Australian fortified wine terms

Just a brief note relating to an article in Hospitality Magazine in relation to terms introduced a few years back for Australian fortified wines. Like many countries, Australia has a long tradition of making wines in both the Sherry and Port styles and, as with other countries, these wines were often referred to using Sherry, Port etc. Naturally, the European Union has been negotiating for countries not to use protected terms so the Australians came up with two new terms: Apera, which is a fino-style fortified wine, and Topaque, which covers wines formerly known as Liqueur Tokay. To see what these wines can be like, why not read one of my posts from Landmark 2009?

Biting off more than you can chew?

My Landmark colleague, Jamie Goode, posted a piece on his blog recently about natural wines and their role within the wine world. Personally, I have yet to be convinced by so-called natural wines - I've had some nice ones but also a few I wouldn't want to touch again. What is interesting is that Jamie's piece has no real basis and a number of disturbing statements are made within the article. Leaving out my own comments there are some very good responses to the piece. Enjoy!

Barossa beauties

On a day of high winds, US presidential visits there were two excellent tastings in Dublin. The first was the Wine Australia A+ tasting, held at Croke Park. The quiet hour was good and I tasted some nice wines but then the Nowhere Man arrived and, as I cannot stand him and wish never to meet him again I decided to skip off early. However, help arrived from an unexpected corner: Mr James Marsh, formerly Landmark wine-elf (along with P J Charteris) and he allowed me to sneak into the tutorial room where a venerable range of Barossa beauties was lined up for a later tasting.

Landmark Masterclass

Yesterday, Tuesday 3rd November, Wine Australia hosted a Landmark Masterclass at which I was asked to present a range of wines which represented Landmark for me. In all, we had 18 - so it was a pretty severe selection from the 578 tasted in Australia!
The Masterclass was held in the Constitution room of the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin - a lovely setting for the event. The selected guests included those who had applied last year as well a handful of journalists.

Another quickie...

...sometimes, they're the best.

If you go here, you'll find all sorts of information about next years Landmark Australia Tutorial. This will be held in the beautiful Yarra Valley (windy so bring warm clothes) and will also be open to Australians, which Landmark 2009 was not.



If you want to know what I felt about and got from this year's Tutorial, then read back through my blog. What I can say here and now is that it was the best wine week of my life and a truly unforgettable experience.

We have a saying in Ireland: if you're not in, you can't win! I almost didn't apply, assuming that I wouldn't have a chance of being selected. So, if you're not sure whether you should apply or not, get off the fence and do it - you'll regret not applying and who knows, you might be one of the lucky 12 who are selected.

Well, how was it for you?

Well, I'm now in the Qantas Business Lounge in Singapore Changi, finishing off my posts about Landmark. So, I suppose, I have to ask whether it did what I had expected and whether it achieved its objectives.

Heaven, I'm in lickoffable heaven...

By the end of this tasting Kerri Thomson, of K T and the Falcon fame, stated that she was scared of my tasting notes... but what goes on tour stays on tour! This was a great way to finish the week. Even though we were rushed, due to time pressure, the wines shown and their fantastic individual character made this a real treat.

Bubbly personality

Well now, some of us have very bubbly personalities and today was the day for them, We had a great masterclass tasting of the best of Australian sparkling wines from Tony Jordan and Ed Carr. A few interesting things came out of the pre-tasting discussion. In Australia, some 70% of the bottle-fermented wines are made by the transfer method, something of which I had been unaware. This is a method where the yeast sediment is removed by filtration rather than riddling and disgorging. It gives exactly the same quality as the traditional method but adds uniformity across bottles (all the wine is blended then re-bottled) and is very cost effective.

Dinner blues

If I had one complaint about this week it would be two complaints! First, too many wines to taste at dinner - 14 - 16 wines with a meal is an awful lot. Second, big chunky reds with cheese - why not white wines?

So I skipped out of dinner early because that's what I do.

I hate blind tastings!

What? Another blind tasting? We travelled to the Lovely Maggie Beer's Farm (both Maggie and the farm are lovely) to meet with one of the great personalities of the Australian wine industry, Brain Croser AO, who decided to put us through a fiendish blind tasting.

