My Wine & Only

Going to USA

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 04:35:00 +0000

In case you were wondering where I have been for the last 3 weeks, I came back from Japan 2 weeks ago. It was a refreshing trip to be able to walk the markets and taste the cuisine. There is no place better to taste authentic Jap food than the homelands itself. If you think you can get the same quality in your country, you will be pleasantly suprised how much better it can get over there.

So I have been busy packing for USA and will be gone for 4 months. Hopefully I will have time to write about my experience there but it being on the road makes it a challenge. We will see how things go. Happy drinking, y'all. Maybe I will post some pics?

Supermarket Senarios: Going French

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Fri, 11 May 2012 06:35:00 +0000

I was over at Cold Storage Orchard Point. I was quite impressed as Orchard Point has a good range of wines including fortified, sparkling and dessert wines at some reasonable prices. They also have some aged wines at good prices such as 2004 Australian Chardonnay and Soave. Today, we will look more at the French. I recommend you to check it out as there are some good finds there.

1) Chateau Germain Bourgogne 2002 at $42.95. This is a Chardonnay from Burgundy at the lowest entry level. If you are into aged Chardonnay, you can expect something toasty, honey, figs and developed on the nose and heavier on the palate. This is a wine that can go well with salty nuts or even caramel ice-cream if the wine is chilled. For a Burgundy Chardonnay, the price is acceptable
2) Paul Jaboulet Aine Chateaunuef-du-Pape 2007 at $86.55. This price for a CDP is also quite reasonable considering that CDP in France can cost from 30 to 45 Euros. From previous experience in CDP, I expect aromas of wild cherries, pepper, stewed plum notes, soy or the other extreme of floral, cherry, confectionary & liqourice. In terms of body, it is medium plus bodied. This is a wine that can go with lamb dishes with rosemary and thyme.
3) Paul Jaboulet Aine Gigondas 2007 at $57.70. The grapes are similar as Gigondas but the climate is not as warm. The soils of Gigondas too is different as it is limestone at higher altitudes. In a blind tasting, it is not easy to differentiate between CDP and Gigondas. Given the price difference, I would pick the Gigondas over the CDP.
4) Paul Jaboulet Aine Muscat de Beaumes-Venise 2007 at $76.90. This is a wine that is sweet and alcohol has been added to it to stop fermentation. It is honeyed, sweet, grapey with floral aromas and peaches. Good as a starter with fruit salad or at the end of the night by itself. My only problem is the price is slightly too high when I can get half a bottle in France for 10 Euros.

My Choice: Gigondas is my pick for tonight. It isn't overly priced like the Muscat or CDP. Its flavour-profile can be similar to CDP but the quality can be better. I would stay away from the 2002 Chardonnay as there is no guaranteed that a village Burgundy can be aged that long. Most of the time, a village Chardonnay is meant to be drank young.

The Tastebud Myth & Wine Glasses

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:19:00 +0000

The market has many different sorts of wine glasses with brands from different parts of the world such as Riedel, Schott Zwiesel, Mikasa, Chef & Sommelier and Plumm. Each company has different series of glasses and each series has different types of glasses for different wines. There are glasses for everything - for different grapes and different styles. Purchasers of such glassware believe that their experience will be enhanced if they use the right glass for the wine - like fitting a shoe with the right size to their foot. But does the right glass enhance the wine?

Each wine smells different. Some are more aromatic, some can be fruity, or woody, or grassy. I believe that the right glassware makes a difference in expressing the wine aromas. Some glass shapes can concentrate the aromas better than other glasses. It may not be a better glass because it all depends on whether what you are concentrating is good or bad. Then again, I have had many ocassions where a few of us are using the same glass, but then our wines smelt different. Some more expressive than others.

Then, there are the five tastes of salty, sweet, sour, bitterness, and savoury. Each wine has different degrees of tastes. Glassmakers shape the lips of each glass in a certain fashion so that they can control the way the wine lands on our tongue to create a favourable impression. For example, if the wine is sweet, the glass should direct the wine away from the tongue's tip, where the sweet receptors are located. This is to prevent the wine from tasting too cloying. All this is based on the assumption that the tongue map exists and everyone has the same map. The reality is that it does not. There are no special spots on the tongue that contains solely sweet receptors or bitter receptors. It doesn't matter where the wine lands.

Would I still buy special wine glasses for tasting wines? It all depends on how much it costs?. Usually, such glasses don't come cheap. They cost about $25 per glass. We are talking about crystal and this is considered cheap! However, the glasses do thrill me aesthetically. They are beautiful to look at and I love drinking in style. Since wine is not just about aromas and flavour, but also how it looks visually, drinking from a beautiful well-crafted crystal can add to my pleasure and perhaps even make me approve of a bad wine.

References: http://www.livescience.com/7113-tongue-map-tasteless-myth-debunked.html

Supermarket Senarios - Cabernet or Carménère

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:28:00 +0000

Today, we take a look at the shelves in Giant at Supermarket for some affordable swill. I'm thirsty for some red wine tonight. I just bought a steak which I am planning to fry in a pan full of butter. I am going to caramilize some onions first. Don't forget to season the steak with sea salt and cracked pepper. I am going to cook some potatoes in the oven with the rosemary and thyme.

We have:
1) Table Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. $17.90, South African from Stellenbosch. It's from a mediterranean climate, meaning the climate can get hot in the summer, up to forty degrees. I am expecting this Cabernet to be ripe, full-bodied, full of fruits and maybe some cigar box if it is oaked.
2) Deetlefs Cabernet Sauvignon from Rawsonville at $22.80. A South African from Breede River Valley in the Western Cape. The climate is almost similar. This one is at 14% alcohol so lots of heat and ripeness too. Rawsonville and Stellenbosch are not very far from one another but Rawsonville is further from the Ocean. I think this will be even jammier than Table Mountain. Not good to have a fruit bomb affect the wonderful flavours of steak.
3) Hemisferio Miguel Torres Carménère from the Central Valley in Chile at $25.50. Carménère is a grape with lots of tannins too like Cabernet, but less harsher in texture. It is usually smells of cherries, smoke and earth and tastes of red fruit, tobacco, leather and dried herbs. If you don't like sometime as harsh as Cabernet, go for this.
4) Hemisferio Miguel Torres Sauvignon Blanc from the Central Valley in Chile at $25.50. Grassy, herbaceous and probably bland in the mid-palate just like other Central Valley examples. Not always a bad thing but at $25.50 for the same price as the red, forget it.

My decision: Go for stellenbosch. It's much cheaper than the Carménère and has bolder flavours with the steak. But if you like something softer and are willing to pay, the Carménère is good. Serving temperatures at 16-17 degrees Celsius. Forget the SB because SB doesn't work well with steak. Forget Deetlefs because if you want to go for that, you might as well get the Table Mountain.

Some concepts to grapple with Quality - Length

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Thu, 03 May 2012 06:48:00 +0000

You have always heard that a key consideration in determining quality is length. The longer the flavours of the wine remain in your mouth after spitting or swallowing, the better.

Experience has taught me that a wine with long length does not necessarily make a wine better. It all depends on what flavours linger in your mouth? I have had wines which had undesirable bitter flavours lasting a long time. When evaluating quality, we have to look at the context in which the wine is being served. Is it to be drank by itself or with food? If by itself, then a long length is desirable but yet again there are exceptions.

The problem with a long length is that it makes the moment when you first taste the wine a pleasure. However, it can dilute the whole experience with the rest of the bottle. Flavour fatigue can set in and the next few remaining sips of the same wine may start to lose its appeal. Sometimes, a good wine is one in which you keep going back for more and more, like an addiction. Think of it as drinking very sweet apple juice and after a while, the juice tends to get flavourless. All you can taste is sugar and sourness. Or think bubblegum when after chewing for a while, the flavour disappears but in actual fact, it is still present in the gum. Too much of something can make it bad.

When eating food with wines, it is usually harder to appreciate the food as the backpalate flavours from the wine can come into conflict the flavours of the food. This is why I find a lot of wines that go well with food tend to wines from the low to mid-end price range. That is good news for most of us who can't afford to drink $50 bottle of wines daily. For example, a cheap bottle of highly acidic, Italain Pinot Grigio or Soave can suit flavourful dishes without overcoming the dish. Its acidity brings out more flavours just like squeezing a lemon on some dishes bring out flavour. If the acidic white wine had more flavour in the finish due to picking the grapes riper, fermenting them on skins or aging them in new barrels, those stronger flavours from the wine can still linger around and make each bite you take seem heavier due to a sensory overload.

Dessert wines are not for desserts alone

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:49:00 +0000

Many people have the impression of that sweet wines can only be meant for dessert. The lists of sweet wines are long: Moscato d'Asti, Asti Spumante, Sauternes, Tokaji, Port, Madeira, Late-harvested, Botrytis, german white wines, Grenache Vin doux Naturel and Muscat Beaumes de Venise, ice wine, etc.

Perhaps to many, it seems logical to drink sweet wines last since we have sweet desserts as the last course. However, during my travels in the wine world, this rule is not so strongly adhered to. In Italy, Moscato d'Asti is treated as a breakfast wine, sometime to start your day with. You can have it with bacon and eggs done sunny side up. The French love to have their fortified Muscat as a starter or added with rockmelon and a bowl of fruit salad. Fortified wines are wines that have high sugar in it because fermentation is stopped by the addition of alcohol called mutage. I once had Sauternes with artichokes and asparagus in Bordeaux. Auslese and Spatlese German white wines go well with oven roasted pork dishes when I was there. Recently in Singapore, I had a Moscato rosé with sweet chinese egg tart. How delicious was that!

Here's a basic principle you can learn from my experience:
1) Sweet wines do not necessarily go well with sweet stuff. The reason is that if sweet wine is not sweeter than your dessert, it will taste acidic, sour and sometimes bitter. The tongue has experienced a sensory overload of sweetness from the dessert, that it makes the sweet wine taste less sweet and out of balance.
2) Try something bitter or highly acidic with the dessert. Food and wine is a marriage. A wine that is unbalanced by itself can be balanced by the right food. A bitter wine can be like some red wines and a acidic wine can be like a young Hunter Valley Semillon or Pinot grigio from Veneto.
3) Some sweet wines are best left to be drank by themselves like Old Port and Madeira.

Supermarket Senarios: Chardonnay Decisions

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:32:00 +0000

This week on Supermarket Senarios, I take a look at what's on the shelves of Giant at Vivocity. What should I drink for a Friday night especially when I have to make a decision on the spot without having taste the wines before? The chardonnays are all relatively young, from 2008 to 2010. The age difference is small between the wines so there is no point taking it into consideration.

1) HobNob Chardonnay from Vin d'Oc at $27. The Languedoc is at the south of France. It is a warm climate. I can guess that it has more fruit flavours due to the climate. The price is quite decent.
2) Route d'Or is also from the same region at $25.90.
3) Louis Jadot Chablis is a fresh and mineral style that usually doesn't see oak at the entry level. $43.95 is a normal price for a entry level Chablis but it definitely doesn't taste $43.95 especially if it is likely not to have seen oak aging. This is just for the brand name that Chablis brings to the table. I am expecting a wine with more green apple and citrus fruit.
4) Louis Latour Ardèche Chardonnay at $27.50. Ardèche is near the Rhone Alps in the south of France, before Languedoc. The land can go up to 300m in elevation with chalk-clay soils. It is still relatively unknown outside of France. This is a style which has been aged in barrels and has undergone a transformation to palate roundness.

