Wine review — Cherubino, Eden Road and Zonte’s Footstep

11 December 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Cherubino Great Southern Riesling 2011 $35
Cherubino Pemberton Sauvignon Blanc 2011 $35
As a winemaker for BRL Hardy (at the time the biggest vineyard owner in Western Australia) Larry Cherubino developed an intimate knowledge of the state’s vineyards – a knowledge he now exploits with great aplomb in producing his own wines. His Great Southern Riesling 2011 combines intensity of flavour and textural richness with a unique delicacy – an exciting, racy riesling to enjoy with salads and cold cuts. Cherubino makes several sauvignons, including this full-flavoured, soft version from Pemberton. It combines sauvignons distinctive herbaceous with a subtle touch of oak-derived spice and savouriness.

Eden Road Canberra District Riesling 2011 $21
Shortly after vintage this year, Eden Road wines purchased Doonkuna Estate, Murrumbateman, then relocated from Kamberra Winery, Watson, to the heart of Canberra’s shiraz and riesling country. By then, winemaker Nick Spencer had already made this distinctive Murrumbateman riesling – fermented in 2,500-litre old oak vats. This is an unusual technique in Australia (stainless steel is the norm), but commonplace in Alsace and Germany. This micro-oxidative technique generally mutes primary fruit flavour and adds texture. In Spencer’s wine, the pleasantly tart, lemony character of the cool 2011 vintage cuts through the rich, fine texture, leaving a lingering, clean, fresh aftertaste.

Zonte’s Footstep Canto di Lago
Langhorne Creek Sangiovese Barbera 2010 $17.49–$20
Like the name, the wine combines bits of Italy and Australia. A 50:50 blend of the Italian varieties sangiovese and barbera, Canto di Lago (song of the lake), brings together the sweet, brisk, piquant, summer-berry flavours of barbera and the firm, fine savoury tannins of sangiovese. The same blend made in Italy probably wouldn’t much resemble this all-Australian effort. It reflects the unique growing conditions of Langhorne Creek, cooled by breezes from nearby Lake Alexandrina, and a modern Australian approach to winemaking – capturing the pure, clean flavours of the grapes and sealing them in a bottle with an hygienic screw cap.

Wine review — Cherubino, Hewitson, Bollinger, Dal Zotto and Eden Road

7 December 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Cherubino Sauvignon Blanc 2011 $35
Porongurup, Great Southern, Western Australia
So many mediocre sauvignon blancs around. But occasionally a wine, usually from France’s Loire Valley, challenges that prejudice. The latest challenge comes from Larry Cherubino’s beautiful 2011 from Porongurup, a rocky knob, just north of Albany, Western Australia. This is a delicate, gentle, soft, subtle expression of the variety. It’s delicious from beginning to end, starting with a delicate herbal and citrus aroma and flavour, then expanding to include the sympathetic, spicy, savoury thrust of French oak. This is a thrilling white from a master winemaker. See www.larrycherubino.com

Hewitson Miss Harry 2010 $21.85–$24
Barossa Valley, South Australia
The 11^th vintage of Miss Harry combines five red varieties from 25 sites across the Barossa. “Five of these were over 100-year-old vineyards and half of the remaining were well over 50 years”, writes winemaker Dean Hewitson. Grenache (44 per cent of the blend) lends the wine its ripe, floral and spice aroma; and shiraz (39 per cent) adds body and savoury, spicy flavour. The other varieties (mourvedre, carignan and cinsault) play their role, too, in this vibrant, spicy, soft and richly textured, medium-bodied dry red – a charming red, well suited to Christmas cold cuts, especially ham.

Champagne Bollinger Special Cuvee $55.90–$110
Champagne region, France
Tumbling Champagne in Australia, began with parallel importing by the big retailers, but now seems driven more by the strong dollar, intense competition and reportedly declining sales in big export markets. You can still pay over $100 for good old Bolly, but as I write, Dan Murphy offers it at $55.90 as part of a six-bottle buy. Bollinger remains one of the most delightful non-vintage Champagnes, in its own distinctive style – full-bodied, but amazingly delicate and lively. The flavour and structure reveal a high pinot component (pinot noir 60 per cent, pinot meunier 15 per cent) – but chardonnay provides the liveliness and adds to its elegance.

