Beer review — Ushers and Renaissance

13 July 2011Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Ushers Founders English Ale 500ml $7.50
Ushers is a mid-to-deep amber coloured southern English ale style. The aroma’s malty and fruity and seasoned with assertive, attractive hops notes. The malt and fruit come through, too, on a rich but dry palate. A vein of goldings hops weaves through these flavours and contribute a satisfying, lingering bitterness.

Renaissance Stonecutter Scotch Ale 500ml $11.90
This is an extraordinarily powerful beer – luxuriously frothy and lively with unctuous, malty flavours, boosted by its seven per cent alcohol content. The blend of nine different malts presents a spectrum of flavours, from caramel through to chocolate and roasted grain. A pleasant tartness offsets the malt sweetness, giving a clean dry finish.

Cooper’s launches 2011 vintage ale

13 July 2011BeerChris Shanahan

While Tim and Glen Cooper spruik the cellaring ability of Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale 2011, I suspect, with only 15 thousand cases to go round, most if it will be enjoyed during release over the next few months.

If it’s anything like the preceding vintages (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010) it’ll be tremendously enjoyable on release – a robust, malty, bitter 7.5 per cent alcohol winter warmer.

But all that flavour, hops and alcohol preserve this bottle-fermented beer for years. And from experience, the flavour evolves in pleasing ways over time.

Tim Cooper says the new release is made from Clare Valley barley and a variety of hops – “including Styrian Golding, Magnum and Perle from Europe, Amarillo from the USA and Nelson Sauvin from New Zealand”.

We’ll review the 2011 shortly, alongside older vintages from Schloss Shanahan.

Wine review — Taylors, Moppity Vineyards and Dalwhinnie

10 July 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Taylors Promised Land South Australia $10.45 to $13.95

Shiraz 2010,
Merlot 2010
Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

Taylors’ entry-level reds offer a big generous mouthful of clear-cut varietal flavour at a fair price – especially at discount time, which is frequent in the big retailers. At just over a year old the flavours are all grapey and vibrant. The very aromatic shiraz offers the roundest, most opulent flavours of the trio with easy, soft tannins. In the merlot ripe, plummy aromas lead to an equally plummy palate, cut with merlot’s quite firm tannins. The generous, firm cabernet combines ripe, cassis flavours with the variety’s slightly leafy notes. It’s sourced from Clare Valley and Padthaway.

Moppity Vineyards Hilltops Lock and Key Shiraz 2009 $13–$15
In the last few years Jason and Alecia Brown’s 69-hectare vineyard, near Young, moved swiftly from near invisible near ubiquitous – driven by high quality, modest prices and clever marketing. The current release Lock and Key Shiraz clicks all of the correct wine hyperlinks – high quality, great vintage, expressive of variety and region and well priced. A winner of two gold medals and one trophy, it captures the structure and flavour now marking Hilltops as a key shiraz region. It’s ripe but spicy, and a touch savoury, generous but medium bodied, with fine, soft tannins. It’s ready to drink right now.

Dalwhinnie Pyrenees single-vineyard Pyrenees shirazes

The Pinnacle 2008 $80
Southwest Rocks 2008 $80
The Eagle 2005 $158

Dalwhinnie’s trio of magnificent shirazes comes from individual blocks on the Pyrenees’ estate. Winemaker David Jones employs similar winemaking techniques across the range (hot fermentation in small pots, basket pressing and maturation for about 18 months in mainly new French oak barriques). The Pinnacle gives a big warming hug – it’s packed with sweet, ripe-cherry varietal flavour and has a savoury touch, too. Southwest Rocks offers floral high notes then a tight, firm, beautifully textured palate with lovely underlying sweet and spicy fruit. The Eagle seems closed and brooding – earthy notes melding with ripe, plummy fruit, richly coated in soft tannins.

Wine review — Mount Majura, Bollinger, Dalwhinnie, Ravensworth, Pazo Barrantes and Brown Brothers

6 July 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Mount Majura Chardonnay 2010 $26
Mount Majura Vineyard, Canberra District, Australian Capital Territory
While by and large Canberra’s a little too warm for cutting-edge chardonnay, Mount Majura makes a delicious, age-worthy style, like the 2005 that won a gold medal in last year’s regional show. Winemaker Frank van de Loo writes that earlier picking and blocking most components from malo-lactic fermentation increases the tautness and longevity of the wine. And, in recent years, increasing the proportion of wild yeast ferments added to the texture and length of flavour. We bought our bottle at Grazing, Gundaroo, and came back for seconds such were its juicy delights.

