The madness of the long distance wine reviewer

I’m sitting here at 9 in the morning, tasting Pinot Noir and vaguely recalling a wine writer long ago suggesting that this style goes well with eggs. I’m surprised to learn that he is right, but what am I doing drinking red wine with my breakfast eggs? Have I lost it? Have the rivers of wine I’ve tasted in recent years done in my head?

Look elsewhere for quality, consistency and value

No, I’m still agonising over the Pinot Noirs that deserve inclusion in our Top 10 segment for a mailer that is due out later today. Here are three that get 95 points and rave reviews from the GOM of Aussie wine (you’ll find his notes at the links), and I’m sitting asking WTF happened?

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GTW Tasting of Coonawarra and Limestone Coast, June/July issue

These Gourmet Traveller Tastings always throw up (no pun intended) interesting results, and ‘the expert judging panel’ is a bunch of serious wine dudes: Peter Bourne, Mike Bennie, Nick Bullied, Andrew Caillard MW, Huon Hooke, Peter Forrestal, and Toni Patterson MW. In other words, we can expect the scores to be more meaningful than usual.

Sadly, the 95 points scored by the Brands Laira 171 Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 immediately questions that assumption. I’ve no idea why judges and reviewers keep falling for these overworked, over-extracted, over-oaked concoctions. Like a General in a South American country, this wine has far more medals on its chest than genuine fortitude inside it. $70 at McWilliams.

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‘Australia is the world’s second most prolific grower of Riesling grapes after Germany,’ Jancis Robinson tells us and adds: The climate is quite warm enough to ripen every Riesling grape to the max and the challenge is to retain acidity, so virtually all Australian Riesling is bone dry. There is no need for any softening sweetness.’

Most German Rieslings don’t get enough sun to reach full ripeness, so they tend to soften the harsh acid with a touch of sweetness. Germany’s most sunny corner is the Pfalz in the south-west corner of the country just across the border from Alsace where all the names are German but the people speak French. Alsace gets enough sunshine to ripen its Rieslings, and most of them are dry.

The famous Mosel

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HALLIDAY is the new name for the old Wine Companion magazine

Halliday Wine Companion 2016 (HWC) signalled the change in branding a few weeks ago. The 2015 edition was called James Halliday Australian Wine Companion. The magazine comes with the subtitle ‘Australia’s bestselling wine magazine,’ which surprised me until I recalled that the mag is part of various subscription options and special offers on the HWC website. I can’t imagine a lot of people paying $10 for a LITE wine magazine such as this. It’s a slim 80 pages and carries a lot of ads and sponsored content.

This October / November edition also contains an 8-page lift-out for the HWC 2016 awards, plus 6 pages of award winners and a separate booklet under the title ‘RED HOT & RATED – over 80 wines reviewed and rated by James Halliday.’ They’re all red wines and all of them scored ‘a whopping 96 points or more.’

Red Hot and Paid For?

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With Winestate’s World’s Greatest Shiraz Challenge 2015 all done and dusted, this week’s topic suggested itself

The results of the challenge are a dog’s breakfast. The winner was the Bird in Hand M.A.C Shiraz 2010 – $350 at Dan M’s. This is the third time this wine has won this challenge, which Publisher of Winestate Peter Simic says is ‘against all odds’ and adds ‘a nice tick to the unbiased consistency of the Winestate judging criteria.’ The third best wine is another $350 touch: Gralyn Estate Margaret River Shiraz Cabernet 2001. More Here.

More interesting for those of us looking for great but affordable wines is that the M.A.C’s more modest sibling came second overall: Bird in Hand Shiraz 2013 – $33 at Dan M’s. The bad news is that it gets just 90 points from Gary Walsh at the Winefront, who has proven himself as the most reliable wine reviewer in Oz.

We sifted through an ocean of results looking for Best Buys, and summed up our notes in Winestate’s World’s Best Shiraz Challenge 2015.

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The top wines are either hundreds of dollars, or not for sale 

The results are a dog’s breakfast once again. The winner is the Bird in Hand M.A.C Shiraz 2010 – $350 at Dan M’s. This is the third time this wine has won this challenge, which Publisher of Winestate Peter Simic says is ‘against all odds’ and adds ‘a nice tick to the unbiased consistency of the Winestate judging criteria.’ The third best wine is another $350 touch: Gralyn Estate Margaret River Shiraz Cabernet 2001. More Here.

