Australian Wine Companion

Langton’s, Australia’s leading auction house, has long had a system of rating wines by the prices achieved at auction. Wine index: Exceptional; Outstanding; Excellent; and Distinguished.

2012-02-10T14:16:00.000+11:00

It has recently produced two lists that throw further light on the status of Australia’s best wines. The most simple of the two is the Top 100, arranged by price, utterly dominated by Penfolds Grange, but also including one-off wines where a back vintage (likely a single bottle) has attracted auction fever. The other lists the Top 100 wines by demand, and is the first time a list of this nature has been produced. It looks at the number of bidders for each lot of wines auctioned over the previous 12 months. It takes a different approach to the supply and demand equation: thus there need only be two bidders in the market for 1951 Grange to achieve the stratospheric price of $51,062, but the greater the volume of wine, the more important becomes the number of collectors chasing the wines. What you don’t see from the ‘by demand’ list is the vintage, simply because there almost inevitably will have a better spread of vintages from young to old. Then there are wines like Rockford Basket Press, Moss Wood, Wendouree, Giaconda, and so forth, that are always eagerly sought.

View Langton's List of Top Australian Wines Of 2011 By Price

View Langton's Top 100 Australian Wine Brands Of 2011 By Demand

Mini-Molly

2012-01-09T09:47:00.000+11:00

Not content with a Fosbury Flop off a step ladder some days prior to Christmas (don’t ask me precisely when) resulting in a suspected broken hip, which, fortunately, turned out to be only severe deep bruising, I followed up with a more emphatic slip and dive on to the same right hip and buttock on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, I did this while I was upstairs without a mobile phone, and with Suzanne off somewhere without hers (I think), an hour of dragging myself to a phone where I could dial 000 resulted in one of those bad Fawlty Towers-type stories as on various aspects of my birth, lifestyle, state of mind, and god knows what else with the 000 operator ultimately led to an ambulance arriving, and after protracted delay (mercifully with painkillers on the menu) we headed off to Ringwood Private Hospital, only to be told a few minutes before arriving that the hospital was now full and I would now have to go to Maroondah Hospital (which had no private rooms).

After a further protracted delay I found myself in a bed thanks to Dr Mark Horrigan of Pimpernel Wines (just around the corner from Coldstream Hills) who had pulled some strings to get me into one of the very few private wards available. There I spend until New Year’s Eve, with weeks of physiotherapy and discomfort in front of me. A planned New Year’s Eve dinner at Spice with Tom Carson and partner Nadege Sune (and my wife Suzanne) had to be abandoned, a dinner at home substituted with ‘96 Dom Perignon, ‘08 Montrachet of Frederic Magnien under screwcap eased the pain (mental and physical) somewhat.

The mental pain comes from the fact that I had, with immaculate foresight and planning, put aside eight days’ work in the cellar, in my library and elsewhere that will now have to wait for another year. Very bloody aggravating, as they say in the classics. It goes without saying that, however aggravating it may be for me, it has been far more so for Suzanne, forever at my beck and call, our extended family Christmas Day, many intervening events and full-on New Year’s Eve celebrations all cancelled, Suzanne simply running in circles trying to fill gaps for me.

For the time being, I hobble around, with physiotherapy and weeks to go before the leg ceases to be a square peg in a round hole.

A+ Australian Wine Celebration

2011-12-22T12:27:00.001+11:00

What many consider a long-overdue campaign by Wine Australia to feature the best wines of Australia will run from 12-29 April 2012. A preliminary media release giving some idea of the extent of the programme follows.

Australia’s greatest ever wine celebration kicks off nationwide in April 2012
Wine Australia’s A+ Australian Wine Celebration launches for the first time from 12 to 29 April 2012, and all Aussies are being called on to get involved in the country’s biggest collaboration of wine events.
The 2012 inaugural celebration of Australian wine will feature almost 100 events, tastings, parties and wine love-fests from Sydney to the Strathbogie Ranges via Subiaco and Strathalbyn.

The A+ Australian Wine Celebration is an opportunity for the Australian wine community to come together to collectively promote the quality, diversity and value of Aussie wine – on our own soil.

The Celebration is for anyone who enjoys a drop of Australian wine whether it be Tassie Pinot Noir, Hunter Semillon, Margaret River Cabernet, Yarra Valley Chardonnay or Barossa Shiraz (and of course all the other variants from more than 60 designated wine regions).

Wine Australia’s Regional Director, Australia and Emerging Markets Aaron Brasher said it was a unique occasion for all Australians to discover more about this country’s wine and get behind the wine industry.

“We are thrilled with the exciting mix of Australian wine experiences in April next year. Australians can celebrate the great wine created in their own backyard, across the street, down the road or on the other side of this great land,” Brasher said.

A+ Australian Wine Celebration will be launched at a public gala event on 4 April at Sydney’s Ivy Ballroom, in conjunction with the Merivale Group, before events across the nation commence on 12 April.

“For two-and-a-half weeks, Australians can celebrate the most diverse, dynamic and exciting wine producing nation in the world as Australian wine flows across our capital cities and many of our most beautiful regional communities,” he said.