Love is blind

I love pinot noir and Tom Carson decided to test us by putting on an excellent blind tasting of 14 pinots. As a result of the 2001 MW trip I, and many of my colleagues, was convinced that outside of Tasania there was no decent pint noir in Australia. The wines we tasted were generally big, extracted and quite oaky. But this tasting was a real eye-opener and, probably, achieved brilliantly what Landmark is all about - it informed us of the change in styles and the breadth of quality pinot noir available here.

We had 2 flights of seven wines - the first the "Young Guns", the second the "Old Masters". As someone who is approaching 50 I regret to say that the young guns took the day, although there were some fabulous wines in the Old Masters.

A deliciously fruity and soft Holyman 2007 from Tasmania led off, swiftly followed by two equally fruity and smooth wines, the Bindi Growers Block 5 2007 from Macedon and a gorgeous Yabby Lake 2007 from Mornington. These "flighty" styles were soon followed up by the bigger hitters, Stefano Lubiano 2006 from Tasmania becoming firmer in styles, a Kooyong Ferrous 2006 from Mornington showing some muscle but well-balanced, then a superb Tarra Warra MDB 2006 from Yarra, followed by some Kiwi interloper from someplace called Felton Road. Admittedly, a bit like the hard-working P J Charteris, it was super.

Then, we had the Old Masters, a few of which were showing their age. I found the Ashton Hills 2003 from Adelaide Hills to be drying out and would, perhaps, have been better a year or three ago. The Paringa Reserve 2003 was very big and muscular and, for me, should have been tested for performance enhancing drugs. A valid style, I guess, but too big for pinot. The shocker was the 2002 Domaine de la Romane Conti St Vivant which was very old looking. But Tom had saved the best for last - a 1999 Mt Mary from the Yarra was perfectly a point and really good. The Bass Phillip Premium 1997 from Gippsland was lovely and ageing well. Then the two eye-openers: Bannockburn Serre 1997 from Geelong was remarkable. Although almost sherry-like on the nose it had a gorgeous palate and was a beautiful drink. The Coldstream Hills Reserve 1992 was just fantastic - drinking well now but suggesting at leats another 3 to 5 years ahead of it.

I put my hand up and admitted that I was wrong and that Australia really does have great pinot nor. I hope this will help with my parole board meeting later today LOL

Anything but...

I never got the ABC thing - why would you not want to drink chardonnay? A bunch of idiots decided that chardonnay was boring so started Anything But Chardonnay because they were too stupid to see what chardonnay has to offer. Let's examine this. Chardonnay is a grape so, be default, can be no more or less boring than any inarticulate living thing. Ah no, they say, there's a lot of dull, homogeneous chardonnay wines out there. Oh right, so it's the winemakers who are boring then? Well, why didn't you all get up off your backsides and find the good chardonnays, the ones that show the range of styles and flavours this grape offers? Because you're lazy - end of story.
By the way, if my comments offend anyone, good - and don't bother complaining because I won't listen.
Chardonnay comes after riesling, in my opinion, but far exceeds other varieties in the range of wines it can produce. Crisp and lean or broad and round, with or without oak, big and massive or light and delicate they're all possible. Chardonnay is also a very savoury grape - it makes wines that go so well with food. So, if you're the kind of person who finds wine confusing (which it can be) and you're wondering whose opinions to follow in re chardonnay, let me help you. Listen to me - drink more chardonnay. Then learn about wine and drink loads of other wines as well BUT never, ever just follow the herd and stop drinking some of the best wines you can buy.
It's 07:15 here and, as you can see, I'm not an early morning person!
Yesterday we kicked off with chardonnay and had a lovely tasting, all of the 2006 vintage: Tyrell's Vat 47 (Hunter), Cullen Kevin John (Margaret River), Vasse Felix Heytesbury (MR), Leeuwin Estate Art Series (MR), Shaw + Smith M3 (Adelaide Hills), Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard (AH), Giaconda Estate Vineyard (Beechworth), Bindi Wine Growers Quartz (Macedon Ranges), Stonier KBS Vineyard (MOrnington Peninsula), Oakridge 864 (Yarra Valley), Tarra Warra MDB (Yarra), Freycinet Vineyard (Tasmania), Hardy's Eileen hardy (Tasmania, Yarra, Tumbarumba) and Penfold's Yattarna (Tasmania, Adelaide Hills, Henty).
This was a lovely range of wines, from the lemony wines of Margaret River to the classically big Giaconda to an excellent Yattarna. Overall, there were elegant, fresh styles as well as bigger styles but all showed great class. The Giaconda is an interesting wine in light of the ABC nonsense. It's big and fairly in your face (the Leeuwin falls into this category as well) but so what? These are quintessentially Australian in that the average Australian is big and friendly and these wines are like that. They're not big and loud, just generous and welcoming. hen you want a more delicate style (or if that's what you prefer) don't say these are bad, just switch to another wine.

