The Qwoff Boys

Glory to Barossa

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 12:20:00 +0930

“Glory to Barossa,” chanted Andrew Caillard as he sipped 100 year old Para port from a silver chalice both blessed and tarnished with a lifetime of memories.

“Glory to Barossa,” chanted Bernie Hickin, appropriately humbled by the moment, before passing the chalice to the grinning giant beside him.

A murmur of good will rippled through the crowd as big Bob McLean took the vessel and drained its unctuous, wonderful contents in one schluk.

“Glory to Barossa,” he drawled, and thus were three new Barons annointed to the thunderous applause of the crowd.

We unworthy Qwoff Boys were lucky enough to be amongst that crowd, and in one evening’s dinner and the following morning’s auction, we were reminded in the most wonderful of ways of just what the Barossa was made of.

The Baron’s Dinner, as we’re calling it (Further Clarification, to be honest, simply did not do it - this was a Feast of Kings!) was one of those nights we will never forget.

It was like getting an invitation to the greenroom at the Grammies and hanging with Robert Plant, Keith Richards, Paul McCartney and the Kings of Leon. The legends whose music we’ve danced to, snogged with, conjugated our lives by…

But perhaps we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s set the scene.

7 o’clock, the sun’s set on another day of the Vintage Festival, and the historical Angaston Town Hall is waiting. Inside, the utilitarian hall has been transformed, not just with elegant drapes and soft lighting, but with wines and people - BLOODY AMAZING wines and people!

Steven Henschke stands behind a table, ‘95 Hill of Grace in hand, with a warm smile and a generous pour. Chris Ringland, Charlie Melton, Rolf Binder, Grant Burge and dozens more, all sharing the very blood that beats in the heart of the Barossa - 98 Rockford Basket Press, Meschach, Grange, Nine Popes, Greenock Creek, Black Pepper, Octavius, Wolf Blass Platinum Label…

A line-up of wines that could humble even the most extravagant of wine lovers, shared by the hands of the creators themselves - but this was no solemn occasion, this was a room alive with belly laughs and bear hugs and kisses on the cheek and it was all just so… embracing!

It was history, it was the future, it was right here, right now, and it was bloody fantastic.

We sat down at three long tables - hundreds of us - and dined on Pigeon and Mushroom pies, some sort of exquisite lamb tart, creamy mash and all sorts of amazing and rustic delights, and all the bottles and so many more were thrown down on the tables and shared like favourite stories.

And with all of this merriment around and before us, we got to bear witness to the ritual that saw the anointment of three new Barons of the Barossa - a ritual resplendent with red and gold robes, ancient staffs and tastevins.

“It’s often fashionable to look forwards,” commented MC Paul Henry, “but sometimes the answers lie behind us.”

We woke the next morning with dry throats and pounding heads (well deservedly so!), and steered the kombi on over to the Penfold’s barrel hall, for the Rare and Distinguished Barossa Wine Auction.

Many of last night’s faces were there, with hundreds of wine lovers with big wallets, and the sparkling Shiraz - Barossan breakfast of choice - was flowing.

To sit and bare witness to the 130 lots of wine on auction was again to be reminded of just what the Barossa was capable of.

To see first-hand the confidence that wine lovers all around the world had in “First Growth” brands like Penfolds and Henschke as bids exploded past the $5K, $10K, $15K mark, and the eager demand for “newbies” like Rockford, Torbreck and Chris Ringland - was a humbling reminder that we need to either start making more money, or get invited to more Baron’s dinners!!

But beyond the dollars, the numbers, the smashing hammers, and the testosterone of the bidding battles, sat the wines themselves - wonderful, complex, balanced, patient and utterly delicious masterpieces that would soon be enjoyed around tables, proudly displayed in trophy rooms, and ultimately, hopefully shared among friends over the next few months or fifty years.

“Glory to Barossa,” Justin whispered, humbled and inspired.

“Bloody oath,” Andre replied, “pass me that RWT…”

Featured Winery Q&A - Laurance Wines

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 15:46:24 +1030

Who are you and what’s your role at Laurance?

Dianne Laurance, Founder & Chairman.

I’ve been involved in a diverse range of successful business ventures including establishing restaurants, design, manufacturing and property development.

Ten years ago I entered the wine industry after purchasing a vineyard in the premium wine growing region of Margaret River in Western Australia.

My focus has always been to empower women and girls within Australia. Through my involvement in a number of organisations including the Harvard University’s John F Kennedy School “Women’s Leadership Board”; Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World; the Clinton Global Initiative; Ted Women and Freedom to Create gives me the focus to achieve this.

I am particularly focussed on assisting Indigenous women artists from Western Australian communities to preserve and translate their culture and history through art while at the same time, providing a lucrative business venture for their communities and independence for the women.

Describe Laurance in 3 words:

Unique – Successful - Dynamic

Who started it, when and where?

In 2001, the Laurance family purchased 40 hectares of prime viticultural land situated in the premium wine growing region of Wilyabrup, Margaret River as a family retreat.

The vines, which included the six best known Margaret River varieties, had been planted in 1996 and, by 2001 were already providing fruit to International wine producers. After watching the first harvest, I knew what my next business was going to be.

My vision from the outset was to create an iconic and premium wine brand that set “Laurance of Margaret River” apart from all others by producing top quality wines in unique bottles and packaging and eventually opening a “must see” cellar door facility.

What is your philosophy?

What the mind can conceive and believe, it will achieve.

To produce the best wine from Margaret River; to have an iconic tourism cellar door with a difference, which is family friendly and affordable for all to enjoy.

To create happy memories for all who visit.

What do you love about the region?

The region is blessed with the best climate and terroir for growing exceptional wines; the natural attractions, pristine beaches, community spirit and the friendly competition between the wineries to produce the best!

What are three key moments in the history of Laurance?

There are actually five key moments for Laurance:

When the first bottle of Laurance of Margaret River Rosé 2002 came off the bottling line 18 months after purchasing the property. This memento still takes pride of place on my mantelpiece.

Winning Gold at the Decanter World Wine Awards in London. With 10,000 entries only 2% of wines were awarded Gold at the Awards making it the world’s toughest wine competition.

Winning “Most Outstanding Vineyard” at the WA Wine Industry Association Awards in 2009. Laurance strives towards becoming an organic vineyard in the future and has implemented holistic viticultural practices growing from the ground up, by reducing the use of harmful sprays and activating the microbiology of the soils under vine.

Reducing herbicide application and the introduction of holistic strategies by creating healthier soils and happier vines which parent greater flavour concentration and complexity ensuring that the wines produced are world class. The vision starts in the vineyard; and

Opening Laurance Cellar in October 2006. Laurance was voted Top 10 Cellar Doors in Australia by the industry’s “Wine Business Magazine” and has become an iconic wine tourism facility in the South West of Western Australia. The cellar itself is adorned with indigenous and conventional artwork and sculptures from Australian and international artists. The cellar building, built by local company Innovest, was awarded first place in its category of the Master Builders Awards in 2007. The facility is family friendly and affordable in spectacular surroundings.

What are your 3 favourite Laurance wines and why?

Laurance of Margaret River Rose – Laurance’s signature wine. It’s a true European style dry Rose made from the Shiraz grape that is perfect with any style of cuisine at any time of the year. Awarded Gold at the Sydney International Wine Awards.

Laurance of Margaret River Icon Cabernet 2007 - during vintages of exceptional quality, small parcels of our finest fruit are used to create the Laurance Icon. The 2007 Cabernet was the first ever bottled under the Gold lady.

Darkly coloured and exotic, with aromas of violets, cassis, macerated plums and a hint of black licorice, which all stay focused on firm, but fine-grained fruit coated tannin structure. The lingering finish reveals juicy acidity, minerality and refined mocha notes.

An outstanding wine receiving five Gold Medals – Decanter World Wine Awards; Royal Adelaide Wine Show; Margaret River Wine Show & Japan International Wine Show and Royal Melbourne Wine Show.

Laurance of Margaret River Chardonnay - Bright and lively with complex stone fruit and fig aromas in front of some smoke, toastiness, vanilla and hazelnut. The palate is nicely textured with a long intricate minerally aftertaste. The wine is delicious in its youth; however, those who cellar it with care will be well rewarded with increased complexity.

Gold, Femmes et Vins du Monde Concours International France 2007;

Gold, International Chardonnay Challenge, New Zealand; Gold, Perth Royal Show; Gold, Royal Adelaide Wine Show

What’s with the unmistakable bottles?

In such a highly competitive industry, packaging and marketing strategies to engage the consumer are critical. First impressions will often dictate whether the consumer connects with the product which ultimately results in the purchase.

With this in mind, I wanted to create a premium range of wines in unique packaging. While Laurance has received numerous national and international awards for the wines, it is Laurance’s screen printed bottles and packaging that provides a point of difference. In Paris in 2005, it won the best design at a world-wide packaging show.

While I knew my packaging idea was appealing, the popularity of the bottles has astounded all expectations with empty bottles having a life of their own as they are sold at the Cellar for $5 each. There wouldn’t be many fridges in Australia without a Laurance bottle being used as a water container and their website can never be erased from the bottle – a great marketing tool.

I believe good wine should not only taste great, it should look great.

Can people visit your cellar door, and what can they expect to experience?

Many traditional cellar doors are a walk-in-taste-walk-out 15 minute experience. At Laurance Cellar, the aim is to entertain the tourist for as long as they choose with an entire Margaret River wine experience.

An integral part of the business plan was to provide wine tastings with a difference, in a relaxed and comfortable manner. Rather than standing at a bar and asking for each tasting under the constant gaze of hovering staff, Laurance provides each guest with their own tray, and offers tastings of their choice of wines accompanied by tasting notes, Turkish bread, olive oil and olives, all for $9.

The overarching theme that we wanted to create was to make Laurance Cellar a family-friendly destination that was affordable to everyone. The casual lunch trays using fresh local produce are all priced at less than $22 except some daily specials. The children’s trays are a specialty.

There is a state-of-the-art playground and vast expanses of rolling lawns for the children where they can play cricket, football, fly kites and indulge in other boisterous activities.

The focal point of the entire landscape plan is a circular-design 1,000 bush rose garden. At its centre is a 4 metre wide promenade leading from the cellar to the lake and covered by an antique timber rose covered arbor, all of which is especially popular with bridal parties, but enjoyed by rose-lovers of all ages.

The cellar itself is adorned with indigenous and conventional artwork and sculptures from Australian and international artists. A wishing well cockatoo sculpture by Australian sculptor “Willie Wildlife”, which is a memorial to Steve Irwin attracts significant donations from guests which are forwarded monthly to the “Wildlife Warriors Foundation”.

At the entrance of the property, a five-metre high bronze tree with a single bright red apple surrounded by a bed of bright yellow flowers, which are collectively known as the “Garden of Eden” assure visitors they are entering a place of beauty and tranquility.

The expansive lake is dominated by a significant work of public art, which, because of the controversy with local government regulations, became an Australian cause célèbre, and known locally by all and sundry as “Chick on a Stick. Her real name is “Free as a Bird”, which represents the freedom and opportunities this country offers its people.

Laurance provides an extensive and unique range of merchandising not offered in other cellar doors. All wines are sold in a wide array of gift packaging and the presentation is second to none.

We all want to help create a more sustainable world – what are you doing by way of making a better world?

