Appellation Australia

I started this event by looking at some varied set of six Pinot Noir with wine writer Peter Bourne and the winemakers from Willow Creek and Ten Minutes by Tractor on the opening Friday night.

Willow Creek “Tulum” Pinot Noir 2004 - (Mornington Peninsula, Victoria):
Ah, I’ve wandered into the Shiraz tutorial by mistake. No? Oh.

Hits you with a rich, ripe nose with boudin noir/black pudding, rhubarb, mint and spice aromas. The palate has masculine power and plenty of flavour but it lacks length and lacks class. Perhaps it is a Pinot Noir for those that don’t like Pinot Noir? I happen to like Pinot Noir.
85/100

10 Minutes by Tractor “Wallis Vineyard” Pinot Noir 2003 - (Mornington Peninsula, Victoria):
A light-mid red colour. A more reclusive nose than the Tulum, but also cleaner in nature with red cherry, a slight floral edge and some oak showing through. The palate is elegant and has good texture, but again the oak comes to the fore. It may be better in a couple of years if the fruit can hold up.
87/100

Pipers Brook Estate Pinot Noir 2004 - (Northern Tasmania):
Stalks and earth on the shy, weak nose. The palate also lacks intensity, depth and character. Very disappointing and I don’t think that it’ll get better.
83/100

Quartz Reef Pinot Noir 2004 - (Central Otago, New Zealand):
Dense purple in colour. The nose has aromas of beetroot, blue cheese, earth, black cherries and a touch of spice. The palate has good length, but it leans too far into the juicy, plummy, ripe spectrum and loses varietal typicity as a result. There is also some alcohol heat poking through.
85/100

Domaine Jean Grivot Vosne-Romanée 2002 - (Burgundy, France):
Has an elegant, spicy nose with plums and cherries. The palate is simple without a great deal of depth or intrigue but at least shows balance and elegance, something that was forgotten about in some of the previous wines. I don’t think it is going to get too much better, but it will be good to drink over the next couple of years.
88/100

Domaine Jean Grivot Nuits St. Georges “Les Pruliers” 1er Cru 2002 - (Burgundy, France):
Shows off a restrained, clean nose with spice, black cherries and floral scents. The palate is where the class of this wine shines through with lovely depth and complexity as well as an intensity of flavour that is refined rather than brutish. Super length, a genuine step up in quality, and it will deliver lots of enjoyment over the next 10 years.
92/100

Wine Australia, the biennial exhibition of Australian wine and wine related products has come and gone and after four days of tasting over 400 wines, I’m taking a little break from drinking for a few weeks!

Overall, I thought the event was excellent - although there is still some room for improvement. I’m going to quickly make a few comments about some of the positives and some of the problems.

Missing some big industry names - With the newly merged Fosters and Southcorp deciding not to exhibit, the show felt (and I’m pretty sure was) smaller in size than 2004. Some of the people at stands thought that visitor numbers were down a bit as well and I wonder if some people stayed away because their favourite brands weren’t being shown.

That the big brands were missing meant that this was a good chance for the smaller names of the industry to show what they can do to the (still large) crowds that showed up.

Wine drinkers rather than wine lovers - While I am all for the general public coming along to these events and finding out more about wine, it was painfully obvious on the public days (and even a few sad cases on the trade day) that if you give some people an opportunity to drink for 9 hours straight with no limit, then they will take the opportunity to do so. The incidence of people falling over, glasses shattering against the ground and other general poor behaviour increased steadily as the day wore on.

That said, unlike 2004 I did see some people being escorted by security from the event and some refused further samples. I don’t think wineries like being the bad guy who says “no more” and additionally there is a bit of a problem with Australian culture where it is seen as okay or funny to get as drunk as possible, but well done to the winery staff who were willing to stand up to people who had enough and ask them to leave their stand.

Pourers with passion - For the most part, the staff were excellent - friendly, knowledgeable and passionate - in many cases it was the winemaker themselves or a family member who put all their effort into the wine who was pouring it and happy to discuss it with you.

There were a few isolated cases where the person didn’t seem to want to be there or one instance where I asked how long the wine had spent in oak and had a booklet thrust at me rather than a verbal answer. Another infrequently occurring problem that bothered me was representatives who wanted to talk me through what I was meant to smell and taste on each wine - those are things I can decide for myself.

Food and Water - To save a massive rant on the quality level of the food, I’ll sum it up in one word, abominable. I know that catering contracts are probably in place for the convention centre but to serve that level of food to people who are into wine (and probably into decent food as well) is insulting. In 2004 there were many water fountains scattered around the stands so that you could rinse your glass and top up water bottles, this year they were still around, but seemed much more infrequent - please increase the number for 2008.

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I’m looking forward to the 2008 event now, let’s hope that this event was successful enough for it to be organised again. I’m working on transcribing my hastily scribbled notes and will start posting some brief impressions of each wine I tried (Sorry to the Australian law industry, but I didn’t taste any 50 point wines this time to generate more work for you!).