Appellation Australia

Becks & Posh is the host for Wine Blogging Wednesday #25 with the theme of Champagne, with an emphasis on some of the smaller producers in the region as well as a suggestion to attempt to pair the selected Champagne with food.

For those readers who aren’t familiar with Wine Blogging Wednesday, it is a monthly event started by Lenn from Lenndevours that is hosted by a member of the wine blogging community with a different theme selected by the host each month. I believe I am hosting next months Wine Blogging Wednesday #26 - the theme for the event will be announced shortly.

I was contacted by Neil from the excellent food for thought blog after the announcement for WBW #25, asking if I would be interested in doing a joint entry of sorts with us both tasting the same Champagne along with a food dish of his creation. I thought that this was a great idea and was very interested to see what disparate or similar conclusions we would come to about the wine and the food pairing.

The Food: I’ll let Neil talk about the recipe for his Fish and Shellfish medley for the most part, but I obtained my seafood from the Sydney Fish Markets in Pyrmont (a highly recommended place to visit for lunch and to acquire fresh seafood) and I used Ocean Perch, New Zealand Green Lipped Mussels and Queensland Scallops.

The Wine: When Neil sent the list of Champagne that he had access to, one name immediately caught my attention - Egly-Ouriet, one of my favourite producers in Champagne. The wine that he listed was the Grand Cru Cuvee Non Dose NV which is a wine from the Egly range that I haven’t tried before (I have spoken about other Egly-Ouriet wines here, here and here).

Egly-Ouriet is one of the growing number of family owned grower-producers in Champagne making a name for themselves and taking on the big Champagne houses. Unlike many of the big houses who may not own the majority of their vineyards and source their grapes from multiple growers, a grower-producer has control of the grapes from start to finish. This means that the style of the wine may not be as consistent as the large houses, but the wines can often show more personality and character as well as reflect the season and vineyard variations. Of course these traits could also be negative, so it can be important to choose your grower carefully.

We both purchased the wine and found that it has undergone a name change to V.P Extra Brut Grand Cru NV. The wine is from 100% Grand Cru designated (the highest quality designation) vineyards in the Ambonnay sub-region of Champagne.

The VP stands for Vieillisement Prolonge (prolonged aging) and refers to the 70 months that this wine spends on lees before final bottling.

Extra-Brut (Extra-Dry) indicates that the wine has not been dosed with sugar syrup as frequently occurs at the last stage of the Champagne winemaking process before bottling in order to balance sweetness and acidity. Wines that do not receive dosage usually have under 2 grams of natural residual sugar per litre (compared to a maximum 15g per litre for wines that are just labelled Brut).

As the NV (Non-Vintage) designation indicates, this wine is a blend of multiple vintages and this particular bottling/disgorgement is comprised of 50% grapes from the 1998 vintage, with the remainder coming from the 1995, 1996 and 1997 vintages.

Variety: 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay Region: Ambonnay, Champagne Country: France Closure: Cork Alcohol: 12.5% Disgorged: May 2005 Cost: $85AUD

Wine Tasting Note: Mid-golden in colour with a mellow bead and a very light mousse. The nose exibits aromas of freshly baked bread, brioche, toast, peaches and pear. A beautifully balanced, medium intensity palate with textured, layered fruit depth and vibrancy yet with excellent aged complexity simultaneously. The acidity that one would expect to show in a non dosed wine is present and is tightly focussed across the length of the palate, the quality and purity of the fruit is so good that the acid shows no signs of being overbearing. It has wonderful palate length leading into a finish that lingers with you for some time afterward and leaves you wanting more.

The Food Match: This wine paired exceptionally well with my attempt at Neil’s recipe. The subtle seafood sweetness of the fresh fish and scallops provided an interesting counterpoint to the wine, with each lifting the positive attributes of the other. The sauce was delicate, but enhanced and brought out the flavour of the fish. I thought this an excellent example of the benefits of carefully selecting food to match the wine and vice versa.