Dal Zotto Pucino Prosecco $19.95–$22
King Valley, Victoria
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, claiming it be the first Australian-made version on the market. It’s a terrific alternative to the other bubbly styles, with its light body, low alcohol (11.5 per cent) and zesty, lemony but soft palate. The King Valley, with its strong Italian heritage, is now Australia’s heartland for this style.

Eden Road Wines The Long Road Shiraz 2010 $22
Gundagai, New South Wales
In the 2011 Canberra Regional Wine Show, three 2010 shirazes won gold medals – Clonakilla Hilltops ($25), Eden Road Gundagai ($45) and Eden Road The Long Road ($22). Judges ranked Long Road, the cheapest, as the best of three, albeit by a small margin. If the judges found little quality difference between the $22 and $45 Eden Road wines, they surely noted the marked style differences between the siblings (both from Gundagai). The Long Road portrays the bright aromatics of shiraz. This character comes through, too, on the medium bodied palate, that includes a spicy, savoury seam.

Eden Road Wines Gundagai Shiraz 2010 $45
Gundagai, New South Wales
Fractionally lower in alcohol (13.1 per cent versus 13.4 per cent) than its sibling, reviewed above, this single-vineyard wine expresses more of the peppery, spicy, savoury side of shiraz – with an overall tighter, firmer more assertive palate. There’s bright, aromatic fruit, too. But the savouriness, persistent, firm but fine tannins and buoyant, juicy fruit flavours pushing through, make this a particularly satisfying red. See www.edenroadwines.com.au

Argentina comes to Canberra

7 December 2011Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Imports of wine from Argentina barely register in Australia. But they’re growing rapidly from a small base says President of Sommeliers Australia, Ben Edwards.

Argentina’s Second Secretary Trade, Juan Ignacio Roccatagliata, confirms a doubling of exports to Australia to $1.4 million in the period January to September 2011 versus the same period last year.

It’s not a big figure. But the sudden growth reveals a concerted export push from Argentina’s once domestically focused producers. And for Australian drinkers it expands the choice from Argentina’s signature red, malbec, to include the country’s number two red variety, bonarda, and its distinctive white, torrontes.

The latter two give Argentina a unique wine offering – something to grab our attention. And they did at a Canberra trade tasting last week, hosted by Argentina ambassador Pedro Villagra Delgado.

Edwards, recently returned from Argentina and aided by a panel of importers, moderated the event, attended mainly by local restaurateurs.

We started the tasting with six torrontes whites, one from Mendoza, Argentina’s largest growing region, the others from Cafayate, Salta, in the north.

Few of us in the room, apart from the panellists, had tasted the variety before, so we held few preconceptions.

While the wines varied considerably in style, several common threads connected them – strong aromatics, characterised by the musk-like and lychee-like flavours we associate with gewürztraminer and other muscat-influenced varieties; fresh but very soft acidity; and a textural richness we also associate with the muscat varieties.

Generally the wines appeared bright and fresh, separated stylistically, broadly speaking, by the extent of muscat influence in the flavour and texture. Different tasters preferred different styles – some of us favoured the lighter, delicate, less muscaty wines; others preferred the more rounded flavours and textures.

My top wine, by a fair margin, was Trumpeter Reserva Torrontes 2009, a Mendoza wine imported by Wines of Chile and Argentina (www.winesofchile.com.au). I detected a bit of apple-like freshness in the otherwise muscat-driven aroma and flavour, with a delicate, fresh and soft finish – a wine of some finesse in this line up. It’s a unique style and very enjoyable.

Torrentes is generally regarded as an Argentinean variety. After prolonged debate about its origins, DNA profiling eventually identified the three dominant torrontes strains as distinct but closely related varieties, all derived from separate crossings of mission with muscat of Alexandria.

Ben Edwards says he’s observed a finessing of the style in recent years as producers seek greater brightness and freshness while preserving the unique varietal characteristics.

We moved from torrentes to a bracket of six reds, including five made from bonarda, Argentina’s second most important red variety (after malbec), and thought to be either bonarda piemontese or bonarda novarese, originally from Italy.

Retail prices of the wines varied from around $15 to $135 and once again preferences among tasters varied widely. We didn’t know the prices as we tasted. My top two wines were the second most expensive and the cheapest – the latter attracting wide support among tasters.

They appealed for different reasons. Felipe Rutini Antologia XXIV 2008 (about $90), from Tupungato, Mendoza, combined plummy fruit, with a pleasant dusting of oak adding a layer of complexity, through both its savoury tannins and flavour input. While I liked the wine in the line up, I wouldn’t pay this much for it. (Imported by Wines of Chile and Argentina).