Laurance strives towards becoming an organic vineyard in the future and has implemented holistic viticultural practices growing from the ground up, by reducing the use of harmful sprays and activating the microbiology of the soils under vine.

Reducing herbicide application and the introduction of holistic strategies by creating healthier soils and happier vines which parent greater flavour concentration and complexity ensuring that the wines produced are world class.

Laurance bottles are recycled as previously mentioned and they have a life of their own.

Can you share with us your favourite dish/recipe, and what wine would you suggest drinking with it?

Grilled salmon and salad with the Rose if I wish to be good; and if I want to be bad, fish and chips from the local chippy with our wonderful buttery Chardonnay.

Who is the most interesting person you’ve shared a glass of wine with and why?

My husband Peter. He is one of the most unique people I have ever met.

At the end of a busy day, relaxing over a glass of wine we chat about how our businesses have gone during the day. He is a successful Australian developer. We give each other advice and take advice. We discuss the news of the world, we talk about our families and, in particular, our eight beautiful grandchildren. The most interesting topic that we discuss is our future and where we would like our philanthropic business and personal lives to go. I share more with and learn more from this man over a glass of wine.

Who would you love to share a glass of wine with and why?

Hillary Clinton. To hear first hand of her amazing journey empowering women throughout the world by eradicating gender bias in the professional world and breaking through the glass ceiling where women are concerned, promoting the acceptance of their individual accomplishments so they are not viewed in the light of someone else’s – a fascinating and powerful woman.

If there was a song that could be the Laurance anthem, what would it be?

“Simply the Best” by Tina Turner

What advice would you like to leave the winelovers of the world with?

Life is far too short to drink bad wine.

Featured Winery Q&A - De Bortoli Wines

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:30:00 +1030

We recently had the fortune to meet one of Australia’s truly great winermakers, Steve Webber of De Bortoli, at Landmark Australia, where he was giving a Chardonnay Masterclass to a panel of international wine communicators and educators.

It opened our eyes as to what these guys at De Bortoli were making these days out of their Yarra Valley Winery, and I tell you it was all good from where we were sitting!

Here’s a little online chat we had with Steve Webber…

Who are you and what’s your role at De Bortoli?
Steve Webber - Winemaker

Describe De Bortoli in 3 words:
Family, grapevines, wine

Who started it, when and where?
Vittorio De Bortoli in 1928 who emigrated from Northern Italy to Bilbul (near Griffith) in country NSW

What do you love about Yarra Valley?
Yarra Valley – good friends, terrific climate, the colour of spring, proximity to Melbourne (fun) and the Mornington (holiday house)

What are three key moments in the history of De Bortoli?

Established in 1928 by Vittorio and Giuseppina De Bortoli
Deen De Bortoli taking over in 1966 and building an amazing business
Darren De Bortoli making Noble One

What is your philosophy?
Make wine with imagination, have fun, make a difference

What are your 3 favourite De Bortoli wines and why?

Pinot Rose – unconventional, technically incorrect, delicious
Estate Pinot Noir – it is what it is – fragrant, often pale, but with a recognisable stamp of place.
Reserve Syrah – we are not there yet but we are making progress. It will be our exceptional wine from the Yarra

Can people visit your cellar door, and what can they expect to experience?
Yes. Visitors can taste and buy some small scale single vineyard wines that we are interested in making or in developmental stage for mainstream release. Cheese by Richard Thomas is a bit of a treat.

We all want to help create a more sustainable world – what are you doing by way of making a better world?
Healthy vineyard, beautiful wine, some delicious piggies – what more can we do?

Can you share with us your favourite dish/recipe, and what wine would you suggest drinking with it?
John Dory with capers, parsley and lemon. Drink with fine minerally Chardonnay

Who is the most interesting person you’ve shared a glass of wine with and why?
No individual. Lots of liquid evenings with Downie, Bridgy, Fagan, McCallum, Mayer (all clever winemakers) and of course Leanne– drinking and chatting about lots of interesting wine from France and Italy.

Who would you love to share a glass of wine with and why?
Another group of people on the back deck here – Steve Pannell, Phillip Jones, Andrew Jefford, Joe Wadsack, Philip Rich and of course Leanne – again chatting about interesting wine and what Australia needs to do next.

If there was a song that could the De Bortoli anthem, what would it be?
From Little Things – Big Things Grow. Just love Paul Kelly.

What advice would you like to leave the winelovers of the world with?
Trust the producer just as you would trust a good wine merchant. Treasure the nuances of season in your favourite wines.

Landmark Day 5 - Fortified Masterclass

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 11:49:33 +0930

“Not sure about the 08, it’s showing a bit closed, and a bit youthful,” Paul Henry shares. “The 1908, they were referring to.”

This is it, the last class of this indescribable week, and you’d hate to say they’ve saved the best till last, but strap yourselves in, this is something special indeed.

Stephen Chambers from Chambers Rosewood and Colin Campbell head the panel to review what Australia has to offer to the world in terms of fortifieds.

Colin doesn’t mince too many words, keen to get onto the wines, and Stephen pulls up a slide of his 3 year old, 7th generation daughter.

“We’re moving from an era of nice, clean barrels to cobwebs, where the contents of the bottle are more important than the presentation.”

Amen, bring on the cobwebs.

We’re going to be visiting Rutherglen, Barossa, and McLaren Vale, and over a century of fortifieds.

“Rutherglen was goldfield country,” Colin shares. “‘Dig for gold, lads,’ they would say to those hoping to strike it rich, ‘but don’t dig too deep - there’s more gold in the first 6 inches than deeper.’

“Now we’ve turned those riches into liquid gold.”

Now this is a happy place, and if, like me, you’ve not really explored fortifieds thoroughly, and port is something your Dad had in the cupboard for 25 years, then get ready to have your world changed.

(For a full list of these wines, go to http://wineaustralia.com/landmark )

NV Morris Miafino Palomino (Fino Sherry) (Rutherglen)

Definitely an aldehydic nose, with yummy toffee and banana cake on the nose, then this fresh, wafting seaside, oyster shell thing.

The palate is a superb dichotomy of roast nuts and lemon peel, it’s refreshing, dry, silky and stunning.

1998 Chateau Reynella Vintage Port Shiraz (McLaren Vale)

The less traditional of the two vintage ports, being made from Shiraz, rather than the Portuguese varieties of Touriga National, etc. - a dusty sweet spicy christmas pudding.

NV Seppeltsfield DP 90 Rare Tawny Shiraz Grenache Cabernet Sauvignon Mourvedre (Barossa Valley)

So exciting, with that pure rancio nose, like the home-made toffee-coated almonds my wife’s Nanna Gewnda makes every Christmas, congealed into one great crunchy, delicious mass.

The palate is cumquat jam, nutty, burnt toffee, it’s stunning.

1910 Seppeltsfield Para 100 year old Vintage Tawny Mataro Shiraz Grenache (Barossa Valley)

Words are insufficient to share this wine with you, but I’ll try.

It’s like walking a freshly-tarred road when you smell it, eating burnt toast, crunching on a toffee, and chewing tobacco.

in your mouth, it’s like motor oil. Tastes of licorice, good cigars, burnt toast with marmalade, or lashings of treacle.

It lasts as long as you want it to, and if you get some of this sticky, unctuous goodness on your fingers, you’ll be blissfully licking them for days.

With the afterglow of this experience, we move over to Rutherglen for some classics.

NV Chambers Rutherglen Topaque Muscadelle

Tangy orange peel on the nose, actually smells just like freshly grated orange zest, but the palate, is more orange poppy seed cake. Surprisingly light and fresh.

NV Chambers Rare Rutherglen Topaque Muscadelle

Toffee, treacle, burnt orange marmalade, and hint of perfume on the nose. Stunning palate, absolutely stunning - tangy, vibrant, rich toffee, chewy caramels. Amazing.

NV Campbells Classic Rutherglen Muscat a Petit Grains Rouge

Orange peel, sugar caramel and a hint of lemon peel on the nose, with a thick, syrupy amazing palate - melted sugar with leathery, aniseed flavours, and something herbaceous going on.

NV Campbells Merchant Prince Rare Rutherglen Muscat a Petit Grains Rouge

This is heading towards that euphoric experience - a tarry, burnt toast and preserved peel nose, and the palate, like satin, is the perfect balance of freshness from the peel, and chocolaty, caramel, toffee, licorice, tarry wonderment!

1928 Morris 1928 Rutherglen Muscat a Petit Grains Rouge

The oldest, the rarest, and most precious of this incredible resource. Hand-bottled from the barrel, it looked quite inconspicuous in this line-up, except that it was up the end.

And in this wine, you can find religion. This transcends, coats the glass like the sheer veil of an exotic dancer.

Rich, dark mocha chocolate, blackberry jam, licorice, and yet there’s still a fresh, herbaceous nose!!

It’s sticky date pudding on the palate, dark chocolate, orange peel and it tastes like a bonfire.

And on that note, we head to lunch.

If this session hasn’t moved you, hasn’t left you tingling and humble on the inside, then you need to switch to tea.

Landmark Day 5 - Chardonnay Masterclass

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 10:02:28 +0930

It is with restrained, yet persistent drumming in my head that I sit down in the pourer’s bar, laptop on my lap, sunglasses on, ready to report on the Chardonnay Masterclass with Steve Webber of Debortoli Wines.

The headache is on account of last night’s dinner at Giant Steps, but was worth it :)

Chardonnay - what a ride Australian Chardonnay has had.

A young variety with only a few decades of history in this country, with Murray Tyrrell’s midnight raid on Penfold’s vineyards laying the foundations for the rock star that is Chardy.

We all know about the heady excess of the rock and roll Chardy in the 80’s and 90’s, getting fat on warm sun and high on oak, but the real story of Chardonnay is way cooler.

Steve begins, taking us on a journey of the real Chardonnay to today.

He makes a note on climate change first up, which gets the attention of the room:

“I never would have dreamed we would be ripening Nebiollo here in the Yarra. Certainly there is some change afoot, and I’ll be interested to see how it unfolds.”

Indeed.

The wines proudly lined up come from Macedon Ranges, Yarra Valley, Hunter Valley (an exception to the rule!), Adelaide Hills, Margaret River, Tasmania, Mornington Peninsula and Beechworth - all cool or maritime climates.

“The future lies in cool climate,” Steve feels, “and imagination.”

“And finally, all of this is of course bullshit with the wines you’re about today.”

(For a full list of wines, go to http://wineaustralia.com/landmark )

First 7 wines - all 06 or 07.

“10-15 years ago, Brian Croser would talk about one of the key indicators of quality was creaminess on the palate.

I don’t think that’s where we are today.” Andrew Caillard

“These are all very mouth-watering, minerally styles.”

Standouts:

2006 Oakridge 864 Chardonnay (Yarra Valley)

Delicious nose, like a rockmelon gelati. But the palate was so zingy and zesty and lime-driven. Amazing length, but grapefruit, drying finish, needs some food, and would benefit with more age. That said, stunning wine, one of the finest in the bracket for mine.

2007 Tyrrell’s Winemaker’s Selection Vat 47 Chardonnay (Hunter Valley)

Peaches and cream on the nose, but an interesting earthy, minerally hay-like complexity on the nose as well. Again, bright on the palate, with searing acidity, good mouthfeel, but again, should probably open out with time and/or age.

“It’s one of the anomilies of life, why Hunter does good Chardonnay,” says Steve. “Seriously old vines.”

