Category Archives: Wine review

Wine review — Majella, Balnaves, Howard Park, Moss Wood

Majella The Musician Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz 2008 $18
Barwang Hilltops Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 $20

Prof and Tony Lynn’s Musician gives elegance a good name. It’s sourced entirely from the Lynn’s southern Coonawarra vineyard and made specifically for early drinking. It captures Coonawarra’s bright, magic berry aromas and flavours. And though it’s soft and easy to drink, it still has the structure of a real red. The sensational 2007 is still available around town, but we can move onto the vibrant 2008 with equal confidence when the 2007 sells out. I rate this as my top Australian red under $20. And for something chunkier and chewier, try the tight and tannic Barwang 2007 – a firm steak wine from the neighbouring Hilltops region.

Balnaves Coonawarra ‘The Tally’ 2007 $90
Balnaves Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 $35
Balnaves Coonawarra Cabernet Merlot 2007 $24

This one cuts the mustard in any company – a deep and powerful but elegant red built for long cellaring. It’s from two of Doug Balnave’s best vineyards and matured in top-notch new French oak – a classic example of ‘letting the wine eat the oak, not letting the oak eat the wine’. In a scaled down version, Balnaves Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 ($35) goes more than half way to ‘The Tally’ while Cabernet Merlot 2007 ($24) delivers drink-now Coonawarra flavour and elegance. This is a terrific estate offering great value.

Howard Park Scotsdale Great Southern Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 $40
Howard Park Leston Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 $40
Moss Wood Margaret River Moss Wood Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 $100

Scotsdale Great Southern presents ripe-berry flavours – in a lovely interplay with oak – without the leafy notes seen in the Margaret River wine. To me it’s the more outstanding of the two in 2007. The law of diminishing returns applies to wine, too. So, no, Moss Wood isn’t two and a half times better than the $40 Howard Park wines.  But there’s discernibly more body, extra flavour concentration and a lovely slick, silky depth – in the taut, elegant regional mould. The lofty price reflects scarcity and a hard-won reputation earned over many decades by one of Margaret River’s oldest vineyards (founded 1969). Pure class.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Aussie, French, US and Chilean cabernets reviewed

While shiraz and chardonnay slug it out for top spot (we produced 436 thousand and 445 thousand tonnes respectively in 2008), cabernet holds confidently to its less publicised third position at 254 thousand tonnes.

Like shiraz, it works in a variety of regions, if not as easily, producing robust, pleasing flavours – albeit with a boost, on occasion, through the addition of shiraz, merlot, malbec or petit verdot.

Like shiraz, it’s a variety that performs across price points from wine casks, to function wines to wines that can hold their own in any company in the world.

This is a review of some that’ve drifted across the Chateau Shanahan tasting bench recently.

Majella The Musician Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz 2008 $18
Prof and Tony Lynn’s Musician gives elegance a good name. It’s sourced entirely from the Lynn’s southern Coonawarra vineyard and made specifically for early drinking. It captures Coonawarra’s bright, magic berry aromas and flavours. And though it’s soft and easy to drink, it still has the structure of a real red. The sensational 2007 is still available around town, but we can move onto the vibrant 2008 with equal confidence when the 2007 sells out. I rate this as my top Australian red under $20.

Knappstein Clare Valley Enterprise Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 $42
Alas, the musty, mouldy reek of cork taint ruined a wine that, on reputation, should’ve been superb. We could be generous to the winemakers and say, oh dear, what bad luck. But realistically, guys, you make your own luck with seals these days. How about a screw cap next vintage?

Balnaves Coonawarra ‘The Tally’ 2007 $90
This one cuts the mustard in any company – a deep and powerful but elegant red built for long cellaring. It’s from two of Doug Balnave’s best vineyards and matured in top-notch new French oak – a classic example of ‘letting the wine eat the oak, not letting the oak eat the wine’. In a scaled down version, Balnaves Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 ($35) and Cabernet Merlot 2007 ($24) also deliver Coonawarra flavour, elegance and drinkability. This is a great estate.

Stags’ Leap Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 $60
Farmer Bros imported this into Canberra in the late seventies and early eighties when good Australian cabernets were scarce. The competition’s fiercer now (cabernet’s second only to shiraz in volume), so at $60 it’s a bold move by Foster’s. It’s big, ripe style of cabernet, with juicy, blackcurrant-like flavours offset by firm, ripe tannins. It looks young and fresh at four years’ age and probably will drink well for a decade or two. A superb wine.

