Holm Oak Tasmania Pinot Noir 2013 $32
At Holm Oak in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley, husband and wife team Tim and Rebecca tend the vines and winemaking respectively. Rebecca Duffy notes a big Tasmanian vintage in the warm, dry 2013, with fruit flavours arriving in the fruit at comparatively low sugar levels. She also writes, “our new clones of pinot continue to perform well and this has resulted in a pinot with perfumed aroma and superior tannin structure”. The wine is of pale to medium colour density, with tonnes of ripe cherry-like pinot aroma, tinged with savoury character. The rich, smooth-textured palate reflects the aroma and finishes with quite firm but fine tannins.

Long Rail Gully Murrumbateman Pinot Gris 2013 $22
The Parker family’s Long Rail Gully vineyard quietly goes about making excellent wines at modest price. They attract little publicity, but I suspect attention will grow as more people cotton on to the quality of wine Richard Parker makes from the vines he established with his parents, Barbara and Garry, in 1998. Pinot gris provides a good test and grape growing and winemaking skills. The lacklustre variety tends to make plain wine. But Long Rail Gully’s fresh, dry version captures a meaty richness and slinky texture of great appeal.

Grant Burge Fifth Generation Barossa Shiraz 2012 $16.15–$18
We bought several bottles of this juicy shiraz at Coles, Kununurra, Western Australia. It then bounced around in the back of our four-wheel drive for a couple of weeks as we shuddered westwards on the stony Gibb River Road (and its endlessly corrugated tributaries). Even 250 kilometres of the notorious Kalumburu Road and track to the Mitchell Falls failed to dent the rich, soothing, fruity smoothness of this keenly priced Barossa gem. Alas, the corrugations did shake one part from our rented vehicle. Fittingly we left a Grant Burge bottle with our rescuer – Mitchell Plateau park ranger, John Hayward.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 10 August 2014 in the Canberra Times

Heggies Vineyard Eden Valley Chardonnay 2012 $21.85–$$30
The Eden Valley sits on the Mount Lofty Ranges and forms the eastern boundary of the Barossa region. Although the best chardonnays now come from further south on the ranges, in the cooler Adelaide Hills, Heggies Eden Valley vineyard consistently produces an exciting chardonnay at a fair price. The vineyard, belonging to Robert Hill-Smith’s Yalumba group, hosts “seven different variants of chardonnay, with three favoured Burgundian selections providing the majority of the vines”, writes winemaker Peter Gambetta. The intense flavour of those low-yielding vines comes through in this generous, shimmering fresh, smooth-textured wine.

Larry Cherubino Ad Hoc Middle of Everywhere Frankland River Shiraz $19–$21
Larry Cherubino sourced fruit for Ad Hoc from various sites in Western Australia’s Frankland River region – a distinct part of the much larger Great Southern wine zone. Vines endure heat pushing down from the continent, then benefit from cool afternoon and evening air flowing up from the cold oceans to the south. The unique conditions produce generously flavoured, medium bodied red wines, often with quite a savoury, tannic bite. In Ad Hoc 2013 we enjoy exuberant, juicy, blueberry-like flavours, cut with an attractive savouriness, on a soft, smooth seductive palate. This truly is a fruit festival in a bottle.

Wirra Wirra Woodhenge McLaren Vale Shiraz 2012 $26.60–$35
Wirra Wirra’s winemakers produce several shirazes and regard Woodhenge as their, “classic McLaren Vale style. The fruits are darker, the chocolate notes bitter and the olives black in a full-bodied style with trademark regional richness”. Sourced from the Seaview, Whites Valley and McLaren Flat sub-regions, the wine pulses with ripe, black-cherry-like flavours on a big, rich, warm palate. Though assertive, the tannins remain silky and sit well with the lovely fruit flavour. Oak flavours – derived from American and French barrels complement the rich, ripe fruit flavours. This is a big but well-balanced wine for drinking over the next 10 years.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 3 August 2014 in the Canberra Times

Wynns Coonawarra Estate V and A Lane Cabernet Shiraz 2012 $47.50–$60
Wynns V and A vineyard, Coonawarra, South Australia
It’s a hard concept to convey (short of taking a mouthful), but wines can have enormous concentration of fruit flavour but remain medium bodied and graceful. This is the classic, but not always achieved, Coonawarra standard of delivering power with elegance. Sue Hodder’s lovely blend achieves that. She co-fermented cabernet sauvignon and shiraz from the company’s V and A vineyard, Coonawarra, and subsequently matured the wine in a combination of new and older French oak barrels. Cabernet lends savoury, black-olive-like undercurrents and a firm, fine structure to the supple palate, featuring the sweet red-cherry-like fruit of the shiraz. Oak gives great buoyancy to the fruit, adds its own spicy flavours and contributes to the fine structure.

