Wine review — Mount Langi Ghiran, Dominique Portet, Seppelt, Vasse Felix, Atlas and Redbank

18 January 2012Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Mount Langi Ghiran Cliff Edge Shiraz 2008 $22.79–$30
Mount Langi Ghiran Vineyard, Grampians, Victoria
For the first time Mount Langi Ghiran’s popular Cliff Edge shiraz comes entirely from estate-grown fruit, some of it from the estate’s oldest vines. It’s about as sexy as shiraz gets at the price – beautifully, sweetly aromatic with a vibrant, fruity palate to match. A spicy, savoury flavour undercurrent and silky tannins make it the complete red for early drinking – though the flavour intensity and layers of tannin mean good short to medium-term cellaring.

Dominique Portet Pinot Noir 2010 $42
Leongatha South, Gippsland, Victoria
Leongatha South, to the south east of Melbourne, produces at times dazzling pinot noirs, exemplified by those made at Bass Phillip by Phillip Jones. Dominique Portet captures some of the region’s magic with this lovely, lighter-bodied pinot noir. It’s highly aromatic, expressing the cooler, stalky end of the varietal spectrum. This character comes through, too, on a delicious, silky palate that grows in interest with every sip until, all too quickly, the bottle’s gone.

Seppelt Drumborg Riesling 2011 $27–$35
Drumborg Vineyard, Henty, Victoria
In 1964, well ahead of Australia’s table wine boom, Karl Seppelt planted grapes at Drumborg, southern Victoria, first landfall north of Antarctica. The cool site struggled for decades but ultimately produced outstanding grapes and elegant, potentially long-lived table and sparkling wines. In the very cool 2011 vintage, the vineyard produced this extraordinary riesling with intense but delicate lime-like varietal character and lean taut structure (pH2.88 and acidity of 9.6 grams per litre, for the technically minded). It’s a wine destined for greatness over time and worth considering if you’re after a wine to cellar for a special event decades in the future.

Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $30–$40
Margaret River, Western Australia
Virginia Wilcock’s outstanding red combines cabernet sauvignon (88 per cent) with 11 per cent malbec and one per cent merlot. 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. It’s easy to drink now but has the intensity and structure to cellar well.

Atlas Riesling 2011 $25
Watervale, Clare Valley, South Australia
Winemaker Adam Barton sources grapes from sites he favours in the Clare and Barossa Valleys – in this instance from “a single patch of old, dry-grown riesling, situated on sheltered east-facing slope”. Hand picking, de-stemming and low juice extraction rates produce a delicate riesling with lime-like varietal aroma and flavour and pleasant minerally touch. The palate’s delicate, fine and dry and likely to reveal more over the coming years. This is a brand to watch. See www.atlaswines.com.au for purchasing details.

Redbank Garganega 2010 $25
Myrrhee Ridge Vineyard, King Valley, Victoria
Garganega is the principal variety used in Soave, a well-known savoury dry white from near Verona in Italy’s Veneto region. Redbank’s first vintage was fermented with wild yeast, matured in older oak barrels and blended with 10 per cent fiano, another Italian white. The result is full-bodied dry white with pleasing melon rind and citrus flavours and pleasantly tart, firm finish. It’s a long way from our usual fare and worth trying.

Argentina vignerons target the world

18 January 2012WineChris Shanahan

Argentina’s wine export graphs sweep ever upwards, like the slopes of the Andes that bound the country’s vineyards. In recent years this once domestic-focused industry set about exporting in earnest and now competes with Australia in the world’s major markets.

Figures provided by the Argentina embassy show exports of malbec, the country’s leading red variety, grew about tenfold between 2002 and 2010 – from 850 thousand nine-litre cases to 8.6 million cases. Exports of the signature white, torrentes, grew from 140 thousand cases to 664 thousand cases in the same period.

While the on-ship price of malbec peaked at $US35.52 a case in 2008 (after rising from $US27.28 in 2002), volumes barrelled on during the GFC mark 1 – rising from 4.2 million cases in 2007 to 8.6 million in 2010. The price fell back to $US34.80 a case in 2009, then recovered most of its lost ground to $US35.44 in 2010.

