If I had to bet the house on one of the so-called “alternative” grape varieties it’d be Spain’s tempranillo. We crushed only about 3000 tonnes a year in Australia (equivalent to perhaps 225 thousand dozen bottles) – a mere splash compared to the more familiar varieties we grow. In 2012, Australian vintners processed almost 380,00 … Continue reading Tempranillo — Spaniard with big future in Australia
Quarry Hill Lost Acre Tempranillo 2013 $18 Quarry Hill vineyard, Murrumbateman, Canberra District, NSW In a tasting of eight Australian tempranillos, two Canberra wines appealed strongly in utterly different ways. In the serious, complex, sip-and-savour mould, Mount Majura 2012 topped the list. But Quarry Hill 2013, the first from this Murrumbateman vineyard, strutted the naked … Continue reading Wine review — Quarry Hill, Mount Majura, Balnaves, St Huberts, Brookland Valley and Running with Bulls
Tim Smith Wines Mataro 2012 $36 Greenock and Light Pass, Barossa Valley, South Australia Tim Smith made wine at Yalumba for 15 years, but now produces his own delicious reds, like this one, discovered at Tanunda’s exciting FermentAsian restaurant. Smith says he loves mataro (aka mourvedre) and sees good cellaring potential in the variety, thanks … Continue reading Wine review — Tim Smith Wines, Dr Loosen, John Duval, Domain Day, Ashton Hills and Redbank
Chianti Classico Peppoli (Antinori) 2009 $22.90–$25 Chianti Classico zone, Tuscany, Italy At the Food and Wine truffle dinner (10 Yards restaurant), we compared Peppoli 2009, an Italian sangiovese, with Ravensworth Le Querce Canberra Sangiovese 2012. The pairing highlighted Ravensworth’s bright and fruity Australian character, albeit with sangiovese’s signature tannic bite. Peppoli, from the 600-year-old producer, … Continue reading Wine review — Antinori, Ashton Hills, Tscharke, Guigal, Reichgraf von Kesselstatt and Redbank
Riposte The Dagger Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir 2012 $20–$22 A visit to the Adelaide Hills in late July turned up some lovely reds and whites from the 2012 vintage – a very favourable season following the cold, wet 2011 season. Winemaker Tim Knappstein sources fruit from various parts of the hills and makes his wine … Continue reading Wine review– Riposte, Tscharke and Redbank
The Rhone Valley white variety, viognier, is and will remain a niche variety, representing around two per cent of total white plantings in Australia. Nevertheless, it remains an important variety, principally because of its close relationship to our national red hero, shiraz. The relationship is both genetic and vinous. In Wine Grapes (Penguin Group, 2012), … Continue reading Viognier — genetic and vinous buddy of shiraz
Depending on how you view wine shows, Canberra region is either blessed or burdened with a disproportionate number of nationally significant events. These include the National Wine Show of Australia, Winewise Small Vignerons Awards, Winewise Championship, Canberra International Riesling Challenge and Canberra Regional Wine Show. The national show, billed as the grand final of Australia’s … Continue reading Winewise championship — Australia’s grand final wine show
Jacob’s Creek Reserve Chardonnay 2012 $10.70–$18 Adelaide Hills, South Australia The high quality of South Australia’s 2012 whites shines through again in Jacob’s Creek Reserve Chardonnay. We quaffed a couple of bottles with Thai food in Terrigal a few weeks back, alongside the Pewsey Vale Riesling 2012, also reviewed today. I rated Pewsey Vale a … Continue reading Wine review — Jacob’s Creek, Bay of Fires, Pewsey Vale, Dandelion Vineyard, Half Moon and Peter Lehmann
Part 1 of the Clonakilla shiraz viognier story last week recounted how great wine begins in the brain – with a vision or dream or hunch. We saw how Max Schubert created Grange after tasting half-century-old reds in Bordeaux in 1950; then how in 1991 Tim Kirk tasted Marcel Guigal’s Cote-Rotie shiraz-viognier blends and decided, … Continue reading The vision behind Clonakilla shiraz viognier — part 2, a 20-year tasting
This is part one of the story of Clonakilla shiraz viognier, Canberra’s now world famous red, created by Tim Kirk and other Kirk family members over the last 40 years. But first let’s step back to a time long before Tim’s birth – detouring via a Brian Walsh (Yalumba) speech at University House Wine Symposium … Continue reading Great wine starts in the brain — the vision behind Clonakilla’s shiraz viognier