On the other hand, the $15 Mi Terruno Uvas Bonarda 2010, from Maipu, Mendoza, revealed a bright, fresh, fruity, medium-bodied, easy-drinking side of bonardo – an affordable delight. It’s imported by Untapped Fine Wines (www.untappedwines.com.au).

A run of 15 mostly delicious malbecs, the last four from individual vineyards, put us back into familiar territory.

At its best this variety delivers full, juicy, delicious flavours and really silk-smooth tannins – a winning combination.

The line up varied from the fruity, simple and inexpensive to the quite complex, featuring layers of flavour – but all within the juicy, silky malbec context.

My favourite of the juicy, inexpensive wines was Tahuan Tahuantinsuyu Malbec 2009 (about $20) – an aromatic, pretty wine, full of buoyant, lovable fruit flavours. (Imported by JED Wines – www.jedwines.com).

Of the more layered wines, I particularly liked Ernesto Catena Siesta Malbec 2008 (about $25), imported by JED Wines; Achaval Ferrer Malbec 2010 (about $45), imported by Departure Lounge Wines (www.departureloungewines.com); Felipe Rutini Malbec 2008 (about $36), imported by Wines of Chile and Argentina; O. Fournier Alfa Crux Malbec 2007 (about $64), imported by Untapped Fine Wines; and Mi Terrunao Mayacaba 2007 (about $58), imported by Untapped Fine Wines.

Over coming months I’ll write full reviews of these wines. There’ll also be a follow-up story on Argentina’s unique, high-altitude vineyards, hugging the eastern slopes of the Andes along about 17 degrees of latitude.

Beer review — Lobethal and Beer Here

7 December 2011Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Lobethal Bierhaus Christmas Ale 330ml $4.90
Alister Turnbull’s Adelaide Hill brewery spices its very dark Christmas ale with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and Belgian candy. But the spices sit subtly behind the malt. High alcohol (7.5 per cent) adds extra body to the already rich, sweet malt flavours sitting at the centre of this round, soft, after-dinner brew.

Beer Here Jule IPA (Denmark) 500ml $15.50
The vibrant, deep golden colour matches the zesty, pungent, citrus-like hops aroma hovering over the sweet malt. The opulent palate combined sweet malt with alcohol, cut by the citrus flavour and assertive bitterness of the hops, giving the pleasing effect of bitter orange rind in a fruitcake.

Fosters releases fourth Crown Ambassador

7 December 2011BeerChris Shanahan

Fosters released its fourth Crown Ambassador Reserve Lager in mid November. At $89.99 a 750ml bottle, it’s surely Australia’s most expensive beer. But then it’s an extraordinary brew, built for cellaring, Fosters makes only five to seven thousand bottles of it, and it’s positioned to market the Crown Lager brand, not slake a hard-earned thirst.

For the first time in 2011 vintage, brewer John Cozens matured a small portion of the beer in new French oak barrels from one of France’s great cooperages, Dargaud et Jaegle.

The oxidative environment of the barrels and direct flavour inputs from the new oak are certain to influence this year’s beer, despite making up just a few per cent of the final blend.

Like the earlier vintages, it’s high in alcohol (10.2 per cent) and contains fresh-picked galaxy hops from Myrtleford, Victoria. The latter adds distinctive aromas and flavours, and the former boosts the beer’s body and long-term cellaring prospects.

It’s likely to be served in upmarket restaurants and available in some retailers. Past vintages have been outstanding. We’ll report on the 2011 next week.

Wine review — Lindemans and Peter Lehmann

4 December 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Lindemans bin range whites $6.65–$10

85 Pinot Grigio 2011
Bin 65 Chardonnay 2011
Bin 90 Moscato 2011

Lindemans popular bin range began as an export brand in the 1980s, then expanded into the domestic market, only to recede ignominiously following Rosemount’s reverse takeover of Southcorp Wines and Foster’s subsequent swallowing of Southcorp. It’s rebuilding now under Treasury Wine Estates (spun-off from Foster’s). The pinot grigio owes as much to bright acidity as it does to varietal flavour; the chardonnay is excellent at the price with its fresh, crisp, peachy varietal flavour and smooth texture; and the new moscato pleases with its in-your-face but sweet grapey flavours.