The price of torrentes, however, remained on its Andes-foothills-like trajectory without interruption, rising from $US16.86 a case in 2002 to $US27.86 in 2010.

There’s an upward trend, too, if we track Argentina’s vineyards a couple of thousand kilometres northwards – from Patagonia, at about 41 degrees south, to Salta, around 24 degrees south of the equator. As we move north, the temperature warms up. Wine grapes don’t like this, as they give their best flavours when ripening in mild to cool conditions. So, to compensate, vignerons plant their vineyards at ever-higher altitudes.

Argentina’s lowest vineyards, in the upper Rio Negro Valley, Patagonia, sit at around 200 metres above sea level. But at Molinos, Salta, not far short of the Bolivian border, vineyards can be found at up to 3,000 metres. The average altitude of vineyards, claim the Argentineans, is 900 metres above seal level.

Giving that an Australian perspective, Canberra’s Lark Hill Vineyard reaches 860 metres at its highest point, and vineyards in Orange can be as high as 1,100 metres (although most are lower). According to Wine Australia website our highest vineyard, at 1,320 metres, is at Guyra, New South Wales (latitude 30 degrees south).

Mendoza, Argentina’s largest wine-producing area – just below the mid-point of the north-south vineyard spread – produces 80 per cent of the country’s wine. Its 160 thousand hectares of vines, planted between 457 and 1,780 metres, are about the same as Australia’s total plantings.

With an annual rainfall of a desert-like 200mm a year, Mendoza relies on rivers flowing out of the Andes for irrigation. And because the dry climate all but rules out fungal disease, the area’s vignerons enjoy a significant competitive advantage over producers from other countries.

This is because vineyard-management costs can blow out during extended periods of mild, wet weather. Just ask any Canberra vigneron about the endless hours spent spraying against mildew and botrytis (and the additional vineyard labour costs) in the lead up to last vintage.

But Mendoza’s 200mm rainfall seems generous compared to La Rioja’s 130mm. Indeed, of Argentina’s major winemaking regions, Catamarca (to the north) alone receives significantly more rainfall – and then a mere 432mm, well below Adelaide’s 549mm, Canberra’s 629mm or the lower Hunter Valley’s 900mm.

Because of the arid climate, the Argentineans refer to the wine regions as oases, and list five for the Mendoza region – Northern Mendoza, Eastern Mendoza, Mendoza River, Uco Valley and Southern Mendoza.

Abundant water, cheap land and low disease pressures have been key factors attracting foreign investors into Argentina, and especially Mendoza, over the last 20 years.

In a piece published on www.glug.com.au, geologist-turned-wine merchant, David Farmer, notes a report in Britain’s Daily Mail, 17 July 2011, on the sale of Estancia Punta del Agua – a 405-thousand-hectare estate in San Juan province, 165 kilometres north of Mendoza. Farmer reports that much of well-watered land appears suited to grape growing. And it’s selling for less than $25 a hectare.

On a visit to Mendoza in 2004, Farmer had noted, “The great bulk of wines are made from grapes off flat lying vineyards. And the soils are very fertile being the product of glaciation, which grinds rock to a flour-like texture. Mendoza is like an elevated version of our wine region, Griffith. The potential viticultural land stretches hundreds of kilometres north and south. Provided there is enough water, you could grow the world’s entire wine supply right here.” (The full report provides unique insights into Argentina’s wine landscape).

Big, juicy, silky malbec remains Argentina’s number one export variety at 8.6 million cases in 2010. Behind malbec comes cabernet at 2.3 million cases, then generic red (probably bonarda) at 1.9 million case, chardonnay at 1.5million case and the local white, torrentes, on 664 thousand cases.

As we saw in a recent tasting, Australian importers are focusing on malbec, bonarda and torrentes. We’ll review some these in coming months.