Champagne Bollinger Special Cuvee $59.90–$125
Champagne region, France
Bollinger’s Australian agent, Fine Wine Partners, must hate it, but parallel importing means we can enjoy this glorious non-vintage Champagne way below the “official” price. I paid $62 for the review bottle, imported direct from god-knows-where by First Choice. And the price fell to $59.90 in six-packs. It’s 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. Meunier subtly fleshes out the mid palate.

Dalwhinnie Moonambel Shiraz 2008 $55–$60
Pyrenees, Victoria
Fine-tuning in vineyard and winery over many years brings a wine to the best it can be. We see this now in the near perfect, long-living regional shirazes made at Dalwhinnie – established in 1976 by Ewan Jones and now run by his son, David. David thanks consultant and friend Gary Baldwin for a Bordelaise winemaking technique that tames the sometimes-formidable Pyrenees’ tannins. The 2008 vintage delivers opulent, ripe, black cherry and spice flavours on a medium bodied, elegantly structured palate where fruit intertwines with the burnished, persistent tannins.

Ravensworth Shiraz Viognier 2009 $24.30–$27
Ravensworth Vineyard, Murrumbateman, Canberra District, New South Wales

We loved this wine on its release in 2010 and almost a year on it’s looking even better. Over lunch at Grazing, Gundaroo, we warmed up on the juicy Capital Wines “The Ambassador” Tempranillo 2009, then moved up another notch in power and complexity to Ravensworth. It held our interest through two bottles – Sydneysiders, locals and English drinkers all impressed. It’s an aromatic, medium-bodied shiraz, featuring ripe berry and spice aromas and rich, supple, silky palate, with a long, savoury, dry finish. It’s a beautiful drink and destined for a five-star rating – just waiting to see how the wines age first. Made by Bryan Martin.

Pazo Barrantes Albarino 2009 $21.85–$22.99
Rias Baixas region, Galicia, Spain
Albarino is the signature white variety in Rias Baixas. Pazo Barrantes, imported by Dan Murphy, comes from a 12-hectare albarino vineyard. It’s hand picked, gently pressed, cool fermented and matured for a short time on yeast lees to build texture. I suspect Murphy’s are a year behind on imports as the 2010 is the current release, according the winemaker’s website. I suspect, also, that it’s a style best enjoyed very young, though the 2009 still appeals for its passionfruit-like aroma, savoury dryness – accompanied by a thickening texture and phenolic bite that goes well with savoury foods.

Brown Brothers Limited Release Durif 2009 $19.90
Heathcote, Victoria
Durif, a signature red of hot, dry north eastern Victoria, clearly likes the cooler climes of the Mount Camel Range, near Heathcote. In Rutherglen, durif tends to be deep, dark and tannic – truly a wine for heroes. Nothing much changes when the variety moves to Heathcote. The deep red/black colour and abundant tannins remain. But the ripe, plummy, black-cherry fruit seems more buoyant – though still reined in by those awesome tannins. Persistent as the tannins are, they’re quite soft – though there’s still nothing subtle about the wine. Is an unabashed bruiser for those what loves ‘em big.

Barons re-releases bush-tucker beers

6 July 2011Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Barons Brewing of Sydney recently relaunched two beers seasoned with native Australian ingredients – Lemon Myrtle Witbier and Blackwattle Original Ale.

The beers are part of Barons varied portfolio that includes a lager, pale ale and extra special bitter. Barons also distributes other brands, including Belgian lager, 88 Balls, Czech lager, Bakalar and Australian brews, Razorback Red Ale and Charlotte’s Hefeweizen.

Baron’s introduced Blackwattle Original Ale back in 2005 and the Lemon Myrtle Witbier in 2008. As the names suggest, they’re seasoned with lemon myrtle and roasted black wattle seed. They claim to be the only brewery using native ingredients. Perhaps they are now. I don’t know. But in 2008 Chuck Hahn released a one-off winter ale, seasoned with native pepperberries.