My selections: If you are thinking of having oysters and scallops tonight, go for the Laroche Chablis at $36.99. It is more reasonably priced than Loius Jadot and Loius Latour. But if are looking for a quaffer with more fruit flavours to go with your marinated herb-infused pork loin, go for the Route d'Or. It is cheaper than the HobNob. How much difference can $1.10 get you in perceptible quality? Feeling adventurous and don't mind spending $1.60 more? Then try the Ardèche. Limestone and Chardonnay are lovers. There is a tendency for limestone soils to produce elegant, and mineral Chardonnays. This may be more balanced between acid and flavours than the Route d'Or and Chablis. Remember to chill your Chardonnays in the fridge before serving them! Warm Chardonnays under the Singapore heat are no fun to drink!

Questions that Matter

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:58:00 +0000

At the end of wine shows, I always have people who attended the show telling me that they didn't understand anything about what they were drinking. So why didn't they ask questions? Their response would be that they didn't know what questions to ask. Here are some questions that you can ask winemakers to give you a better understanding of the wines you are drinking.

1) Are you organic or bio-dynamic? This questions allows you to understand more about the producer's farming practices. I am in the camp that it doesn't matter as long as the wines are good but some people are not a fan of pesticides and herbicide sprays leeching onto the grapes.
2) How old are your vines in this drink? The older a vine, the better the quality, say 50 years and above. Usually around 5 to 15 years is still considered young.
3) What is the climate of your vineyard like? Cool climate can mean that you can expect light, delicate characters in your glass and high acid while warm means you get jammy fruits and high alcohol wines.
4) Is your vineyard on a hill? What is the exposition of your vineyard? Vineyards on a hill facing south are the best vineyards in the northen hemisphere as they recieve the most sun and get lots of drainage. It depends if grape varietal needs a lot of sun to ripen. For the southern hemisphere, it is north facing.
5) Has your wine seen any oak? What type of oak and what % of new oak? How long has your wine been in the barrel? Oak gives a different flavour dimension to the wine. The magnitude of the cedary taste comes from the % of new oak. The longer it is in barrel, the more oak it soaks up if it is new. For red wines, oak is needed to mellow out the texture of the wine to smoothen it. USA oak gives a more vanilla and dessicated coconut taste and french gives are more spicy, clove-like, new furniture aroma/flavour.
6) How long do you recommend I age this wine for? What is the oldest vintage you have tasted that is still looking good? It is good to get a winemaker's opinion on the longevity of his wine. High acid, lots of tannins or high alcohol are signs of a wine's aging potential but getting better as it ages is a different story.
7) What food do you usually eat with the wines you produce? This allows you to understand how wine from a specific geography marries with eating habits of a region.
There are many other questions those are more technical and unless you are at a wine school, it would be more useful to you.

Mind & Dine: Interesting findings

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 03:44:00 +0000

I thought today would be nice to do a short post on studies found concerning consumer perceptions.
1) Researchers in Britain found that when playing French music in a wine store, more French wine was bought and when German music was played, more German wine sales increased.
2) Patrons at a restaurant spend more money when classical, jazz and popular music were being played in the background compared to none.
3) People eating alone at restaurants eat the least. With one person, they eat 35% more than they do at home. With 3, they eat 75% more and with 7 or more, 96% more.

Heuristics - cognitive biasness
1) Priming - Your decisions are affected by the event that just took place. You read cards containing the words like apricots, oak, honey and pineapples. Then you go into a wine shop. You will be searching for an oaked Chardonnay.
2) Anchoring - Making a decision based on comparison to something. A $50 bottle of wine seems expensive when it is surrounded by $7 bottles but cheap when surrounded by $200 bottles.
3) Framing- Reaching conclusions based on the 'framework' within which a situation was presented. You go into a wineshop and you see your favourite wine. You will buy a bottle. But when you see that there is a limit to only 6 bottles per customer, you are likely to buy 4 or 5.
4) Expectations - The mind makes models of what it thinks will happen. When you drink a bottle of wine that you are being told cost $50, you will find that it tastes better than a bottle that cost $5, even if both wines were actually identical.
5) Arousal - People think differently depending on their state of mind. If you drink wine with a picture of a beautiful smiling woman in front of you, you will enjoy it more than when you have a picture of an angry man.

References: 1) Why we make mistakes: how we look without seeing, forget things in seconds and are all pretty sure we are way above average, pg92-93
2) The effect of Music in a Restaurant http://esf.ccarh.org/254/254_LiteraturePack1/Restaurant_Music_Wilson.pdf
3) Nudge: improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness, pg64

Professional tips for surviving Wine Shows

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 06:34:00 +0000

At wine shows, there are hundreds of wines to try but little time to taste them all. Here are some useful tips to have a meaningful day to survive a 100 wines day.

Survival pack:
1) White bread. The bread keeps your stomach filled and clenses your mouth.
2) 500ml of water
3) A notepad to write down notes or names of wines your like.
4) A map of the exhibition layout.

Increasing your stamina: Most people can do about 30 wines a day before they are exhausted. With practice and strategy, you can do more.
1) Keep the wine on your tongue. Do not let the wines get onto the sides of your mouth or gum. Have enough wine to cover the surface of your tongue. You need only about 15 ml of a wine.
2) Always spit to avoid getting drunk faster.
3) Be selective. Taste wines from the top range. If you like them, work your way down to the winery's entry-level range. You may find good wines at bargain prices.

Narrowing down options and reducing time by research:
1) It is always useful to know who will be at the wine shows. Select wineries or wines that you are curious about.
2) If possible, know where their stand is so that you can work out a plan to cover your desired wineries with minimal travel.
3) Prioritize which winery to visit first. Make a list of must-does and optional. Remember that the more you taste, the more fatigue sets in so seperate your must-does as well.
4) If there are too many customers being served at a stand, move on to another one so that you will not waste time by waiting till you get served. Go someplace less crowded and return later.

Maximising your learning: Many people taste wines at a show in the order of whites, reds and desserts. That means they will go to each winery for only the whites and then start over again with the reds. This makes the learning process confusing. My suggestions:
1) Taste by wineries. This allows me to understand the winemaking style of the winery better and I get more talk-time with winemakers.
2) Taste only certain grapes. This enables you to build a profile of how the same grape expresses itself in different regions.
3) Taste by style. For example, you only want to taste port styles or sparkling wines.
4) Ask the right Questions. This will allow you to understand more about the winery's devotion to quality. More on this shall be elaborated.

The Dictators of Order

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:51:00 +0000

The first time I was in Burgundy, I drank a Pinot Noir from a producer and decided to try the Chardonnay. I was told that after tasting the red wines, I shall not be served the white. Today, at FHA2012, I was told that after tasting the "better" wine, I am not allowed to go back to the "lower" quality wine. Who made those rules?

Frankly, I am sick of having the dictators of wine-order tell me how I should drink my wine. As the evaluator, I should decide how I want to assess my wines. If I don't like the taste of your wine, it doesn't matter how I drink it, or which order I drink it in.

You learn that the order of tasting is white, red and then dessert wines. After tasting reds, the tannins will affect your tastebuds for the white. That is why you don't drink big barossa shiraz, then a white wine or oaked chardonnay, then a flavourless unoaked light wine. Basically, it is about progressing from a lighter-bodied wine to a fuller body. If your chardonnay has the same body as your Pinot Noir (which is possible), let me drink it! I know many people who can't taste whites after their reds. Luckily, I don't have such a problem. I know how to keep the tannins on my tongue and off the gums and the sides of my cheek. Drink a little water. I am good to go again.

As for quality, they say it is wrong to mix the "bad" after drinking the "good". You are doing the "good" wine injustice. Well, shouldn't they be pleased? The "wine labelled as bad that you just served me should taste better with the "good" wine I just drank. Ask a winemaker; he will say all his wines are good because he made them. Ask a distributor; he will say the one which is more expensive. Robin Goldstein & co disagrees.

"Our results indicate another reason for why the average wine drinker may not benefit from expert wine ratings: he or she simply doesn’t like the same types of wines as experts. This is consistent with Weil (2001, 2005), who finds that even among the subset of tasters who can distinguish between good and bad vintages, or reserve or regular bottlings, they are as likely to prefer the “better” one as the “worse” one. Unless they are experts, individuals on average enjoy more expensive wines slightly less. Our results suggest that non-expert wine consumers should not anticipate greater enjoyment of the intrinsic qualities of a wine simply because it is expensive or is appreciated by experts."

At a wine show with thousands of wines, it is poor strategy to taste wines in a particular order because you simply lose track of which wine you have drunk from each winery. The most pratical way is to taste the whole range from the winery and move on because:
1) you spend more time with the winemaker.
2) you understand the winery better after you have tasted the whole range.
3) chances are that you will be caught up with other wineries and you probably won't return to taste the remaining wines.

References:
http://www.wine-economics.org/journal/content/Volume3/number1/Full%20Texts/01_wine%20economics_Robin%20Goldstein_vol%203_1.pdf

Southern Rhône Wine Dinner 14/04/12

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 01:29:00 +0000

It was a saturday night. Spirits & expectations were high. I was bringing in wines to show to a group of my sisters' friends who are wine & food lovers. Two wines was paired with each dish. I am a big fan of 2 wine pairings with a meal to give people a chance to compare two different wines side by side and experiment for themselves which goes better with the food. It gives them a point of reference and also more fun, more drunk. In addition, different elements on the dish can go better with each wine. My sister cooked all the meals.

First Course: Red bell peppers stuffed with couscous and shaved iberico ham.
Wines: 1) Elodíe Balme 2010 Côte du Rhône, grenache syrah carignan 14.5% unfiltered& 2) Elodíe Balme 2010 Côte du Rhône, "Champs libres", Roaix village, Grenache. Mourvèdre 14.5% Both wines cannot be bought in Singapore. Elodie is a young and talented winemaker based in Rasteau.
Wine 1 had aromas of toasted strawberries, roasted capsicum, pepperoni and oregano fading to a more prunish nose. Flavours of dark aniseed with a firm structure. There was bitterness in the back that faded away eventually. Brilliant with the food.
Wine 2 was meaty and exotic. It smelled of coriander, soya sauce used for steamed fish and then sweet sarsi. Flavours of strawberries, cherries, chestnuts and a nice chalky texture.

Second Course: Pan-roasted Lamb with Ratatouille.
Wines: 3) Le pointu 2007 Chateaunuef-du-Pape, "Cléments", 15% & 4) Domaine les Goubert, 2004 Gigondas, "cuvée Florence" 2004,14.5%
CDP means the pope's new castle and gigondas means the land of joy. Although seperated by a river, both produce wines with the same grapes. The soils are different as Gigondas has more schisty limestone than CDP. Le Pointu is not found in Singapore but Domaine les Goubert is carried here.
Wine 3 had a nose of roasted tomatoes on its stalks and later developed to a honeyed and light confectionary aroma with hints of floral. Flavours of coffee, honey and well integrated acid shines through to a rasin finish.
Wine 4 had a nose of coffee, truffle, and mineral. Its flavours were pronounced and powerful, savoury, meaty, soft, silky tannins, finishing with a big burst of flavours in the end. Some did not find this wine smooth because I did not decant this wine to get rid of the sediments, giving the wine a gritty texture. Note to self: Decant if it is an old wine with sediments. Don't be lazy! I was told wine 3 went better with the Ratatouille and the wine 4 with the lamb.