“When I looked at this blind, there is no way I would have picked it as coming from a warm climate.”

2007 Shaw + Smith M3 Chardonnay (Adelaide Hills)

I got cream and scones on the nose, spicy and savoury in the mouth, nice minerally notes. Tighter, with a grippy mouthfeel from the phenolics.

“If I’m going to drink tight and minerally, I may as well drink the real thing.” was an interesting quote from Steve, referring to Chablis.

2007 Voyager Estate Margaret River Chardonnay (Margaret River)

Wow. There’s your riper melon on the nose, and your peaches and cream.

And it does carry through on the palate, yet I got a green papaya finish. It’s got great length, creamy mouthfeel yet still plenty fresh and zingy.

“Unmistakably fine, but I was hoping to find a bit more generosity,” was a comment that I agree summed up the flight.

Another 10 minutes of silence ensues, with this last bracket all 08 vintages, which surprised me. I would have thought we’d be visiting some older Chardonnays in this bracket, following the 06 and 07’s, but they were impressive wines.

Here are a few, each from a different state, interestingly…

2008 Penfold’s Reserve Bin 08A Chardonnay (Adelaide Hills)

One of the finer wines in the line-up, though needs more bottle age. Peach and melon on the nose, with a lovely creaminess, and then this spicy, stalkiness giving it a savoury character, and a hint of struck match.

Very savoury on the palate, tight, very minerally, spicy, peppery, a superb wine, that will surely develop into a stunning Chardonnay.

2008 Freycinet Vineyard Chardonnay (Tasmania)

If you’re wondering what a sub-artic climate does to Chardonnay, here it is - the nose is very floral, chalky and minerally. Tight lime and minerals and that chalkiness follows on the palate. Searing and lean.

2008 Giaconda Estate Vineyard Chardonnay (Beechworth)

Another of the standouts, with lovely nutty, brioche and cream, melon - a stunning nose. The palate is fuller than anything we’ve seen so far - with a sexy spiciness, but a pervading creamy, silky, fleshy, beautiful mouthfeel.

“Grown on granite, and matured in granite,” Steve shares with us, explaining the cave they have in which they mature their bottled wines at Giaconda. The winner in the flight.

2008 Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay (Margaret River)

Again, I got that lovely brioche and butter nose, but laced with a nettle kind of wildness, possibly from some wild ferment.

Classic Margaret River fruit on the nose - pineapple, citrus and spice on the palate, still quite tight, but will open out into a lovely wine.

An impressive flight of wines, though there are a few glaring omissions, for mine, though you could probably say that about any line-up of 14 wines.

A quote that one winemaker in the Adelaide Hills shared with me defines this style of Chardonnay, having heard it from many a customer at his cellar door, and a message I think that we can take forward in our Chardonnay revolution:

“I don’t like Chardonnay, but I like this one.”

Landmark Day 4 - Pinot Masterclass

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:26:52 +0930

Ahh, this is one of the masterclasses we’ve been waiting for with baited breath (being BIG fans of Pinot, both Jusin and I), and peeking at the line-up of this blind tasting of Australian Pinots, we’re salivating - so many we’ve never tried!

Tom Carson, winemaker at Yabby Lake, has pulled together 15 of Australia’s finest, some of them dating back to 1997, which isn’t bad for Pinot in this country, which isn’t so often aged.

But there’s another very cool twist. The first flight 8 wines from the 08 vintage, are all from the “young guns” of Pinot - small newer producers for the most part, intensely passionate about producing this sexy variety.

The second flight are all aged Pinot, from the producers who put Australian Pinot on the map in the 80s and 90s.

But we’ll get to those - let’s take a look at 08…

While many 08 wines across most of the country had a rough trot, “…most of the Pinot was already picked by the time the blistering heatwave hit, so it was actually a great, cool vintage for this variety,” Tom tells his audience.

“Pinot is a hard variety to get all in balance. It needs perfume and fragrance, that really beguiling, intoxicating aroma. it needs that combination of red fruits, dark fruits, and even a bit of green fruits.”

“You need the structure from stalks or whole bunches, that when it ages give that forest floor character. And then you need that velvety, silky structure, but you also need structure. And above all you need balance on palate, you need length on the palate…

“I think it’s the hardest variety to get those things together. Even in its home - most burgundy is pretty ordinary, only the top Pinots are extraordinary.”

And on that note, let’s visit some of these extraordinary 08’s:

(For a full list of the wines on show, check out http://www.winaustralia.com/landmark )

With smart wines from Yarra Valley, Geelong, Mornington Peninsula, Gippsland, Macedon Ranges and Tasmania, the standouts for me were:

2008 Farr Rising Geelong Pinot Noir (Geelong)

Fascinating nose, even young, with rhubarb, proscuitto and sweet paprika spice (I got, at least!), the palate was powerful and yet lovely and soft, velvety, with spicy red fruits, pepper and spice, and an earthy, tobacco finish.

2008 Stefano Lubiana Estate Pinot Noir (Tasmania)

Restrained nose, to the point where one of the delegates even asked the question as to the condition of the wine (since cork taint aften depresses the aromas), but it was in great nic. Musk and cherries, but only very subtle for me.

But the palate was the complete opposite. Powerful with its red fruits and dark berries, licorice, and a wonderful rich earthiness.

2008 Curly Flat Pinot Noir (Macedon Ranges)

The most elegant wine in the line-up, with lovely raspberries, white pepper and lifted perfume notes. The palate was at first a touch stalky, but laced with redcurants and hints of dark cherry and pepper.

Restrained, but impressive length, it promises an exciting future.

2008 Yabby Lake Block 2 Pinot Noir (Mornington Peninsula)

“I find that of all the wines, this one has that wonderful velvety texture,” introduced Tom, if he does say so himself (remembering that the tasting was still at this stage blind), and those wonderful perfume notes on the nose. It really speaks of Pinot Noir, and of Mornington Peninsula.”

The room agreed, to which Tom replied:

“Well you’ve all done very well, that’s a Yabby Lake.”

Love it. And it was indeed a great wine, with cherry, dark berry, spicy, leafy, perfume on the delicious nose, and a lush, velvety texture. Perhaps the most balanced wine of the first 8.

There was only one wine that disappointed, which most in the room agreed with, and Tom’s comment was good:

“Wine should be able to stand up for itself, you shouldn’t need a winemaker to stand up and tell you about it, it should sing and dance on its own.

Unfortunately this wine is being a bit naughty today.”

As for the next 8, benchmark Pinots ranging from 2002 to 1997 - though the end results were impressive, the path was a rocky one.

“Even most Burgundies should be drink within 8 years,” Tom explains, “it’s only the rare great wine that can age for 50, 60 even 100 years.

“It’s no surprise to me, therefore, that of the 18 bottles we opened for this flight, 8 were corked and 2 were oxidised.”

Tasting through the aged selection, is a testament as to why Pinot is so delicate, and why aged Pinot is so rare and bloody expensive.

Most were quite delicate, at least the few drops we got to sample behind the bar, with common flavours across the flight of mushroom, bourguignon-style stew, sun-dried tomato, dark, dry earth, old pots of spice…

I think, though, that with all the damaged bottles, what we had left in the glasses back at the bar was not at its finest - the delegates were describing lovely characters of “still ripe fruits” and such, which we behind the bar simply weren’t finding.

This was unanimously the standout, at least for Justin and I, and Tom agreed:

1997 Bannockburn Serre Pinot Noir (Geelong)

Wonderful rich beef and mushroom stew on the nose, and roasted capsicum, cured meats like capicola, and sun-dried tomato.

A silky palate, all the bits in balance - acid, tannin, making for a soft, savoury Pinot experience.

“Its a bit like mining for gems,” Tom explains, summing up the Pinot world, “you have to look hard, producers are still struggling with consistency.

“There are flashes of brilliance every year, but in terms of producing truly great Pinot, it’s very hard, and we have to keep striving.”

So far so good, Tom.

Landmark Day 4 - Riesling Masterclass

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 10:13:47 +0930

Who else but Jeffrey Grosset to take our international guests on a journey through Australian Riesling?

This morning’s masterclass begins with a very brief history on Riesling, which has been around for over a thousand years, but what about Australia?

In the Eden Valley, Riesling vines date back to the 1840’s, with the Clare not far behind.

In an interesting and somewhat disappointing stat for Riesling lover like us, in 1988 there were 3 bottles to every 2 of Chardonnay.

Today, there is 1 Riesling to every 10 Chardonnays produced. Now I love my Chardonnay, but I wouldn’t mind a trip back to 1988, except that I’d have to wear pink shirts and skinny ties again, so we’ll just stay right here.

“Riesling has extraordinary ability to produce wines from dry to very sweet,” explains Jeffrey, “given the right conditions and understanding of the variety.”

“Dry Riesling is very much the norm here, and the success of our style has affected European producers, which is extraordinary, and only now being realised by producers here.”

So without too much pre-amble, Jeffrey unleashes the crowd on the waiting Rieslings.

(For a full list of the wines tasted, go to http://wineaustralia.com/landmark )

The first two wines are out of the Clare, demonstrating a stunning 2010 vintage, with an intriguing balance of banana icecream and searing lime acid, and an amazing 2002 (a very cool year) from Petaluma that in 8 years has barely aged - still so lime-driven and grapefruit with only hints of honey and spice, and wonderful texture, with chalky, dry acid, and years and years ahead of it.

So why does Clare do Riesling so well? The sun there creates a fuller, riper style of Riesling, and the cool evenings bring it into balance.

And then we really get a taste of why Riesling is truly one of the great white wines - with an ‘84 Grosset, which had the most amazing maple syrup and caramel flavour, with still such a lovely underlying citrus peel acid.

Then going even further back, with a ‘73 Leo Buring Watervale Rhine Riesling, which was so soft and soothing, with honey an sticky date pudding flavours.

Wow - amazing!

The next two wines take us to Eden Valley - cooler

“The acidity starts higher in the Eden Valley, and I’ve seen this year after year, but it will drop earlier.”

So you get this impression on the palate of tight, chalky acid-driven wines.

We go from an 02 from Peter Lehmann, demonstrating quite a floral, honey, toasty wine but still with a nice line of limey acid. There’s definitely a “kerosene” note, but Andrew Caillard suggests we look at that character as more of an “oil-skin” aroma, like smelling a drizabone coat - nice Australian touch, Mr Caillard, and suitably green.

The 1980 from Pewsey Vale, amazingly under screw-cap, which saw a brief time on the market in the 80s, but was dropped, much to the despair of wine enthusiasts now!!

Named Rhine Riesling, as so many of that time were, it’s a gentle combination of honey, grapefruit with some toasty characters, quite elegant with a lovely mouth-feel.

What follows is a whirlwind trip around the other less-famous Riesling regions of Australia - Henty in Victoria, Great Southern in Western Australia, and Tasmania, all young Rieslings.

I tried the Cherubino from Great Southern - a warmer region like the Clare Valley, famous lately because Halliday awarded them Winery of the Year in his 2011 Wine Companion.

Lovely floral, bubblegum nose, with a hint of nettles. It’s tight, with “searing acidity”, as they like to say in the trade. A “linear” shape, travelling like a laser through your palate.

Finally, we’re given a couple of off-dry Rieslings, a touch of sweetness, which is a style (so prevalent in German Rieslings) we’re seeing starting to creep onto the shelves from a few producers now.

