Hewitson Baby Bush Barossa Valley Grenache 2011 Even in the cold, wet 2011 vintage Dean Hewitson produced a delicious mourvedre, a very late-ripening variety. The wine seems a tad lighter in colour than usual, though being mourvedre, that’s still pretty dark. It’s also a little lighter bodied and shows more pronounced peppery and spicy notes. But the medium body and spicy flavour suits the fine, grippy tannins, which add a savoury dimension. Hewitson makes the wine from bush vines he established from cuttings off old southern-Barossa vines planted in 1853.
Rolling Central Ranges Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre 2012 $18.95 The vineyards at Cumulus Estate wines roll in and out of the official Orange winemaking district. Vines situated below Orange’s defined altitude claim the “Central Ranges” appellation and are released under the Rolling label. The latest release is the first appearance of the late-ripening varieties grenache and mourvedre, though the two were planted in 1999. The unoaked wine comprises 48 per cent grenache, 40 per cent shiraz and the rest mourvedre. Medium bodied, spicy and peppery with vibrant fruit and fine soft tannins, the wine offers quite a departure from the bigger styles from Australia’s warmer areas.
Mud House Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2012 $18–$22 The massive flood of Marlborough sauvignon blanc now washing around the world began as a trickle in the early eighties. Montana, now Brancott Estate, planted its first vines there in 1973 and by 1981 had attracted some attention in Australia. But chardonnay dominated the dry-wine market in Australia until the late nineties and was finally swamped by sauvignon blanc early in the new century. Marlborough’s cool but sunny climate and broad acre plantings make the mass production of the style seemingly effortless – wines like Mud House that flaunt the variety’s pungent, grassy, capsicum-like flavours and fleshy mid palate.
A few strokes on Lisa Perotti-Brown’s laptop – 100 points – gave the world its headline – “The perfect Grange”. And like catatonic chooks, eyes glued to a single point, the world’s editors obsessed on one wine of the seven Penfolds released on 2 May.
What a lot of fun they missed. But Grange makes the news every year one way or another. It’s always controversial and always delivers in the robust, long-lived style Max Schubert developed in the early 1950s.
Successive winemakers over the decades refined Grange, so that today its fruit is probably a bit brighter and the oak more refined. But it remains inky blank, powerful and layered with winemaking inputs that add more aroma, flavour and textural dimensions than fruit alone could give.
And it’s always released in good company nowadays – alongside remarkable wines, some inspired by Schubert, some created long after his death in 1994, but all made by winemakers who knew him and his wine styles well. Schubert retired in 1973, but he maintained an office at Magill winery for the rest of his life and enjoyed regular contact with his successors – Don Ditter, John Duval and Peter Gago.
The new red releases include St Henri, an elegant, supple counterpoise to Grange, but equally long lived and created by John Davoren, not Schubert. Bin 707, or Grange Cabernet as some call it, is essentially Grange made from cabernet sauvignon instead of shiraz. It’s Grange’s match in power and individual character and as good a wine at half the price. Schubert made the first vintage in 1964.
Max Schubert saved Magill Estate from urban subdivision. Extract from Schubert's hand-written business case presented to the board of Adelaide Steamship Company, owner of Penfolds. Document courtesy of Barrie Woodward.
In 1983, Don Ditter made the first vintage of Magill Estate Shiraz, the single-vineyard wine that saved Penfolds’ Adelaide vineyard from urban subdivision. In late 1982, Max Schubert hand wrote a business plan, including details of the wine, for a board meeting of the Adelaide Steamship Company, then owners of Penfolds. Penfolds Managing Director Ian Mackley (ISM in the document above), and General Manager Jim Williams (JLW), convinced the board to retain the vineyard on the basis of Schubert’s proposal.
RWT Barossa Shiraz arrived in 1997, following John Duval’s quest (the ‘red wine trial’, hence RWT) for an elegant, aromatic Barossa Valley Shiraz, matured in French oak. The wine contrasts starkly with the power and American oak character of Grange shiraz.
