Australasian bulls eye in Chardonnay shoot out

People, Wine, Wine review

On a recent blustery Friday afternoon, Canberra hosted an international chardonnay shoot-out. The bullets may ricochet around the world for some time. While the event may never take on the legendary status of Steven Spurrier’s 1976 judgement of Paris – where a handful of Californian wines out gunned some of France’s best – the Canberra tasting is sure to upset more winemakers than it pleases.

On this occasion, the biggest losers were the American wines, stuck, it seems, in a winemaking style that Australian makers tried then abandoned 20 years ago. While the French fared better, their schadenfreude will be quickly transferred to the victorious Australians and New Zealanders.

On the aggregate scores of 16 judges (I was one) Australasian wines took nine of the top ten spots, with a French wine rated ninth. The five American chardonnays occupied five of the last six positions in the field of twenty.

So, what were the wines, how did they fare individually, who were the judges, and what do the results mean?

The tasting, conducted during Winewise magazine’s annual Small Vignerons Awards, included five chardonnays each from France, the United States, New Zealand and Australia. The wines were served blind – all we saw as judges was 20 glasses of wine in front of each of us. We knew they were top examples of 2005s and 2006s, five each from the four countries. We didn’t know the serving order.

The judges were mainly Australians with a couple of expat New Zealanders, but no Americans or French (one of the big upsets in the 1976 Spurrier tasting was the inclusion of influential French tasters).

However, the panel, including wine show veterans James Halliday and Ian McKenzie, had a great depth of international experience.

As a group we appreciated and enjoyed top French, New Zealand and Australian wines. But it would also be fair to say we felt some scepticism towards American chardonnays, albeit based on experience. To that extent the tasting confirmed our fears about the American wines.

We tasted the wines without discussion (it’s so easy to be influenced by someone else’s comments), awarding each wine a score out of 20 in half point increments. In the show system we give bronze medals to wines scoring 15.5, 16 or 16.5; silver medals for scores of 17.0, 17.5 or 18.0; and gold medals for scores above 18.5.

For this tasting I thought less of medal scores (because we weren’t awarding medals) and more along the line that scores should reflect the range of quality in front of us. And it turned out to be wider than I’d expected, ranging my notes from 19.5 for the glorious Coldstream Hills Reserve Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2006 to 12 for the cloudy, out of condition Kistler Dutton Ranch Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2005.

Now, as Hugh Johnson once said, giving wines scores can create a spurious sense of precision. And when we look across the scores of 22 people tasting 20 chardonnays the range of individual scores on any one wine is pretty wide. The scores for the group’s top ranking wine (Coldstream Reserve 2006), for example, ranged from 16.5 to 19.5 – a 15 per cent variance. But nine of the 16 judges and one of the associate judges rated it 19 or above; and four judges and four associates scored it at 18.5. Clearly it pushed the right buttons for most tasters. But there were dissenters.

The official scorecard, when Winewise publishes it, will show our aggregates and averages – fair enough for getting the general drift, but hiding the quite wide range of opinions on each wine. The group’s wooden spooner, for example, averaged 15.5 points but one taster gave it 18.5 ¬– a gold medal score. Its scores ranged from 13 to 18.5 points.

One thing that I took away from the tasting is how difficult it would have been to nominate the country of origin of most of the wines – something I think many of the experienced tasters on the panel could’ve have done with ease twenty years ago.

I attribute this to the amazing quality advances by Australian and New Zealand wines over that period. Both countries have experienced a great finessing of chardonnays achieved through attentive winemaking and viticultural management, including the expansion and maturing of vines in the right regions.

While Australia’s and New Zealand’s winemakers steadily closed the quality gap with France – indeed blurred the boundary between great Burgundy and home-grown stuff – American chardonnay, if what we tasted was indeed a representative sample, seems to have stayed in the over-oaked, heavy styles that we made in the eighties.

Another great competitive advantage we have over the French is our embrace of the screw cap. Our wines were bright and fresh, but a couple of the French wines in the line up seemed a little dull, perhaps the result of oxidation caused by a poor cork.