A snapshot of events across the great divide…

NSW
14 April: Join Brokenwood Wines Winemaker for a Day – make great wine and have fun with winemaker Ian Riggs for a lesson in what it takes to make those award winning ‘iconic’ wines from the Hunter.

28 April: If you fancy yourself in the white coat without the Doctorate then join the Sydney Wine Academy - Australian Wine Show Judging Class at the Wine Academy at TAFE NSW. Learn what it takes to be an experienced show judge and educator with behind-the-scenes access to the industry leaders in show judging.

SA
13-14 April: Join the Coonawarra as its wineries open their doors for the Coonawarra After Dark Weekend, the peak of the grape harvest for two very special evenings giving you the chance to see, hear, touch and learn about the hard work and passion that goes into great Coonawarra wines.

VIC
26-29 April: Head along to the four-day Yarra Valley Food & Wine Festival, Reap & Relish, which will showcase the Yarra Valley’s best wine, food and beer offerings.

TAS
18 April: Come and enjoy what Tasmania is famous for at the Sparkling Tasmania Tasting at Pipers Brook, hosted by Jansz Winemaker Natalie Fryar. You can enjoy the flagship cuvees among other varieties and learn all about the very best of Tasmania’s sparklings.

QLD
21-22 April: It wouldn’t be a celebration without the Elevated Taste – Grazing the Granite Belt. Experience all the Granite Belt has to offer in a long lunch throughout this exciting and interesting wine region.

WA
21 April: Vasse Felix is holding the Pre-release Heytesbury Tasting & Meet the Winemaker hosted by Chief Winemaker Virginia Willcock within the winery. It will be an opportunity to taste a pre-release of its flagship wine among others.

Do your part for the Australian wine industry and get involved in one or many of the exciting and interesting events in a town near you during April 2012. Register for one or all national events at http://www.apluswines.com/a-australian-wine-celebration

For a full list of events go to http://www.apluswines.com/en/a-australian-wine-celebration.aspx

For further information relating to A+ Australian Wine Celebration month please contact:

Prue Semler
Account Manager
E pruesemler@liquidideas.com.au
P 02 9667 4211
M 0404 099 967

Georgie Leach
Account Executive
E georgieleach@liquidideas.com.au
P 02 9667 4211
M 0415 501 998

Aaron Brasher - Wine Australia
Regional Director, Australia and Emerging Markets
E aaron.brasher@wineaustralia.com
P 02 9361 1227
M 0411 470 856

About Wine Australia
Wine Australia is a statutory Government organisation established to provide strategic support to the Australian wine sector. Its mission is to enhance the operating environment for the benefit of the Australian wine industry by providing the leading role in market development; knowledge development; compliance; and trade.

A+ Australian Wine is the consumer-facing brand which aims to reposition the Australian category via image, price and representation.

Dan Buckle Returns to the Yarra Valley

2011-12-22T12:16:00.002+11:00

After eight years as senior winemaker at Mount Langi Ghiran in the Grampians, Dan Buckle is returning to the Yarra Valley, having spent five years at Yering Station (and two years at Coldstream Hills) before moving to Mount Langi Ghiran. He has been appointed senior winemaker for Domaine Chandon, and will take up his position in February 2012.

Kaesler Wines’ Old Bastard Shiraz

2011-12-21T12:24:00.002+11:00

Kaesler Wines’ Old Bastard Shiraz has managed to score consistently high points in the recent Wine Companions, notwithstanding alcohol levels ranging between 15.5% and (in the ‘08) 16.5%. Coming, as it does, from a single vineyard planted in 1893, the sheer density of the fruit has enabled it to carry the at times extreme levels of alcohol. It also managed to shake off the toughness that marred many Barossa and McLaren Vale reds from ‘07. What a pleasure then, and what an even greater surprise, to find that the ‘09 Old Bastard has an alcohol of 14%, and is a perfectly wonderful wine. My tasting note reads ‘From the prime estate vineyard, planted in 1893, with the usual, albeit inimitable, Ralph Searle label. What is not usual is the alcohol, 2.5% lower than that of the ‘08; it is beautifully supple, fresh and balanced, but retains the intensity, clarity and integrity of very old vine wine. Bravo. $170, 97 points, drink to 2029, cork.

Very similar comments applied to the ‘09 Kaesler Old Vine Barossa Valley Shiraz at 14.5% alcohol, with the following tasting note: From three estate vineyards with 40, 60 and 112-year-old vines, matured for 12 months in French oak, the colour is good, rather than remarkable; the bouquet, however, immediately signals a change from prior vintages, more perfumed, the palate more elegant, but still crammed with plum and blackberry fruit. $80, 95 points, drink to 2029, cork.

There is much more to be said about this, not the least that numbers don’t tell the whole story, even if they are correct (and that, up to now, has been a major assumption). Thus a wine of 14% alcohol may taste every bit as hot and alcoholic as one with 16% alcohol and vice versa. But even that’s only the start. More anon.