Third Course: A platter of goat cheese, saint nectar, and beemster with dried apricots and chocolate truffles.
Wines: 5) Domaine Faverot 2005 cotes du luberons, cuvée du général 14% & 6) Clonakilla 2009, Canberra, Shiraz viognier, 14%Domaine Faverot is not available in Singapore. The last wine was not French but Australian using the Northern Rhone style. It is available in Singapore.
Wine 5 was earthy and full of redcurrants. It reminded me of dark chinese herbs and cloves.
Wine 6 had aromas of ginger, oak, rose water, and red candied cherries. The palate had some jasmine characters, white pepper, tints of coffee and cedar. A very long length with an apricot finish. However, I felt the 2008 was better as the wine lasted longer with the oxygen compared to this one. After an hour, it was a skeleton with little flavour but charry oak.

It was good night ending on a high note. Everyone was pleased with the wines and the food. As for me, I enjoyed all the wines except the Clonakilla. It was a letdown because I know it can do better. 2009 was an extremely hot year with heat waves that produced low acid. I suppose that has to be accounted for but with a cool climate like Canberra, it is beneficial for them to give riper grapes aka more flavour. It was expected to be better than 2008! What happened?

*I am sorry that I went over the 5 minutes of promised reading time. But this rule is excluded for events.

Internet dating & Wine

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:18:00 +0000

At supermarkets, it can be mind-blowing when one comes across endless shelves of different wine brands. The consumer is confronted with so many choices. Time is of an essence. What do we choose? Most of the time, it is the eye-catching bottle that has a nice label. The physical played the most part in making a decision. Sounds a little like me when I choose to hook up with a woman because of her looks without considering the goodness of her character. By the end of the night, the woman, just like the wine, disappoints.

An article was published in The Economist on February 11th 2012, titled “Sex and love”. Some interesting points brought up were:

1. Internet dating sites offer a huge range of choices and a system that can help match your specifications as to what you are looking for in a partner. Thus, it assumed that finding a suitable long-term partner through the internet would be easier.

2. Data suggest that we do not know what we want and that our preferences differ from our selected choice.

3. When presented with a large volume of choices, less attention is paid to characteristics that require evaluation by both thinking and conversation. Instead, more attention is paid to the physical attributes.

This applies in the context of wines. With internet sales getting more popular, it still doesn’t solve the choice dilemma in supermarkets. There may be more misses than hits, even if you were to use the advanced search to narrow down your choices. This re-affirms the old adage that less is more.

Many do not know what wines they are looking for. Sommeliers get frustrated with such customers. You help narrow down their choices and they still don’t like the wines. Knowing what your preferences are requires time and opportunity to taste various wine styles. You know you like it when you keep coming back to it. I love big oaky vanilla-flavoured reds and rich buttery chardonnay. What about you?

Supermarket Senarios: Spoilt for Choice

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 08:56:00 +0000

I recently read a book about how humans are poor in making decisions when presented with more than two choices. I am starting a new series on situations where one goes into a supermarket and meets a wide range of choices. What do you do? Take a look at this.

Let's say you are looking at the above. You have 5 minutes to come to a decision for tonight's dinner soiree. You have to think of your wine in terms of price and style of what you want. You don't have much information because you have not tasted the wine but you can at least make educated guesses. The options are:
1. Piper-Heidsieck Champagne for SGD54. Not a bad price for a bottle of Champagne. Maybe to impress people who don't know much about wines but know that Champagne sounds like a great idea because of the brand. Expect leesiness, nuttiness and high acid. Tonight will be oysters and shellfish.
2. Asti from Italy for SGD34.40. A pleasing wine for most people. Sweet and good as a starter to get the good mood started. I like that with cake.
3. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc for SGD25. For 25 dollars, it should be your typical grassy SB with lots of asparagus and passionfruit. Give me salad with that!
4. Lindemans sweet seasons for a special of 18.95. You may not know the wine but from looking at it, you can guesstimate that it probably has sweetness in there. No idea what grape it is but for that price, it is more about the sugar than the expression of a single varietal. This one is for quaffing and hopefully you won't wake up with a killer-headache.

My choice: Go with the Asti. Be cheap. Save your money for a good day. If you want to splurge, there are other stuff besides the Piper. But the Asti always loosens up the mood and women and new drinkers can associate with sweetness. Let the bubbles take you away. Marlborough is alright but for 25SGD, this one is suspect for ripeness. Good Marlborough SB this days cost more than 35 SGD these days.

Bubbles for your Troubles

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 02:03:00 +0000

Based on a recent report by Harpers (http://www.harpers.co.uk/news/news-headlines/12009-more-regions-look-to-sparkling.html), it seems that there is a growth in demand for Sparkling wines. Considering the current economic climate, I question what people worldwide are so upbeat about.

According to the report, it says, "Sparkling sales grew 11.6% by value in the off-trade, while Champagne grew by just 1.2% in the same period (Nielsen, year to March 1, 2012). Star performers included Italian wines, up 48%, while Chilean and English were up by 26% each. French sparklers from outside Champagne grew 12.5% too".

Coming back not long ago from London and Italy, I must say that both countries have been doing a great drop in penetrating the bubbly market. English bubblies are of exceptional value and rival that of Champagne in quality but unfortunately we don't see them here in Singapore. As for Franciacorta, the Champagne equivalent of Italian sparkling wine, I have never come across any yet here in Singapore. The argument is that with the sort of money you pay for Franciacorta, you might as well buy a Champagne. Cremants, bubblies from outside Champagne, are delicious and so much more affordable than Champagne.

I suggest that if you are interested in tasting Cremants, try the ones from Burgundy, Bordeaux and Loire. They are widely available in Carrefour at Suntec city. And if you are adventurous, buy a bottle of Cremant de Die over there made from the Clairette grape. The Cremants from each region are made from different grapes so if you like something, say cheesy and leesy, go for Burgundy. Good acid and green apples, then go for Loire. Lemony and citrus belongs to Bordeaux. I can't remember if they sell Cremants rose from Bordeaux but that is absolutely delicious and reminds me of raspberry coulis.

Don't like the French? Have a go at Asti or fan-favourite, Moscato d'Asti. What's the difference? Both ASti and Moscato are made from the same grapes but Asti has a high alcohol and taste less sweet. Moreover, Asti has more bubbles than Moscato. Some say Moscato is a dessert semi-sparkling wine. Quite honestly, I could drink Moscato in the morning or anytime of the day, during any part of the meal. It's a convival drink, and most examples of it can be cosumed with levity.

The report also adds that Brazil is a country to watch out for and I must concur to that. I have managed to try a few from Vinexpo last year and I must say the quality is growing. Their style reminds me a lot of what Australia is doing from the level of ripeness obtained from their grapes (Hey, it's Brazil, it's hot). If you are interested, go to http://www.garnetnperidot.com. These guys are specialised in Brazilian wines here in Singapore and bring in Miolo bubblies. It's not a boutique winery but it gives you a taste of what Brazil is like. And if you are ordering some wines from them, you have to include their Quinta do Seival Castas Portuguesas. I know it's not a bubbly but I tasted that in London a month ago, and you can't hate a red wine like Touriga Nacional. If you like floral aromas, Nacional is your hero.

What is a Wine of Quality?

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 06:05:00 +0000

Whenever broaching upon the subject of quality, I get questions on what is a good wine and what is a bad wine. It is a strange question because we don't usually have problems telling the difference between a good and a bad apple, or an overburnt steak vs a tender juicy piece. The concept is no different from drinking a fresh orange juice vs diluted orange juice.

Judging a wine in absolute terms is the same as setting your own standards of what a good human being is. I prefer to look at a wine in context apart from just basing quality on absolutes.

Are you serving it with food? Get a wine that is not intensely concentrated in flavour or it will overpower the food.
What environment are you drinking it in - hot or cold? Have a robust red in front of the fireplace or a chilled white while basking in the summer sun.
What time of the day is it? Something ligter in the morning perhaps to start the day and heavier in the night to put you to sleep?
Are you drinking it with friend or acquaintance? Open the nice stuff for your friends or if you want to be a crowd pleaser, go for the sweet stuff.

Yes, the absolutes are important - generosity of aroma and flavour; balance between acid, sweetness and tannins; complexity of flavours with layers upon layers; harmony of sensations instead of disjointedness; a long length with a desirable finish of acceptable flavours; no bitterness in the back of the tongue or sourness that makes the wine experience unbearable.

Building a concept of quality requires time, patience and lots of tasting. You find the best pasta by going to different restaurants and comparing your present experience with the last. The same goes to wine and even love. It is hard to know what love is until you experience it or realise that you weren't happy in the last relationship because you notice the difference with your current relationship. You know what a good Pinot Noir is only when you try something better than the last. That's how you build hierachies of quality in your mind.

Most importantly, accept yourself as a unique individual with a unique taste and a biasness to specific wines. I love sherries and wines with huge amounts of oak. It may not be to everyone's liking, but it doesn't mean that it is poor quality. It is an acquired taste. There is quality but there is also knowing what you like to drink.

New Life, New Beginnings

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 06:14:00 +0000

That's right. After more than a year, I am finally back on the blogosphere. It's been a hell of a ride but after a year of travelling, I have been tasting wines from France, Italy, Germany and England. I am now prepping up for the States as I write this. Where will all these lead to? Life, just like wine, is a mystery, and we have to wait and see. This blog is going to be used for less serious articles, which I will put on the Wandering Palate instead. The concept is going to be short and easy readings that should take up less than 5 minutes of your time. It should deliver to you pratical information that you can you use to make on-the-spot decisions when you make purchases, plan a party/dinner to go with the wines or vice-versa, and how to understand what you are drinking. We are going to start digging wines on the supermarket shelves, ponder about decisions on what to drink together, and look at what's going on in the wine-scene and how this relates to us. Exciting times!

McLaren Vale 06/01/11 - 07/01/11

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 21:25:00 +0000

My first day in the McLaren Vale and I was exhausted from catching the 6 am flight. Fortunately,I found the Vale to be not very far from Adelaide airport, around 35km away. My first visit was Shottesbrooke.

Shottesbrooke*
Shottesbrooke is being run by both Nick Holmes and Hamish Maguire.They have about 50 acres under vines and crop about 4 tons/acre. The soils in the vineyard are high in magnesium, calcium, sodium and iron.

The mower that Shottesbrooke uses to get rid of weeds.

Slasher machine take trims the vines back when they are too vigourous.

10 tonne receiver that feeds the grapes in the machines. Cost about $15000

Imagine grapes being transported along this "tracks" for gentle handling.

Rotatory Fermenter. Once popular in the 90s, but considered too anaerobic especially for reds that need some oxygen

Tanks cost $80000 each

Airbag press that can press up to 800L of juice. Cost about $100000

A Vacuum Filter that filters lees after the cold-settling the juice for 72 h after crushing. The juice that is left with more time on the lees tend to produce more flavour than free run juice.

Chardonnay planted in 1994. So far the vines have been sprayed 8 times with copper oxide and uniZ which is a fungicide

Ferrous oxidize to ferric iron by pumping water over hut to collect small amounts of oxygen. The makes it into sediments so that it can be collected and flushed out and wouldn't make the soil rich in iron.

The machine is being backflushed to reverse the flow of sand and other unwanted sediments. The water needs to be clean or it will start blocking the drippers. As a result, the vines cannot receive adequate water.

Machine to pump water and collect sediments

Dripper system

Shiraz vines in Shottesbrooke being trained into 2 cordons aka four arms with 2 arms being on the 2nd top wire. Vine spacing 1.8 m x 3.2

A tractor ploughs through the rowes and digs up the soil with a hydraulic arm and then pushes the dirt aside. The weeds are being pulled out and thrown back underneath the vines. This means the machine has to go through the rows twice to dig and throw.

