Thorn Clarke Barossa Shotfire Quartage 2012 $20–$252
The Clarke family owns about 270 hectares of vines spread around the Barossa – a remarkable estate that grew from Cheryl Clarke’s (nee Thorn) very old family holdings. The wines offer plenty of flavour for their modest asking prices. We could call them comfort wines, just as we have comfort foods. Quartage – a blend of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, petit verdot and merlot – has an inky black, crimson-rimmed colour. The palate is impressively sweet fruited, with the leafy, herbal edge that comes with the cabernet varieties. The finish is very dry and firm, though not hard.

Mount Majura Vineyard Canberra District Touriga 2013 $27
After success with the Spanish varieties tempranillo and graciano, winemaker Frank van de Loo decided to have a shot at Portugal’s touriga. He writes, “we have seen tantalising glimpses of touriga from the Surveyor’s Hill vineyard locally, and were intrigued by the potential for earthy flavours and floral notes”. Van de Loo blended away the small 2009–2012 touriga harvests, but finally bottled some in the excellent 2013 vintage – and what an intriguing wine it is. The aroma is floral, earthy, spicy and peppery. The light-to-medium-bodied palate is alive with berry fruit, seasoned with spice, herb and pepper-like flavours.

W. Gisselbrecht Alsace Riesling 2009 $16.99
This Costco import shows all too clearly why cork should never be let near delicate, aromatic white wines. We’ve tried several bottles of this Alsace riesling. The best have been pretty good, while others have been flattened by oxidation (a result of cork failure) and another spoiled by trichloroanisole, or cork taint. At its best, it’s a full-flavoured riesling, in the distinctive Alsace style, enhanced by bottle age. At its worst, it’s undrinkable; and in between, it’s, well, in between. The message for wine drinkers: expect bottle variation. The message for Costco: on behalf of your customers, lean on your suppliers for screw caps as Australian retailers do.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 20 July 2014 in the Canberra Times

Wynns Coonawarra Estate Alex 88 Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 $80
Alexander’s Block, Coonawarra, South Australia
Wynns decade-long makeover of its grape growing and winemaking under winemaker Sue Hodder and viticulturist Allen Jenkins, lifted the quality of the company’s wines to probably the highest level since it began in the early 1950s. Managing vineyards in small blocks, harvesting progressively in blocks, or even vine rows, then fermenting in small batches added up to better fruit, better differentiation and endless blending combinations. It also allowed Hodder to identify special parcels for separate bottling. Alex 88 is one of those, from a vineyard planted in 1988 and named for the family that owned it for the first two thirds of last century. This is a robust but elegant expression of Coonawarra – with deep, sweet blackcurrant-like varietal flavours, married beautifully with French oak. Fine, firm tannins and the depth of fruit, looking so young at four years, suggest a long and glorious cellaring life. Retailer discounting may reduce the price.

Wynns Coonawarra Estate Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 $25–$45
Coonawarra, South Australia
The Wynn family made its first Coonawarra cabernet in 1954. The vintages have rolled out for 60 years now, and bar a brief hiccup in the late seventies, and a few weaker individual vintages, the wines proved to be long-lived and wonderful to drink. Various winemakers tweaked the style, but under Sue Hodder’s guidance we now see a highly polished, elegant cabernet that’s certainly the equal of the earliest vintages and very likely, over time, to prove even better. The new release reveals fully ripe Coonawarra berry flavours on an elegantly structured palate, with firm but smooth tannins. I’m writing this review before its release, so I’m punting that retailers might cut the price as they have previously (the 2011 currently sells for as little as $25).

Jim Barry Watervale Riesling 2014 $15.20–$18
Jim Barry vineyard, Watervale, Clare Valley, South Australia
In a phone call around Easter, Peter Barry, son of the late Jim Barry, said the 2014 rieslings turned out well considering the hot growing season. “Temperatures were especially extreme”, wrote Barry recently, “with January’s average maximum 1.9 degrees above the long-term average and with 12 days above 35 degrees (six of those above forty degrees)”. However, rain followed the heat and judging by the wine, the grapes came through OK. Barry’s Watervale (southern Clare) riesling is particularly floral this year, with lime-like varietal flavour on a delicate, soft, dry palate.

