An absolutely delicious, fresh Tahbilk Nagambie Marsanne 2006 and a more serious 2005 vintage oak-fermented version from local producer Ravensworth really hit the spot over the Christmas break – the first for its uncomplicated freshness, the second for the fragrant and forceful way it expressed the variety.

Both provide an interesting variation on the usual Australian white-wine diet of chardonnay, riesling, semillon and sauvignon blanc.

Like shiraz, marsanne arrived here from France’s northern Rhone Valley last century. Unlike shiraz, marsanne is not widely grown outside of the Rhone, nor does it enjoy the same reputation as a premium wine grape.

Damned by faint praise might be a summary of what the critics say. Jancis Robinson, in ‘Vines, Grapes and Wine’ (Mitchell Beazley, London, 1986) writes, “The vigorous Marsanne vine produces substantial quantities of deep-coloured, almost brown-tinged wine high in extract and alcohol with a very definite smell, slight but not unpleasantly reminiscent of glue of the same sort of hue. It is simply too heavy to produce a wine capable of ageing unless it is picked very early as in some Australian examples.”

In ‘Rhone Renaissance’ (Mitchell Beazley, London, 1996) Remington Norman admits its potential — ‘… Fully mature, it has an attractive, complex bouquet, often reminiscent of acacia honey and jasmine or honeysuckle; young, it is marked by a flinty tang which disappears with maturation…’, but then sinks the boot in, ‘…It needs lowish yields and thoughtful vinification, otherwise it becomes neutral and, frankly, boring.”

In fairness, the same might be said of any wine grape for the fact is that as grape yields increase flavour tends to diminish.

Alister Purbrick of Tahbilk, on an anabranch of the Goulburn River near Nagambie, Victoria, says that the marsanne vine likes producing grapes. But vertical trellising and hard hedging keeps crops to a tasty level of around 17 tonnes to the hectare — a healthy commercial crop.

Alister believes that Tahbilk’s 49 hectare marsanne holding is the largest and oldest in the world. Though phylloxera, a vine louse, wiped out the original nineteenth century plantings of the variety, Eric Purbrick, Alister’s grandfather, established 6.5 hectares in 1927 and 5.5 hectares in 1935.

Though these two plantings proved to be a fruit salad of varieties, expert ampelographers later ascertained that marsanne constituted about eighty-five per cent of the two vineyards.

And that explains why, when neighbouring Mitchelton Winery established its vineyard from Tahbilk cuttings in 1969 it ended up with the same Joseph’s coat of varieties.

Remington Norman incorrectly reports in ‘Rhone Renaissance’ that some of Tahbilk’s 1860s marsanne vines are still productive. They are, in fact, long dead. However, the 1927 plantings may be the world’s oldest – phylloxera having wiped out most of France’s vineyards in the nineteenth century.

Rhone Valley wine makers Guigal and Chapoutier visited Australia in 1995, recalls Purbrick, and to their knowledge the oldest marsanne in the northern Rhone was planted in the 1930s.

However lukewarm the critics, Alister finds demand insatiable, measuring Tahbilk’s production in the tens of thousands of cases every year.

Growing interest in Rhône varieties in Australia has seen dozens of producers join Tahbilk and Mitchelton in offering marsanne, either as a straight variety or in various blends.

It’s a variety worth exploring. And there are no better starting points than Tahbilk Nagambie 2006 ($17) and Ravensworth Canberra District 2005 ($22).

WINE REVIEWS

Domain Day Mount Crawford Garganega 2006 $19.95
After a long stint at Orlando Wines, for several years as chief winemaker, Robin Day established his own vineyards at Mount Crawford in the elevated, cool southeastern extremity of the Barossa. Robin’s 30-year viticultural and winemaking experience shows in the superior quality of wines he makes from traditional varieties and the more exotic viognier, sangiovese, saperavi, lagrein, garganega and sagrantino. The latest garganega (an Italian white variety and the main contributor to Verona’s Soave) is just delicious. For a little fun serve it masked to your wine-buff friends and ask them to guess the variety. See domaindaywines.com

Pizzini King Valley Coronomento Nebbiolo 2002 $110
Nebbiolo, the grape of Barbaresco and Barolo in Italy’s Piemonte region is notoriously difficult to grow and make into wine. Even the Italians struggle with it, quite often achieving a magnificently scented wine whose tannins, unfortunately, grip the palate with the tenacity of a pit-bull. The very best are profound and have a kernel of sweet fruit that rises above the firm tannin frame. In Victoria’s King Valley, Fred Pizzini, gave the variety the best site in his vineyard and after twenty years he’s come up with Australia’s salute to Barolo, including the ‘tar and roses’ aroma and very powerful but elegant palate. See www.pizzini.com.au

