Beer review — Holgate of Macedon

21 February 2007Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Holgate Mount Macedon Ale 330ml $2.99
Paul Holgate models his signature beer, named for nearby Mount Macedon, on the German Kölsch style of pale ale. It has an attractive reddish colour and a smooth, malty richness. Assertive hops seasoning adds a floral note and lingering, zesty, bitter finish. One isn’t enough. But alcohol is a modest 4.5 per cent.

Holgate White Ale 330ml $2.99
On a hot day chilled wheat beer fresh from the tap appeals even to non-beer-drinkers. The high acid, negligible hops aroma and moderate bittering deliver a unique flavour experience unlike that of regular all-barley beers. The luxurious, pure-white head looks a treat, too, especially served in a Champagne flute.

Keatings of Woodend — Macedon region’s brew pub

21 February 2007BeerChris Shanahan

Craft beers are generally at their best from a keg in the brewery – be it a tin shed or luxury pub. On a run through Victoria recently the final pit stop at Woodend, Macedon, involving a wooden paddle, proved the point deliciously.

Keating’s pub, home to Paul Holgate’s brewery, offered a run-of-the bar tasting ‘paddle’ – literally a flat wooden paddle housing seven tasting glasses brimming with Paul’s in-house brews — six from the taps plus one high-alcohol specialty from bottle.

It was a dream nightcap of wheat ale, real ales, pilsener and high-alcohol Belgian-style ale, each one distinctive and a world removed from the bland offerings of the average pub.

A visit to Keating’s is worth the detour on the trip to or from Melbourne – especially for Thursday share-the-mike nights where local musicians get the place rocking. And Dan Murphy stocks the bottled versions of some of the Holgate beers.

A barrel of fun — why winemakers use oak barrels

18 February 2007Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

The wooden barrel, one of the most enduring of all wine vessels, was used originally for storage and transportation some 2000 years ago. Its value today, though, lies in its ability to clarify, stabilise and add complex aromas and flavours to wine and set the scene for further flavour development in bottle.

Until about the third century AD the two-handled stone amphora carried Etruscan, Greek and Roman wine across the world’s extensive trade routes. But at around about that time the flow of wine from Rome to her northern colonies reversed to be replaced by wooden barrels of Gaulish wine heading south.

These Celtic barrels, according to Hugh Johnson in ‘The Story of Wine’ (Mitchell Beazley, London, 1989) differ little from the ones we use today.

The Romans replaced iron hoops with wooden bands. But iron made a comeback in the seventeenth century. And today’s barrels, while shorter and fatter than those used by the Gauls and Romans, remain pretty much unchanged.

The wooden barrel, while lighter and easier to handle than the amphora, proved not as completely airtight, making it unsuited for long-term storage of table wine. However, its use for bulk transport lasted until after world war two.

An explosion in table wine consumption from the 1970s brought with it a growing demand for oak barrels for maturation (and sometimes fermentation) of high-quality table wines.

Australia’s icon, Penfolds Grange was perhaps the first to be matured in all-new oak, beginning with Max Schubert’s first, experimental Grange in 1951.

Max made two almost identical wines that year: the experimental Grange, partly fermented and all matured in new American oak hogsheads, and a control batch matured in a well-seasoned 4550 litre cask.

Max later wrote of the experimental wine: “… The raw wood was not so apparent but the fruit characteristics had become pronounced and defined… it was almost as if the new wood had acted as a catalyst to release previously unsuspected flavours and aromas…”

The great reds of Bordeaux had inspired Max. And French originals inspired another generation to emulate the magic of white and red Burgundy (chardonnay and pinot noir) and Bordeaux (cabernet sauvignon and related varieties). Again, oak played a crucial if challenging role.

Even the most casual wine drinker absorbed some awareness of the role oak plays in wine making — thanks largely to the explosion of chardonnay consumption and the often overt oak flavours found in our favourite tipples.

During years of rapid growth, our wine makers become incredibly good at making chardonnay of the oak-fermented-and-matured variety — even if they did over-oak it at times.