Where Hahn’s beer was a potent, idiosyncratic style to either love or hate, Baron’s two brews flow like water – so watch out.

Barons Black Wattle Original Ale 330ml 6-pack $20
This dark amber brew weighs in at 5.8 per cent alcohol. The alcohol boosts the opulent malt flavour, giving the palate great warmth and appeal. The dominant flavours are caramel and golden syrup-like with a touch of roasted grain (this may be the wattle seed) and mildly bitter, balanced finish.

Barons Lemon Myrtle Witbier 330ml 6-pack $20
Modelled on Belgian wheat beer styles, like Hoegaarden, Barons is a particularly brisk ale with wheat beer’s natural high acidity, light body and smooth texture. A distinct and pleasant lemony note adds to the beer’s zest and freshness. It’s bottle conditioned and therefore cloudy.

Penfolds releases Grange, St Henri, Magill, RWT and Bin 707

6 July 2011Wine, Wine reviewChris Shanahan

There’s always a buzz of excitement at the release of a new Grange vintage. It’s a global event now and a confident Penfolds includes in the release its other flagship wines – Yattarna Chardonnay, Reserve Bin Adelaide Hills Chardonnay, St Henri Shiraz, Magill Estate Shiraz, RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz and Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon.

This is an extraordinary line up of wines by any measure – and priced accordingly. But when we look at top Bordeaux reds, still in barrel in the cellar, fetching up to $2,000 a bottle, and being produced in much larger volumes, Penfolds’ prices appear modest indeed.

The reds, in particular, enjoy a long pedigree for quality and cellaring ability. They also trade in large volumes at auction – meaning they can always be liquidated, and creating profitable opportunities for astute collectors. But, as the accompanying table shows, timing is everything and it’s probably easier to lose money than make it on Penfolds reds.

Indeed, the table demonstrates that it may be better to buy Grange at auction than in a retail store. The 2005 vintage, for example, fetches less at auction now than it did in retail stores on release last year. Indeed most vintages, including many classic years of the past, cost less at auction than the current release 2006 at retail.

On the other hand, Grange, especially the good vintages, can appreciate over time. But increases are unevenly spread. If, for example, you bought a bottle of 1971 at $9.99 on discount at Farmer Bros in the late seventies, you’re sitting on a handsome gain. You could pocket around $945 at auction – a handsome return.

Or if you bought a bottle of 1983 for around $50 in 1988, you could turn it into about $405 – a good nominal return, but perhaps not sensational in real terms. Note, however, that the beautiful old 1983 fetches almost $200 a bottle less than the brash, new-release 2006.

We held this year’s new-release Penfolds red tasting at Chateau Shanahan with guest panellists, Wine and Food editor, Kirsten Lawson, winemaker and food writer, Bryan Martin, and Jill Shanahan.

To add interest, we poured a 1983 Grange from our cellar alongside the new-release 20006 vintage.

The comments below are all mine. But we agreed on the night that these were distinctive wines of rare dimension – each with its own personality.

Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2007 $89.99

Regions: Robe, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek, Padthaway, Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, Adelaide Hills.

Variety: 100 per cent shiraz.

Maturation: 12 months in 1,460-litre oak vats, more than 50-years’ old.

The diverse fruit sourcing suggests the winemakers pulled out all tricks to make an outstanding St Henri in an ordinary vintage. Because of its focus on fragrance, fruit and soft tannins, we taste this one first and it appeals all around. We love its pure varietal aromas, flavours, softness and suppleness. It’s a very even, balanced, subtle wine with proven long-term cellaring potential.

Penfolds Magill Estate Shiraz 2008 $114.99 (available at cellar door only)

Region: Magill vineyard, Adelaide.

Variety: 100 per cent shiraz.

Maturation: 12 months in 72 per cent new French and 23 per cent new American oak hogsheads. The balance in one-year-old French oak

This is the wine that saved the Magill vineyard from urbanisation. It’s the site of Dr Christopher Penfolds’ Grange cottage and the cellars where Max Schubert developed Grange. Today it’s the home of the Penfolds brand, if not’s its main winery. This wine, however, is made on site in the original open, concrete Grange fermenters.

