Wily Trout Vineyard Canberra District Pinot Noir 2015 $30
Until recently Susan and Robert Bruce’s Wily Trout vineyard lived in the shadow of Poacher’s Pantry, the couple’s successful food outlet located on the same site. However, their son Will now runs the vineyard and oversees winemaking at Eden Road winery. He’s determined to lift the quality and profile of the wines, and plans a few surprises too – including a hop-infused sauvignon blanc, made jointly with BentSpoke brewery. Bruce’s 2015 pinot shows a fresh and fruity face of the variety, with smooth texture and fine, mouth-drying tannins. It’s not a pinotphiles pinot, but a lovely, moreish drink indeed.

Mount Trio Porongurup Riesling 2015 $22
The Porongurups Range is a granite knob rising from the landscape about half an hour’s drive north of Albany, Western Australia. In 1989, husband and wife Gavin Berry and Gill Graham and partners planted vines there, some of the first in this particularly cool part of the vast Great Southern region. The small operation made just 266 dozen bottles of this delicious riesling in the 2015 vintage. Riesling from the region can be shy when young, but this one leads with assertive, citrus-like varietal aromas and flavours. However, the palate remains delicate and bone-dry with tingly, refreshing acidity.

d’Arenberg McLaren Vale Footbolt Shiraz 2013 $13.95–$18
Time and again at tastings, bottles of McLaren Vale shiraz empty well ahead of their more delicate, cool-climate peers. People praise the latter, but drain the former. Why? It seems nothing pleases the senses more than a deep, dark red, rippling with earthy, ripe fruit flavours, backed by savour and tannin. Pleasingly, the pleasure remains in reach as even the modestly price d’Arenberg Footbolt delivers the true Vale experience. It’s ripe, rich, fruity, savoury and satisfyingly grippy, without being heavy or porty.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2016
First published 14 and 15 May 2016 in goodfood.com.au  and the Canberra Times

Hungerford Hill Classic Tumbarumba Pinot Noir 2014 $26–$36
An Anzac weekend sweep through Batlow and Tumbarumba turned up several appealing wines. Batlow, of course, makes apple cider, while Tumbarumba, originally planted to vines for sparkling wines, now makes appealing, elegant table wines, too. Tumbarumba’s Café Nest–movie theatre offers fresh local produce, some grown on site, and several local wines by the glass. The selection is negotiable, so we negotiated pinot noir and chardonnay, Tumbarumba’s two specialties. The area’s grape growers sell mainly to out-of-district winemakers, including Hunter-based Hungerford Hill. Theirs is a comparatively, full, ripe style of pinot, though still medium bodied and very gentle on the palate.

Mount Tumbarumba Vineyard On the Fly Chardonnay 2013 $25
Despite living in Canberra and managing the Quarry Hill vineyard, Richard Cottam finds time to tend the Tumbarumba vineyard he established 25 years ago. The two-hectare vineyard, located on a 40-acre block previously owned by his father, and grandfather before that, provided the grapes for this delicious chardonnay, enjoyed at Tumbarumba’s Café Nest. Cottam left the winemaking to Adrian Brayne. The wine shows the bright, intense grapefruit- and nectarine-like varietal flavour of cool-grown chardonnay, set in the rich texture derived from barrel fermentation and maturation. For stockists see mounttumbarumba.com.au.

Coppabella The Crest Tumbarumba Chardonnay 2013 $20–$26
Jason and Alecia Brown’s lovely chardonnay relieved a poor meal at the Tumbarumba Motel. We expected fresh local food and wine by the glass. It’s what the visitor centre promised, and what we’d enjoyed at a winemaker dinner there some years earlier. It wasn’t to be, alas, but the chardonnay and a Hilltops shiraz took our minds off the food. The chardonnay, from the Browns’ 70-hectare Coppabella vineyard, showed the zesty, mouth-watering fruit flavour of the variety grown in this cool climate, and fleshed out by use of oak fermentation and maturation.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2016
First published 8 May 2016 in the Canberra Times

Clonakilla Canberra District Pinot Noir 2015 $55
Until 2014 Clonakilla blended its pinot away into other wines. But now it stands on its own, albeit in tiny quantities made from 777 and 115 clones Tim Kirk planted recently, and an unidentified clone his father John planted in 1978. The wine shows the ripe flavours and round, delicious fruit of the warm 2015 season. Winemaking influence can be tasted in an underlying earthy character, and felt in the very smooth, slick texture. The overall impression is of richness, ripeness and softness, but not at this stage the soaring perfume and firm, fine backbone we see in the best of the breed.