But oaked chardonnays remain in the majority today because, as Max Schubert found in making the original Grange, oak properly used acts “as a catalyst to release previously unsuspected flavours and aromas”.

With chardonnay, as with red wine, it is the oxidative environment as well as the type of oak, how it is seasoned, how it is toasted, how the wine is made, when it goes into the barrel, how long it stays there and what the ambient temperature is that influence the finished wine.

Our wine makers didn’t learn how to cope with all those variables in one vintage.

The cumulative knowledge of the last thirty years, shared amongst wine makers, means we drink ever better oak-matured reds and whites. But the quest to get it right goes on – every vintage.

Wine Reviews

Peter Lehmann Barossa Semillon 2005 $11-$14
In a former life Barossa semillon enjoyed great popularity, as Basedows White Burgundy. Over time, this fairly heavy, oak matured white declined and disappeared. R.I.P Barossa semillon. Then the Peter Lehmann gang (including Peter Lehmann, Andrew Wigan and Doug Lehmann, former Basedow winemaker) threw out the oak to make a fresh, zesty, citrusy style that’s now the company’s biggest selling white and a model for other Barossa makers. Lehmann’s yummy unwooded 2005 won silver in last year’s Barossa Show and its cellar mates, the very fine, slow maturing 2001 and 2002 Reserve Semillons, won gold medals.

De Bortoli Yarra Valley Estate Grown Pinot Noir 2005 $27
This is another barrel-matured wine that grows in interest with each glass. It’s the product of the much-changed De Bortoli approach to viticultural and winemaking reported here last year. Hand picked, hand sorted whole berries underwent indigenous yeast fermentation in open tanks with cap plunging only towards the end of the ferment. After twenty-one days in contact with the skins, the wine was settled then gravity filled to oak casks for maturation then bottled without filtration. This low-intervention regime produced a complex, fine, intensely flavoured, deeply textured pinot to savour any time over the next ten years.

Beer review — Bright Brewery

14 February 2007Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Bright Brewery Hellfire Ale 24X330ml $85
Bright’s amber brew is vaguely in the English pale ale style, though notably maltier and with a touch of caramel giving a hint of sweetness. But a good dose of hops keeps the sweetness in balance, starting with appealing aromatic high notes then providing a tantalising, drying, refreshing bitterness.

Bright Brewery Blowhard Pale Ale 24X330ml $85
Blowhard seems more in the mould of American style pale ales — and that often means a burly, muscly, malt-opulence versus hops-bitterness arm wrestle. It’s amazingly zesty, fresh and rich. But as you sip away, the resiny/citrusy hops gain the upper hand. You love it or hate it. But you never forget it.

Hellfire here on earth — in Bright Victoria

14 February 2007BeerChris Shanahan

It’s near the Victorian ski pistes, but in summer the new Bright Brewery in Gavin Street, Bright — opposite the legendary Simone’s restaurant – flicks the palate into overdrive.

The beers are all brewed on site and served with Milawa cheese, local dips, local olives and local relishes in the lounge or out on the deck overlooking the town swimming hole.

If you’re visiting don’t stress over the beer choice – just put your palate to the rack, a nifty little wooden tray with shallow wells holding tasting glasses of all of the brews currently available.

If you’re lucky you might have one of the owners – David and Julie Cocks, Scott Brandon or Fiona Reddaway – guide you through the range. But it’s a pleasant journey in its own right savouring English and American ale styles, porter and Belgian style strong wheat ale.

You can buy the beers direct from the brewery. See www.brightbrewery.com.au

Curly Flat — Victoria’s emerging champ

11 February 2007Vineyard, Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

How are we to judge wines like Curly Flat that come out of the blue, grab the attention of critics around the world, clean up at wine shows and sell out quickly at $30 and $40 dollars a bottle?

Slowly, sustainedly and over many bottles over many years is my answer.

But first impressions count, too. And thinking back over more than thirty years in the trade, few new comers have hit the wow button as Curly Flat does.

