon; but not as full bodied as chardonnay. It’s a must try if you enjoy full-flavoured but fine-boned whites.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Moss Wood ‘Moss Wood Vineyard’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 $90–$100
Margaret River, Western Australia
This is a class act from one of Margaret River’s original and great vineyards, founded by Bill and Sandra Pannell in 1969 and later taken over by Keith and Clare Mugford. It’s blend of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and petit verdot – like a Medoc without merlot. Not that there’s anything missing from Moss Wood 2007 – it’s complete and elegant, featuring layers of ripe berry flavours in a matrix of firm but smooth tannins, seasoned with notes of cedary oak. This is a very good vintage of a wine with a reputation for long-term cellaring.

Chateau Les Maurins 2008 $9.99
Bordeaux, France
Alas, Bordeaux, the world’s cabernet capital bulges with overpriced, mediocre wines. Aldi, though, struck pay dirt with this Chateau Les Maurins. Handing me a glass of it, a friend asked, “What’s that”. “Claret”, I said and indeed it was – a rare example of a wine exactly matching the regional template: medium bodied, distinctly cabernet-like in Bordeaux’s own way and quite firm but not hard. It’s a decent drink-now steak wine at a fair price.

Barwang 842 Chardonnay 2007 $31–$35
Tumbarumba, New South Wales
In the early eighties, Tumbarumba’s pioneering vignerons set their sights on top-shelf bubbly, and succeeded. And the area’s cool climate also delivered superb, finely structured chardonnays. While these originally found their way into big-company flagship blends, including Penfolds Yattarna and Hardy’s Eileen Hardy, Tumbarumba ultimately triumphed in its own right. Many makers now offer beautiful, fine-boned expressions of this regional style. Barwang, made by Andrew Higgins, is a great example. At three years it’s young, fresh, intense and luxuriously textured.

Ravensworth Canberra District Marsanne 2009 $21
Murrumbateman, New South Wales
The Rhone Valley’s marsanne grape makes a variety of white styles, ranging from tough and rough to beautifully aromatic, rich and long lived. After only a few vintages Ravensworth enjoys a cult following as one of Australia’s best versions of the variety. It’s all wild-yeasted fermented in seasoned barrels, giving textural richness and a subtle patina of aroma and flavour over the bright, lemony varietal character. It’s miles removed from our usual white menu and simply delicious from first sip to last. Made Bryan Martin from fruit grown on the Martin and Kirk family vineyards.

Shelmerdine Pinot Noir 2009 $34
Yarra Valley, Victoria
This lovely wine comes from the Shelmerdine family’s biodynamic Lusatia Park vineyard – a high, cool site in the Yarra Valley. The wine captures the high toned, floral aromatics of ripe, cool-grown pinot, then delivers pleasurable depth of juicy, plush, luxurious fruit flavour – backed by serious, but soft, red wine tannins. Stephen Shelmerdine urges to us enjoy the wine in different ways according to the phases of Brian Keats’ Astro calendar. Our bottle gave equal pleasure over three nights.

Tamar Ridge Devil’s Corner Riesling 2008 $16–$22
Tamar Valley, Tasmania
A group of us recently tested Devil’s Corner with the spicy Thai food at Thirst Wine Bar and Eatery, Civic. In a word, delicious. The wine comes from the Kayena Vineyard, on the west banks of Tasmania’s Tamar River. The cool climate produces highly aromatic riesling with vibrant but delicate fruit flavour and comparatively high acidity. The acidity offsets the wine’s fruitiness and touch of sweetness, courtesy of nine grams per litre of unfermented grape sugar. What a great combination – a tease of chilli and a delicate, fruity, not quite dry white.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Four Winds Alinga Vineyard Canberra District

• Riesling 2009 $15.99
• Cabernet Merlot 2008 $15.99

Gundog Estate Gundaroo Shiraz 2008 $16.99
Early in May six Canberra wineries formed a collective to market good value local wines. They’ve set up display stands in about 20 local retail outlets, says Sarah Collingwood of Four Winds Vineyard, and offer a range of wines at under $17 a bottle. Alinga Riesling 2008, made by Collingwood’s sister Jaime Lunney, is a fresh, light bodied drop with pure varietal flavour and pleasing touch of residual sugar – an all purpose refresher or good company to spicy food. Alinga Cabernet Merlot also offers great value. And Gundog Estate’s shiraz is another very good expression of Canberra’s fine-boned, ripe but spicy and savoury shiraz style.

Majella Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 $30–$33
Some call vintage 2008 a schizophrenic vintage – the story of great fruit harvested before a prolonged, intense March heatwave and shrivelled fruit harvested afterwards. There’s some of this schizophrenia in this extraordinary Majella cabernet, product of the Lynn family’s vineyard, southern Coonawarra. Coonawarra’s elegant, right? Well this one weighs in at 15 per cent alcohol, it’s as black as Hades and one sip carries a bucket of flavour. This is the beginning of the split personality: it’s so powerful and alcoholic, but, yes, it’s still elegant. Further, the strong minty, leafy aroma suggests unripeness. But no, it’s ripe, supple and ripples with soft, juicy tannins.