Thorn-Clarke Sandpiper Barossa Shiraz 2015 $13.95–$19
David Clarke and family own two vineyards in the warm Barossa Valley and two in the adjoining Eden Valley, to the east. The two regions form the Barossa Zone. The warmer Barossa Valley vineyards produce red wines, while the cooler Eden Valley produces both whites and red wines. The entry-level Sandpiper shiraz combines fruit from across the family’s vineyards. The fermentation technique captures the aromatic, fruity character of shiraz in the full-bodied, ripe, juicy style of the warm region. Round, soft tannins add to the texture of a generous, drink-now red.

West Cape Howe Western Australia Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2015 $15.20–$17
In this delicious dry white, winemaker Gavin Berry combines fruit from two Western Australia’s areas: the vast Great Southern district (principally Mount Barker and Frankland River) and Margaret River. Winemaking in stainless steel tanks and early bottling aims to capture the fresh, fruity and distinct character of the two varieties. Herbaceous and tropical fruit flavours of the sauvignon blanc combine happily with the lemongrass-like semillon in a zippy, medium-bodied white made to drink young. Berry writes, “The season was particularly strong for sauvignon blanc. Moderate temperatures near harvest saw the delicate aromatics and fine acid structure preserved in the fruit”.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2016
First published 1 May 2016 in the Canberra Times

Clonakilla Ceoltoiri 2015
Clonakilla vineyard, Murrumbateman, Canberra District, NSW
$45
Clonakilla’s push into Rhone Valley wine styles began with shiraz and now extends into varieties once thought to be too late ripening for the Canberra climate. However, in warm seasons like 2015, grenache, mourvedre and cinsault ripen fully and join shiraz in the fragrant, light-coloured Ceoltoiri (musicians), modelled on the Rhone’s Chateuneuf-du-Pape. The grapes come, “From a one acre block personally tended by Clonakilla founder and Irish fiddle player John Kirk”, writes winemaker Tim Kirk. The 2015 leads with the sweet, inviting fragrance of grenache. Delicious grenache flavours flow onto the palate, too, backed by spicy and earthy flavours and amazingly slick, slippery tannins. It’s very young and fruity now but should take on more earthy, savoury character with even short-term cellaring.

Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz 2015
Hilltops, NSW
$28–$35
What if Canberra had been located at Young, centre of the Hilltops region? Would our winemakers be known fuller, rounder styles in the warmer climate? And would they have used grapes from Murrumbateman for their secondary wines? We’ll never know. We can be sure, however, that winemaker Tim Kirk’s entry-level red captures the deep, sweet, black-cherry-like flavours of Hilltops shiraz. The intense fruit flavour comes with spice, savour and satisfying, smooth tannins.

Craggy Range Chardonnay 2015
Gimblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
$31.30–$40
The spare, stony soils of the Gimblett Gravels wine region, likened by some to hydroponic growing, produce unique wines, some of breathtaking quality. From those soils, Craggy Range gives us a particularly delicate, refined take on chardonnay. Fermentation and maturation in barrels impinge not at all on the soft, delicious, lemony palate – other than providing a deep, smooth texture and subtle barrel-influenced aftertaste.

Tate Franklin Tate Estate Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2015
Margaret River, Western Australia
$16
The Tate family founded Margaret River’s Evans and Tate in the early seventies. The business now belongs to McWilliams, but Franklin Tate continues to make Margaret River wine under his own label. His version of the region’s much-loved sauvignon blanc-semillon blend gives lashing of fresh, vibrant fruit flavours, with typically pungent, herbaceous edge. It’s fresh, dry and made to drink now.

Yalumba Y Series Tempranillo
South Australia
$10–$14
Yalumba’s work on its more expensive wines, combined with extensive grape sourcing, results in cheaper wines of very high quality. For as little as $10 (you can pay more if you want) Y Series gives a big mouthful of juicy, ripe tempranillo flavour. It’s clean, fresh and vibrant, soft enough to drink now but with sufficient tannin to give structure and finish.