Wine shows, Rick Kinzbrunner and Andrew Jefford

2011-12-19T10:19:00.001+11:00

I was fascinated to read the following piece extracted from Decanter Magazine in October:

Decanter magazine - 7 Oct 2011

The Australian show system is holding good wines back and promoting boring wines, winemaker Rick Kinzbrunner says in the latest issue of Decanter.

Kinzbrunner, founder of Giaconda in Beechworth, Victoria, tells Andrew Jefford the shows have become moribund. In the ‘early years’, he says, the system helped ‘drag the bottom end up’ but now it’s doing the opposite. ‘It’s holding people back. It just drives wines to a certain level of interesting boredom, clean boredom.’ The problem is one of winemakers’ egos, Kinzbrunner says, and the solution would be to have consumers in charge. 'Why do winemakers run the show? They're not the people who drink the wine. It's absolutely crazy. You should have consumers in charge, with a small winemaking contingent.' Giaconda’s wines are feted by critics as diverse as Robert Parker, Jancis Robinson and Jefford himself. Berry Brothers, which imports the wines, is begging for a ‘stay of execution’ on a Roussanne vineyard that Kinzbrunner is thinking of pulling out – Giaconda’s Aeolia, pure Roussanne, is one of the most renowned of the range. ‘Despite his success, he’s still very much the outsider,’ Jefford writes, ‘his famed Chardonnay … is the antithesis of modern Australia’s …critically acclaimed ideal.’ In the course of a wide-ranging interview, Kinzbrunner airs his views on a number of subjects, including the Australian need to ‘cut you down to size’, his countrymen’s ‘insane preference for screwcaps’, and his love of Schubert, Bach and Beethoven. ‘Bach's cello sonatas [are a] wonderful example of harmony in art as in nature – it reminds me of the synergy I think there can be between a terroir and a winemaker.’

www.decanter.com/news/wine-news/529418/australian-shows-make-boring-wine-kinzbrunner

It is always easy to criticise and/or pontificate on a subject if you have no real knowledge of it. But the arguments advanced by Rick Kinzbrunner really took my breath away when I read them. This is how I see it:

I know Rick Kinzbrunner has never participated as a judge in any of the mainstream wine shows in Australia, and I would be terribly surprised if he had ever attended the post-show [exhibitor?] tastings where the wines which win medals (and those which don’t) are available for tasting.
At last year’s National Wine Show in Canberra the split between winemakers and sommeliers, journalists and retailers was as close to equal as you can have it when the total number of judges and associates was 21. Eleven were winemakers, five sommeliers, four journalists and one a retailer. Last year’s Sydney Wine Show went much further, only 10 of the judges and associates were winemakers, 18 came from sommeliers, retailers and journalists.
Many of the current judges and associates are graduates of the five-day Len Evans Tutorial, which is an intensive series of masterclasses in one way or another putting Australian wines in the context of the great wines of the world. It is absolutely not boring, and is equally absolutely designed to puncture any complacency.
Attitudes and practises within the Australian winemaking fabric have always been in a state of change. Before the mid-1970s there was no pinot noir, and virtually no chardonnay of any lasting worth being made in Australia. How different the situation today. It is ironic that the conversation should have been between Rick Kinzbrunner and Andrew Jefford, for it was the latter who recently ‘came out’ and voiced the opinion that top-end Australian chardonnays (and no doubt he would include Giaconda in that) can effortlessly compete with Grand Cru White Burgundies.
The dinners that Len Evans pioneered for the judges and associates during the currency of each show have always featured French wines, with a solid smattering of German, Italian, Spanish, New Zealand and Californian wines. Once again, the purpose is to broaden vision and defuse complacency.
The Australian wine show system (and that of New Zealand) stands apart from the shows blessed by the key international authorities OIV and INAO. Under the Australian system, every judge and every associate must be able to precisely explain why he or she gave any particular wine points that were at odds with their fellow judges. This is the accountability which is totally and utterly lacking in the European system, where the points go off to a computer, there is no discussion, and, indeed, none of the judges know what points there fellows awarded. In my view, those shows are sterile and devoid of any use other than marketing.

Wine & health – pregnant women

2011-12-14T09:05:00.000+11:00

Despite intensive and extensive studies over several decades, there is no evidence that a pregnant woman in good health, who does not smoke, and who has a balanced diet, including (say) a glass of wine each day, is in danger of harming the health of her unborn child because of that daily consumption of wine. There is evidence to suggest enhanced cardio vascular health protection, and there is evidence that the social and stress-relieving impact of strictly controlled consumption is good for the mother’s health, and by extension, the baby’s.

Simply because it is impossible to prove a negative from a scientific epidemiological standpoint, it can’t be proved that there is no risk whatsoever. And even the warning to a mother that she may cause harm to her unborn baby has an enormous emotional impact, and most GPs tend to dodge the issue when they are asked for an opinion by the pregnant woman by saying it has to be a personal decision.