Ravensworth Canberra District Shiraz Viognier 2008 and 2009 $27
Lerida Estate Canberra District Shiraz Viognier 2008 $59.90
Drinking Canberra shiraz is like being on a perpetual group honeymoon – all sweet, juicy pleasure. Just as we’re getting used to Ravensworth 2008’s ripe-berry-and-spice flavours and taut, savoury dry tannins, along comes its younger sibling from the 2009 vintage. It’s all sensuous, sweet fruit from aroma to palate, with slippery, soft tannins – and a brooding, moody depth that’ll retain your interest tomorrow, too. Lerida Estate is the sauce to Ravensworth’s stock – a simmering, concentrated version of the shiraz viognier blend: bold, saucy, voluptuously fruity and with real staying power. There’s a touch of class in all these wines.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Ant Moore Marlborough Pinot Gris 2009 $22
In 2002 former AIS student, Anthony Moore, moved to New Zealand, made wine at Isabella Estate, established his own vineyards in Marlborough’s Awatere, Waihopai and Wairau Valleys, later launching his own label. His delicious, pinot gris, from the Ant’s Nest vineyard, Waihopai Valley, delivers a fresh-pear like varietal flavour only ever achieved in very cool growing conditions. It’s crisp, dry and smoothly textured without the fatness that sometimes detracts from the variety.

Hewitson Lu Lu Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2010 $22
Sauvignon Blanc’s the white equivalent of Beaujolais – rippling with juicy, fresh-from-the-vine, grapey flavours, and never better than when it’s first released. While Marlborough dominates the market, Australia’s high, cool Adelaide Hills hits the mark, too, albeit in a different style. Dean Hewitson’s estate-grown version captures the exuberant, riper tropical-fruit end of the spectrum. It shimmers with passionfruit-like flavours, finishing brisk and dry.

Bleasdale Langhorne Creek ‘Second Innings’ Malbec 2008 $15
Malbec, Argentina’s signature red variety, barely hits the scale in Australia, accounting for just two thousand tonnes of our annual 900-thousand-tonne red harvest. But it’s an attractively perfumed, generously flavoured variety as we can see in this bargain from Bleasdale, Langhorne Creek’s oldest winery.  There’s no artifice here – just buckets of bright fruit flavour, reminiscent of very ripe mulberry, laced with soft, velvety tannins.

Barwang Hilltops Shiraz 2008 $20
Shiraz from the nearby Hilltops region (Young) tends to be slightly fuller bodied than the fine-boned Canberra style, with a drink-me-now fruitiness – a style exemplified by the supple, virtually unoaked, Eden Road 2008, winner of the 2009 Jimmy Watson Trophy. Barwang is a notch up on this for oak-derived complexity. But it shares an appealing, fleshy fruitiness, not unlike ripe black cherries. This is apt, as cherry farmer Peter Robertson planted the first vines on Barwang back in 1969.

Amisfield Central Otago Dry Riesling 2009 $30
New Zealand’s Central Otago region lies two degrees south of Hobart and its climate is marginal for late-ripening varieties. Riesling, for example, barely scraped through in 2009. But what a stunning, delicately floral aromatic wine resulted. It’s moderately alcoholic at 12.2 per cent; and a trace of residual sugar hardly registers on the palate as it’s offset by the flavour intensity, unique textural richness and steely acid backbone. This is thrilling stuff from winemaker Claire Mulholland.

Balnaves of Coonawarra The Tally Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 $90
The Balnaves family began a tentative move from contract grape growing to winemaking in 1990, later building a winery and employing former Wynns winemaker Pete Bissell. Their flagship red, The Tally, shows the great glory of Coonawarra cabernet. It’s saturated with pure, ripe cassis-like varietal flavour backed by classy oak and firm, ripe tannins. It’s a powerful, elegantly structured red built for long cellaring. Balnaves standard Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 ($35) rates only a notch or two behind.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Taylors Estate $15–$19

• Clare Valley Shiraz 2008
• Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
• Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir 2009
  

Taylors built its reputation on bold red styles from its very large Clare Valley Estate. The wines are notably more refined these days, though probably less cellar worthy. But nothing wrong with that if you’re after flavour and drinkability now. The shiraz is generous and soft – clearly a warm-climate style, but not over the top in the tannin, oak or alcohol departments. The cabernet is clearly varietal with ripe, blackcurrant-like flavour and a solid but not too firm structure. The pinot noir, from the Adelaide Hills, is a decent drink but doesn’t really capture the excitement of the variety.

Madfish ‘Sideways’ Margaret River Chardonnay 2009 $18–$20
Howard Park Great Southern Chardonnay 2009 $34–$38
For flavours that grow in interest as you sip through a bottle, tip out the sauvignon and head for modern chardonnay like these gems from Howard Park. They’re as fresh and zesty as any dry white but come with the subtle patina of flavours and textures derived from oak fermentation and maturation. In ‘Sideways’ this is very subtle indeed, mostly textural – it’s a simply delicious, fine-boned wine, built on bright fresh nectarine-like varietal flavour. Howard Park 2009 steps up in flavour intensity and interest – an exceptionally fine and taut but generous chardonnay, showing the more citrus-like end of the varietal flavour spectrum.

Balnaves of Coonawarra

• The Blend 2008 $19
• Cabernet Merlot 2008 $24
• Shiraz 2008 $24

Balnaves, located at the cooler, southern end of Coonawarra, originally grew grapes for local wineries. In1990 the family created the Balnaves brand, having the wine made off site until the mid nineties. After building a winery in the mid nineties they hired former Wynns winemaker Pete Bissell. The wines show real polish – beautifully made and with ripe berry flavours at the core. ‘The Blend’, a mainly cabernet sauvignon and merlot blend is solid and flavoursome in a Coonawarra way. The slightly more expensive Cabernet Merlot shows brighter fruit and finer, more elegant tannin structure. And the Shiraz show ripe berry flavours tinged with varietal peppery notes and assertive, firm finish.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010