Although a wine of many parts, it was the least favoured at our tasting – simply upstaged by magnificence. It’s a generous wine, marked by comparatively high acid, savouriness and spice and bright berry flavours pushing through quite obvious (very high quality) oak flavours. Like a kaleidoscope, it offered different patterns and shades during the night.

Penfolds Barossa Valley RWT Shiraz 2008 $174.99

Region: Barossa Valley

Variety: 100 per cent shiraz

Maturation: 14 months in French oak hogsheads, 83 per cent new, 17 per cent one-year-old.

John Duval developed RWT in the 1990s as a fragrant, opulent, supple expression of Barossa shiraz, matured in French oak – a counterbalance to the sheer power of American-oak-matured Grange, also based on Barossa shiraz.

This dense, red-black, crimson-rimmed wonder simply blew us away, from its high-toned aroma to its luxuriously fruity, deep, silky texture to the perfectly matched cedary oak. This is a great wine, as good as Barossa shiraz gets.

Penfolds Grange 2006 $599

Region: Barossa Valley, Coonawarra and Magill.

Varieties: 98 per cent shiraz, two per cent cabernet sauvignon.

Maturation: 18 months in new American oak hogsheads.

Where RWT reveals the fragrant, opulent side of Barossa shiraz, Grange is a more thunder-in-the brain wine – opaque, red-black colour with immense fruit, American oak and tannin influences. The flavour elements are merging by the time it’s released at five years. But that’s just the beginning of a journey that might last for decades. Certainly our 1983, tasted alongside the 2006, has decades of life ahead.

Because it evolves for so long, Grange offers a unique, endless view of its vintage conditions. The1983, for example, has always expressed the exceptional flavour concentration and formidable tannins of a particularly hot, dry season. Over the years the character remains, despite time’s mellowing influence.

The new-release 2006 will never be like the 1983. It comes from a more benign vintage. So, even as a young wine, its sweeter, juicier fruit flavours harmonise with the silky, if huge, tannins. Grange’s signature opaque, colour, American oak, abundant tannins and great flavour concentration are all there. But there’s a lovely harmony and lovability about it even now, despite its rare dimension.

I rate this as one of the great Granges.

Penfolds Grange 1983 $518 (mean auction buyer’s price)

Regions: Barossa Valley (Kalimna and other vineyards), Magill Estate, Modbury Vineyard

Varieties: 94 per cent shiraz, six per cent cabernet sauvignon

Maturation: 100 per cent new American oak hogsheads.

After seeing the beginning of the Grange journey in the raw young 2006 vintage, we moved closer to the destination in the 1983. The product of a hot, dry season this has always been a big, dense, tannic Grange, described succinctly in the 1990 edition of The Rewards of Patience as, “Blockbuster Grange with massively powerful fruit and oak. Enormous strength. Will live for decades”.

Four years on, tasters for the 1994 edition, predicting a drinking window of 2000–2015, commented, “Dense, powerful chocolate/spice/plum/briar aromas with some American oak-derived coconut. A highly concentrated wine showing pronounced extract and tannins balanced with sweetness of fruit and obvious American oak. The wine is beginning to show some complexing ‘cigar box’ characters but is still very youthful. This will be a great Grange”.

By the fourth edition in 2000, tasters pushed the drinking window out to 2020 and with fruit descriptors in overdrive wrote, “Red/purple, intense, rich, brambly/blackberry fruit with touches of cedar and liquorice. Beautifully concentrated, with abundant blackberry/apricot fruit and plenty of meaty/cedary characters, plush, pronounced tannins and underlying sweet oak. Super wine”.

In the 2004 edition, the tasters pushed the drinking window out another decade to 2030 for this “superbly concentrated wine”. A mood swing four years later in the sixth edition saw the drink-by date pulled back to 2025. The tasters described the 1983 as, “A profoundly concentrated vintage with years of cellaring potential”, noting its “muscular tannins”.