Jim Barry Lodge Hill Riesling 2014$ 20.89–$23
Jim Barry Lodge Hill vineyard, Clare Valley, South Australia
Though less floral than Jim Barry Watervale riesling reviewed today, Lodge Hill, from a higher, cooler site, shows greater intensity of lemony varietal flavour, and a significantly more assertive acid backbone. The acidity seems to intensify the fruit flavour and lengthen the aftertaste. This suggests tasty evolution if cellared for a few years. But the combination of acidity and intense fruit makes the young wine a good companion with oysters, salads and hot, spicy food.

Stella Bella Serie Luminosa Chardonnay 2010 $65
Isca and Forest Grove vineyards, Margaret River, Western Australia
Stella Bella Serie Luminosa sits comfortably with Margaret River’s other outstanding chardonnays. It comes from two vineyards planted in 1998 and, is so often the case with exceptional wine, the quality stems from outstanding fruit, good winemaking (including appropriate use of oak barrels), then skilful selection and blending in the winery. Stella Bella comes from blending the best barrels from the best blocks. A full-bodied yet elegant white, it has intense nectarine-like varietal flavour in a matrix with the flavours and textures derived from fermentation and maturation in oak barrels. Oak inserts its own flavours sympathetically into an harmonious wine. What a joy it is to drink.

Larry Cherubino Ad Hoc Hen and Chicken Chardonnay 2012$18.05–$21
Pemberton, Western Australia
Winemaker Larry Cherubino sources fruit widely across southwestern Western Australia, in this instance using chardonnay from a Pemberton vineyard planted in 1999. At 13 per cent alcohol, it’s probably a little lighter bodied than many Australian chardonnays. However, fermentation with wild yeasts and maturation in new and two-year-old French oak barrels added textural richness and nutty, spicy oak flavours to the lemon-like and melon-rind varietal character. It’s a rich, soft, gentle style, very easy to like.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 16 July 2014 in the Canberra Times

d’Arenberg d’Arry’s Original McLaren Vale Shiraz Grenache 2011 $18–$20
d’Arenbeg’s shiraz-grenache blend entered the Australian market decades ago as d’Arenberg “Burgundy”. But it switched to varietal labelling in 1993, at the same time honouring its creator, d’Arry Osborn. It was, and remains, a loveable, warm, generous red with considerable cellaring potential – a rare thing in wines of this price. Even in the cool 2011 vintage, the wine offers an attractive fragrance and generous soft flavours that are both fruity and earthy – with soft tannins completing the red-wine picture. It’s fifty–fifty blend of shiraz and grenache.

Heartland Langhorne Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 $18–$20
Grant Tilbrook, Scott Collett and Ben Glaetzer are the driving force behind Heartland Wines – a brand and winemaking operation now using only fruit from the Langhorne Creek region. “Ben [Glaetzer] had grown up immersed in the potential of Langhorne Creek through the work of his uncle John Glaetzer”, says the website. John Glaetzer made many of the early Wolf Blass reds using from fruit from Langhorne Creek, and later built his own brand on the region. Ben Glaetzer’s Heartland 2012 shows the region’s ability to produce generous, firmly structured, pure, varietal cabernet at the right price. This is outstanding at the price.

Tower Estate Coombe Rise Vineyard Hunter Valley Semillon 2013 $22
Tower Estate’s 2013 semillon comes from Peter and Kaye Barnes’ Coombe Rise vineyard at Pokolbin, in the lower Hunter Valley. The wine packs a power of flavour at just 11 per cent alcohol. Although the wine is bone and dry and somewhat austere in its lemony acidity, the fruit flavour – reminiscent of lemongrass – seems very intense and lingering. From experience with this style, it should evolve over time, shedding the austerity as the fruit flavour takes on a honeyed, toasty richness.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 13 July 2014 in the Canberra Times

Mount Majura TSG Tempranillo Shiraz Graciano 2013 $32
Mount Majura Vineyard, Canberra District, ACT
If you want to see a Canberra winemaker smile, just say, “2013”. After a run of tough vintages, including the particularly shitty 2011, along came the perfect season, from budburst in spring 2012 until harvest in autumn 2013. Conversely, if you want to see a Canberra wine drinker smile, share a glass of a 2013 red – like Frank van der Loo’s 2013 Touriga Shiraz Graciano. Van de Loo describes 2013 as, “simply an outstanding vintage” producing reds of “tremendous colour and fruit weight”. Mount Majura’s signature TSG pleases spectacularly with its heady, fruity aroma and punches of spice and black pepper. The fleshy, medium bodied palate simply oozes fruit flavour and spice, backed by fine, velvety tannin.