Neagles Rock Clare Valley Riesling 2006 $18
Jane Wilson and Steve Wiblin left the world of corporate wine in the mid nineties, headed for South Australia’s Clare Valley and now make lovely regional wines that consistently fare well in Chateau Shanahan tastings. Recent hits included Mr Duncan Cabernet Shiraz 2005i and this juicy, fresh riesling, consumed over the festive break. It appealed to young and old palates alike with its approachable, soft and delicate citrus-like varietal flavours. Some riesling needs time to soften, but Neagles Rock hits the pleasure buttons now and would probably evolve nicely for another five or six years if well cellared. See www.neaglesrock.com.au

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2007

A long, thoughtful email from a reader, Maureen Hickman, raised many interesting wine points including the role of additives in wine.

Maureen wrote of a much-enjoyed tipple, “… looking at the label recently I was shocked to see that it contains ‘egg, milk and fish products’ along with sulphites. I wonder, is it really wine I am drinking — or a liquid lunch? What is the reason for adding this assortment of funny stuff”?

The short answer is that it means cleaner, brighter, fresher, fruitier and more stable wines; that little trace of the additives remain in the wine we drink; that wine continues to be the fermented juice of the grape; and that these additives have been around almost as long as wine itself and are used worldwide.

What’s new is the mandated listing of additive on labels. Without explanatory notes the list might sound alarming. Indeed, we’d have reason to be alarmed if our winemakers tipped eggs, milk and fish into wine. But they don’t.

Let’s start with eggs. Any chef appreciates the power of egg whites in clarifying cloudy stock. Similarly, winemakers use egg white as a fining agent in red wine. The albumen naturally and effectively absorbs hard, bitter tannins. The egg and colloids that they collect descend to the bottom of the barrel or tank and little trace remains in the wine after racking and filtering.

Casein, a milk derived protein, is another natural fining agent that leaves few traces. It’s most effective at brightening white wine by removing brown colours.

And fish? If fish didn’t have bladders winemakers wouldn’t be interested in them. No, it’s not what fish do in wine that matters, but what winemakers extract from the bladders of sturgeon and other freshwater fish: isinglass.

It’s a form of protein, albeit expensive, that’s particularly effective at bonding with and thus removing excess red wine tannin. UK author Jancis Robinson reports in her Oxford Companion to Wine that Charles II regulated its use by vintners in 1660 (but not to the extent of declaring its use on labels).

Similarly, gelatin, another animal derived protein is used in red-wine fining.

Of these products, Professor A. Dinsmoor Webb, consulting oenologist, writes, “insignificant traces, at most, of the fining agent remain in the treated wine”. So, unless we’re sensitive to trace amounts of these products, there’s no cause for concern.

Sulphites and sulphur dioxide (preservative 220) are also added to wine pretty well universally. A couple of winemakers produce sulphur-dioxide-free wine but these constitute a fraction of one percent of all the wine made in the world.

The use is ancient and wines made without sulphur, in my experience, are generally flat, dull and lacking fresh fruit flavour. Without the disinfectant and anti-oxidative effect of sulphur dioxide we couldn’t enjoy clean fresh wines.

Winemaking countries specify maximum usage levels in parts per million. The vast majority of humans are not effected by its presence but some are strongly reactive to it – hence the labelling.

Usage tends to be carefully measured and shaped individually for different wine styles, the highest doses being reserved for very sweet wines as a measure against re-fermentation.

In Australia, winemakers have access to a long list of permitted additives, not all used in any one wine. They play an important role in delivering fresh, clean, potable wine. Winemakers in other countries use pretty much the same box of tools as ours do.

