Appellation Australia

Some very good news from Anthony at the Melbourne wine retailer Boccaccio Cellars is that Charles Melton will be using screwcaps on all his non-sparkling wine from the 2004 vintage wines onward, including the reasonably expensive “Nine Popes”.

Hopefully it won’t be long before natural cork sealed Australian wines are in the vast minority.

Another new Australian wine blog, this time started by the renowned taster David Lole from Canberra. He is just getting started, but there are a number of tasting notes posted already at http://www.davidlole.com.

I think I have most of the active Australian Wine Blogs (even though Gary from Winorama hates it being called a blog ) linked on the right hand side, but please let me know if I am missing anyone out.

I went to a hastily arranged dinner at Sakana-Ya in Crows Nest following the Torbreck tasting at North Sydney Cellars that I wrote about here. The quality of the dishes was good and there was some interesting food that I haven’t tried previously (Fried Eel being an example). The service was attentive and polite. Take your own glassware if you are serious about wine as the provided stemware is sub-par. It was slightly on the expensive side, but I guess when you are paying for high quality, fresh sushi-grade seafood it is to be expected.

All wines were tasted blind except for the Plantagenet and the Leo Buring.

Clos Cazals Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru 1997 (Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Champagne):
Slightly toasty, apples, pears, lots of flint and minerals on the nose. Very elegant and what I would call a “pure” tasting palate with good length and balance. It started to take on a bit of extra palate weight with air time but still had fine and focused flavour.
90/100

Gaston Chiquet Tradition Brut Premier Cru NV - Disgorged November 2004 (Dizy, Champagne):
80% 2000 and 20% 1999 fruit. 45% Pinot Meunier, 35% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir. Nose is fairly intense with slightly funky/sulphurous notes and earth, with yeast and brioche. I found the palate a little bit broad and just a bit short.

An interesting contrast in style to the Clos Cazals.
87/100

Plantagenet Riesling 1992 (Mount Barker, Western Australia):
The nose is obviously quite developed - honeyed with some marmalade and orange and just a small whiff of petrol. Palate has some decent intensity to it, but is lacking the acid structure to retain balance.

It was doing alright for a 14 year old Western Australian Riesling, but the Plantagenet 1991 we tried 6 months ago faired a considerable amount better.
84/100

Leo Buring Leonay DW16 Watervale 1994 (Clare Valley, South Australia):
1994 was one of the few vintages when a Leonay was produced from both Eden Valley and Clare Valley fruit.

There was some gasoline and citrus (lemon and lime) on the nose. The palate is loaded with acid and a slight spritz as well as a bitter character on the finish. Not really falling over, but I doubt that this bottle would have come into any kind of balance in its remaining life.

I had enjoyed a stunning bottle of the Eden Valley Leonay last year, but this was just not as good.
86/100

Fox Creek Reserve Shiraz 1999 (McLaren Vale, South Australia):
This is clearly a serious wine. I found it to be brambly, a bit leafy and spicy which led me on the wrong path with options, as well as some bitter chocolate. Good tannins and what I thought was well integrated oak provided good structure. Clearly needs some time to develop fully, but I didn’t mind drinking it as is.
89/100

Wild Duck Creek “Yellow Hammer Hill” Shiraz Malbec 2000 (Heathcote, Victoria):
65% Shiraz, 35% Malbec. This is apparently inspired and moulded on the Wendouree Shiraz Malbec blend and only available through some restaurants and to some customers at cellar door.

A nose comprised of earthy, gamey, weedy and a hint of cheesy characters. It is certainly a wine with a point of difference. Nicely integrated palate components - everything working together well. I enjoyed it for being out of the ordinary.
88/100

Leo Buring Leonay DWU13 Watervale Riesling 1991 (Clare Valley, South Australia):
Light golden in colour which seems to hint away from the age. On the slightly shy nose it had freshly squeezed lime juice, some toast, butter and honey. Palate exhibits good length and intensity but perhaps just lacks focus. 89/100

Curlewis Chardonnay 2002 (Geelong, Victoria):
Passionfruit, peaches, sweet French oak, some smoky bacon and a nougat, nutty edge to the slightly reductive nose. The palate shows lovely flavour concentration and texture but seems to be a bit all over the place. A fellow taster picked it as “new world trying to be old world”. Not as classy as the 2003 or 2004, but I still liked it. 87/100

Bannockburn Shiraz 1998 (magnum) (Multi-Region, Australia):
This was composed of parcels of fruit from over thirty producers that were given to Bannockburn after their 1998 Shiraz crop was ruined by hail. It displayed a youthful colour with ruby red edges deepening in colour into the core. The wine had a dense, complex nose with blood, a touch of stalks, black pepper, spice, raspberry, menthol, tobacco and tomato. Good textured mouth-feel with nice length and everything well balanced. Plenty of life left to drink over the next 5 years based on this magnum. 90/100