On 23 June at Chateau Shanahan Grange 1983 again revealed its muscular tannins, concentration and great staying power. Coming off the youthful fruitiness of the younger wines, though, the old-wine aroma shocked Kirsten Lawson with its “oceany”, “meaty” and “decaying” aromas – just three descriptors of a wine now deeply endowed with secondary and tertiary bottle-age aromas and flavours. We could throw in old leather, grandma’s furniture, cedar, chocolate and soy, too – and we did. These all adorned the deep, sweet, still-vibrant fruit and strong tannins that came from those tiny, thick-skinned shiraz berries in the hot, drought-affected 1983 vintage. The wine will drink well for decades.

Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 $189.99

Regions: Coonawarra, Barossa Valley and Wrattonbully.

Varieties: 100 per cent cabernet sauvignon.

Maturation: 14 months in 100 per cent new American oak hogsheads.

Bin 707 is simply Grange made of cabernet sauvignon instead of shiraz. It’s about power, flavour concentration, American oak and longevity. Originally sourced from Block 42 of the Kalimna Vineyard, northern Barossa, it now owes more to Coonawarra, hundreds of kilometres to the south – although the Barossa contributes in this vintage. The 2008 is another beautifully balanced blockbuster – impressively aromatic, revealing floral character as well as deep, underlying cassis-like varietal notes, with a mere hint of leaf. The palate’s impressively concentrated, the flavours reflecting the aroma – though over time the lovely cassis-like character dominates. The fruit is layered with powerful but fine, silky tannins, with the oak almost impossible to separate from the fruit flavours.

What your bottle of Grange is worth

	Mean auction hammer price	Seller’s approx nett price	Buyer’s approx nett price
Penfolds Grange – vintage
2006 – current release, good vintage	No sale	No Sale	No Sale
2005 – last year’s release, average vintage	$440	$396	$506
2004 – good vintage	$440	$396	$506
2003 – average vintage	$410	$369	$451
2002 – good vintage	$430	$387	$495
2001 – average vintage	$400	$360	$460
1996 – good vintage	$495	$446	$569
1995 – average vintage	$365	$329	$420
1990 – good vintage	$630	$693	$725
1989 – average vintage	$360	$324	$414
1986 – good vintage	$550	$495	$633
1983 – good vintage	$450	$405	$518
1982 – average vintage	$355	$320	$408
1976 – good vintage	$575	$518	$661
1975 – average vintage	$405	$365	$466
1971 – good vintage	$1,050	$945	$1,208
1970 – average vintage	$480	$432	$552
1962 – good vintage	$1,950	$1,755	$2,243
1958 – exceptionally rare bottle	$3,950	$3,555	4,543
1955 – good vintage	$3,250	$2,925	$3,738

Source:www.langtons.com.au
Seller’s price assumes 10% commission to Langtons
Buyer’s price assumes 15% buyer’s premium paid to auctioneer and GST

Wine review — Capital Wines, The Hut by Dalwhinnie and Yarra Loch

3 July 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Capital Wines “The Foreign Minister”
Canberra District Sangiovese 2010 $25
Capital Wines recently released this sangiovese (Italian red variety) together with their tempranillo (Spanish red variety). Capital Wines partner, Jennie Mooney, says it’s a blend of three sangiovese clones, including two Brunello clones, grown at Pialligo Estate and made by Andrew McEwin at Capital Wines. The wine came out of oak barrel earlier than usual, allowing the vibrant, sweet, cherry-like varietal flavour to flourish. It’s a light to medium bodied style with the sweet, pleasing fruit flavours to the fore – but supported by soft, easy-on-the-gums tannins. It’s a style to enjoy in its youth and probably all the better for not trying to be too serious.

The Hut By Dalwhinnie Pyrenees

Chardonnay 2010 $25
Pinot Noir 2010 $25
Shiraz 2010 $28

David Jones of Dalwhinnie, located at Moonambel in Victoria’s Pyrenees region, visited Canberra recently promoting his new “The Hut by Dalwhinnie” range. The wines are all estate-grown and made show the hallmark bright fruit and elegant structure of the more expensive premium wines. David says they’re made for current drinking and targeted at the on-premise trade and independent retailers. The delicate barrel-fermented chardonnay offers clear-cut white-peach varietal flavour and delicious, fresh soft acidity. The pinot offers bright, pure dark-cherry varietal flavour and good pinot structure and texture. There’s a hint of mint in the bright, medium bodied shiraz and a good bit of juicy, savoury tannin.