While in my books the Coldstream Hills Reserve 2006 stood above the pack, I’ve grouped my own ratings into four categories – A grade, Reserve grade, Reserve grade reserves and Thanks for coming.

A grade
Coldstream Hills Reserve Yarra Valley 2006, Cloudy Bay Marlborough 2006, Voyager Estate Margaret River 2006, Leeuwin Estate Margaret River 2006, Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles (Louis Jadot) 2005, Giaconda Beechworth 2006, Ata Rangi Craighall 2006, Meursault Les Perrieres (Pierre Morey) 2006.

Reserve grade
Kumeu River Coddington 2006, Batard-Montrachet (Leflaive) 2006, Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels 2006, Bindi Quartz 2005

Reserve grade reserves
Kansgaard Napa 2006, Church Road Tom 2006, Chablis Grenoilles (Louis Michel) 2006, Corton-Charlemagne (Marc Colin) 2005

Thanks for coming
Mount Eden Estate 2005, Peter Michael Winery Ma Belle Fille Eastern Sonoma 2006, Kenwood Family Vineyards Tor Sonoma County 2005, Kistler Dutton Ranch Russian River Valley 2005.
Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Diversity in Aussie beer competition

Beer

For an insight into the incredibly diverse world of beer go to www.beerawards.com and check out the 2009 catalogue of results. It’s a mouth-watering list, running to 42 pages, and containing lots of everyday beers as well as some of the hardest-to-find exotica on earth.

Trophy winning breweries include relatively unknowns like the beautifully named Feral Brewing Company of Western Australia, Cerveceria Hondurena (Honduras Brewery), Mountain Goat Beer of Melbourne, McAuslan Brewing of Canada, Weihenstephaner of Bavaria, Blackwood Vale of Western Australia, The Flying Horse Bar and Brewery of Victoria, The Sunshine Coast Brewery of Queensland and Anderson Valley Brewing of California.

Scrolling through the score sheets, though, you find exotic brews mixed in with our old favourites – so we can use the judges’ scores to run the value-for-money ruler over a vast range of beers.

The packaged lager section, for example, bristles with bronze and silver medal beers from around the world. But we scroll a long way to find the first gold medallist, Cerveceria Hondurena Imperial.

The judges reveal their leaning to more complex beers with a run of four consecutive golds in the India pale ale class and vein of gold sprinkled through the draft stout division – including gongs for James Squire The Craic, Port Dock Black Bart,  Stearn Exchange Stout, Mountain Goat Surefoot, Blackwood Valley Stout and Moo Brew Seasonal Stout.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Wine review — Cimicky and Tapanappa

Wine review

Cimicky Trumps Barossa Valley Shiraz 2007 $17–$20
Charles Cimicky, based at Lyndoch in the southern Barossa Valley, has been on the money with his rich, savoury, regional reds for decades. In the early days they enjoyed a cult following, but as the wines are now distributed nationally by Angoves you’re more likely to find them on retail shelves. Cimicky’s Trumps Shiraz, at around $20, provides a big value introduction to the house style — full, ripe and inviting, in the general Barossa mould, but with complex savoury flavours and a grippy finish that goes so well with food. This is a sophisticated, drink-now regional red at a fair price.

Tapanappa ‘Tiers’ Vineyard Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay 2008 $71.50In 1978
Brian Croser released Petaluma Chardonnay 1977, a pioneering oak-fermented, oak-matured wine of striking quality. It came from warm Cowra and was the forerunner of later Petaluma vintages sourced from Croser’s vineyards in South Australia’s cool Piccadilly Valley. Over time ‘Tiers’, the earliest of those Piccadilly vineyards, produced distinctive wines and ultimately became the flagship Petaluma chardonnay. Today the ‘Tiers’ vineyard remains in Croser family hands and contributes fruit to both Petaluma and Tapanappa. Tapanappa shows the ripe, peachy flavours of the warm year – in a distinctive fresh, very fine style, incorporating the deep texture and flavour complexities of barrel fermentation and maturation.