In balance with nice crisp acid, it can make for an extraordinary, still very refreshing wine.

The 03 Grosset “Off Dry” is stunning - the finest of its kind I’ve seen here in Australia. Toffee apple on the nose, a lovely oily mouthfeel, still light, but amazing zingy citrus acid, balanced beautifully with the residual sugar - the perfect honey and lemon.

I’d like to see more of this style come out, it’s so perfect with sweeter Asian cuisine, like Thai dishes, and if people get into it, and get used to a sweetness in balance with acid, it’ll work so well for Australian food and wine culture.

So get onto it, folks!

Here’s a sneak look at these incredible wines from the...

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 09:17:18 +0930

Here’s a sneak look at these incredible wines from the Historical Perspective Masterclass at Landmark Australia, including the 55 Grange!

Landmark Day 3 - An Historic Perspective

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 08:37:06 +0930

Let me first say that the title is understating it a bit.

When James Halliday and Andrew Caillard go to the cellars to pick out some wines that tell a story of Australia over the ages, you should sell your car, hell - sell your kids to get there.

The list of wines is profound. We qwoff boys are but newborns, led blindly and trustingly into the big wide, wonderful world of wine.

Let the journey begin…

(For a full list of wines tasted at this historical masterclass, go to http://wineaustralia.com/landmark)

1955 Penfold’s Bin 95 Grange Shiraz Cabernet (South Australia)

With a cheeky grin and a twinkle in his eye, Chris, stewarding this week, passes me a glass, and says “have a go at this.”

One sip and I grinned too. “Is it?” I asked.

Chris simply nodded.

Oh. My. God. 1955 Grange. 55 years old.

I smelled first prunes and oyster sauce, laced with exotic Indian spices, reminiscent of Garam Masala.

Then I’m getting a waft of some dried fruit – maybe apricots? Cumquat peel?

And then there’s a sexy leathery character, and then a burst of salty prosciutto – this wine is unfolding before my very nostrils.

I take a sip. Bugger me.

Excuse the language, but seriously, this is amazing.

The palate is HUGE - plummy, spice, more dried apricots - absolutely alive with flavour, and a rush of spice that is intoxicating.

Oily, mouth-coating, the flavour and the sensation of this wine goes on and on, and so shall I!

THIS is the reason why wine has been - for centuries, and shall be forever - wanked on about.

This is why people spend a week’s wage on a bottle of wine.

This is an experience, not a beverage.

This is a wine altar, and I its humble, forever now faithful servant.

1962 Penfold’s Bin 60a Cabernet Sauvignon (South Australia)

This is a wine, a unique wine – a wine created by Max Schubert simply because a couple of parcels of fruit were just so good, they deserved their own wine.

At a famous tasting of California vs. Bordeaux Cabernets, this wine, brought over by Len Evans, was singled out for a moment’s silence and appreciation – a movie moment in Australian wine history.

I got the last dribble of sediment-ridden dregs from the first bottle of this.

It had a pan-fried meaty nose, with sautéed mushrooms and hints of black truffle.

The palate was pretty intense, with plummy fruit, prunes, salty cured meats and pepper.

Eager for another taste, I tried the second bottle, which was still half full, but it had a bit of aldehyde on the nose, and the palate was bitter red fruits, spicy, plummy, and savoury like a jus.

Great length, thinning a little bit in weight, but still fascinating to be able to taste.

1971 Penfold’s Grange Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon (South Australia)

This wine hovered between what might have been a touch oxidized, or just bloody fantastic.

Wicked beef and mushroom stew on the nose, with dried basil.

What a wonderful spicy palate, tannins are firm, it’s chewy, it’s rich, it’s pretty amazing actually. Taste’s like a bourguignon sauce. Developing some roasted tomato, bbq flavours

Bottled in 72 – great year :)

1976 Wendouree Shiraz (Clare Valley)

Nose a bit closed for me, maybe my nose is tired, but I think it was suffering from cork taint.

There was rich spice and plum on the palate, pepper and mushrooms, but something not quite right there.

A shame, because this was apparently the rarest bottle here.

1986 Brokenwood Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz (Hunter Valley)

Trademark leather and spice on the nose, hints of caramel.

Palate is absolutely alive and cracking, with amazing plums and earth and orange peel. Fascinating. Thinning in body, but real oomph on the palate.

1990 Mount Mary Vineyards Quintet Cabernets (Yarra Valley)

Now this wine has got a real mushroom stew nose, absolutely heavenly, still some dried fig fruit in there, but definitely meaty.

The palate is stunning – plums and tobacco and leather and dried herbs and pepper, with a minty finish.

Elegant, light in body, but lovely flavours.

1991 Lindemans Bin 8203 (Burgundy) Shiraz (Hunter Valley)

Spicy red fruits, coffee, cigar-box nose, butterscotch - wow

What a lovely smooth palate. Touch of aldehyde, though, bit oxidised.

Shame, because that dominates, but still lovely bright tangy plum notes on the palate.

1995 Cullen Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot (Margaret River)

This was one of the great wines – coffee and cinnamon on nose, stewed plums., prunes, and some tomato bush.

The palate is wonderful – real cigar-box and leather kicking in after a dry finish. Stunning.

1996 Penfold’s Kalimna Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon (Barossa Valley)

Choc-mint nose, cinnamon, hints of sweet vanilla, toffee, cedary oak.

Bright fruits on the palate work nicely hints of tomato, leather, cigar-box and dry spices.

Nice fine, fine tannins, wonderful length, quite elegant on the finish.

1996 Best’s Wines Thomson Family Great Western Shiraz (Great Western)

Lovely dark cherry fruits on the nose, bitter chocolate and spice, coffee, caramel, a touch of menthol.

That sweet dark fruit and coffee comes through beautifully on the palate, it’s stunning. One of the livelier palates to date.

1996 Clarendon Hills Astralis Vineyard Syrah (McLaren Vale)

Parker elevated this wine to capture everyone’s interest, for its point of difference, but what is with the label??? I’ll post it somewhere for you. Whoever designed it should be shot, resuscitated, and then punched.

The wine is interesting, but not wonderful. Coffee and caramel on the nose, cinnamon spices, some dark fruits in there

Tannins REALLY firm, surprisingly.

Rich in flavour, it heads towards a bit of oxidative chewy caramel. Dark chocolate sauce finish, sticky date pudding.

1996 Three Rivers Shiraz (Barossa Valley)

This was the first wine that came along that still had some crimson in the colour. Perhaps still well-preserved.

The nose had butterscotch and chocolate, heaps of spices and dried herbs, blackberries.

The palate was intense – lively and spicy and powerful, great acid, chewy tannins, this one is still quite young tasting. Licorice and tar, cigar-box and tobacco flavours.

The alcohol is obvious (15.3%), probably preserved it.

This wine is over $1000 a bottle, after receiving 100 pts in Wine Spectator, I believe.

1998 Petaluma Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot (Coonawarra)

Lovely dark berry nose, eucalypt, chocolate, marjoram, cedary oak.

The palate is tobacco leaf, pepper leaf, cigarbox, plum, there’s a tartness about it, the tannins are chewy.

It’s very elegant.

1998 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz (Barossa Valley)

An amazingly elegant and lovely wine - coffee, butterscotch, nutmeg on nose, pepper and soft spices.

The palate is softly powerful, with real pepper, cloves, bitter coffee bean, spice, it’s charry from the oak.

Stunningly gentle.

2001 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier (Canberra District)

Andrew Caillard made the comment that this wine has been the most profound influence on Australian wine since the 1951 Grange.

Interestingly, the apricot from the viognier has really come through with age on the nose, along with chocolate and spice.

The palate is really intense - aniseed and pepper and cloves and tobacco, with some plum and apricot fruit.

One of the best “younger” wines in the line-up.

2006 McWilliams Mount Pleasant Maurice O’Shea Shiraz (Hunter Valley)

A fine and fitting end to an incredible line-up. Plums, leather, earth, pepper, cinnamon, and a hint of caramel on the nose – this quirky region at its finest.

Spices on palate, and leathery, intense coffee and tobacco flavours. It’s still very savoury and should develop beautifully for many years to come, and perhaps in a few decades, this will be sitting a little earlier in just such a line-up.

And on that note, I leave you to reflect :)

Landmark Day 3 - Cabernet Masterclass

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:55:10 +0930

(Check out http://www.landmark-wineaustralia.com/ for a full list of the wines tasted in this Masterclass, and the official Wine Australia Landmark blog, with video interviews with the presenters!)

As the crowd shuffles in from tea and scones for morning tea, Mr Brian Croser (or Sir Brian, as we call him in worship) takes his seat to the big horseshoe of vinous wonderment.

15 glasses of red wine in disguise sit before each guest, for this is the Cabernet and Blends Masterclass, and for this session, our guests are flying blind.

And typing away in the kitchen as we are, and therefore privy to the flight of wines, I can tell you that it’s going to be a very interesting session.

Lucky delegates!

“I’m very old, very deaf, slightly blind, and completely incontinent, so I’d appreciate it if when you ask a question, speak up!”

One of the finer openings in wine history, I dare say, from Sir Brian there.

The session is named “Cabernet Sauvignon and Friends (or What’s wrong with Cabernet Sauvignbon?)”, and Brian would like to know from the delegates:

“Which of these wines is really a wine of the winemaker? Influenced more by the winemaker, and which of the wines are distinctively terriore-driven? Which is a reflection of where it comes from?”

These questions Brian would like the delegates to consider.

“Two of the wines are benchmark wines - one from Bordeaux, one from California - in there to help the delegates draw comparison, or frame of reference.”

On the pedigree of Cabernet - Cabernet appeared sometime late in the 17th century in Bordeaux.

We get a look at some of the “blending agents” that are often seen with Cabernet - Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Shiraz, Petit Verdot and Carmenere.

Brian decides to tease the room with a bit of a clue for the blind tasting:

There are 4 Margaret River wines, 4 Coonawarra wines, a Clare, a Langhorne Creek, a Yarra Valley, a McLaren Vale, an Eden Valley, one South Australian regional blend, one Bordeaux, and one Californian.

Interestingly, and perhaps surprisingly for many, regions like Eden Valley and Yarra Valley are cooler climates than Bordeaux.

“Tannins are essential, and alcohol is a contentious issue around the world - think about the alcohol in the wine, the alcohol and sugar balance, and the tannin and acid balance. I want you to think about those things as you taste these wines.”

And then off they go! And off we sneak to the line-up for a little taste as well.

For a full list, go to http://www.landmark-wineaustralia.com - here are a few that we tasted:

2004 Wynn’s John Riddoch Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (Coonawarra)

Stunning Cabernet nose of dark chocolate, mint leaf, and rich cassis. The palate is bright, rich, incredible - oozing with brooding cigarbox, dark minty chocolate, cigar-box flavours, dried herbs, and some charry characters from the powerful oak - goes on and on, revealing layer upon layer, lingering deliciously.

The Californian wine by comparison was a blend with Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cab Frac, with more fruit cake characters on the nose, riper, more black spices on the palate, but nonetheless pretty darn tasty.

2007 Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Cab Franc (Margaret River)

Ooh, lovely elegant nose, with some plum and spice, blackcurrant, cigar-box and a toasty dry bark character I found intriguing. Being young-ish, the tannins are quite prominent (particularly without food), yet delicious, and the alcohol was higher for mine, but a wonderful dark, charry, chocolaty, cuban-cigar palate. Long dry finish.