All of this was reported by Natasha Bita, consumer editor for The Australian newspaper, and lo and behold, the Daily Wine News, published by Winetitles, covers the article and finishes with this sentence, ‘According to The Australian, wine, spirit and beer bottles will have to be labelled with tobacco-style health warnings to tell pregnant women that drinking will damage their unborn baby.’ It’s the sort of headline-grabbing sloppy reporting on this important issue that really makes me cross. Like countless couples, my wife and I fought for our equal share of the bottle of wine chosen on the night before she went off to hospital to respectively give birth to my beautiful and highly intelligent daughter, and my supremely healthy son with a Masters degree in human movements.

Australian wines in the Old Dart

2011-12-13T14:31:00.001+11:00

I had to read a recent piece in the Daily Wine News twice before believing what I was seeing. At a presentation of Australian wines at the Australian Wine School in London, under the auspices of Wine Australia, Tim Atkin MW said ‘Australia is more exciting today than at any point in my life as a wine writer.’ He was joined by Andrew Jefford, the distinguished English wine author who recently said that top end Australian chardonnays could effortlessly compete with grand cru Burgundies.

Blog: Wine, Terroir & Climate Change

2011-12-13T12:07:00.000+11:00

Dr John Gladstones’ book, Wine, Terroir and Climate Change, has been inducted into the Gourmand Wine Books Hall of Fame 2011. It is the first Australian book to be so honoured, with 162 countries having participated in the awards this year. On the cover of the book you will find this endorsement from myself:

For anyone interested in the future interaction between climate, climate change and viticulture, this book simply has to be read. Dr John Gladstones’s painstaking research is the foundation for his equally carefully constructed conclusions that robustly challenge mainstream opinions.

For further information go to www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product.php?productid=878&cat=0&page=1

Bruce Dukes on it

2011-12-12T11:29:00.001+11:00

Bruce Dukes is the senior winemaker (and director) of the Naturaliste Vintners custom-crush winemaking facility at Carbunup, in the Margaret River region. He recently received the Winemaker of the Year Award at the West Australian Wine Industry Awards. The sheer quality of the wines he makes is equalled only by his consistency. If I were looking for a contract winemaker anywhere in Western Australia, he would be my first choice.

A second piece of good news for Margaret River, following in the wake of the bushfires, was the title of ‘Best Town’ by Australian Traveller Magazine. Here, too, I have my hand up for one of Australia’s most beautiful, high quality regions.

The Yarra 6.30 this morning. How green is my Valley?

2011-12-12T10:41:00.002+11:00

The gentle art of re-corking old wines

2011-12-08T11:08:00.000+11:00

The Grange and rare Penfolds red wine re-corking clinic, run in conjunction with Langton’s, is of world’s best practice. The wine will be eligible for re-corking if appreciable ullage has developed, or there are signs of seeping. The existing cork is removed and a very small amount of the wine is removed to check its condition. If there is any problem with the wine (oxidation, excess volatility, and/or cork taint) the wine will be re-sealed with an unbranded cork, but is not topped up. If it is in good condition for its age, it will be topped up and a branded cork will be inserted. A slip label on the back of the bottle will disclose that the wine was re-corked at the Langton’s clinic, and specifies the date. Re-corking has been a major cause for concern in Bordeaux in particular in the wake of the much-publicised activities of Hardy Rodenstock. Anthony Barton, owner of Chateau Leoville Barton and Chateau Langoa Barton (second and third growth chateaux respectively) has come out in typical forthright fashion saying “I’m against re-corking: 99 times out of 100 it’s a racket...the poor auctioneer says the wine has a good level, but it’s only been good for the last two weeks, not the last 20 years.” When, several years ago, I investigated the possibility of having Chateau Lafite re-cork a double magnum of its 1865 vintage wine, I learnt that the Chateau will not re-cork wines older than 1945. It may have hardened its position since, but the obvious problem is that by topping a bottle up and inserting a cork which will specify the date of the ‘reconditioning’, there is an implied warranty by the chateau that the wine is of good condition for its age, when in fact it may not be.

Brett on the back foot

2011-12-08T11:05:00.001+11:00

Once again, the Australian Wine Research Institute has married ground breaking research with an everyday issue for makers of red wine. The thoroughly unwelcome yeast Dekkera bruzellensis (Brettanomyces), commonly known as Brett, has become a scourge for winemakers, especially those who do not wish to sterile filter their red wine prior to bottling. It imparts odours and flavours variously described as horse stable and wet bandaid, and everything in between. Expert tasters who can identify this yeast (which usually infects a wine after the conclusion of fermentation) can detect its presence in minute concentrations. The breakthrough has seen the genetic blueprint of Brett mapped, opening the way to kill the yeast without significant additions of sulphur dioxide or to remove it by sterile filtration.

Wine labels and health warnings

2011-12-02T10:34:00.000+11:00

I know it is a victory for commonsense that the government has decided not to require specific warning messages on alcohol labels. Winemakers Federation of Australia head, Stephen Strachan, said ‘this was a sensible, considered and evidence-based response to the recommendations of the Blewitt Review.’ The wine industry has demonstrated a strong commitment to addressing alcohol abuse and its willingness to expand coverage of its existing voluntary commitment to have an on-label message warning against drinking while pregnant. Consistently with this, the Winemakers Federation is encouraging winemakers to use the ‘pregnant lady’ pictogram on labels.

