Category Archives: Wine

Wine accoutrements enrich our drinking experience

5 December 2012People, WineChris Shanahan

The old saying “perception is reality” preceded current understanding of how we taste. Sensory cues seemingly unconnected to our senses of smell and taste affect not just our perceptions and the psychology of taste, but how we physically taste. It seems that when we expect something to taste a certain way, it will.

If we’re to squeeze the greatest amount of pleasure from the wines we drink, it therefore makes sense to build a rich sensory experience even before we reach for the bottle. Hence this little guide to wine gifts leans as much to the aesthetic as the practical.

The setting includes dazzling cutlery, fine bone or porcelain crockery, crisp, clean tablecloths, perhaps a brightly coloured French one – all terrific, enduring gifts in their own rights, though not covered here.

A wonderful quality of good wine accoutrements is their durability. Crystal decanters and glassware, for example, survive the generations. Some of the decanters mentioned may still be used exactly as previous owners did over the last 200 years.

Wine decanters
There’s little practical reason to decant young modern wines. In the old days, less precise winemaking meant many wines contained traces of hydrogen sulphide, a by-product of winemaking, or free sulphur dioxide that tended to dissipate with a good splash of air.

That’s seldom the case these days, though very young, cellarable whites often contain noticeable levels of sulphur dioxide; and some modern chardonnays retain traces of various sulphur compounds, deliberately built in for complexity. Decanting tends to take the edge of these, too.

However, some young reds seem to release more aroma and flavour after a good splash into a decanter and an hour or two’s exposure to air. Old reds, on the other hand, should be decanted to separate the clear wine from the harmless sediment deposited during years of maturation.

That’s the practical side of decanting. But crystal decanters add hugely to wine’s visual appeal. Smooth-sided decanters allow the wine’s colour to shimmer and sparkle; those with intricately-cut patterns, offer an additional dimension – rainbows of light refractions twinkling through the various angles and shapes, made even more appealing with the flickering, yellow light of candles.

Decent crystal decanters begin at around $50, and come in sufficient shapes, sizes, brands and prices to satisfy most of us.

Even the darling of the wine world, Riedel, offers decanters on its website from $64.95, moving steadily through the price ranges and peaking at $900 for its quirky Twenty Twelve model.

But for that price, or anyway near it, Santa might bring a glorious old antique – perhaps a George III-era (circa 1815) with its “wide comb fluting body, plain neck rings and mushroom stopper”, currently selling at $785 in Hartley Cook’s Grafton Galleries (Shop 1, 15 Boundary Street, Rushcutters Bay).

Cook, a wine lover and glassware expert, always carries a range of old decanters (about twenty at present, he says), a specialty for a few decades now. He owns about 30 personally, including a rare 1810 magnum decanter. He says unlike other delicate antiques that might sit in a glass cabinet, “we can use an old decanter in the same way it was used 200 years ago”.

Wine glasses
We possess only one nose, albeit with two inlets, and one tongue, quickly inundated by the smallest sip of wine. But if we believe Riedel, every wine deserves a unique glass shaped to deliver aroma and flavour to just the right places in these two esteemed organs. Unlikely as that proposition seems, Riedel wows the crowds in its master classes by harnessing the power of suggestion – a potent technique when teamed with the company’s elegant, functional stemware. Which takes us back to perception being reality.

Beautiful wine glasses deliver drinking pleasure by creating a sense of anticipation, displaying a wine in its best light and capturing its full spectrum of aromas. In August at a Quay Restaurant degustation lunch, a unique wine glass arrived with each of eight food courses

The wine service lock-stepped with the overall precise theatre of the food service: waiters arriving on time to remove crockery, cutlery and glassware; more waiters bringing new glasses and crockery; food arriving and a new wine being poured.

Small volumes of wines partly filled brilliantly polished glasses. The low fill allowed light to flood through, revealing vivid colours against the crisp, white table cloth, and sufficient room to swirl the liquid, releasing the aromas – nicely trapped for our noses by the tapering tops.

The pleasure peaked with Phillip Jones’s magnificent 2010 Bass Phillip Gippsland Pinot Noir – a highly aromatic, shimmering, limpid, delicious pool of red-purple sloshing leisurely around the base of a huge, fine, crystal glass.

Riedel remains the hot wine glass, if expensive, though the company also owns the Spiegelau and Nachtmann brands. Indicative of Riedel’s combined functionality and aesthetics, most Australian wine shows and many wineries and restaurants now use the company’s Ouverture Magnum glass, which is not offered at retail. However, the Ouverture red wine glass, offered on the company’s website (riedel.com.au) at $39.95 a pair appears to be the same product.

The glasses are widely distributed at retail, including in fine wine stores, and appear occasionally as well-priced job lots at Costco.

Good stem ware of whatever make should be of a fine, even thickness through the bowl, with no bubbles or swirls, sparklingly clear, with a rim tapering towards the top to capture aroma. Glasses come in all shapes and sizes, of course, so chose ones that make your mouth water in anticipation.

Cork pullers
“It’s good seventeenth century technology”, said one Australian winemaker. But cork lingers on – a fringe dweller in Australia and New Zealand, though the dominant seal in some countries, including Italy, France and the United States.

If you buy wine as the need arises and drink only Australian and New Zealand wine, there’s no need ever to own a cork puller again. But if you drink imports or have a cellar with older vintages under cork, you still need a device of some kind to rip or push the cork out.

Corkscrews and parallel, metal-prong devices both pull corks out from above. A needle and pump, on the other hand, pushes corks out with compressed air. All of these devices do the job. However, after plunging a needle into my hand some years ago, I’m wary of them and absolutely happy with the more traditional devices.

Metal prong cork pullers
Metal prongs, like the German made Monopol Ah So cork puller, work easily and well once you get the knack. They’re particularly handy for extracting old corks that might crumble using a corkscrew. Even better, they’re perfect for an old dinner party trick. With practice you can whip the corks out of cheap and expensive wines before the guests arrive, swap the contents, replace the corks intact, and no one’s the wiser.

Amazon offer the Ah So at $19.50, though one Australian retailer charges $49.50,
Peters of Kensington and Ultimo Wine Centre websites offer it, but both were sold out in mid November.

Corkscrews
The metal in the screw should be of a narrow gauge, so it worms easily through the cork, with wide loops (at least five of them) to give purchase, and of high tensile strength so it doesn’t straighten out under tension. Corkscrews should also provide leverage – a metal extension that rests on the collar of the neck in the old waiters-friend styles (these require considerable strength); or the more highly levered versions like the Analon Sure Grip ($24.95 at Kitchenware Direct) or the Starin Elegant ($30.19 at Shopbot.com.au).

These are only a few examples. There are dozens of good corkscrews online and in stores.

Steve Pannell makes his mark on National Wine Show

28 November 2012People, WineChris Shanahan

The National Wine Show’s new chairman of judges, Stephen Pannell, called in his own troops for the 2012 event, judged at EPIC early this month. In town for the trophy presentation dinner on 21 November, Pannell said, “I picked people I like working with”. He selected judges who’d work harmoniously together, keep their egos tucked away and focus their energy on the wine.

He said, “It’s important as a judge to walk away from a show thinking I’d like to buy and drink these wines [the award winners]”. This hadn’t always been his experience.

In the end, he’s happy with this year’s award winners. But he’s far from happy with Australian wine shows, citing the inflexibility of the agricultural societies behind many of them. He singled out the Adelaide wine show and its 2012 results as “a time warp”, saying people shouldn’t be able to enter wines in shows they’re judging.

Pannell believes, “wine shows have lost relevance to consumers”, that shows organisers have to fix the way wines are judged and sponsors like Dan Murphy [sponsor of the National] need to become more involved and promote the winners.

He believes that wines ought to express their origin. Wine shows should therefore start parochially, looking at individual regions first before moving on to broader state and national events.

He’d like to see trophies limited to varietals and for shows to drop awards like best red, best white or best wine of show. It’s an absurd apples-versus-oranges situation, he reckons, lining up, say, trophy winners for riesling, chardonnay, semillon and sauvignon blanc and voting on an overall best white wine. And it’s even more absurd after that tasting the best red and best white to determine the wine of the show.