Fox Creek Reserve Shiraz 1998 (McLaren Vale, South Australia):
Deep black olive in colour. A room filling nose of plum, vanilla oak, liquorice, blackberry, olive and chocolate with a touch of florality and smoked meat in the background. The palate is unmistakably primary and filled with concentrated, rich fruit flavour. Has great balance and structure which should allow this wine to develop complexity and interest over the next 7-9 years. 90/100

Gunderloch Nackenheimer Rothenberg Riesling Auslese 2002 (375ml) (Rheinhessen, Germany):
Had a more restrained, sulphurous nose than the 2004 - some lime, green apples, slate and lemon. The palate has good acid structure balancing the medium level of sweetness and is rather easy to drink. Better than the ‘03, but not as good as the ‘04. 88/100

Gunderloch Nackenheimer Rothenberg Riesling Auslese 2004 (375ml screwcap) (Rheinhessen, Germany):
A pure, expressive, vibrantly enticing nose of slate, peach, pear honey and some botrytis influence. Focused, pure minerally acidity drives the palate and balances with the medium level of sweetness that gave the palate a restrained richness and depth of flavour. Very good. 92/100

Weingut Ed Weegmuller Haardter Herrenletten Riesling Kabinett Troken (Pfalz, Germany):
Sealed with a synthetic cork. Pear, herbs and floral notes on the nose. The palate is dry as promised, but maybe the acid needs to be reined in a bit. Rather simplistic, without depth or too much character of interest but drinkable. 85/100

It is interesting to look through the server logs and see what keywords are bringing people to my site (perhaps your idea of interesting is very different to my own, but that is alright).

Admittedly, search engines have gotten much better over the past few years and the majority of searches that lead here look about right, but the descriptions in tasting notes are liable to generate some unexpected or unusual results coming here (despite the summary of the content under the search result usually not coming close to matching the query details).

Some for this month so far;

all six wheeler duck - I’m not at all sure what that means or why someone would be searching for it.

having peaches and cream and liking it - I can 99.9% guarantee that they weren’t happy to find out that this is a wine review site.

Australian carrot salad texture - Why would it be any different from the texture of a carrot salad elsewhere in the world?

australian wine brand starts with “L” - I’m sorry, search engines are getting better - but I think you will have to try to be more specific. I hope the first result on my site “Leeuwin Estate” was what they were looking for.

australian funky straws - “No shopkeeper, you don’t understand, they must be australian.”

how did the parsnip get to Australia - I guess it is a legitimate question, but the search summary of “House-Made Black Pudding with Foie Gras, Seared Scallops and Parsnip Puree” wasn’t a sign that they were heading to the wrong place?

matching furnitures for butterscotch hardwood floors - If nothing else I hope they found something nice to drink while selecting furniture.

Fast Facts: Variety: Shiraz Region: Hawkes Bay Country: New Zealand Winemaker: Steve Smith Closure: Cork Cost: $85AUD Source: Friend Winery Website: Craggy Range

I had a chance to take a very quick blind taste of this wine earlier tonight and I’ve been thinking about it in the hours since.

Tasting Note: Deep purple in colour. Nose is vibrant, lots of blueberry, liquorice, spice, blackberry and some chocolate. At first I thought the palate was a bit oak heavy but it is good quality oak and it was less obvious and seemed in balance on the second taste. Fine tannins, excellent structure - it should age beautifully.

When to Drink: I don’t have all that much experience with aged New Zealand Syrah, but I felt this has the structure and fruit depth to drink well now and over the next 6-8 years.

Verdict: It is a really classy wine, but the question was - is it worth the hefty price tag of between $65 to $85 AUD? I wasn’t certain straight away, but the more I thought about it, this is a world class Syrah and is probably worth that level of money. 92 points.

I’m the kind of person that believes that without actually trying something, you are not really able to put yourself in the best position to comment constructively on it. So I am happy to finally get to try the wines of a company that gets a significant amount of (mostly negative) discussion around the “serious” wine community.

Both bottles were samples provided by the winery and both were tasted from Riedel “O Series” Cabernet/Merlot (414/0) stemless glassware.

“The Reserve” Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

Fast Facts: Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon Region: Multiple Country: Australia Winemaker: John Casella Closure: Nucork Synthetic Alcohol: 13.5% Cost: Around $9 USD Source: Winery Sample Available in: USA Winery Website: Casella

Tasting Note: A very deep purple colour. The nose provides some floral notes, cherry, pastilles, cedar oak and jammy sweet red fruit. Easy to drink - smooth, ripe, juicy, well balanced and nothing sticking out of place.