And the newest arrival, Bin 169 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon is to Bin 707 what RWT is to Grange. Its creator, current winemaker Peter Gago, says Bin 169 and RWT take the pressure off Bin 707 and RWT. Gago believes the two new styles deflected criticism from some quarters that Grange and Bin 707 needed “modernising” – lightening up and moving from American oak to less aggressively flavoured French oak.
The lone chardonnay in the line up began as the “white Grange” project in the early nineties, under John Duval. Duval’s team sought a white equivalent of Grange. With no restrictions on grape variety or region, the winemakers initially sourced semillon, riesling and chardonnay from a diversity of regions. The search quickly narrowed to chardonnay, initially from mainland regions, including Tumbarumba, the Adelaide Hills and McLaren.
The first vintage released under the new flagship chardonnay label, Yattarna 1995, combined fruit from the Adelaide Hills and McLaren Vale. However, the continuing search for suitable fruit soon took Penfolds to Tasmania – just as Hardys had done for its flagship, Eileen Hardy. The just-released 2010 vintages combines fruit from Tasmania and the Adelaide Hills.
Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2009 $95 Modern St Henri reveals something of Australia’s massive vineyard expansion of the nineties. Fruit from Robe and Wrattonbully on the Limestone Coast and the Adelaide Hills now joins material from the warmer, traditional Clare Valley, Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. But the style remains unchanged. St Henri 2009 is a little lighter coloured than Grange or RWT, a tad less crimson than RWT and a tad more crimson than Grange – precisely reflecting their ages. St Henri fruit is chosen for its elegance and, as well, it’s aged in old 1,460-litre vats – meaning maturation without picking up woody flavour. St Henri seems gentle and soft compared to RWT and Grange. And its supple, sweet, plummy fruit comes layered earthy and savoury notes and fine, silky tannin. This is a big, warm St Henri but still elegant and built for long cellaring under good conditions.
Penfolds RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz 2010 $175 In 2005 I judged the Barossa Valley wine show with Huon Hooke and Lester Jesberg. Over dinner one night, we concluded Penfolds RWT 1998 was perhaps the best Barossa shiraz any of us had tasted. It now has a rival in the 2010. Tasting it alongside Grange accentuates RWT’s heady, floral aroma and opulent, chewy, juicy palate. It’s a dense and concentrated wine, saturated with aromatic shiraz character that’s beautifully complemented by sweet and spicy French oak. While it’s harmonious and easy enough to drink now, the sheer concentration and youth of the fruit flavour suggest a beautiful flavour evolution ahead.
Penfolds Grange 2008 $785 Max Schubert’s encounter with magnificent 50 year-old Bordeaux reds in 1950 inspired Grange. And tasting the inky deep, tannic wines of the new vintage, he realised Grange would have to be similarly powerful to last the half century he had in mind. He realised great wine requires more than just good fruit. And so, the 2008 Grange, like those before it combines the inky deep colour, flavour and tannins of fully ripened shiraz. And the fruit’s layered with the flavour and tannin of American oak and a distinctive hint of volatile acidity, deliberately encouraged during winemaking to give extra lift to such a huge, powerful wine. A description of the parts, though, can’t adequately convey the sense of a remarkable and unique wine. From tasting every vintage back to 1951, some of them many times, I conclude that age is perhaps the best fining agent of all. Over time Grange becomes finer – in the words of Max Schubert, “it has a similar elegance [to those ancient Bordeaux reds tasted in 1950], even after starting from a big, rough Australian red”. 2008 is a particularly powerful expression of the style, destined to evolve for decades.
Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay 2010 $130 With Yattarna, Penfolds aim for finesse, harmony and longevity – a style inspired by the elegant chardonnays of Puligny-Montrachet, Burgundy. Suitable fruit comes from the coolest growing regions – in 2010 from Tasmania and the Adelaide Hills. Fermentation and maturation in French oak barrels, 57 per cent of them new, produced a fine, complex wine, its rich but delicate fruit meshed through with barrel-derived character. It seems very young and fresh at three years and should evolve well for another five or six years.