Jacob’s Creek Reserve Signature Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
Barossa, South Australia
$17.10–$20
A third certainty, after death and taxes (large companies excluded), is the perennial discounting of Jacob’s Creek wines. The now confusing array of wines under the label includes this extraordinarily rich, solid cabernet, anointed with the two apparently meaningless terms “reserve” and “signature”. While we choke on the superlatives, we can happily drink this sturdy, sweet-fruited Barossa cabernet and marvel how much pleasure we get from such a modest outlay.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2016
First published 27 April 2016 in the Canberra Times

Rabl Gruner Veltliner Spiegel 2013
Spiegel vineyard, Kamptal, Austria
$24.50–$28
Rabl gruner veltliner brightens a short wine list at Canberra’s Akiba restaurant. Its shimmering fruit–acid harmony matches the vitality of the restaurant’s food, but doesn’t compete with it. The flavours, reminiscent of lime and green apple with a unique spicy, peppery note, carry through even the spiciest dishes. Beautiful, fresh acidity accentuates the fruit flavours and gives a clean, dry finish. Gruner veltliner – also known as gruner, G-V or gru-vee – now appears in several cooler Australian regions, including Tasmania, the Adelaide Hills and Canberra. Rudi Rabl’s comes from Austria’s Kamptal region, centred on the town of Langenlois, on the Kamp River, a Danube tributary.

Andrew Thomas Kiss Shiraz 2014
Pokolbin Estate vineyard, Pokolbin, Lower Hunter Valley, NSW
$75
Winemaker Andrew Thomas writes, “Just as I’ve completed my thirtieth consecutive Hunter Valley vintage, I’m about to release probably the best range of shiraz that I’ve made in all of my time up here”. Leading Thomas’s range – priced between $25 and $75 a bottle and due for release on 7 May – is his flagship Kiss shiraz. From low-yielding old vines, this is concentrated Hunter shiraz, intensely flavoured and cut through with firm tannin. There’s a spicy note from the oak and, despite the wine’s power, it remains medium bodied in the regional style. It deserves medium to long-term cellaring.

La La Land Tempranillo 2015
Murray-Darling, Victoria
$15–$16
Along with Azahara, Deakin Estate and Coonawarra’s Katnook Estate, La La Land is a brand of the Wingara Wine Group, owned by Spain’s Freixenet. Tempranillo, grown along the hot expanses of the Murray-Darling region, yields a medium bodied red of bright fruit flavours, cut through with rustic tannins and an undercurrent of resiny oak.

Freeman Dolcino 2015
Freeman vineyard, Hilltops, NSW
$25 500ml
Winemaker Brian Freeman chides Australians for restricting, “The pouring of dessert wines till the end of the meal – usually already heavily weighted to sugary treats”. Instead, he suggests serving stickies with savoury entrees, such as blue-mould cheese or duck liver pate. Amen to that, possibly with Freeman’s sinfully luscious Dolcino, made from late-harvest, botrytis infected viognier grapes.

Seppelt Jaluka Chardonnay 2015
Henty, Victoria
$23.75–$27
Jaluka chardonnay comes from the Henty region, near Portland in Victoria’s far south west. The southerly location, cooled further by ocean breezes, produces fine-boned chardonnay, with intense, grapefruit-like varietal flavour, indicative of the cool climate. Fermentation and maturation in a combination of new and older oak added to the wine’s texture and injected complimentary nutty flavours. Although the flavours are generous, bracing acidity gives the wine a lively and refreshing character.

Bremerton Special Release Malbec 2014
Bremerton vineyard, Langhorne Creek, South Australia
$22
Sisters Lucy and Rebecca Willson use malbec in red blends, but they also keep special barrels aside for their mouth-watering straight varietal. A vivid, fruity-floral aroma suggests a wine of mouth-filling richness. And indeed the ripe, fruit-laden palate shows typical Langhorne Creek generosity. However, malbec carries a decent load of tannin. So, after the initial fruity impression, tannins roll across the palate, blending with the fruit and giving a firm but fine grip to the dry finish.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2016
First published 20 April 2016 in the Canberra Times

Andrew Thomas Synergy Shiraz 2014
Lower Hunter Valley, NSW
$25
Hunter winemaker Andrew Thomas writes, “There’s talk of 2014 being the best vintage since 1965. Well I was only a twinkle in my old man’s eye back then, but it’s safe to say that 2014 is certainly a once or twice in a generation kind of vintage – the best I’ve made in all my time up here”. That’s a big call for a bloke just completing his 30^th Hunter vintage. Synergy, the lowest priced of six Thomas 2014 shirazes on the Chateau Shanahan tasting bench, packs a huge, chewy wad of ripe, earthy Hunter shiraz flavour. It’s fuller bodied than usual for a Hunter, and more firmly tannic, though completely harmonious and a great joy to drink. Released on 16 May, this may be one of the best red-wine buys of the year.