Barwang Hilltops Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 $20
This is a solid cabernet, made by McWilliams from their Barwang Vineyard located at nearby Young (the Hilltops region). The underlying ripe, varietal flavours manage to push up through assertive, firm, drying tannins. Needs a good chunk of protein (rare steak would be good) to cut through that firm structure. Very good value and sometimes discounted well below the $20 recommended price.

Penny’s Hill McLaren Vale Cabernet 2007 $24
This is a big, ripe red from the warm McLaren Vale region. The firm tannins suggest cabernet, but in the aroma and flavour the varietal character becomes a little blurred. It’s a nice, chunky red offering fair value.

Howard Park Scotsdale Great Southern Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 $40
We return to sharp varietal definition in two contrasting Howard Park wines from individual vineyards in Western Australia’s Great Southern and Margaret River regions. The Great Southern wine presents ripe-berry flavours – in a lovely interplay with classy oak – without the leafy notes (usually indicative of a cool season) seen in the Margaret River wine. Scotsdale features very intense, very young flavours and taut, elegant structure.

Howard Park Leston Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 $40
Just as in the Scotsdale vineyard wine, high-quality oak plays a dominant flavour role in Leston. It’s symbiotic relationship between oak and fruit that lifts the wine to a more complex, enjoyable level. There’s crystal-clear varietal definition, too, with that ‘leafy’ edge adding more complexity, as it doesn’t descend into green, unripe characters. In this wine it’s part of a harmonious, high-toned, elegant cabernet of considerable strength. These Howard Park cabernets are strong, characterful wines needing a few more years’ bottle age to reveal their best.

Moss Wood Margaret River Moss Wood Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 $100
The law of diminishing returns applies as much to the wine world as any other. So, no, Moss Wood isn’t two and a half times better than the $40 Howard Park wines.  But there’s discernibly more body, extra flavour concentration and a lovely slick, silky depth – in the taut, elegant regional mould. The lofty price reflects scarcity and a hard-won reputation earned over many decades by one of Margaret River’s oldest vineyards (founded 1969). Pure class.

Cape Mentelle Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 $84
This is another of the time-proven Margaret River cabernets, founded by David Hohnen in 1970 and now owned by Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. It’s a firmer, more tannic wine than the Moss Wood with quite strong ‘tomato leaf’ character seasoning the riper, underlying cabernet berry flavours. While the austerity of the tannins seems in keeping with a cabernet of this fruit intensity, I suspect it’s not one of the Cape Mentelle greats and I have a caveat on the persistent ‘leafy’ character in this wine. At this price caveats are significant.

Juniper Estate Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 $40
Juniper, too, comes from old (36 years) Margaret River vines, and, like Cape Mentelle, shows some austere tannins. But there’s a good depth of varietal fruit to match – adding up to good value in this distinguished company.

Helm Premium Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 $52
For the second year in a row Ken Helm (hand-in-hand with grape grower Al Lustenberger) has banished the green notes that blighted too many Canberra cabernets in the past. The 2006 is opulent by comparison with those earlier wines. Indeed, there’s a plush depth to the fruit, good varietal definition and ripe, firm tannins to hold it all together. But there’s one last frontier for Ken to conquer – oak – if he’s to justify the $52 price tag and bear comparison with the greats. The Howard Park, Moss Wood, and Balnaves wines in particular demonstrate how the right oak lifts high-calibre wine to another flavour and structural dimension.

Chateau Peyrabon Haut-Medoc 2005 $29.40
As a retailer I made several trips to Bordeaux seeking mid-priced cabernets for the Australian market – but gave up. The quality was there in abundance at higher prices. But occasionally, it seems, $30 wines, like this Woolworths’ import for its Dan Murphy chain, just trip over the ‘value’ line. It’s not comparable in style, say, to Balnaves cabernet at $24. But it’s a decent, solid wine from a strong vintage, featuring ripe fruit and the classic, austere ‘claret’ tannin structure. It’s fully priced at $29.40, so watch for the specials!

Montes Apalta Vineyard Colchagua Valley Chile Cabernet Sauvignon Carmenere 2007 $14.60
Note to Woolies’ wine buyers: have you actually tasted this?