Andrew Thomas Kiss Shiraz 2011 $60 Pokolbin Estate vineyard, Hunter Valley, NSW Andrew Thomas released four Hunter shirazes this month, each outstanding in its own way. But none matches the dimension of Kiss, Thomas’s flagship from a vineyard planted in 1969. The wine presents another unique, and idiosyncratic, face of Australian shiraz, far removed, say, from the sheer power of Grange or savoury twang of Mount Langi Ghiran “The Langi”. Kiss is medium bodied, and its intense, underlying bright fruit flavour is cut through with earthy, savoury notes and fine, soft tannins. The wine grew more interesting and better to drink over four days on the tasting bench – a pretty good guide to future complexity and longevity.
Tyrrell’s Vat 47 Chardonnay 2009 $69 HVD, NVC and Short Flat vineyards, Hunter Valley, NSW While the quest for fine chardonnay drew Australian winemakers ever further south, ultimately to Tasmania, Tyrrell’s stuck to the Hunter. Forty years after first producing the variety, the family makes a range of beautiful Hunter chardonnays, including the $13 Old Winery, $20 Moon Mountain, a couple of individual vineyard wines (Belford $35 and HVD $45) and the flagship, Vat 47. The 2009 is probably about as good as Hunter chardonnay can get – a rich, fine, slow-evolving, barrel-fermented style that looks very young at four years.
Hewitson Miss Harry 2011 $22–$24 Barossa Valley, South Australia Fungal diseases caused by a cold, wet vintage destroyed much of the Barossa Valley’s grape crop. Winemakers salvaged good grapes here and there, but from what I’ve tasted the pickings appear pretty lean – the wines sometimes marred by a lack of fruit flavour and hard tannins. While Dean Hewitson’s 2011 blend of grenache, shiraz, mourvedre, cinsault and carignan lacks the opulence of the 2010 vintage, it nevertheless captures the attractive floral aroma of grenache, followed by a leaner, spicy, peppery palate. The tannins stand out against the light fruit, ruling it out as a standalone wine. But food of any kind masks the tannins, shifting the fruit flavour back to the fore.
Half Moon Eclipse Riesling Pinot Gris 2012 $19.50 Half Moon vineyard, Braidwood, NSW Canberra winemaker Alex McKay (owner of Collector Wines) makes wine for Braidwood’s 1.6-hectare Half Moon vineyard. This unique white appears to be inspired by the unctuous whites of Alsace, France, where pinot gris and riesling live happily side by side (though not usually blended together). Riesling adds an appealing floral boost to the slippery, round palate. Vibrant acidity balances the wine’s delicate sweetness. This combination probably makes the wine a good match to pork sausages and pate or to the spiciness of Asian dishes.
Scarborough Green Label Semillon 2012 $22 Hunter Valley, NSW Hunter semillon’s an excellent choice when you’d prefer a light bodied but tasty dry white. Grown in the lower Hunter Valley, semillon develops ripe flavours before grape sugar levels (and hence alcohol levels) climb too high. The warm Hunter region excels at the style but sometimes requires cellaring to soften the austere acids. But Scarborough’s version offers a soft, easy-drinking expression of the variety, with bright, lemongrass-like flavour and snappy, bone-dry finish.
Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 $30–$40 Margaret River, Western Australia Virginia Wilcock’s outstanding red combines cabernet sauvignon (88 per cent) with 10 per cent malbec and a splash each of petit verdot and cabernet franc. There’s a violet-like floral lift to an aroma that includes varietal blackcurrant and a sweet, cedary character from the French oak. All these flavours flow through to the elegant palate, which, despite its supple smoothness and fleshy, fruity, core, finishes with the fine, lingering bite of the variety – perhaps a shade more solid than the 2009. It’s easy to drink now but has the intensity and structure to cellar well.