Mistletoe Reserve Semillon 2013 $25
Pokolbin, Lower Hunter Valley, NSW
Mistletoe makes three Hunter semillons – the traditional bone-dry Reserve, the half-dry Home Vineyard and the quite sweet Silvereye. The latter two come as quite a shock to lovers of the traditional dry style, though proprietor Ken Sloan writes, “these three wines continue to surprise and delight visitors to our cellar door”. The sweeter wines are worth trying, but the dry Reserve really stands out as an exceptional wine in the outstanding Hunter Vintage. At 11 per cent alcohol, it’s light bodied and the austere, lemony acid accentuates the intense but delicate lemongrass-like varietal flavour to delicious, mouth watering effect. I suspect this will evolve into a classic toasty Hunter style over many, many years.

Yering Station Chardonnay 2011 $32–$38
Yering Station, Yarra Valley, Victoria
The Rathbone family’s Yering Station consistently makes some of the Yarra’s most exciting chardonnays – even in the cool, wet 2011 season. The aroma presents a notable “struck match” character (naturally occurring sulphur compounds) now commonplace in Australian chardonnays. Their presence provokes a good deal of discussion among show judges, mainly some wines lack the fruit to carry such pungent seasoning. Yering Station does, however. And that’s what’s so delicious about it – that seasoning, aided by spicy oak – becomes part of the intense fruit and luxurious smooth texture.

De Bortoli Vinoque Pinot Noir 2012 $25
Dixons Creek and Tarrawarra, Yarra Valley, Victoria
Australia’s maturing pinot-making ability shows when our makers pack so much goodness and sheer “pinosity” into a wine at this price. Steve Webber’s Vinoque excites for its complex, earthy, beetroot-like aroma, and the fruit power and firm tannin structure of the palate. Webber writes, “2012 was a stonking season for pinot noir in the Yarra Valley with near perfect growing conditions”. Find out what “stonking” means – try Vinoque.

Brand’s Laira Cabernet Merlot 2012 $ 16–$24
Coonawarra, South Australia
The late Eric Brand bought the Laira vineyard in about 1950 and sold grapes until making his first wine in 1996. In 1990 he sold a half stake in the business to McWilliams, who took full ownership in 1994. The vineyard holds now extend well to the west of the original plantings, while the older vines contribute to the company’s flagship and far more expensive wines. The 2012 Laira cabernet merlot, a full-bodied Coonawarra style, offers ripe plummy flavours, tinged with mint and herbal notes. Strong, firm tannins give a satisfying grip to the workmanlike regional style.

Le Cirque Wine Co Whiz Bang Barossa Shiraz 2013 $16–$18
Barossa Valley, South Australia
The Angove family offers two full-bodied, warm climate shirazes under its Le Cirque Wine Company label – this Barossa version and the more savoury McLaren Vale Muscle Man 2013, reviewed last week. Should you see them together in store, perhaps grab a bottle of each as they illustrate the regional differences clearly and at a realistic price. Whiz Bang offers the sweet, black-cherry aroma of fully ripened Barossa shiraz. The sweet fruit flavours flow onto the opulent palate, coated in the Barossa’s tender, soft tannins.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 30 July 2014 in the Canberra Times

Mount Majura Vineyard Canberra District Shiraz 2012 $32
Mount Majura’s just released 2012 shiraz won gold medals in last year’s Canberra and Region Wine Show and the Winewise Small Vignerons Awards. It backed up this success with an ‘outstanding’ rating in the Winewise Championship 2014 – where three out of five judges rated it as the best in its category. The product of a particularly cool season, the highly aromatic 2012 shiraz shows varietal spice and a strong stemmy character, derived from the inclusion of whole bunches in the fermentation. The medium bodied, silky palate reveals good fruit, seasoned with stem and spice.

Campbells Limited Release Rutherglen Durif 2011 $28
Colin Campbell chairs the Durif of Rutherglen group, formed a decade ago to promote this unique regional specialty. Campbell also makes two of Rutherglen’s leading durifs – the powerful Barkly Durif and more approachable Limited Release Durif. Campbell calls the latter, “the stepping stone to our pinnacle durif which is a fuller style and more complex”. Even in the cold 2011 season, where we might expect lighter bodied wines, Limited Release hits the palate pretty solidly. It may be a tad lighter coloured than some durifs, but the firm tannins make it almost a meal in itself, albeit without the sweet fruit of more benign seasons.