More interesting for those of us looking for great but affordable wines is that the M.A.C.’s more modestly priced sibling came second overall: Bird in Hand Shiraz 2013 – $33 at Dan M’s. The bad news is that it gets just 90 points from Gary Walsh at the Winefront, who has proven himself as the most reliable Oz wine reviewer for some time.

Gary says: ‘This is an attention grabbing wine, for sure. Sweet black fruit, pepper, Tia Maria, dill and spices. Full bodied, fleshy and ripe with loose knit grainy tannin, ample fruit of red and black colour, coffee oak and balanced acidity. Tannin chomps on the finish. Pretty bold, and maybe a little foursquare, but it does deliver a big hit of spicy rich Shiraz flavour. 14.5%. 90 points.

That the wine gets 95 points from James Halliday just proves a point I’ve made often enough. That the wine wowed the judges is no surprise either: A rich and spicy tour de force across the flavour spectrum still does the trick.

Where are the bargains this year?

We sifted through the results looking for Best Buys, but knew we were in trouble when we saw Koonunga Hill 2014 score 4 out of 5 stars. The Mr Riggs Truant 2013, the Shingleback Haycutters 2013 and the Reilly’s Shiraz 2013 we listed as a BB recently offer some relief in the dull under $20 section, but the Mr Riggs isn’t even listed on the website. This turns out to be a recurring challenge in this Winestate Challenge.

The Bellevue Estate 2013, perpetual winner of the Edinburgh Hotel challenge, the Shingleback Davey Estate Reserve 2013 and the Bremerton Selkirk Langhorne Creek 2013 are the highlights in the under $25 section. On the whole, it’s pretty ordinary fare here and entries from overseas are absent with the exception of the direct VC import Cassilero del Diablo Shiraz from Chile.

It gets only marginally more interesting as we go up the price ladder above $25 and $30: a highlight is the Xabregas Estate Mount Barker Shiraz 2012 which gets 5 stars and looks good at $22 by the dozen ex-winery. Handcrafted by Geoff Hardy McLaren Vale Shiraz 2013 also gets 5 stars but isn’t even listed on Geoff’s own website. The Fox Creek Short Row Shiraz 2013 also scores 5 points, and you can actually buy it for $27 at Nicks.

Doug Bowen’s Shiraz 2013 also scores 5 stars but the alcohol has got away from him again – it’s 15.5%. The wine gets 90 points from the Winefront. Hahn’s Catharina Barossa Shiraz 2013 is another wine you can’t buy even from the vineyard. You can buy the trophy-winning Oakdene William Geelong Shiraz 2013, on the other hand, for $35 from the vineyard. The $35 – $40 bracket winner 3 Oceans the Explorers Shiraz 2013 is also available ex-vineyard for $36.

The listing is the usual mess – heaven only knows why Peter Simic hasn’t improved the layout after all these years. A few Kiwi reds show up as we go up the price scale, but this time there’s no representation from France except for a lone $400 Hermitage La Chapelle 2007, which scores a pitiful 3 stars. The whole Challenge of 2015 is a pretty dull affair that begins with Koonunga Hill and ends with Grange. We can only hope that the Visy Great Aussie Shiraz Challenge coming up in October is a bit more exciting.

Kim

After a Checkered Career

Once upon a time, we made no Chardonnay down under. Not a single barrel of it. Around 1970, with the help of a French ampelographer (an expert on grape varieties) we discovered that we had some Chardonnay vines after all. These vines had been mistaken as Pinot Blanc or White Pinot, a close relative. It’s a fascinating story which I’ve pieced together in the post Where did Murray really get his Chardonnay from?

Chardonnay went on a roller coaster ride from shaky beginnings to big buttery, peachy numbers that led to a new movement in the late nineties known as ABC  – Anything But Chardonnay. After a lot of soul searching in our wineries, and a generation change in wine makers, the Jane Mansfield style of chardy gave way to one that resembled Twiggy. Somehow, this weedy, acid grapefruit style has survived even if the ideal is obviously somewhere in between the two extremes..

The problem with wine judges is that they need to be pushed and shoved in the right direction, something the late Len Evans excelled in. Unless that happens, they get stuck on a style like a record needle in a crooked groove. It’s been that way with Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs down under.

Clonal Selection

Wine writers rabbit on about different clones used to make different Chardonnays, and make it sound very complicated. Grape vines are no different from tomato vines or peach trees in the sense that mutations occur in new plants and farmers select the ones with the most desirable properties, whether it’s better flavour, higher yields or better resistance to fungi. The vineyard manager takes cuttings from selected vines for propagation, and thus improves the breed.