WINE REVIEWS

Terrace Vale Hunter Valley Old Vine Semillon 2005 $19.95
Young Hunter semillon can be a little austere. But this one tracks a fine course between austerity and over fruitiness. One young drinker at the Chateau Shanahan tasting hit the nail on the head when he said it didn’t have too much flavour, favouring it over the young riesling served alongside it. How can a wine have too much flavour? Well, sometimes, to my taste anyway, structure, savouriness and subtle fruit seem better company for food. What Terrace Vale offers is low alcohol, attractive, subtle lemon-like varietal flavour and crisp, fresh, persistent acidity It’s available from the cellar door, phone 02 4998 7517,

Pewsey Vale Eden Valley Pinot Gris 2006 $22
Like the difficult pinot noir variety, of which it is a long-civilised mutant, pinot gris prefers a cool climate to produce its best flavours. New world winemakers — using the opulent, sometimes sweet wines of Alsace, France, and the contrasting, more austere versions from north eastern Italy as models — tend to use the French ‘pinot gris’ or Italian ‘pinot grigio’ on the label as shorthand for their attempted style — but not, it has to be said, with great consistency. This outstanding version, from Yalumba’s Pewsey Vale vineyard, is pristine, dry has a rich texture reminiscent of the Alsacian style.

Cimicky Barossa Valley Trumps Shiraz 2005 $18
There’s a tonne of pure Barossa flavour in this modestly priced red made by Charles Cimicky in the southern end of the Valley. It’s deep and purple and rich and ripe and tender. But it’s not over ripe or over oaked or over alcoholic as Barossa reds can be. It’s all a matter of balance, of course. And when Barossa shiraz makers nail it — as Charles Cimicky does — you get pure drinking pleasure in a wine that bears the unique Barossa thumbprint. One bottle won’t be enough; twelve won’t be too many. Available at the cellar door, phone 08 8524 4025.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2007

There’s something about Hunter shiraz that reminds me of Chianti – the sangiovese based wines of Tuscany. No, it’s not the firm, drying, tart tannins of sangiovese – that’s a pure contrast to the soft, almost tender character of Hunter shiraz. It’s more the medium body and earthy, savoury flavour that both share in contrast to the generally more primary grapiness of Aussie reds.

The comparison can’t be taken too far because Hunter shiraz is, finally, a peculiar beast often pilloried and dismissed out of hand. Past descriptors such as ‘old boots’, ‘sweaty saddle’ and ‘Hunter pong’ accommodate the pleasant earthiness of the wine as well as totally undesirable faults like hydrogen sulphide and brettanomyces.

Strip out the faults – which the majority of Hunter winemakers do these days – and you have a terrifically appealing, distinctive wine with many of the attributes being sought by critics and winemakers: savouriness, vinosity (as opposed to grapiness), medium body, moderate alcohol content, a lack of overt oak flavours and compatibility with food.

But in seeking these characteristics in shiraz, critics and winemakers tend to lead consumers to cool-grown, aromatic styles from France’s Rhone Valley, cooler parts of California, Hawke’s Bay New Zealand and southern Australia, including Canberra, central Victoria and the Yarra Valley.

While these beautifully aromatic, silky shirazes receive the lion’s share of publicity today, in Australia at least, they remain a side play to the still dominant robust-to-burly styles from traditional warmer areas, notably the Barossa.

In part this says that wine drinkers love full throttle shiraz despite the development of many exciting new, more refined styles. And it suggests that both styles are destined to co exist.

So where does this leave the Hunter? It’s neither robust Barossa nor fragrant cool climate. The answer is that it’s off the radar for most drinkers, despite having a hard core of followers.

And if we take just the Lower Hunter Valley (itself an amazingly varied sub-region of the Hunter) there’s a diversity of approaches to shiraz and a wealth of high-quality fruit from old vines.

Visit Draytons, for example, and you can buy modern, clean decade-and-a-half old shiraz made in the traditional low-oak, medium bodied, soft, earthy style.

Up the road at Tyrrell’s the team continues to fine tune a style established by the late Murray Tyrrell in the 1960s. The Chateau Shanahan favourite is Vat 9 Shiraz (current vintage 2004) made from two very old plots of vines.

The use of open fermenters and maturation in predominantly large oak vats produces a tremendously appealing, soft, medium bodied shiraz of great complexity, with underlying savouriness and earthiness.

Its cellar mate, Stevens Reserve Shiraz 2003, from vines dating to 1865, bears the same Hunter stamp but is a little brighter and tighter with a noticeable but still modest oak influence.

And the Hunter shiraz that we’re most likely to see is McWilliams Philip. The current 2003 is the strongest for years – quite concentrated and intense, yet medium bodied, savoury and earthy, rather than in-your-face fruity. It’s a terrific regional specialty at $13 to $17 a bottle.

Or for another very different expression, Thomas Kiss Shiraz 2005, made by former Tyrrell’s winemaker Andrew Thomas, weighs in at 14.5 per cent alcohol – a vintage characteristic, he says.