Tapanappa Fleurieu Peninsula Pinot Noir 2008 $47
South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula gives its name to a wine zone embracing the warm McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek regions – source of generous ripe wines. But the peninsula juts further south, swinging westward into the Great Southern Ocean, producing towards its tip the significantly cooler, wetter climate that lured Brian Croser into planting pinot noir in 2003. This is the second Tapanappa wine from those young vines – and it makes a strong case for Croser’s choice of site. It’s early days yet, and we’ll have to see how the wines mature. But right now it’s a gem – fragrant, finely sculpted and lusciously flavoured, featuring bright fruit notes as well as savouriness and with loads of soft, persistent tannins giving structure.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Truffle ahead for Australia’s wine industry

People, Wine

We may never hear an Australian prime minister saying ‘fair sniff of the truffle mate’. But in the Canberra region truffles are already a highly visible seasonal luxury, with more action to come when recent local plantings bear fruit.

At a grower seminar during the recent truffle festival, local producer Wayne Haslam said that 30 growers between the southern highlands and the snow country now tend 16 thousand trees. This suggests an annual crop of about 1,500 kg, worth around $2 million to the growers and about $3.75 million retail.

We could easily see that as a drop in the vast food retail market. But with truffles retailing at around $125 for 50gms during the June–July season, it’s clearly a highly specialised niche – and a brand new one at that, having started locally only this decade.

Truffle’s mystique lies in its unique, sensuous, penetrating aroma rather than its high price (a function of scarcity) and its ability to boost the flavour of foods, especially fatty products.

Once you’ve gone nose to nose with a good fresh truffle, you’ll always want to try it one more time. And in Canberra probably some of the keenest converts are also our keenest wine drinkers – to the extent that there will inevitably be links between our winemakers and truffle growers.

Several local winemakers have organised truffle dinners in the last two seasons – exploring the truffle’s possibilities with food as well as potential wine pairings.

It’s only a matter of time, I reckon, before we see Canberra vignerons planting truffle-infected trees – typically English oak and hazelnut – for either personal or commercial reasons.

I know of one Murrumbateman winemaker with a personal truffiere already marked out. And Frank van der Loo, of Mount Majura vineyard, tells me the investors behind the vineyard considered truffles some years back, but shied away from the risk at the time.

The next-door neighbour subsequently planted a truffiere and harvested the first crop just three years later. Frank sees potential to bring wine and truffles together, perhaps at cellar door – and who knows, maybe a Mount Majura Vineyard plantation?

There’s a precedent in The Wine & Truffle Company, Western Australia. At the Canberra forum a two weeks ago, Alf Salter, a director, said that the cellar door, located at Manjimup, to the south east of Margaret River, attracted five thousand visitors a year – an impressive feat for such an isolated location.

Alf reckons that the venture will harvest about a tonne to 1.2 tonnes this year, after yields of 600 kg in 2008 and 300 kg in 2007 – the rapid increase reflecting more trees coming into production.

But he cautions against truffle growing without deep pockets and careful planning. There’s a considerable upfront investment (about $30 thousand to the hectare), considerable maintenance of the truffiere, a long wait until full production and, as well, growers face all the risks of any agricultural venture.

He said that planting vines as well as truffles had meant an earlier cash flow for the new business – as vines yielded saleable fruit after four years, but truffles didn’t produce income until eight years after planting. Ultimately, though, the combination is what attracts so many visitors to the cellar door.

Another note of caution for would-be truffle growers, Alf said, was the potential risk of flooding the Australian market and reducing returns to growers.  Australian truffle growers produced 800 kg in 2007 and one point four tonnes in 2008. And they are projected to produce two tonnes this year and five tonnes by 2015.

From a consumer perspective, we can only welcome a little over production if it makes truffles more affordable. What’s to stop the price of high-quality truffles declining if growers can learn to produce them efficiently?

My limited experience with truffles is that we need a decent slab if we’re to share the pleasure over a meal with friends – be it simple, but gloriously scented truffled eggs for brekky, served with a delicate Buddha’s Tears tea, or a multi-course truffle menu accompanied by a sequence of great wines.

The exciting thing though is that they’re now on Canberra’s menu and likely to be available in greater quantities in the years ahead. You can buy them direct from producers at the EPIC markets on Saturday mornings (be very early). And the more adventurous local restaurateurs are offering truffle menus.