To BD or not BD...

That is the question; whether tis nobler in the vineyard to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous chemicals, or, to take up preparations 500 and 501 against a sea of troubles, and, by opposing, end them...

Last night's dinner had one great benefit, the chance to talk to Vanya Cullen who is a keen advocate of biodynamics (BD as it's known here) and, as far as I know, runs a carbon neutral winery. We also had Julian Castagna but, forgive me Julian, Vanya's a lot prettier so she gets the limelight! Who says sexism is dead?

BD has a number of principles which include using homeopathic quantities of certain preparations to combat vineyard problems or to encourage vineyard development. Without a doubt, pretty much any vineyard grown BD produces fabulous fruit and the vines appear to be a lot healthier or sturdier than those grown under standard regimes. The question for many is: does BD really make a difference?

In 2007, I attended the annual IMW pilgrimage to Geisenheim where we had a weekend seminar on BD ad organics. We were show a number of trials which being undertaken to measure the efficacy of various BD preps, as well as comparing BD against organic and standard viticulture. Here in Australia Mike Brown of Gemtree is facilitating a similar programme which compares BD against organic against heavy conventional against light conventional. I found these all interesting but as the Scots would say, I hae ma doots!

Some years ago Paul Dolan of Pardcci (ex-Fetzer) said how his compost, which had been sprayed with a BD prep, had a higher earthworm count than an untreated heap and this was "proof" of the benefits of BD. Pondering this later, as an ex-mathematician, I realised that this is nowhere near proof. There is anecdotal evidence and there is statistically significant evidence. Anecdotal evidence is where something happens to you, you mention this to someone else and they adopt whatever position you have recommended on the basis of your recommendation. For wine geeks this means always following Robert Parker or James Halliday or Jancis Robinson MW, for example. Their anecdotal opinions are taken as gospel.

Statistically significant evidence is where you determine, through elimination of variables in the trial and statistical analysis of results whether the result is significant i.e. whether the results show that you have isolated the key determinant of effect and whether it works. For example, if a treatment is no different to a non-treatment then statistical analysis will highlight this. If however, a trial determines that the use of a treatment significantly changed an outcome then that treatment has been shown to be effective. By the way, this effect could be detrimental as much as beneficial.

Now, we know (and we do, regardless of opinions to the contrary) that homeopathy does not do anything - people get better through a placebo effect. For those who say I'm wrong and that their opinion is as valid of mine I should point out that I am not stating an opinion I am reporting medically researched fact. For those of you who want an easy look into this read Ben Goldacre's book "Bad Science" - then stop worrying about getting anti-oxidants into your diet: they are bad for you!

So, given that homeopathy doesn't do anything and that the homeopathic dilutions are only water (check out the BBC Horizon programme with James Randi on the so-called memory of water) what of BD? Well, if Paul Dolan had told me that he had sprayed his other compost heap with water every time he'd sprayed his BD heap, counted the earthworm populations and statistically analysed the results (in any two heaps one will always have more - the question is what difference in the numbers is significant?) and repeated these trials over many years and got consistent results then, and only then, would I take it as proven.

To reiterate the difference between anecdotal and proof bear in mind that a number of people have fallen out of planes with parachutes that didn't work yet survived the fall. That's anecdotal evidence that you might not die if this happens to you. But would you voluntarily jump without a 'chute? No, you have personal experience that falls are dangerous. In areas of life where your experience is limited, though, you tend to rely more heavily on anecdotal evidence because humans value experience highly.

Back to BD. If someone will run a vineyard on BD principles BUT only spray water whenever they would otherwise have sprayed BD preps and then measure that vineyard against a similar BD one, do this over a good many years, do tastings of the wines etc then we might see if the active interventions of BD work.

Finally, who cares? I mean this - if the results (the wine if the bottle) are really all that matters why worry about proof or disproof? Why argue with those mad few who take BD as a religion - a faith? People with faith cannot be shaken by any degree of evidence. if BD makes the happy, why not leave them alone? For those who always seem surprised that scientists use BD, why? They looked at cause and effect (in a broader sense than the narrow viewpoint of BD) and made a logical decision - the results are what I want to achieve so that's what I'll do. Do you know how a computer actually works? If you answer yes then you'd better be a qualified quantum scientist because otherwise you don't! Does it make any difference as to how you use a PC? Of course not.