The Chateau Pichon from Bordeaux is stinky on the nose - barnyard and cassis, like the cows were eating the berries, pepper and spice, thinner on the palate, less fruit certainly, but the length makes up for it, and it’s all about spice and pepper and there’s a leafiness on the palate. Astringent tannins, but interesting.

2004 Wirra Wirra Angelus Cabernet Sauvignon (McLaren Vale)

A benchmark and highly awarded McLaren Vale Cab (and the Vale has seen a rise in popularity in recent years), there’s more coffee mocha on the nose, with still a cabernet leafiness, plums, and loads of mint. Riper fruit - plums and redcurrants for me, for an 04 it’s youthful, spicy and powerful.

2006 Wendouree Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec (Clare Valley)

The hotter of the Cabernet regions, this is a wow nose - chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon and such spice, dark black fruits. The palate is juicy, big, powerful, sexy, with enough mint and tobacco to keep it Cabernet. Stunning as a big version.

2007 Penfold’s Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon (South Australia)

A real benchmark, a smoky, bitter chocolate, cigar-box nose, herbaceous. The tannins are the most prominent of all the wines thus far, and this wine I’d be drinking in a few years next time, but the palate is exciting, with dark fruits underneath, a hint of rhubarb that will probably go with age, mint leaf, bitter chocolate, coffee bean, cigar-box. The oak is also very prominent on this one.

2007 Yarra Yering Carrodus Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot (Yarra Valley)

One of the cooler regions, the Carrodus nonetheless has a sweet nose, with a lovely vanilla and nutmeg note, mint leaf and red fruits. Bright, juicy palate, amazing spice comes on, it’s rich, yet fresh, powerful, yet restrained. Real class, lovely tannins - this is a gem.

Sir Brian starts the questions round the room - and there is an objection from one delegate that they have to commit to a winemaker vs terriore answer, but they all get into it, and Sir Brian is something of a master at steering the room.

And there’s no right answer for this - it’s a debate that Australia more than anywhere is the right place to discuss it - it’s essentially a single site/regionally blended debate. Not to forget that Grange is a winemaker-influenced, multi-regional wine, not expressive of a single site or region.

It’s a great way to hold a discussion, and the room is responding. I’m reminded that our international guests - they really know their wines, and they’re not here to pat us on the back, they’re really digging beneath the surface of these wine styles.

Andrew Caillard asks the question “did you guys think there was an Australian voice to these wines?”

Something in the idea of ripe tannins, but beautiful, fine textures, in-balance oak.

For mine, this is one hell of a line-up, and an amazing way to get your head around Australian Cabernet. If I had a spare $2K, I’d do it again some time :)

“I think that Cabernet is due, and deserves to come back,” Paul Henry states, and Sir Brian wholeheartedly agrees.

Backstage Day 3 at Landmark for the Semillon Masterclass

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 08:58:00 +0930

Backstage Day 3 at Landmark for the Semillon Masterclass

Landmark Day 3 - Semillon Masterclass

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 08:45:00 +0930

Check out http://www.landmark-wineaustralia.com/ for the official Wine Australia Landmark blog, list of wines, and interviews with the presenters!

Good morning! Day 3 and some of the delegates and all of the staff this morning are feeling the toll that even great wine in consistent and relentless quantities takes on we delicate souls.

But thankfully this morning’s session is not only a truly special and unique wine, it’s also not a bad hair of the dog.

And on that note, we welcome Andrew “Thommo” Thomas to old barn at Yering Station, to the stage, for the Landmark Australia Semillon Masterclass.

A brief introduction to the variety ensues, and interestingly one of the first bits of information that emerges is the fact that Semillon hasn’t really cracked it as a mainstream variety in even the Australian market.

“Is Hunter Valley Semillon too much a coineuseur’s style, too intellectual, for the average wine drinker’s palate?”

Now Thommo is not a stats man, but he’s hit us with a few interesting stats.

Semillon production is dropping. In 2010 production was equal (perhaps surprisingly) to Sav Blanc production, while 4 years ago, twice as much Semillon was being made as Sav Blanc.

But a sobering stat - two thirds of the Semillon production in the country comes from inland, warmer climate, irrigated regions - Murray Darling, Riverland, etc.

A lot of which would be going into cask as a blend, with Chardonnay, or Sav Blanc.

So your production on premium quality Semillon (eg: the Hunter) is actually very low.

Hopefully we’ll find out why we need to rectify that over the course of this masterclass :)

“The style of Hunter Semillon hasn’t changed much over the years - low alcohol (9.5 - 11.5%), no oak,” Thommo explains.

And right off the bat he warns that aged Semillon was so sensitive to cork taint. Not only that, but under cork, Semillon traditionally saw a “dip” in that 2-5 year age, before emerging beautifully, but under screwcap, they’re not seeing that dip so much.

Now THAT is exciting.

Hunter Semillon has been described as a schitsophrenic wine. A wine with split personality disorder.

Young Semillon is all about lemon/lime juice, grassy, cut hay/straw, sometimes herbaceous, and searing acidity is common.

As it ages, it develops the most perfect honey, toasty, buttery lanolin characters.

But it’s easy to forget that some pretty smart Semillon can also come out of the Barossa (which has always surprised me), particularly with Peter Lehmann, for instance, which go very much in the Hunter style, with high acid, low alcohol, no oak, with ageing potential as well.

In Margaret River, most of the Semillon is blended with Sauvignon Blanc, and often the Sem is a riper style, with tropical fruit salad and more herbaceous characters.

Clearly enough with the theory, Thommo clears his throat, and announces, with some relief, “okay, let’s taste!”

This morning’s tasting is broken up into two flights.

The first 9 wines - bracket one - is titles “The Current State of Play”.

Interesting mix, with a couple of classics, and some entry point wines as well.

1. 2010 Hart & Hunter Single Vineyard Oakey Creek Semillon (Hunter Valley)
2. 2009 Thomas Wines Braemore Semillon (Hunter Valley)
3. 2009 Tim Adams Semillon (Clare Valley)
4. 2009 Vasse Felix Semillon (Margaret River)
5. 2009 Brokenwood Semillon (Hunter Valley)
6. 2008 Peter Lehmann Art Series Semillon (Barossa Valley)
7. 2005 Tyrrell’s Belford Semillon (Hunter Valley)
8. 2005 Peter Lehmann Margaret Semillon (Barossa Valley)
9. 2005 McWilliams Mount Pleasant Lovedale Semillon (Hunter Valley)

The young Braemore is fragrant, grassy and citrussy on the nose, and the palate is exquisite. Bright, zingy, vivacious in the mouth, lively acid, but with a silky, sexy, mouth-coating texture. It’s petite, but with sexy curves. Young Hunter at it’s finest.

Thommo, who made the wine, talks about looking for texture in Semillon, and using a footy analogy.

“It’s all about the one percenters. Semillon is very much an expression of the site, but along the way, I’m always looking at these little one percenters to add something to the wine.

“For example, instead of picking the block all at once, I’ll have 3 pickings. The first picking is called the “spine” - the fruit has elevated acidity, very lean, very austere, not quite ripe, but a very handy parcel to have to blend later on.

“The next picking is the heart, your main picking (60-70% of what we pick) - flavour is good, ripeness is right, acid, etc.

“The last picking is the tail, where we’re looking for slightly more ripeness, and we’ll keep the parcels separate up until blending, which will give us more options to take the wine in tighter or riper directions, depending on the outcome of the vintage.

“As a small producer, I like to sell 75% of my production in the first 12 months, and the other 25% I like to put away, and release as an aged wine.”

The Tim Adams from Clare is definitely riper on the nose, with tropical notes, some sweet pea and lemon on the nose, and there’s some oak going on there, giving it a creamy sorbet character that’s not bad. The palate is rougher than the Braemore (sorry!) - real vegetal notes, and the oak is clumsy, I think.

The Vasse Felix from Margaret has a lovely lemonade and sorbet nose, a touch of grassiness, and the palate is searingly grassy and lime zesty. The oak is more smoothly integrated, and works on this wine.

The first Peter Lehmann, the Art Series - was a staple wine growing up as a student, ‘cause it was usually $8. And for an “entry point” wine, as they say in the trade, it’s got some good acid, it’s quite simple and lemon/lime driven.

Begs the question from Thommo “so are we wasting our time trying to make these entry point, friendly Semillons, or is it too intellectual a wine and should we be concentrating on the premium Semillons?”

One of the delegates felt like the Brokenwood and the Peter Lehmann would get “murdered in an ice bucket”, while a few others were very impressed with them both as entry point wines.

We step up now to a little bit of bottle age, and this is where Semillon really starts to some into its own.

The Margaret from Peter Lehmann is a bit of an Australian benchmark, and there’s immediately this beautiful buttered toast with honey nose, or “buttered popcorn”, that is trademark aged Sem. Stunning palate, getting some real body compared to the young wines, and a lovely mouth-coating silkiness to the palate. The length is astonishing.

The Lovedale from Mount Pleasant in the Hunter is also a benchmark, and has been battling it out with Tyrrell’s for wineshow trophies for decades.

The nose is real lanolin, less aged characters than the Margaret, and with 05’s in the Hunter, this will age beautifully over the next 15-20 years.

That same buttered toast on the nose, and the palate has only just begun its journey - quite herbaceous, still plenty of lime, barely a smidge of honey even coming in, and I think this will start to show off in a few years time.

The second flight was really sexy - a vertical flight of Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Hunter Semillon, from 1998 to a 2010 only released to subsribers, Vat 1’s current vintage being 2003.

Another one for Mr Halliday to get fired up over - of the 4 bottles of 1998 brought here, only one of them was okay.

The ‘98 we’re gratefully familiar with, and is Australia’s most awarded white wine. The nose is pure puttered toast with honey or marmalade, and the palate is exquisitely delicate, silky, intriguing, and goes on forever. If you have to kill someone to try it, it’s worth considering.

The ‘03 is still so light in colour, with a more delicate lemon honey nose, the palate is still tight and acid driven, but fattening out nicely with hints of toasty things to come.

The 2010 is lime soda, absolutely delicious - a totally different beast, but with some oysters, you’d retire happily, if you didn’t know what it was going to turn into.

A fascinating exercise, as verticals are, but particularly with Semillon.

And as a special treat to finish up the show, Thommo pulls out three old dusty treasures - an ‘86 Tyrrell’s futures Semillon and a ‘77 and ‘78 from Rothbury.

The ‘86 has an AMAZING burnt toast nose, with melted butter and marmalade, and lanolin. The palate tastes like liquid buttered burnt toast, if you can imagine that, but in a good place, great length, and a totally savoury finish.

Very unique experience.

The other two, you had to be forgiving with, but were fascinating enough by virtue o the fact that they were living and breathing and sharing themselves with us!

So in closing - Thommo asks the question - “IS Semillon too intellectual for the mainstream? Do we need to find those dedicated winelovers out there who will appreciate it?”

What do you think?

A little sneak peak iphone video - backstage at Landmark Day 2...

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 21:26:04 +0930

A little sneak peak iphone video - backstage at Landmark Day 2 with Justine Henscke, the guys from Wine Australia, not to mention some classic old Australians. Enjoy!