That first impression came in June last year when Phillip and Jeni Moraghan, Curly Flat’s owners, showed their full sequence of chardonnays and pinot noirs from the first vintage, 1998, through to the then not-released 2005s.

Apart from a microbial blemish in one of the reds, it was a good to exciting line up with the best, to my palate, being the 2004 vintages of both the chardonnay and pinot noir (see Top Drops).

Even more importantly, the wines grew in interest over lunch prompting a resolve, fulfilled in January, to visit Curly Flat in Victoria’s Macedon region.

The name, says Phillip Moraghan, salutes Michael Leunig’s imaginary ‘Vineyard at Curly Flat’ where, ‘The locals have never bothered to describe the taste or construction of their wines but after drinking a couple of glasses they are inclined to become very eloquent in describing the way it makes them feel”.

Inspired by the wines of Burgundy – and how they made them feel — Phillip and Jeni decided in the late eighties to make their own pinot noir and chardonnay in Australia. After an eighteen-month search, they selected a very cool site, suited to the Burgundy varieties, in the Macedon Ranges, on the southern side of the Great Divide.

Between 1992 and 2000 they planted fourteen hectares of land to pinot noir (69 per cent), chardonnay (26 per cent) and pinot gris (5 per cent).

The Moraghans chose four different clones of chardonnay and five of pinot noir to encourage complexity in the wines. Now, as the vines mature, the fruit from each plot is handled, fermented and barrel-matured separately.

This gives Phillip a rich palette of flavours to work with in the winery and, over time, builds a history of how each plot and clone performs. As well, having so many small barrel components means a better final blend as barrels that don’t make flagship grade can go to the second label, Williams Crossing.

But the essence of Curly Flat’s wine flavours lies in the vineyards. These were purpose chosen for chardonnay and pinot noir; they’ve been trellised to best capture their flavours; and Phillip’s vineyard team pays fanatical attention to maintenance – especially in labour-intensive shoot thinning and green harvesting to reduce yields.

The combination of site selection, clonal selection, vineyard management, small-batch fermentation and maturation and an uncompromising approach to blending appear to be the elements that put Curly Flat chardonnay and pinot noir ahead of most.

Getting back to how we judge it, well, it’s judged every time someone takes a sip. And on that basis I’m prepared to pay the asking prices. Surely these are realistic considering the effort that goes into the making and the quality delivered.

But as to where Curly Flat sits in the world hierarchy of pinot and chardonnay, that’s a matter for many judgements, by many people over a lengthy period of time. And the verdict will ultimately be expressed in the price.

WINE REVIEWS

Curly Flat Pinot Noir 2004 $46 & Williams Crossing Pinot Noir 2004 $20
Curly Flat’s two pinot noirs come from five pinot clones spread over six distinct sections of the vineyard planted in 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000. Small batch making of the separate clones and separate blocks, followed by maturation of each component in French oak casks of varying provenance and age, produces a surprising diversity of styles. Those components considered not up to scratch go to the delicious, lean, dry and savoury Williams Crossing label (a great bargain), leaving the best barrels for Curly Flat – a succulent and serious red that deserves to be on every pinot lover’s radar. See www.curlyflat.com

Curly Flat Chardonnay 2004 $35 & Williams Crossing Chardonnay 2005 $15
Curly Flat’s chardonnays come from four clones planted on four vineyard sub-plots in 1993, 1996, 1997 and 2000. The various batches undergo a variety of winemaking approaches and, except for a small tank component, are matured – and for the most part fermented — as separate components in French oak barrels of varying ages and from different coopers. The best barrels go to the Curly Flat blend – a convincing top-shelf white in which high natural acid binds together intense fruit flavour and barrel-derived complexities. At less than half the price Williams Crossing delivers more up-front, drink-now fruit flavours, but still punches above its weight. See www.curlyflat.com