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Wine review — Clonakilla, Overstone, Annie’s Lane and d’Arenberg

Clonakilla Canberra District Jack Reidy Shiraz 2008 $27–$30
Clonakilla’s Tim Kirk made this blend for the Wesfarmer owned Vintage Cellars chain, using fruit from the Long Rail Gully, Dean Terrell and Phil Williams vineyards. It’s a close cellar mate to Clonakilla O’Riada Shiraz ($35 cellar door) – but without the benefit of declassified components from Clonakilla’s flagship shiraz-viognier blend. It’s in the fine-boned, savoury Canberra style, albeit a little tart and raw on first opening. But exposure to air rounds these edges, revealing the underlying pure, lovely cool-climate shiraz flavours. I’d suggest future vintages might allow a couple of extra months each in oak and bottle before release.

Overstone Marlborough Pinot Noir 2008 $12–$14
Pinot noir comes in a wide spectrum of styles, from pale and sweetish rosés, to voluptuous, silky, long-lived reds that can be very firm when young. This one sits in between. It’s medium ruby in colour, intensely aromatic, and unmistakably pinot – but towards the lighter end of the variety’s flavour spectrum. The flavour’s bright, pure and varietal. And the structure of zesty acid and fine tannin puts it squarely in the light-to-medium bodied luncheon style – a red to serve lightly chilled in warm weather.  Overstone is sold only through the Woolworths owned Dan Murphy liquor chain.

Annie’s Lane Clare Valley Riesling 2008 $16–$20
d’Arenberg McLaren Vale Viognier Marsanne 2008 $13–$15

These contrasting, fruity dry whites suit spicy Asian food well. At a refreshingly low 11.5% alcohol, Annie’s Lane delivers riesling’s lovely floral aromatics and flavours and crisp, lemon fresh finish. The bright fruit and crispness made it an easy match for a range of spicy to hot dishes at the Taj Mahal, a restaurant that appears not to have changed since the mid seventies. In d’Arenberg’s white blend, marsanne tempers the viognier, a variety that tends to be a little too fat, juicy on its own. The result is a very fruity, round and soft wine with enough acid to carry the varied food at Sammy’s Kitchen.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Wine review — Printhie, Peppertree, Penfolds, Seppeltsfield and Brokenwood

Printhie Orange Chardonnay 2008 $15–$17
Peppertree Venus Block Orange Chardonnay 2008 $24–$26
Penfolds Bin 311 Tumbarumba Chardonnay 2008 $35–$43

These wines present three different faces of local, cool-grown chardonnay. Printhie, from the cool heights of Mount Canobolas, Orange, expresses the zesty, fresh and delicious citrus flavours of the variety unadorned by winemaking tricks. The Penfolds wine, from Tumbarumba, in the lee of the Snowies, presents a complex but very finely textured, tending to austere, face of chardonnay built to last. And Pepper Tree displays the full gamut of winemaker inputs related to oak maturation and secondary fermentation. It’s notably fuller bodied than the other two, but retains the racy freshness of cool-grown chardonnay.

Seppeltsfield Barossa fortified wines 500ml

  • Vera Viola Oloroso DP38 $32
  • Clara Blanc Amontillado DP116 $26
  • Flora Fino DP117 $22

Our December 2008 agreement with Europe spells the end of ‘sherry’, ‘oloroso’, ‘amontillado’ and ‘fino’ on our wine labels. Instead we’ll see, from some makers at least, ‘sherry’ replaced by ‘apera’ (a frivolous play on ‘aperitif’) and from Seppeltsfield the proprietary terms Vera Viola, Clara Blanc and Flora, in company with the familiar old DP numbers, replacing ‘oloroso’, ‘amontillado’ and ‘fino’. Whatever they’re called though, these are three of the most decorated, delicious and overlooked wines in Australia – the fine, dust-dry, tangy Flora; rich, dry, nutty Clara Blanc; and the fine, luscious, mellow Vera Viola.