Day 2 Landmark - The Great Australian Blend

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 18:44:00 +0930

Wrapping up a mighty day of Australian wine at Landmark, following debate-worthy line-ups of Sparkling and Shiraz, enter Mr Charlie Melton.

Now we have the pleasure of being able to say we know Charlie, and you’d be hard pressed finding a more passionate and romantic advocate of wine, and particularly Australian wine, than Charlie.

Famous for his Charles Melton Nine Popes GSM (Grenache Shiraz Mataro), he’s something of an authority on that particular blend, but this wine immersion was about more than that - it was an invitation to explore the classic Australian blend of Cabernet/Shiraz, dating back nearly fifty years.

Now you’d be forgiven if, like us, you hadn’t tried an Australian wine with over twenty years age on it (or even over 5 years age!), and Charlie’s mission was to blow that out of the water.

So we’re all over at the stunning venue of Domaine Chandon, Yarra Valley, having enjoyed a chicken, leak and sage pie the equal of which I have not yet tasted, and our international guests move upstairs into the tasting room.

But the we and the stewards are in a little change room slash improv-bar, with 14 wines sitting on the counter, waiting to be opened.

Distinctive, because 6 of them are reasonably current vintages, while 8 of them date from 1990 to 1966, and you can see it in the labels - that beautiful old scripty, tea-stained parchment-looking label that is usually associated with old european wines.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, strap yourselves in, because these were some… well, landmark Australian wines…

1. 1976 Yalumba Signature Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2. 1986 Yalumba Signature Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz, Barossa Valley/Coonawarra
3. 1987 Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz, South Australia
4. 2006 Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz/Malbec, South Australia
5. 1986 Riddoch Cabernet/Shiraz, Coonawarra
6. 1966 Saltram Bin 42 Shiraz/Muscadelle, South Australia
7. 1975 Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz, South Australia
8. 1998 Wendouree Shiraz/Mataro, Clare Valley
9. 2006 Hewitson Private Cellar Shiraz/Mourvedre, Barossa Valley
10. 1990 d’Arenberg d’Arry’s Original Burgundy, Shiraz/Grenache, McLaren Vale
11. 2007 d’Arenberg d’Arry’s Original Shiraz/Grenache, McLaren Vale
12. 2006 Spinifex Esprit Mataro/Grenache/Shiraz/Cinsault, Barossa Valley
13. 2006 John Duval Wines Plexus Shiraz/Grenache/Mourvedre, Barossa Valley
14. 2002 Charles Melton Nine Popes, Shiraz/Grenache, Barossa Valley

I didn’t taste them all (too busy working, don’t you know!) but I did taste all the older wines. Here are a couple that were amazing:

1966 Saltram Bin 42 Burgundy (Shiraz/Muscadelle, South Australia)

This would score higher for the sheer fact that we were drinking it, but in truth it was a little bit past its prime. Still, with a wine like this it’s not about a score - this wine is older than I am!! And apparently, when the cork has held up, it’s a very special wine indeed, even today. Not so sure the cork held up entirely on this particular bottle.

It was dark brown in colour, let’s not mince words there. The nose was quite oxidative, charry and smoky, but I must say, that palate was smooth and still very drinkable.

Not much fruit in there, but I got mushroom stew,and some tinned pair. A bit bland on the palate, but an amazing experience.

1976 Yalumba Signature Claret (Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz, Barossa Valley)

Named on the bottle “Claret” - I love it! Bit naughty these days, but that’s what they called it back then.

The nose was really alive - spicy, meaty, charry, hints of perfume, and a bbq aroma that was bloody nice, actually.

The palate really brought it home though - tasted like a rich, meaty jus, with spices and prunes sauteed in.

It was smoky, lively, had GREAT length, and for its age, was absolutely stunning.

1975 Penfold’s Bin 389 Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz (South Australia)

A delicious nose of porcini mushroom and dried figs, with a gamey meatiness.

The palate was very much like a jus - charry meats reduced with red wine.

Very balanced, a delightful surprise.

1990 d’Arenberg d’Arry’s Original Burgundy (Shiraz Grenache, McLaren Vale)

A great 20 year-old wine, dried figs, roasted mushrooms and spice on the nose.

The palate was a bit oxidative, I thought, otherwise I would have rated it even higher.

Porcini mushrooms and spice on the palate, quite juicy, quite balanced, with some fruit in there, but I couldn’t pick what. Intriguing.

What I DID try among the “younger” wines, was Charlie Melton’s Nine Popes GSM 2002 - both under cork and screwcap.

What a great and rare opportunity to look at an 8 year-old wine under both seals. And Halliday will sink his teeth into this, but what a convincing argument to ditch corks!

The 02 under cork (tried first) was a great wine.

The nose was all exotic spice and perfume, kind of reminded me of Christian Dior’s Poison. The palate was a heady mix of pepper and spice, licorice, charry meat jus, like the pan after pan-frying a good steak, and HEAPS of earth from the Mataro.

Then I tried the 02 under screw-cap, and it blew the cork version away, to be honest.

Similar flavour profiles, but the nose was fresher, more elegant, more perfumed, and the palate was still quite meaty, but more like a beautifully cooked pepper steak. It was still savoury, but much fresher, and infinitely more elegant.

It had aged slower, true, but it wasn’t just less developed, it was like it had aged more gracefully, whereas the cork 02 had spent a bit too much time in the sun, and was rougher.

Thank you Charlie Melton for offering us all such a rare opportunity to experience this first hand!

Check out http://www.landmark-wineaustralia.com/ for the official Wine Australia Landmark blog, with some great interviews with the presenters, and http://qwoff.tv for our own interviews and tastings.

The Qwoff Boys grab winemaking legend and Australia’s...

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:38:00 +0930

The Qwoff Boys grab winemaking legend and Australia’s first Master of Wine, Michael Hill Smith, hot after his debut presentation at the Landmark Australia Tutorial, for a chat and a drink.

Landmark Day 2 - Shiraz Masterclass

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 10:51:00 +0930

So the delegates could be forgiven for thinking they were in for a heavy session here, but like myself, they were surprised by this morning’s second session.

Tim Kirk (lovely bloke) from Clonakilla introduced himself to the room, telling tales of the first Shiraz cuttings being brought out from Hermitage in Northern Rhone in the early 1800s.

Worth a note that since phyloxera wiped out most of the European vines in the later 19th century, we now boast the oldest Shiraz vines in the world, with Langmeil in the Barossa laying claim to that title with their Freedom 1843 vineyard.

Anyway, the surprise here was that though acknowledging the place of bigger heavier Shiraz in Australia, today was about showing our international guests a more elegant, spicy, structured style of Shiraz.

At which point, two flights of 8 wines each were unveiled, but with no names, for this tasting was going to be undertaken “blind”.

Ooh, how exciting!!

10 minutes of silence ensues, punctuated only by the shuffle of glasses and the scrawling of pens.

Wait! One exciting things just happned - a Landmark banner tipped over, plunging toward a table full of glasses, but SUPER PJ faster than I have ever seen a winemaker sprint, dashed in and caught it before it hit the table, averting disaster. I swear, he ran 5 meters in under a second - never seen anything like it!!

Tony Love (our very own), commented on the leaner wines, with more precision, and asked the question, so what IS complexity in a wine?

“Does complexity mean length and balance and structure, a wide balance of flavours?”

He and his group talked about balance of oak, impressed on the whole with the wines in flight 1, even wine #5, which had those bourbon notes, but huge structure to compliment.

Another group talked about herbal notes - and weren’t sure if that would be what consumers would be looking for. Red fruits and spices were discussed by another group, to their delight.

Some of the tannins were a bit astringent in a few of the wines, on the negative, and in the positive, they saw an impressive array of aromas, and the structure that would give some of the wines real ageing potential.

Tim suggested that good Shiraz didn’t need too much new oak, and asked the crowd if they found the wines complex, and the universal reply was “yes”.

“These are food wines,” Tim explained, in reply to the tannin question, “so if you’re sitting down with a nice lamb shank, or something…”

“Some of the South Australian Shiraz are gorgeous and luscious, and almost a meal to themselves, but that’s not what we’re looking at here. These wines are more savoury,” says Tim.

So what ARE they tasting? Can’t say just yet, though I’m looking at them…

Ducked over for a sneaky taste of wine #8, which they’re tasting, and it’s wild on the nose - cinnamon and nutmeg spices, pepper, rhubarb, marjoram, and the palate is lovely and spicy, peppery, very savoury, and utterly delicious.

The panel reveals the regions first:

Mornington Peninsula (VIC) for the first two, then across to Mt Barker (WA) - 3000 km away.

“It’s a big and beautiful country, folks,” adds Tim.

And then Wrattonbully, Pyrenees, Grampians, and Adelaide Hills - all cool climates, though Wrattonbully is getting a bit warmer.

The mystery is preserved - no names as yet revealed, and our international guests move on to the second flight of 8…

Tasting one from the second flight, it’s got a lovely mocha nose, with cherries and pepper and a hint of smoky spice, yet the palate is surprisingly lean and bright, with red fruits and spice - smoky, savoury and elegant.

Intriguing, and a real exploration in the more elegant style of Shiraz.

I hear comments around the room like “salty plums”, “bitter chocolate” and other such intrigues. This is fantastic! The suspense is killing, though.

They gather again finally, but the first comment throws a curly one in, drawing a big laugh from Tim.

“We found in fact that this flight wasn’t as complex as the first flight, and we were a bit disappointed.”

“We found that the first and last thing we tasted was that herbal note, which robbed some of the wines of that nice complexity we were hoping for.”

“Also some astringency from the tannins.”

Tim Kirk says “well okay, maybe we’ve done our job too well, in avoiding the bigger McLaren Vale and Barossa wines, to see how your palate would react to that alongside these cooler climate wines.”

Though Paul Henry quickly jumps in, promising a few of those SA classics in tonight’s dinner!

Another group then spoke up in complete contrast, preferring this flight over the first, loving the balance, the pretty characters, the firmer tannins.

Tony Love’s group liked #12 the best, and couldn’t believe that #13 was actually a Shiraz - more like a McLaren Vale Cabernet, for instance.

“This week is about trying to capture some of the beauty of the Australian wine landscape,” Tim explains, getting quite passionate, I might add. “Whatver is truly noble and dignified about the site - to capture the personality of the site - that’s our job as winemakers.”

“Landscape-driven” is the catch-phrase of the day from Tim.

A subtle dig that as a “skilled taster”, we should be recognising the personality of that wine, as a reflection of the site, goes unnoticed - maybe that’s just me getting fired up!

He promises that these wines, balanced, refined, complex, will age with distinction.

An old style for Australia - these kinds of wines from these sites have been made for 150+ years, but a new story, perhaps, for Australian wine.

Begs the question - with all the complaining form wine critics about fruit-driven, chocolate, coffee sweeter Shiraz from the warmer SA climates - is this what they were actually hoping for?

“Celebrating the beauty of these sites, and capturing that in the wine, that’s the image I’d like to leave you with,” wraps up Tim, eloquently and passionately.