YarraLoch Yarra Valley Pinot Noir 2010 $27–$30
YarraLoch is a small, well-capitalised Yarra Valley operation, with 13-hectares of vines planted at Coldstream, Whittlesea and Kangaroo Ground. Varieties planted include arneis, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, merlot, pinot noir, shiraz and viognier – indicating the amazing range of terroirs in the valley. The pinot’s a very attractive, delicate style. The aroma combines floral notes with varietal ripe-cherry and savoury oak. These come through, too, on a silk-smooth, beautifully balanced palate, layered with sweet fruit and fine tannins. The flavours remained fresh several days after opening our sample bottle, indicating the staying power of this understated, irresistible drop.

Wine review — Capital Wines, Stella Bella, Hewitson, Yangarra and Turkey Flat

29 June 2011Wine reviewChris Shanahan

Capital Wines “The Ambassador” Tempranillo 2010 $27
Kyeema Vineyard Murrumbateman, Canberra District, New South Wales
The two tempranillos reviewed this week, though of comparable quality, reveal different faces of this Spanish variety – and its potential to go mainstream in Australia in the long term. The Ambassador, from six-year-old vines, emphasises vibrant, red-berry varietal flavour and the variety’s naturally assertive, but fine and soft tannins. It starts fruity, then the tannins move in reassuringly. Jennie Mooney writes, “It is the first year that we had the depth of fruit to allow the wonderful tempranillo tannins to start to sing. In previous years we have softened them off in barrel”.

Stella Bella Tempranillo 2008 $30
Karridale and Rosabrook, Margaret River, Western Australia
Where Capital Wines tempranillo focuses on vibrant, youthful fruit and natural grape tannins, Stella Bella’s brings in the influences of additional oak and bottle ageing. Winemaker Stuart Pym writes that it, “leans towards this style [of Toro, Spain] – showing brighter sweeter characters, but in the Riserva style – being at least three years old with eighteen months in oak as a minimum”. The red-berry varietal flavours are off in the background and now showing secondary, aged character in a matrix with barrel-derived flavour and textural influences.

Hewitson Old Garden Mourvedre 2009 $120
Koch Family Vineyard, Rowland Flat, Barossa Valley, South Australia
Mourvedre, aka mataro, is a very late ripening variety and a great survivor in Australia’s hot, dry growing regions. This version, from Dean Hewitson, comes from a vineyard planted in 1853 by Friedrich Koch and still tended by his descendents. Hewitson believes it may be the world’s oldest mourvedre vineyard. Though the palest colour of three mourvedre’s reviewed today, its fruit is clearly very powerful as it effortlessly gobbles up 18 months’ maturation in all-new French oak. There are cherry- and chocolate-like fruit flavours in this deep, savoury red. It seems even more lifted and aromatic than usual in the 2009 vintage.

Yangarra Estate Mourvedre 2009 $32
Yangarra Estate Vineyard, McLaren Vale, South Australia
Peter Fraser’s 100-hectare vineyard focuses predominantly on shiraz and grenache, but with significant plots, too, of other Rhone Valley varieties – including the white viognier and roussanne and the red mourvedre, cinsault and carignan. The mourvedre’s a deep, purple-rimmed, dense, spicy wine – its ripe dark-berry fruits deeply layered with its assertive but soft tannins. Fraser writes of mourvedre, “early on it has beautiful aromatics with angular tannins, but as the seeds go brown and the tannins become rounder and softer, the alcohol becomes prominent and brightness and aromatics are dulled. 2009 is the first vintage where we think we have got the balance of ripeness spot on”.

Turkey Flat Mourvedre 2009 $32
Turkey Flat Vineyard, Barossa Valley, South Australia
Peter and Christie Schulz’s Turkey Flat vineyard has shiraz vines dating from 1847 as well as mature, dry-grown mourvedre vines, source of this wine. It’s deeply coloured, purple rimmed and on first opening the oak influence is obvious (20 months in new and seasoned French puncheons). But tasted over several days the beautiful, ripe and spicy fruit dominates a rich but gracefully structured wine – and the oak becomes background seasoning, adding as well to the substantial tannin structure of the wine.