Cooper’s Pale Ale 375ml 6-pack $16 The wholemeal appeal of Cooper’s cloudy, bottle-conditioned ales spread from mung-bean-eating hippies into the mainstream some years back. So much so that the company now sells more beer in NSW than at home in South Australia, says Glen Cooper. Little wonder, we say, savouring a cold one in the Mount Kembla village pub near Wollongong.
James Squire Stow Away IPA 345ml 6-pack $19 The original India pale ales packed a power of alcohol, malt and hops to survive the pre-refrigeration-era journey from England to India. James Squire’s burly-but-balanced version of the brew uses rampant apricot-like hops aromas and flavours — and attendant intense bitterness — to shackle opulent malt and warm, sweet alcohol flavours.
The Guardian Weekly, UK, reported 7 May on growing fascination in Germany for American beers – not the bland, thin mainstream brews, but the rich diversity now flowing from America’s very large craft brewing sector.
Non-German beers doubled to 8.1 per cent of the German market between 2004 and 2012, says the report. It also says many of the small breweries opening up in German cities “emulate American craft beer styles”.
With per capita consumption of beer declining in Germany, some brewers, claims the report, “say their only salvation lies in fostering a drinking culture less constrained by a 1516 purity law that they say crimps innovation”.
Thorsten Heiser of Bavaria’s ancient Weihenstephan brewery sees the phenomenon as a generational thing – the oldies drink beer for daily nutrition; young people seek flavour variety.
As a sometimes shopper in German supermarkets, I welcome the variety. But I’ll never say no to a traditional weiss beer or lager either.
Saltram 1859 Barossa Shiraz 2012 $17–$21 The first 2012 reds coming into the market suggest a high quality vintage, much as we’ve seen of the exceptional whites. Saltram 1859 Barossa Shiraz 2012 shows what’s at the heart of a good vintage – vibrant, juicy fruit flavours. Winemakers will add other layers of flavour to the very best wines and release them over the next five years. But for this Barossa shiraz delivers lovely drinking right now. The makers used more stainless steel than oak in its production, thus capturing the vibrant, fleshy fruit flavours of the vintage. Soft tannins add to the fleshy texture and drink-now appeal.
Tyrrell’s Hunter Valley Moon Mountain Chardonnay 2012 $16–$20 A Chateau Shanahan favourite for a couple of decades, Moon Mountain provides sophisticated chardonnay drinking (and medium-term cellarability) at a fair price. Good Hunter fruit’s at the heart of the wine. But over the last 40 years, the Tyrrell family and winemaker Andrew Spinaze perfected the art of chardonnay making. Thus that delicious fruit comes in a matrix of aromas, flavours and textures derived from winemaking techniques. Grape solids in the fermentation, maturation on yeast lees (and lees stirring) in new and older French oak barrels all add to the drinking pleasure.
Rosemount Estate South Australia Chardonnay 2012 $10–$15 The union of Rosemount Estate and Southcorp Wines early last decade almost destroyed the Rosemount brand globally. A new iteration of the once-ubiquitous diamond-label chardonnay offers fair drinking at its on-special price – a fresh, medium bodied style with a light touch of leesy complexity. But if you find fully priced Rosemount alongside Tyrrell’s Moon Mountain (reviewed above) on special, pay the extra dollar and enjoy the substantially better, more satisfying Tyrrell wine.
Grant Burge Meshach 2008 $124–$180 Filsell and other vineyards, Barossa Valley On a visit to Canberra in April, Barossa winemaker Grant Burge said warm climate shiraz seemed to be off the radar of many wine judges and some wine shows. This appears to be a fashion statement, he said, and completely out of touch with the market, where sales of McLaren Vale and Barossa shiraz continue to grow. The disparity between the perceptions of consumers and judges illustrates the wonderfully contrasting styles of shiraz we now make in Australia – from the spicy, peppery, fine-boned versions from cool areas to the inky deep styles from warmer climates. Burge’s flagship red, Meshach, stands as one of the very best of the inky deep Barossa style. It’s a big, beautifully balanced wine, saturated with ripe varietal flavour and cut through with soft fruit and oak tannins. It’s built for long-term cellaring.