And here’s a list, finally, of the wines they tasted:

1. 2004 Paringa Estate Reserve Shiraz, Mornington Peninsula
2. 2004 Yabby Lake Roc Shiraz, Mornington Peninsula
3. 2005 Plantaganet Shiraz, Great Southern
4. 2005 Forest Hill Block 9 Shiraz, Great Southern
5. 2006 Mount Langhi Ghiran Langi Shiraz, Grampians
6. 2005 Dalwhinnie Wines Moonambel Shiraz, Pyrenees
7. 2006 Shaw + Smith Shiraz, Adelaide Hills
8. 2006 Ngeringa Syrah, Adelaide Hills
9. 2006 De Bortoli Reserve Syrah, Yarra Valley
10. 2004 Yarra Yering Dry Red No. 2 Shiraz, Yarra Valley
11. 2006 Collector Reserve Shiraz, Canberra District
12. 2005 Clonakilla Shiraz/Viognier, Canberra District
13. 2005 Giaconda Warner Vieyard Shiraz, Beechworth
14. 2004 Castagna Genesis Syrah, Beechworth
15. 2006 Best’s Wines Bin 0 Shiraz, Great Western
16. 2004 Seppelt St Peters Shiraz, Great Western

And the favourites of our guests?

#12 - the Clonakilla, #14 - The Castagna, #7 - the Shaw & Smith, #1 - the Paringa Estate, # 6 - the Dalwhinnie

Landmark Day 2 - Sparkling Masterclass

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 08:23:00 +0930

And what better style to tackle after last night’s dinner at Giant Steps (with a few bevvies I might add) that Sparkling.

The delegates are gathering, the bubbles are pouring, we’re all getting set for a look at Australia’s finest fizz in a masterclass presented by peerless Sparkling King and head of bubbles at Constellation (who make the legendary Bubbles) and Dr Tony Jordan of Domaine Chandon, Cape Mentelle and Cloudy Bay fame.

Communicator of the Century from Wine Australia is up on his feet, greeting everyone with his trademark charm, there are 16 frothing Riedl glasses in front of each of the 14 international guests, and we’re off!

“Sparkling is roughly 10% of production in the Australian wine market” begins Dr Tony, “though only 2% of our exports.”

“The reason is that in those price segments, we’re coming up against Cava (Spain),” which seems to have achieved more international market penetration.

Sparklings started humbly, with such brands in the 70s as Great Western, Minchinbury, Lindeman’s - high volume, commercial wines, and it wasn’t until the 80’s that we started seeing premium bubbles made with the more traditional grapes of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

Now we see big brands on the shelves as Yellowglen, Yarra Burn, Yalumba D, Seaview, and perhaps more excitingly Croser, Jansz, Arras and the like.

“Top end sparkling requires a cool terroir,” Tony states - perhaps no surprise then that we’re seeing some of the best sparklings coming out of Tasmania.

But we’re also seeing regions of Adelaide Hills and the Yarra Valley, even Tumbarumba in NSW producing quality sparkling, all cool climates, either due to latitude or altitude.

Now let’s clear up, in case you’ve been living under a rock, why we’re not using the word Champagne.

We’ve entered an agreement with the EU to ban the name Champagne, along with other regional European names that define styles in those regions - eg: Champagne from Champagne - so now we’re calling Australian bubbles “Sparkling Wine”.

Let it not be mentioned again!

We’re informed that we will be be tasting wines from different production methods (I won’t go into those, wiki will serve to educate if you’re curious), and I glance at the line-up, more than curious, and quite frankly surprised by this statement.

Tony livens up the room with the perhaps controversial statement “the Transfer method (second fermentation in the bottle, then transferring to larger tank after it’s spent the required time in yeast, before re-bottling for consumption) is NOT inferior to Method Traditional, it’s only marketing that would have you believe so.”

In France, we refer to Champagne “Houses” (Bollinger, Moet & Chandon, etc.) and Tony talks about the emergence of Australian Sparkling Houses - like Arras, which is a very exciting development, and a sign of the future of Tasmania, I dare say.

Interesting question on cork interjects (and I only recently had a “corked” $100+ bottle of fizz, asked myself the same question) - Ed Carr replies that it’s a winemaking choice to use cork or not - we’ll have to investigate alternate closures, they’re not looked at this morning.

Come on gentlemen, get on to the tasting!! A quick look up tells me that none of the delegates have jumped the gun yet for a schluk - very well behaved this morning, or perhaps a bit hung over still?

(At which point I’d just like to add that sparkling is an EXCELLENT hair of the dog alternative to beer, ladies…)

I sneak over to the bar, for a quick look at what’s coming and here’s what our delegates are about to taste:

1. NV Brown Brothers Brut Chardonnay/Pinot Noir/Pinot Meunier, King Valley
2. NV House of Arras Brut Elite Cuvee 401 Pinot Noir/Chardonnay, Tasmania
3. 2005 Domaine Chandon ZD Blanc de Blancs Chardonnay, Victoria
4. 2001 House of Arras Blanc de Blancs Chardonnay, Tasmania
5. 2006 Coldstream Hills Yarra Valley Chardonnay/Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley
6. 2005 Yering Station Yarrabank Chardonnay/Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley
7. 2005 Domaine Chandon Yarra Valley Brut Pinot Noir/Chardonnay
8. 2005 Brown Brothers Patricia Brut Pinot Noir/Chardonnay, King Valley
9. 2003 House of Arras Grand Vintage Chardonnay/Pinot Noir, Tasmania
10. 2002 Domaine Chandon Prestige Cuvee Chardonnay/Pinot Noir, Victoria & Tasmania
11. 2000 Freycinet Radenti Chardonnay/Pinot Noir, Tasmania
12. 1999 House of Arras EJ Carr Late Disgorged Chardonnay /Pinot Noir, Tasmania
13. 1998 Stefano Lubiana Vintage Brut Pinot Noir/Chardonnay, Tasmania
14. 2006 Domaine Chandon Vintage Brut Rosé, Victoria & Tasmania
15. 2003 Kreglinger Brut Rosé, Tasmania

Okay then!

The House of Arras Brut Elite NV is clean, fresh, nice almond, lime and hints of strawberry on the nose.

The Blanc de Blancs are made only from Chardonnay, which usually means you’re looking at a more “feminine” sparkling.

The Domaine Chandon ZD Blanc de Blanc, interestingly, comes with a crown seal (beer cap), which is one of the more common alternatives to cork (though still rarely seen).

The Arras Blanc de Blanc 2001 has such a cheesy nose, it’s low on bubbles, quite rich and full on the palate, and tastes to me like an extremely cool climate unwooded Chardonnay with bubbles. I like it. Quite masculine, actually :)

So these are the teasers, and the next 5 wines are vintage traditional blends (Chardy, Pinot) - a good benchmark of where Australian Sparkling is at, perhaps.

On a tip from chief Steward PJ, I snuck a glass of the Brown Brothers Patricia Brut Pinot Chardy 2005 from King Valley - hot tip!

Delicious marzipan nose, and the acid explodes on the palate with fine beaded fizz. It’s lively, nutty like cashews, a hint cheesy, but driven still by fresh lime and strawberries. Really good, and at $45, better value than your average Moet, IMHO.

Paul Henry cracks the whip, and we move on to a couple of “blush” sparklings - or pink bubbles, to the less sensible of us.

The colour comes from a tiny bit of contact with the skins of the Pinot grapes, just like a rose wine, and I tried the Kreglinger Brut Rose from Tassie.

It’s got a lovely strawberry and almond essence nose, with super-fine beading, and a tangy berry palate. It’s rich, but elegant, and very nice.

And then we look at some of the interesting ones, and I sneak a taste of the House of Arras Late Disgorged 1999.

This is the Ducks Nuts. This is stunning. 10 years on lease in the bottle before being disgorged, the nose is electric - flinty, yeasty, nutty, cheesy, mushrooms and toast and oysters - quite rich and stinky and amazing.

But then the palate is a burst of searing citrus, strawberry and bubbles at first, hints of mandarine, but wicked acid, almost savoury. Nutty, hints of spice, oyster shell (but more pleasant to taste!), the beading (bubbles) are scintillating, and it’s overall a very special experience.

Obviously a lot of care and time has gone into making this wine, but if we can do more of this, then I’d be proud to stand up and shout about it to every Champagne House in the world.

Except they’re all in Champagne. You know what I mean!

My verdict is that you want to move away from your standard shelf-space commercial Australian bubbles, and if you’re reaching for a Moet or a Pol Roger, STOP!!! and have a look at some of the stuff that producers like House of Arras are producing out of Tasmania.

You will not be disappointed, and you’ll be much cooler…

Day 1 of Landmark Australia - The Reds

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 22:15:56 +0930

So as Michael Hill Smith’s personal selection of Australian wines continued, it was on to the reds, starting with Pinot…

“The emergence of Pinot outside Burgundy is one of the most exciting things in my life,” Michael stated. “We’re not getting Burgundy out of Burgundy, we’re getting Pinot from Pinot.”

We liked that one.

“The Pinot evolution comes from true believers, fanatics, like James Halliday, Gary Farr – people who live and breathe Pinot, who spend large amounts of their income buying Burgundy that they can’t afford (looking to JH)”.

The one representative Pinot was the “Holy Grail” - the Sangreal by Farr Pinot 2007, from Geelong, a decidedly classy and understated Pinot that revealed its many layers only when it was good and ready.

“Some people think that it’s positively un-Australian to drink Pinot,” Michael said with a smile, and James Halliday shared a smirk that told us what he thought of that particular adage.

Keen to keep moving, and aware no doubt that a Shirazathon awaited, we moved on to Cabernet…

Widely planted in Australia, once more highly rated & more expensive than Shiraz, just like Riesling, Cabernet had seen a fall from grace in consumer eyes in recent decades, but not necessarily in quality.

While it’s true there was a period where a lot of Cabernets were ripe & thumped by American oak, and you’d be hard-pressed trying to pick the difference between Cabernet and Shiraz, this was no longer the case.

“Fair to say that Merlot has been profoundly unconvincing as a straight varietal in Australia,” Michael said straight-faced, in another classic.

Two great Cabernet regions were visited – Coonawarra & Margaret River, with the Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 from Margaret River up against the Balnaves Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 from Coonawarra.

Both medium-weight and restrained in their ripeness, perhaps chosen to demonstrate the elegance we can produce with the variety.

Interestingly, as someone pointed out - that trademark Coonawarra eucaplyt regional characteristic – there actually aren’t many gum trees in vineyards in the Coonawarra.

A discussion ensued on minty / eucalypt characters in Cabernet, as the rest of us moved on to wine number 9 - a Shiraz Grenache from S.C. Pannell.

The “ultimate retro wine,” Halliday revealed his tasting note to the room: “totally, utterly delicious.”

Halliday then called back to the bar: “Hey PJ, what’s the alcohol on the Pannell Shiraz Grenache?”

PJ checks bottle: “14.5 – on the label.”

Paul Henry from the main table mutters: “16.4 on the palate.”

On fire!

Our presenter Michael raises his voice to settle the room as he introduces the Shiraz flight.

“We need to show the world that if you plant Shiraz in Great Western, and Hunter, and Barossa, you’ll get hugely diverse styles.”

That they did - starting with a Brokenwood Graveyard Shiraz 2006 from Hunter Valley. Quirky in style, deceptively light bodied, with that regional hunter earthy, leathery nose. Too young, this is a wine that needs ageing, but nonetheless an impressive suggestion of things to come.

That was followed by one of the stand-outs - the Mt Langhi Ghiran Shiraz 2007, from the Grampians, Victoria. Cool slimate, a step up in fruit weight, but so elegant, medium-bodied, with lovely blue fruits and spice.