Stella Bella Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2010 $21
Margaret River, Western Australia
This is a distinctive Margaret River twist on the ubiquitous sauvignon blanc style – quite a departure from those we see from Marlborough, New Zealand. Semillon accounts for a large part of the difference in aroma, flavour and texture. From this neck of the woods semillon leans to a distinctive grassy, “canned-pea” aroma. Barrel ferment some components at higher temperatures, tank ferment others at lower temperatures, throw in sauvignon blanc, keep all of the components on yeast lees – and then blend it all together. You get a distinctive, pungent, dust-dry white with greater textural richness than straight sauv blanc.

Vintage 2011 — rain, disease fail to dampen grape output

29 June 2011UncategorizedChris Shanahan

Widespread predictions of a dramatic, disease-driven collapse in grape production this year proved way off the mark. The Winemakers Federation of Australia estimates a total wine-grape intake of 1.62 million tonnes in 2011 – one per cent up on 2010 and marginally short of the five-year average of 1.63 million tonnes. Production remained well short of the 1.8 to 1.9 million tonne peaks of vintages 2004 to 2006.

Winery intake of sauvignon blanc of just 86 thousand tonnes (up nine per cent on 2010) underlines New Zealand’s dominant role supplying Australia’s top selling white variety.

For the first time since 2007, white production outstripped red – perhaps reflecting greater disease damage to late ripening red varieties. Intake of red grapes declined from 858,111 tonnes in 2010 to 779,283 in 2011; white intake increased from 744,901 tonnes to 839,453 tonnes.

Paralleling white’s overall resurgence, chardonnay (404,610 tonnes) shoved shiraz (322,676) aside as our number one variety. Chardonnay intake increased around 23 per cent from 329,441 tonnes. Shiraz intake plummeted 84 thousand tonnes, or 21 per cent, from 406,775 tonnes in 2010 – almost certainly a direct effect of disease.

Thick-skinned cabernet sauvignon, our second most popular red variety, proved more resilient than shiraz, its intake increasing from 227,197 tonnes in 2010 to 231,869 tonnes in 2011.

This comparative success supports anecdotal evidence of a strong cabernet vintage in, among other places, the Barossa, Canberra and the nearby Hilltops region.

Winery intake of merlot, our number three red variety, mainly a blender, increased marginally from 111,684 tonnes to 113,1190 tonnes.

Intake of pinot noir, used in production of both red table wine and clear sparkling wine, declined by eight per cent from 38,830 tonnes to 35,790 tonnes. But the preliminary estimates don’t indicate which style is likely to be most affected by the shortfall.

Volume of Australia’s surprise fifth ranking red, petit verdot, dropped from 19,789 tonnes to 17,359 tonnes. You’ll see this Bordeaux variety occasionally as a straight varietal. But it’s generally a blending component with the cabernet cousins – cabernets sauvignon and franc, merlot and malbec.

After petit verdot, a comparative newcomer to mainstream Australian winemaking, comes another of our great survivors, grenache. It succeeds in fortified and table wines. It’s part of the warm-climate grenache-shiraz-mourvedre trinity, and appears increasingly in its own right. Grenache intake rocketed 53 per cent from 10,497 in 2010 to 16,069 tonnes in 2011. Such a big leap suggests new plantings coming into production. But we don’t know the answer at this stage.

After grenache, production of other niche varieties falls away markedly. For example, winery intake of mourvedre, subject of three reviews today, totalled only 4,437 tonnes in 2010 and 5,296 tonnes in 2011. Like petit verdot, it’s mainly a blender – but we have some wonderful old vines in our warmer areas and it can make a marvellous wine in its own right.

And that much-talked-about “alternative” variety, tempranillo (two reviews today), seems just a blip on our vineyard radar at 2,422 tonnes intake in 2010 and 3,045 tonnes in 2011. I do, however, predict a much bigger future for this variety given the high quality, distinctiveness and easy-drinking appeal of the wines it makes.

Another niche red attracting attention, sangiovese, increased from 3,526 tonnes to 4,150 tonnes.

The white side of our ledger looks decidedly weaker than the red side – in that we have not a single big mover and shaker after chardonnay.