OK, breakfast has just arrived so sod off you lot and leave me alone LOL

Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow...

Another marathon dinner session - slow food and wines. Jansz Premium Vintage Rose 2005 - my Finnish MW colleague Essi Avellan judged this to be very good. I tried the Avonmore Organic Pale Ale which I judged to be very good. The Pennyweight Woody's Amontillado was, well, hmmmm, not at all like an amontillado Sherry being pale and sweet.
Two roses followed - the Sutton Grange Fairbank 2008 (hardly rose in colour at all) worked very well with the food, while the Lucy Margaux Vino d'Auge 2008 was lovely on its own.
The Gemstone Albarino which cannot be called albarino so is now a grape without a name and this is really getting boring was nice but no match at all for its pork belly and apple dish. The Moonarra Holly's Garden Pinot Gris 2008 was a match, and a very good one at that. The Ngeringa Viognier 2007 was lovely but, again, did not match the dish.
A Bass Phillip Pinot Noir 2007 was simply fantastic. Again, it didn't go well with the quail pie as there was a strong red wine jus but it was gorgeous. The Castagna Genesis Syrah 2007 was a better match having the depth to match both meat and sauce. The Ngeringa Syrah 2006 was good.
Then, to ruin both cheese and wines we had ewes cheeses with a Castagna La Chiave Sangiovese 2002 (gorgeous), a Castagna Un Segreto Sangiovese/Shiraz 2005 (peppery and lovely) and a Cullen Mangan Malbec/Petit Verdot/Merlot 2007 (rich and deep). Any chance we could get some off-dry whites with the cheese, please? Pretty please?
Ooops - two off-dry to sweet rieslings, each destroyed by the intense lemon curd dessert. KT and the Falcon 2008 (nice enough) and a Lethbridge Kabinett 2008 (very nice) but both should have been served one course earlier. A Ngeringa Altus Vin Santo was lovely and the Sutton Grange Ratafianovese 2007 was, well,.... have you ever been dared to drink something and discovered that it wasn't that bad?
Say no more and off to bed.

What's the alternative?

The afternoon session was held in Yalumba's winery in an old, refurbished underground tank. In here, no-one can hear you scream....
Louisa Rose and Max Allen led an extensive tasting of many alternative wines. While a bit long (20 wines) it was interesting and there were some really thought-provoking wines. We started with 2 pinot gris wines (Henschke and Delatite), then 2 viogniers (Yalumba and Castagna) and a roussanne (Giaconda). Then an arneis (Dal Zotto), an albarino which cannot be so-called anymore because it's savagnin or traminer but that takes too long to say (Crittenden), a mad blend (Spinifex's Lola), a friuliano (Quealy) and a fiano (Coriole).
I liked both pinots gris, the Yalumba viognier, the arneis (which would be lovely with prawns) and the fiano. The friuliano was weird and the rest were nice but not great.
Then we had some reds. We started with gamay (R Wines), sangiovese (Greenstone), tempranillo (Gemstone) and mourvedre (Hewitson). I loved the gamay but seemed to be in a minority here. The sangiovese was very good, I found the tempranillo tough and tannic (all Australians say these are classic tempranillo characters but not where I come from!) and the mourvedre was an old-fashioned style but lovely.
Then 3 really good nebbiolos. Arrivo's lungo macerazione (very very good), Luke Lambert (good, fresh style) and Pizzini (rich and complex although, again, the group generally didn't like this one).
Then three oddities - Boireann's Tannat (big, chunky, good), Cobaw Ridge's Lagrein (very good, peppery) and First Drop's Montepulciano (extracted and massive and not like any montepulciano I've ever tasted).
Overall, some hits and some misses but very entertaining indeed.