Heartland Shiraz 2012 $18–$20
Langhorne Creek (86 per cent) and Limestone Coast, South Australia
Grant Tilbrook, Scott Collett and Ben Glaetzer are the driving force behind Heartland Wines – a brand and winemaking operation now using fruit from the Langhorne Creek region, sometimes bolstered, as this is with material from the nearby Limestone Coast. “Ben [Glaetzer] had grown up immersed in the potential of Langhorne Creek through the work of his uncle John Glaetzer”, says the website. John Glaetzer made many of the early Wolf Blass reds using from fruit from Langhorne Creek, and later built his own brand on the region. Ben Glaetzer’s Heartland Shiraz 2012 is rich and soft and somewhat lighter in body, say, than shiraz from the warmer Barossa Valley.

Mandala Chardonnay 2012 $25–$28
Mandala Vineyard, Dixons Creek, Yarra Valley, Victoria
For a reasonable price Mandala delivers the intense flavours of cool-grown chardonnay – in this instance from mature vines located at Dixons Creek in the Yarra Valley. The generous, melon-like varietal flavour comes with the pleasant, well-managed winemaker add-ons derived from fermentation and maturation in oak barrels. A couple of years’ bottle age certainly adds to the wine’s fullness, which contrasts with many of the leaner chardonnay styles now coming to market.

Stoneleigh Rapaura Series Pinot Noir 2012 $25–$29
Northern Wairau Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand
The Rapaura Series is a step up in flavour intensity over Stoneleigh’s standard pinot noir, reviewed a few weeks back. Both come from the warmer northern side of the Marlborough’s Wairau Valley. But Rapaura series comes from a favoured vineyard site, albeit in a cooler than average vintage. The wine delivers attractive plummy varietal flavour on a medium bodied, tightly structured palate. The smooth tannins give quite a grip, as they should in good pinot noir.

Cofield Durif 2012 $24
Rutherglen, Victoria
Durif, Rutherglen’s signature red variety, is an accidental cross of shiraz and peloursin, first identified by Francois Durif at Montpellier, France, in 1880 and brought to Australia by Francois de Castella in 1908. It thrived in Rutherglen’s hot climate and remains the region’s signature red variety, tending to a porty ripeness and burly tannic structure. Styles vary from maker to maker, however, with some fine-tuning viticulture and winemaking in search of a more approachable style. Damien Cofield presents a bright, fresh, fruity face of Durif, albeit with variety’s big, firm tannins.

Cherubino Laissez Faire Fiano 2013 $16–$29
Frankland River, Western Australia
Several Australian winemakers now produced dry whites from southern Italy’s fiano variety. Coriole from McLaren Vale is a favourite, but Larry Cherubino’s from the cooler Frankland River, Western Australia impresses, too. A mixed group lunching at Flavours of India, Civic, warmed up on Cherubino’s 2013 and loved it. The light body, bone-dry finish and pleasantly tart flavour – reminiscent of limoncello without the sugar – seemed just right as a pre-lunch tipple.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 9 July 2014 in the Canberra Times

d’Arenberg Hermit Crab McLaren Vale Viognier Marsanne 2013 $14.25–$16
McLaren Vale’s warm climate seems to suit these Rhone Valley white varieties better than more commonly encountered ones like chardonnay, riesling and sauvignon blanc. In past years d’Arenbeg’s blend has often been predominantly marsanne with some viognier. In the warm 2013 vintage winemaker Chester Osborn bumped the viognier component up to 65 per cent. Although it isn’t so obvious in the aroma, the palate reveals viognier’s distinctive apricot-like flavour. Fortunately, marsanne tempers this (it can be overwhelming in some wines), giving a tasty, full-flavoured wine, with a savoury edge and rich, smooth palate.

Skillogalee Clare Valley Basket Pressed The Cabernets 2012 $30–$33
Skillogalee’s The Cabernets combines cabernet sauvignon (85 per cent) with robust malbec (9 per cent) and fragrant cabernet franc. The combination delivers a wine of dense, crimson-rimmed colour and vibrant, ripe-berry aromas, tinged with distinctive, regional touch of mint. The 2012 seems somewhat less fleshy than the 2010 vintage reviewed earlier this year. But that simply means cabernet’s assertive tannins play a slightly more prominent role. The fruit–tannin combination means a big but elegant cabernet with a very sturdy tannin backbone. This should cellar well for many years in stable, cool conditions.