De Bortoli Riorret “The Abbey” Pinot Noir 2013
Abbey vineyard, Tarrawarra, Yarra Valley, Victoria
$38–$42
Some wines make a good first impression but don’t invite another glass. Others, like Riorret, taste OK at first, then grow in interest and, glug glug, the bottle empties all to quickly. Riorret’s sweet mid-palate fruit and soft tannins created the initial, easy-drinking impression. A few glasses in and the pure varietal flavour emerges, along with underlying stemmy and savoury characters – and a rich, smooth texture created by the tannins. It’s a delicious pinot noir experience, one to linger over and savour. A little bottle ageing might add another dimension to the wine, but it’s already irresistible. “Riorret” is simply “terroir”, the French term for a vine’s total growing conditions, spelled backwards.

Chalk Hill Luna Shiraz 2014
McLaren Vale, South Australia
$19
Chalk Hill steps away from the traditional, more fleshy McLaren Vale shiraz in this lean, taut style, spiced up with a small amount of the Italian variety, barbera. While barbera comprises just five per cent of the blend, its potential influence is consistent with the wine’s vivid colour, summer-berry fruitiness and fresh acidity. The acidity, in conjunction with tannin, gives the wine a strong backbone and savoury finish.

Larry Cherubino Pedestal Pinot Gris 2015
Wilyabrup, Margaret River, Western Australia
$25
Larry Cherubino’s impressive pinot gris treads a line between fatter pinots gris and leaner versions, generally selling under the Italian name pinot grigio. Pedestal shows fresh and apple- and pear-like varietal flavour on a medium-bodied, yet smoothly textured palate. Although the texture comes from fermentation and maturation in year-old French oak casks, the wine shows little oak flavour and instead relies on delicious fruit flavour.

Soumah Savarro 2015
Yarra Valley, Victoria
$26–$28
In 1989 the CSIRO bought a woolly pup from Galacia, Spain – a fact it learned some twenty years later. What the CSIRO believed to be the Spanish white variety, albarino, turned out to be savagnin. By then Australian vignerons, including the Butcher family at Soumah, had about 150-hectares of “albarino” in the ground, all of it sourced ultimately from the original CSIRO holdings. But the Butcher family moved on, and created Savarro as its name for the savagnin variety. It produces much the same style of wine as albarino – close enough that even experts struggle to tell the difference. The 2015 pleases with its full body, smooth, juicy texture and vibrant, spicy finish.

Pike and Joyce Pinot Noir Rapide 2015
Lenswood, Adelaide Hills, South Australia
$20
From Lenswood – a high, cool sub-region of the Adelaide Hills – Pike and Joyce make two pinots: a serious $38 version and the drink-now Rapide. It’s light in colour and body and offers vibrant, strawberry-like varietal aroma. However, the palate delivers more of the pinot flavour spectrum than the aroma suggests – from fruit, through savour and a stemmy character, perhaps derived from inclusion of whole bunches (stalks included) in the ferment. Surprisingly strong, albeit very fine, tannins give real grip and dryness to the finish of this pleasing, light, luncheon red.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2016
First published 12 and 13 April 2016 in goodfood.com.au and the Canberra Times

Mr Riggs “The Truant” McLaren Vale Shiraz 2014 $17–$19
For a winery producing just 20 thousand dozen bottle a year, Mr Riggs offers a surprisingly large number of labels, albeit of a very high quality. Riggs’ starting point for McLaren Vale shiraz, “The Truant”, sells for a modest $17 or so. His website also offers six other McLaren Vale shirazes, ranging in price from $16.67 to $50 a bottle. “The Truant”, named for a school-wagging Riggs forefather, combines bright, fresh, shiraz flavours with McLaren Vale’s underlying earthy, savoury characters. Smooth, soft tannins complete a sturdy, satisfying, drink-now dry red.

Mount Majura Canberra District Sweet Molli 2015 500ml $22
Winemaker Frank van de Loo recommends Sweet Molli with fruit or fruit-based desserts. Though distinctly sweet, Molli’s not the uber sticky kind as in late-picked and botrytis-affected dessert wines. Indeed she’s a comparatively delicate sweetie, with fresh acidity, the vibrant pear-like flavour of good pinot gris, and a light bite of spirit. Van de Loo sets the pinot gris grapes fermenting, then arrests the fermentation by adding neutral grape spirit. The wine retains its natural acidity, which offsets the sweetness of the unfermented grape sugar. It’s a delicious, refreshing and distinctive wine. And unlike most fortified wines contains a table-wine-like 13.5 per cent alcohol.