2007 was also difficult in that there was a drought and this caused ripening problems. Many of the berries were slightly stalky and sappy with heat wave (defined as 5 days that were over 35 degrees). 2008 was a bad year with 15 days over 36 degrees up to 40. The evening temperatures were 35 degrees with no breeze and this caused the berries to dessicate and cook. The Baume was so high that it was impossible to measure. This was unusual for the region as most days were 36 degrees and less than 20 degree at night.

The vineyard next door that has no herbicides being used and thus weeds are growing

The climate in McLaren Vale is more mediterranean and not maritime. It gets frost in winter. I was taken for a ride through range road which was the divide between McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills. I was told that Adelaide Hills spans from 50-60 km.

Shottesbrooke uses oak barrels from Heinrich cooperage, Saury, St Matin and AP Johns Shenandoch and Appellation. I found the Shenandoch much more beautiful on the nose compared to the Appellation which imparted a more smoky cedary aroma. I also notice the McLaren fruit has the ability to soak up US oak better than the fruit from Victoria

Shiraz suffering from zinc deficency.

A grafted vine

Alpha, Box & Dice*

Justin is the owner/winemaker of AB&D. He has had 8 years of experience in France and Puglia. He is making some really interesting wines from other varietals and believes in adding as little acid in his wines. His Barbera Cab 2009 was really delicious with at least 2 g/l of malic acid in there that hasn't gone through MLF. It was good to find that he realeased a 2002 and 2003 Shiraz that still had fruit in there with the developed characters. Justin makes only 3000-3500 cases/year. He gets his grapes from 3 different vineyards that has different types of soil (He gets some from the wollanga foothills with iron and gravel) and blends them together.

Primo Estate*

It was nice being able to meet with Daniel, the winemaker and ask him questions about the region. Daniel has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the region. Over the last 5 years, there has been an increase in the temperatures. Night time temperatures don't change much here. During flowering, vines get reduced yield if there is a heat wave and grapes has problems ripening properly when the vines shut down. Sugars in the berries do spike up during that period. Primo crushes 400 tonnes/year and is family owned. They usually harvest in march. The region usually sees low disease presure. Copper & Sulphur are usually used to control diseases, Ridimil for downy and not much Botrytis sprays like are used. Sprays can be done up to every 10 days to control downy during December.

It was interesting to try their Colombard which had flavours of melon and cucumber. I last time I tried this grape was years ago in a French wine. I also found their Merlot to be of fantastic quality for $15. Impressive too is the 2008 Zamberlan which is Cab Sauv and 15% Sangiovese. The wine is done using the ripasso style where the Cab is being dried for 3 to 7 days on racks under aronud 40 degrees and the size of the berries start to shrink and the stalks brown. The Cab is being fermented, the juice drained and the skins placed in another batch of Cab to ferment. I found that this made the mouthfeel of the wine really complex and rounded with a long length. It tends to produce wines with a higher VA level that gives it a lift and aroma profiles of figs, dried prunes and more concentration. The 2008 MODA is made from cab sauv and 19% merlot made from the same style.

Inside Kay Bros Cellar Door

The Dead arm Shiraz. Over $70 a bottle. Delicious but ex

Additional Notes: I do recommend that you also try and pay Samuel's Gorge a visit to taste their Grenache and their Tempranillo if they have it on tasting. Other places I visited were Tapestry, which I felt made wines that were of high quality and good pricing, Huge Hamilton, Graham Stevens, Kay Brothers, and d'Arenberg (I tasted the 2007 Dead Arm Shiraz there). I wish I had more time to go and see Yangarra, K1, and Foxey Creek. Maybe when I head back to the Vale.

T'is the Season to be Bubbly

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 12:22:00 +0000

What better time of the month to have wines with bubbles than the month of December where many celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Boxing Day and the countdown to the New Year. The history of sparkling wines go all the way back to the Champagne region of France, as early as the fifth century, when the Romans planted vines in the Northeast of France. It was not until the late 17th century, the Champagne craze started to take off. At that time, Champenois vignerons were trying to get rid of the bubbles in their wine. They failed to understand that the bubbles were caused by residual yeast that started re-fermentation in the bottle, thus, releasing carbon dioxide into the wine and causing bottles to explode violently. At the same time, the British started to fall in love with wines that had bubbles. It was very much enjoyed among the rich and noble class, leading to a whole new market of wines to be created. Vignerons were now deliberately trying to have their wines sparkle instead of remaining still.

As you pop open a bottle of sparkling wines, here are a few sparkling wine facts to pique the interest of your friends whom you share the bubbles with.

Fact #1
Champagnes are from France and sparkling wines from Australia are called sparkling wines.

There is sometimes a tendency for people to ask for Champagne when what they really are asking for is sparkling wine. What is the difference? None except for the differences in price. Champagnes are a lot more expensive than most Australian sparkling wines. The EU has a labelling agreement with other countries that they cannot label their sparkling wines as champagne unless it originates from Champagne in France. There are basic wine production laws in the Champagne region when it comes to the production such as a minimum aging period of 1.5 years for the secondary fermentation, which is the fermentation that produces the bubbles in the still wine. This time of 1.5 years is believed to be the minimum time taken for Champagne to develop its flavours. Unlike sparkling wines in Australia, the law requires Champagne to use primarily Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay grapes for production of the still wine. In Australia, we see a range of sparkling wines made from other grapes such as Muscat and even Shiraz.

Fact #2
There is no country in the world that is as well known as Australia for making Sparkling Shiraz.

This has now lead to a National sparkling red day in Australia to celebrate an truly unique Australian wine style first made by French winemaker, Edmund Mazure in Adelaide in 1982.Today, we have winemakers such as Peter Rumball who makes some of Australia's most excellent sparkling reds using the same techniques as the French Champagne Houses.Flavours of Sparkling Shiraz are reminiscent of sarsaparilla, jam, blackcurrant with chocolate nuances.

Fact #3
Drinking a glass of sparkling wine gets you drunk faster than still wine.
A study has confirmed that the fizz speeds up the absorption rate of alcohol into the
bloodstream. Drinking two glasses of sparkling wine could make you go over the drink
driving limit.

Fact #4
The amount of pressure in a sparkling wine made by méthode champenoise, also called the traditional method, whereby the bubbles are created in each bottle through a secondary fermentation, is calculated to be between four to six atmospheric pressure, which is the pressure you can find from the tires of a double-decker bus.

This is also why sparkling wine bottles are heavier than still wine bottles because stronger bottles are needed to withstand the pressure inside. They also come with the punt so that the structural integrity of the bottle is increased and the pressure in the bottle is distributed more evenly. The punt has another purpose which is to provide a way for champagne or sparkling wine producers to perform riddling, which is a process of twisting the bottle slightly on its sides so that the sediments in the bottle will slide closer from the bottom of the bottle to the
neck for removal. With such huge amount of pressure in there, this makes the cork fly out of the bottle at up from 60 to 160 km per hour. Watch where you are pointing!

Fact #5
Sparkling wines are best served between 6 to 8 degree Celsius.

If it is a high-quality sparkling wine, a vintage champagne or a sparkling red, it is better to serve it from 9 to 12 degrees so that the matured and complex aromas are able to escape from the glass more easily. When drinking sparkling wines, it is better to use a flute or th champagne glass than a normal glass. This is because the surface area is reduced so that the bubbles can be retained much longer and dissipate quickly. Drinkers should hold the stem of the glass if they want their bubbly to not warm up too fast.

Fact #6
Bubbles are formed due to the rough parts of the glass.

The process of bubble formation is called nucleation and the rough parts are nucleation sites. In some champagne flutes, you can find a small indent at the bottom of the some champagne glasses to allow the formation of bubbles and observe its journey from the base of the glass all the way to the top. A little bit of dust sticking onto the sides of the glass acts as a nucleus for bubble formation. When you clean your glass too well or worse, leave a layer of detergent in your glass, you are interfering with the bubble formation process!

Fact #7
According to a study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, pouring sparkling wine down the side of a glass in the same way you do with beer reduces the loss of bubbles and flavour by half compared to pouring it straight down to the bottom of the glass at 5 degrees Celsius.

At room temperatures, it does not matter which way you pour it in as both methods will still make the sparkling wine become flat quickly. Thus, the lower the temperature of the sparkling wine served, the less bubbles will be loss during the pouring process.

Below are some recommended wines for the season:
Pizzini 13.5%, Brochetto 2009, King Valley, Australia $22.95
A wine with pale onion skin colour and a slight fizz to it. Refreshing aromas of raspberries and strawberries with hints of soapy characters and litchee. It is sweet, crisp, and finishes with flavours of berries.

Lahfrte frères 12%, NV, Champagne, France $59.95
A pale green tinge with a steady stream of bubbles. Aromas of green apples, pears, freshly baked bread and dough. The palate is also doughy with good acid structure and green apple flavours. Beautiful biscuity finish. Best served at 10 degree Celsius.

Château de Beauregard 12.5%, Chenin Blanc & Chardonnay NV, Saumur, France $34.95
A light-coloured wine with aromas of nuts, kumquats, and dough. Good acid, dry and finishes with a nutty back palate. Best served very chilled and taken with something sweet.

All wines are purchasable at The Oak Barrel, 152 Elizabeth Street, Sydney 2000
This article is written for the Sydney Online Street Press and is repoduced on this website. It is available at the http://www.thesydneyonlinestreetpress.com/Culture.html.

Beechworth - The unsung hero Day 7 18/12/2010

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 12:20:00 +0000

Another region that is one of the best experiences that I have in Victoria as a region that produces some very excellent wines. It is very rare that you come across a region where all the wineries you hit makes some fantastic stuff that is unseen in the Asian market. Beechworth is not the place you want to go if you are here to drink as many wines as you can and get drunk. This is a place of sophistication and can only be entered with a purpose - to understand how fine wines are made and the philosophy of the vignerons in this region. It is an exciting place and I think it always has been if people paid more attention to it. I do admit that the wineries are not readily accessible and most of them require appointments. However, if you are able to get one, don't waste your bloody time going there to drink. Use it to ask lots of questions and make sure they are smart ones too otherwise I can assure you, your host will keep looking at his watch. I wish I had the chance to go to see Barry at Sorrenberg and also Savatarre but I suppose there is always a reason to come back.

Castagna*
Think about coming here for a drink? Forget it. Julian, the owner and winemaker, is a winemaker with lots of heart when it comes to winemaking. Passion is not something that is hard to come by with this former film maker. Although he has no winemaking degree, his wines are beautiful and nothing interest Julian more than to make wines that are pure and reflects terrior. He believes Bio-dynamic farming brings out the purest in his wines of the land. Julian sees himself as a helper of the vineyard rather than a winemaker.

His vineyard is very closely planted (1.5m x 0.75m) on granitic loam. The vineyard is on N-S orientation, with fruit from 12 acres (9 acres are owned). The elevation on his site is 500m above sea level and the rainfall is 700mm. 90% of the rainfall happens in winter. However, 3 years ago, it only rained 50mm for the whole year. Julian is one of the first to believe that the region does a good Shiraz and also started planting sangiovese. He also uses something which he calls tree paste (made from Diatomaceous earth, 500 and lime) to clean up the old wood on the vines. Julian cuts off any bunches which he thinks are loose. Temperatures in Beechworth during the summer are around mid 30s and there was once a week of 40. He thinks that 2011 is an unusual year just like 1989. 2002 was a classic year. In 2000, 2003 and 2007, he made no crus at all. 2009 was his 10th vintage.