Lindemans bin range reds $6.65–$10

Bin 50 Shiraz 2010
Bin 45 Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

You can expect the whole bin range to be discounted periodically, bringing the price down substantially from the recommended $10. The $6.65 price tag is Dan Murphy’s advertised price, in six-bottle lots, at the time of writing. The reds are both really good wines. Both are built to drink now and focus on pure, vibrant varietal flavours without the deeper, more savoury and tannic notes you’d expect to find in more expensive wines. The shiraz is round and juicy with soft, easy tannins. The cabernet has the variety’s leafy edge and lightly astringent bite.

Peter Lehmann Barossa $12.70–$18

Portrait Shiraz 2009
Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Peter Lehmann Wines, saved some years back from corporate raiders by Switzerland’s Hess Family, now simply gets on with the job of making good Barossa wines. For about double the price of the Bin 50 and Bin 45 reviewed above, you get wines of notably greater dimension. The shiraz is still plummy, vibrantly fruity and varietal, but the fruit’s denser and more deeply layered with tannins, in the soft Barossa style. The cabernet is strong and assertively varietal, both in flavour and its muscular, firm tannin structure. The wines are often discounted, hence the wide price range.

Wine review — Arete, Pike’s, Yering Station, Port Phillip Estate, d’Arenberg and Maipenrai

30 November 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Arete The Chatterbox Shiraz 2010 $18–$20
Andy Kalleske Cemetery Block, Koonunga, Barossa Valley, South Australia
Winemaker Peter Bate’s amazingly delicious, drink-now shiraz comes from a single vineyard in the Barossa’s Koonunga sub-region. It features highly aromatic fruit (floral and musk like) with similar richness, vibrance and freshness on the palate. The juicy, ripe fruit literally ripples across the palate, the essence of the Barossa style ¬– including the soft, almost tender tannins. In short, it captures Barossa generosity and softness while avoiding over-the-top alcohol, tannin and oak. It’s exciting to find such a pure regional style at such a modest price. See www.aretewines.com.au

Pike’s Merle Riesling 2011 $38
Clare Valley, South Australia
Pikes produces two Clare Valley rieslings – a $23 blend from the family estate and contract vineyards and this flagship from the family’s “Gill’s Farm” and “Hill” blocks at Polish Hill River, a Clare sub-region. In the cool 2011 vintage Merle seems even more austere and minerally than normal. But under the austerity lies a seam of intense, lime-like varietal flavour on an oh-so-delicate, dry palate. It’s delicious now but destined to evolve for many years as that brisk, steely acidity protects the evolving fruit flavour.

Yering Station Little Yering Pinot Noir $17
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Wines of this calibre, at the price, surely play a role in making pinot noir Australia’s fasting growing major red wine variety (retail volume up 21 per cent in the year to September), albeit off a small base. In the past, cheaper pinots tended to present bright fruit flavours without underlying savouriness or structure. Yering Station, one of our best pinot makers, captures all of these elements in this drink-now version sourced from its own vineyards and selected contract growers.

Port Phillip Estate Salasso Rose 2011 $18.90–$22
Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
We’re not great fans of vegemite or rose, though we taste both periodically just to make sure. Vegemite remains in our yuk bin. But this year we’ve enjoyed at tastings (not yet at the dinner table) several flavoursome, soft, dry roses, including Port Phillip Estate’s Salasso. It’s made from shiraz kept on skins just long enough to pick up a rinse of attractive pink-to-onion-skin colour. The fruit flavour’s strawberry like, but checked by a pleasant savouriness on a palate’s that’s soft, fresh and dry but richly textured.

d’Arenberg The Beautiful View Grenache 2009 $99
The Beautiful View sub-region, McLaren Vale, South Australia
At a recent tasting we compared five McLaren Vale grenaches – d’Arenberg’s The Beautiful View 2009, Derelict Vineyard Grenache 2009 ($30) and Blewitt Springs 2009 ($99) plus Noon Eclipse 2007 (no longer available) and Wirra Wirra The Absconder 2010 ($65). The flavours ranged from primary fruit (waiting to become wine) to the more earthy, savoury, winey and mature. d’Arenberg’s The Beautiful View (a McLaren Vale sub-region) appealed as the most complete and subtle – an exciting, if fully priced wine, with probably long-term cellaring potential.