Grappling with cider

18 January 2012CiderChris Shanahan

Here’s something for would-be marketers to grapple with – what to call a drink made from grapes and apples? Grapple cider, of course, say the Scarpantoni brothers of McLaren Vale.

They’ve been making wine since 1979, but just before vintage in 2011 bought apples from a producer in the Adelaide Hills. The producer wanted them to make apple vinegar for him and the Scarpantonis agreed – but decided to produce something of their own as well.

With the apple supply lined up, they picked chardonnay and gamay grapes, extracted and chilled the juice and waited for the apple crop. A month later the orchardist shipped fresh, chilled apple juice to the winery.

The resulting white and red grapple ciders (70 per cent grape juice, 30 per cent apple juice) are available online.

Oxenberry McLaren Vale Adelaide Hills
White Grapple Cider 12X500ml $90
Oxenberry’s blend of early-picked McLaren Vale chardonnay and Adelaide Hills apples, offers a pleasantly tart flavour, reminiscent of a barely-ripe granny smith apple. Although there’s some sweetness underlying the flavour, the tangy tartness cuts through, leaving a fresh, dry finish. At eight per cent alcohol, it’s strong than beer, weaker than wine.

Oxenberry McLaren Vale Adelaide Hills Red Grapple Cider 12X500ml $90
The colour’s a vivid, light, bright pink rather than red and the aroma could easily pass for a rose wine. Those fresh, simple raspberry/strawberry aromas are challenged on the palate by apple-like flavours and a tangy, tart acidity – probably derived from both early picked gamay and the apples.

Wine review — Seppelt, Mr Riggs and Tahbilk

15 January 2012Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Seppelt Salinger NV $19–$25, Salinger Vintage 2008 $23.75–$30
Non-vintage Salinger – sourced mainly from the Adelaide Hills, Henty and Tumbarumba – ticks all the boxes for bottle-fermented, complex bubbly made from the classic varieties. It’s a soft, delicate, drink-now style, revealing good underlying fruit flavours and the complexities of ageing on yeast lees. Vintage 2008, too, is in the delicate aperitif style, but the palate reveals more intense pinot flavour and even livelier, finer acidic freshness. Salinger almost faded from view during a decade of turmoil at Southcorp, then Foster’s. The quality, however, never faltered, and there’s hope of commercial revival with Treasury Wine Estates now separated from the beer business.

Mr Riggs Adelaide Hills Yacca Paddock Tempranillo 2009 $22–$23
This is a deep, dark, juicy and firm Australian expression of Spain’s tempranillo variety. Winemaker Ben Riggs writes that the variety, “ has big bunches and very thick skins that can be hard to bite into, but which produce good colour and tannins”. In this instance the wine echoes the grape description – deeply coloured with very bright and appealing fruit flavours; and, yes, you have to bite through layers of tannin to reach the fruit. This sets Mr Riggs tempranillo apart from other varieties. The rich, bright, supple underlying fruit flavour is all Australian; the savoury, firm tannins provide the exotic difference.

Tahbilk Nagambie Lakes Marsanne 2011 $12.35–$17.75
If you’re driving to Melbourne, it’s worth the detour, via Violet Town, to Nagambie and on to Tahbilk. The historic property, on an anabranch of the Goulburn River, claims to have the largest planting of marsanne in the world, with some vines dating from 1927. At Tahbilk this Rhone Valley variety makes a distinctive, potentially very long-lived dry white. The aroma and flavour have often been described as honeysuckle-like – something I don’t always detect, but do in the 2011. The style’s grown slightly finer and more delicate over the last decade. But behind the honeysuckle and citrus flavours lie tangy acidity and a firm, savoury bite.

Whoosh! There goes 2011

21 December 2011WineChris Shanahan

Whoosh! There goes 2011. What a year. Foster’s decided grape and grain didn’t mix; Constellation Brands USA sold the historic Leasingham winery to Clare winemaker, Tim Adams; Woolworths and Coles share of domestic wine sales hit 79 per cent; and winemakers across eastern Australia endured the coldest, wettest vintage in over a decade.