Toolangi Yarra Valley Shiraz 2010 $20
Toolangi’s medium bodied shiraz comes from its own low-yielding vineyard at Dixon’s Creek, though the wine was made at three different wineries: Yering Station, Oakridge and Hoddles Creek Estate. This is very high quality cool climate shiraz at a modest price. It has a bright, youthful colour of medium hue. The aroma combines floral notes of cool-grown shiraz with a touch of spice; and though medium weight, the palate has a delicious concentration of ripe fruit flavour, seasoned with spice and with a fine tannin structure.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 6 July 2014 in the Canberra Times

Skillogalee Trevarrick Single Contour Riesling 2012 $52.50
Skillogalee vineyard, Sevenhill, Clare Valley, South Australia
Each vintage, Skillogalee’s Dave Palmer makes a number of individual rieslings from various vineyard blocks. Most end up in the blending vat and go to market as the estate riesling. In the exceptional 2012 vintage, however, Palmer bottled a small parcel from “the highest altitude, earliest ripening contour on the property at around 500 metres”. Trevarrick (the original name of the Skillogalee property) shows a very powerful but fine and delicate face of riesling. At two years’ age, it’s moved beyond youthful floral notes to deeper lemon and lime character in the aroma, with a palate of unusual flavour concentration and textural richness. The high acidity accentuates the very long, bone-dry finish. This will probably cellar for many years. Sealed with the Vino-Lok glass stopper.

Ulithorne “Dona” Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre 2013 $24
Blewitt Springs, McLaren Flat, valley floor, McLaren Vale, South Australia
At 60 per cent of the blend, fragrant, softy, fruity grenache plays the lead role in this lovely red. However, the shiraz component (30 per cent) fills out the palate, while mourvedre adds to the wine’s tannic backbone. The overall impression is of a gentle, easy-to-drink red with vibrant, juicy fruit (with a touch of spice) and soft but assertive tannins. Winemaker Rose Kentish worked four vintages in France and says she drew inspiration from southern Rhone Valley blends of these varieties – particularly in letting the fruit talk, and not burdening it with oak flavours.

All Saints Estate Family Cellar Durif 2009 $60
Rutherglen, Victoria
Durif, Rutherglen’s signature red variety, is an accidental cross of shiraz and peloursin, first identified by Francois Durif at Montpellier, France, in 1880 and brought to Australia by Francois de Castella in 1908. It thrived in Rutherglen’s hot climate and remains the region’s signature red variety, tending to a porty ripeness and burly tannic structure. Some say it’s a meal in itself. All Saints, however, do much to tame those tannins during winemaking, resulting in a most approachable version under the Family Cellar label. Evan at five years, the bright fresh fruit remains in the grip of muscular but supple tannins. Hey, it is a meal in itself.

Peter Lehmann H and V Eden Valley Riesling 2014$19–$22
Eden Valley, South Australia
South Australia suffered two severe heatwaves in January 2014, the second pushing into the first two days of February, before flaring up again on the twelfth and thirteenth. Above average winter and springs rains, however, provided ample subsoil moisture to help vines through the torrid conditions. Peter Lehmann H and V riesling, was picked in milder conditions at the end of February. The wine shows a fuller and more floral aroma than we generally see from the Eden Valley, though the palate delivers more of a vibrant lime-like flavour with a pure, fresh, zesty finish.

Domaine Chandon Chardonnay 2013 $23–$26
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Winemaker Dan Buckle says, “Our 2013 Chandon chardonnay draws on grapes from vineyards at varying altitudes within the Yarra Valley”. Variations in altitude within the valley means a range of ripening times and temperatures and, with that, considerable variation in varietal flavours, tending from citrusy in cooler parts to melon and stone fruit in warmer sites. This diversity of fruit undergoes spontaneous fermentation, then maturation, in French oak barrels. The wine retains beautifully fresh citrus- and nectarine-like varietal flavour, with velvety, rich texture and a lovely acidity attenuating the flavour and clean dry finish.