Conclusion: A genuinely classy wine and a simple to make but delicious dish. Both the wine and the meal were enjoyed greatly. The wine receives a score of 93/100. Neil’s summary, along with some great photos is here.

Dr Vino’s Wine Blog hosts Wine Blogging Wednesday #18 with a theme that asks us to talk about a wine store that “feels the love”.

For those readers who aren’t familiar with Wine Blogging Wednesday, it is a monthly event started by Lenn from Lenndevours that is hosted by a member of the wine blogging community with a different theme selected by the host each month. I’m set to host WBW #26 in October and I can’t wait.

With an increasing amount of market share being taken by the two major supermarket chains in Australia, it is a good time to support independent bottle shops that provide a level of service and selection of wines that the supermarkets can’t provide.

My favourite wine store is Annandale Cellars - the staff there are knowledgeable, friendly and happy to spend a fair bit of time with me whenever I come into the store just to talk about new releases or wines that we’ve tried recently and liked or not liked. They have a small but handpicked selection of mostly boutique Australian wines and have been happy in the past to try to hunt down specific wines that I have been looking for that they don’t stock. Most importantly I trust the advice I get from the staff in this store, they remember what I’ve mentioned I’ve liked and disliked on past visits and tailor their suggestions for my interests.

So to Chris and the rest of the staff at Annandale Cellars, thanks for the outstanding service and I’m looking forward to visiting your store and trying more wines that you suggest in 2006.

Annandale Cellars
119 Johnston St, Annandale, New South Wales
(02) 9660 1947
sales@annandalecellars.com.au

A number of people I know were interested in tasting the Chris Ringland Shiraz, formerly known as “Three Rivers” before he was forced to change the name. This wine is a super small production Shiraz from the Barossa Valley and made by Chris Ringland of Rockford fame. Ever since Mr Robert Parker took a liking to it, the prices have skyrocketed and so the only way we were going to get to taste this was if a number of people put some money in to get a glass of the wine in return.

There were only 1000 bottles made of this in 1999 (83 and a 1/3 cases) with maximum production reaching no more than 100 cases in any vintage and thus forms my entry to Wine Blogging Wednesday #15.

We also decided that this was a good opportunity to see how the 1999 Barossa vintage wines were progressing and give the Ringland some competition so we decided to do a 1999 Barossa Shiraz horizontal. As opposed to a vertical, where you taste different vintages of the same wine, a horizontal is where you taste several different wines but of the same vintage.

The Wines: All wines are 1999 vintage from the Barossa Valley and Shiraz based except for the opening Champagne and the Mount Edelstone which is from the Eden Valley in South Australia. The wines were tasted unmasked.

Flight One : A couple of sparklings to kick the night off …

Le Bernard Pitois Brut Reserve NV - A nice, fresh citrusy nose. Good length. Restrained toasty bread and yeasty characters. Nice, but not overly complex. 87/100

Rockford Black ‘99 Disgorgement - Cherries, plum and hints of tobacco on the nose. Quite balanced and shows some elegance on the palate. 88/100

Flight Two : The start of the main event …

Turkey Flat - Closed for business on the nose initially which did open up slightly after some time to show some peppery oak. A bit thin and weak on the palate with some acid protruding on the front. Not a whole lot of interest, and for me, the weakest of this flight. 83/100

Burge Family Draycott - A bit of charred oak on the nose. Smooth palate lacking in complexity. Pulls up a touch short on the finish. 85/100

Greenock Creek Seven Acre - The most full-bodied of this flight. Liquorice and berries on the nose. Grippy tannins on the palate. Lovely long finish. Powerful but still has poise and balance, not over the top. Wine of the flight. 89/100

Henschke Mt Edelstone - This did stand out as the odd one out in this flight on the nose. I got a whiff of spearmint and menthol and yes there were some earthy, horsy, savoury aromas and flavours, but in this case I though they added rather than detracted from the wine. 87/100