For my money, though, it’s the gentler style, personified by Tyrrell’s Vat 9, that make the strongest Hunter statement and provide real drinking satisfaction.

WINE REVIEWS

Yalumba FDR1A Eden Valley Cabernet Shiraz 2000 $33.95
Just as it lost the red-wine-making plot in the late seventies Yalumba released an extraordinary red from the reviled 1974 vintage. FDR 1A Claret 1974 – a Barossa Valley blend of sixty per cent cabernet sauvignon and forty per cent shiraz – had won two trophies and 11 gold medals by the time it came to market. In the late eighties, winemaker Brian Walsh steered Yalumba’s reds back to form. But it wasn’t until another lousy vintage came along in 2000 that Yalumba made its second (just released) FDR 1A, a powerful, graceful Eden Valley cabernet and shiraz blend that’s worth its price tag.

Tim Gramp Clare Valley Watervale Riesling 2006 $18
Watervale, towards the southern end of South Australia’s Clare Valley, makes delicate, potentially long-lived rieslings with a distinctive lime-like varietal flavour. Over time, the best of these acquire a honeyed, toasty overlay without losing varietal character. Tim Gramp 2006 is a particularly fine and delicate example of the style still in its first bloom of limey freshness. It comes from low-yielding vines (five tonnes to the hectare) on the Castile family’s Golf House vineyard and Tim uses only the free run juice from these intensely flavoured grapes in making the wine — hence the intense flavour and fine texture. It’s available at www.timgrampwines.com.au

Various budget Aussie chardonnays $8 to $10
Chardonnay remains Australia’s top selling white wine style by a country mile. And it’s still possible to buy tasty, everyday quaffers with real varietal flavour for less than $10 a bottle. A random check of the tasting bench this week found three good examples with recommended retail prices of $10 but on-special tags of $8 or $9: Lindemans Bin 65 2006 is on the lighter, fresher side with clear-cut melon/peach varietal flavour; Deen Vat 7 Chardonnay 2005 offers more weight (but why the cork?); and McWilliams Hanwood 2005 leads the pack with complexity and structure as well as varietal character.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2007

At Len Evans’ wake a few months it was inevitable that in the kick-on party venerable old bottles of Hunter shiraz and semillon appeared. Served on Len’s home turf these regional specialties hit the spot. But to the unconverted they remain idiosyncrasies.

Idiosyncratic is a key word here for each is as eccentric as it is great and long-lived. Despite global appreciation of the pair as significant, unique Australian wine styles, the quality is barely perceived beyond the world of experts, aficionados and wine nuts in the Hunter’s neighbouring Sydney market.

But all that means for those who love the styles are lower prices than might otherwise be expected for wines of this dimension.

The idiosyncrasies begin with a paradox. How can two comparatively elegant, delicate wine styles emerge from such a warm, humid and wet climate? Haven’t we been told for decades that elegant wines come from cool regions?

The answer appears to lie, say McWilliams – one of the great protagonists of the styles — in “the humidity, afternoon cloud cover and gentle sea breezes [that] temper the summer and afford excellent ripening conditions”.

Unquestionably, semillon is the more peculiar of the two beasts. So often, warm-climate semillon makes clumsy wines smelling and tasting of wet hessian.

But the peculiarities of the lower Hunter allow vignerons to harvest semillon at very low sugar ripeness without suffering the sour, unripe flavours that generally accompany such early harvesting.

True, the young wines have an austere acid edge, but the ‘lemongrass’ and ‘lemon’ fruit flavours underlying the acidity have a sweet, delicious core. While the bone-dry austerity of young semillon appears to be at odds with prevailing Aussie wine styles, some makers, like Brokenwood and Margan have succeeded in tempering the austerity without losing the distinctive regional flavours.

Others, like McWilliams Mount Pleasant and Tyrrell Vat 1, persist with the more austere styles that age so beautifully. This style emerged close to its present from in the 1960s. (The late Murray Tyrrell credited Ray Kidd of Lindemans for putting modern Hunter semillon firmly on track with the introduction of protective technologies, principally refrigerated ferments, during this period).

Thus, McWilliams Mount Pleasant Elizabeth, at one time one of the biggest selling table wine in Australia, appeared in 1967, labelled as ‘Hunter Riesling’ — a misnomer almost universally applied at the time.

These days its labelled varietally and because it’s released at four to five years’ age, has begun the transformation from austerity to toasty, nutty, honeyed complexity by the time it comes to market. But that doesn’t stop it being idiosyncratic – and, hence, loved or reviled, depending on the beholder.