The bigger issues of how shows are organised, who runs them and how wines find their ways into them remains on Pannell’s radar. But for the 2012 National he focused on judging – selecting the right people and finessing the process.

Pannell says, “Even though we judged only 120 wines a day, some people didn’t break for lunch and we ended up spending a huge amount of time in the wines”.

In most wine shows a panel of three judges and one or two associate judges work independently on a class of wines. They then tally their scores for each wine, call back potential gold medallists for group tasting and discussion. The panel then awards its gold medals for the class, sometimes in collaboration with the chair of judges.

In this situation the judges know the exhibit numbers and therefore who originally backed each wine for gold. From my own experience, judges tend to support the wine they’ve previously backed.

Pannell slowed this process down and removed one important bias. He asked his judging panels to line up fresh, randomised pours of potential silver and gold medallists and look at them with fresh eyes (or noses). As chair he’d also show wines to other panels, allowing the conversation and assessment to linger on.

Pannell also encouraged discussion on style issues. For example, with everything cool climate being cool at present, he “didn’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater” – meaning traditional warm-climate styles, especially shirazes, deserved rewarding if they scrubbed up (and plenty did).

Another hot topic during the show, he said, was whether “artefact in chardonnay is overwhelming a sense of place?” Roughly translated, that means when do the aroma and flavour of sulphur compounds, resulting from winemaking techniques, become too much. The debate largely replaces earlier ones on the roles of malolactic fermentation and oak in chardonnay flavour.

So, the debate moves on with each new generation of judges. But, says Pannell, “The results won’t ever be perfect”. He believes the award winners at this year’s event should mean something to consumers. And he hopes the awards and debates about style will show the industry “some direction and sensibility about where we go”.

Certainly there’s plenty to excite in this year’s results. The 2012 rieslings, especially those from Clare, offer delicious drinking at reasonable prices and rated very highly in the judges’ view. And high quality cheaper wines of many styles liberally adorn the gold-medal list.

For various reasons only five Canberra producers entered wines in this year’s show. Quantity requirements, even though reduced by show organisers in recent years, restrict the number of entries – especially following the disease-ravaged 2011 and 2012 vintages.

However, all five Canberra wineries won medals. The few shirazes entered fared sensationally well. Eden Road The Long Road Gundagai Shiraz ($22 at cellar door) won the shiraz trophy – a notable achievement in a class of generally more expensive wines. And two 2011 vintage Canberra shirazes won silver – Eden Road and Mount Majura.

Nick O’Leary repeated a stellar performance at the recent Melbourne show. His Bolaro Canberra District Shiraz 2011 – from Wayne and Jennie Fischer’s Nanima vineyard, Murrumbateman – and Canberra District Shiraz 2011 both won gold medals, with Bolaro ahead by a nose. O’Leary also won bronze for his 2012 riesling, a gold medallist and trophy winner from the recent NSW Wine Awards.

Ken Helm, too, waved the Canberra riesling flag, with a bronze medal for his Classic Dry Riesling 2011. And Lerida Estate earned a silver for medal for its Josephine Canberra District Pinot Noir 2009.

The full catalogue of results is available at rncas.org.au

CANBERRA SUCCESSES

Eden Road Wines
The Long Road Gundagai Shiraz 2010 – gold medal and the Shiraz Trophy
Canberra District Shiraz 2011 – silver medal
Canberra District Off-dry Riesling 2012 – bronze medal

Nick O’Leary
Canberra District Riesling 2012 – bronze medal
Canberra District Bolaro Shiraz 2011 – gold medal
Canberra District Shiraz 2011 – gold medal

Helm Wines
Canberra District Classic Dry Riesling 2011 – bronze medal

Lerida Estate
Canberra District Josephine Pinot Noir 2009 – silver medal

Mount Majura
Canberra District Shiraz 2011 – silver medal

FOR BARGAIN HUNTERS

Many modestly priced wines won gold medals and trophies, often in company with far more expensive products. This list highlights award wines like to cost around $20 or, in some cases considerably less. The list gives the vintage of each award-winning wine. Retailers may carry other vintages, so check labels carefully.

Trophy winners

Leasingham Clare Valley Bin 7 Riesling 2012 $16–$18,
Gold medal and trophy, best dry white, commercial classes.
Jim Barry Lodge Hill Clare Valley Riesling 2012 $21–$24
Gold medal and three trophies: best riesling, premium classes; best dry white table wine; best table wine of show.
Houghton Wisdom Pemberton Sauvignon Blanc 2012 $22–$25
Gold medal and trophy, best sauvignon blanc, premium classes.
Evans and Tate Metricup Road Margaret River Chardonnay 2010 $17–$20
Gold medal and The Chardonnay Trophy.
Peter Lehmann Hill and Valley Eden Valley Chardonnay 2011 $19–$22
Gold medal and trophy, best chardonnay, premium classes.
The Long Road Gundagai Shiraz 2011 $22
Gold medal and The Shiraz Trophy.

Gold medal winners

Leo Buring Clare Valley Dry Riesling 2012 $15.20–$17
Logan Weemala Orange Riesling 2012 $17
Jacob’s Creek Reserve Barossa Riesling 2011 $10.40–$16
Hardys Oomoo McLaren Vale Shiraz 2011 $10.90–$14
Evans and Tate Margaret River Classic Shiraz $9.90–$14
Evans and Tate Margaret River Classic Cabernet Merlot $13–$14
Evans and Tate Metricup Road Margaret River Cabernet Merlot 2009 $16.95–$20
Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Shiraz Merlot 2010 $16–$20
Gramps Barossa Cabernet Merlot 2009 $16.20–$20
Wicks Estate Adelaide Hills Shiraz 2010 $16.20–$20
Jim Barry Watervale Riesling 2012 $14–$17
Penfolds Thomas Hyland Chardonnay 2011 $14–$17
Jim Barry Lodge Hill Shiraz 2010 $17.85–$20
Jacob’s Creek Riesling 2012 $6.95–$10
Houghton Classic Red 2011 $8.55–$10

Tertini puts Southern Highlands on the wine map

8 November 2012People, Vineyard, WineChris Shanahan

Tertini Yaraandoo vyd aerial — Julian Tertini's Yarraandoo vineyard, Southern Highlands, NSW

Wine regions build reputations by making outstanding wine. Mediocre wines don’t cut through in a crowded market; and poor wines kill reputations. The Southern Highlands region (around Mittagong, Bowral and Berrima) struggled with its reputation for many years, largely because so many of its early wines showed green, unripe flavours.

Indeed, wine quality in the region varied so much a decade ago, newcomer Julian Tertini, founder of Freedom Furniture and Fantastic Holdings, used “Berrima Valley” on some labels – to protect his own name should the region as a whole fail.

But just 11 years after establishing Tertini, Southern Highlands remains on the labels. And, extraordinarily for a small operation that made its first wine in 2005, Tertini claims 285 trophies and medals so far. The honours include a gold medal for the 2009 pinot noir in the National Wine Show 2011, gold medals for the Reserve Pinot Noir 2009 in the 2012 Boutique Wine Awards (open to Australian and New Zealand wines) and the NSW Wine Awards 2012.

In the latter event, the 2009 Reserve won the best pinot trophy in a taste-off against Tertini 2010 pinot noir.

Like other vignerons in the area, Tertini included cabernet sauvignon and merlot among his first plantings. Thankfully, he also planted pinot noir, riesling, chardonnay and arneis in the Yarraandoo vineyard – on the western side of the old Hume Highway, near the Wombeyan Caves road.

Others had included shiraz in the mix, all on expert viticultural advice that proved to be spectacularly off the mark. “It was a stupid mistake”, says Tertini’s Robert Kay. He says cabernet, shiraz and merlot don’t ripen, leaving pinot noir to date as the sole red variety ripening reliably across the district.

The failure of cabernet, merlot and shiraz, in particular, highlights the massive difference between growing conditions in the Southern Highlands and Canberra.