When to Drink: Now - 2007. It may live through to around 2009, but I think that it has the most to offer early in its life.

Verdict: This wine has still has plenty of ripe fruit flavour, but has the low level structure to sit above the non reserve bottling as being a wine that people may take a step up to drinking. 87 points.

“The Reserve” Merlot 2004

Fast Facts: Variety: Merlot Region: Multiple Country: Australia Winemaker: John Casella Closure: Nucork Synthetic Alcohol: 13.5% Cost: Around $9 USD Source: Winery Sample Available in: USA and Australia Winery Website: Casella

Tasting Note: Deep ruby red in colour. The nose leaves you in no doubt that the grapes were ripe with boisterous plum and blueberry fruit as well as dark chocolate and some medium level vanilla oak. The palate is dry, balanced and is easy to drink with soft tannins and a smooth texture.

When to Drink: Now - 2007

Verdict: A well made wine that delivers some varietal typicity at a good price. 86 points.

Summary: Yellow tail is a favourite target of ridicule for some wine lovers (whether they have tried any of the wines or not), but they are a family owned company that has put in a significant amount of hard work over the past 40 years to achieve their success (something that the big wine companies in Australia weren’t able to do in the USA). Unquestionably, they know their target market well and deliver exactly what drinkers desire at those price points.

An interesting article by wine writer Max Allen in this month’s Gourmet Traveller magazine where he subjects himself to an informal experiment regarding the effects of drinking 19 standard drinks worth of expensive wines and cheap wines on him the morning after. The two nights were a week apart, and Max had the same meal with both sets of wines.

The expensive wines included bottles over $100AUD each with Dom Perignon, Petaluma Tiers, Penfolds 707, Single Malt Whisky and so forth, with the cheap wines mostly around $5AUD a bottle including Orlando Carrington Sparkling and Riverina Chardonnay from a two litre cask.

He reported that the morning after the expensive wines that he felt eager to get out of bed, with just a distant headache, slight nausea and not much else. Yet the day after the cheap wine he”felt like a vengeful gremlin had spent the night jamming beer-sodden drink coasters into the gap between my eyeballs and their sockets” experienced heart palpitations, a migraine and was struggling to get out of bed.

Personally, I find that I do tend to not have to write off the next day if I spend the previous night drinking wines or spirits of a “higher quality” but I’m interested to see if others have the same experience.

Have you found similar results even when the gap is not so wide, say $25 wines versus drinking $10 wines, does it take a bigger gap, or does it not seem to matter at all for you?

A recent dinner with some friends in Canberra, including the very best red wine I have been lucky enough to taste.

I know I have been talking about a fair few international wines recently which is a deviation from the theme of the site, but I hope to get back to more Australian content shortly with some international wines just every now and again.

All wines were tasted blind by me as I was the recipient of kindness from some of the most generous people you could hope to meet, and was asked not to bring a bottle.

Seppelt Keppoch “Rhine” Riesling 1977
Light golden in colour. The nose is nice, still exhibits vibrancy but also the secondary aged characters - very waxy as well as butter, toast, lemon rind and some nuttiness. Acid is still there, propping up the palate, exhibits good length but perhaps lacks a bit of depth to take this to brilliance.
91/100

Joh. Jos. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldcapsule 1988
Orange marmalade coloured. Nose shows peaches, apricot, honey, marmalade and some slate. The palate has plenty of sweetness and while it is not over the top, it feels like the acid isn’t quite there to balance things out. Good, but looked a bit tired based on this bottle.
87/100

Domaine William Fevre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2000
A little bit of sulphur initially that mostly blew off quickly in the glass. Has a tight nose - some pear, lime, minerals and a dab of aged cheese. The palate is super lovely, with precision and focus driving towards the finish that is of exceptional length. Superb structure and greater rewards will come with patience.
93/100

Egly-Ouriet Brut Grand Cru Millésime Champagne 1996
This wine was showing a fine bead with good mousse. Has a rich and powerful nose of brioche, toast, yeast and some oxidative characters. To me, the palate is almost the opposite, exhibiting great freshness and zing, with awesome length and depth of flavour. I suspect it is drinking close to its peak already, no need to hold onto this before enjoying it.
93/100

Domaine François Raveneau Premier Cru Montée de Tonnerre Chablis 1997
A tight, somewhat mute nose which started to open up a bit to show quite a bit of sulphur as well as soap, lemons and bananas. Palate is rather restrained as well. This bottle probably didn’t have the structure to come out of the other side of whatever rut it was in.
87/100