Flight Three : A step sideways …

Grant Burge Meschach - Concentrated blueberry jam on the nose. Good length and balance on the palate. 87/100

Viking Grand - Vegetable nose. Clunky, disjointed palate with some sharpness on the front palate and oak and over-ripe fruit sticking out. Thanks but no thanks. 82/100

Peter Lehmann Stonewell - Lots of chocolaty oak on the nose along with ripe fruit. The oak does recede a little on the palate though to show some better balance but still fails to impress. 85/100

Langmeil The Freedom - This may sound strange but I found vanilla soap the predominant character on the nose. Powerful fresh, ripe fruit. Good length. Nice but needs time to come together fully. 87/100

Flight Four : and now a step up …

Rockford Basket Press - A bit muted on the nose but much nicer on the palate of ripe berry fruit with good balanced oak providing structure. Smooth finish and good length. 89/100

Yalumba Octavius - I did not at all like the 1990 of this that I had recently due to the over the top oak. However I found the ‘99 to be more restrained. I did find it to be a bit too tannic for my liking at this stage. 87/100

Torbreck The Factor - Alright, now we are getting serious. The best nose on any wine this evening with a beautiful floral lift that made me mistake that this has the slightest dash of viognier in it (apparently not). Powerful but totally balanced palate. Wonderful length. Super stuff. 94/100

Flight Five : The big guns …

Veritas Hanisch - I decided to save this for the last flight due to its power but it ended up being out classed. Deepest colour wine that I noticed tonight. Powerful, concentrated, still youthful fruit … but too simple at this level. 88/100

Greenock Creek Roennfeldt Road - Supremely powerful nose and palate. A touch spirity and a touch oaky but otherwise I enjoyed drinking this, but didn’t feel challenged by it. 91/100

Penfolds Grange - Closed, closed, closed initially. Was allowed to sit in the glass for a few hours and started to open a little and show a bit more of that typical Grange nose. Elegant, smooth, balanced and structurally complete palate with lovely mouth-feel. Really shows that elusive spark of something special over the other wines so far. In my notes I underlined twice “Come back in 15 years” when I think it’ll be spectacular. 96/100

Chris Ringland - Went blow for blow with the Grange in the battle for wine of the night and came out with a respectable result against the champion. There was a candy like element to the nose and but I thought that it provided a very nice floral perfumed element rather than being confected. Savoury, spicy, earthy and slightly meaty palate along with some wonderful concentrated berries. Breathtakingly long finish. Based on this tasting I feel it deserves its place among the top Australian Shiraz. 96/100

The conclusion : My top three wines for the night were the Grange and the Ringland as equal best Wines of the Night, with the Torbreck Factor coming in third.

I think the slightly underrated 1999 vintage looks pretty good overall, there are some good candidates for aging and some that are drinking very nicely now.

It was a good experience to have tasted the Chris Ringland wine, I can actually see what all the fuss is about and it’s just a shame for us regular wine lovers that it has been made so expensive due to one mans review.

Fast Facts: Country: Australia Region: Shoalhaven Coast Winemaker: Tamburlaine Winery Variety: Chardonnay Closure: Cork RRP: $24 (375ml bottle)

Clotilde from Chocolate & Zucchini hosts Wine Blogging Wednesday #13 with a theme of “Like Wine for Chocolate”, the idea being to bake a chocolate cake and then choose a wine to match it. Clotilde even kindly provided a recipe for a chocolate cake.

Read on to find out how things turned out.

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For the one year anniversary of Wine Blogging Wednesday, we return to the founder of the event, as the host of the event at Lenndevours

The theme for this month was to “Drink Local, Real Local”, with the idea being to try a wine from the vineyard that is closest to where you live. I had a number of regions to choose from that are reasonably close to Sydney; the Hunter Valley, Southern Highlands and Mudgee to name a few. However, after some research, it turns out that there are a small number of vineyards remaining in the Sydney basin area, about 30 minutes travel from my home.