Despite being further north than Canberra (and potentially warmer), with vineyards at comparable altitudes, a strong maritime influence counters the effect of latitude. More cloud, more rain and more humidity mean a cooler and less hospitable environment for grapes.

Robert Kay says the area can be overcast for weeks, “and the cloud cuts down the heat”. He attributes the region’s growing strength to improved vineyard management – particularly an ability to counter moisture-related vine diseases – and a shift to suitable cool-climate varieties.

But even with the right varieties, vigilant spraying and non-stop vineyard work vineyard, nature takes a toll on local crops. Every year Southern Highlands vignerons face conditions comparable to those faced by Canberra’s in 2011 and 2012. And in those two difficult seasons, the highlands suffered even bigger crop losses than normal.

The financial losses to producers can be huge. They face increased vineyard management costs, but lower crops mean less wine and ultimately reduced sales in the years ahead. Every tonne not harvested equates to around 70 dozen bottles of wine not produced or sold.

Because of severe crop losses in the last three vintages, says Robert Kay, Tertini intends in future to make wine from the Hilltops region as well as the Southern Highlands.

In Tertini’s vineyard pinot noir and riesling perform best, and now comprise a majority of plantings. Smaller areas of chardonnay and arneis (a northern Italian white variety) also look good and there’s hope for experimental plantings of lagrein, a northern Italian red variety. And across the district, says Kay, sauvignon blanc and pinot gris generally work well.

Riesling showed great promise from the first (and gold medal winning) vintage in 2005. The wines begin life austere and acidic, though very delicate, and with bottle age develop a delicious lime-like varietal flavour. Tertini therefore release their rieslings several years after vintage.

On a recent tasting at the winery, a museum release, Tertini Cross Roads Berrima Valley Riesling ($33 – a trophy and two gold medals), looked sensational. At six and a half years, it’s youthful and fresh but with a seductive honeyed note of bottle age boosting the succulent, pure, bracingly dry limey flavour.

The cellar door also offers the 2008 vintage ($38 – almost sold and out and not available for tasting), winner of five trophies and 10 gold medals, and the trophy and gold-medal winning 2009 vintage ($30).

The latter offers a delicate floral and lime aroma and flavour. Though it lacks the sheer juicy intensity of the 2006, it’s youthful and fresh and certain to build with bottle age. However, a soon-to-be released Reserve Riesling 2009 ($35) offers similar flavours and delicacy but with greater concentration.

The Piedmontese white variety, arneis, succeeds in Tertini’s vineyard, too. But it lives up to its “little rascal” nickname with miserly grape yields (about half that of riesling) and very small juice extraction rate per tonne of fruit.

The current release Tertini Reserve Arneis 2010 ($35), partly barrel fermented, provides excellent, full-bodied, crisp and savoury drinking – with exotic sappy, racy, melon-rind flavours.

Like the rieslings, the pinots (2008 $28, 2009 $55 and 2009 Reserve $58) show a family style – delicate and restrained. I’ve tasted several vintages over the years and, indeed, these were the wines that broke my longstanding doubts about the region’s wine. They’re outstanding – and reviewed in next week’s column.

A little valley somewhere

24 October 2012People, Vineyard, WineChris Shanahan

Half Moon little valley — Half Moon vineyard, near Braidwood, New South Wales

From a little valley near Braidwood comes the outsider that blitzed this year’s Canberra regional wine show. Half Moon Riesling 2010 won the ‘best riesling’ trophy, beating some of our hottest local riesling makers, including Helm, Clonakilla, Four Winds, Ravensworth, Gallagher and Nick O’Leary.

Half Moon then secured the ‘best white’ trophy then won a taste off with the best red – Hungerford Hill Hh Tumbarumba Classic Shiraz 2010 – to seize a third trophy as champion wine of the show. It was the first riesling in the top spot since Helm Premium 2008 shared the honours with Eden Road The Long Road Hilltops Shiraz in 2009.

The tiny vineyard – located near Mongarlowe, about 16 kilometres from Braidwood – belongs to Sydneysiders Tony and Robyn Maxwell. Manager Malcolm Sharp says the wine bug bit Tony Maxwell in the nineties when he established a vineyard at Rylstone, near Mudgee.

With Rod James, he planted vines at Nullo Mountain, a challenging site within the Mudgee region – but, at 1100 metres, totally different viticulturally. While the pair pulled out many of the vines during the industry downturn early last decade, the wine bug remained with Maxwell.

He asked Sharp, a long-term friend, if he’d look after a vineyard if he planted one on his weekend block at Mongarlowe. What Maxwell had in mind, recalls Sharp, was a very small vineyard he could enjoy, with the aim of making good wine.

Sharp says he knew nothing about vineyards, but accepted the task and planted 200 vines each of riesling and chardonnay in 2000. While Maxwell and Sharp were aware that some people regarded the frost-prone site as an unlikely place to grow grapes, the first vines reached the cordon in the first year, suggesting they could be onto something.

But a subsequent planting of merlot failed and a run of heavy frosts in October 2006 destroyed 500 vines, including a block of pinot noir. Tempranillo took off well, but as the stock they planted carried a virus, Sharp dug them out and planted more riesling, by now a consistent performer.

The vineyard now includes shiraz, viognier, pinot gris, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and riesling.

Early on, Maxwell introduced Sharp to well-known viticulturist David Botting (he’d consulted on the Nullo Mountain vineyard). And Botting, impressed by the vineyard, came on board as consultant.

At the time the grapes were being trucked to David Lowe’s winery at Mudgee, a legacy of the Nullo Mountain venture. But Botting suggested making the wines closer to the vineyard. The whites in particular, he recommended, needed quick processing. He arranged a meeting on site between Maxwell and Sharp and Murrumbateman winemaker, Alex McKay. As a result McKay took over the winemaking from 2008.

McKay describes the Half Moon site as a little bit cooler than Canberra with double the rainfall (on well-drained soil), with more humidity – a plus for retention of grape aroma and flavour.

He says, “management is first class with a level of attention and hand work you’d be more likely to see in Europe than around here”.

Malcolm Sharp confirms he and his wife Jenny do the majority of work by hand, with a little spraying from a quad bike on one flatter section. On the steep sections, for example, Jenny reels the spray hose out to him from a utility parked at the top as he descends and sprays on foot; then reels him in like a lifesaver as he struggles back up the slope.

To date, says McKay, riesling shows the most consistency and potential. It starts with “enormous levels of acid”, he says, so as a young wine it’s difficult to see the fruit quality lurking under the acidity. But it’s there he say, as the trophy winning 2010 demonstrates, having fleshed out notably in the two years since bottling.

That high acidity, reasons Sharp, comes from the very cool site. The vineyard, at around 630 metres, is flanked by higher ground, with the coastal escarpment immediately to the east. The days tend to be warm to hot, but cold air pools there in the evening, with overnight temperatures of just four and five degrees common during the growing season.

McKay rates the chardonnay as very good, too, and similar in style to wines from Tumbarumba. But production of just one barrel a year provides little scope to explore the style.

He’s optimistic about shiraz even though it’s difficult and harvested from the individually staked bush vines “at the dusk of vintage”. He adds, “We can’t say as emphatically it’s as suited as riesling”.

While the trophy-winning riesling sold out quickly, the 2011 (a very good wine needing time, says McKay) has been released. It and the other Half Moon wines are available at Plonk, Fyshwick Markets, and at Local Liquor and Boutique Wines on Wallace in Braidwood.

This is a producer to watch, though production will remain small. Tony Maxwell has no plans to expand the vineyard says Malcolm Sharp.

Canberra’s Ravensworth conquers 2012 International Riesling Challenge

17 October 2012People, Uncategorized, Vineyard, WineChris Shanahan

Canberra’s Ravensworth Wines topped the honours list at the Canberra International Riesling Challenge 2012. Ravensworth Riesling 2012, made by Food and Wine columnist Bryan Martin, and owned by Martin and his wife Jocelyn, won a gold medal and three trophies.

The judges rated it best Canberra District riesling, best Australian riesling and, in a first for a Canberra riesling, best wine of the show – against 426 contenders from six countries.