The more I talked to Julian, the more I found his views very enlightening. Although opinionated, he has what I would consider rational reasons to back it up. We tasted some of the wines that he had in the tank and both the 2009 Genesis Syrah (retails at $75) and Segretto Sangiovese/Syrah ($75) were coming along very well, considering the product is not finished yet. His Genesis was exceptionally floral and complex, with a very long length. Delicious as well was his Adam's rid Nebiolo/Syrah 2009 (still in tank) which was full of roses and floral fruit. It's palate was rich, with a long and beautiful back palate which was delicate.

Julian was generous to open a bottle of 2008 La Chiave Sangiovese ($75) which was fermented wild at 30 degrees and aged in new Bossuet barrels. The clones used at the Brunello clones. It is probably the best Sangiovese which I have tasted in Australia, with medium ruby red colours and floral aromas of roses and beetroot. It was a gorgeous nose. The wine was beautifully balanced with silky tannins and a very long finish. It really had an european taste to it.

Julian believes that we must be open to what a wine taste like and not what science dictates; that we should focus on the good qualities of a wine and not find faults all the time. Julian is a winemaker who relies on his guts and instince and imagination to make things work. In making judgement on the quality of his wines, he thinks of the emotional reaction that he gets when the wine goes into his mouth. He isn't technical or scientific but he relies little on science to make his decisions. He does no tests on his wines except for pH. Julian feels that he can't make wine in a big winery as he doesn't have scientific experience and he is doing things that a re contradictory to what is being taught in wine schools, however, that does not stop him from making brilliant wines. After tasting his wines, I cannot disagree with him on his wines being of very good quality.

Giaconda*
What can I say about Giaconda except that Rick Kinzbrunner is a humble but yet, creative genius as a winemaker. I have never seen anyone plant their vineyard in such a manner before. When I asked him why he planted them as a semi circle, his response was because it was good to look at. The vine spacing is 1 x 3m but if he could do it all over again, he would have done 0.7-0.9 x 2.5 m spacings. It is interesting to see his Shiraz vineyard being only 8 years old cropping at 2.5 tonnes/acre and on decomposed granite, making some really fine wine. As shown to me, The top layer is granite which is up to 1m and the subsoil is clay. Rick has a liking for using wood for all his ferments since 1989 and dislikes any use of metal. In terms of preference, it is wood, concrete than steel for fermentation vessels. The ferments are wild with no MLF bacteria added. All wines are bottled by gravity and no filtration. While fining happens for the whites, bentonite is used but nothing such as heat or cold stability is used. This is one of those vineyards that I do not notice any downy at all.

We went done to the wine cave which is 60m deep and believe me, it was a sight to see.
It was the first time I seen a winery that uses lees stirring done by rotation of the barrel. We tasted the 2010 Chardonnay from the barrel and it was simply divine. It had a sort of lemon myrtle and honey aromas that was distinct from other Chardonnays and on its palate, it was rich, buttery, with lots of MLF character(it has gone through full MLF). Rick uses a special custom made barrel called Chardonnay Cuvee from Sirugue. It is different in that it uses a progressive toast (meaning toasting from one end of the staves to the other from light to heavy. The heads are not toasted and Allier and Vosges are used to make the barrels. The 2010 Pinot Noir was also very fragrant, with aromas of roses and burgundian style, seamless connecting with the flavours in the palate. The stricture of the PN was firm and clean. Rick took half of the PN fruit from the yarra which contributes the clean berry flavours and the other half from beechworth which was bigger and earthier. We tasted some Shiraz from the barrels that are being made in collaboration with Chapoutier and one from a med plus toast Troncias barrel. The 2010 Shiraz from that barrel was dominated with coffee and black tea aromas and on the palate, it was roasted nuts, charry but with a robust structure.

I think what I really look forward to is the bottling of the 2008 Nebbiolo which is Gianconda's first vintage. In my opinion, that is the best Nebbiolo I have smelt and tasted in Australia even though the product is still in the barrel. It's colour was brick red with an orange rim. On the nose was cedar, perfume, red fruit and roses. The tannins were high which is what you would expect from Nebbiolo but the flavours were just bursting in the mouth with lots of ripe fruits, spices, tar and a good long finish. Acid in there was just integrated.

Pennyweight*

Stephen Morris is the winemaker of this winery with family connections to the Morris family winery up in Rutherglen. He is bio-dynamic and is a very big fan of Sherry wines. If you want to know more about sherries and its production, I really recommend you guys to pay Stephen a visit who is really passionate in explaining more about sherries and the flor connection. I enjoyed smelling different barrels of sherry in his barrel room and looking at the tight layer of flor. Sherry is an acquired taste but once you taste a good one, especially when it's chilled, there is no going back. I love that acetaldehyde character as well as that slight funkiness that goes with it.

Golden Ball*
James McLaurin and his lovely wife, Janine runs Golden Ball. This is one of those wineries that I feel deserves more attention and I really recommend that people who are into wines with high density in concentration should go pay Golden Ball a visit. James intends to go biodynamic soon. He has also planted half an acre of Savignan in 2009 and half an acre of Petit Verdot in 2010. The soils on his vineyard are deep decomposed granite and light clay. No insecticides are used and only copper, sulphur, milk and oil are used as foliage sprays. James also handpicks his grapes and like to employ a 48 hour cold soak at 10 degrees before wild ferment and wild MLF. He usually likes to have 19 months of oak ageing and a minimum of five months in the bottle to rest.

I do enjoy his wines as they go very well with meaty food. His merlots are something I would like to follow closely as he crops prety low. It was a real pleasure tasting all his wines from the barrel and understanding more about his winemaking philosophy. I found all his wines from the barrel not only ripe and juicy, I also admire what he is doing in experimenting with each parcel that goes in different types of barrels. James was also using the same methods as Giaconda concerning the stirring of lees (The wheels are what James call Rim Rigs). The first plantings of 4.5 acres were in 1996 and the first vintage was in 2002. James uses Bossuet, Serugue and Meyrieux barrels for his Shiraz and Merlots. He also shoot thins to prevent the bunches from producing bigger berries and bunch thinning on veraison. He finds that when he drops 30-40% of the fruit, the fruit ripens better and builds the flavour. If the fruit is dropped too early, the fruit becomes too big as most of the nutrients will go into the berries to expand the size.

Below are some notes concerning the wines tasted from the barrels. I consider them to be more for my own personal reference and that nobody should use this to try and predict what the finish product would be.

1year old barrels 2010 Chardonnay, all med plus toast.
Sirugue, troncias: Nose of popcorn, butterscotch. Palate of lees, creamy, med acid, lots of caramel

Sirugue, Allier: Nose of light caramel, leesy, more fruit. Palate od med plus acid, light lees and more fruit in the back

Sirugue, Châtillon: Nose of butter, cedar, perfume. Palate of med plus acid, lees, longer cedary finish

François Frères, new oak and not 1 yr old: Nose of vanilla and Saffron, Palate of fruit, med acid, pencil lead, med plus length.

Merlot from the barrel, Bossuet for 9 months, 100% new
Med minus toast: light coffee and toast in the backpalate, full tannin structure
Med toast: less perceptible tannin for some strange reason being that the barrels are toasted more, dryer in the back palate
St Martin but picked 6 days later, Troncias: Sweet berry and oak nose and dry on the palate

Cab Sauv 2010
Bossuet 2nd use: very fragrant, blackberry, lots of power on the nose. The palate is delicate, light toast and lots of packed flavours
Bossuet 100% new: fragrant and lots of cedar with good ripeness on the nose. The palate is toasty and redcurrants
St Matin, older 2nd use: Nose if fruitier with backcurrant. Palate of ripe berry and good fruit structure.

James was very generous in allowing me to taste a few bottles of the finished product. My comments are below.

The Gallice, 55% Cab, 40% Merlot, 5% Malbec 2005 14% AUD65
This is their flagship wine. It is deep black in colour and the nose is earth, blackberry with light floral aromas and pencil shavings. On the palate, it is structured, with high tannins, vanilla from the oak and a long red berry finish.

Merlot 2008 14%, AUD55: deep purple fade to crimson in appearance. On the nose, light vanilla, slight mintiness, good ripe blackberry, complex cigar and smoke, dark choco, a dense nose. On the palate, fruit intensity on the initial palate balanced by smoke and cedary characters, heavyweight density for a merlot, unlike the softer style, med plus tannin, but powdery in texture, spicy edge to it, not green on the finish, more like a herbaceous edge as you would expect from merlot, very long length, herb and spearmint in the backpalate

Shiraz 2008, 14.4%: deep purple fade to purple in appearance. A barossa nose that is dense and cedary with cinnamon, sweet spice and coffee, chocolate. On the palate has flavours of coffee ground, with a light soy.

Rutherglen - Land of the Fortifieds Day 6 17/12/2010

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 12:17:00 +0000

This is not only a land of fortifieds, but of big, bold Shiraz & Durif (which does well in hot and dry weather) plus their Sparkling Wine. The people here still do their Sparkling wines remuage by hand. Although the Shiraz alcohol levels can go up to over 16%, they are sturdy and have lots of flavour in them to balance with the alcohol. The shiraz here can also suck in a lot more oak just like those in Heathcote. This area is considered a continental climate. There is a french connection with the people of Rutherglen in that all the winemakers have gone to France to do at least a vintage; at least all the winemakers I have talked to here has gone to the Rhône, which makes sense cause the climate here is very much like the Rhône. The rainfall here is 560mm.

Andersons
Howard runs the winery here along with his family. Everything is done by hand including the bottling. According to him, the brandy spirit they use here is distilled to 80% instead of the Spiritus Vinum Rectificatum (SVR) which is 94-96%. For more on SVR and brandy, check out http://www.monashscientific.com.au/AlcoholDistillationTheory.htm#FractionalDistillation

Jones Winery

Jones is worth stopping by since it is nearby. They make a Shiraz that is not your typical Rutherglen type of boldness. The winery has 16 acres under vine. I find their Apera having fusal oil characters and rancio notes.

Campbells*
This is one of the biggest wineries in Rutherglen. I do recommend people to come here and try their Rieslings, Durif and Tempranillo. For those of you who really want to know what is the difference between a Topaque and a Muscat or it's development, I have included some notes below as a guide. Topaque (or as Tokay as they once called it) is made from Muscadelle.

Topaque
Grand - changes from caramel, fish oil characters when young to toffee, black tea and walnut characters. On the palate, luscious, high acid, layers of walnut, coffee flavours with long length.
Rare - aromas of coffee, toffee, leather and a lingering fish oil smell. On the palate, very developed, leather, light mushroom and flavours of burnt toast.

Muscat
Normal - grapy smell, linear
Classic - light flowers, more spicy, fruit cake caramel, longer length than the Normal.
Grand - Not as much toffee, coffee, more floral. Not as dark in colour as the Topaque Classic. Flavours of christmas pudding, black tea, prunes, liqourice, figs.
Rare - light floral characters, roast, malt. On the palate, syrupy and molasses.
The intensity increases with age as well as the concentration. There is also an increase of burnt aromas.

Stanton & Killeen*
Although Simon Killeen wasn't around, Joe Duncan showed me around and guided me through the tastings. What a great bloke! Nobody should miss going to S&K if they are in the region. These guys make awesome fortifieds! Interestingly, they started using diam corks as early as 1986. I never knew diam was already invented during that time. Below are some personal observations about the wines tasted from S&K. If you don't get it, it probably is written in my own language.

Vintage Port
2005 18.5% $32 Med plus purple in appearance. Nose of light aged characters and cherries, plums, tea, med plus intensity, Palate of med plus acid, very ripe berry, high tannins, chalky texture, good fruit characters, med plus length, a bright fruit finish.