If you’re buying, my advice from limited experience, is that all truffles are not created equal and that freshness (measured in days from harvest, not weeks, is essential). Simply trust your nose – pick the little bugger up and sniff it. If it’s on the money, you’ll know, believe me. And you’ll never forget that first moment.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Beer and cider review – Kosciuszko Brewing and Napoleone & Co

Beer review

Kosciuszko Brewing Company Pale Ale – schooner $4.50
The Banjo Paterson Inn, Jindabyne, now has on tap (and in bottle from next month) its first Kosciuszko Pale Ale, brewed on site by Lion Nathan’s Chuck Hahn. It’s a deep golden colour, with a beautifully fresh, aromatic hops aroma. The palate’s malt-rich, smooth, ultra fresh and cut through with those tasty, bitter hops.

Napoleone & Co Yarra Valley Apple Cider 330ml $5
This is the second batch of cider from Yarra Valley orchards established in 1948 by the Napoleone family, owners of Punt Road Winery. It combines several varieties – including granny smith, pink lady and Johnny gold. It’s pale coloured and fresh with a zesty, refreshing acidic bite in the finish.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Wine review — Ravensworth and Mount Majura

Wine review

Ravensworth Murrumbateman Marsanne 2008 $21
Ravensworth Murrumbateman Viognier 2008 $21
These amazingly good whites cement Bryan Martin’s place as one of Canberra’s best winemakers. They’re Rhone varieties, grown at Murrumbateman and made by Bryan at the Clonakilla Winery – a top environment, it seems, for making every notable variety in the district. Both taste as if they’re barrel fermented – a useful winemaking technique when, as in these wines, the aerobic environment boosts texture and complexity without inserting overt oak flavours. The marsanne is the more restrained of the two, but deep, complex and fresh, without the fatness of chardonnay. Viognier is tame (for the variety) with delicious white peach/nectarine flavours.

Ravensworth Murrumbateman Sangiovese 2008 $21
The aroma’s appropriately hand waving, ebullient Italian – bursting bright, fruity and friendly from the glass. The palate starts with the same dazzling, fresh charm. But there’s a deeper undercurrent of firm, gripping tannin, giving the wine an enjoyable, savoury, bone-dry grip. It’s a medium-bodied red, in the Canberra mould, revealing clearly the flavour and structure of this ancient, indigenous Italian variety. The bright, pure fruit gives a modern Aussie accent to a grape that dominates the Italian landscape, most notably in Chianti country, Tuscany. See www.ravensworthwines.com.au

Mount Majura Canberra District Shiraz 2007 $26
Frank Van Der Loo’s 2006 shiraz topped (in my notes) a recent masked line up of three striking shirazes. The other two, Langhi Ghiran Grampians 2005 and Delacolline Port Lincoln 2003 (a very peppery newcomer made for the vineyard owners by O’Leary Walker) were impressive in their own ways. But the Majura wine charmed for its silky, supple texture and deep, pure spicy varietal flavour. It’s a classy, distinctive drop and though sold out reminded me how very good the more solid, and still available, 2007 vintage is. What really impressed in the tasting was how easy it was to pick it as a Canberra wine – a sure sign of a maturing regional specialty.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Light up a Marlborough — the trouble with wine regions

Wine

A Wine Intelligence survey, released at the London International Wine Fair in May, reveals that wine drinkers in the USA and the UK – our two biggest markets – show little awareness of Australian or New Zealand wine regions.

Even after a decade of dominance by Australian wine imports in both countries, just 38 per cent of the 1002 UK drinkers and 10 per cent of the 2069 Americans surveyed were aware of the Barossa Valley. Marlborough, New Zealand’s largest wine region fared even worse, being recognised by only 27 per cent of UK and 12 per cent of USA drinkers.

While the report partly quantifies the challenge ahead for our wine regions, it also confirms the important role regions play in consumer wine-buying decisions.

In both the UK and USA, about half of wine drinkers rated region of origin as ‘important’ or ‘very important’ cues when buying wine. Strangely, though, two thirds of the British but only half of the Americans rated country of origin as important or very important.