At Chateau Shanahan it’s a much-loved style and we have a Tyrrell’s Vat 1 and Distinguished Vineyards Series (sourced by Len from the Howard family Somerset vineyard for Vintage Cellars) earmarked for lunch tomorrow. These are really a perfect wine for a hot Aussie Christmas thanks to their intense flavour, delicacy, freshness (despite the age) and low alcohol content.

The traditional low-oak Hunter shiraz style is another peculiar beast with its pale colour, earthy flavours and soft, tender tannins. It’s at its best with considerable age (Lindemans Bin 1590 1959 vintage, for example, is a legend). And that’s a style that Tyrrells continues to make. And you can even find the odd bottle or magnum of Lindemans 1983 at auction – another great example of the style.

WINE REVIEWS

Hardys SHUTTLE Chardonnay 187ml $4.95
Last July, at Wine Australia – the Aussie industry’s massive showcase for consumers — Hardy boss, David Woods, enthused about the upcoming SHUTTLE launch. It’s a neat little 187ml PET plastic wine bottle with an inverted PET plastic glass acting as seal. A few twists and the glass unscrews, then you flip it over, pour the wine in and the party’s started. The press release says, unhelpfully, that it’s available throughout ‘select states’ of Australia, wherever or whatever they may be. But they will eventually be rolled out. And they strike me as very practical for picnics, concerts and other outdoor venues. The 2006 chardonnay is bright, fresh and peachy, if a little sweet. The shiraz, not tasted.

Fox Gordon Barossa Valley By George Cabernet Tempranillo 2004 $20
The number of small brands in the Barossa seems to be growing exponentially as grape growers, some with long roots to the valley, team up with talented winemakers to produce single vineyard wines of tremendous character. This wonderful example combines chocolaty rich Barossa cabernet sauvignon with more restrained Adelaide Hills tempranillo (a Spanish variety) to delicious effect. The tempranillo tempers the Barossa richness, lifting the perfume and adding to the smooth, fine tannin structure. It’s a wine that slips down oh so easily and has a flavour unlike any other wine in memory. Has some retail distribution and may be ordered at www.foxgordon.com.au

Pikes Clare Valley The Merle Riesling 2006 $35, Traditionale Riesling 2006 $21
Up in the Clare Valley Neil Pike produces two rieslings – Traditonale, a blend from various sub-regions of the Valley, and The Merle, sourced entirely from the Pike family’s estate in the Clare’s Polish Hill River sub region. Traditionale is the classic Clare blend with its lovely citrus-like varietal flavour, fine structure and refreshing acidity – a wine to enjoy as it evolves over the next five or six years. The Merle shows the steel of its origins with very pure and intense varietal character teasingly held in check by bracing, minerally acidity. A superb aperitif style in its youth, it should evolve well for a decade or more.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2007

Bob Oatley, the bloke behind Rosemount Wines, recently hopped back into the wine saddle a little over a year after dismounting. And like anything Bob attempts, it’s a venture on a serious scale.

If you don’t know Bob, think – or imagine — back to 1969. Australians had just begun to embrace table wine and Bob, seeing a future in it, established Rosemount Wines near Denman in the Upper Hunter Valley, New South Wales.

It all seems easy in retrospect, but Oatley built one of Australia’s most recognised brands, spearheaded by the famous Diamond Label chardonnay. It’s all the more credit to him that he earned much of the growth and recognition during the eighties – a period of perennial over production, characterised by discounting and pinched margins for wine producers.

Oatley was one of a handful of Australian wine producers (Wolf Blass, Mildara’s Ray King and Brown Brothers join this elite) to grasp the concept of brand building with all the disciplines – and rewards — that it brings.

Ultimately the Rosemount brand succeeded in the United Kingdom and America as well as in Australia. And by the time of Rosemount’s acquisition by Southcorp in 2001, for $1.5billion, it had grown massively beyond its Hunter base to include vineyards in Coonawarra, McLaren Vale and Mudgee.

But the Southcorp takeover proved disastrous and Oatley sold his block of shares in the company to Fosters in 2005, precipitating a takeover.

Now in his seventies, Oatley and his family maintained ownership of several substantial vineyards in Mudgee. These formed the nucleus of Bob’s recently announced Oatley Wines venture. But there was more to come.

On December first, 2006, a press release announced the Oatley family’s purchase of Orlando’s Mudgee vineyards, winery, cellar door and restaurant.