1986 18.5% Brick fade to garnet. Light glue, leather, cloves, slight VA, med intensity on the nose, Palate is leathery, developed characters, med plus acid, light cloves, spicy, long length fading away gently with a light berry lingering finish.

Tawny Port
Ruby 18% avg age 4 years, Durif, Shriaz, Touriga $18
Nose of red currents, black jam, med plus intensity
Palate of med plus acid, jam, red fruit, med plus tannins, slight roughness, med sweet.

Classic 19% 12 years, Shiraz, Touriga $30
Nose of rancio, cedar, wood, med plus intensity
Palate of med minus sweetness, high acid, light leather, fruity characters exist, lots of berries, med plus tannins, smoother on the palate, long length, but light finish

Grand 19% 25 years, Shiraz, Touriga $80
Nose of rancio, wood, earth, developed, light metallic
Palate: Fruit is still in there, earth, walnuts, high acid, med plus tannins, smoother, long length, earthy and rancio finish

Topaque
Normal 17.5% $18
Nose of light fishoil, raisins, med plus i
oily palate, fish oil, light cod liver flavour, med plus acid, med plus length, almond finish

Classic 18% $30
Nose of fishoil, cod liver, med plus i
Palate of cold tea, med plus acid, med plus length

Grand 18.5% $80
Nose of fruitcake, fish oil, toffee
Palate of dried apricots, dried figs, long length, beautiful fig backpalate

What I notice about Topaque is that is evolves from more elegant, not as complex and not as syrupy to dried apricots and fruits, rancio and nuts

Muscat
Rutherglen 17.5% $18
Nose of grape, musk, med plus i, rich
Palate of toffee and molasses, more dominant flavours than Topaque

Classic 18% $30
Nose of vanilla, cedar, cakebread, light rancio, syrupy, thick, raisin
Palate of med plus acid, raisins, rancio, long length

Grand 18.5% $80
Nose of cedar, wood furniture
Palate of med plus acid, raisin, light coffee, syrup, very long length, complex, lingering cherry cake bread, grape

The woodiness in Muscat tends to come out more as it ages.

Pffieffer*
I really loved a lot of the wines made here. Especially interesting here is the Gamay that they make. Paul was a fantastic bloke who walked me through all the wines here. It was also really nice of Jen Pffieffer, the talented winemaker, to come out and chat with me as well as give me a taste of the latest Chardonnay that they were bottling. Picking of the grapes can start in January for the Chardy and May for the Muscat. Wines growing on sandy soil do tend to have problems in producing natural acid, requiring acid adjustment.

Topaque
Rutherglen 17.5%
Nose of fish oil, cod liver, med plus i, cold tea, orange musk
Palate of med plus acid, fish oil, cold tea, apricot, long length, orange zest

Classic 17.5% 10-12 yrs
Nose of light varnish, med plus i, butterscotch
Palate of med plus acid, toast, butterscotch, light toffee, very long length

Grand 17.5%
Nose of toasty, cedar, smoke, leather, rancio, roast
Palate of treacle, musk, toffee, tea, very long length, orange zest, med plus acid, orange peel back palate

Rare 17.5%
Nose of toast, molasses, toffee, leather, developed, rancio, walnut
Palate of toffee, treacle, syrup, med plus acid, not cloying, lots of flavour, dried fruit, prune, very long length,

Muscat
Normal 17.5%
Nose of grape, raisin, floral, soap
Palate of med plus acid, grapy fruit cake, prunes, long length,

Classic 17.5%
Nose of light raisin, cedar, med plus i
Palate of med plus acid, grape, light toffee

Grand 17.5%
Nose of rancio, slight VA, dried fruit but not as heavy as Rare, leather
Palate of toffee, molasses, caramel, dried fruit, rancio, bolder than Topaque, long length, nutty coffee

Rare 17.5%
Nose of raisin, VA, dried fruit, molasses, roast
Palate of high acid, raisin fruit, lots of syrup, coffee, molasses, long length, complex backpalate

Warrabilla Wines
The meaning of Warrabilla means clean water. If you have the time, do drop by to taste their wines. What is interesting is that their reds are high alcohol but still taste in balance because of the concentration of their grapes.

Additional Notes:
Buller wines is also worth paying a visit

Quea!y Wines - the next frontier of PinotG

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:33:00 +0000

As you already know form reading about my time in Mornington, it has been a joy being at Quea!y wines to taste thier PinotG (Grigio or Gris but from now on, I call it just G). To me, PinotG has always been a simple wine to me and I have tasted very few PinotG that interest me. The ones that do are Boreham Wood from Marlborough (Awatere valle), Rockburn from Central Otago and Logan from Orange. However to me, Quea!y is taking PinotG of the new world to another dimension that I am going to benchmark PinotG against. As I have written, go to http://www.pinotg.com.au/

What I think is the success of Quea!y's PinotG is that the winemakers understands this grape so well that they know when to pick it at the right physiological ripeness and let the grapes do most of the talking instead of the winemaking.

I tasted two wines from them. Below are my thoughts:
Pinot Grigio 2009 13.5%
Pale green in colour, a wine with light aromatic and perfume characters, nashi pears and melony notes, also a sort of white pepper spice to it. On the palate, it didn't taste like a grigio style to me with the lean and electric feeling. It still has high acid but balances out with the flavous and has a sort of spiciness that you can find with Gewurtz, hints of spear mint is in that. The length is very long and flavours linger in the mouth

Pinot Gris, Musk Creek 2009 14.3%
Pale yellow in colour. A far cry from the last wine. A sweeter nose in there and higher density of weight on the nose, much riper fruit with hints of mentholy pear dorp, poached pears and light honey characters. On the palate that slight oily texture shows and has a fuller body than the last wine. The acid is not as hight but enough to get the tongue watering. Flavours of fruit and almond. A very long length again and has a good line of finish that is not abrupt. Not phenolic like some cheap PinotG are in the back. A winner!

Heathcote, Strathbogie & Nagambie Day 5 16/12/10

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 10:30:00 +0000

Woke up today feeling kind of tired from yesterday. It was enjoyable but visiting 5 wineries in a day and walking the ground does a number on you. I'm going to take it easy today. Then again, I got a lot of driving to do since I am going from Heathcote to the Strathbogie and then to Rutherglen.

Downing Estate

Bob Downing runs this winery as well as juggling the responsibilities of being the Chairman of the Heathcote wine Association. His wines did very well in le concours des vins this year. Being a small estate, they only produce 1000 cases per year and has 10 ha under vines. His plantings are 1.3m x 3m. However recent plantings are now with 2 m spacings which require less pruning and the same crop levels. This puts less disease pressure, less struggle from lack of water and more lighting. Cropping levels are 1.5-2 tonnes/acre. Bob does cane prunning as the vines are better regulated and there is a more consistent water supply compared to spur as well as fruit. Also, Bob thinks that with cambrian soil, the roots tend to go down deeper but with yellow clay, it is dry and there is water struggle. It was a joy to walk through his vineyad and taste his wines.

All his wines are priced at $39. Tasting notes are below.

Shiraz 2006 14.5% Deep black with aromas of vanilla, caramel, blackcurrant. Flavours of blackberry and coffee, long length and delicate finish

Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 15% Deep black with musy aomas, pencil shavings and menthol. Flavours of blackberry and chalk tannins.

Merlot 2006 14% Deep black with aromas of rust, cedar, light oak. Flavours of blackberry, robust and a long length.

Plunkett-Fowles*

Sam Plunkett is a person who is passionate about the Strathbogie ranges and he has every reason to. As the chief winemaker of PF, he is doing a mighty fine job in managing so many different batches of wine. His winery is one of the most state-of-art I have come across so far and also has the most levels (at least 4 stories high). He is making amazing Rieslings and Shiraz from this region and also one of the most perfumy I have come across. We tasted the Shiraz from the tanks and although it was not a finish product, it was already showing such clean, perfume characters with lots of purity. Moreover, his 2008 Ladies who shoot thier lunches Shiraz is the winner of the 2010 Great Australian Shiraz Challenge!

The climate is elevated, cool and very windy. It is considered continental. PF owns 500 acres and is on mostly exposed granite that is 4 million years old. The vineyards in the north of the great divide has less clouds while the south having more. The rainfall in this region is 700mm/year and can go up to 1700mm. MJT is 20 degrees and can run over 40 degrees during certain day. PF produces 50000 cases and crush 23000 tonnes a year. To Sam, the sun in Australia is different from Europe and cloud covers affect the night and day temperatures. The termperatures cool down fast as there are no clouds and the land is 510 m above sea level. There are lots of undulating hills in these region and those that face north are warmer and produce the better fruits.

Tahbilk*

I am so thankful to Neil Larson for waiting on me for 30 minutes as I have to drive from PF to get here. Going to Tahbilk was another eye-opener for me as well. The Estate itself was historic and a heritage site. To walk through thier wine cave was like the whole Champagne/Burgundy experience and to see barrels as old as over a 100 years got me very excited. Ozone generators O^3 are being installed to get rid of micro organisms in the cellar. In terms of cleaning the tartaric crystals from the hogshead (300l), they use soda ash (sodium carbonate).

The Goulburn valley region is a temperate climate and frosty. It is like the Pathdaway region with 620mm of rainfall. Maximum summer temperatures can reach up to 40 degrees and zero at night.

An interesting piece of history is how in 1930s, Tahbilk actually started with putting varietals on labels.

Neil was generous to open both the Eric Stevens Pubrick Shiraz 2005 and Cabernet 2005 for me to try.

Shiraz 2005 14.5% A deep purple with reddish hues. Nose of cedary furniture, vanilla and fruit. On the palate is full of ripeness, wonderful acid structure, and a long length

Cab Sauv 2005 14.5% A deep purple with nose of lead, soy, liqourice. On the palate is leathery, lead, and a long chocolaty length.

I would say that both wines were quality and the price is justifiable.

Additional Notes:

Drop by Mitchelton Wines if you have the time. They have a range of stuff to taste to tell you more about what Nagambie can produce. This are the same guys that make Preece.

Heathcote Day 4 - Australia's unrated Shiraz Region 15/12/10

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:07:00 +0000

The Heathcote is one of my favourite regions in VIC. This year, rainfall has gone up to 1m and in August, it is usually 600mm. The annual rainfall is about 575mm in winter/spring and little or no rain in December. Heathcote is a continental climate with low humidity. With a Heat summation of 1420 degree days, it is considered cool/warm. MJT temperatures can be 25 degrees and can get up to a maximum of 47 degrees. However, this tempered down by wind that comes from the valley in the North-South direction. Veraison happens in late Jan and harvest starts at the end of March and beginning of April. The special thing about Heathcote is the cambrian soil which is rich in iron. The cambrian soil is caused by two faultlines that runs in a narrow strip from North to South. Another part of Heathcote called the Camal Range is one to two degrees hotter is of another soil type. The Cambrian soil produces rich and juicy ripe characters. Frost can happen in the region unless the vineyard is on a slope.