We hopped over to Eden Valley, with the Henschke Mt Edelstone Shiraz 2006 and then the Glaetzer Amon Ra 2007 from Barossa.

Demonstrating the huge difference (altitude) between the Barossa Valley floor and Eden Valley, both made form old vines, they were such different wines, as you’d expect.

“Everyone talks about Cyril Henschke, and what a wonderful winemaker, but I tell you what - give me the wines from Steve and Prue anyday.”

Andrew Caillard talked about a sage character he gets in EV Shiraz, the Edelstone was packed with plum, blackcurrant and spice, while the Amon Ra was your big old vine Barossa Shiraz.

“Bob Parker gets blamed for many things in this world,” Michael explained, “and one of these is the change in Shiraz style in the Barossa.”

“Historically,” he claimed, “Barossa Shiraz was not your big, ripe wine. Though not a single site wine, for example, Grange was rarely ever over 14%. But a number of producers created this new style with America in mind, and they’re the raisiny alcoholic wines…”

James Halliday, however, tunes in with a story of a Saltram 100 year tasting, where they pulled out some wines made after the 2nd world war - astonishing wines from ‘46-‘47, all 16-17% alcohol.

“Well, that’s stuffed my point then…” replied Michael.

Andrew Caillard discusses alcohol and balance, citing a Ringland wine at 17.5% that wasn’t raisiny at all - though i suspect he may well have been too drunk after the first sniff to tell.

Controvercially, one delegate voices out against the Barossa Landmark – she finds the acid too high, overcompensating, she suspects, to attempt to disguise the raisiny character, trying too hard to create to a lively wine. Others think it’s still raisiny.

It seems the Barossa is still contentious, and will continue to divide the room.

“Right, let’s move on,” Michael interjects, “there’s a lot of Shiraz comng forth in your life this week…”

And they move on, to wrap up the afternoon, to Bortrytis Semillon, and the Noble One…

The story goes (and I confess I was too busy tasting to take accurate notes), that while at Roseworthy Uni studying winemaking, Darren De Bortoli was so inspired by tasting a 1975 Sauternes, that he went home to play with his Bortrytis.

And aren’t we glad he did!

“Not as thick and unctuous as they used to be, but still a pretty big mouthful of rich wine,” Michael succinctly describes the 2007 Noble One.

Wow - I snuck a taste, and it’s stunning.

“Marmalade” is murmured around the room, and the question is raised – does it demonstrate good acid/sugar balance?

The general consensus was that it was a touch sweet. One delegate declares that it contains 214 grams of residual sugar.

“Don’t feed it to your children, or they won’t go to bed for a week,” replies Michael.

And that concludes the debut afternoon of what is sure to be an unforgettable week of Australian wine.

One delegate poses an Interesting closing question – should Australia par back its selection of wines, focusing on what we really do best?

But to have parred back any of the 16 wines on show this afternoon would have left some glaring omissions, so I look forward to that same question being answered at the end of the week, quite possibly by that self same delegate.

Day 1 of Landmark Australia

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:42:35 +0930

It was a good old-fashioned Melbourne welcome of rain and drizzle that greeted us as we zoomed along the highway from the airport – destination: Yering Station, Yarra Valley, known for this week as Landmark Australia HQ.

Stunning property (Justin’s quote was “so much for the wine glut” – no scrimping on this estate!), and we were directed to a beautiful old barn sitting humbly next to the impressive winery and restaurant, like a trusty old much-loved jalopy sits next to range rover in the garage (well, not my garage, but maybe yours…).

The room was abuzz, with stewards opening wines with a crack or a pop, poured and sniffed nervously for cork taint, double decanted… and we’re talking stewards like PJ Charteris, chief winemaker from Brokenwood, and Justine Henschke, daughter of Steven.

Gives you a bit perspective on the importance of this event on the Australian wine scene, when some of the great young wine persons are fighting over a pouring job.

Michael Hill Smith from Shaw & Smith, Australia’s first Master of Wine, and undisputed legend of the wine industry, fired things off, breaking the ice with a good gag about the authenticity of the pigeon shit on the crossbeams.

Chuckles rippled around the horse-shoe table, laden with crisp white linen and 16 glasses of wine. Serious stuff.

Michael’s presentation and selection of wines was all about giving our 14 international guests a taste of the regional and varietal diversity that Australia has to offer.

Did that in spades, made me want to smear zinc on my nose, make myself a vegemite sandwich, and remind the poms that they can’t make wine.

Oops, no, hang on, we want them to buy our wine. We love them. My sister lives in London, beautiful country.

As long as they’re buying Australian wine :)

First batter up was Riesling, and what better to introduce our esteemed international guests than the Grosset ‘Polish Hill’ Clare Valley Riesling 2009 and a stunning Pewsey Vale Museum Release ‘The Contours’ Eden Valley 2002

Michael described the typical notes of these respective regions as limey and citrusy (Clare) and more floral (Eden.

We got a bit of history on the rise of Riesling in this country, which in the good old days reigned supreme. In fact, up till the 80s, Riesling outsold all other varieties in Australia, unless I’ve misquoted.

In wineshows of old, the best white gong was always fought out between Riesling from Clare or Semillon from Hunter.

“If we’re talking about quality, not fashionability, Riesling plays a very important role in Australia,” says Michael.

“Where do you drink good dry, food-friendly Riesling? That’s what Australia offers on the world scale – dryness, aromatics, and the ability to develop lovely honey characters on ageing.”

James Halliday, also sitting on the panel, added his support, adding how pleased he was that these were under screwcap, otherwise we’d be terrified of the bottle variation.

To which Andrew Caillard MW added “tasting older wines under cork was like a cliff-edge”, and it was really dawning on us what a powerhouse room this was, and what a momentous occasion this truly was.

A discussion on minerality followed, with one of the guests asking if minerality was a term used by Australian winemakers to describe cool climate.

On to the next style, and it was none other than Hunter Semillon.

“We produce it in a few places around Australia, but it’s only in the Hunter that we produce Semillon of exceptional quality,” Michael claims - and this from a Barossa boy!

The question was raised – why don’t people get aged Hunter Sem?

“Aged Hunter sem is the most schitsophrenic of all wines,” Michael borrowed a quote from Zar Brookes. “The colour & nose promises rich and so much body, but the palate is always so delicate – that’s the trick. Once you realise that, and get your head around it, it’s all good.”

Our esteemed delegates tasted the Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Hunter Semillon 1998 (ah, we’re well familiar with this princess), with the promise that on Wednesday they’d be trying vintages back to 1977…

An interesting irony of the Hunter was brought up – it’s hot, and wet, so how do we get these elegant, delicate wines? It’s because we pick them early.

James Halliday at that point tuned in with another cork bashing, he’s fired up! I wonder if he cracked a corked DRC recently?

Michael did also concede that Peter Lehmann was achieving outstanding success out of the Barossa with the Margaret Semillon.

“When I first tried it, I would have bet $100, and I would have lost it, that it was a Hunter wine.”

On to Chardonnay, and we learned that it was first planted commercially in 1971 by the late great Murray Tyrrell, who had been asking Penfolds for Chardonnay and Pinot cuttings for a couple of years, with no luck. Undaunted, Murray did a now famous “midnight leap” and stole the cuttings.

(He then later bought that vineyard, which means his wine sainthood is still in tact.)

“Murray was the only Visionary Myopic I ever met,” Michael explained. “A complex character, but a grumpy bastard! Sounded like a D9 tractor starting up – was always gruff, terrifying for a young man.”

Two Chardonnays were up on offer - the Leeuwin Estate Art Series Margaret River Chardonnay 2006 and the Shaw and Smith M3 Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2009.

Typical Margaret River Chardy gives that green pineapple, dried pear character, MHS explains, and the secret is the sea, and the cooling afternoon breezes.

The 09 M3 was not ready for release, but Michael wanted to show it cause it’s a new clone, hand harvested, chilled, whole bunch press, wild ferment, partial malo, no acidification – you can see in terms of inspiration, exactly where it’s coming from.

“Modern Australian chardonnay is one of the most exciting chapters in Australian wine now, and can stand out in any company, and it’s continuing to evolve…”

Inspired by the M3, conversation went back to minerality, that most elusive quality, and here’s a quote for you: “minerality is a shape, not a flavour…” - which doesn’t do much to clear that one up!

But crouching down behind the bar with PJ Charteris, tasting through the wines unseen by the delegates like naughty school-boys, we agreed on the minerality thing…

(To Be Continued…)

The Big Landmark Semillon Tweet Up

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:11:00 +0930

Hosted by the Qwoff Boys LIVE from Wine Australia’s Landmark Australia Tutorial, with legendary Hunter winemaker Andrew “Thommo” Thomas from Thomas Wines.

As part of the phenomenally exciting week that is the Landmark Australia Tutorial, we’re hosting a Semillon Masterclass, streamed LIVE on video and twitter from Landmark HQ.

This is shaping up to be the biggest Tweet Up in Australian wine history, with producers, winemakers, writers and winelovers all over the country getting involved, to share with the world this great white wine style that has been touted as “Australia’s unique gift to the wine world.”

We’ll be video streaming live with Tommo, tasting through some of the greatest Semillons, young and old, and we want to tweet with YOU.

This is our chance, people, to bring our voices together and shout out to the world what AMAZING wines we produce here in Australia.

So get involved, grab yourself a Semillon and get online, and be a part of wine tweet history!

Here’s what you need to know:

When: Wednesday 22^nd, 6:30pm – 8pm (AEST)

Where: ANYWHERE!

You can watch our live video stream at http://qwoff.tv and we’ll be streaming tweets live on the page as well, so it’s a good place to see what’s going on around the world.

To get involved, just jump onto twitter and make sure you use the hashtag #LAT10 in all your tweets so we can follow you and so can everyone.

Is this your first tweet up?

It’s easy. It’s free. It’s awesome.

You can tweet up alone or throw a tweet up party at home, in the office, at cellardoor, wherever! Grab yourself a Semillon or two or ten, and be ready at your computer/laptop/ipad/iphone at 6:30pm AEST on Wednesday night.

Go to the qwoff tv page http://qwoff.tv - here you can watch our live video tasting. We’ll also have a stream of all the tweets using the hashtag #LAT10 on the page so you can follow all the conversations.

And then to join in, log in to your twitter account, and tweet away! Don’t forget to use the #LAT10 hashtag so everyone can follow you as well, and the #apluswine hashtag will be used a bit as well.

Not sure what to say?

Well, we’ll be right there live with winemaker Thommo, so if you’ve got any questions for any of us, fire away – we’ll be following everyone’s tweets as well!

Tell us about the wine you’re drinking – we want to know how your Semillon tastes. Maybe you’ve got a good food match?

There will also be other winemakers and producers online, so maybe you’ve got a question for them, if you’re tasting their wine?

There will be a lot of people tasting a lot of Semillon, so you can just follow what is being said, answer someone’s question, join in a conversation, anything you like.

Feeling confident?

Maybe you want to take a photo, and upload it via http://twitpic.com or something like that – there are plenty of apps, you’ve probably got your favourite.

Again, just fire up the hashtag #LAT10 and share it with all of us!

There are plenty of other handy apps for following Tweet Ups – http://twitterfall.com and http://hootsuite.com are just a couple.

Got any questions?

Contact Justin at Qwoff on justin@qwoff.com.au or 0408 001 022.