I am well aware that my views on this will not be welcome in certain quarters, but it’s a strange world in which the onus is on wine producers to demonstrate a negative. As I understand the present weight of medical evidence, there is nothing to show that drinking a glass of wine a day by a healthy mother-to-be on a balanced diet (and, above all else, not smoking) constitutes a measurable adverse impact on the health of the embryo and, in due course, the newly born baby. But that is not enough: because it is impossible to prove it is risk-free, it seems the industry has to agree that there is a risk to the unborn baby, even though the risk cannot be quantified.

Phylloxera

2011-11-21T14:34:00.001+11:00

The Victorian Department of Primary Industries has announced a second round of vineyard surveys in Victoria, covering Ballarat, Macedon Ranges, Sunbury, Broadford, Kilmore, greater Geelong, and a large northern area extending from Cobram to Horsham. The aim is to increase the number of regions within the Phylloxera Exclusion Zone (PEZ); if there is no evidence of phylloxera in the areas surveyed, it will enable growers and winemakers to move grape vine material and grapes into South Australia, New South Wales and those part of Victoria already designated as PEZs with a reduced regulatory burden.

New South Wales (except for a small and largely irrelevant area in the immediate west of Sydney) is phylloxera-free, as is the whole of South Australia (and Western Australia).

Phylloxera appeared in Geelong in 1887, and notwithstanding the enforced removal of all of the vines in that then very important region, phylloxera worked its way north, ultimately arriving in the Rutherglen region in the last few years of the 19th century, and into the early years of the 20th century.

Somehow or other, its northward march spared the Grampians and the Pyrenees. That is where things rested until in the last decade or so of the 20th century, phylloxera appeared in the King Valley, and thereafter the Strathbogie Ranges. Phylloxera cannot travel more than five kilometres without finding grape vines to feed on. Thus it is almost certain the King Valley and Strathbogie infections were carried by viticultural machinery that had been inadequately sterile-cleansed before moving from north-east Victoria to those two regions.

In 2006 it appeared in the Yarra Valley, which – against all the odds – was not attacked in the 19th century. Given that the Swiss were the most important vignerons in the Yarra Valley and Geelong alike, one might have expected there would have been exchange of grape vines or grapes between the regions, but chance intervened to protect the Yarra. Its luck has now run out, and phylloxera has arrived, almost certainly from the King Valley or Strathbogie.

Once introduced, phylloxera is like a cancer. It may move slowly, but it does so inexorably. Moreover, while agricultural equipment and grapes cannot be taken outside the Phylloxera Infected Zone (PIZ) in the Yarra, wine tourists have no such embargo. Four different vineyards are now impacted, and the number will increase in the future.

This, however, is not the cataclysm that headline writers delight in. Contingency plans should already be in place for vignerons, especially those with plantings in various parts of the Yarra Valley, who will have a program mapped out that will focus in the first instance on blocks that are underperforming and need either a replacement variety, a change in row orientation and/or in planting density, or will simply be taken back to pasture. The best blocks will be kept in production until it’s obvious that phylloxera is around the corner.

The cost of replanting the Napa Valley vineyards was estimated to be $1 billion, but the benefit of replanting didn’t take long for the investment to be repaid with higher quality grapes meeting the needs of the market.

In 1991/92 phylloxera began to destroy the vineyards of the Napa Valley; it had been an earlier visitor, but the Californians elected to use a rootstock with one of the parents vitis vinifera simply because it guaranteed high yields. The French warned that it would not be immune to phylloxera, and were proved right. When the damage began, various institutions ran for cover, asserting that the phylloxera that had now arrived was a different biotype.

Penfolds Releases Bin 620 Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz 2008

2011-11-17T13:00:00.002+11:00

Why would I fly to Shanghai for the day, arriving Tuesday night, and leaving Wednesday night? Well, my precipitous departure form Shanghai was dictated by a family commitment of longstanding that meant I had to be home by today. Were it not for that, I would have had a more sensible two-night stay in Shanghai, and attended the formal banquet that followed Wednesday’s press conference – which was the event I did attend.

Still speaking in riddles? Yes, I suppose I had better get to the point. It was the global release of 2008 Penfolds Special Bin 620, made 45 years after the only prior release, 1966 Bin 620. Both wines are 100% Coonawarra, the ‘08 51% cabernet sauvignon and 49% shiraz. Many years ago I purchased a case of the ‘66 from Len Evans’ Bulletin Place Wine Shop at around $20 a bottle, rather less than the $1000 a bottle for the ‘08.

What is more, it’s availability in Australia (and everywhere else, for that matter) is extremely limited. Unless you find it in a duty free international terminal shop (still at $1000 a bottle) Penfolds’ cellar door in the Barossa Valley is the only avenue. It follows from this that it will never, ever be discounted. Oh, and for the ultimate trophy hunters, there are a few magnums, and even fewer (less than 10) imperials.