Under these conditions mildew and late-season botrytis flourished, destroying some crops. But the total volumes were higher than anticipated. Many in the industry believe opportunistic buying of rotten grapes below production costs resulted in much poor quality wine being produced and likely to be exported. This is a concern for our reputation, say the critics.

Despite the conditions, many outstanding whites have been produced, including botrytis-infected stickies – and even some dry rieslings showing botrytis aromas and flavours. The best riesling, pinot gris and sauvignon blanc seem outstanding. The top chardonnays won’t appear until next year, but might also be excellent. We’ll have to wait before delivering a verdict on the reds, too.

As a consequence of the cool conditions, makers across eastern Australia reported high than normal acidity and lower sugar levels in grapes. Where grapes achieved full flavour ripeness, the higher acidity and lower alcohol (a consequence of reduced sugar levels) could be beneficial. However, there will almost certainly be wines out there with the telltale green flavours of under-ripeness. And we’ve heard of some instances of winemakers having to reduce acid levels – rare indeed in Australia.

Canberra and surrounding districts felt the pinch of the cool wet season as much as any region. While we won’t know until next year how good the reds are, some of the whites look brilliant, if a little restrained and austere when first released.

Riesling, for example, always shy and unrevealing at first, seemed this year even more closed than usual – a phenomenon explained in this email from Brindabella Hills proprietor, Dr Roger Harris:

“We understand your concern about the variability of show results, and we think that this is in part due to the early date of the Canberra Regional Wine Show. Current vintage whites are only just bottled (in our case 25 July) and are still in cold storage conditions (<10degreesC) and have had no time to recover from bottle shock. Dissolved gases (CO2, SO2) have yet to equilibrate, and release of important aroma producing terpenes has yet to happen. The rieslings in particular appear dumb and neutral. The filling out of flavours as temperatures warm in spring is quite amazing. For the record, the 2010 riesling missed a medal in the 2010 CRWS but was rated five stars by James Halliday (December tasting)”.

The district wine show, held in September, once again poured praise liberally over shiraz from Canberra and surrounding districts, while remaining somewhat more subdued about our other established specialty, riesling – perhaps for the reasons explained above by Roger Harris.

However, riesling and other varieties – notably Clonakilla viognier, Lark Hill gruner veltliner and Mount Majura tempranillo, shiraz graciano – received their share of praise from numerous critics around Australia. James Halliday, for example, rated Canberra the leading riesling district in New South Wales, and its best on a par with those from Clare Valley, Eden Valley, Great Southern and Tasmania.

And if our regional show might better display our new-vintage whites if moved back a few months, Canberra’s National Wine Show of Australia finally achieved one if its key objectives – attracting entries from high-quality small producers. The show’s credibility soared in November when small-maker wines of the calibre of PHI Yarra Valley Pinot Noir 2010 and Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay 2010 cracked the big trophies.

The year also saw changes in vineyard ownership around the district. In November 2010, Peter Wiggs, of Archer Capital, and Peter Howland, winemaker, acquired the Lake George vineyard, established by Dr Edgar Riek in 1971, from Theo and Sam Karelas. Unfortunately, the vineyard suffered badly from disease in 2011, so we’ll have to wait and see how they fare in 2012.

In May, Chris Coffman’s Eden Road Wines took over Doonkuna Estate, one of Canberra’s oldest vineyards. The purchase lands Eden Road plum in Murrumbateman’s reputation-making shiraz and riesling belt – giving the vineyard perhaps its best hope in nearly forty years.

And in August, the Carpenter family’s Lark Hill Winery bought an established 3.6-hectare vineyard at Murrumbateman, securing long-term supplies of shiraz and viognier.

On the retail front, Coles and Woolworths increased their grip on the national wine trade, seizing around 80 per cent of domestic sales, according to Nielsen figures. Sadly, one of Canberra’s strong independent retailers, Jim Murphy, died in May, but his family continues to run Airport and Market cellars. Long may they prosper.