Lake Breeze Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 $21.85–$24
Follett family vineyards, Langhorne Creek, South Australia
Langhorne Creek, near Lake Alexandrina, South Australia, supplies large volumes of high quality grapes to Australia’s biggest wine brands, including Jacob’s Creek, Penfolds and Wolf Blass. The region’s comparatively high yields and quality appeal as much to the accountants as they do to the winemakers – though it’s a pity to see so much of this material blended anonymously away. Local growers like the Follett family, however, make excellent wines bearing the regional name. Cabernet performs particularly well, retaining clear varietal flavour and firm structure, with a full palate sometimes missing in cabernet from other regions. Lake Breeze is a very drinkable expression of the regional style.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 2 July 2014 in the Canberra Times

Logan Apple Tree Flat Mudgee Chardonnay 2013 $10–$13
Mudgee, in the high country about 270 kilometres north-west of Sydney, makes sturdy, tannic reds and surprisingly gentle, tasty chardonnays. Surprising because, in theory, we’d be looking these days for cooler locations for this early ripening variety. But chardonnay arrived there mid nineteenth century and became an early source of the variety as interest in chardonnay spluttered to life from the late 1960s. In the warm 2013 season Peter Logan’s popular version offers attractive melon and peach varietal aroma, generous flavours, reflecting the aroma, smooth texture and clean, dry finish.

Lake Breeze Langhorne Creek Bernoota Shiraz Cabernet 2012 $19–$22
Langhorne Creek, near Lake Alexandrina, South Australia, supplies large volumes of high quality grapes to Australia’s biggest wine brands, including Jacob’s Creek, Penfolds and Wolf Blass. The region’s comparatively high yields and quality appeal as much to the accountants as they do to the winemakers – though it’s a pity to see so much of this material blended anonymously away. Local growers like the Follett family, however, make excellent wines bearing the regional name. In 2012 the family’s Bernoota gives sensational drinking at the price. It’s fragrant, ripe and rich (but not heavy), with a juicy, seductive mid palate and soft, tannic finish.

Domaine Chandon Heathcote Shiraz 2012 $26–$31
Heathcote Victoria, especially in the cool 2012 season, offers a pleasing, savoury contrast to the more robust, joyously fruity Lake Breeze shiraz cabernet reviewed above. The limpid, medium colour reveals the cooler origin of Chadon’s shiraz, as does the spicy note seasoning the bright berry flavours. On the palate the wine is lively, fresh and medium bodied with a taut structure and very fine, savoury tannins harmonising with the lovely fruit. This is elegant shiraz, ready to drink now and with several years’ cellaring potential. Winemaker Dan Buckle describes 2012 as, “a great vintage in central Victoria”.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 29 June 2014 in the Canberra Times

Parish Vineyard Riesling 2013 $25–$29
Parish vineyard, Coal River Valley, Tasmania
In 2012 Yalumba proprietor, Robert Hill-Smith, bought Frogmore Creek vineyard in Tasmania’s Coal River Valley. “Hiding among the rather large plantings of chardonnay and pinot noir”, writes winemaker Louisa Rose, “was an irresistible temptation to work with” – a three-hectare block of riesling, the signature white variety in Hill-Smith and Rose’s home turf in South Australia’s Eden Valley. Rose’s bone-dry riesling made from those vines is just lovely. Bone-dry, delicate and light bodied (11.5 per cent alcohol), it delivers the intense apple and lime-like flavours of Tasmanian riesling with a great purity and finesse.

Shotfire Shiraz 2012 $20–$25
Barossa, South Australia
David Clarke and family own 275 hectares of vineyards at three locations along the Eden Valley hills – between Truro in the north and Mount Crawford to the south – and one on the Barossa Valley floor, slightly south of Tanunda. These lie in the Eden Valley and Barossa Valley wine regions – which combined form the large Barossa zone, the appellation used on Shotfire Shiraz. This is a slightly bigger, stronger shiraz than its cheaper sibling, Sandpiper Shiraz 2012 ($15–$19). Shotfire delivers the ripe, black cherry flavours of warm-grown shiraz with the background vanillin character of American oak. The tannins are sturdy but soft.

Logan Weemala Shiraz Viognier 2012 $19
Weemala vineyard, Central Ranges, NSW
Winemaker Peter Logan makes starkly contrasting shirazes from two very different parts of the Great Dividing Range: Mudgee and the Central Ranges, in the vicinity of Orange, at higher altitude and almost one degree further south. The greater warmth creates bigger, more tannic shiraz in Mudgee while the cooler Central Ranges tends to make lighter, softer shiraz – in this instance with a touch of the white viognier. The wine shows an aromatic, floral face of shiraz – characters that flow through to a buoyant, lively, mid-weight, silk-textured palate. Brisk acidity and varietal spice add a gentle bite to this most appealing red.