Sanguine Estate*
This is definitely a winery to visit in Heathcote. Mark Hunter is the winemaker and co-owner of this family-owned vineyard. Although he has no winemaking degree, he has gained first-hand experience from doing vintages with other winemakers. The winery set-up is very impressive and what you would expect from someone who makes wines of excellent quality. Mark describes himself as a winemaker who draws his influences from both the old and new world. Although he is not certified organic, he used methods which are organic. The vineyard is 20 ha and is with cambrian soil as well as a clay base and full of rocks. This produces fruit with tannic structure and full of berries. In a warm year, the soil looks after the vines much better and holds on to the moisture; the roots also go deeper. All his wines are fermented by wild yeast and grapes are dusted with sulphur before picking so that the grapes won't start fermenting under the hot sun. This also prevents the grape juice from oxidising and losing flavour. This is different from some vignerons who add sulphur after picking the grapes. When I asked Mark if he ever had to add yeast nutrients, he said that 2008 was the only year he had to do it as nutrient levels in the grapes were out of whack.

Mark uses whole berry ferments most of the years and whole bunches in some years. The winery itself is quite high-tech for producer that makes about 3000 cases a year(He only makes 3-4 barrels of Chardy per year). He uses his 3-tonne fermenters with pnuematic plunges. It is difficult to hand plunge 3-tonne fermenters unless it is 2 instead. To chill the must, he runs a brine solution on the sides of the tank and can maintain temperatures of up 8 degrees. In terms of reductive characters, he doesn't get much of that even with lots of lees so he doesn't have to use copper. To overcome reduction, he racks the fermenting must using gravity and this is possible with the design of his fermenters. When it comes to acid adjustment, Mark is very careful and nervous about it.

I have had the opportunity to taste some really good stuff from Mark that I would like to benchmark in the future against the wines from the States.

The 2009 Progeny Shiraz (A very good price of $20)is co-fermented with 10% with Viognier in 10% new oak. It is later combined with Shiraz that reduces the Viognier component to 1-2% Viognier. Mark tells me the shiraz with the 10% Viognier is just undrinkable. The Progeny is deep black purpple with lifted notes and has this beautiful apricot, dense fruit and black pepper. On the palate is full of ripe fruit and beautiful tannin structure. A very integrated wine./p>

The 2007 D'Orsa Shiraz 14.8% is what you want to keep for a long time. At $60, you get a deep black inky appearance with a restrained and shy nose, light herbs and soy sauce but on the palate, it is brilliant. It has a acid-fruit balanced and lots of chewy tannins. This is a wine with flavours of liqourice, pencil lead and truffles. It finishes with a immensely long length which I could still taste 5 minutes later as I drove out of the Estate. A very connected wine that is best to lay down over the next 5-10 years. Maybe even longer.

Jasper Hill

I have been blessed to be even be give some face time with the winemaker, Ron Laughton, who is has his background in food science and is practitioner of Biodynamic Wines (no insecticides, herbicides, synthetic fungicides, artificial fertilisers) since 1998 although he says that he is not religious about it, only about the principles behind it. Coming from a food science background, he still questions many of the principles of Biodynamics which is why he only uses what he believes in and doesn't bother to get certification from any organisation. However, after talking to him, I do feel that if he really wanted certification, he would have no problems at all and he is no different from one who is certified.

The production is small. Only 2500 cases made and all the wines come from vineyards that are un-irrigated so there are no drippers. The vines are on its original rootstocks and are ungrafted to the American ones. One of his vineyards are planted with Hermitage clones from Chapoutier's vineyard. The vineyard is 25 ha and the first plantings were in 1975/76. This year is going to be its 29th Vintage. Both the famous Emily's paddock and Georgia's paddock have cambrian soils that are 500 million years old with a Basaltic bed rock. The soils are over 3 m deep with red iron and gravelly loam. Both vineyards are 329 m above sea level. The Emily has a NE aspect and is shallower while Georgia has NW facing slopes and deeper soils. There is little hoeing of the ground and lightweight 4WD tracters are used to minimise soil compaction.

The 2009 Cornella Vinyard Grenache 14.5% was an excellent wine and unlike the McLaren Vale style Grenache. Deep purple fading to light with a medium gradient, it has nice floral characters and a lifted rose water smell with light soy and spice. There was a complexity to it that is unlike other Grenache. On the Palate, it was juicy, bursting of lolli flavours but not overtly lolli with good natural acid.

I asked Ron if he adds any acid to his wines. He responded that he bought a bag of tartaric acid in 1982 and still has not used it. Everything is done by wild yeast and he conducts a 6 week post-maceration as he believes this produces better tannin structure to the wine. According to Ron, the first part of the fermentation is aerobic where the yeast cells need oxygen to grow but the last part of the ferment is anaerobic when it is in the tank. The long post-fermentation allows tannins in the skin and pips to polymerize better when in contact with the alcohol. He also racks according to the calender.

To Ron, minimal intervention is the buzzword and it is all about putting as little work into the winemaking as possible to get the maximum results. Ron uses stuff in the vineyard to keep his vines healthy like milk powder spray where he puts it on the leaves so that lactic bacteria sticks on the leave and grows on it. This prevents
other organisms from getting in and also causes natural MLF. He hasn't used copper on his vines for more than 15 years. Ron is convinced that 500 is highly concentrated in micro life forms and flora. The cow shit in horn transforms to sweet compost with high content of micro flora and organisms. It is kept in a dark spot where it is cool, dark and moist where micro organisms can thrive and then stirred with water at the right temperature so as not to shock the micro organisms and to infuse the water with oxygen that is conducive for soil health.

Speaking to Ron was enlightening. He explained to me the concept of a forest being closed system where the leaves fall and die, and are digested back into the soil and organisms are living in harmony with each other. However, his vineyard is not a closed system as wine is being produced from the land and is being sold. Terrior is lost. It is a closed system if the wine is being poured back into the soil. The terrior has the tendency to reflect the type of fertilisers used e.g those with potassium. The thing about BD is that it makes the organism at bed rock work to make more snails and give building blocks for flowers and colour. The soil is believed to be alive and the everything that comes from the soil is used to make the 500 and fed back into it. A vineyard with harmony and balance is more resistant to stress. When mosses and lichens are seen in the soil, it is a sign that the soil is becoming dead. Ron feels that weed killers are for lazy farmers and that so farmers destroy their soil health by using glycol to get rid of grass. To him, weeds are grass that you don't want and he usually has no problem with grass growing in his vineyard. He doesn't worry about birds as well as he thinks that birds are part of the vineyard ecology and many birds eating up grapes in the vineyard is a sign of a system that is not balanced.

In 1987, there was a bushfire and they had to cut the grass short to prevent the vineyards from getting burned. Occasionally, the alternate rows are being ploughed to aerate the soil. Other concepts like minimal cultivation (planting legumes) keep the place alive and healthy. The first vines were widely planted (12 by 6ft) as it is not irrigated and water stress is prevented. The soil can only offer so much and thus, the more vines per ha, the less yield per vine. When it comes to picking, Ron realises that in the last 2 years, the sugar are ahead of the flavours. However, he picks on ripe tannins and flavours, not on sugars.

We also tasted the 2009 Georgia's Paddock Shiraz 14%. It's appearance was deep purple and it had aromas of grape must, autumn leaves, earth, and rhubarb. An exquisite nose. On the palate, it had a wonderful tannin structure and cedary complexity. It was hard to describe it except that it really reflects the land.

Additional Notes: Jasper Hill uses really expensive corks, at $2 per piece that are 50 mm long and has been hand selected laboriously. Ron doesn't like the idea of screwcaps made of synthetic plastic being in contact with his wines.

Wild Duck Creek Estate
It was a pleasure to meet Liam Anderson, who is the running most of the winemaking these days for the last 6-7 years at Wild Duck Creek. He has got his wine science from Charles Stuart. Liam feels that he only benefited from 10% of his university and 90% from his Dad.

The boutique winery that is having quite a cult following makes 4000 cases a year and started producing wines in 1991, with the first vines being planted in 1988 and the oldest vineyard being planted in 1979. Little irrigation is used in the vineyard in summer and temperatures can go up to 40 degrees. Cropping yields are 2-4 tonnes/ha and the grapes are usually picked at 14.5015 baume. Most of the time, the grapes have a natural acid of 7.5 g/L and there is little acid added. The estate usually sprays 2 times a year and normal weather conditions are dry with low humidity and about 450 mm of rainfall during winter. To get rid of weeds, glyphosate or straw mulch machines are used. Plastic wrap is not used as it pollutes the ground and breaks up easily. The reason why the estate wants to get rid of weeds is that the land is dry enough, weeds tend to suck up a lot of moisture from the soil.

The vineyard does suffer from frost problems two out of every three years. Although this reduces yields, the small amount of berries produced from secondary buds are not commercially viable. The estate also uses spur pruning as they believe that there is consistent bud burst and the grapes ripen properly. For them, cane pruning produces an inconsistent number of fruit quantity, and ripens faster. The use cane pruning for their merlot. Liam feels that less buds and more leaves on the vine is best for it. Too many buds on the vine and the leaves will falls off and vines will be stressed so the vines can't cope. To Liam, the size of the arm in cane or spur doesn't make a difference but it is the nutrient cycle in the soil that are relevant two weeks into bud burst and the rate of photosynthesis. They do not use artificial nutrients but cloves (which provides nitrogen) and oats (fibrous material and good for earthworm population.)

Unknown to a lot of people, Liam feels that viognier makes a terrific varietal to grow in Heathcote. The climate and the cambrian soil helps the ripening. Chardonnay is not really produced here as it ripens too fast. The best wines are produced on heavy clay and to Liam, there is a misnomer that great wines is produced based solely on the soil structure alone. Better tannin and aromatics come fro soils with heavy clay and are spicier compared to 20 km north and grapes ripens 3 weeks later down south for Shiraz. Grapes on the East or North aspect can ripen better than those in the West and those facing South can't ripen well. There isn't much difference with row-planting direction but E-W suffers from less sun burn than N-S. With a N-W row direction, there is more even ripening.

The estate uses 100% french oak and some US oak. The toast used is medium, long and heavy toast. The fruit is very concentrate and is needs spicy expressions of oak. The fruit in Heathcote can take a lot of new oak. It takes 2-3 years for the oak to integrate into the wine and another 12 months in the bottle. The grapes are usually treated with cold soak for 1 week. Extended fermentation is risky to them as colour can be lost and skins absorb the colour or can polymerize with the tannins. Whole berry ferments are usually done one week on skins instead of whole bunch ferments as it would impart a woody character. In the Yarra, it is different as it is a higher rainfall and the stalks a less woody and thick.

Red Edge
Peter Dredge runs Red Edge wines (notice the play of words on his last name). He owns 14 ha of land under vines and grows many different grapes on his land such as riesling, mourvèdre and even graciano. Peter uses cane pruning for his shiraz vines as he believes that it produces less fruit, and thus makes the quality better. According to him, in Feb 2008, temperatures can go over 35 degrees for over 7 days. When asked about the vintages in Heathcote, he mentions that in 2006 it was warm, 2007 there was a drought, 2008 was hot, 2009and 2010 were good years.

Below are some tasting notes of his wines which I find are fairly priced

Degree 2007 Heathcote Shiraz 14.8% $25
Young vines and only 500 cases made. A very interesting wine as it has 3% Riesling and 7% Mouvedre. It is deep black and has a cedary, blackberry aroma with liqourice. The palate is full and has flavours of cloves with a long length and light smoky characters. A dense wine that will go will most red meats.

Red Edge Shiraz 2007 15% $45
25% whole bunch. Wild yeast and spent 3 weeks on skins after ferment. 12 months on 80% new troncais oak. Again deep black in appearance with aromas of pepper, black tea and chocolate. Lots of flavour on the palate with rounded but not astringent tannins, coffee and liqourice impression.

Tempranillo with 5% Monastrell 2007 14.5% $28
Deep black with aromas of meat, roast peppercorn and blackberry. Savoury and meaty, it accompanied with flavours of olives and dark herbs, cinnamon and showing beautifully with chalky tannins and a long length A huge fav.