Curly Flat Lacuna Chardonnay 2005 $24
Ferment all of your chardonnay in barrels and you risk missing a part — a lacuna — one high, pristine flavour note that ties all the others together. For winemaker Phillip Moraghan it’s the pure-fruit component used to tune up what’s in the blending vat. Hence the name and source of this zesty, fruity chardonnay fermented in stainless steel tanks. What isn’t used to spruce up the Curly Flat flagship goes to the Lacuna label – an unoaked chardonnay displaying distinctive, cool-climate, grape-fruit-like varietal character accompanied by the subtle flavours and texture derived from maturation on spent yeast cells. See www.curlyflat.com

Beer review — Bridge Road Brewery

7 February 2007Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Bridge Road Brewery Beechworth Wheat Ale 330ml-6pack $19
You can buy the bottled version from Brian Loader at Kingston markets and it’s good, but for the real five-star thrill you must try it on tap at the brewery. Served ultra-fresh like this it delivers the wonderful fruity high notes of the southern German wheat style.

Bridge Road Brewery Beechworth Dark Ale 330ml-6pack $20
Brewer Ben Kraus says this goes well with chocolate cake or oysters, presumably not at the same time. It’s definitely good with the brewery’s home-baked pretzels or on its own and distinctive because though dark coloured and assertive chocolate and roast malt in flavour, is quite lean bodied and refreshingly dry.

A bridge worth crossing

7 February 2007BeerChris Shanahan

Winemaker Ben Kraus switched from grape to grain via Ballart University’s post-grad brewing course – a connection that gave him not just a piece of paper but a brewery, too.

Chief lecturer Rob Greig alerted Ben to the sale, by Lawrence Victor Estate, of its brewing equipment – and that was the birth of Bridge Road Brewers, Beechworth.

In that lovely Victorian town, in a little lane off Ford Street, Ben brews what are, to my taste, some of the best craft beers in the country. And they’re served just metres from the vats in a comfy little cellar-door and courtyard facility.

Ben offers on tap a Bavarian style wheat beer, American style pale ale, Aussie pale ale, Celtic Red Ale and Dark Ale with varying specialties, currently a Saisson Belgian style farm house ale and a high alcohol, syrupy-rich biere-de-garde.

Brian Loader sells the bottled versions at Kingston markets or see www.bridgeroadbrewers.com.au for direct purchases.

Hanging Rock — bubbling along nicely

4 February 2007Vineyard, Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

There’s a fascinating wine pilgrimage you can make driving to or from Melbourne: heading south on the Hume Highway, take the Kilmore exit, at Kilmore turn right towards Lancefield and at Lancefield follow the Woodend Road through to Newham, and then the signs to Hanging Rock Winery.

Coming home from Melbourne, take the airport freeway — ignore the Tullamarine exit — and continue north on the Calder highway. Take the second Woodend exit, follow the signs to Newham and from there the signs to the winery.

Either way it’s a short detour with a huge payoff. But be prepared to linger in the tasting room as Hanging Rock offers one of Australia’s greatest cellar experiences.

Why here, you might ask, on a southerly, elevated site on the Great Divide where most grapes, even in the warmest vintage, simply don’t ripen sufficiently to make table wine?

It’s a description that also fits France’s Champagne region – a climatically marginal wine area producing annually about 300 million bottles of top-shelf bubbly.

The marginal climate at fifty degrees north means that chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes struggle to the high-acid ripeness behind Champagne’s unique, delicate flavours.

Thirty years ago no Australian winemaker could even approximate these flavours for the simple reason that we didn’t have the right grapes growing in the right region. Yes, we’d long since replicated Champagne methods. But we’d applied them principally to neutral varieties, like ondenc.

By the early eighties several winemakers, including Dominique Landragin, Brian Croser and John Ellis, had been thinking of possible cold growing sites at high altitudes or low latitudes, including Tasmania.

For Ellis the search – based on a brief to a geologist to find the coldest site in Australia – led to Jim Jim hill in Victoria’s Macedon region. John and his wife Ann bought the site, established chardonnay and pinot noir on Jim Jim’s cold southern slope and established a winery.