Stoneleigh Pinot Noir 2013 $19–$22
Northern Wairau Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand
Stoneleigh, along with Brancott Estate (formerly Montana Wines), is a Marlborough-based brand of French-owned Pernod Ricard. By the mid nineties, Montana (owner of Stoneleigh, but not yet part of Pernod-Ricard) was investing heavily in pinot noir vineyards and winemaking techniques. Scaling up production presented unique quality challenges for the variety. Almost twenty years on, pinot noir is Marlborough’s red specialty and is largely responsible for a surge in that variety’s popularity in Australia. Stoneleigh offers a decent expression of the variety, featuring strawberry and raspberry-like varietal with some savouriness and fine, soft tannins.

Peter Lehmann H and V Verdejo 2014 $22
Fiebiger vineyard, Vine Vale, Barossa Valley, South Australia
Verdejo (Spain’s “fifth most planted white wine variety” according to Jancis Robinson) found its way to the Barossa after winemaker Andrew Wigan encountered it in London then “looked at the soil conditions in Rueda”, its Spanish home. Wigan persuaded Chris Fibiger to plant it at his Vine Vale vineyard in 2009, then in 2014 produced the first release. The wine is highly aromatic, low in alcohol (11.5 per cent), but quite full flavoured, with a grippy structure and pleasant lemony aftertaste.

Albarino (Bodegas Castro Martin) 2012 $38
Salnes Valley, Rias Baixas, Galicia, Spai
We discovered Castro Martin’s albarino over a sun-drenched winter lunch at Rick Stein’s Bannisters restaurant, Mollymook. Northern Spain’s signature white variety provided bright, fresh, modern drinking in a distinctive style. Though full-bodied and richly textured, its savouriness and pleasant lemony tartness refreshed as we munched joyously through piles of local seafood, raw and cooked. Spanish and Portuguese specialist, the Spanish Acquisition (spanishacquisition.com) imports and distributes the wines of Bodegas Castro Martin. Available at Plonk, Fyshwick Markets.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 25 June 2014 in the Canberra Times

Richmond Grove Watervale Riesling 2012 $19–$22
Richmond Grove is riesling royalty – combining the long, distinguished pedigrees of Leo Buring-Lindemans and Orlando. The two streams combined in the nineties and included riesling luminaries Bernard Hickin (Orlando) and John Vickery and Phil Laffer (Buring-Lindeman). Hickin now heads the winemaking team, and Rebekah Richardson made the 2012 riesling. It continues the delicate, brisk, dry style, with its distinctive lime-like flavour and potential to age well for many years. I rate this the best vintage since the outstanding and still delicious 2002. I’m surprised, though, to see such a good wine still in the market, more than a year after its release. Lap it up.

Thorn Clarke Barossa Sandpiper Shiraz 2012 $15–$19
David Clarke and family own 275 hectares of vineyards at three locations along the Eden Valley hills – between Truro in the north and Mount Crawford to the south – and one on the Barossa Valley floor, slightly south of Tanunda. These lie in the Eden Valley and Barossa Valley wine regions – which combined form the large Barossa zone, the appellation used on Sandpiper Shiraz. From these vineyards winemaker Helen McCarthy makes a range of excellent wines, including this generous, satisfying shiraz. It combines bright, plump, ripe varietal flavour with a sympathetic touch of oak and the soft tannins characteristic of Barossa shiraz.

St Erth Geelong Pinot Noir 2011 $14.25–$15
The privately owned Ballande Group, based in New Caledonia, owns the Tisdall Winery, established in 1971 in Echuca, Victoria. The company exports under a number of labels and also owns the St Erth brand, which it sells exclusively to the Woolworths-owned Dan Murphy chain. A Geelong-based winemaker sources fruit and makes St Erth in Geelong for Ballande. The just-released 2012 steps up a notch in body and flavour depth from the 2011 reviewed last year, albeit still in pinot’s lighter mould. Bright, varietal fruit flavour underpins the wine. But pleasingly for a wine at this price, pinot’s earthy, savoury character comes through, too.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 22 June 2014 in the Canberra Times