The launch, at Shanghai’s ultimate luxury hotel, the Waldorf Astoria on The Bund, must have cost many tens of thousands of dollars. Journalists from many countries came on the same mission: to taste the wine, poured from magnums – a nice touch, but giving away gold – and hear Peter Gago’s masterly story of the wine and its making.

At this point, I find myself in a difficult position. When I say this is one of the greatest red wines Penfolds has made in the last 50 years, I can hear the cries “Well, he would have to say that, wouldn’t he?” from polite readers, and a great deal worse from cynical tweeters, bloggers and so forth. My only response is that I have tasted the wine, and my critics haven’t.

I wrote an unusually lengthy tasting note while Gago went through the history of Penfolds, the region of Coonawarra, etc, for the benefit of the many Chinese in the room, and the lavish video clips with deafening music, that preceded the demand to taste. The wine had been poured in everyone’s glass early in the proceedings, and I had no hesitation in breaching the taste embargo.

Key words among many were “seamless” (fruit and oak integration), “balance” (from superb tannins), and “accessible” (far more so than many Granges when three years old, prior to their release). And it turns out that it is these characteristics that have lead to its release now, not when five years old. In an aside, Gago told me its character, balance and so forth now was little different to those it had a year ago.

And so to the tasting note. The brilliantly clear, deep purple-crimson colour is an enticing start, and the seamless fruit and oak integration on the bouquet is perfect. Complex cedar and cigar box aromas are entwined with a basket of perfectly ripened black fruits. The palate is exceptionally intense, yet supremely elegant, with immaculate balance, texture, structure, line and length. Its outstanding tannins give the wine a certain authority: this is not a fruit-bomb style, yet is far more accessible than most Granges at this age. (Gago said to me the ‘04 and ‘06 Granges were ready several years before they were released.) it is without questions the best three-year-old Penfolds red (officially released) I have tasted.

The nuts and bolts are 51% cabernet sauvignon, 49% shiraz, part-fermented (with a few embellishments) and matured in 57% French and 43% American oak hogsheads (100% new) for 12 months. It has 14.5% alcohol, 7g/l of acidity, and a pH of 3.42. The magnums poured in Shanghai had corks, I will have to find out whether the Australian allocation out of a total make of less than 1000 dozen will be screwcapped or not.

Why has it taken 45 years to produce another Bin 620, and how long before the next release? Good questions, but the long answers are for another day.

PS: I very nearly missed the forest for the trees. This event was a powerful statement about Treasury Wine Estate’s commitment to Asia.

2011 Len Evans Tutorial Scholarship

2011-11-10T09:59:00.000+11:00

When this year’s 12 scholars were selected, it was very obvious the field was an exceptionally strong one. The scholars were:

Emma Plumridge, Rockpook, Head Sommelier
Joanna Marsh, (former) Seppelt Wines, Winemaker
Nicholas Spencer, Eden Road Wines, Winemaker
Marcus Satchell, Satch Wines, Winemaker
Courtney Treacher, Houghton Wine Co, Winemaker
David Brookes, Vinosense, Wine Journalist
Anna Pooley, Treasury Wine Estates, Winemaker
Bengt Baumgartner, The European, Sommelier
Mario Vinciguerra, Vintage Cellars, Fine Wine Manager
Daniel Sims, The Wine Guide, Project Manager/Partner
Lisa Jenkins, City Wine Store, Head Sommelier
Paul Gardner, Glass Brasserie, Sommelier

Anna Pooley was stranded by the Qantas strike, but has been given a place in next year’s Tutorial.

Six of the scholars effectively in a dead-heat by the close of business Thursday night. We have had a few clear winners of the Friday morning DRC in full tasting, but, more often than not, little to choose between the scholars. Our prayers were answered this year, when David Brookes was a stand out, correctly identifying four of the six vineyards (switching the other two around) and correctly identifying the vintage. He was the clear winner.

Against the odds, the range of wines presented this year was better than in any prior year, both the judging exercises of the chardonnay, pinot noir, shiraz and cabernet full of high quality wines, and – happily – a few traps for the unwary. Fabulous line-ups of wines for the Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne masterclasses, and the wines presented at the evening sessions generally superb (allowing for the usual cork casualties).

When is wine not wine?

2011-10-24T16:56:00.001+11:00

Some time in October this year the minimum alcohol requirement for Australian wine will drop from 8% alc/vol to 4.5% alc/vol. There has been what some might call a conspiracy of silence between the wine industry, the Commissioner of Taxation and Uncle Tom Cobbly and all about the moscato (and a few others) with less than 8% alc/vol being sold and taxed in Australia on the basis that they conformed to the requirements of the legislation being the Food Standards Code of Australia and New Zealand. In other words, it has suited the Commissioner to tax the ‘wine’ turning a blind eye to the alcohol issue, and it has equally suited the producers and (presumably) the Winemakers Federation of Australia not wishing to create waves for no good reason. Anomalously, the EU has for some considerable time mandated a minimum 4.5% alc/vol level, and, under the EU wine agreement, Australia has been obliged to accept those wines and allow them to be sold on the Australian market.