In Australia, winemakers use a variety of clones, some from California and some from Burgundy. Most have boring numbers such as 95, 277 and i10V1 In Margaret River, the Gin Gin or Mendoza clone has become the choice of winemakers. The story goes that Houghton imported this clone in 1957, but in those days Houghton made no Chardonnay to my knowledge, and I can’t see them importing cuttings from the Argentine back then.

The odd man out here is Mountadam, the Eden Valley vineyard David Wynn and his son Adam planted with cuttings from the Marble Bar clone, which was brought to South Australia in the1860s.

‘Chardonnay? Choose Australia, Decanter readers urged’

Our winemakers have been trying hard to make Chardonnays that can stand proud alongside the great white Burgundies of France, and they’ve succeeded brilliantly. The headline comes from a 2011 Decanter magazine article. At the conclusion of a tasting of top Aussie Chardonnays, Decanter panellist Pierre Mansour declared:  ‘… with the issues [white] Burgundy has had in recent years, I’d urge Decanter readers to look to Australia – these wines are brilliant.’

The culprit in Burgundy was Premox, shorthand for the premature oxidation that was turning many bottles of really fine white Burgundy in cellars around the world into really ordinary sherry. Up to 1 in 4, according to some reports. No one could spot it in young wines, and the cause is still unknown.

The main advantage for us down under is cost, of course.  Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay costs $85, a white burgundy of similar quality will set you back $300 to $500. Better still, we make some pretty good chardies for around $20 and even less – see this week’s Best Buys.

I was going to write lots more on this subject but found a really excellent summary written by Clive Hartley for Winestate: Chardonnay – a wine that needs the Midas touch

xxx

We challenge our French Wine Loving Friends to a Duel at Dawn

‘I never buy wines that cost less than $100,’ said my friend Paul. ‘With French wines,’ I shot back, ‘that’s the minimum you have to spend to get a decent bottle. With Aussies, there’s no need to spend more than $20.’

That’s how this challenge came about. Paul let out a derisory laugh. I said, ‘Let’s put some bottles on the table with their fancy labels covered up, and see what’s what.’ Paul’s friend Jeffrey thought it was a great idea, and he’s much more reliable. I suspect Paul goes to too many tastings these days, judging by his Delphic utterances and cryptic emails. Jeffrey also has a cellar full of Frog Grog, but I get lucid emails from him even around midnight.

Why are they Stalling?

Some of my wine friends go back to the days of Len Evans and Bulletin Place, not just Paul and Jeffrey. They have cellars that match the tomb of Tutankhamen in the value of their contents. I have to add that my friends are generous to a fault when it comes to sharing their prized collections.

That doesn’t mean they’re not wine snobs, and it doesn’t mean they play straight either. In the space of 3 months I’ve been unable to get them to agree on a date for the event, or a venue.

Why are they stalling? Are they afraid of the outcome? Do they fear the awful truth? That they’re wasting money on fancy labels that occasionally produce fine wines – when the vintage weather is perfect, the wine maker in the right mood, and the winery free from nasty bacteria?

Mortal Dramas on Mount Olympus

Do they have to sift through their samples to weed out the duds first? Duds, I hear you ask, in wines that cost $100 a bottle and more? ‘Over the last eight years or so,’ Jancis Robinson announced in 2009, ‘it has become apparent that fine white burgundy, the sort of wine that costs hundreds and sometimes thousands of pounds a dozen, has a serious problem.’

The culprit was Premox, short for the premature oxidation that was turning many bottles of really fine white Burgundy in cellars around the world into really ordinary sherry. Up to 1 in 4. At the conclusion of a tasting of top Aussie Chardonnays, Decanter panellist Pierre Mansour declared:  ‘… with the [premature oxidation] issues [white] Burgundy has had in recent years, I’d urge Decanter readers to look to Australia – these wines are brilliant.’

In 2014, Jane Anson in a Decanter Magazine piece asked: ‘Premox: has the crisis moved to red wine?’ The top Bordeaux reds that gave rise to this question were from 2003, a hot vintage.