Stella Bella Margaret River Semillon Sauvignon Blanc $19-$21
We could call Margaret River the Bordeaux of the south – not only for its cabernet-based reds, but for its pungent, refreshing complex dry whites, blended from semillon and sauvignon blanc. The better examples like Stella Bella barrel ferment a portion of the blend to build the texture, body and complexity of the wine. Many vineyards contribute to this blend and all are fermented separately (one third of every batch in barrels, says the winemaker). The final blend offers ultra-fresh citrus-like fruit flavour, with the pungent and herbal character of the varieties and a fine, soft texture.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 27 July 2014 in the Canberra Times

Wynns Coonawarra Estate V and A Lane Shiraz 2012$ 48–$60
V and Lane vineyard, Coonawarra, South Australia
Coonawarra appears flat and homogenous – a sea of vines hugging the north–south Riddoch Highway for many kilometres. But ripening times vary widely. At about the half-way mark, V and A Lane intersects the highway, marking what was once said to be the southern boundary of shiraz in Coonawarra – “shiraz won’t ripen south of V and A Lane”, went the local saying. The saying no longer holds. Indeed, Wynns’ V and A shiraz block, sitting on the Lane’s southern side, ripens earlier than its other shiraz vineyards. In 2012 the vineyard produced a particularly finely structured, elegant shiraz, featuring vibrant red-currant-like fruit flavours. Sympathetic use of French oak amplifies the fruit in a vivacious wine with a fine, persistent tannin structure.

Le Cirque Wine Co Muscle Man Shiraz 2013 $17
McLaren Vale, South Australia
Everyone loves a circus, a bargain and a McLaren Vale shiraz. And here we have it all in one bottle, presented to us by one of Australia’s old family wine companies, Angoves. They source the fruit from Willunga, Blewitt Springs and Clarendon in McLaren Vale, ferment it with ambient yeasts in small, 70-year-old open-topped concrete fermenters, and mature it for nine months in oak barrels. The result is a ripe, juicy, vibrant red with a savoury soft finish, true to its McLaren Vale origins.

West Cape Howe Chardonnay 2013 $15–$17
Western Australia
“No wood, no good”, Wolf Blass reportedly said of red wines not matured in oak barrels. The same could be said broadly of chardonnay – a variety at its best when fermented and matured in barrels (like Larry Cherubino Pedestal, reviewed today). West Cape Howe, however, tacks successfully in another direction. Winemaker Gavin Berry ferments it at low temperature in stainless steel tanks to capture the fruit flavour and aromatics. He pops it in older oak barrels after this to build the wine’s texture without inserting oak flavours. He delivers a rich, vibrant chardonnay with all the focus on fresh, citrus-like varietal flavour.

Toolangi Pinot Noir 2012 $25–$27
Dixon’s Creek and Yarra Glen, Yarra Valley, Victoria
Toolangi offers a lighter, tighter style of pinot noir. Produced from low yielding vines, and all the hands-on tricks of pinot making, it offers delicate, cherry-like varietal flavour on a finely structured palate. Fresh acidity and fine tannins give the wine a tight structure that carries the fruit across the palate and gives a clean, persistent dry finish.

Larry Cherubino Pedestal Chardonnay 2013 $25
Margaret River, Western Australia
Larry Cherubino’s Pedestal chardonnay shows the generous flavours of a warm season in Margaret River. Typical of a Cherubino wine, Pedestal seamlessly folds the fruit flavour together with the influences of fermentation with natural yeasts in new and used French oak barrels – followed by maturation in those barrels. The technique gives the wine a rich, silky texture to carry the beautiful fruit flavours satisfyingly across the palate.

Wynns Coonawarra Estate Black Label Shiraz 2012$28.49–$45
Coonawarra, South Australi
A few years back, Wynns introduced Black Label Shiraz, priced between the ever-popular grey label ($14–$20) and flagship Michael Shiraz ($104–$120). Extensive plantings during the nineties enabled greater production. Coupled with finer segmentation of vineyard parcels, and an increase in the winery’s capacity to handle multiple small batches, this allowed Wynns to maintain quality and volume of existing labels while introducing distinctive new products at higher prices. The owner, Treasury Wine Estates, naturally hoped its big investments in Coonawarra might bolster its lacklustre bottom line. Good luck with that, I say, as the big retailers finally set the price – generally dramatically below the hopeful recommended price. Oh, the wine? It’s a beautiful rich, elegant cool-climate shiraz with good cellaring potential.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 23 July 2014 in the Canberra Times