There is always the outside chance that the bureaucracy may not accept the FSANZ recommendation to reduce the alcohol level, but that seems highly unlikely.

What I drank

2011-10-24T16:51:00.000+11:00

I had the pleasure of attending a small private dinner at Circa the Prince the other night where we drank the following wines, partnered with the outstanding food the restaurant is providing these days:

Coche-Dury ‘Les Rougeots’ 2006
Ravenau ‘Clos’ 2007
Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne 2005

(with rabbit tortellini, morels, broad beans, garden peas)

Comte Georges de Vogue Bonnes Mares 1996, 1998, 1999

(with suckling pig, salsify and ham beignet, baby leeks)

Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Richebourg 1990
Domaine de la Romanee-Ctoni Grands Echezeaux 2000
Domaine de la Romanee-Ctonee Echezeaux 2002

(with roasted duck breast, beetroot tart tartin, pepperberry sauce)

Hitler v Parker

2011-10-12T13:03:00.001+11:00

Bob Campbell sent me this yesterday, said it is the funniest thing he’s seen in years. I couldn’t agree more.

Regional Wine Shows

2011-10-12T10:54:00.001+11:00

The results for the 2011 Riverina Wine Show, published on 13 September, come with a prominent headline ‘Coonawarra Cabernet Crowned at 2011 Riverina Wine Show’. The release goes on to disclose that the cabernet in question was Brand’s Laira The Patron Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, and also that the Nepenthe Ithica Chardonay 2010 won the Best White Wine trophy. The cabernet edged out the chardonnay for the trophy for ‘Best Still Wine of Show’.

While in no way quarrelling with those particular awards, this once again raises the question why regional wine shows should be open to entrants from all over Australia, with little or no prospect of the field of entries from premium table wine regions (such as Margaret River, Barossa and Clare Valleys, Coonawarra, Yarra Valley, Hunter Valley...... the list goes on) being truly representative of the best wines of those regions.

What is more, even if they were truly representative, the basic point still remains: regional wine shows should be for the wines made from grapes grown in those regions.

Q & A on a good shiraz

2011-07-30T15:12:00.002+10:00

Hi James,

In June this year I have my closest friends 50th birthday and one ponders as to what to get someone that has everything, so a bottle of shiraz comes to mind.

If your budget was $1000.00 what would you buy?

If Australian, go to the Langton’s website, and you will see the bottles of great shiraz from top vintages on offer. They can be relied upon to give you an accurate description of the appearance of the bottle, and, critically, the level. In the case of Grange, they will also be able to tell you whether the wine has gone through the Langton’s/Penfolds joint re-corking clinic, that in case of 10 to 20 year old Granges gives you a measure of comfort, but cannot protect you from the small chance that the new cork inserted has had TCA (trichloranisole, the mouldy taint). Remember in considering the prices that you also have to pay the buyer’s premium.

Langton’s also auction wines from the northern end of the Rhone Valley which are Shiraz (or in the case of Cote Rotie, Shiraz Viognier blends). The estimated prices is a pretty good indication of the relative quality of each of these innumerable needles in a haystack.

Regards

James Halliday

Gruner veltliner – the next big thing?

2011-06-03T15:16:00.001+10:00

There has been some e-discussion on the possibility of gruner becoming the next serious new contender for recognition. It has amazed me that it has taken so long for it to make its mark, initially through Lark Hill and Hahndorf Hill. In Austria it is grown side by side with riesling, and therein lies its strength and its weakness. Riesling in Australia shows us there are plenty of places where gruner should do well, the wine it produces having both character and longevity. The downwise is the ‘R’ word; if, despite all of the talk of a riesling renaissance, riesling continues to decline in importance collecting consumer disinterest, why should gruner veltliner succeed? Just because there is no obvious answer to this, it should not mean that gruner is a waste of time. There is plenty of room on the Australian viticultural canvas for a renaissance with riesling, gruner by its side.

The month of May... busy times!

2011-05-31T16:56:00.001+10:00

May has been an unusually busy month for me, beginning on May 5 to go to Margaret River for a long weekend for dual purposes: first, celebrating the release of John Gladstones’ imperious Wine, Terroir and Climate Change, which can be purchased through the website at a discount of 20% from its RRP, although that is absolutely not the reason that I sing its praises. Secondly, I was the guest of Vasse Felix, which in turned staged a very large subregional tasting of over 70 wines from the six unofficial subregions of Margaret River proposed by John Gladstones way back in 1989.

Then on May 12 I headed to Noosa for the Noosa Food & Wine Festival; a glorious event from start to finish, with equally glorious weather. This alone would have been reason to get out of the Yarra Valley, but all those who have participated in this event want to come back. I chose the wines for the Qantas Ultimate Wine Dinner at berardo’s on Sunday night with a string of stellar chefs from all around the world, Australia’s contribution from Tetsuya Wakuda.