Show organiser Ken Helm, a Canberra riesling legend himself, welcomed Ravensworth’s success, especially for winning best wine of show trophy. He said, “This is exciting as it shows beyond doubt that Canberra is up there with Australia’s best”.

Helm said the chair of judges, Ben Edwards, rated quality across the board as the highest in the time he’s judged there.

The impressive medal strike rate supports this view. The 426 wines judged won 278 medals (51 golds, 60 silvers and 167 bronzes), for an overall success rate of 65 per cent.

While Ravensworth brought home the bacon for Canberra, our district provided little support for the event, entering just 12 wines in total across five categories, and underperforming the overall field with a medal strike rate of 58 per cent. We won one gold, one silver and five bronze medals.

In the important class for 2012 vintage dry rieslings (less than eight grams per litre of sugar), Canberra fielded just six wines and won two bronze medals. Compare this performance to the September regional wine show, where 12 Canberra 2012 vintage dry rieslings won nine medals, including three golds.

Admittedly, the class definitions of the two shows vary slightly, so that Ravensworth at 11 grams per litre of sugar, moved from “dry” in the regional show to “semi-dry” at the challenge. But the change of classification doesn’t explain the startlingly different ratings – bronze at the regional, gold and ultimately trophies at the challenge.

As well, Gallagher 2012, Nick O’Leary 2012 and Mount Majura 2012 – all medal winners in the regional show – failed to rate in the challenge, a variance that’s hard to understand.

Perhaps the high acidity of the Canberra rieslings worked against them in this broader environment. Certainly our wines tend to blossom with age as the fruit comes through. And it’s worth considering the top gold medallist in the regional show, Clonakilla 2012, and the top Canberra wine of the challenge, Ravensworth 2012, have a sugar levels of 10 and 11 grams per litre respectively – sufficient to take the edge off the acid and not taste sweet.

If we look only at the classes for 2012 dry rieslings, several regions outperformed the overall medal strike rate of 65 per cent. This supports the growing view of 2012 as an exceptional riesling vintage.

Western Australia’s Great Southern region, for example, won 16 medals (two gold, five silver and nine bronze) from 19 entries, an 84 per cent strike rate.

Clare Valley, the traditional heartland of dry Australian riesling, entered 38 wines for a strike rate of 76 per cent – four golds, six silvers and 19 bronzes. I’ve tried many of these wines and they really are delicious and well priced. Most are already soft and ready to drink.

The Eden Valley, Clare’s southern neighbour on the Mount Lofty Ranges, fielded 25 wines to win five gold, four silver and nine bronze medals – a 72 per cent strike rate.

And tiny Tasmania entered 10 dry riesling from the 2012 vintage to win two golds, two silver and three bronze medals – a 70 per cent strike rate.

While riesling remains a perennially niche variety in Australia, its sales a fraction of those of sauvignon blanc or chardonnay, it offers wonderful drinking, great cellaring and quite often amazing value for money.

The trophy winning Ravensworth 2012, for example, sells at just $20 and its podium mate, Richmond Grove Watervale 2011, often specials at around $18. These are bargain prices for such beautiful wines – the latter with proven long-term cellaring potential; the Ravensworth untested, but likely to do the distance.

From a drinker’s perspective then it’s worth downloading and trolling through the full results. They’re available at rieslingchallenge.com

The honours list includes dry, half dry and sweet styles from many different regions and, indeed, from other countries, and from a spread of vintages. The successful older wines provide some guidance to the cellaring ability of younger wines. Indeed some of the most cellarable rieslings perform poorly at shows in youth, but blossom after a few years’ bottle age.

Canberra International Riesling Challenge 2012
Trophy winners

Wine of the show
Ravensworth Canberra District Riesling 2012

Best Australian riesling
Ravensworth Canberra District Riesling 2012

Best Canberra District riesling
Ravensworth Canberra District Riesling 2012

Best current vintage dry riesling
Penfolds Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling 2012

Best dry riesling
Richmond Grove Watervale Riesling 2011

Best sweet riesling
Heggies Eden Valley Botrytis Riesling 2011

Best Tasmanian riesling
Bay of Fires Riesling 2011

Best European riesling
Weingut Georg Muller Stiftung Hattenheimer Hassel Riesling Spaetlese Trocken 2011

Best museum riesling
d’Arenberg The Dry Dam McLaren Vale Riesling 2008

The champ – born in adversity
Ravensworth Canberra District Riesling 2012
Fruit source: Bryan and Jocelyn Martin’s Ravensworth vineyard, Murrumbateman
Gold medal and three trophies: Best Canberra District wine; best Australian wine; best wine of show
Canberra’s first grand champion of the riesling challenge almost didn’t exist. Winemaker Bryan Martin says hail stripped the vines almost bare, then 200mm of rain threatened the remaining crop with botrytis cinerea, a potentially destructive fungal disease.

But he sprayed the vines, spread anti-bird netting over the top and waited. The grapes ripened at comparatively low sugar levels and high acidity; and the missing leaves allowed the sun in and moisture out, defeating the botrytis spores.

Almost every bunch, however, included withered berries, the result of direct hail hits. So the picking crew cut the damaged fruit from every bunch before delivering it to nearby Clonakilla winery, where Martin works as a winemaker. The labour intensive work pushed Martin’s harvesting cost out to $1200 a tonne, he says.

In the winery he chilled the fruit to below 10 degrees Celsius in small, broad, flat bins. The shallow bins helped keep the berries intact, thereby avoiding release of phenolics, or tannins, into the juice. And chilling the whole bunches before crushing them in a gentle air-bag press, helped extract fine, phenolic-free juice.

Martin says he held back the last 100 litres – the product of the final, firmest pressing – as unfermented juice to blend back into the finished wine.

A cool fermentation captured the delicate riesling flavours in a bone dry and very acidic wine – a result of the unusually cool ripening period. Martin balanced the acidity by blending a small amount of unfermented juice into the wine.

The addition gave the wine a natural grape sugar content of 11 grams per litre. This subtly fleshed out the middle palate, without being discernibly sweet, reducing the impact of the potentially mouth-searing13 grams per litre of acid.

Until this year, says Martin, he sold his riesling grapes to Clonakilla. He made just 150 dozen bottles. Alas, the wine sold out at just $20 a bottle on withing days of the trophy presentation.

Canberra regional wine show 2012

10 October 2012WineChris Shanahan

In this year’s regional wine show, judged in September, riesling and shiraz once again dominated the medal strike rate, barring a couple of oddities – for example, in class 22 the lone chardonnay won a medal, giving the variety a 100 per cent strike rate.

Reduced numbers of entries overall probably reflects smaller production resulting from disease in the 2011 and 2012 vintages – a problem that affected not just the show’s catchment area, but most of eastern Australia.

However, disease may not be the only factor behind the reduced numbers. In the important current vintage riesling class, for example, entries were down from 20 last year to 14.

However, the 14 fared well as the judges awarded nine medals (three gold, two silver, four bronze) – a strike rate of 64 per cent, significantly up on 2011’s 50 per cent. This tends to confirm post-vintage excitement about 2012 riesling among some makers, notably the district’s riesling champion, Ken Helm.

Helm would no doubt be disappointed that his Premium Riesling 2012 failed to win a medal – probably dismissed by the judges and included in their general comment, “The lack of generosity, the greenness and high levels of acidity in the non-awarded wines was an issue”.

But there’s more to it than that as Canberra rieslings in general do appear acidic and lacking in generosity so close to vintage. It’s a recurring theme and probably good reason to hold the show a few months later, especially considering riesling’s importance to Canberra.

If the wines really are green, no amount of time will ever change them. But austerity and acidity can simply mask varietal flavour that emerges over time. Helm Classic Dry Riesling 2011 is a perfect example. It missed out on a medal in last year’s show, but won gold this year.

That so many 2012 rieslings succeeded at this stage of their development points to some very good drinking ahead. Clonakilla 2012 pipped the other two gold medallists, Centennial Reserve 924 2012 and Four Winds 2012, for the top spot. But the two silver medallists, Gallagher and Lake George, and four bronze winners, Nick O’Leary 2012, Mount Majura 2012, Helm Classic Dry 2012 and Ravensworth 2012, are wines to watch in the months ahead.