Maipenrai Pinot Noir 2009 $30–$32
Maipenrai Vineyard, Sutton, Canberra District, New South Wales
Canberra’s Nobel laureate, Brian Schmidt, made just 10 barrels of 2009 pinot with just four elevated to the flagship Maipenrai label. Maipenrai opens a little coy and guarded. But with aeration, its full-blown, savoury pinot noir aroma blossoms, evoking dark fruits, beetroot and earth. On the palate, the savoury, earthy flavours are supported by a brisk acidity – which gives life and vibrancy to the fruit – and assertive, fine-boned tannins – which add to the wine’s silky texture. The savouriness and strong tannin backbone set Maipenrai apart from many of its Australian peers and suggest excellent medium to long-term cellaring prospects. See www.maipenrai.com.au

National wine show delivers its verdict

30 November 2011WineChris Shanahan

Australia’s capital city wine shows date from the early nineteenth century when local agricultural societies included wine among the many agricultural products judged by experts. Today these “royal” agricultural society events compete like mad to be the biggest, the best, or in some way different from each other – a healthy competitiveness that sees the quality, style and status of each slowly evolving.

Canberra’s National Wine Show of Australia bills itself as “Australia’s premier wine show” and grand final. The grand final claim rests partly on its timing (early November) and partly on entry qualifications. Wines need medals from recognised wine shows to enter the premium, premium gold and single vineyard classes.

Inconveniently for Canberra, Hobart and Sydney host their events after the so-called grand final – in mid November and early February respectively. On this basis, as the final show before the new vintage wines arrive, Sydney might rightly claim grand final status.

Royal Melbourne claims to be “the benchmark for Australian wine and at the forefront of wine style evolution and winemaking trends”.

Rather less boastfully, and with an air of commercial reality, perhaps instilled by sponsor Macquarie Group, Sydney Royal, dating from 1822, seeks for winners “recognition and a valuable opportunity to shine the spotlight on their wines”.

Royal Adelaide, representing the wine state, seems content to be “one of the pre-eminent wine shows in Australia”. Royal Queensland shares this sentiment as “one of the oldest, most prestigious shows”, while noting special status as the first major post-vintage event of the year (but, by being so close to vintage, limiting access to the new wines).

Royal Hobart, “one of the most significant events on the Australian wine industry calendar”, pulls away from its peers with a nod to its specialty red variety, pinot noir, noting “the award for pinot noir wine is the most prestigious in the show”.

Alone of the capital city shows, Perth Royal makes no claims whatever regarding its status (as far as I could find on its website) – and simply lists this year’s results.

Where shows once equated entry numbers to status (“mine’s bigger than yours”), the National (judged at EPIC in November), many years ago moved in the opposite direction, restricting entries in an attempt to raise the standard of entrants.

As a result, this year’s four judging panels enjoyed the fairly leisurely task of judging 1,444 wines over three days. A revitalised Melbourne, by comparison, attracted 3,298 entries this year. Canberra’s work rate of around 120 wines a day per panel, sits well inside the industry’s recommended maximum of 150. This is good, of course, because it minimises palate fatigue and allows time for judges to evaluate wines properly.

And what did the judges find among the entries that organisers claim, “include only the best of the best Australian wines”?

Among the trophy winners we find several wines that, based on long-term observation, clearly rank among the best of their styles in Australia: House of Arras 2004 Brut Elite, made by sparkling master Ed Carr; Coldstream Hills Yarra Valley Reserve Pinot Noir 201; Tyrrell’s HVD Semillon 2005; Leasingham Classic Clare Sparkling Shiraz 2005; and Morris Old Premium Rare Liqueur Muscat.

Then we have a layer of outstanding trophy winners that’ve been in the spotlight before and are now pushing assertively into the elite ranks: Audrey Wilkinson Winemakers Selection Hunter Semillon 2011, Vasse Felix Margaret River Heytesbury Chardonnay 2010, Brown Brothers Milawa Patricia Noble Riesling 2009, Xanadu Wine Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 and De Bortoli PHI Pinot Noir 2010.

After that we see the democracy of a wine show at work, rewarding wines that may be little known to many drinkers (or not perceived to be in the top ranks), but in a masked tasting trump other better known labels: Domaine Chandon Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2010, McWilliams Wines Eden Valley Riesling 2009, Xanadu Wines Next of Kin Shiraz 2010, Amelia Park Cabernet Merlot 2010, Juniper Estate Tempranillo 2010, Coolangatta Estate Semillon 2006, Clairault Margaret River Estate Chardonnay 2010, Houghtons Wisdom Chardonnay 2009 and Madeleines Wines Nangkita Shiraz 2009.