While the site was chosen specifically to make world-class sparkling wine, commercial reality meant the production of table wines using sauvignon blanc, gewürztraminer and pinot gris from Jim Jim and other varieties from neighbouring regions.

For a visit to cellar door, the starting point – perhaps the highest point – are the sparkling wines reviewed in Top Drops. These are unique in Australia, not just for the extraordinary fruit flavour with its Champagne like intensity, but for the texture and complexity added by the making and maturation methods.

All top-end bubblies receive prolonged bottle maturation on yeast lees. But the Hanging Rock sparklers spend three years in old oak on lees prior to bottling. This is not so much about oak but about the oxidative environment, contact with lees and prolonged ageing – something that makes the flavour of this unique fruit flourish.

And if you love Bollinger, the French classic that’s also fermented and matured in old oak, you’ll appreciate the comparable nuances in Hanging Rock.

It’s worth the trip for the bubblies alone. But the a range of shirazes from Heathcote ($27 to $60), varietals from the Jim Jim vineyard ($24 to $27), regional varietals under the ‘Yellow Label’ ($16-$20), single vineyard specialties ($18 to $27) under the ‘Black Label’ and the delicious ‘Rock Range’ at $12 guarantees an exciting tasting experience.

And the journey seems set to continue as John and Anne Ellis’s children, Ruth and Robert, have joined the business as marketer and winemaker respectively.

WINE REVIEWS

Rock Riesling 2005, Rock Red 2004 $12
Hanging Rock Winery’s Rock range gives cellar door visitors a real alternative to the discounted big-company brands offered in retail stores. Riesling 2005 – a Strathbogie Ranges/Swan Hill blend – is a delicious, dry expression of the variety and offers outstanding value at $12. The most popular of the range, though, says Ann Ellis, is Rock Red 2004, a fresh, fruity, medium bodied style with vibrant acid and fine, soft tannins. It’s a blend of shiraz, pinot noir, malbec and grenache – strange but effective bed partners, in this instance. The range includes, as well, merlot, rosé, semillon sauvignon blanc and chardonnay. Available at www.hangingrock.com.au

Hanging Rock Rosé Brut $27, NV Brut Cuvée $49, Cuvée Six $110
Hanging Rock’s sparkling wines are unique and sit at the very tip of Australia’s quality pyramid. Quality begins in a now mature, south-facing vineyard rising from 650 metres above sea level near the winery to 700 metres on the slopes of Jim Jim hill. This extremely cool site (too cool to grow table wine) produces the intense-flavour, high-acid pinot noir and chardonnay essential in making top-notch bubblies. The wines from these superb grapes flourish in the long journey from vineyard to bottle (see main story) to emerge as bubblies of unique complexity. They possess great freshness and beautiful fruit flavour as well as a patina of characters derived from prolonged cask and bottle ageing.

Hanging Rock Heathcote: Shiraz $60, Cambrian Rise Shiraz 2003 $27
The Heathcote region — a little to the north of the Hanging Rock winery and vineyard at Macedon – provides shiraz for several Hanging Rock reds. The flagship Heathcote Shiraz 2003, an impressively powerful, balanced and potentially long-lived drop, comes principally from the Athol’s Paddock vineyard near the centre of this 110-kilometre long region. The delicious, soft, approachable-now Cambrian Rise Shiraz 2003 is a blend from seven vineyards sprinkled the entire length of the region. And Rowbottoms Shiraz 2003 ($33) expresses the striking ‘white pepper’ character of a single vineyard at the cooler southern end.

Beer review — Pike’s Oakbank

31 January 2007Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Pike’s Oakbank Beer $15.99 6-pack
Pike’s, the much-loved Clare Valley winery, brewed beer in the nineteenth century, a practice that lapsed then re-emerged as the Coopers-brewed Oakbank Ale in the late twentieths century. This new brew is more in the pilsner style and features rich, smooth malt and wonderfully aromatic, mildly bitter hops.