The purchase included the Poet’s Corner Winery (founded as Montrose wines in 1974)), the historic Craigmoor facility (founded 1858) and an impressive suite of vineyards, including a lovely plot of Italian varieties planted for Montrose by Carlo Corino in the 1970s.

The Oatleys (with James Manners as winemaker) will continue to make Mudgee wine for Orlando and they will continue to own and market the Mudgee based Poets Corner and Henry Lawson brands.

Meanwhile the Oatleys have two ranges of wines ready to hit the market this month – the $25 Robert Oatley Range (Mudgee Chardonnay, Barossa Shiraz Viognier) and the $18 Wild Oats range (Western Australia Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, Adelaide Hills Pinot Grigio, Mudgee Chardonnay, Mudgee Rosé, Western Australia Cabernet Merlot and South Australia Shiraz Viognier).

The Oatleys will continue to operate the cellar door and restaurant at Craigmoor and intend to re-introduce the Montrose and Craigmoor brands.

Typically, Bob has a pool of talent surrounding him, notably Chris Hancock, one of the shrewdest strategists and marketers in the business and a key to the global success of the original Rosemount business.

To borrow a nautical term – appropriate for the owner of maxi yacht Wild Oats – we can be sure that Bob intends to run a tight ship. Short lines of command, substantial volumes, high quality, good margins and strong branding won the day in the past and will quite likely do so in the future for the Oatley ship and its navigator, Chris Hancock.

I’ve not tasted any of the wines yet but will report back after they come onto the market.

WINE REVIEWS

Galli Estate Dos Rojo Camelback Vineyard Tempranillo Grenache Mourvedre 2005 about $20
Galli Estate of Sunbury, near Melbourne Airport, produces an appealing range of reds priced from around $10 (Victorian Shiraz, an earthy quaffer) to the more luxurious Heathcote Block 2 Shiraz at $25. In between sits this savoury, more-ish blend of tempranillo, grenache and mourvedre from Heathcote, McLaren Vale and the Pyrenees. The blend works well, delivering bright, fresh berry fruit flavours with the savoury edge and fine tannic bite to go well with food. It’s one of those wines that becomes more interesting as you progress through the bottle. It’s distributed in the ACT or can be ordered from the winery at www.galliestate.com.au

Stoneleigh Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2006 $16 to $19
Stoneleigh, part of New Zealand’s Montana Group, belongs now to French owned Pernod Ricard – proprietors, as well, of Australia’s Orlando Wines. Stoneleigh’s sauvignon blanc, sourced from the warmer Rapaura sub-region of Marlborough, is distinct from the more herbaceous Montana style, produced from the cooler Brancott area. Stoneleigh presents the passionfruit and tropical character of ripe sauvignon cut with bracing minerally acidity – reminding us that Marlborough really is a cool area even in its warmer sites. What makes Marlborough really special, though, is that the bracing acidity becomes a refreshing foil to the amazingly juicy, luscious fruit flavour.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2007

As Christmas 2006 approaches Australia’s wine industry finds itself undergoing a major mood shift. Thanks to drought and savage spring frosts, the domestic wine lake that appeared to be permanent just a few months back seems to be evaporating.

By conservative reckoning – assuming continued growth in domestic and export markets — grape supply will align with demand in a little over one year. Others say that we’re already in short supply and ought to be planting more vines now.

What does this mean for wine drinkers? Well, given the deals already in place between suppliers and a fiercely aggressive retail world, we can be assured of keen prices in the run up to Christmas. But the looming shortages suggest an end to the downward spiral.

This year’s favourites therefore take into account competitive effects on prices while focusing on the superior flavours delivered by regional specialties. This is one of Australia’s great but as yet unexploited qualities. Happy Christmas.

UNDER $15

Moscato d’Asti (Castello di Poggio) 2005 $13.99
Dan Murphy’s import is a lovely example of this unique, low-alcohol white made from moscato grapes grown in the vicinity of Asti, Piedmont. Beautifully, fresh, light and crisp with delicious, sweet grapey flavours, it weighs in at just 5.5 per cent alcohol by volume. Sweet wines might be unfashionable for some in Australia, but Moscato d’Asti is catching on, as it ought. It’s a good case for regional specialisation, too, as few Australian attempts at this style capture the light, tingly fresh essential to balance the juicy, sweet grapiness. Reduces to $12.99 in case lots.