While intake of number two ranked sauvignon blanc grew nine per cent, from 79,053 in 2010 tonnes to 86,043 tonnes in 2011, the variety’s suited to only a small portion of Australia’s current, comparatively warm producing areas. We have neither a Marlborough nor close runner to chardonnay as cabernet is to shiraz.

Our old workhorse, semillon comes in a tad behind sauvignon blanc at 82,243 tonnes in 2011 – up on 2010’s 78,960 tonnes. Semillon’s a great partner to sauvignon blanc in blends but has only limited appeal in its own right. Despite all the talk, and unquestioned quality and uniqueness of Hunter semillon, it remains a niche regional specialty.

Perhaps the surprise among white varieties is pinot gris (or grigio) at a respectable 43,217 tonnes (down from 44,778 tonnes in 2010) – putting it ahead of pinot noir.

The great, noble riesling maintains its perennially niche position, popular taste blithely ignoring wave after wave of publicity for it. Volumes changed little, from 32,188 tonnes in 2010 to 32,720 this year. It remains Australia’s great wine bargain.

Another surprise, albeit on a small absolute scale, is the near doubling intake of muscat-a-petit-grains-blanc from 13,952 tonnes in 2011. The Winemakers Federation attributes this to growing popularity of moscato styles.

Two varieties widely used in cheaper popular blends made solid contributions to the national grape crush, even if their names seldom appear on labels. Muscat gordo blanco contributed 54,459 tonnes and colombard 58,694 tonnes this year.

Widely talked of savagnin (originally misidentified as albarino) fails to rate a mention in the federation’s estimates. But its aromatic sibling, gewürztraminer, contributed 12,116 tonnes.

That useful warm region white, verdelho, grew from 13,588 tonnes to 14,323 tonnes in 2011, while viognier (sometimes blended with shiraz) declined from 12,464 tonnes to 10,729 tonnes.

Sultana, once the sultan of our cask wine industry, continued its long-term decline, with winery intake falling from 2,575 tonnes in 2010 to 1,713 tonnes in 2011.

But chenin blanc hung in there, declining marginally year-to-year from 6,857 tonnes to 6,770 tonnes.

Anecdotally, the late, cool vintage seems to have produced some marvellous wines – intensely flavoured and high in natural acidity. This promises to be very good for regional specialties. On a large scale, though, writes WFA president Stephen Strachan, “the vintage is too big. It may seem harsh, but a harvest in excess of 1.6 million tonnes (despite the rejections) is out of step with the realities of sustainable production and the market opportunity for premium Australian wine”.

In other words, there was little rejoicing in many quarters at the bigger than expected crop. And for growers who lost everything to disease, the pain is severe.

James Squire gets a new suit

29 June 2011Beer, Beer reviewChris Shanahan

Oh dear, oh dear – Lion Nathan’s Malt Shovel Brewery recently revamped the labels on its popular James Squire range. Apparently the old labels looked too similar, confusing the brand’s poor, loyal drinkers. “They often weren’t sure which beer in the range they were drinking”, writes brand director, Ralph Simpson. Perhaps they conducted market research at 3 am.

Brand directors love leaving their mark. But as Australia’s wine industry learned to its detriment, radical label changes can undermine a brand – alienating existing followers and creating confusion about what it stands for.

Fortunately the six brews in the range haven’t changed – leaving the heart of James Squire brand intact. However, my first reaction to the new labels was that they’d introduced new beers – and then a doubt, “maybe they’ve dumbed them down?’ Labels should reassure us, not create doubts or suspicions.

James Squire Four Wives Pilsener 345ml 6-pack $18.99
This is made by Tony Jones at the Lion Nathan owned Malt Shovel brewery. It’s a world-class interpretation of the Bohemian model, delivering the tremendous malt richness of the style (pale and Munich malts) as well as the distinctive aromatics and intense, lingering bitterness of Saaz hops.

James Squire Nine Tales Amber Ale 345ml 6-pack $18.99
Original Amber Ale was the first off the James Squire production line under Chuck Hahn in 1998. Now renamed as Nine Tales, it retains the original style: a deep copper colour with slightly citrusy hops aromas hovering over the fruit and malt. The fruit, malt and hops continue on a warming, supple, gently appealing palate.