Two months after Murphy’s death, US-based Costco opened in Canberra, injecting stiff competition to the majors, at the top end of the wine market, with its eclectic, well-chosen and low-price wine offerings.

Wine review — Seppelt, Pol Roger, Majella, Curly Flat, Penfolds and Grosset

21 December 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Seppelt St Peters Shiraz 2008 $52.25–$69
St Peters Vineyard, Grampians, Victoria
Legendary winemaker, Colin Preece, managed Seppelt’s Great Western cellars from 1932 to 1963. Although perhaps more famous for his sparkling reds than still table wines, Preece made glorious long-lived reds from the old shiraz vines that still surround the winery. I suspect he’d approve of Emma Woods’ magnificent 2008 from those old vines. It captures the elegant but powerful regional style – vibrant, dark-berry fruit flavours with deep, spicy, savoury vein and a firm but gentle grip of tannin. For a comparatively modest price you get a wine of great complexity with a long pedigree. It’s built to last, but with a good splash in the decanter will provide superb Christmas drinking.

Pol Roger
Extra Cuvee de Reserve Champagne Vintage 2000 $81–$114
Great Champagne starts with great grapes but includes the patina of aromas, flavours and textures that come from skilful blending, the inclusion of special reserve wines and prolonged ageing on yeast lees in bottle. In great wines these winemaker add-ons never overwhelm the superior fruit that, finally, separates the greats from the also-rans. Pol Roger 2000 (a 60:40 blend of pinot noir and chardonnay) ranks among the greats. The pale golden colour, persistent mousse, teaming, tiny bubbles, mature pinot and chardonnay aroma and intense but oh-so-delicate palate thrill like few wines do. Few Champagnes at this price match the quality.

Majella Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $30–$33
Majella Vineyard, Coonawarra, South Australia
Majella appeals on several fronts, starting with its vivid, crimson colour. But the aroma really draws us in. It really sings, thanks, in part to a perfect matching of oak and fruit. The combination lifts the fruit aroma, adding sweet floral notes to a wonderful cedar-like character that combines oak with Coonawarra’s beautiful, vibrant blackberry-like varietal flavour. The very friendly, juicy palate closely reflects the aromas. It has the harmonious, drink-now appeal for Christmas. But it’s a wine of substance and complexity, capable of cellaring for many years.

Curly Flat Pinot Noir 2008 $48–$54
Curly Flat Vineyard, Macedon Ranges, Victoria
We’ve revisited Phillip and Jenny Moraghan’s lovely 2008 pinot several times this year, bought a case for the cellar and have it on Chateau Shanahan’s Christmas lunch menu. It bears the thumbprint of the hot vintage, but not in the most obvious way – as the alcohol’s just 12.6 per cent. The fruit flavour, however, sits more in the dark-berry and than red-berry spectrum. And the firm tannins holding the fruit in check also reflect the warm growing conditions. So, rather than a big, hot wine, we have a fragrant, complex, savoury, elegant pinot with delicious fruit under the taut structure.

Penfolds Reserve Bin 09A Chardonnay $71.25–$90
Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Penfolds “white Grange” project of the early nineties produced the company’s flagship white, the multi-region Yattarna Chardonnay, and this superb sidekick from the Adelaide Hills. Putting the two in a Burgundy context, we might compare the oh-so-refined Yattarna with Montrachet and the more robust Reserve Bin A with Meursault. In 2009 the style seems a little less powerful than the 2008 – the aroma combining “struck match” character with intense grapefruit and nectarine-like varietal notes. The intense palate presents the same flavour characters, all tied together by lean, taut, brisk acidity. It’s a complex, distinctive wine to enjoy for many years – or luxurious company for your Christmas lobster.