Thomas Vineyard Selection DJV Shiraz 2011 $27–30 Lindemans Ben Ean Vineyard, Hunter Valley, NSW What a contrast there is between this silky,medium bodied shiraz and the fruit-saturated power of Grant Burge Meshach, also reviewed today. Our national red hero, shiraz, shows many faces, including this idiosyncratic one from Hunter Valley shiraz and semillon specialist, Andrew Thomas. DJV delivers clean, fresh, vibrant fruit flavours, in the modern style, coupled with the Hunter’s traditional, savoury, earthy undertones. Soft, fine tannins and medium body give DJV an elegance seldom seen in warm climate reds. Thomas says he co-fermented the shiraz with 12 per cent semillon verjuice, which contributed much to the lighter, drink-now character of the wine.
Tyrrell’s Old Winery Chardonnay 2012 $10.45–12.99 Hunter Valley, NSW Old Winery, first made in 1979 and fine-tuned ever since, rates among Australia’s best budget chardonnays. It combines liveliness and freshness with chardonnay’s full flavour and a rich, smooth texture. The appealing, ripe, varietal flavour comes from good fruit. And the rich, smooth texture, says Bruce Tyrrell, comes from “all the techniques of solids in the ferment and lees stirring but on a larger scale in a tank rather than a small barrel”.
Jacob’s Creek Steingarten Riesling 2012 $24.60–$32 Eden Valley, South Australia The Steingarten vineyard, planted by Orlando’s Colin Gramp in 1962, lends it name (and contributes part of the fruit) to Jacob’s Creek’s flagship riesling. I enjoyed a pre-release sample of the wine in January; and a recent taste confirms it as one of the best from a great year. It’s delicate and intense at the same time with exhilarating acidity and pure, lime-lemon varietal flavour. Stock up when it’s on special and put a little aside. Past vintages have aged well for decades – for example, the comparably outstanding 2002 vintage still looks young and fresh.
Dandelion Vineyards Menagerie of the Barossa Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2011 $21–27.50 Gomersal, southern Barossa Valley, South Australia The cold, wet 2011 vintage hit the Barossa Valley particularly hard, wiping out huge tracts of vineyards. Dandelion’s blend, then, came as a delightful surprise – a tender, juicy, seductive drop that made the bottle seem too small. It’s a blend of grenache (85 per cent), shiraz (10 per cent) and mataro (aka mourvedre or monastrell). The back label hints at how winemaker Elena Brooks and the Dandelion crew saved the day, “handpicking selected bunches” (that is, avoiding the rotten ones) of the three varieties for co-fermentation and ultimate success. What a more-ish wine this is.
Brown Brothers Victoria Tempranillo 2012 $12–$18 King Valley and Heathcote, Victoria Brown Brothers test new wine styles by making small quantities in its kindergarten winery, then putting them on tasting and sale at its extraordinarily busy cellar door. If visitors like a wine, they ramp up production, as they did with this lovely tempranillo. They source this Spanish variety from their own vineyards at Banksdale, King Valley, and Heathcote. The 2012 delivers attractive ripe, plummy fruit flavours on a dry, savoury, medium bodied palate.
Adelaide University researcher Dr Jason Eglinton recently announced the development of a new type of barley capable of keeping beer fresher, longer.
Eglinton attributed the barley’s unique qualities to a defective enzyme. He said in normal barleys, the enzyme triggered reactions that, over time, produced stale, cardboard-like tastes.
But, in the new barley, the reactions don’t happen – meaning beer keeps its fresh flavour longer.
Eglinton says the research team developed the barley in conjunction with Japanese brewer Sapporo and commercial production is to begin in South Australia this year.
In 2007 Sapporo developed a comparable barley in Canada and planned to produce about 90,000 tonnes a year in Canada by 2011. Sapporo applied for patents in about 30 countries at the time – indicating the commercial value of such a breakthrough.
