Aussie Wines!

You have to love people with a sense of humour.  I’d been hearing a lot about the Lethbridge wines from one of my sales reps (James - genuinely nice bloke) and hadn’t had a chance to try any of them, so when I saw this I picked it up for around $27ish.

They make quite a few wines, including the Ménage range (eg the Pinot is called Ménage a Noir… cute).  This is the Shiraz, which is also known as Syrah just about everywhere else in the wine world apart from Australia.  Sourced from Geelong, it’s not a bad little drop.

It’s surprising that it’s 14.5% alcohol because it almost tastes cool in your mouth, similar to the feeling you get when you have a mint, with a nice freshness but without the minty taste.

Deep inky colour. You’ll find a lifted, floral nose that is very fresh and attractive. On the tongue, it’s got some quite intense very dark berry fruits with a touch of tar and perhaps some licorice. Good value, easy drinking, but you need to give it just a little bit of time to open up, so a quick decanting will help. For 14.5%, it certainly doesn’t feel hot in the mouth. There’s a slight, drying tannin to the finish, but it’s nothing to worry about.

All in all, it’s a good wine that is easy to drink and decent value. 89 points

Bendigo is in Central Victoria, about 150 k’s North of Melbourne. Originally a scene of the Australian Gold Rush days, it’s now proving to be a pretty decent area for wine too. It’s mostly famous for the reds of the region, especially Shiraz that can be quite intense.

Balgownie Estate was established in 1969 and was one of the first in the region. The first Shiraz was made in 1972. I picked this one up for $35 and am quite impressed with the value for money.

It’s a deep red in colour, still with a purple edge. That purple colour often indicates a youthful wine that may not be ready to drink yet, but that’s not the case here.

On the nose you’ll find rich red berry fruit, fairly intense without being overpowering and just a touch of spice. The use of oak is quite restrained, so you won’t find a load of vanilla there.

In the mouth, it’s pleasant and about as refreshing as a red wine can be… the 14% alcohol is very well handled and really doesn’t stand out at all. You may also find a flavour in there that reminds you of licorice. The wine is well balanced with just a dash of drying tannin on the back, but literally just a dash, not much at all. There’s a slightly sweeter finish that you’d expect too, but it’s a good thing. I quite like it and I think it’s a great Shiraz for those who don’t want a huge Barossa number or for those who are drinking Shiraz with someone who doesn’t want a hugely oaked or intensely peppered Shiraz. Drink now if you like, but you can get a few more years out of it… although it doesn’t need it. 91 points

Scotchman’s Hill was established in 1982 on the Bellarine Peninsula. Don’t know where that is? Have a look at the map below. This bay is known as Port Phillip Bay, with Melbourne on the northern shore. The land on the west is the Bellarine Peninsula, including Geeling, while the land on the east is known as the Mornington Peninsula (also famous for wine).

This region of the wine world is known for Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay in particular, although some Shiraz is also starting to show up that is of fantastic quality too, although being a cool climate region, the accentuated pepper of these wines isn’t to everyone’s taste. However, some of them are doing really well on the show circuit.

Famous wineries in this area include Paringa Estate, By Farr, Farr Rising, Stonier, Kooyong and Port Phillip Estate, Carlei and Prancing Horse, Moorooduc, Yabby Lake, Lethbridge and Clyde Park, amongst many others. Scotchman’s Hill is also a very recognised label, making top notch wines such as the single vineyard Sutton’s Vineyard Chardonnay and Norfolk Vineyard Pinot Noir, going for about $75ish.

After the single vineyard wines, you’ll find the Cornelius wines, then the Scotchman’s Hill wines (such as this one, for about $37), then the Swan Bay label, and finally The Hill wines. They’re all quite decent and you shouldn’t hesitate to try any of them.

So, this Pinot… it certainly has some vibrancy and some great structure to it, with a lively acid and unmistakable Pinot characters of cherry, spice and perhaps a bit of lighter plum flavours… the winery even suggests beetroot, but I don’t think that’s the best selling point for a wine that you’ll ever hear. There’s a certain earthiness to it, without going over the top. Defintely a decent wine and worth drinking, although it might need another year to let the acid die down a bit to make it much more approachable. All in all, a great drop to put with a dish with a lot of flavour… listen to something lively while drinking it, it’ll certainly get your tastebuds going. 91 points.