But riesling the judges really took to came from Halfmoon Wine, near Braidwood. In an interview some time ago winemaker Alex McKay, in his own quiet way, said these guys grow good riesling.

McKay made the Halfmoon 2010 vintage that topped its class, just ahead of the other gold medallist, Helm Classic Dry 2011. McKay also made the silver medal winning 2011. Now there’s one to watch.

Halfmoon 2010 subsequently blitzed the trophy taste offs as best riesling, best dry white and champion wine of the show – maintaining a shiraz-riesling’ duopoly on the top spot, in place since 1998. Riesling last won the champion’s trophy jointly with a shiraz in 2009.

Surprisingly, with 13 entries the 2011 shiraz class was only marginally down on the 16 entered in the corresponding 2010 class last year. Equally surprisingly, the medal count held up – 69 per cent strike rate for the 2011s versus 75 per cent for the 2010s.

Noting the comparative elegance and spiciness of the wines, the judges awarded golds to Eden Road Canberra Shiraz (top wine of the class), Nick O’Leary Canberra Shiraz and Mount Majura Canberra Shiraz. Grove Estate Cellar Block Hilltops Shiraz Viognier and Clonakilla O’Riada Canberra Shiraz earned silver medals.

And in class 23 for 2006 and older reds, Alex McKay’s Collector Reserve Shiraz earned gold.

Pinot noir performed poorly, winning only three bronze and one silver medal from 12 entries. Notably, Tertini wines from the Southern Highland won the three bronze medals in the 2010 and older class and its neighbour, Centennial earned silver for its 2011.

Cabernet sauvignon, too, put in a mediocre performance overall with ten medals from 25 entries. The sole gold medallist went to the Hilltops region, continuing that district’s dominance of the variety in the regional show. The wine, Hungerford Hill Hh Hilltops Cabernet Sauvignon also won the cabernet trophy. Pankhurst Dorothy May 2010 performed well, earning a silver medal.

Tumbarumba, Canberra’s elevated, cooler, southerly neighbour, dominated the chardonnay classes, winning all of the silver medals and both golds in class 11 for wines from 2011 and earlier vintages. Barwang Estate Tumbarumba 842 Chardonnay 2010 topped the class. And demonstrating the wine’s staying ability, the 2006 vintage won gold in the museum class. McWilliams owns Barwang.

Among the so-called “other” white varieties and blends, the gold medallists were: Lerida Estate Pinot Grigio 2012, Clonakilla Viognier 2011 and Coolangatta Estate 2005 semillon.

The “other” red gold medallists were: Capital Wines The Ambassador Tempranillo 2011 and Mount Majura Graciano.

This is just a summary of key varieties and doesn’t include sparkling or sweet wines. For the full results visit www.rncas.org.au

My spreadsheets summarise the 2011 and 2012 medal strike rates for the main dry table wine styles.

Canberra Regional Wine Show 2012
How the varieties fared (dry wines only)
	Entries	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	%
Riesling
Class 1, 2012	14	3	2	4	9	64
Class 5, 2011 and older	9	2	2	3	7	78
TOTAL	23	5	4	7	16	70

Sauvignon blanc and blends
Class 2, 2012	5	1	0	2	3	60
Class 6, 2011 and older	5	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	10	1	0	2	3	30

Chardonnay
Class 3, 2012	2	0	1	1	2	100
Class 7, 2011 and older	21	2	4	7	13	50
Class 22, 2006 and older (museum)	1	1	0	0	1	100
TOTAL	24	3	5	8	16	66.66666667

Pinot gris/grigio
Class 4, other varieties 2012	4	1	0	1	2	50
Class 8, other varieties 2011 and older	4	0	1	1	1	25
TOTAL	8	1	1	2	3	38

Semillon
Class 4, other varieties 2012	1	0	0	0	0	0
Class 8, other varieties 2011 and older	6	2	1	3	4	100
TOTAL	7	2	1	3	4	100

Shiraz
Class 13, 2011	13	3	2	4	9	69
Class 14, 2010 and older	22	4	4	1	9	41
Class 23, 2006 and older (museum)	1	1	0	0	1	100
TOTAL	36	8	6	5	19	53

Pinot noir
Class 11, 2011	5	0	1	1	2	40
Class 12, 2010 and older	7	0	0	3	3	43
Class 23, 2006 and older (museum)	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	12	0	1	4	5	42

Cabernet sauvignon and blends
Class 15, 2011	2	0	0	1	1	33
Class 16, 2010 and older	21	1	1	6	8	38
Class 23, 2006 and older (museum)	2	0	1	0	1	50
TOTAL	25	1	2	7	10	40

Merlot and blends
Class 17, 2011 other varieties	1	0	0	0	0	0
Class 18, 2009 and older other varieties	1	0	0	0	0	0
Class 223, 2006 and older (museum)	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	2	0	0	0	0	0

Canberra Regional Wine Show 2011
How the varieties fared (dry wines only)
	Entries	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	%
Riesling
Class 1, 2011	20	2	3	5	10	50
Class 5, 2010 and older	13	2	3	4	9	69
TOTAL	33	4	6	9	19	58

Sauvignon blanc and blends
Class 2, 2011	8	0	1	1	2	25
Class 6, 2010 and older	2	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	10	0	1	1	2	20

Chardonnay
Class 3, 2011	1	0	0	0	0	0
Class 7, 2010 and older	16	4	1	3	8	50
Class 22, 2006 and older (museum)	1	1	0	0	1	100
TOTAL	18	5	1	3	9	50

Pinot gris/grigio
Class 4, other varieties 2011	7	1	1	1	3	43
Class 8, other varieties 2010 and older	5	0	0	1	1	20
TOTAL	12	1	1	2	4	33

Semillon
Class 4, other varieties 2011	1	0	0	1	1	100
Class 8, other varieties 2010 and older	4	1	0	3	4	100
TOTAL	5	1	0	4	5	100

Shiraz
Class 13, 2010	16	3	2	7	12	75
Class 14, 2009 and older	28	4	3	9	16	57
Class 23, 2006 and older (museum)	3	1	0	1	2	67
TOTAL	47	8	5	17	30	64

Pinot noir
Class 11, 2010	7	0	2	0	2	29
Class 12, 2009 and older	11	0	1	1	2	18
Class 23, 2006 and older (museum)	1	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	19	0	3	1	4	21

Cabernet sauvignon and blends
Class 15, 2010	6	0	1	1	2	33
Class 16, 2009 and older	21	1	1	3	5	24
Class 17, other varieties 2010	1	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	28	1	2	4	7	25

Merlot and blends
Class 17, 2010 other varieties	5	0	0	2	2	40
Class 18, 2009 and older other varieties	6	1	0	1	2	33
Class 223, 2006 and older (museum)	1	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	12	1	0	3	4	33

The vision behind Clonakilla shiraz viognier — part 2, a 20-year tasting

3 October 2012People, Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Part 1 of the Clonakilla shiraz viognier story last week recounted how great wine begins in the brain – with a vision or dream or hunch. We saw how Max Schubert created Grange after tasting half-century-old reds in Bordeaux in 1950; then how in 1991 Tim Kirk tasted Marcel Guigal’s Cote-Rotie shiraz-viognier blends and decided, “I’ve got to get this shiraz-viognier thing going back home”.

In both cases great French wines inspired the creation of a new and enduring style in Australia – the first from 1951, the second from 1992.

Schubert returned to Australia and in 1951 made Grange Hermitage – the first in a continuing line of deep, powerful, tannic reds made intentionally for the long-term. That he did so with warm-climate shiraz, rather than cool-climate cabernet sauvignon and related varieties used in Bordeaux, simply reflected the grapes available to him at the time.

Kirk, on the other hand, returned to Canberra with an altogether different shiraz style in mind. Schubert desired a big, powerful wine, capable of becoming fine and elegant over time; Kirk’s inspiration came from the perfume and sheer dimension of two- and three-year old reds, two of them still maturing in barrel.