The show organisers must be pleased with the solid representation of small makers in this line up.

Trophy lists often throw up anomalies, too. This year, for example, I can’t help wondering how Rosemount Estate District Shiraz 2010 topped the premium shiraz classes. It’s a delightful, juicy style to enjoy now, certainly deserving its gold medal. But, to me, it lacks the deep, savoury vein of a really top-notch shiraz.

But controversy and differences of opinion always have been and always will be part wine judging. What we can say for sure, though, is that the medal winners from the show are above average wines. Whether or not you and I will like some of the award winners, though, remains a matter of personal taste. It’s worth downloading the catalogue of results from www.rncas.org.au as lists all of the wines and their scores.

Growlers seen in Fyshwick

30 November 2011Beer, Beer review, CiderChris Shanahan

Plonk, at Fyshwick markets, now offers “growlers” – two-litre bottles filled on demand from 30-litre kegs. Growlers became a big part of America’s craft beer scene years ago, but made their Australian debut only last year in Melbourne.

Growlers give drinkers access to fresh, take-home draft beer from small brewers. For small brewers they mean a new route to market. Or, for those reluctant to take on the expense of bottling their product, growlers could be their only take-home offering.

Plonk owner, Anthony Young, says he sells the empty growlers for $10 each. Staff fill the bottles and buyers return with washed bottles for refills.

In late November, Plonk offered growlers of Bridge Road Brewers Galaxy IPA at $20 (compared to $4.90 for a 330-ml bottle – equivalent to $29.70 per two litres). Young intends to expand the range of beers available.

Bridge Road Brewers Galaxy Single Hop IPA 330ml $4.90
India Pale Ale (IPA) – originally a robust, generously hopped ale built for the journey, in cask, from England to India – remains a favourite and widely interpreted style. Brewer Ben Kraus’s version leads with the pleasantly pungent, resiny aroma of galaxy hops. The hops flavour cut through the smooth, rich, intensely palate.

Henney’s Vintage 2010 Still Cider 500ml $7.50
As cider’s popularity grows, we’re seeing many more high-quality versions made entirely from apples – in this case from cider varieties grown in Herefordshire, England. Made in autumn and stored over the winter, Henney’s delivers the full, ripe, mellow slightly rustic flavour of apples with a firm, dry finish.

Wine review — Henschke, Gipsie Jack and Pio Cesare

27 November 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Henschke Julius Eden Valley Riesling 2011 $26.90–$34.80
The technical specs read more like something from the cool slopes of Germany’s Mosel than from Australia’s Eden Valley – pH2.88 and acidity of 9.4 grams per litre. A result of the cool 2011 vintage, the unusually high acidity in Julius provides a lean, taut backbone that accentuates the wine’s intense, delicate lime-like flavour. The bone-dry finish and delicious, lingering lime flavours make it a great stand-along pre-dinner drink or good company for delicate seafood. The combination of intense flavour, high acidity and delicacy means potentially long cellaring ability. It’s packaged in the Eden Valley’s new regional bottle.

Gipsie Jack Langhorne Creek “The Terrier” Shiraz Cabernet 2007 $15–$17
Winemaker John Glaetzer’s ties with Langhorne Creek (near Lake Alexandrina) stretch back to the 1960s and his days with Wolf Blass and the creation of the famous grey and black label reds. The area has been called “Australia’s middle palate” – a salute to the generous, rounded flavours of its reds wine so loved by big-company blenders. But in this collaboration between Glaetzer and Ben Potts, Langhorne’s unblended richness stands on its own – a big, warm, friendly wine with a couple of years’ bottle age. Ripe, earthy shiraz leads the flavour, but cabernet’s backbone and distinctive eucalypt notes make an appearance, too.

Barolo (Pio Cesare) 2006 $95–$100
Piedmont’s great red comes from nebbiolo vineyards in the vicinity of Barolo. Typically, it’s deceptively pale in colour and takes on an orange hue around the rim with a little bottle age. The aroma is often floral (rose-like) and voluminous. But the palate, after a cursory sweet kiss, usually attacks with firm tannins that seem completely at odds with the colour and aroma. Pio Cesare’s version ticks all the Barolo boxes (indeed, one of our masked tasters identified it instantly). There’s an elegance to it, and the strong, savoury tannins never quite overwhelm its sweet core of fruit.