Using the Geoscience Australia Location Database, I discovered the very closest vineyard to be Vicary’s Winery at Luddenham, 27.4 kilometres away. So off I went to see what it had to offer. Read on to find out the results.

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The Review:

Wine Blogging Wednesday #11 is being hosted by Beau of Basic Juice, the theme this time around being off-dry white wines. Off-dry being described as not sweet, not dry, but in between.

My choice for this event was the Two Hands “Brilliant Disguise” Moscato 2004. Coming in at just 5% alchoholic volume and made from the White Frontignac grape in a Moscato style.

Tasting Note: Lightly bodied, this wine is bursting with pure grapes and tropical fruit on both the nose and palate. Just a small touch of sweetness. A very gentle spritz lends this wine a refreshing finish. Delicious, a wine for summer days in the sun if there ever was one.

Drinking Window: I definitely wouldn’t be hanging about with this wine, best drunk right now, then pickup some of the recently released ‘05 edition.

Verdict: 88 points, with a value rating of Excellent.

Fast Facts: Country: Australia Region: Drumborg, Victoria Winemaker: Arthur O’Connor Variety: Pinot Gris Closure: Screwcap Bought For: $20 AU

Wine Blogging Wednesday #10 is being hosted by Alice of My Adventures in the Breadbox and the theme that she selected was white wines that are made from Pinot grapes such as Pinot Gris or Pinot Blanc.

My selection for this event was made easy by this being the only bottle of Pinot Gris I had sitting in my cellar, and me running out of time to go out and find something else!

Tasting Note: A pale straw colour with a tinge of green. Strong aromas of fresh apples and pears comprised the bouquet. The palate was well structured and had excellent length from start to finish.

Drinking Window: Drinking well now, but may improve in complexity with another year in the bottle.

Verdict: It has got a fair amount of class and I deem it worthy of 91 points, with a value rating of Excellent.

See “How to interpret my scores” for an explanation of how the above scores were reached.

I’m looking forward to the roundup being posted by Alice for this event in the next couple of days.

Make sure you check out the wrap-up of the 40 rosé wines that were tasted and reviewed for Wine Blogging Wednesday #9 over at Becks & Posh.

Fast Facts: Country: Australia Region: Barossa Valley, South Australia Winemaker: Charles Melton Variety: Grenache, Shiraz and Cabernet with a small amount of Pinot Meunier Closure: Screwcap Bought For: $18 AU

Once again Wine Blogging Wednesday is upon us and this time, the theme selected by Sam over at Becks & Posh was to “Think Pink” and try some Rosé styled wines.

This is actually the second Wine Blogging Wednesday in a row that I’ve reviewed a Rosé wine - for WBW #7, I reviwed the Rockford “Alicante Bouchet” 2004.

Charles Melton was one of the cellar doors that I visited during my trip to the Barossa last year. Apart from a bottle of Champagne exploding in my car along the extremely bumpy driveway, it was a very nice cellar door experience. This Wine Blogging Wednesday gave me the perfect excuse to open this and find out if it was worth my car smelling like oxidised Champagne for the rest of my trip!

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Yet again Wine Blogging Wednesday is upon us. The theme this time is “Obscure Red Grapes”. Apologies to Andrew over at Spitoon for the late submission with his interesting theme.

Another red based Wine Blogging Wednesday, just you Northern hemisphere guys wait until it’s your summer and I make my theme something like “16.5% alcohol aged Shiraz from the Barossa Valley on a 100 degree day”!

Still, I was fortunate to find in the cellar a Rosé styled wine that I acquired on a trip to the Barossa last year. To the best of my knowledge Rockford is the only maker of a varietal Alicante Bouschet wine in all of Australia, and even then, it’s only available at the Rockford Cellar Door. So for mine, that makes it rare enough for inclusion.

Read on, for more about the grape variety, about the winery, and of course about the wine itself.

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