Kirk had already recognised the medium bodied, aromatic character of the early Clonakilla shiraz vintages, made in 1990 and 1991. He was aware, too, that on a suggestion from brother Jeremy, father Dr John Kirk, had planted viognier in 1986. Kirk snr sourced cuttings from what is now Charles Sturt University, Wagga, where he was studying wine science. The ingredients for a Clonakilla shiraz-viognier blend therefore lay in the vineyard, awaiting Tim Kirk’s return from France.

At a Clonakilla tasting in Melbourne on 11 September, John Kirk recalled planting the viognier for its own sake – a white variety suited to the Murrumbateman climate and capable of giving tiny Clonakilla a point of difference over larger competitors.

In 1992, then, the viognier from these young vines found its way into the fermenter with shiraz and small amounts of pinot noir and mourvedre (aka mataro).

This inaugural Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier (still drinking well at the September 11 tasting) sits a long way stylistically from the later wines that built then cemented it as the gold standard for this style in Australia. The remarkable aromatics and silky tannins remained a few years in the future.

The 1992 is lower in alcohol at 12.5 per cent (compared with around 14 per cent through the noughties); it was matured in older American oak rather than the mix of new and old French oak that came later; and the grapes were all crushed and de-stemmed before fermentation (but from 1993 the inclusion of whole bunches, including stems, affected the flavour and structure of the wine).

The 1993 (12.7 per cent alcohol) again contained a small amount of pinot noir which, along with one third of the shiraz, was whole-bunch fermented and foot trodden. The rest of the shiraz was crushed and de-stemmed before fermentation with a small amount of viognier. The two batches of wine finished their fermentations in French and American oak barrels and were bottled without fining or filtration. In the tasting the 1993 showed a little of the stalky character of whole-bunch ferment, but overall held up less well than the 1992 or 1994 either side of it – a sound wine still.

1994 to my taste marks a maturing of the style: it’s a little more alcoholic at 13.7 per cent, the colour remains youthful and it delivers thrilling aromatics and silky tannins, though the oak tannins intrude ever so slightly. The wine – comprising 14 per cent pinot noir and four per cent viognier – was 100 per cent whole-bunch fermented and foot-trodden in open fermenters, followed by maturation in French oak (two thirds of it new), from cooper Seguin Moreau. 1994 was a frost-reduced vintage says Tim Kirk.

The style continues to mature in 1995 and 1996, separated in the tasting mainly by the vintage conditions. 1995 produced the first decent crop of viognier, Kirk says, and the proportion in the blend leapt from four per cent in 1994 to 10 per cent in 1995 and 1996. The lovely, elegant 1996 appealed more on the night. Both wines showed their age.

1997 presented the first real excitement of the tasting – a wine blossoming with bottle age yet still limpid and youthfully coloured, with sweet berry and spice flavours, alluring perfume and silky texture. In this vintage Kirk wound the viognier back to five per cent and used 30 per cent new Sirugue (France) oak.

The notably more robust 1998 vintage, still at five per cent viognier content, seemed like a bigger, riper, sweeter version of the 1997 – all the alluring features pumped up proportionally and therefore well balanced.

In October 1998 a jet stream of frigid air destroyed vine buds across south-eastern Australia, including Canberra. Clonakilla’s 1999 was therefore a tiny crop from a second budding – five per cent viognier, co-fermented with shiraz, matured in Sirugue and Francois Frere barrels, 36 per cent new. The wine’s holding in there in a distinctive spicy, peppery, stalky way.

The 2000 vintage, from a cool, wet season, is lighter coloured, lean on the palate and drying out now. The alcohol is 12.8 per cent, compared to the 14.1 per cent in the beautiful 2001. Kirk calls this vintage a turning point as he’s now soaking the juice on skins for 16–18 days before fermentation, creating even finer and silkier tannins. At 11 years, this is Clonakilla in full flight – maturing but youthful and fresh at the same time. Beautiful floral and spicy aroma and lively, fresh, silky, medium-bodied palate are in a class of their own.

By now the pinot noir component in the wines is absent or tiny. Tim Kirk emailed, “Once we started making the Hilltops [shiraz] in 2000, the pinot would end up there if I felt it wasn’t going to contribute anything positive to the SV [shiraz-viognier]. Sometimes there, sometimes the SV and, from 2007, possibly the O’Riada [shiraz].”

From 2001 on we’re seeing a mature Clonakilla style, but still being tweaked, Tim Kirk said, particularly in the maceration phase and the type of oak used. He acknowledged recent work on this with winemaker Bryan Martin.

From 2001 the wines all receive gold-medal scores in my notes, with exception of 2003, 2006 and 2011 on silver. All this says is that some wines are more exceptional than others, silver medallists included.

I rated the 2009 as wine of the line up – a slurpy, juicy, utterly seductive red of exceptional dimension. The just-released 2011, too, is gorgeous. It shows the style of the very cool vintage – a slightly lighter colour and lower alcohol content than the warmer 2009 and 2010 vintages – but a triumph nevertheless.

Tim Kirk says he bottled just 1,000 dozen, less than half the usual volume, because disease destroyed much of the crop. He calls the wine “pretty”, which is not a bad description, albeit an understatement. I enjoyed the delicate musk-like aroma, seasoned with white pepper (a sure sign of cool ripening conditions) and vibrant, fresh fruit flavours – a spicier, more peppery, lighter bodied version of the style.

But that’s not all. We started this story with a quote from Yalumba’s Brian Walsh. “Great wine starts in the brain”. Walsh declared at an industry symposium last year.

There’s another story to come – from the same brain behind Clonakilla shiraz viognier. Tim Kirk’s encounter with La Chapelle 1990, a straight shiraz from Hermitage, just down the Rhone fro Cote-Rotie, inspired Clonakilla’s Syrah, a wine to equal the old flagship.

Great wine starts in the brain — the vision behind Clonakilla’s shiraz viognier

26 September 2012People, WineChris Shanahan

This is part one of the story of Clonakilla shiraz viognier, Canberra’s now world famous red, created by Tim Kirk and other Kirk family members over the last 40 years. But first let’s step back to a time long before Tim’s birth – detouring via a Brian Walsh (Yalumba) speech at University House Wine Symposium 2011.

“Great wine does not start in the vineyard”, declared Walsh, contradicting an industry axiom. “I assert that great wine starts in the brain”, he continued. “The creation of fine wine is, at its source, an intellectual exercise. Someone has a dream, a vision, a hunch – then the desire, commitment, capability and energy to craft something special, typically with a desire for unique attributes that differentiate it from others”.

This vision, or dream or hunch comes in ways unique to each vigneron. Take, for example, Max Schubert and Penfolds Grange.

By 1950 Schubert was chief winemaker at Penfolds, concerned mainly with the production of fortified wines. But a trip to France that year, and an encounter with aged Bordeaux reds in the home of wine merchant, Christian Cruse, changed the course of Australian winemaking history.

In an interview with David Farmer and me in 1992, Schubert recalled,

“These were 40 and 50 years old. The magnificence of these wines sort of remained with me and I still think that they are the best wines I’ve ever tasted. I mean you’ve got magnificence in front of you. You’ve got perfection and you should savour it. And I did savour it right to the bloody hilt.

“You know, the thought went through my mind: Why, if they can do this, why can’t we at home. But then I thought, too, that I won’t live long enough to do it. How can you and yet here I am. I have a forty-year-old wine that I made forty years ago experimentally and the bloody thing is still alive. And that is a tremendous thrill to me.

… It [Grange] has a similar elegance [to those French reds], even after starting from a great big rough Australian red”.

Schubert wasted no time. He made the first experimental Grange in 1951, applying winemaking techniques he’d observed in France to mainly shiraz grapes sourced from favoured vineyard sites. The rest is history.

The Kirk family’s Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier builds on several visions, dreams and hunches – the smaller, earlier, more-modest dreams enabling fruition of Tim Kirk’s big dream following a tour of France’s Rhone Valley in1991.

The first, a seed of a dream really, dropped into John Kirk’s brain during World War II. Of Irish birth but living in England, he was shipped for a time to his grandfather’s farm, Clonakilla, in County Clare, for respite from wartime England and its poor diet.