Grosset Springvale Vineyard Watervale Riesling 2011 $36
Despite widespread crop losses to mildew and botrytis, the wet, cold 2011 vintage delivered stunning quality in some white varieties where growers kept disease at bay and processed only clean fruit. The cool growing conditions produced higher than average acidity which, when combined with fully ripened fruit, meant the sort of intense, fine flavours seen in Jeffrey Grosset’s two rieslings from Clare sub-regions Watervale and Polish Hill. For Christmas drinking we favour the delicate Watervale over the more austere Polish Hill wine. We love its delicate lime-like flavours and bone-dry finish.

Cider and beer review — Comte Louis de Lauriston and Samuel Adams

21 December 2011Beer review, CiderChris Shanahan

Comte Louis de Lauriston Poire 750ml $23
This Norman cider, made from 10 different pear varieties, provides dazzling acidity, pure, delicate pear flavours and pleasingly, teasingly, bone-dry finish. It has all the racy freshness of the just-ripe fruit itself. The maker captures the fruitiness through a cold fermentation, followed by a secondary fermentation in bottle to produce the bubbles.

Samuel Adams Noble Pils 355ml $3.70
This is a distinctive American interpretation of the classic Bohemian style pilsener, using Bohemian malted barley and hops originating in Bavaria and the Czech Republic. A pungent, seductive hops aroma lures us into the rich, smooth, malty palate, cut by the pungent flavours and lingering, clean bitterness of the hops.

Wine review — Wynns Coonawarra Estate, Cumulus Wines and Seppelt

18 December 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Wynns Coonawarra Estate
Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $19.80–$35
Wynns’ dark, crimson-rimmed favourite presents a distinctly Coonawarra side of cabernet, including black-olive and cassis-like flavours, bound up in sweet, spicy oak. It’s a buoyant, balanced cabernet – generous but elegant, with fine, firm tannins. It remains one of Australia’s best value, long-term cellaring wines. It’s probably better now than it’s ever been. As I write, Woolworths-owned Dan Murphy is offering it at $19.80 as part of six-bottle buy. At this price, it’s probably one of the best value cabernets in the world. While it drinks well now with high-protein food (this softens the tannins), it can cellar for decades under the right storage conditions.

Cumulus Wines Orange Chardonnay 2009 $30
Winemaker Debbie Lauritz used all the best chardonnay making techniques on this pleasing wine – only free-run juice, fermentation with both wild and cultured yeasts in new French oak barriques, lees stirring and partial malolactic fermentation. Free-run juice means a fine texture and intense fruit flavour. All the other bits mesh aroma, texture and flavour with that fruit. Add a couple of years’ age and we get a full-flavoured chardonnay (grapefruit and white peach varietal character), a honeyed, mature note and a vibrantly fresh, richly textured palate. It’s ready to drink now and would make good company for Christmas lobster and prawns.

Seppelt Chalambar Grampians Bendigo Shiraz 2009 $18.95–$26
Across years of corporate ownership changes, Seppelt’s Victorian reds retained their identity and quality under the long reign of winemaker Ian McKenzie then, in recent years, Emma Wood. Today’s highly polished wines contain fruit from both long-established vineyards and others planted on plum Victorian sites during the 1990s. The often-discounted Chalambar, a blend from the Grampians and Bendigo, offers vibrant, sweet, red-berry flavours with delicious, cool-climate spices and a touch of cedar-like character from maturation in French oak. The wine delivers layers of satisfying flavours and a deep, rich, smooth texture. Brilliant wine at the price.

Wine review — Brown Brothers, Terra Felix, Golden Ball, J.J. Christoffel Erben, Araldica Flori and Dominique Portet

14 December 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Brown Brothers Pinot Noir Chardonnay Pinot Meunier NV $18.95–$22
King Valley, Victoria
At the top end, Australia’s cutting edge bubblies, like Arras, come up against the French originals in both price and quality. At the bottom, any number of clean, fresh, but fairly bland bubblies do the trick. In the middle ground, Brown Brothers impresses because skilled winemaking adds a patina of complex flavours and textures around exactly the right type of fruit flavours. This comes from the classic Champagne varieties grown in cooler parts of Victoria’s King Valley and Whitlands Plateau.

