I like these trade tastings at the Oaks hotel in Sydney are compact and manageable, and the wineries well chosen. Y&R is a distributor mainly to the restaurant trade, so some wines aren’t easy to find on retailers’ shelves. Also, the vintages served here may not be out in retail land yet. That makes these events more useful as a guide to how and where wineries are going, checking old favourites and discovering new labels.
I loved the Chard Farm Pinot Gris 2015 from Central Otago for its wonderful restraint and texture, but I can only find the 2014 at Just Wines for $26 in a straight dozen. Kemenys sells the Rabbit Ranch 2014 PG for $19, and the Pinot Noir 2013 for $22; it’s the same story at Dan M’s. The Pinot Noir we tasted was the 2014, and it’s in the usual fruit-driven drink-soon style i.e. very easy to like.
Howard Park had a big line-up of their wines, and the Mount Barker Riesling 2015 stood out with rich, ripe limes and apples and a fine backbone of minerals. It’s $25 at Dan M’s and may not be the 2015 – even the winery’s website doesn’t show the 2015.
If you want to see how these wines age – and they do – there’s a Howard Park Museum Release Riesling 2008 – $33 at Kemenys that scored 96 points with Gary at the Winefront when it was a pup.
The Scotsdale Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 is a serious, dusty, gravelly Margaret River red with plenty of grip to keep it together for a decade or more. Can’t find this vintage but you can buy the great 2012 at Kemenys for $34.
Moving along, I saw Scott McCarthy with his Helen’s Hill Yarra Valley wines. I made the mistake of tasting his Breachley Block Chardonnay 2015 before the entry level Ingram Road wites, which are always good value and have a new label. The BB chardy is a cracker with fine French oak dominating right now as it would in a young white Burgundy, and it has the same seamless, polished texture.
Serious chardy that needs a few years to show its best, as good as many sub $100 Burgundies I’ve tasted. It’ll be released in a couple of weeks, in the meantime you can grab the Helens Hill Breachley Block Chardonnay 2014 for $27 at Cloudwine.
The Helen’s Hill Cabernets 2013 is Scott’s Bordeaux Blend: 50% Cabernet S, 30% Merlot, the rest made up of Cabernet Franc, Malbec and a spoonful of Petit Verdot. Hand-picked, hand-made, matured in French oak barrels (half of them new), this is a medium-bodied red in the old Bordeaux style: tightly wound with a decent tannin grip and terrific length, the fruit is taking a backseat just now but there’s layers of it below the surface.
This red will improve for a decade and more, it’s an absolute steal for $28 at Winestreet. Scott is very proud of this wine, and so he should be. He should also charge more money for it.
On the Peter Lehmann stand, we got a chance to taste the Margaret Semillon 2009 and the Wiggan Riesling 2010, and both of them were a let-down for me. To be frank I’ve never liked the Margaret, which tries to out-Hunt the Hunter Semillons. 10.5%, and predictably it’s a mouthful of acid but will no doubt get raves from those who cut their teeth on this stuff. IMHO we should make a different style in the Barossa, one that is fuller and more generous – just like the reds from around here.
The Wiggan Riesling comes with a big reputation but the 2010 is another acid trip, and I don’t see enough fruit in this wine to ever get on top of it. JH gives it 97 points, and the wine won a trophy at the 2013 Sydney show, so I was surprised to when I saw Mike Bennie expressing my thoughts: ‘Talk about austere! Lime, toast and baby oil. Almost painful acidity, flinty texture, dry and relentless with some sweet fresh lime in the aftertaste. Not easy to drink as yet. Maybe later.’
Maybe indeed. Relief came in the form of the Hill and Valley Riesling 2015: plenty of juicy limes, a touch of talc (Eden Valley) and good line and length for the vintage. This should sell for about $17 but the only place that seems to stock it is Templestowe Cellars for $20. MyCellars still has the 2014 for $17. It gets 94 points from Tyson Stelzer.
Tellurian was a new name for me, from Heathcote, meaning ‘inhabiting the earth’. The Viognier 2015 kind of leapt out of the glass and grabbed me by the nose with ripe apricots and honeysuckle and ginger and exotic spices, and wouldn’t let go. What a wine! Sadly it’s not even listed on the winery’s order form, and it is $27.
Another new label for me was Mon Tout, which turns out to be the venture of Rick Burch who is Jeff’s youngest son (dad owns Howard Park Wines). Mont Tout means ‘My All’ and reflects the association of Howard Park with Pascal Marchand which led to the joint venture Marchand & Burch. The Chardonnay 2015 was a pleasant wine and the Pinot Noir was interesting, but I didn’t think either was worth the $30 asking price.
I’ve probably carried on enough about Yealands but there was a knock-out single vineyard Gewuerztraminer 2015. It should sell for less than $20 once it is released in Oz.
Another favourite winery of ours at the opposite end of ANZ is Rosily. We’ve long said it’s seriously underrated for both whites and reds. The wine that stood out at this tasting was the Rosily Margaret River Chardonnay 2015, a wonderful, rich wine with seamless oak and classic stone fruits and cashews. Storage on lees and in new and used French oak has added complexity, and I think this is the best chardy Mick Scott has made. The $25 asking price is laughable but lucky for us.
We finished up with the Wilson Vineyard Rieslings. We like the Watervale Riesling 2015 – $18 at Summer Hill Wine, and the other 2 wines – the DJW Riesling 2015 and the Polish Hill River Riesling 2015 are equally attractive, with really only minor differences. The style is full-flavoured with exotic spices. The other 2 wines are hard to find in the shops, and cost a fair bit more at the winery.
The Prinz von Hessen H Line 2014 is a pretty simple off-dry German Riesling that sells for $25 at Veno