The working farm appealed to Kirk, he said last week in Melbourne. Then after the war he returned once more to Ireland from England to help out in a family hotel. At 14 years the family gave him control of the wine cellar. “I knew nothing about it”, he said, “but I read up and bought the best”. He subsequently maintained an interest in wine, exclusively French, through his university years in the UK and Wales and brought the fascination with him to Australia in 1968.

Arriving in Canberra, he felt surprised to find no vineyards in this part of NSW. People believed it was too cold. But his own research suggested a climate similar to Bordeaux’s.

The working-farm concept planted in Kirk’s brain during the war years, and the later fascination with wine, coalesced into Clonakilla Murrumbateman vineyard in 1971. And the perceived similarity with Bordeaux’s climate, convinced him to plant cabernet sauvignon first – although shiraz (1972) and other varieties followed soon enough.

Although the shiraz-viognier phenomenon lay 20 years in the future, the first shiraz vines were now in the ground. Then in 1984 on son Jeremy’s suggestion, the Kirk’s sought another variety that might suit the district and offer a point of difference.

They identified the rare Rhone Valley white variety, viognier. John Kirk sourced cuttings from Charles Sturt University, Wagga, where he was studying wine science, and planted vines at Clonakilla in 1986.

So by the late eighties, the dreams, hunches and visions of the Kirk family coincided with nature – setting the scene for the fulfilment of the biggest dream of all.

In 1990 no one would have predicted shiraz as Canberra’s regional specialty. Even at Clonakilla, shiraz joined cabernet sauvignon in the blending vat until 1989 – eighteen years after the vineyard’s establishment.

Then, in 1990, “we made our first straight shiraz, on a whim”, says John Kirk. The wine enjoyed remarkable success, winning a silver medal at the Cowra Wine Show, a gold medal at Stanthorpe and a gold medal and two trophies at Griffith.

Then, in 1991 while the second Clonakilla shiraz lay in barrel, Melbourne-based Tim Kirk, having completed his Diploma of Education, headed off to France where I’d organised an appointment for him with Marcel Guigal, one of the Rhone’s great winemakers.

There he tasted Guigal’s stunning single vineyard wines (blends of shiraz and viognier) from the impossibly steep slopes of Cote-Rotie: the 1988 vintages of La Mouline and La Landonne from barrel, and the 1987 La Turque from bottle.

This meeting and tasting, Tim Kirk recalled, had been a “transforming moment” and that he was “transfixed and delighted” by the perfume and sheer dimension of Guigal’s wines. “I’ve got to get this shiraz-viognier thing going back home”, he thought.

This powerful vision soon crystallised into the Clonakilla shiraz-viognier the world loves today. Tim and John Kirk included viognier in the blend from 1992 and the accolades followed remarkably soon after, as another great wine shifted from the brain to reality.

Next week we’ll look at the wine’s evolution from the first vintage in 1992 to the current release twentieth vintage, 2011 – based on a tasting at Melbourne’s Circa Restaurant on 11 September.

Trust me, I’m the sommelier – Quay’s degustation wine menu

29 August 2012People, Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

We’re in Quay restaurant, watching the sea pulse through Sydney harbour on a miserably, cold, wet windy day. After the long drive from Canberra and cold walk from the Opera House car park, we’re comfortably settled, hungry and keen to launch into Peter Gilmore’s revered degustation lunch (a generous Christmas gift from our son and his fiancee).

We’ve studied the wine list online – an adventurous selection, compiled by head sommelier, Amanda Yallop. It gives us the confidence to go with Quay’s wine suggestions.

Our wine waiter for the day, Russell Mills, shows us the “classic” ($95) and “premium” ($175) wine matches – a half glass each of eight wines, selected by Yallop’s team to suit the eight dishes in the degustation menu ($220).

He says the wine team selects the wines on each list, then runs them past the cooking team for the thumbs up.

We decide to go with the premium selection all through the menu, but to try the first three whites from the classic selection as well.

Like the party game falling backwards, hoping someone might catch you, there’s a risk in trusting the wine waiter. But the potential reward is significant in a good restaurant with such a diverse wine selection. In this instance the eclectic selection, accompanied by the theatre of a new, unique glass with each wine, took us beyond our well-travelled path in the most delightful way.

What follows then is our impressions of the wine experience at Quay – the first three courses accompanied by two wines each, the first from the premium selection, the second from the classic selection. From there on, the wines are all from the premium selection.

Marco Felluga “Mongris” Pinot Grigio 2010 (Collio, Italy)
Moorilla Estate “Muse” Riesling 2009 (Tasmania)
Sashimi of Corner Inlet rock flathead, Tasmanian trumpeter, salt cured wild oyster cream, black lipped abalone, raw sea cabbage, nasturtiums, warrigals, periwinkles.

Sommelier’s aim: Dry, textured, minerally wines, not overtly fruity, to match a subtle, textural dish.

What we found: All of the above in the partially barrel-fermented Italian pinot grigio – a particularly fine example of the style, very much on the savoury side with rich texture, derived from the barrel work. It was my preference of the two with the supremely delicate food. Moorilla’s Muse, rated highly on the texture and minerality scale, but the floral and citrusy, maturing riesling varietal character pushed it towards fruity, away from savoury. This delicate fruitiness still worked with the food. Both wines were highly distinctive.

Pyramid Valley “Field of Fire” Chardonnay 2009 (Canterbury, New Zealand)
Krinklewood Chardonnay 2010 (Hunter Valley, NSW)
Congee of Northern Australian mud crab, fresh palm heart, egg yolk emulsion.

Sommelier’s aim: A sweet and delicate dish requires full-bodied but delicate wines like modern chardonnays with little obvious oak impact.

What we found: We’re supposed to be savouring the wine with the food, but who can help comparing the wine styles first, both full-bodied chardonnays but widely different in style. The New Zealand wine is older, produced without sulphur dioxide, fermented in large old oak and bottled without fining and filtering. Apart from the deep lemon-gold colour it’s youthful and fresh on the palate – full and ripe flavoured with funky yeast lees influence, but with assertive acidity providing backbone and freshness to the finish.

The pale-lemon coloured, green tinted Hunter wine shimmered with pure, ripe, white-peach varietal flavour against a subtle nutty background, derived from yeast lees. It’s a very even, very youthful wine and a total contrast to its New Zealand companion.

Both of the wines worked with the food, the Krinklewood predictably and conventionally; but Pyramid for its idiosyncrasy.

Domaine de Belliviere “Les Rosiers” 2010 (Jasnieres, Loire Valley, France)
Bellar Ridge Chenin Blanc 2009 (Swan Valley, Western Australia)
Gently poached southern rock lobster, hand-caught Tasmanian squid, golden tapioca, lobster velvet.

Sommelier’s aim: An opulent dish requires wines counterbalancing sweetness and acidity.

What we found: Again we couldn’t help comparing the wines (both made from chenin blanc) before trying the food combinations. The Western Australian wine fell down on the most important measure, in my opinion. Though fresh and clean and richly textured, the wine’s acidity proved no much for its sweetness. With the balance tipped to sweetness, the wine just didn’t work with the food for me. On the other hand, the perfect tension between sweetness and acidity in the Loire Valley wine couldn’t have been better for the food.

Bass Phillip Pinot Noir 2010 (Gippsland, Victoria)
Roasted partridge breast, teamed truffle brioche, confit egg yolk, new season white walnuts, fumet of vin jaune.

Sommelier’s aim: Not stated – too excited about “Australia’s best pinot”.

What we found: We’ve visited Phillip Jones at Bass Phillip, tasted many wines over many years and the best are truly stunning, this one included. This was our wine of the day – pure, magic, ethereal, rich, earthy and fine. What wonderful company for this sublime dish.

Claude Courtois Or’Norm Sauvignon 2008 (Sologne, France)
Smoked and confit pig cheek, shiitake, shaved scallop, Jerusalem artichoke leaves, juniper, bay.

Sommelier’s aim: An adventurous wine to match the smokiness of the dish.