(Originally written February 2007)

The winemaker, Adam Marks, came through the shop the other day and we got chatting about all things wine (and cider actually, very interesting cider). He’s one of those real personalities in the trade, a very nice bloke with a good grasp of all things wine and a somewhat insane phobia of barcodes.

If you ever want to see what it’s like working as a winemaker for a day, you can take a trip to the winery and see wine being made. In fact, he’ll even let you join in and have a go. I thoroughly recommend it, although you might end up like this:

That’s Adam… and that purple won’t come off for weeks.

Now, the wines. They come in two basic levels, the “silver chook” label and the stunning “gold chook” shiraz. While we don’t have any of the gold chook in store, we can certainly order some in (around $40 per bottle in the dozen). The wine that we have is the silver chook regional blend, with fruit sourced from Heathcote and Bendigo. The grapes are treated gently, with minimal intervention. The use of whole bunch pressing gives the wine an interesting texture and 12 months in French oak gives it a lingering (but not overpowering) vanilla finish. It’s a mouth stainer, almost blue ink in colour. Look for plum and fruitcake flavours. 90 points

At this price, it’s worth throwing into any mixed dozen that you care to make up.

For more detail: www.bress.com.au Don’t forget to check out the “care packages” that he does.

(Originally written February 2007)

The road that the winery is named after has been around since the 1850’s, a quiet little dirt track. There’s nothing quiet about this wine. Now I know that a lot of us tend to avoid straight merlots, considering them either wine for beginners or a blight on society, but this wine shows that merlots can (and often do) have a lot more body and taste than they are given credit for. In this case, it could even stand in for a cabernet, it’s that well made.

The notes on the back of the label describe plum, cherry and violet characters, “layered with toasty French oak and silky tannins”. Typical merlot really, but the silky yet structured tannins really give this wine an elegant mouthfeel.

So, if you can get your head around drinking straight merlot, even if you normally don’t like it, do not miss out on this wine. It’s made in small quantities, but definitely worth grabbing as much as you can. It will cellar for 6-8 years if you like, but it is the perfect wine to drink with friends. You could either use it to introduce newer wine drinkers to more interesting and full-bodied styles of wine, or you could drink it with the seasoned wine drinker who is looking to rediscover merlot. Good value for $25ish. 90 points

Michel Chapoutier is a truly international winemaker. He produces a number of wines in France in the Rhone  Valley, including all of the famous Rhone styles such as Cote Rotie, Hermitage, Chateauneuf du Pape, Muscat Beaumes de Venise and many others. But he is also involved in winery projects in Oregon and Australia, which is somewhat surprising given the usually conventional nature of the Old World producers.

Michel has a strong focus on biodynamic viticulture, which is the next step along from organic winemaking (I will upload an article I wrote about this very soon). This particular wine comes from the Mount Benson wine region, which is on the Limestone Coast, next door to other famous regions such as Coonawarra, Wrattonbully and Padthaway. It’s a cool climate region, so from a Shiraz, you’d expect vibrant flavours without a huge body to it.

That’s pretty much what you get. You know it’s Shiraz straight away from the tell-tale peppery nose (from Rotundone, about which I will post soon too!) It is spicy, yet elegant. It strikes me very much as a French inspired wine in that way. Nice acid to it, but the tannins are still not quite integrated into the wine, with a bit of furriness on the teeth and a slightly dusty mouthfeel. I think for a 2004 that it should be slightly more balanced than this, but it’s still not a bad drink, particularly if you’re looking for a nice spicy style without the massive body that many Aussie Shirazes have.

It still leaves me wanting more though. It’s very easy to drink, but the obvious tannins aren’t ideal and I don’t think this measures up too well to other wines in the same price category (high $20s). 88 points

However, Chapoutier is involved in another Australian wine venture with the Laughtons at Jasper Hill, making a wine called La Pleiade, from a vineyard in Heathcote planted using cuttings from Chapoutier’s own vineyards in the Rhone and Ron Laughton’s vineyard in Heathcote. La Pleiade has a very distinctive “swiss cheese” type label. Actually, it appears to be named after The Pleiades star cluster, which is visible in both hemispheres and has popped up heaps in mythology.

Now this is a Heathcote Shiraz, which is very different to the Mount Benson style. It’s big, it’s rich, it’s heavy and it’s really quite full on. If you don’t like Heathcote Shiraz (and not everyone does), I would still recommend trying this one as it might just bring you around, but give it a few years in the cellar before you get into it. Having said that, it’s around $75ish, so it’s a bit of a gamble to put in the cellar if you’re not necessarily a Heathcote Shiraz fan, but trust me, this wine may possibly weave some magic on your palate. 94 points

Chapoutier appears to be trying to forge new partnerships in Australia too, including a partnership with Rick Kinzbrunner of Giaconda (from Beechworth) fame (but I have yet to see any results here) and possibly others. He seems to be making as many different styles of Shiraz as he can, based on different regions. This should prove very interesting. Stay tuned.