Not surprisingly, UK wine drinkers showed the highest level of awareness, and understanding of the wines, of the long-established European names, Champagne, Burgundy, Chablis, Bordeaux, Chianti, Beaujolais, Cava, Rioja, Cotes du Rhone Loire and Provence.

Americans seemed familiar with fewer regions and their wine styles than the Brits, with the Napa Valley (USA), Champagne, Bordeaux, Chablis and Chianti at the fore. However, even though the Americans showed little recognition of the regional names Beaujolais, Alsace, Cava, Rioja and Prosecco, they made valid comments about the wine styles behind those names.

This suggests a wider importance for regional names to Americans than the figure for buying cues suggests. Clearly there’s an understanding of wine styles behind some regional names even if the buyer doesn’t recognise their geographic meaning.

Repeating this pattern, only 10 per cent of American buyers were aware of the Barossa as a region, but about three quarters of them showed some understanding of the region’s styles. Figures for UK buyers were about 38 per cent regional awareness and 80 per cent familiarity with the styles. This suggests that in both countries the Barossa name is synonymous with a wine style rather than a region.

Wine Intelligence asked respondents what words came spontaneously in response to regional names.  When asked about ‘Barossa’ the commonest British responses were ‘Australia’, ‘red’, ‘good’, ‘shiraz’. The American response was a less emphatic ‘red’, ‘Spain’, ‘good’, ‘wine’, ‘Australia’, ‘great’, ‘Italy’ and ‘California’.

From the English, ‘Marlborough’ prompted ‘New Zealand’, ‘cigarettes’, ‘strong’, ‘white’ and ‘sauvignon blanc’. And the Americans weighed in with ‘cigarettes’, ‘New Zealand’, ‘good’ and ‘sauvignon blanc’.

Perhaps the greatest opportunity for Australian and New Zealand exporters lies in the tremendous goodwill towards us in the UK and USA – especially in comparison to other exporting nations.

Asked to rate their affinity to various countries, their people and their cultures, 78 per cent of British and 73 per cent of American respondents rated Australia as ‘positive’ or ‘very positive’ – putting us at the top of the list. New Zealand came in second with the British at 70% and third for the Americans 61% (behind second placed Italy on 71%).

Italy and Spain fared well in the affinity test, but poor old France, creator and doyen of so many classic wine styles, rated just 56% with the British and 46% with the Americans.

Perhaps this lack of empathy is a countervailing force to the widespread knowledge of their regions and styles – and a continuing opportunity for our winemakers.

And a warning bell I hear in the survey figures applies as much in Australia as it does in the UK, but probably not to America. The most powerful cue affecting buying choice in the UK is ‘promotional offer’, rated by 73% of respondents as ‘important’ or ‘very important’. In the USA ‘promotional offer’ rated only fourth, behind grape variety, recommendation by a friend or family and familiar brand.

The primacy of the retail offer in Britain reflects the enormous power of the major national retail chains. The same applies in Australia where our two biggest retailers now account for perhaps half of all sales.

While competition is unquestionably a force for good, keeping a lid on prices, too much market power can limit entry to markets for smaller wine players, especially when the focus is more on price than on quality. The power of our big supermarkets could well stifle our wine industry’s planned focus on regional identity.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Beer review — Batemans Triple and Samuel Smith Tadcaster

Beer review

Batemans Triple XB Classic Premium Ale 500ml $7.11
This lively copper-coloured beer ticks all of ale’s aroma, flavour and bitterness boxes – in its own rich, complex discrete style. The malt:hops balance is superb and the extra vibrance on the palate probably comes from the inclusion of wheat malt in the blend. This is an exciting and easy-to-drink beer.

Samuel Smith Tadcaster Taddy Porter 500ml $8.28
The line between stout and porter is to some extent arbitrary, but Taddy sits towards the robust end of the porter style. It’s deeply coloured, velvet smooth and balances seductive chocolaty, roasted-grain flavours against its lingering, dry, bitter finish. Despite the complexity and strength of flavours it’s oh so pleasant to drink.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009

Warming winter ales from the British Isles

Beer, Beer review

Like the stouts reviewed last week, English ales suit Canberra’s winter climate. As a group they’re fruity, rich and malty, and a joy to drink at a mild 5–10 degrees.