Tower Estate Hilltops Shiraz 2013 $30
Hunter-based Tower Estate makes regional specialties from across Australia, including Coonawarra cabernet sauvignon, Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc, Tasmania Pinot Noir and this slurpy shiraz from the Hilltops region. Just how all this ties in with a Hunter identity is anybody’s guess, and I suspect must confuse visitors to the awesome cellar door in Pokolbin, heart of the lower Hunter Valley. Still, Tower can do what it likes and, in this instance, they’ve made something we can all like: a bright and excellent Hilltops shiraz. Vivid fruit, juicy mid-palate, medium body and a touch of spice give great drinking pleasure now.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2016
First published 9 and 10 April2016 in goodfood.com.au  and the Canberra Times

Hardys Bastard Hill Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2013
Bastard Hill vineyard, Yarra Valley, Victoria
$60
Formerly released under parent company Accolade Wines’ Yarra Burn label, this gorgeous chardonnay comes from a single block of the very cool Bastard Hill vineyard. “At something like 32 degrees it’s a hard hill to work on”, says winemaker Paul Lapsley – a real bastard for worker and tractor alike. The wine combines dazzling fresh nectarine- and grapefruit-like varietal flavours with the subtle structural and flavour influences of fermentation and maturation in oak barrels. It tastes supremely fresh at three years’ age and provides irresistibly good drinking now. However, its vitality, flavour depth and harmony should see delicious flavour development with further bottle ageing.

Domain Day Riesling 2015
Mount Crawford, Barossa Valley, South Australia
$18.05–$22
With Orlando technical director Mark Tummel, Robin Day assembled the first Jacob’s Creek blends in the mid seventies. The label grew from nothing to become one of Australia’s most successful global wine brands, now owned by French company, Pernod Ricard. Day went on to become chief winemaker at Orlando, where he made more riesling than perhaps any other winemaker of his time. He later set up Domain Day. He’s selling up to write a book of travel anecdotes. But we can still enjoy Domain Day wines, including this full-flavoured, fresh, dry citrusy riesling.

Eden Road “The Long Road” Pinot Noir 2014
Maragle and Courabyra vineyards, Tumbarumba, NSW
$24–$28
While Canberra’s specialties remain shiraz and riesling, Murrumbateman’s Eden Road heads down another path altogether. Winemaker Nick Spencer says, “Our top two selling wines by far are pinot noir and pinot gris”. For “The Long Road”, Spencer uses pinot noir from two Tumbarumba vineyards: Maragle, at 405 metres elevation; and Courabyra, located 30 kilometres to the north at 730 metres. The warm 2014 season produced a comparatively generous blend for this cold region, with juicy, delicious underlying varietal flavours, cut through with pleasant “stemmy” notes (from the inclusion of whole bunches in the ferment). Silky texture and fine, soft tannins complete a very drinkable, well-defined pinot.

Stella Bella Sangiovese Cabernet Sauvignon 2013
Margaret River, Western Australia
$28.50–$30
Stella Bella’s mouth-watering blend of Tuscany’s sangiovese with Bordeaux’s cabernet emulates a Tuscan style that arose in the 1970s. Thumbing their nose at Chianti regulations, adventurous winemakers mixed cabernet and merlot with the local, approved varieties. Though banned from using the local wine appellation, they succeeded under their own proprietary labels. That they were onto something shows in Stella Bella’s blend. The colour’s pale, but the savoury–fruit aroma appeals instantly. And the palate delivers a delicious combination of savour, bright fruit and sangiovese’s distinctive rustic tannins. One bottle won’t be enough.

Moppity Vineyards Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
Moppity vineyards, Hilltops, NSW
$32
Being slightly warmer than Canberra, the Hilltops region makes slightly fuller, rounder styles of shiraz and fleshier, riper styles of cabernet sauvignon. After a lot of hard work in the vineyard, cabernet is now emerging as a standout variety for Moppity Park’s Jason and Alecia Brown. Their 2014, winner of a trophy and seven gold medals, offers ripe red-currant-like varietal aroma, overlaid with a sweet and spicy oak character. The ripe fruit flavours flow through to a fleshy, medium-bodied palate, cut with fine, firm cabernet and oak tannins. The wine’s good performance the recent Winewise Championships is a reminder of what good cabernet are made in nearby Hilltops region.

West Cape Howe Two Peeps Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2015
Two People’s Bay, Albany, Western Australia
$17–$20
Winemaker Gavin Berry fancies sauvignon blanc and semillon from a couple of vineyards about 15 kilometres east of Albany. One sniff of the wine confirms the sites bring out the pungent, herbal and “canned pea” character of the varieties, distinctive to Western Australia’s cool south. Berry ferments some batches in oak barrels, others in stainless steel tanks. The combination of techniques captures the pungent fruit character of the varieties and adds a pleasing, chewy texture.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2016
First published 6 April 2016 in the Canberra Times