Zeppelin Barossa Valley Shiraz 2012 $17–$22
For a modest price, Zeppelin delivers the full, ripe flavours and soft tannins of an outstanding Barossa Valley vintage. A touch of spice and savouriness adds interest to this very appealing early-drinking red. Zeppelin is a brand of Echelon Wine Partners, a marketing and distribution company owned by the McWilliam family. McWillams very wisely chose Kym Teusner as their Barossa winemaker. Teusner says he sourced the grapes from “a single low-yielding vineyard in the Angaston foothills” and used traditional methods, including fermentation in open vats, pressing with a basket press and maturation in older oak vessels.

Jacob’s Creek Reserve Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2013 $12–$18
The 2012 vintage won a trophy at last year’s Royal Sydney Wine show and I’d be surprised if the 2013 doesn’t win a gold medal or two during the year. It’s a finely structured, fresh, tasty, modern chardonnay. Sourced from the cool Adelaide Hills, barrel fermented and matured (giving complexity and rich texture) and widely distributed, it’s a wine we can find even in out of the way places, and at a keen price. We bought ours from Woolworths Liquor, Batemans Bay – at a bargain two bottles for $24. You’d have to pay a lot more for a better chardonnay.

De Bortoli La Boheme Act One Yarra Valley Riesling 2013 $20
Leanne De Bortoli and husband Steve Webber’s La Boheme range includes this delicious white, made from riesling (89 per cent) plus gewurtztraminer and pinot gris. While delicate riesling drives the aromatics and citrus-like flavour, gewürztraminer adds a light but distinctive lychee-like and, with pinot gris, a slippery texture not seen in riesling on its own. It all adds up to pleasing aromas and flavours, great freshness and a satisfying feeling in the mouth. De Bortoli and Webber attribute recent improvements in their riesling-vineyard management to young winemaker Sarah Fagan.

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

Mount Majura Shiraz 2011 $32
Mount Majura Vineyard, Canberra District, ACT
No vintage is all good or all bad. Even Canberra’s cold, wet, disease-ravaged 2011 season produced highlights, including Mount Majura’s superb shiraz – a winner of one gold, one trophy and three silver medals. Sure, it shows the peppery character of the cool season. But pepper simply joins the spice rack in a highly aromatic, beautifully fresh shiraz, underpinned by sensuous, ripe berry flavours and a supple, silky, fine-boned structure. Winemaker Frank van de Loo reveals the secret to success, writing “Disease pressure was high and our pickers spent far longer than usual, ensuring that only clean fruit entered the winery. Quality of these reduced yields was very high, with wonderful aromatics and natural acidity”.

Grosset Springvale Riesling 2013 $39
Watervale, Clare Valley, South Australia
Two of Jeffrey Grosset’s trio of 2013 rieslings reveal different faces of the Clare Valley’s sub-regions – Watervale and Polish Hill River. The third, Alea, demonstrates the easy-drinking pleasure of crisp, off-dry riesling – though I suspect this style will be better from much cooler regions, like Tasmania (or Germany’s Mosel and Rein Rivers). Grosset’s Springvale, from Watervale, starred in a pre-Christmas riesling tasting, appealing for its juicy, limey, delicacy – a wine of enormous appeal now, both with years of cellaring ahead. In a New Year tasting, Grosset Polish Hill appealed for its intensity and steely backbone – a wine for the long haul.

Airlie Bank Cabernet Merlot 2010 $10
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Punt Road’s budget cabernet merlot blend provides good summer drinking for $10. Medium bodied, modestly alcoholic at 12.5 per cent and with varietal flavours reminiscent of blackcurrant (with undertones of leaf and herb), it doesn’t overwhelm in the heat and, in fact, drinks best lightly chilled to around 15 degrees. I see it as a luncheon wine or a terrific “throwing juice” when the petanque set comes out.

Zeppelin Grenache 2012 $17–$22
Northern Barossa Valley, South Australia
Young Barossa winemaker, Kym Teusner, made this opulent, juicy red using grenache grapes from 60–80 year old vines, growing between Greenock and Ebenezer in the northern Barossa Valley. Teusner says he used a hands-off approach, fermenting the wine in open fermenters, pumping the juice over the floating cap of skins twice daily, basket pressing the wine and maturing it in older oak barrels for 12–18 months. Teusner’s approach captures the aromatic fruity, spicy character of the variety, with soft tannins and an earthy, savoury note.

