Yalumba Barossa Valley Bush Vine Grenache 2006 Yalumba Eden Valley Wild Ferment Chardonnay 2006 $17.95 They call it grenache in France and Australia and garnacha in Spain. By whatever name, it’s is an interesting red variety, tending to a pale colour and very high sugar levels (and therefore alcohol) when ripe. It’s fragrant and spicy, … Continue reading Wine review — Yalumba, Clonakilla & Innocent Bystander
Lerida Estate Lake George Reserve Shiraz 2005 $49.50, Pinot Noir 2006 $22 Jim Lumbers and Anne Caine planted the first vines at Lerida Estate – the southernmost of the three vineyards flanking Lake George – in 1997. They later added the striking Glen Murcott designed winery-cellar door-café building. I’ll be covering Lerida and its neighbours … Continue reading Wine review — Lerida Estate, Henschke & Clos Pierre
Viognier’s a niche variety and likely to stay that way. Why? Well, for one it has too much flavour and individuality. How can a wine have too much flavour? Well, look, for example, at gewürztraminer. Its heady, lychee-like aroma and viscous texture might be unforgettable, and a joy to drink on occasion. But that’s the … Continue reading Niche white that viognier
Philip Shaw Orange Sauvignon Blanc 2005 $23, Chardonnay 2004 $30, Shiraz Viognier 2004 $44 and Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc 2004 $25 In 1985 Rosemount winemaker Philip Shaw spotted a promising vineyard site as the corporate aircraft limped to an emergency landing at Orange. In 1988 Shaw purchased the site, at 900 metres above sea … Continue reading Wine reviews — Philip Shaw, Henschke, Lindemans
Australian winemakers seem to be copping bit of stick from some quarters for making inky, oaky, alcoholic shiraz – ‘caricatures’ some say, of wines that taste awful young and grow worse with age. But let’s not confuse these over-ripe, over-oaked, sometimes artificially concentrated reds with our very powerful, balanced, warm-climate styles. Many of these are … Continue reading Big reds are OK, too
The quality and style of several great Australian wine brands owned by Foster’s remain intact despite the wine division’s ten per cent sales decline in the first half 2006–07. But will great brands like Penfolds, Wynns and Wolf Blass flourish long term under the Foster’s banner? Will Foster’s remain in the wine business in the … Continue reading Will Foster’s stay in the wine business
The 2007 vintage ends a difficult season for wine makers in which drought, frost and bushfire trimmed the national grape harvest by hundreds of thousands of tonnes. But the small vintage, harsh as it will be financially on many winemakers and grape growers, appears to have brought a profit-sapping surplus to an end. Visiting Canberra … Continue reading Australia 2007 — a vintage to end the surplus, or vintage from hell?
In the wine industry the lead-time from vision to realisation can be twenty years. It takes that long for vines and winemaking skills to mature. Indeed, in some cases, it may be even longer before consumers perceive the benefit of a visionary decision made decades earlier. For example, when Karl Seppelt established vineyards at Drumborg, … Continue reading Viogner — blended or straight
Grant Burge Barossa Valley Meshach Shiraz 2002 $100 Grant Burge’s flagship red comes from several southern Barossa vineyards — including a section of Grant’s Filsell vineyard, planted in the 1920s. Although finessed in recent years – partly through the use of finer French oak in conjunction with more assertive American oak – it remains an … Continue reading Wine review — Grant Burge, Ravensworth & Lillydale
It’s been a field day for wine drinkers. But Australia’s benchmark red-wine brand, I believe, has never seen such grim times. Caught in a three-way pincer of wine glut, fierce retail competition and a parent company seemingly desperate for sales, Penfolds annual ‘Bin’ wine release hit new lows in 2007. Retail prices slumped to unprecedented … Continue reading A great brand confuses