Call a cab

Under the guidance of Rob Mann, a most temperate young winemaker, we tasted two flights of cabernet wines. These were impressive, and showed that there is some pretty high quality cabernet sauvignon in Australia.
Flight 1 was: Mt Mary Quintet Cabernets 2005 (Yarra Valley), Howard Park Abercrombie Cabernet/merlot/cabernet franc 2005 (Great Southern & Margaret River), Cape Mentelle Cabernet 2005 (Margaret River), Woodlands "Colin" Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (Margaret River), Sandalford Prendiville Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (Margaret River) and Mouton Rothschild 2005 (Pauillac).
A very successful flight. The Margaret River wines all showed well and both the Cape Mentelle and the Woodlands were lovely wines which would definitely benefit from bottle age. The Mouton stood out for a mineral, lean type of wine in comparison to the other wines, although it was very good to be fair.
Flight 2 was Parker Terra Rossa First Growth 2005 (Coonawarra), Majella The Malleea 2005 (Coonawarra), Henschke Cyril Henschke 2005 (Eden Valley), Wendouree Cabernet Malbec 2005 (Clare Valley), Chateau Reynella Basket Pressed Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (McLaren Vale) and Penfolds Cellar Reserve 2005 (Barossa). I really liked the Henschke and I still don't get this particular Wendouree wine but, again, this flight worked well.

Lean green machine

OK, these exhaustive tasting notes are taking me too long to do so, from here on in, I think these'll be shorter. Wednesday started with Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc and blends of the two. ed by Iain Riggs of Brokenwood we had an interesting morning. The semillon flight was: Tyrell's Vat 1 Semillon 1998 (Hunter), Brokenwood ILR Semillon 1999 (Hunter), Peter Lehmann Margaret Semillon 2002(BArossa), Tempus Two Copper Zenith SEmillon 2003 (Hunter), Vasse Felix Semmilon 2005 (Margaret River), McWilliams Mt Pleasant Lovedale Semillon 2006 (Hunter) and Thomas Wines Braemore Individual Vineyard Semillon 2008 (Hunter).
Apart from the Brokenwood which had a cork problem, but still showed some great palate weight, the rest were all very good. The Peter Lehmann was quite a revelation with only 12% abv and a very supple acid style. The Vasse Felix was the most different wine of the flight wit big tropical fruits but well made in it's style.
Then three sauvignons - Shaw & Smith 2009 (Adelaide Hills), Angullong 2008 (Orange) and Logan 2008 (Based in Mudgee but orange fruit). The S + S tank sample showed great depth and promises to be very good. I found the Angullong light and not great but the Logan was excellent.
Next, the moment of truth - five sem/sauv or sau/sem blends. Personally, I didn't like them much at all and, in typical style, said so. I appreciate why these were shown but I thought they were weak and showed nothing that suggested to me that this blend style is going to do well outside Australia. The really good bit is that the winemaker for one of the wines was right beside me, but he took it well. Still, I think I'll check my insurance asap LOL!
Funnily enough, while quite a few defended the wines, one or two agreed with me so maybe I'm not just an arrogant old so-and-so - or maybe I am!

Dinner bites

A quickie - mainly because I'm tired and I find I can't really taste wines over dinner that well. These were all good:
2001 Yarrabank Late Disgorged Chardonnay Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley;
1998, 2004 & 2008 Tahbilk Marsanne, from Goulburn;
1996, 2002 & 2006 d'Arenberg The Ironstone Pressings from McLaren Vale;
2006 John Duval Plexus, 2005 John Duval Eligo, 2006 John Duval Entity all Barossa;
1992, 1996 & 2002 Yalumba The Reserve Cabernet/Shiraz from Barossa;
Rockford Black Shiraz Sparkling Shiraz from Barossa.

Dinner gorgeous - we are very well fed. Guests were Iain Riggs of Brokenwood, Chester Osborne of d'Arenberg, John Duval, Jeff Grosset and Stephen Pannell.

Goodnight all!

Jaysus mister, have ya nuttin' younger dan da?