Brokenwood Brycefield, Belford Vineyards Hunter Valley Semillon 2005 $36
The best Hunter semillons need years of bottle age – sometimes decades – to develop their greatest flavours. They’re low alcohol wines (this one’s just 11 per cent) and when young tend to delicacy, purity and austerity – a pleasing combination with some foods. Age takes the edge off the austerity and complex flavours develop around the core lemony varietal character, arriving at a distinctive ‘toasty’ phase perhaps ten or twenty years from vintage. This beautiful blend, from vineyards in the Hunter’s Lovedale and Belford sub-regions, leans towards the youthful, pure, zesty, delicate phase – but at four years’ age the first, subtle mature notes are beginning to show.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Wine review — Wallaroo, Coriole and Chapel Hill

Wallaroo Wines Canberra District Shiraz 2006 $28
This delicious, fine-boned shiraz, from Canberra’s Hall sub-region, earned a silver medal a few weeks back in Decanter magazine’s World Wine Awards, London – putting it in the top 13 per cent of the approximately ten thousand wines judged at the  event. Roger Harris made the wine at Brindabella Hills Winery, using fruit from the neighbouring Wallaroo Vineyard. It’s notably paler in colour than the three McLaren Vale shirazes reviewed below. But that’s exactly what you’d expect from cooler Canberra – fine, elegant wines with silky texture and intense berry and spice flavours. This is a lovely regional style. See www.wallaroowines.com.au

Coriole McLaren Vale Redstone Shiraz$16–$19
Coriole McLaren Vale Estate Grown Shiraz 2006 $25–$28

Coriole’s a consistent McLaren Vale performer, offering harmonious, full, ripe regional reds that never tip into the over-ripe, porty style and always come with a satisfying savoury edge. Redstone, an old favourite, delivers bright, fruity flavours and soft tannins with the appreciable extra dimension of age (2006 vintage versus the more usual 2007 or 2008 at this price). Its cellar mate, sourced entirely from Coriole Estate (in the Vale’s Seaview sub-region) offers more intense flavours, savouriness and an appealing supple, smooth texture – though there’s a good load of tannin there to match the fruit. Should cellar well for a decade or so.

Chapel Hill McLaren Vale Shiraz 2007 $27–$30
Chapel Hill McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 $27–$30

Chapel Hill winery backs onto the Onkaparinga Gorge, high up in McLaren and built its reputation under the now retired Pam Dunsford. Michael Fragos, an old McLaren Vale hand, formerly with Tatachilla, now makes the wine. These are at the big end of the regional style. But they’re well balanced, with crystal clear varietal character. While shiraz is the regional specialty, cabernet performs well, too, as the robust Chapel Hill demonstrates – it’s full, firm and offers the rich mid-palate flavour sometimes missing in warm-climate styles. The shiraz is very deep and purple rimmed with pure, ripe-black-cherry varietal flavour.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Wine review — Ninth Island, Toolangi, Mud House, Main Ridge and Cloudy Bay

Ninth Island Tasmania Pinot Noir 2008 $20–24
Toolangi Yarra Valley Pinot Noir 2007 $22–25

With a few exceptions, the entry price for decent Australian pinot seems to be around $20. But that’s the nature of a beast that needs a cool climate and low yields to deliver flavour and structure. Ninth Island (part of Pipers Brook, owned by Belgium-based Kreglinger) and Toolangi are two very good examples of entry-level pinot. Ninth Island seems light and fine at first sip, but there’s a depth to it that grows as you sip irresistibly to the end of the bottle. Toolangi, from Yarra Valley, perhaps because of its extra age, offers more savouriness and earthiness.

Mud House Central Otago Pinot Noir 2007 $25–$28
The comparatively recent, emphatic arrival of Central Otago pinot noir on the world wine scene gives us such names as Felton Road, Chard Farm, Rockburn, Carrick, Mt Difficulty and Mount Edward. Their quality and fame also means a $50-plus price tag. But the recent arrival in Australia of Mud House gives us a decent pinot from the region at a modest (for pinot) price. Made in Marlborough from fruit grown in Central Otago’s Bendigo sub-region, Mud House offers ripe, well-defined pinot flavour supported by soft but assertive red-wine tannin. It doesn’t need cellaring and should be enjoyed over the next two or three years.