Bordeaux experienced more of these in the last 10 years, and by 2010 had declared 3 ‘vintages of the century.’ On the sidelines towered Robert Parker, urging Bordeaux proprietors to pick ever later and make riper reds. This advice could have serious consequences over the next decade. ‘I have seen issues with a number of expensive, classified wines that are potentially storing up trouble for later,’ Professor Denis Dubourdieu at the Institute of Oenology (IS VV) in Bordeaux told Jane Anson.

Am I clutching at Straws?

Of course I am. None of the Chardonnays the Decanter panel raved about costs anywhere near $20, and let’s be honest: a good Bordeaux red is a beautiful thing not easily undone by a wild colonial boy. It’s much the same with a good white Burgundy. Red Burgundies are a better chance since they make more promises than politicians during an election campaign, and break them more often. My problem is that I don’t know my way around these wines any more. I gave up buying them back in the nineties, when the quality was a lucky dip, and the prices just kept going up and up.

Our opponents will cheat. They’ll bring along a first growth Chassagne-Montrachet and tell me they bought it for $100 en primeur. They’ll produce an obscure but great Pomerol I’ve never heard of and tell me that it’s a $100 village wine, knowing that I’ll never know the difference. What can I do?

I could do the same, because they’ll never know how much the wines I bring along are. I might just stretch the $ limit to $25. Even if I went as high as $30 or $35, the fact that affordable Aussie wines beat the stuffing out of those Frenchies will be undeniable.

What wine styles are we comparing?

I’m thinking red and white Bordeaux, red Rhone and white Burgundy. Cabernet blends, Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Shiraz & Shiraz blends. I think about 10 – 12 wines on each side should be enough to decide the contest, 20 – 24 in total. Age is an issue too. I don’t want to compare wines that have just been bottled. Wines that are around 5 to 7 years old make a lot more sense because their qualities will have had a little time to unfold.

So what I’m going to do now is publish this post in an effort to shame the other side into action, to stop them stalling and get this challenge off the ground at long last.

Kim

This post was first published early in 2015, and it’s a great snapshot of the wine business with many links to interesting stories. That’s why I’m running it again.  

Looking way back

How Australia became a country of wine drinkers is a fascinating story, which began with Barossa Pearl and Ben Ean Moselle. However, we tend to forget the role played by the wine merchants of the sixties and seventies who brought interesting wines to a thirsty new generation: Johnny Walker, Harry Brown, Douglas Lamb, Doug Seabrook, the real Dan Murphy and others. We told their story in Unsung Heroes – Wine Men who changed the Way we Live.

In 2014, Wolf Blass celebrated his 80th birthday which prompted us to set his record straight in Wolf Blass turns 80 – Fact and Fiction. It might help to listen to Richard Fidler’s Interview with Wolf a few years ago. Here Wolf tells ABC listeners that Australian wines were awful when he arrived, that he changed all that and turned the industry upside down all by himself. He never mentions Ian Hickinbotham, Max Schubert, Jack Mann, Roger Warren, Colin Preece, Ron Haselgrove or Maurice O’Shea.

The unsung hero in the Wolf Blass story is John Glaetzer, Australia’s most decorated winemaker by a country mile. Why didn’t you know that? Because John is a quiet, modest, down-to-earth kind of guy who doesn’t blow his own trumpet, which left Wolf enough space to run the entire brass section. John was happy to take a backseat and never got in the way of Wolf’s huge ego.

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From the Barossa. From the young Turks.

This is an older post with a mature flavour, and it’s about a really bold marketing campaign. I came across this wine with a really different label in a bottle shop at Crows Nest in Sydney: Count (Graf) Ferdinand von Zeppelin’s face graced the label, sporting a spiked German helmet from the old Kaiser’s time. I grew up in Germany and I was surprised that Australians had grown up enough to look beyond the crass stereotypes of World War I to the genius of German engineering.

I wrote to Kym Teusner down in the Barossa, since his name was on the back label where it said ‘winemaker’, asking where the branding had come from for this range of wines. His response was: ‘Nicholas Crampton is the marketing brains, I just make the grog.’ Kym is a man of few words, but he put me in touch with Nicholas who used to be a brand manager at Fosters and now runs Echelon http://www.echelonwine.com.au/ .

Creating a BOLD new Brand

Nicholas explained that it had started with the simple thought of joining a couple of ‘artisan of the Barossa’ winemakers – Kym Teusner and Corey Ryan from Sons of Eden – and creating a more personality driven brand. ‘Both the guys have a significant German ancestry [about 6 generations], said Nicholas, ‘and I thought it a good place to start when looking for a name that brought it all together.’

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