What we found: This is another idiosyncratic wine style made without sulphur dioxide and deliberately oxidised slowly in old oak for three years. This results in a slightly rusty coloured wine that retains clear varietal sauvignon blanc character while taking on other aromas and flavours familiar to lovers of sherry, vin santo and vin jaune. It’s an unusual wine for sure, the richness, high acidity and tart oxidative flavours sat comfortably with the delicate, smoky pig cheek. One glass is enough.

Spinifex “Tabor” Mataro 2009 (Barossa Valley, South Australia)
Pasture raised milk-fed veal poached in smoked bone marrow fat, shiitake mushrooms, raw buckwheat, young orach, land samphire, parsnip.

Sommelier’s aim: An earthy wine is required to carry the smoke and earthiness of the food.

What we found: A deep, crimson-rimmed Barossa red that at 15 per cent alcohol may have been too robust for the dish. But alcohol tells only part of the story – in this instance only a small part, as the deep, rich, spicy fruit flavours and firm but fine tannins easily masked it. It’s a full-bodied wine, but the full flavours worked harmoniously with the food – and how nice to finish the reds on full, earthy, satisfying note. It’s sourced from two old vineyards in the Tabor area near Tanunda.

Domaine de L’Arjolle “Lyre” 2007 (Pouzelles, France)
Guava snow egg.

Sommelier’s aim: A luscious but not overly sweet wine, with structure, and should not compete with the dessert for sweetness.

What we found: It was a good choice to sit the wine in the background and let this extraordinary, complex dessert remain at centre stage. We attacked it with childlike delight – pausing to sip the light-golden coloured wine. It’s made of muscat blanc a petits grains. But the luscious fruit flavour seemed more like melon than in-your-face, fruity muscat. And a reasonably high phenolic level added texture and assertive grip to the finish – cleansing the palate rather than adding more sugar.

Chambers Grand Muscat NV (Rutherglen, Victoria)
Jersey cream, salted caramel, prunes, walnuts, ethereal sheets.

Sommelier’s aim: The wine must highlight the dried fruit and sweetness of the dessert.

What we found: I don’t have a sweet tooth, but coming off the crunchy, icy luxury of the snow egg, we were converted by the teasing nibbles of chocolate and toffee ethereal sheets; and succumbed completely to the luxury of the cream, caramel, prunes and nuts physically holding them up. The incredibly luscious, olive-green rimmed old muscat became part of the dessert – a rare and outstanding example of sweet plus sweet actually working.

Grab those 2012 Clare rieslings

15 August 2012People, Vineyard, Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

A couple of times each decade a very special riesling vintage comes along. And for me that means, eye on the retailer discounts, grabbing a couple of bottles here, half a dozen there and even a few dozen when the best opportunities arise.

For riesling remains Australia’s great bargain cellaring wine. The best offer delicious fruity freshness on release and over time develop deeper, richer flavours while retaining great freshness. Stock up on the great vintages and even modestly priced wines provide wonderful drinking for a decade, while the very best might give pleasure for 20 years or more – especially with the protection of a screw cap.

Right now I’m literally sniffing excitement in the 2012 vintage Clare Valley rieslings, revelling in the beautiful, pure fruit flavours, fresh, dry palates and moderate alcohol levels, demonstrated in all the wines reviewed here today, and peaking with the sensational Wilson Polish Hill and perhaps even loftier Leo Buring Leonay.

I’ve included a few winemaker comments as the wines support their palpable excitement about a Clare vintage that provided ideal ripening conditions – in sharp contrast to the cold, disease-ravaged 2011 season.

The 2012s are just beginning to arrive in restaurants and retail shelves now; and from what I’ve seen present that rare buying opportunity. Chateau Shanahan stocked up liberally on the wonderful 2002s and we’ll do the same with the 2012s.

I’ll review more of the wines as they come to market, highlighting those that offer best value and cellarability.

Winemakers Federation of Australia vintage report
“Most winemakers have described the vintage as one of the strongest on record. Yields were slightly lower than an average year, but this was offset by the higher levels of flavour intensity, fruit purity and natural acidity levels in the whites”.

Daniel Wilson, The Wilson Vineyard, Clare Valley
“2012 was a fantastic vintage, nice warm ripening conditions with the occasional shower to keep things hydrated.

I’m trying to remain objective as there’s probably a danger of overstating the quality of this vintage after the terrible year we had in 2011, but really, I couldn’t be more happy with the 2012 vintage.

To put it into perspective, I didn’t make our Polish Hill River Riesling in 2011, the first vintage missed since The Wilson Vineyard started making wine in 1980. I think that says it all”.

The Wilson Vineyard Watervale Riesling 2012 $18.95
Watervale, Clare Valley, South Australia
Watervale riesling lean towards a beautiful purity of fruit flavour, tending towards the lime-like end of riesling’s flavour spectrum – with the volume turned up a little in the 2012 vintage. The palate’s rich but delicate with a lingering, fresh, dry finish.

The Wilson Vineyard Polish Hill River Riesling 2012 $27.95
Polish Hill River, Clare Valley, South Australia
In 2012 Wilson’s flagship white reveals the unique power and delicacy of great riesling. It comes from low yielding vines and the winemaking aims at maximising and protecting the fruit flavour: hand picking and gentle pressing to avoid extraction of phenolics from the skins, prolonged, cool fermentation flavour and aromatics, then bottling under screw caps as soon as possible after fermentation. The aroma features floral and citrus characters and even at this early stage the palate reveals great intensity and power of flavour, held in check by its tight acid structure. Should age very well.

The Wilson Vineyard DJW Riesling 2012 $23.95
DJW vineyard, Polish Hill River, Clare Valley, South Australia
This comes from a 2.2-hectare vineyard planted by Daniel Wilson in 1997 on a fertile section of his father’s vineyard. The fertile site produced large vines, large bunches and bigger flavours than other parts of the vineyard, prompting the decision to bottle it separately. In 2012 the citrus and tropical fruit aroma gush from the glass and flood the palate deliciously. While big and juicy it retains a fine structure, zingy acidity and a modest alcohol content of 12.5 per cent.

Tim Adams, Tim Adams Wines, Clare Valley
“Our yields were down a bit on average, but flavour intensity and condition of fruit were outstanding. Vintages of intense flavour sometimes produce huge, blockbuster-type wines but that wasn’t the case in 2012”.

Tim Adams Riesling 2012 $18–$22
Irelands, Rogers and Bayes vineyards, Clare Valley, South Australia
Tim Adams generally makes low-alcohol, dry, austere rieslings requiring a few years to fill out and soften. But in 2012 the aroma and flavour’s already there, bursting like a genie from the bottle – while the alcohol level remains at a modest 11.5 per cent. The beautiful aroma and juicy, intense, lemony varietal flavour comes with a load of refreshing natural acidity and not a sign of the fatness that can accompany forward young rieslings. 2012 looks to be a great riesling vintage in the Clare Valley. This one is sensational at the price.

Peter Munro, Leo Buring Wines (owned by Treasury Wine Estates)
“Much will be said about the ‘amazing’, ‘powerful’ and ‘classic’ 2012 vintage; it’s all true and well deserved”.

Leo Buring Dry Riesling 2012 $14–$20
Watervale (50:50 company and grower vineyards), Clare Valley, South Australia
Buring’s bread and butter riesling generally does the discount rounds. But even though the price varies widely, it provides excellent value even at $20. The 2012 delivers Watervale’s purity and mouth-watering lime and lemon varietal flavours. It’s richer, fruitier and more deeply structured than we’d normally see in a riesling at this tender age, but not at the expense of delicacy or freshness. Watch for the bargains and grab a case or two for medium-term cellaring.

Leo Buring DW P18 Riesling 2012 $32–$40
Watervale, Clare Valley, South Australia
It takes only a mouthful of Leonay to understand winemaker Peter Munro’s excitement. This is an amazing dry riesling – gentle, delicate and caressing on the palate, yet with an extraordinary intensity of pure, thrilling, lime-like flavour. It’s unusual for a young Leonay to reveal itself at this age (typically the show medals come some years after vintage). But like other rieslings of the vintage tasted to date, there’s liveliness and finesse accompanying the upfront fruitiness. This one should cellar for decades in the right conditions.