Holm Oak Riesling 2012 $20–$25
Tamar Valley, Tasmania
Rebecca Duffy’s riesling reveals cool Tasmanian origins in its delicacy, racy acidity and vein of apple-like flavour cutting through the lime we see in warmer-grown riesling. Duffy says she ferments two batches for later blending. Each component has its own yeast strain – one aromatic, the other “to metabolise malic acid”, presumably to tame the wine’s high natural acidity. The wines nevertheless naturally high acidity seems a key to its great freshness, delicacy and fruitiness at two years’ age.

Lanson Gold Label Champagne 2004 $50–$61.90
Champagne region, France
Woolworths-owned Dan Murphys imports Lanson and before Christmas offered the 2002 vintage for as little as $50 and as much as $61.90 a bottle. We enjoyed it in a pre-Christmas masked tasting, alongside Pol Roger 2002 ($86–$114). The latter won the day by a comfortable margin and joined our Christmas table. But the Lanson nevertheless offered outstanding value, showing the complexities of extended ageing on yeast lees and subsequent bottle ageing. For New Year, we moved onto the 2004 Lanson, a significantly fresher, more fruity beast than the 2002 and a bargain, especially during its bouts on special at Dan Murphys.

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

Lanson Gold Label Brut Vintage Champagne 2002 $50–$61.90
Woolworths-owned Dan Murphys imports Lanson and before Christmas offered it for as little as $50 and as much as $61.90 a bottle. Silly me paid the higher price, but even then I rated it the best value real Champagne of the year. We enjoyed it in a masked tasting alongside Pol Roger 2002 ($86–$114). They’re lovely wines from a great vintage and markedly different in style. We liked the power, acidity, mature flavour and structure of the Lanson. Dan Murphy fine wine manager, Peter Nixon, says the 2004 vintage will soon replace the 2002 at a comparable price.

Tim Adams Clare Valley Riesling2013 $19–$23
Clare’s 2013 rieslings, in general, offer fuller, rounder more upfront fruit than the magnificent 2012s. They therefore make excellent summer drinking. At just 11.5 per cent alcohol, Tim Adams 2013, sits lightly on the palate, delivering delicate but full, pristine, lime-like varietal flavour and gentle, refreshing acidity. Adams says he sourced the wine from five Clare Valley vineyards. The wine appeals for its freshness and vivid fruit flavour now, but should evolve in tasty ways for several years if cellared at a cool, constant temperature.

Jim Barry The Barry Bros Clare Valley Shiraz Cabernet 2012 $16–$20
Tom and Sam Barry couldn’t have picked a better vintage for their new, drink-now red – a blend of Clare-grown shiraz and cabernet sauvignon. A big, round, generous mouthful of a wine, it puts all the focus on ripe, fresh fruit flavours, backed by loads of soft tannins. The basic typeset label, the brothers say, salutes “the era [1950s] when our grandparents Jim and Nancy [Barry] bought their first vineyards”. Jim Barry died in 2004 and the business is now run by his son Peter, father of Sam and Tom. The wine suits the hot weather provided it’s cooled slightly to around 18 degrees.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 26 January 2014 in the Canberra Times

Moppity Vineyards Lock and Key Reserve Shiraz 2012 $22
Moppity vineyard, Hilltops, NSW
Moppity won the most-successful-exhibitor trophy at Canberra regional show, largely on the strength of its Tumbarumba chardonnays and Hilltops shirazes. While isolated show medals mean little, sustained success in different shows invariably points to outstanding quality – a quality confirmed after a few sips of Lock and Key Reserve shiraz. It won silver at the regional show and golds medals in Melbourne, the NSW Small Winemakers show and the National Wine Show of Australia. It’s a delicious wine and a gift at $22. The pepper and spice character of the cool season provides attractive seasoning to the plush, soft, easy-drinking palate. It’s slightly fuller bodied than a typical Canberra shiraz but less full bodied than one from the warmer Barossa.

Moppity Vineyards Lock and Key Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 $22
Moppity vineyard, Hilltops, NSW
In both Canberra and Hilltops, shiraz, in general, fares better than cabernet – by a wider margin in Canberra than in the warmer Hilltops region. However, in 2012 Moppity owner Jason Brown achieved excellent quality with both varieties. Brown says the cabernet benefited from intensive work in the vineyard – keeping grape yields to a low two-and-a-half to five tonnes a hectare and “fastidious” canopy management. Whatever he did worked, as this is a lovely cabernet. It’s vibrantly varietal (ripe berry fruit with the slightest leafy note), balanced by sympathetic oak treatment. It also has fruity, mid-palate flesh – enough to give drink-now appeal – but not so much as to take away the overall tight, fairly tannic cabernet experience. A winner of multiple gold medals and trophies. Like the Lock and Key Reserve shiraz, this is the gift at the price. It was a toss up to decide wine of the week.