One of the advantages of writing wine reviews is that people send you their wines to try. I write articles for a local magazine in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney called The Beast and from these reviews, I receive a few e-mails per month. One of the guys who works for BackVintage Wines, Michael, contacted me about their wines.

Apparently their boss hates it when someone says this, but they’re basically cleanskin wines. Now when people think of cleanskins, they think of $3 bottles that are leftovers, but there are many cleanskins out there of varying quality. So how do you make sure you get the decent stuff? Get a Master of Wine (Nick Bulleid, MW) to select your wines for you. That way you know that you have a bloke with an accredited palate behind your label.

I was sent two wines to try, their 2008 Margaret River Chardonnay and 2008 Yarra Valley Coldstream Pinot Noir. The Chardy will set you back $12.99 per bottle and the Pinot is $14.99 per bottle. And yes I know the pic isn’t of either of the bottles, but go with it.

The Chardonnay, I am told, is declassified fruit from a producer that normally sells a $65 Chardy. This stuff apparently just barely missed the cut. This is the first of the two wines that I tried and I thought it was very good value, especially for $13. It’s got fantastic length to it, a really beautiful mouthfeel, without being overly oaky or buttery (which often turns people off Chardonnay). Don’t get me wrong, there’s oak there, but not a lot of it and it’s well integrated. There’s also a nice acid backbone running through this wine. Lovely citrus, ripe peach and melon flavours come through - it’s not too shabby at all. If you’re a Sauvignon Blanc drinker, this is not for you. But if you normally drink $20 - $30 Chardonnay and are looking for an every day quaffer during this global financial crisis, this is something you should check out. 89 points.

The Pinot also opened up very well. It has a really light colour, even for a Pinot. Then I stuck my nose in the glass and was pleasantly surprised too. It has a beautiful gamey nose, reminding me of some of the $50ish Pinots that I’ve tried over the years. The palate didn’t quite follow through though, it’s quite short in length and very light in flavour. Now this isn’t always a bad thing, but I’ll admit I was expecting more given the nose. For $15, it’s certainly worth looking at, especially during summer when you want a really light red, but don’t expect it to bowl you over. Just remember that Pinot is an expensive grape to produce since the berries are small and fickle, so if you’re a Pinot fan, it’s good value for money. 87 points.

So yes, they’re still cleanskins, but they’re some of the better cleanskins out there and are very good value for money. Check out www.backvintage.com.au for more details.

So I’m really starting to show my weakness for Shiraz here, aren’t I? I will add some Pinot and Cabernet posts soon, it just happens that I’ve been drinking a lot of Shiraz lately!

Pondalowie is based in Victoria in an area known as Bridgewater on Loddon. They’re a red wine specialist, doing some wonderful things with Shiraz and Tempranillo in particular. The label is interesting too, with some pretty loud colours on all of their wines and a design that looks like barbed wire. It’s actually a stylised representation of their dog… in Australia, vineyards and dogs go together. Some dogs even have their own calendars and there are a couple of books about it too!

So, this wine… well, it’s a perfect representation of what I think of when it comes to non-Heathcote Victorian Shiraz. More open than the dark, brooding Heathcote styles, a beautiful perfumed nose and it’s youth is betrayed by a beautiful purple tinge around the edge of the wine. Better top myself up, I’ve finished my first glass already.

Right, that’s better. So, on the nose, lovely spicy blackberry/mulberry flavours, hints of oak, you know from the nose that this is going to be something interesting, especially for $30. And it is. It’s got a lovely fullness to the palate without being overpowering. You can tell there are tannins there but you can’t feel them on your teeth like you can with so many young Australian Shirazes. It’s got a lovely flavour and length to it without being ridiculous. Perhaps the best way I can put it is that it strikes a lovely balance between the extremes of just about every scale you can judge a Shiraz on, while still being unmistakably Shiraz. It may not knock you off your chair by being really different (which seems to be what a lot of people expect these days), but it’s still a very impressive wine that will treat you well. I love it. Put it with some mellow music and a lovely tomato based pasta dish and just chill out. 92 points