Domaine Ghislaine Barthod Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes 1995
There was just a hint of browning around the edges of this wine. The nose seems quite nice, stalks, pepper, blood and cherry. The palate is rather a let down though after the complex nose, out of balance acid and tannins smothering other elements. Shows some flavour intensity on the mid-palate but then finishes short.
86/100

Château Le Gay 1982
A great vibrant youthful red hue. Nose shows aromas of tobacco, cedar, well integrated oak, plums, chocolate and blackcurrant. A very elegant palate with lovely balance and length. Drinking superbly now, but in no danger of falling over soon.
92/100

Château Cheval Blanc 1985
The first thing I wrote was “A complete step up in class from the previous wine”. The Le Gay was lovely, but this was totally magnificent!

A superbly layered, lifted, complex nose of tobacco, coffee, earth, liquorice, cherry, raspberry and fresh thyme and rosemary. Has an entrancing, completely seductive palate with flawless structure and balance. Brilliant, endless length. Somebody help me, I’m running out of superlatives. Well stored bottles that survive the cork lottery will surely live for decades.

I’m glad I tasted this blind, because I wonder if I would have let myself love it so much if I had known in advance what it was.
98/100

Château Rayas Reserve Chateauneuf-du-Pape 1988
A nose of olives, leather, nail polish, roast vegetables, sizzling bacon fat and burnt toast. To be honest, my description of the nose doesn’t accurately describe just how terrible it was. The palate was drinkable but stripped of any likeable characters - thin and acidic. I left a half glass for a number of hours, trying to coax something to like out of this, but in the end had to give up the cause as hopeless.
75/100

Henschke Mount Edelstone Shiraz 1982
Very youthful colour with no signs of browning. Nose has aromas of smoke, raw meat and some bretty notes. Lots of sweet red fruit on the well balanced palate.
89/100

Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Limited Release Cabernet Sauvignon 1982
Deep youthful violet colour. Nose that conveys essence of capsicum as well as some roast vegetables, cedar, stalky green notes and tobacco. Palate seems harsh and a bit short. Not at all like the superb bottle that we had at the Australian wine night that showed brilliantly, another victim of random variation.
87/100

Château d’Yquem 1981
Mid-golden colour. A fairly typical (in my experience) medium intensity Sauternes nose of botrytis, apricot, honey and marmalade. A rich palate, with good acid structure but bitterness on the back-palate ruins the finish. Very nice, but I probably didn’t like it quite enough to buy for my (poor vintage) birth-year drinking.
91/100

Dr. H. Thanisch (Erben Müller-Burggraef) Bernkasteler Doctor Riesling-Trockenbeerenauslese 1994
I thought it was German TBA straight away, but imagine my surprise when options veered to 1980s Australia. Wild stabbing in the dark identity guessing ensued until the deceit was unveiled

A deep golden-orange colour. Has an intense nose of honey, spice, slate and caramel. Very intense sweetness on the palate which dominates the acid just slightly. For me, more interest and complexity than the D’Yquem. This was ready, willing and able to be consumed now and in the near future.
95/100

Penfolds Great Grandfather Grand Old Liqueur Limited Release 2 “Tawny Port” NV
A generous gesture by our host at the end of the evening to open this rare fortified wine for us. A complex, intense nose of roasted walnuts, oak, caramel, toffee, rancio and raisins as well as some initial alcoholic heat. The front of the palate lacks balance with alcohol and oak dominating - still has a very nice rich texture to it as well as shrugging off the imbalance at the mid-palate stage and showing a 30+ second finish.
92/100

A couple of months ago the United States signed a pact with the European Union to restrict the use of geographic names on their wine labels.

It looks as though Australia is close to a similar deal whereby geographic names such as port and tokay are going to be banned from next year. This mainly impacts fortified winemakers as this new pact is in addition to the agreement with France that we already signed in 1994, that restricted most table wine names such as Champagne, Chablis and Burgundy.

I have seen some fortified wineries pre-empting this move by slowly phasing out these geographic names over the past couple of years. Seppelt is one example and at a recent masterclass, the new names were in effect such as “DP 117 Barossa Valley Fino” instead of “DP 117 Sherry” and “DP 90 Rare Barossa Valley Tawny” instead of “DP 90 Rare Barossa Valley Tawny Port”

I don’t think this is going to prove to be a major problem for our wineries, they were not happy about giving up Champange or Burgundy either, but labelling with a grape name rather than a style name has actually been of great benefit to our industry I believe. It set us apart from the old world makers and made things more consumer-friendly.

As long as our fortified winemakers can agree to a standard set of new names to use for their wines, I think we might see similar positive effects as we would now have a point of difference and uniqueness against the old world producers.