It's very simple, really. Australia has the oldest vines in the world - that's a fact. There are more vines from the mid 19th century here than anywhere else and they're still producing. The oldest cabernet vineyard in the world is here, as are the oldest shiraz vines. This is just one of the fascinating aspects of Australia's wine heritage and our afternoon session took history as its theme.
Andrew Caillard MW introduced us to the best tasting I have ever attended. I have been fortunate to taste many great wines in my time but to get so many in one go was fantastic. I have mentioned before about the generosity of our hosts but this session took that to extremes. Not only did we have the marvellous James Halliday on hand to share his wealth of personal experience of these great wines but we had 50 years to taste through, starting with a 1954 Seppelt Great Western K72 Shiraz. This was a really interesting wine. I have no doubt that it is past its best but, still, it had an astonishing toffee and raisin nose, with sweet flavours on the palate but was drying on the finish. How many of us will be so lively after 50 years?
Then a Penfold's Bin 95 Grange Hermitage 1955. Well, what a wine! Fantastic - incredibly drinkable even now with a superb mocha and dried fruit nose, sweet palate, supple but still with good depth and a lovely elegance.
How do you follow that? Easy - Wynn's Michael Shiraz 1955. A gorgeous wine with a still tight structure and tasting more like cabernet than shiraz! Slightly leafy notes but a long savoury finish.
So, they have some old wines. Well, it gets better. Next up was Penfold's Bin 60A 1962 Cabernet Shiraz from Barossa. I think this is probably the greatest wine I've ever tasted. A complex nose of black fruits, slightly leafy, with back notes of mocha and brown fruits. The palate has a sweet, soft, ripe entry showing rounded shiraz fruit. Middle palate is rich, balanced and complex with an astonishingly clean finish of sweet prunes, raisins, figs and no drying tannins at all. This one, for those of you who need to know, fetches between AUD3,500 and AUD5,500 per bottle at auction. And we tasted two bottles! And they were gorgeous so nyah nyah nyah LOL.
No way to follow that, eh? Well, how about Penfold's Grange Shiraz Cabernet 1971? At only 11.5% alcohol you might think not much hope but, hang on there. Ripe, rich, sweet, chocolate and raisins, spicy oak and a gorgeous finish. I normally can't stand Grange as it takes forever to mature and change but... well, if this is how it turns out then what a wine! It may be a multi-regional blend, it may be one of the most designed wines there is but with this heritage it is truly a greatly important wine.
So, what a first flight of wines. Another 15 to go and getting younger so we can't expect anything that exciting, can we? Well, the next flight of four was well able to stand up and account for itself - no shrinking violets here.
Wynn's John Riddoch 1982 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon - the first vintage of this great wine. Wow and gosh both got into my tasting note as this wine was fantastic. Youthful more than anything, suggesting a great many years before it. Classic cabernet style, even some lifted leaf characters but rich, supple, sweet and gorgeous.
You know, when you have a lot to taste you dehydrate and tire easily but these wines were so good it was easy to keep going. Next, a Wendouree 1985 Shiraz. Words are starting to fail me as they're all so god. This was excellent due to it's fabulously complex nose of spice and chocolate and the amazing balancing act between rich, round, spicy chocolate fruit and still firm but well-structured tannins on the palate. It may be 24 years old but looks and tastes only 10 or so!
Hill of Grace 1986 Shiraz. This is like name-checking all the greats and, to be fair, that's exactly what we were there to do. It was 23 years ago today Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play, so let me introduce to you....
A really, really good wine with an amazingly lively palate following from sweet, spicy fruits on the nose. The American oak shows up somewhat but is well balanced by the depth of middle palate fruit.
Now to a classic in the sense of being a great wine from the ur-region: Brokenwood Graveyard Shiraz 1986. Well, having had two bottles of this yesterday the Hunter style starts to make sense. Rich red fruits, fresh acidity and lively but, at the same time, broad, elegant and long. Excellent wine, going at AUD900 or more at auction.
Then we changed to cooler climes and more cabernet-based wines. We started with Mt Mary Vineyard Lilydale Cabernets Quintet 1990 from Yarra. This was a beautiful cabernet and that's not something you say that often. Still a bit tight but fantastic blackcurrant flavours and a long, long finish.
To follow, a Cullen Cabernet Merlot 1995 from Margaret River. Wow - for such a cool climate what a level of cassis and ripe blackcurrant fruit. Sweet and savoury palate, quite rich middle palate with some merlot plums and fruitcake showing. The finish was long and still tight but with really ripe fruit. Excellent stuff.
Next, Clarendon Hills Astralis Shiraz. A gorgeous wine showing menthol and pepper spice nose but with deep, rich sweet fruit on the palate, some gorgeous prune and chocolate flavours and a long finish.
Next Penfolds Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet Sauvignon 1996. Perhaps overshadowed by so many great wines this fell short for me. It was definitely good, possibly very good but I found it finished slightly green.
Then a Best's Wines Thompson Family Shiraz 1996 from Great Western. Port and liquorice on the nose but big, brawny, spicy palate. Old-fashioned in a way, the kind of wine a bloke would order in a pub in Alice Springs - nothing wimpy there, mate! Just fantastically unreconstructed Australian leathery but ripe shiraz.
Petaluma - it comes up everywhere and why wouldn't it? The 1998 Cabernet merlot from Coonawarra showed such a classic and classy Coonawarra style that you wondered where it all went wrong in the region. This was just gorgeous - classic blackcurrant notes, proper tannins (i.e. supporting rather than hiding the fruit) and really elegant.
Next, a real oddity - and why not? Australia was settled by tough outsiders and this next wine... well, I don't know. Bass Phillip Reserve Pinot Noir 2001 from south Gippsland. For me, it was interesting, very like a real old Burgundy but utterly weird. Not undrinkable but I'm not sure I'd drink it. Sweet to start, with a sour cherry note coming quickly and then finishing with raisined fruits. If you enjoy gambling...
Clonakilla 2001 Shiraz Viognier: I finally get the whole shiraz viognier thing - and the whole Clonakilla thing, maybe. Amazing stuff - peachy/apricotty nose (this is red, remember) with an astonishingly fragrant palate entry. Spicy and peppery then a rich, dense dark fruit evolves and the wine firms up. It finishes clean, big and almost black in style. Say wow! and repeat. Wow!
A Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz Viognier 1999 was amazingly elegant for this quite typical Barossa wine. Black fruit and violets with a rich, deep, round palate yet supple and elegant.
Finally into the 21st century with Seppelt St Peter Shiraz 2002 from Great Western. A very young wine still and needs time to open up - gorgeous. Then Balnaves of Coonawarra The Tally Cabernet Sauvignon 2004. The youngest of them all and, for me, a really classic Coonawarra wine. Elegant, classy, long - a great end to a fine afternoon.