Terra Felix E’Vette’s Block Mourvedre 2009 $17.50–$25
Lake Marmal (near Bendigo), Central Victoria
We associate the late-ripening mourvedre with much warmer regions than Bendigo. But, though not as inky black as a Barossa version, the wine delivered full, ripe flavours, with mourvedre’s undercurrent of spice, earth and quite firm, savoury tannins. The combination of bright fruit and savoury, fine tannins worked particularly well with the mildly spice food served at Ethiopia Down Under, Pearce shops.

Golden Ball Shiraz 2008 $50
Golden Ball Vineyard, Beechworth, Victoria
We tend not to go all the way on a first date. But James and Janine McLaurin’s wines push straight to the top shelf. Their 2005 and 2008 Gallice (cabernet-merlot-malbec) impressed for intense flavour, smooth tannins and elegant structure. But good as they were, the shiraz kept drawing us back – a ripe, full flavoured wine (14.4 per cent alcohol) but with delicious, spicy, savoury cool-climate flavours and fine-boned, silky tannins. It’s available at www.goldenball.com.au

Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese 2010
(Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben) $15.79
Urziger Wurzgarten vineyard, Mosel River, Germany
Thank you Costco for importing this pristine, screwcap-sealed Mosel. We visited the Mosel in September, renewing our love for the region’s unique, delicate rieslings. But this is by far the cheapest, high-quality version we’ve found in Australia. From the Wurzgarten vineyard, near the central Mosel village of Urzig, it captures the region’s unique, exquisite, delicate balance of acidity, sweetness and intense varietal flavour. Food match: none. Chill and enjoy on its own (alcohol just eight per cent).

Barolo (Araldica Flori) 2006 $17.49
Barolo, Piemonte, Italy
Like the Mosel reviewed above, the price of Costco’s Barolo seems delightfully at odds with prevailing market expectations. Perhaps it reflects Costco’s great buying power. Certainly it demonstrates smart buying, for these are good, if not cutting edge, examples of their styles. If you’re into gamey meats, this light-coloured, austere, tight and tannic red could be just what you’re after. It may not appeal to lovers of big, round, juicy wines (like Barossa shiraz). But if you love ‘em with a bit of thrust and bite, this could be it.

Dominique Portet Fontaine Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 $20
Yarra Valley and Heathcote, Victoria
Some time back veteran winemaker Dominique Portet handed over to his son, Ben, maker of this beguiling blend. It’s one of those “don’t mind if I do” wines, where the first glass, hardly noticed, becomes two – or three. Suddenly the bottle’s gone, and you want more. A bright and aromatic wine, Fontaine combines the elegance and backbone of Yarra Valley cabernet with the power and savouriness of Heathcote shiraz.

Crown Ambassador de Luxe Lager — layers of flavour

14 December 2011Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Australia’s largest brewer, Fosters, makes one of Australia’s finest craft beers – Crown Ambassador de Luxe Lager. Ambassador measures up as “craft” on all fronts – quality, small production (4,000 to 7,000 bottles annually) and hands-on production by John Cozens and two brewing colleagues.

This year Cozens released the 2011 vintage, fourth in this series of high-alcohol, bottle-conditioned lagers.

It builds on the four previous vintages, adding what Cozens calls “layers of flavour” as he tweaks the style each year. In 2009 he introduced crystal malt to the blend, to add caramel and toffee notes. In 2010, a couple of hand-me-down oak barrels from Foster’s wine division added complexity, as well some unwanted characters to the blend.

This year’s release, incorporating handpicked galaxy hops from Bright, and a portion fermented new French oak, seems the most layered, pleasing brew yet.

Crown Ambassador Reserve Lager 2011 $90
Dark, cloudy, golden-amber Crown pours with a dense head and enticing aroma of floral-citrus hops and sweet caramel. Over an hour or as so it warms from fridge to room temperature, the silky textured brew s reveals layers of caramel and toffee malt flavours, spicy notes and both the flavour and bitterness of hops.