Main Ridge Mornington Peninsula Half Acre Pinot Noir 2007 $65
Cloudy Bay Marlborough Pinot Noir 2007 $54–60

This is a classy pair of pinots, one from the Moet-Hennessy-Louis-Vuitton-owned Cloudy Bay at Marlborough New Zealand, the other from the White family’s tiny Mornington Peninsula estate. Main Ridge showed terrific promise tasted from barrel in January 2008. Tastes of the finished wine in February and May this year confirm it as one of the finest ever made in Australia, in my opinion – a silky, succulent, fine-boned wine of rare dimension, with the capacity to age for many years. Cloudy Bay offers the darker fruit flavours (like ripe black cherry or plum) of the pinot spectrum, with good structure, depth and cellaring potential.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

A yummy Hunter shiraz tasting

Ask any retailer and they’ll tell you Hunter shiraz is a hard sell. In the past it’s been described as tasting of sweaty saddles, old boots and even a gypsy’s nether regions. Like its white cellar mate, semillon, Hunter shiraz remains an intensely loved, niche wine style with tremendous ageing ability. The best are profound and – surprisingly when you look at the northerly latitude and hot climate of the Hunter – medium bodied and refined.

For a period in the eighties and nineties some Hunter shirazes caught the oak craze. But rather than push the region’s shiraz into the full-bodied mainstream, strong oak flavour and tannin simply swamped the delicate fruit – prompting one veteran Hunter maker, Phil Laffer, to say he’d shoot any winemaker using new oak.

But for every action there’s a reaction, and from the nineties we’ve seen a resurgence of Hunter shiraz making. Vignerons with a great respect for the old, long-lived styles and the patches of old vines in the Valley now produce a great diversity of top shiraz within the distinctive, medium-bodied, earthy mould.

Probably all of the best makers hold in awe the extraordinary Maurice O’Shea reds of the forties and early fifties – sourced largely from vines that still exist on McWilliams Mount Pleasant property, in the lee of the Brokenback Range.

And thanks to the Lindemans maturation cellar, established by Ray Kidd in the sixties, the same makers, and many wine drinkers of my generation, will have tasted classics from Lindemans Ben Ean vineyard, Pokolbin. Rare bottles of the 1965 Hunter River Burgundy Bin 3110 and Bin 3100 (one with a dash of pinot with the shiraz) still drink well. And has there ever been a better Hunter red (or, indeed, Australian red) than the beautiful 1959 Hunter River Burgundy Bin 1590?

Lindemans rationed small quantities of it into the market during the seventies and eighties from its air-conditioned, humidified cellars. I remember the final release (not sure if it was late eighties or early nineties). I worked for Farmer Bros at the time and we placed a dozen bottles in the cellar under the Manuka store (now Vintage Cellars) – kept at a constant 12 degrees.

We aimed to share the occasional bottle, hopefully over the next several decades as treasures like this should never be rushed. But, alas, Farmers went belly up in the last recession and Liquorland (owned at the time by Coles Myer) ended up with the stores and the stock.

Several months later, in mid 1995 and now working for Liquorland, I was there when the precious case appeared at a suppliers’ dinner in the Hunter. What an impressive stunt – every last trophy bottle slipped down the hatch in one evening. But I had the good fortune to sit with Len Evans, and shared the bottle he’d so carefully slipped under the table. There it was, 36 years old, gloriously, ethereally delicious and good for many more years.

While the precious old O’Shea and Lindemans wines inspired winemakers, Tyrrell’s and McWilliams, thanks to winemaker Phil Ryan, had kept working on the regional style without a break. And from the eighties, Brokenwood’s ‘Graveyard Vineyard’ shiraz took on a legendary status. This, perhaps more than any other single wine, restored respect to Hunter shiraz.

It’s at the full-bodied end of the Hunter spectrum – but far lighter, say, than Barossa or McLaren Vale shirazes. The just-released 2007 fetches $140 a bottle and back vintages are always in strong demand at auction.

Its release, alongside several other wonderful top-end Hunter shirazes, prompted this column. These are wonderful wines with proven cellaring ability and all from great old vineyards.  Anyone who’s kept a cellar knows that it’s not always rewarding. From my experience well-chose Hunter shiraz usually comes up trumps. Recent examples include maturing but youthful Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Shiraz 1994, McWilliams Maurice O’Shea Shiraz 2000, McWilliams Rosehill Vineyard Shiraz 1998, Vintage Cellars Somerset Vineyard Shiraz 1997.

Brokenwood Graveyard Vineyard Hunter Valley Shiraz 2007 $140
The deepest coloured of the five wines in the tasting, Graveyard is still limpid and crimson rimmed. It’s ripe and earthy with noticeable, sympathetic oak. The fruit’s deep, concentrated and layered and the oak gives a spicy bite – but the tannins are soft. This one will age for decades. Vine age 39 years’; Graveyard vineyard. Screw cap.