Ten Minutes by Tractor McCutcheon Pinot Noir 2012 $75
McCutcheon Vineyard, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
A group of us tasted McCutcheon pinot alongside three contrasting styles –Lerida Estate Cullerin Canberra District 2013 ($35, also reviewed today), Tout Pres by Farr Geelong 2011 ($110) and Hurley Vineyard Garamond Mornington Peninsula 2012 ($75). The wines all rated well with the group. But the McCutcheon finally towered above all but Tout Pres by Farr (a story for another day). It delivered all the aromatic, ripe, sappy, juicy character of this great grape variety – backed by the firm tannins to see it through many years in bottle. The intense colour and flavour noted by the winemakers at harvest comes through in the final wine. They attribute this intensity, in part, to the “longest ever veraison–harvest interval (70 days vs 57 day average)”.

Lerida Estate Cullerin Pinot Noir 2013 $35
Lerida Estate, Lake George, Canberra District, NSW
At our little masked tasting of pinots, Lerida, from the warmer 2013 vintage, immediately stood out from the 2012s, both from Mornington Peninsula and both around double the price. It showed the bright, fresh, strawberry-like aromas and flavours of very young pinot, medium body and dry, tightly structured but soft finish. The eight tasters rated it highly, albeit with a caveat from some about whether it might take on more of pinot’s savoury character with bottle age. Time will tell. But it’s a good pinot and to me rates a silver medal score.

Lerida Estate Chardonnay 2012 $24.50
Lerida Estate, Lake George, Canberra District, NSW
In another masked tasting, eight of us compared three very different chardonnays: Lerida 2012, Shaw and Smith M3 Adelaide Hill 2013 and Ten Minutes by Tractor McCutcheon 2012. Each represented a distinct style – respectively, lean and austere with assertive winemaker inputs; elegant, pure and varietal with fruit on centre stage; and voluptuous – a celebration of fruit, oak and winemaker inputs. The tasters enjoyed all three styles. We saw Lerida as Chablis-like in its lean, acidic structure, but not in its flavour. At present the sulphide compounds, which season many barrel-matured chardonnays, stand out against the grapefruit-like varietal flavour. However, this is all in a tasty, teasing sort of way. Lerida’s Jim Lumbers remains confident the fruit will blossom with time.

Yalumba Patchwork Shiraz 2012 $18–$22
Barossa Valley, South Australia
Patchwork shiraz brings together fruit from nine Barossa-floor sub-regions: Stockwell, Ebenezer, Light Pass, Seppeltsfield, Kalimna, Krondorf, Vine Vale, Marananga and Greenock. These are names well known to Barossa winemakers but only now coming before the drinking public, albeit slowly. These cover the east, north and west of the valley, but not the south, nor the higher cooler, Eden Valley (part of the Barossa zone) to the east. From the valley floor we expect, and get in Patchwork, a ripe, robust wine, suggesting juicy black cherries. The tannins are soft but savoury and the flavour is enhanced by very clever, sympathetic use of several oak types for maturation.

Krinklewood Verdelho 2013 $22
Broke Fordwich, Hunter Valley, NSW
Cuttings of the verdelho vine found their way separately to the east and west of Australia last century, direct from the Island of Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean, about 700 kilometres west of Morocco. Those that found their way to the Hunter likely came from Dr William Redfern’s collection, planted at Campbelltown in 1824. It proved suited to the warm conditions and remains today as an important niche for the valley. The 2013 from the biodynamic Krinklewood vineyard is exceptional – a beautifully pure, highly aromatic wine with a particularly racy, passionfruit-like flavours. Like sauvignon blanc, this is all about fruity refreshment.

Veuve Fourny et Fils Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru Champagne $55–$70
Les Mont-Ferres, Vertus, Champagne region, Franc
Non-vintage Champagne generally combine pinots noir and meunier with chardonnay – drawn from multiple vineyards across France’s very large Champagne region. Veuve Fourny Blanc de Blancs, however, comes only from chardonnay grown on warmer south and south-east slopes of Les Mont-Ferres, near the village of Vertus. It shows the delicate, racy, elegant beauty of the variety ripened under very cool conditions. The winemakers build the richness and texture of the wine by blending in older reserve wines and maturing each batch for 30 months on yeast lees in bottle. The current release contains wine from the 2010 vintage (80 per cent) with the balance from the 2009, 2008 and 2007 seasons.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 18 June 2014 in the Canberra Times