A dash into Melbourne on May 18 for various meetings and events, the next day travelling to the Canberra District for the 40th Anniversary of the Australian National University’s Wine Symposium (and another long weekend), choreographed by Kiaran Kirk, one of Tim Kirk’s (Clonakilla) elder brothers.

Another four days have gone and today I head of to Western Australia as the guest of Matilda’s Estate. It is a very long time since I have visited Albany and Denmark, the southernmost (official) subregions of the Great Southern, so the visit is well overdue. I am praying devoutly that Qantas will get me back late on Sunday night for meetings on Monday with my dentist, followed by a far more enjoyable meeting with Hardie Grant, before I leave on Tuesday headed to Greece for a 10-day visit to the best wineries of the country, with more than a bit of island-hopping.

The flights to and from the far south west of Western Australia, and to and from Greece will be fully occupied with my work on an upcoming book with a deadline of July 6, before I leave that day to fly to Paris for a wonderful 50th Anniversary of Bollinger RD.

Wine, Terroir and Climate Change

2011-05-09T11:11:00.008+10:00

An appreciation by James Halliday

Dr John Gladstones is rightly considered to be an exceptional research scientist. He methodically collects and analyses all the available information on each aspect of his research, and patiently establishes the basis for the conclusions he then draws. On the face of it, there is nothing remarkable in this modus operandi until you realise his ability to think outside the square, and, where appropriate, to challenge what are blithely accepted as self-evident truths.

Inevitably his views on global climate change, and its implications for viticultural practices and choices in particular, will be regarded as highly controversial and lead to heated debate. But that only takes up the last part of the book. In the first two-thirds he further develops the concepts of his earlier book Viticulture and Environment, breaking fresh ground to build a new and more fully integrated understanding of viticultural terroir.

He returns to his proposition that a low diurnal temperature range during ripening, with relatively warm nights, gives best fruit and wine quality because it results in fastest and most complete physiological (flavour as opposed to sugar) ripening. Allowing that this occurs throughout all or most of the 24-hour cycle, more flavour and aroma compounds will accumulate relative to increase of sugar or loss of acid. This contradicts the commonly held belief that a wide range and cold nights are desirable in order to preserve acid. In fact, he says, cold nights slow physiological ripening, while hot days hasten flavour and aroma loss or destruction, and lead to excessive berry sugar accumulation.

Dr Gladstones supports the case for organic viticulture, although he cannot resist pointing to the contradiction that its officially allowed and most commonly used sprays of copper compounds and sulphur are inorganic, whereas the prohibited synthetic compounds are wholly or principally organic, i.e. carbon-containing. In the broader scheme of things, he explains why organic matter is so important in building soil health, indeed to the point where it enhances the expression of terroir. But he sees no merit in the added rituals of biodynamics, which he deplores as an unhealthy retreat into mysticism.

As I have already suggested, Dr Gladstones’ views on climate change will be vigorously disputed, although not by me. Almost 70 pages are devoted to a thorough examination of evidence on the subject, and its implications for viticulture. He carefully documents why he believes the analysis of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is fundamentally flawed, relying as it does on computer modelling unable to encompass the complexity of real climates, on uncertain data, dubious assumptions, and biased statistical procedures. In particular, it ignores the historical and geophysical record of past greater warmth and natural climate fluctuations, preferring instead a misinterpretation of the land-based thermometer record.

The IPCC model suggests that the last 150 years should have seen a global warming of 1°C or more caused purely by anthropogenic (man-caused) greenhouse gases. In fact the thermometer record showed an irregular increase of only about 0.6°C, of which half is well explained by natural fluctuations in the sun’s energy output and magnetic field.

Of the rest, the evidence (including important new insights that Dr Gladstones draws from his studies of viticultural terroir) indicates that most is spuriously related to historical changes in thermometer placement and surroundings, together with real, if still unquantified, general warming due to widespread desertification from land clearing and over-grazing. From this he estimates that greenhouse gases can have produced no more than 0.2°C of any genuine global warming over the period, which corresponds to a largely harmless 0.4−0.5°C for any effective doubling of atmospheric concentration, as opposed to over 2°C in the IPCC models.

Further complicating this is that plants, including vines, benefit from extra carbon dioxide but need higher night temperatures to do so fully. “I conclude,” writes Dr Gladstones, “that the widely held expectation of a viticultural flight to existing cold areas is misplaced. Optimum locations for particular wine styles will probably change little over the coming half century.” To further challenge climate change orthodoxy he adds: “Thus the possibility cannot be ruled out that the best terroirs will continue their historical shift to warmer locations.”

However he also warns that hot inland areas with irrigation are unlikely to benefit. Any migration of viticulture in the dry continents will continue to be coastwards to more equable and otherwise superior terroirs. Growing ability to identify and exploit these means that high-quality wines are becoming more affordable and competitive, to the common benefit of the world’s winelovers and quality wine producers.

This is a fascinating book that deserves the widest possible readership, both within the world wine community and among all with an interest in climate change.

A 20% discount is available to all Wine Companion readers on the RRP of $59.95. Simply enter the code 'Terroir' in the coupon redemption box (note, the code will only work on this specific title). Buy the book here >>