Tulloch Private Bin Pokolbin Dry Red Shiraz 2007 $35
This is the third vintage of the reborn Tulloch Private Bin Red, a once legendary, long-cellaring wine that was as much an icon to the red drinkers of the fifties as Grange is today. This is pure, beautifully made Hunter shiraz – intensely flavoured, finely structured, silk smooth and elegant. There’s not a rough edge to it – tribute to superb fruit and sympathetic wine making. It should drink beautifully for decades if well cellared. The Tulloch label returned to the Tulloch family in 2001 after 32 years under corporate ownership. Vine age 100 years plus; Tallawanta Vineyard. Screw cap.

Mount Pleasant Maurice O’Shea Hunter Valley Shiraz 2005 $65
This is another comparatively big Hunter wine at 15 per cent alcohol. It’s ripe and earthy with just the first notes of maturity showing. There’s quite a bite to this one, both from tannin and oak, but the flavour depth and firm structure suggest long-term cellaring. Vine age over 125 years; Old Hill Vineyard. Screw cap.

Mount Pleasant OP&OH Hunter Valley Shiraz 2004 $39.99
While this is still big in alcohol at 14.5 per cent, it’s notably lighter bodied than the Maurice O’Shea wine. There’s spiciness to the aroma, nicely seasoning the warm, earthy Hunter aroma. The spiciness comes through, too, on the warm, supple, earthy palate giving a pleasing twist in the otherwise, soft, gentle finish. Another classy wine needing time, if only the cork survives – wine had already penetrated two-thirds of the one in the sample bottle. Vine age: from 1921 on the Old Paddock (OP) vineyard and from 1880 on the adjacent Old Hill vineyard (OH). Cork.

Mount Pleasant Rosehill Vineyard Hunter Valley Shiraz 2004 $33.99
Maurice O’Shea planted the Rosehill vineyard in 1946 near what is now Lake’s Folly vineyard, several kilometres from the Mount Pleasant property. This is the lightest bodied of the three Mount Pleasant reds and probably the least adorned with winemaker artefacts. It’s warm, mellow and earthy on the nose with a delicious, medium-bodied, earthy palate, finishing soft, with a little spicy twist. Long cellaring if the cork holds (had already travelled one centimetre in the sample bottle. Vine age: 58 years; Rosehill Vineyard.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Wine tasting — McWilliams Hanwood and Crittenden Estate

McWilliam’s Hanwood Chardonnay 2007 $9–$13
This is the story of the cheeky ocker wine that took on posh champs from around the world and won! In the Chardonnay du Monde competition, Burgundy, in March, humble Hanwood earned a gold medal and a top-10 placing. It’s not an unusual achievement for a cheaper Australian wine. And it underscores the value of cross-regional blending. In this case the McWilliam winemakers blended warm grown (and cheaper) chardonnay with more elegant, intensely flavoured material from cooler regions – achieving economy, flavour and freshness without heaviness. It’s consistently one of the best, so simply move on to the next vintage when this one’s gone.

Crittenden Estate Mornington Peninsula The Zumma Pinot Noir 2007 $49.99
I think Mornington offers more top-end pinot than any Australian region at present – a position that may change over time. It’s clearly well suited to the variety, has a substantial mass of plantings and almost thirty years’ intensive work under its belt. The Zumma is a great example of what the region can achieve. It’s sourced from the Crittenden family’s vineyard, established in 1982 in the very early days of Australia’s fascination with this great Burgundian variety. The wine’s heady perfume, richness and depth belie its light colour – but that’s pinot. It’s finely structured, silky textured, pure and complex.