Eglinton says the new barley suits Australian conditions and he expects Sapporo to make similar commercial use as they have with the Canadian version.
Bussell JG Margaret River Cabernet Merlot 2011 $24 Barossa winemaker Grant Burge says he created the Margaret River brand, Bussell, and a New Zealand brand, Drift, to meet demand for wine styles he couldn’t make in the Barossa. He also says, “They have to be exceptional to work” – and Bussell JG cabernet merlot is. Made for Burge at Clairault Wines, the wine delivers drink-now Margaret River elegance and richness at a fair price. It’s sweetly perfumed, with a floral edge as well as the slightly leafy character of cool-grown cabernet. These characters come through as well on the delicious, soft, medium bodied palate.
Thomas Two of a Kind Hunter McLaren Vale Shiraz 2011 $24 Hunter winemaker Andrew Thomas makes a range of beautiful, cellarable Hunter shirazes as well as this drink-now blend. Thomas says it comprises 57 per cent Hunter shiraz, the rest McLaren Vale shiraz. He ferments the two components separately, but blends them before maturing them in oak barriques for two years. The result is an harmonious, smooth red, combining the fleshy richness of McLaren Vale with the savoury, earthy character of the Hunter. It’s medium bodied, but richly fruity, with fine, soft tannins.
Brown Brothers Victoria Chardonnay 2012 $17.90 Brown Brothers source fruit for this wine primarily from their high-altitude Banksdale Vineyard in the King Valley – a significantly cooler site than their original site on the Oxley Plains, a few kilometres to the north. The cool growing conditions produce rich, varietal flavours reminiscent of white peach and a touch of melon rind. These flavours underpin a vibrant, full-bodied dry white, with the rich textured derived from fermentation and maturation in oak, and a refreshing bite of acidity. While the oak subtly influences the aroma and flavour, its influence is more in the texture and structure of the wine.
Brookland Valley Verse 1 Margaret River Chardonnay 2012 $13–$15 When a company makes cutting edge top-shelf wine, the quality usually flows down to cheaper wines in its portfolio. We can taste this deliciously in Verse1 Chardonnay, little sibling of the far more expensive Brookland Valley Chardonnay and relative of several other classy chardonnays (including Eileen Hardy Chardonnay) in the Accolade Wine Group. We bought our bottle for just under $13 during a recent visit to Wollongong; and came back for seconds. What a delight it is – crisp, fresh, smoothly textured and packed with juicy nectarine-like varietal flavour. It’s widely distributed, often discounted a safe bet every time.
Two Churches Barossa Valley Shiraz 2010 $12–$17 In the late nineties I created the Two Churches brand for the Coles Liquor Group. Peter Lehmann made the wine and Barbara Harkness, creator of the Yellow Tail label, designed the package. The name came from a fanciful folk tale, archived in the National Library, of a schism that resulted in two Lutheran churches existing within one small Barossa village. About 15 years on, I feel sufficiently removed from the brand to say the 2010 vintage, purchased at a Liquorland store, offers attractive, soft Barossa drinking. When it’s at is full $17 a bottle, you can drink better for the price. But on special at $12–$14, it’s a good buy.
Bussell “Grace” Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2012 $20–$22 As the winemakers of Bordeaux and Margaret River demonstrate, semillon makes sauvignon blanc interesting. In this blend – made at Clairault Wines, Margaret River, for Grant Burge – semillon comprises one fifth of the total. This adds savouriness, backbone and length to the fruity, vivacious palate. Fermentation in oak of a small portion of the blend adds to its mid-plate richness and texture, without injecting oak flavour. Barossa winemaker Grant Burge says he created the Margaret River brand, Bussell, and a New Zealand brand, Drift, to meet demand for wine styles he couldn’t make in the Barossa.
Hewitson Baby Bush Barossa Valley Grenache 2011
Mud House Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2012 $18–$22