Shiraz a go go

After the excellent riesling session, we then had a shiraz and blends session with Stephen Pannell. We started with four mature wines - Craiglee 1990 from Sunbury in Victoria, Plantagenet 1991 from mt Barker in Western Australia, Mt Edelstone 1991 from Eden Vally, South Australia and Wendouree 1991 from Clare Valley, also South Australia.
These four were varied; I found the Craiglee to be good but tiring, the Plantagenet to be very mature but lovely, the Mt Edelstone to be superb and the Wendouree to be very youthful still and a super wine.
Then we had a tour d'horizon of shiraz in Australia. To start, a trip down the road to Adelaide Hills with Shaw & Smith's 2006. Lovely and fruity, elegant and long. Then a big run all the way to the Yarra Valley for De Bortoli's Reserve 2006.I didn't think this was that good - it had a lovely nose but was a bit grippy and green on the finish. Then a swing back into west Victoria for Giaconda Warner 2006, from Beechworth. Dense, tight and long. Very very good. Down the road to Grampians and another Mt Langhi Ghiran 2006 - typical pepper and firm palate but elegant. Lovely stuff. A Seppelt Mt Ida 2006 from Heathcote was quite fragrant in style and a good wine. Then, back to SA and a McLaren Vale wine, Clarendon Hills Astralis 2006: classic big, black McLaren fruit, slight black olive note, with a long almost sweet finish. Finally, a Charlie Melton Grains of Paradise 2006 to return us to the Barossa. Brambles and bright berry fruit in a big style with a broad palate and very good.
Finally, a quiz for us - five wines blind, all blends. Does regional character show? Can we spot the blend mates? Eh, no, not really, eh, could we do that one again LOL. To start with the atypical Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2006 from Canberra is not easy - kudos to Sean Razee for spotting viognier. A good wine in an unusual style, but more of this anon. Then, S C Pannell Shiraz Grenache 2006 from McLaren Vale - spicy with red and black fruits, long and fresh. Next, Spinifex Indigene 2006 Shiraz Mourvedre from Barossa. Big and spicy, plums and new oak - good booze! Number 4 was another Wendouree (never tasted it before in my life and I get three in one day - bit like waiting for a bus!), this time a 2005 Shiraz Malbec blend. Why oh why? Nope, didn't like the redcurrant style of the malbec in the blend. Finally, Grange 2004 which is 85% Barossa and 15% McLaren Vale. I guessed Barossa but not Grange. Big, peppery with integrated oak, pretty damn good.
What to learn? That Australian shiraz is not a one size fits all style; rather, there is a range of styles depending on origin, vintage and blend mates, as well as winemakers, giving consumers a really great choice when looking at these wines. So, off you go now and buy some shiraz!