Pikes Clare Valley The Merle Riesling 2013 $38–$45
Thickett block, Pike Vineyard, Polish Hill River, Clare Valley, South Australia
Clare Valley veteran Neil Pike produces a number of Clare Valley rieslings, led by the flagship, The Merle. Pike sourced the 2013 vintage from the Thicket block within the family’s vineyard in the cool Clare sub-region, Polish Hill River. Merle’s intense acidity seems to magnify the delicious lime-like varietal flavour, thrilling the palate and giving a pure, fresh lingering dry finish. It makes a good refresher on its own, but it also suits fresh oysters, delicate seafood and salads. Most likely it will age for many years, even decades.

Greywacke Chardonnay 2011 $40–$45
Marlborough, New Zealand
Kevin Judd’s latest chardonnay offers power with elegance in its own special style. Judd uses ripe fruit from old vines in New Zealand’s Marlborough region. The wines undergo spontaneous and prolonged fermentation, from ambient yeast, in oak barrels. Judd stirs the wines occasionally as they mature on yeast lees, and allows all components to complete their secondary malolactic fermentation (converting malic to lactic acid – a process that affects flavour and texture, while reducing total acidity). The ripe fruit, full body, comparatively high acidity, and rich texture add up to a unique and irresistible take on chardonnay.

Mount Majura TSG 2012 $32
Mount Majura vineyard, Mount Majura, Canberra District, ACT
Mount Majura’s blend of tempranillo, shiraz and graciano – a silver medallist in last September’s Canberra regional show – offered a great contrast in a recent tasting, wedged between two burly, warm-climate reds. A couple of tasters saw a resemblance to pinot noir – a reasonable analogy in relation to the wine’s medium body. But there the resemblance ended. The aroma and flavour suggested blueberry, liberally seasoned with spice, pepper and an earthy savouriness. And the palate, though fine and elegant, finished with firm, grippy tannins.

T’Gallant Cape Schanck Pinot Grigio 2013 $18–$22
Cool climate Victoria
T’Gallant, part of Treasury Wine Estates, still retains the services of Kevin MCarthy, one of Australia’s pioneers of this variety, known by both its French (pinot gris) and Italian (pinot grigio). McCarthy’s version heads down the racy, lean Italian style. It draws fruit widely, writes McCarthy, “stretching from Heyward to Yea via the Strathbogies, Mornington Peninsula and the Yarra Valley”. The result is an unusually pure, well-defined pinot gris. It’s teasing, tart and savoury and a refreshingly low 11.5 per cent alcohol.

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

Chapel Hill Parson’s Nose McLaren Vale Shiraz 2012 $15–$20
Winemaker Michael Fragos says the mild 2011–12 growing season proved “ideal for maturation and facilitated even flavour and tannin ripening”. The wine reflects the quality of the season with its full body and juicy, ripe fruit flavours. Savoury, firm tannins permeate the vibrant, plummy fruit. They underline the wine’s distinctive McLaren Vale origins and provide great drinking satisfaction. The savouriness and firm tannins distinguish McLaren Vale from other warm-grown shirazes – for example from the more tender tannins of the Barossa, two hours’ drive north of the vale.

El Figura Rioja 2012 $9.49–$9.99
El Figura provides a fruity, drink-now expression of the Rioja region’s great red specialty. Though Spanish law permits the use of several varieties in the region’s red, this one is all tempranillo, made specifically for consumption as a young wine – in Spanish parlance “joven” wine. Woolworths’ private label company, Pinnacle Wine Group, imports it direct (hence the low price) for sale mainly through Dan Murphys outlets. The wine’s medium bodied with vibrant blueberry-like flavours and quite a firm tannin backbone, typical of the variety. Refreshingly for a European wine, the makers sealed all the fruity goodness in with a screw cap.