They vary in colour from pale tan to inky black and in flavour from mild and subtle to rich and chocolaty, with a corresponding variance in hops bitterness.

The richest pickings I’ve seen in Canberra are at Plonk, in the Fyshwick Markets, where there seems to be a continuous flow of new beers from around the world.

A recent raid on their shelves yielded a handful of outstanding English beers (all in satisfying 500ml bottles).

The mid-amber coloured Ridley’s Old Bob Strong Premium Ale ($7.28) features deep, supple, smooth maltiness, beautifully offset by hops aroma and flavour – a harmonious brew built on East Anglian pale ale malt and Fuggles hops.

The low-alcohol Manns Brown Ale ($6.03) focuses on rich, treacly malt flavours with little bitterness. It contrasts gently with the assertive, chocolaty, roasted grain flavours and drying hops bitterness of Taddy Porter, below.

Greene King Strong Suffolk Vintage Ale (7.29) – matured in oak for two years – is another powerful but balanced brew. It’s a fireside ale featuring high alcohol and warm toffee flavours.

Batemans Triple XB Classic Premium Ale 500ml $7.11
This lively copper-coloured beer ticks all of ale’s aroma, flavour and bitterness boxes – in its own rich, complex discrete style. The malt:hops balance is superb and the extra vibrance on the palate probably comes from the inclusion of wheat malt in the blend. This is an exciting and easy-to-drink beer.

Samuel Smith Tadcaster Taddy Porter 500ml $8.28
The line between stout and porter is to some extent arbitrary, but Taddy sits towards the robust end of the porter style. It’s deeply coloured, velvet smooth and balances seductive chocolaty, roasted-grain flavours against its lingering, dry, bitter finish. Despite the complexity and strength of flavours it’s oh so pleasant to drink.

Copyright © Chris  Shanahan 2009

Wine review — Maipenrai, Brown Magpie and Joseph Perrier

Wine review

Maipenrai Canberra District Pinot Noir 2006 $23.33–$28
Maipenrai Canberra District Amungula Creek Pinot Noir 2004 $10–$12
Astronomer Brian Schmidt peers into the furthest corners of our expanding universe (see http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~brian/) but maintains a terrestrial base near Sutton. From his small vineyard, at 760 metres above sea level, Brian handcrafts the attractive, savoury, and complex Maipenrai Pinot Noir.  It’s a little more taut and grippy than most Australian pinot and improves for a couple of days after opening, a good sign of ageing potential, in my experience. In 2006 he made just two barrels. The mature Amungula Creek wine includes purchased as well as estate-grown fruit and offers terrific value at $10–$12 a bottle. See www.maipenrai.com.au

Brown Magpie Geelong Pinot Noir 2005 $22
This comparative newcomer, located near the Princes Highway a little to the southwest of Geelong, was established by Shane and Loretta Breheny in 1998. It’s a significant achievement to hit this quality, especially at such a modest (for pinot noir) price, in less than a decade. And it’s a bonus for drinkers that we can still buy the wine four years after vintage. It flicks most of the right pinot switches for fragrance, range of pinot varietal characters, structure and drinkability. I’d love to see this against Curly Flat’s Williams Crossing from Macedon, my top-rated budget pinot to date. See www. www.brownmagpiewines.com

Joseph Perrier Cuvée Royale NV Brut Champagne  $45.90–$50
Joseph Perrier is a consistent performer at the lower end of the market for real Champagne. Its flavour strongly reflects the company’s holdings of pinot meunier near its press house in the village of Cumieres, on the Marne River to the west of Epernay. It shows meunier’s brioche-like aroma and flavour and round soft texture. It’s an old favourite and seems to have maintained its style and quality over the thirty-three years that I’ve been familiar with it. To my taste it beats the pants off other fighting-price Champagnes like Mumm and Piper-Heidsieck. It’s imported by Woolworths and sold through its Dan Murphy chain.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2009