Munari Wines*

Adrian and Deborah Munari are people that you should definitely talk to if you want an informative session about the history and topology of the region. They have been around Heathcote for around 20 years and know the region very well. I will do a better write-up about their wines in my blog. They make about 3000 cases a year and do some contract winemakeing as well. Their flagship wine is the Ladys Pass Shiraz. The wine has seen only Frenh oak and has 1-2 weeks of extended maceration. They only crop 2-3 tonnes/acre which is very small for Shiraz vines. If you really want to understand more about the wines produced in this region, taste their wines and they will be happy to talk you through the vineyard. The experience is only much better understood unless you are there.

Yarra Valley Day 3 14/12/10

noreply@blogger.com (Stan Shalom Chin) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 11:25:00 +0000

I woke up later than usual, feeling exhausted. I had a big day ahead of me, after having reached the Yarra last night after a 1.5 hour drive from Mornington. It will be another 1.5 hour drive to Heathcote after today.

The Yarra Valley was such a joy to drive around unlike Mornington. It reminded me of the Hunter except that you could really see the hills around the region. The Yarra is know for its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay although I would say that they make really good Shiraz as well, the best I have seen so far after 2 days here. Summers here can reach up to 32 degrees and last year was pretty bad with the bushfires, reaching up to 42 degrees. There has been an extensive drought in the region so far over the last ten years. The first grapes were planted in the 1860s and it was varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chasselas. The early settlers and winemakers in the region were Swiss-French. It was in 1921 that the wine industry in the Yarra came to a halt. Most of the region has red volcanic soil although it does vary greatly according to site. At Lilydale, it is much cooler. Whites are harvested as early as Jan and reds up to even late April. It is much warmer up north than down south at Lilydale.

Dominque Portet

This was my first stop. The winemakers are Frenchman, Dominque and his son, Ben. Dominque's father was André, who used to be the winemaker for Château Lafite. He had two sons - Bernard, who went to Napa in 1976 to set up Clos du Val & Dominque Himself. Today, Domnique and his son, Ben are involved in the winemaking together. The property under vines is 8 ha and they produce 12000 cases. I recommend that you try thier sparkling wines and thier Gippsland PN.

Oakridge

The vines at Oakridge
I highly recommend as well that you pay Oakridge a visit. Cellar door staff, Stephen is has excellent wine knowledge and will be able to answer most of your questions. According to him, Oakridge has transferred hands about 4 times. This is a great place to really taste Chardonnays and thier Shirazs. They use wild yeast ferments and for thier Shiraz, they usually like to use whole bunch ferments. What suprised me is the amount of Viognier they use in thier Shiraz, about 6-7%, unlike the amount of Viognier that Canberra uses with is around 3%. Yet, they still have really wonderful lifted aromas that are not dominated by the Viognier. Amazing! I do agree with Stephen that the riper and jammier the Shiraz fruit, the harder it is to integrate with the Viognier. I do notice that Shiraz Viognier with higher alcohols tend to have less Viognier in them but this is just a generalization. Alcohol is not a sign of physiological ripeness. I really recommend that you try the 864 Chardonnay and both their Estate Shiraz and 864 Shiraz, which is thier flagship Shiraz.

Domaine Chandon
This is a place worth paying a visit to with thier glamourous facilities but in terms of tasting thier wines, I wasn't that impressed. It was what you would expect from a commercial style. Thier staff service weren't informative and I found them to be quite poncy about the wine. I don't think it is right to tell the consumer in what order they should drink their wines as long as they enjoy themselves. I was told "You may start from the top of the list and you are only allowed to go down but not back up again". Bloody ridiculous!

Their wine tour is free at is at 11 am, 1pm and 3 pm. I went on thier wine tour but didn't find the guide very knowledgeable about the Champagne method when people were asking her quesitons about the wines. Most of time, she regurgitated the words that were on the wall. Still, it is good for absolute novices to learn about Sparkling wines. I tasted thier Z*D Blanc de Blanc and 2002 Prestige Cuvée. Good wines but great? Or has it been left opened for too long? One thing is for sure, I can't find much of the bready, yeasty character that lovers of Sparkies crave for. BTW, for the last two wines, it's $1 per tasting.

Yeringberg*

This winery is a definite must go in the Yarra. Sandra de Puy is the winemaker/co-owner of this small setup. The winery is in the middle of Damaine Chandon and St Hubert and is not on the Yarra Valley wine map. It is only open by appointment. I have had the good fortune to meet Sandra at a wine show in Sydney.

Notice that big barrel behind. That was the fermentation vessel which Yeringberg used to do their ferments in and it is over 100 years old.

Yeringberg has so much history behind it when it comes to winemaking. She is the 4th Generation of the de Puy family line who are Swiss-French in origin. Winemaking started for the de Puy family in 1860s all the way to 1921. They were the pioneers of the grape growing industry in Yarra. It was the last winery to shut down in 1921 before grapegrowing restarted again in the Yarra Valley decades later. Her great-grandfather had teh title of a Baron and was the councillor for Switzerland. He also became the president of the local government in Yarra.

And the old carriage left behind by Sandra's nan.

The wall of awards for Yeringberg at the wine shows. History goes a long way back for them

The property now is 1200 acres, and 7 acres were under vines. Another 50 acres are being sold as fruit to other producers in the region. Temperatures in the summer go up to 40 degrees in Summer. Most of the Yeringberg fruit is grown on grey loam with a clay rock subsoil and gravel. The N-E slopes get good sun and rainfall is 700-800mm. The two tonne open-top fermenters are not temperature controlled and were milk vats - the best type of fermenters for Shiraz. To me, Sandra uses simple and easy techniques in winemaking that I wonder why other people don't do the same thing as her when it makes so much sense and is so easy. For example, Yeringberg uses sorting tables during harvest to take out other materials besides grapes from the 8-9 kg picking buckets. It takes just an extra 30 minutes to sort out the good from the bad grapes, like those affected by botrytis. Sandra doesn't believe in creating a second label. If any wine doesn't make the cut, she either dumps it out or seels a declassified wine like her 2007 Cabernet which will be stamped with declassified on the label with a price tag of around $20.

This is the second floor of the fermenation area. The grapes are being hoisted up and put into the trolley, and rolled along the railway tracks. And then its dumped into the big wooden fermentation vats

The fermentation vats from a top view.

The modern day fermenation vats made from steel. This was actually used for milk before it was bought by Yeringberg. Temperature is better controlled in this vessel by running water on its sides.

The cellar is kept at a cool temperature of 15 degrees. Barrels are tilted so that the wine is touching the top bung so that there is a vacuum above the barrels and the barrels don't have to be topped up all the time. This doesn't reduce the amount of the angel's share but it reduces oxygen contact with the wines and the only oxygen contact would be the breathing of air through the barrels. This tilting can be done with the set-up that Sandra has because the barrels are not on metal racks. She only checks the barrels every 2-3 months.

We tasted some of her wines still in the barrel. Her 2010 Marsanne was gorgeous, showing the white blossomes and flowers. It was fermented dry in steel and then transferred to old oak. No fining done. She only does fining with her reds using egg whites. In another barrel, we tasted a Marsanne co-fermented with Rousanne using wild yeast all fermented in teh barrel. It had this mineral, leesy complexity with a good length and light nutty, stone fruit flavours in the back.

The 2010 Chardonnay in the barrel had good clean fruit, that was so clean and a long length with melon flavours. No MLF and it is about 12.5% alch. A very clear, clean chardonnay without fining. The 2010 Chardonnay in 100% new oak was sppicy, rich and cedary with beautiful oakish perfume, cashew nuts characters. Both free run and pressings were in teh barrel and Sandra usually draws 600 l/ tonne and presses at 150ky/cm2.

I do want to talk about the 2010 Shiraz that we tasted that normally retails for $60 It had such fruit power in there but a soft finish and a silky palate. Gorgeous!

Sandra tells a really funny story of how she gets calls from oak barrel suppliers who come down to her barrel room to taste the wines in her barrels. I asked if they are really getting any information about thier product when they do that, and Sandra said that everytime they taste the wines in thier barrels, they would praise it but when they taste the wines in the competitor's barrel, they would wouldn't say much.

St Hubert
It is worth popping in here to take a look at thier Chardonnays, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon. Greg Harratt is the winemaker here. Their Chardy usually has no MLF. I found thier PN pretty low in acid for a PN and thier Cab Sauv is just classic, berry fruit, cigar and pencil lead. Check it out.

Yering Station*
A must-go place. Willy Lunn is the winemaker. Very good quality Sparkling Wines that are so much cheaper than Domaine Chandon. Do try thier Yarrabank 2002 Late disgorged. That is a wine to benchmart Sparkling wines against. They also make a sweet Sparkling wine style called Crème de Cuvée with 30 g/l of sugar. Almost all their wines are lovely. Thier 2009 Sauvignon Blanc has a starfruit smell to it that is quite rare in SB. MOst of the stuff are wonderful although I tasted a few off-bottles that could be attributed to just the bottle itself like thier 2007 Shiraz Viognier and thier single vineyard PN 2007 which had some TCA in there. However, it doesn't mean that the other bottles are bad. Could just be the ones I tasted.

I have had the good fortune to try the 2005 Reserve Chardonnay 13.5% and 2005 Reserve Shiraz Viognier 14.5% which both cost $75 each as they were generous enough to open a fresh bottle of each of them for me to taste. The Chardonnay has only 300 cases and were cropped at 1.2 tonnes/acre. It is 50% new oak and 50% old, both french. There is no MLF and has gone through 15 mths of lees stirring. Some Mendoza clones were used. On the nose is the rich leesy, pineapply, cinnamon spice characters with heady cramael, cedar and vanillin aromas. ON the papalte it was creamy, rich and yeasty with a very long length, finishing off with a oak backpalate and a yoghurty taste. The SV had 5% Viognier and was from 100% new oak and for 16 motnhs. It was just deep ink with an aroma of guts, power, black pepper, and dark cherries, heavy toaste, coffee and liqourice. The vines are 20+ years old an from teh Carr VIneyard which was full of rocks and gravel loam. It had an elevation of 230m. The palate was coffee, and had pluckery and drying tannins, lots of density in there with rich ripe berry, bramble and spices such as cloves and dar kherbs. It had a long length as well and finishes with blackberries. Both wines were an eye opener to taste. Is it worth the price? I think it depends if you are the sort of person who likes very bold and in-your-face flavours. I personally think the oak was showing but in a few years, the wine could possibly change and have secondary characters balance out that wood. Or it could lose its freshness and leave behind all the oak. It's a risk that one always has to take when buying a wine to age and there is no one can have a crystal ball to know how well a wine will be drinking years from now. One can only make an educated guess.

Additional Notes: If you have the chance, do dorp into Coldstream Hills Winery which make one of the best Chardonnays in Australia (It is really, really good and I have the chance to try several vintages before altough I don't feel that it is a wine worth aging because it usually drinks beautifully after 5 years).

Also go and make an appointment and see Mac Forbes who is coming up with some amazing wines, especially his Pinot Noirs and Grüner Veltliner.

I wish I had more time to visit Curly Flat & Punt Road. If I could, I would even try to make an appointment to see Mount Mary & Gembrook Hill. The last two are for serious drinkers with some serious questions to ask and unless you know a thing or two about wines, they just won't open their facilities to you.

I also found it quite strange that people in the Victoria wine industry talk in terms of acres for land while people in NSW talk in hectars.