Dal Zotto Pucino Prosecco NV $21
Prosecco’s Italian home is the Valdobbiadene district, near Conegliano in the Veneto region. The variety makes light, delicate aperitif-style sparkling wines, usually tank fermented (Charmat method) and served as young and fresh as possible. Otto Dal Zotto, born in Valdobbiadene, released his first Australian prosecco in 2004 and now offers the light, delicate, refreshingly bubbly Charmat-made Pucino NV. The Winemakers Federation of Australia recently objected, successfully, to a European application to register “prosecco” as an Italian geographical indication in Australia. Their success would’ve barred our makers from using what is essentially just a varietal name.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 19 January 2014 in the Canberra Times

Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 $30–$35
Margaret River, Western Australia
Xanadu cabernet covered itself with glory at the 2013 National Wine Show. The 2010 vintage won three trophies – as best cabernet, best dry red and champion of the show. And the 2008 won the best mature-dry-red trophy. The wine tastes as good on the dinner table as it does during the fleeting glimpse it gets during show judging. You’ll find the 2010 in bottle shops. But the just-released 2011 matches the quality. We tasted, then consumed the bottle in a masked tasting, alongside Houghton Gladstones 2001 and Cullen Diana Madeline 2003 – beautiful aged Margaret River cabernets  the Xanadu will no doubt bear some resemblance to after a decade in bottle. We served the wines with a simple barbecued, butterflied lamb leg – a wonderful combination.

Hewitson Ned and Henry’s Shiraz Mourvedre 2012 $26
Barossa Valley, South Australia
Hewitson Ned and Henry lifted above the other ripe, warm-climate reds on the tasting bench and graduated to the dinner table – where it held our interest through several glasses. I would describe this as modern, restrained Barossa. It retains Barossa ripeness and generosity, but it’s not overripe, it’s modestly alcoholic at 14 per cent and it’s not overburdened by oak or tannin. The fruit is ripe and reminiscent of black cherry – with a spicy, savoury overlay. The soft, smooth tannins harmonise with the ripe fruit, adding length to the clean, fresh finish. In warm weather, refrigerate lightly to around 18 degrees.

Montrose Stony Creek Chardonnay 2012$20–$24
Craigmoor, Chardonnay Park and Woodbrook vineyards, Mudgee, NSW
Mudgee is among Australia’s oldest wine-growing regions. But, in my view, the nearest it has to a regional specialty is chardonnay. Judged on climate – mild rather than cool or cold – you’d expect tasty, early maturing styles. Instead, and especially from the higher cooler sites (source of Montrose), the chardonnays tend to be fine, complex and long-lived. While not at the cutting edge, the wine is subtle and refined, with ripe melon and peach flavour in a matrix with barrel-derived textures and flavours. It delivers a lot of drinking pleasure at a fair price.

Marchand and Burch Cremant de Bourgogne NV $30
Burgundy, France
France’s Cremant de Bourgogne appellation covers a huge tract of the Burgundy region, stretching from Chablis in the north to Beaujolais in the south. Total production, though, is said to be less than one twentieth of the Champagne region’s, to the north. Marchand and Burch, an Australian–French collaboration, provides a fresh, tasty, gentle and subtle introduction to the style. The creamy texture and crisp acidity made a good match with Wapengo oysters at a pre-Christmas Chateau Shanahan tasting.

Pol Roger Extra Cuvee de Reserve Champagne 2002 $86–$114
Champagne region, France
We found two Canberra stashes of Pol’s sublime 2002 vintage in Canberra – both in Coles-owned outlets. 1st Choice, Braddon, offered it at $114 a bottle – a fair price when compared to other vintage Champagnes. But Vintage Cellars Manuka marked it down to $86 as part of a six-bottle buy, making it perhaps the best Champagne buy on the market. We put it in a masked tasting alongside Lanson Gold Label 2002 ($50–$62). Both are wonderful wines and Lanson is perhaps the bargain of the year at $50. But Pol 2002 delivered the supreme elegance and harmony savoured occasionally in the greatest Champagnes – a beautiful creation, brought to near perfection.

Capital Wines Kyeema Vineyard Reserve Shiraz 2011 $52
Kyeema Vineyard, Murrumbateman, Canberra District, NSW
Capital’s reserve shiraz shows its usual touch of class, albeit in a leaner, more spicy–peppery mould than usual. It’s always one of Canberra’s more brooding, slow-evolving shirazes, requiring bottle age or days of airing to reveal all. But in 2011, the aromatic spice and pepper character and lighter body make it immediately approachable. The spice and pepper give life to the underlying ripe-plum fruit flavours. But I suspect its best drinking will be over the next five or six years, rather then in the decades of a fleshier version from a warmer year.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2014
First published 15 January 2014 in the Canberra Times and goodfood.com.au