Crittenden Estate Los Hermanos Tempranillo 2008 $30
Garry Crittenden, one of Australia’s pioneers of alternate varieties, blazed a trail with Italian varietals before turning, with the help of his children, Rollo and Zoe, to Spanish reds and whites. Among them, they’ve produced an exciting Los Hermanos Tempranillo 2008. It’s deep and crimson rimmed with fragrant, ripe, fruity aroma and plush, juicy palate with flavours reminiscent of very ripe cherries. But there’s plenty of soft tannin layered in with the fruit so that even though it’s very young and very enjoyable now it has the grip and texture of real red. It’s sourced from the Crittenden’s vineyard at Patterson Lake, 20km north of the Mornington Peninsula.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Wine review — Ara and Penfolds

Ara Marlborough Composite Pinot Noir 2007 $24–$27
Ara Marlborough Pathway Pinot Noir 2008 $19–$22

Nowhere is the old saying ‘by their fruits shall you know them’ more apt than in winemaking – a wine that speaks for itself beats even the fruitiest press release. And these two new releases from Ara did just that -– ‘Pathway’ presenting a particularly bright and zesty face (but still with savouriness); and ‘Composite’ focusing more on savouriness (but still with bright fruit). They’re absolutely outstanding – wines that build in interest as you sip through the bottle. Encouragingly, both blossomed for a few days after tasting, a good indicator of cellaring ability. They’re from a terrace on the junction of Marlborough’s Wairau and Waihopai Valleys.

Ara Marlborough Composite Sauvignon Blanc 2008 $19–$22
Ara Marlborough Pathway Sauvignon Blanc 2008 $16–$19

Like the pinot above these come from a large terrace near the junction of Marlborough’s Wairau and Waihopai Valleys. The terrace covers some 1,600 hectares and contains vines of varying ages. And like the pinot’s they’re outstanding wines. ‘Pathway’ is on the pungent, high-acid side of sauv blanc – but has a fruity depth to make these attributes tantalising. ‘Composite’ shows a wider spectrum of sauv blanc characters – a bit pungent, a bit tropical fruit and with an appealing, minerally dry finish. Ara is an exciting new face on the Marlborough wine scene. It’s headed by Dr Damian Martin. What an impressive debut.

Penfolds Grange 2004 ($550) and other ‘icon’ wines, various prices
Don’t look for massive discounts on the just released Penfolds Grange 2004. Global demand, shortage and stellar quality should kick this vintage off at around $550 a bottle – and it’s up there with the best. The other wines are as sublime, each in its own way: the powerful, cellarable Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 707 2006 ($185); the fragrant, opulent, gorgeous RWT Barossa Shiraz 2006 ($170); the graceful Magill Estate 2006 $100); the taut, elegant, low-oak St Henri 2005 ($95); the elegant, refined Yattarna Chardonnay 2006 ($130) and the bold, complex Reserve Bin A Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2007 ($90).

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Wine review — Tyrrell’s, Tulloch and Penfolds

Tyrrell’s Rufus Stone Heathcote Shiraz 2007 $16–$24
Tyrrell’s Rufus Stone McLaren Vale Shiraz 2007 $16–$24

This excellent pair from Tyrrell’s invariably attracts trade attention, resulting in very low prices for wines of such quality and provenance. As I write they’re available for as little as $15.99 by the dozen – a real bargain as they drink so deliciously and have the capacity to age well for another five or six years. The Heathcote (Victoria) wine is a big but harmonious red — generously fruity and showing peppery varietal character with fine, soft tannins.  The McLaren Vale wine presents the riper, warm-grown face of shiraz with chocolaty rich flavours and distinctive regional savouriness.

Tulloch Private Bin Pokolbin Dry Red Shiraz 2007 $35
This is the third vintage of the reborn Tulloch Private Bin Red, a once legendary, long-cellaring wine that was as much an icon to the red drinkers of the fifties as Grange is today. The modern version’s made from the 100-plus-year-old vines of the Tallawanta vineyard.  This is pure, beautifully made Hunter shiraz – intensely flavoured, finely structured, silk smooth and elegant. There’s not a rough edge to it – tribute to superb fruit and sympathetic wine making. It should drink beautifully for decades if well cellared. The Tulloch label returned to the Tulloch family in 2001 after 32 years under corporate ownership.

Penfolds Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling 2008 $26–$32
Penfolds released this wine last year and after a re-tasting a few weeks back I rate it as the best 2008 riesling yet tasted – and that’s saying something in such a stellar vintage. It’s of impeccable pedigree, coming from two famous Eden Valley vineyards – the former Tollana Woodbury site and High Eden, established by David Wynn. It’s bone dry, weighs in it just 11.5 per cent alcohol and has classic, intense, fine lemon/lime flavours and taut, steely acid backbone. Penfolds estimate its drinking life at 5–7 years, but I’ve no doubt it’ll be pleasing drinkers in 20 years if it’s well cellared.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009