Meeting Place Canberra Shiraz 2003, 2004 $15
That things have not been quite right for Hardy’s Kamberra Winery shows in the backlog of stock in the market place. As smaller local wineries move into their 2005 shirazes, Kamberra offers both the 2003 and 2004 vintages of Meeting Place, with the absolutely stunning, trophy-winning 2005 not due for release until late next year. At $15 cellar door these are all exciting wines. We should all visit the Watson tasting room and stock up. And, while we’re there, take the opportunity to try the flagship Kamberra Shiraz and the sensational value Meeting Place Viognier.

Richmond Grove Watervale Riesling 2005 $14 to $18
Given its provenance, exceptional ageing ability, superb show record and the sheer drinking pleasure it provides, Richmond Grove Watervale Riesling surely ranks amongst Australia’s greatest value wine buys. The 2005, already with four gold medals to its name, delivers the classic, zesty, lime-like flavour, freshness and fine structure of riesling grown at Watervale, in the southern Clare Valley. Orlando Group White Winemaker, Rebekah Richardson, tells me it’s a blend of the best Watervale material of each vintage, as assessed by the Orlando team. That team, incidentally, includes veteran John Vickery, a key figure in the development of modern Australian riesling.

UNDER $25

Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 $20 to $30
Two years ago I was fortunate to taste the entire sequence of Wynns Coonawarra cabernet’s from Ian Hickinbotham’s inaugural 1954 vintage (still drinking well) through to barrel samples of the 2003 and 2004 vintages. Clearly the wine has an extraordinary pedigree. Pleasingly the 2004 survived the journey from barrel to bottle and at the exhibitors’ tasting at the recent National Show delivered Coonawarra’s classic elegance with strength. Sue Hodder was there with her winemaking team and it was clear their chuffed by the finessing of this wine in recent years. It’s regularly on special below $25 and offered occasionally at $20. A bargain.

Di Georgio Coonawarra Emporio 2002 $23
After acquiring Rosemount a few years back, the late Southcorp (Southcorpse?) sold Rouge Homme winery and 13.5 hectares of lovely old vines to the Di Giorgio family. These vines are in the heart of old Coonawarra, next door to Wynns. Combine these unique vines with the viticultural experience of the Di Giorgio’s and winemaking expertise of Coonawarra veteran Peter Douglas and you get a stunning result at modest prices. The Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 and Shiraz 2002 are excellent examples of their styles. But Emporio – an elegant, refined blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc – really hits the excitement button. www.digiorgio.com.au

Pizzini King Valley Pinot Grigio 2006 $19
& Sangiovese 2005 $26
At Wine Australia, Darling Harbour, in July, Fred Pizzini’s wines captured my attention for pure varietal expression and good value. It’s difficult to coax the best from pinot gris and sangiovese, but Fred ranks amongst the best in Australia with these two varieties. There’s a shimmering purity to the just-released 2006 pinot grigio, made in the tight, dry Italian style. Not that many Italian versions come near it in quality. And the same might be said of the pure, bright and fruity but dry and savoury sangiovese – a delightful red that simply wipes the floor with many commercial Chiantis. See www.pizzini.com.au

$35 AND BEYOND

Lark Hill Canberra District Chardonnay 2005 $30
This is the best Canberra District chardonnay I’ve tasted. It’s sensational and, not surprisingly, comes from the vineyard with the best long-term chardonnay track record. It’s the culmination of two decades’ work by the Carpenter family with a few recent changes, in particular, seeming to have rounded off an already class act. The quality impact of biodynamic production is hard to quantify as the fruit was always good. But the use of wild-yeast ferments in just the right oak barrels, blocking palate-fattening malolactic fermentation and a screw cap seal mean a luxuriously textured, pristine varietal wine with the freshness and taut structure to evolve for many years.

Yalumba The Octavius 2002 $89.95
Yalumba’s inky, oaky Barossa shiraz began life in 1988 – a burly overstatement, says winemaker Brian Walsh that the old firm had renounced the wispy, wishy-washy reds of the 1980s. In recent vintages, however, ‘Oaktavius’, has become less inky, oaky and burly – thanks in part to a toning down of the oak regime – and increasingly seamless, without sacrificing its powerful Barossa fruit flavour. Recent tastings of the 1993, 2000 and 2002 vintages illustrated this progression from power and oak to power with elegance – the latter being partly attributable to unique vintage conditions. Octavius has progressed from exclamation mark to serious regional benchmark.

Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs 1996 $180-$240
This is a glorious Champagne and made a fitting toast at the passing of the equally glorious Len Evans in July. The all-chardonnay Taittinger Comtes de Champagne – sourced from top-ranking vineyards in the Champagne district’s Côtes-de-Blancs sub region – has Champagne’s elusive combination of intensity and delicacy. Without pinot noir in the blend the colour is a deceptively pale lemon, belying its ten years’ age. But that prolonged bottle ageing prior to release added a subtle patina of aromas, flavours and textures that simply enhances the wine’s extraordinary vivacity and freshness. This is about as good as aperitif style Champagne gets.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2007

Depending on who you talk to, the wine surplus of a few months back has either turned to shortage already or, by a more conservative reading, might be on the wane, allowing supply and demand to harmonise by 2008/2009 – a few years earlier than previously expected.

While the turnaround is unlikely to mean an instant surge in wine prices, it may relieve the relentlessly downward pressure of recent years and breathe a little hope into a battered industry.

The dramatic and sudden change in fortune is a result of severe spring frosts and drought. Together these could reduce the 2007 grape harvest to “about 1.56 million tonnes, compared with a potential 1.94 million tonnes in an average season”, according to the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation’s Lawrie Stanford.

And the same adverse weather leave the “prospect of another low yielding season in 2008, which could see further draw-downs of stock to a balanced position as early as 2008-09 if export sales continue as forecast”.

Well-known winemaker, Brian Croser, disagrees with this outlook. In an interview on November 22nd, he expressed the view that the industry has moved into a period of grape shortage and that it was “all totally predictable”.

Croser argues that the last three vintages, at about 1.9millon tonnes, were above what you would expect long term averages to be for the area under vine.

At the same time wine exports had been growing steadily at the equivalent of about 65 thousand tonnes a year but little planting activity had been undertaken.

He estimates that with a dramatic frost/drought crop reduction in 2007 and 2008, and continuing growth in exports, that the shortage will continue.

The chief difference between the Croser and AWBC viewpoints seems to be that Croser believes we don’t have sufficient vines in the ground to service future demand whereas the AWBC does.

It bases this belief on an ability to draw down on surplus wine stocks and “greater production through precision vineyard management and higher extraction rates”.

But, as the AWBC’s Eric Wisgard told me, the figures they work with are far from precise. At best they are indicators, based on the best figures available, to be used for industry planning.

And, where Croser sees shortage looming, Wisgard says, “we don’t want to talk about planting” and reiterates the belief that our 150 thousand hectares of vines could lift its yield, in future to 2.1 to 2.2 million tonnes – well up from the 1.9 million odd of recent years.

From a grower’s point of view, the merits of a smaller forthcoming vintage depend very much on where you are.

While some growers face huge crop losses, others find that the shortfall brings previously unwanted grapes into play. For example, down in Langhorne Creek and McLaren Vale Foster’s had advised some growers as recently as September that their grapes would not be required in 2007.

Now, says winemaker John Glaetzer, Foster’s have returned looking for chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon at guaranteed minimum prices — presumably in response to frost damage amongst those varieties in the company’s Limestone Coast vineyards.

The best reading I can make of the situation is that the slack has been taken up and that if export and domestic growth continue, price rises will inevitably trickle through. But it won’t be this Christmas as the red-hot festive retail wars are already exploding around us.

TOP DROPS

Champagne Cattier Chigny-Les-Rose $29.95 to $39.95
This is a Coles Myer import and can be found at their First Choice and Vintage Cellars outlets. Thankfully the potential margin advantage of importing direct appears to have been largely competed away, hence the very attractive pricing. It’s from vineyards in the vicinity of Chigny-Les-Roses, a village about ten kilometres south east of Reims. The robust flavour and structure reflects the dominance of pinot noir and pinot meunier in the blend, albeit without the complexity and polish of the more broadly based blends we see from the larger Champagne Houses.

Champagne Taittinger Brut Resérve NV $74.95
With a little more chardonnay in the blend than most NV’s (40 per cent versus about 33 – the remainder pinot noir and pinot meunier), good old Taitts is on the light and cheery side of Champagne, albeit with a rich and creamy mid-palate. This is a lovely, delicate aperitif style with the lightness of chardonnay and yummy brioche-like nuances of pinot meunier, the lesser of the two pinots, but indispensable nevertheless. Pinot meunier tends to fill the frost-prone dips in the Champagne region and is more fruitful than pinot noir in this situation as it buds later, giving it better odds of missing the chill.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2007