Indholdsfortegnelse for July - August 2017 i Winestate Magazine

THIS IS AN INTERESTING issue that features some new beginnings and some developing trends. First, we have for your enjoyment our annual NASAA Organic wine judging of over 100 certified organic or biodynamic wines. This was judged in our usual way involving three industry judges judging the wines blind, without fear or favour, as it should be. As much as we love the idea of wines grown and made without chemicals or questionable additives, they also need to survive in the marketplace as good wines. Troy Kalleske, of Kalleske wines, a prominent organic spokesperson shares his explanation of what organics is all about and explains the difference with biodynamics. We then also acknowledge the winner of the annual NASAA Best Organic Australian Wine of the Year Trophy as judged by…

THE OIV (International Organisation of Vine and Wine), which among other things collates global production and consumption data, recently has been providing more data from the 2016 vintage. Worthy of note from beyond Europe’s borders is that while the global vineyard area has been pretty stable for nearly a decade (now at 7.5 million hectares), the geography of distribution is changing. China’s vineyard plantings continue to grow and it is now the country with the second largest area under vine, with 847,000ha, after Spain’s 975,000ha. What’s less widely reported is that only an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of China’s total vineyard area is dedicated to wine production (table grapes and dried grapes are the more important sectors). All of which means China produced about 11.4 million hectolitres of…

DURING the voyage back home to England in January 1964, after eight weeks visiting wineries in Australia and New Zealand, French-born wine authority Andre Simon worked on his long-awaited book, collating and assessing the information he had gathered during his time visiting wineries in the two countries. He was also reviewing the usefulness of material forwarded to him by his host in Australia Victor Gibson. Gibson had sent fairly standard letters to wineries seeking the information Simon required. Simon was anxious to ensure that he gave appropriate space to both the largest and the smallest wineries: “I would hate to mention barely the names and no comment when the others on my list will have pages to themselves”. Another important gatherer of information for Simon was South Australian journalist AJ…

JANCIS Robinson introduces her chapter on cabernet franc in her much venerated Vines, Grapes and Wine reference guide saying that it “languishes in the shadow of the much more revered cabernet sauvignon”. But she adds that “no grape primarily responsible for Chateau Cheval Blanc can be dismissed so summarily”. She further notes that “it is capable of producing truly great wine in St. Emilion and some very good ones in the middle Loire”. In Australia, cabernet franc has not been ignored, but it has certainly been a “sleepy” variety. It has a history dating back to the early 1800s, arriving initially in James Busby’s legendary nursery collection in 1832. Today it can be found, in small quantities, in most regions, but it has never made it into the mainstream as…

Since it was created in 2009, the VIN DE FRANCE category of French wines has been growing at incredible rates. More and more producers, including some of the best-known winemakers in France, have been embracing the category and the freedom that it allows. Under the VIN DE FRANCE regulations, these master craftsmen are able to select from the finest grapes across all the regions of France and find a new way to innovate in order to bring out the best of each region and conditions for that year. So fierce has the competition become between these winemakers to produce the best and most innovative wines, that ANIVIN DE FRANCE (The VIN DE FRANCE National Trade Organisation) has launched a competition designed to take these wines to the next level whilst…

GROWING up on the family vineyard at Merbein in Victoria, where her parents grew grapes for dried fruit and wine, Shavaughn Wells was exposed to the world of winemaking from an early age. She fondly recalls the “cyclic process of the seasons of growing grapes and the accompanying smells in the air” as always seeming to set the rhythm of her childhood days. With her grandfather, Syd Wells, both a winemaker and managing director of Mildara Wine, the craft runs in her blood. After studying winemaking at Adelaide University, Wells gained her vintage experience at Mildara before securing opportunities to work in the Coonawarra and Yarra Valley, as well as in sparkling production with Yellowglen. Along the way there was a vintage in France and, 12 years ago now, she…

RIESLING 26 TASTED 11 AWARDED “Generally disappointing,” said the judges. “The 2016 vintage was one of the most challenging for this variety in Clare,” said one judge. “Although the group lacked varietal depth to get the highest scores, consumers will enjoy these easy drinking wines.” Skillogalee Wines Clare Riesling 2016 Upfront citrus fragrances with a pretty floral lift. Good intensity of zesty lemon butterlike flavours with a crisp acid finish. $24 Red Robin Reserve Single Vineyard Clare Valley Riesling 2014 Powerful aromas; smelling of quinces with some toasty notes. Ageing nicely with good mouthcoating flavours and smooth finish. $29 Glenholme Vineyards Blesing’s Garden Southern Flinders Ranges Riesling 2016 Lime and lemon nose with a floral lift and slight toastiness. Mouthwatering fresh pear and green apple flavours. $18 Taylors Winemakers Project…

MOST people do not know that Kangaroo Island, which covers some 4500 square kilometres, was discovered in 1803 by explorer Mathew Flinders. It was the original site for the colony of South Australia when it was settled at Kingscote in 1836 by staff of the South Australia Company, that is, free men not convicts. It is officially recognised as the first official European settlement in South Australia. The colony was later relocated to Adelaide within the space of three to four years due to the lack of available drinking water on the island. The island’s fortunes have waxed and waned since, but now it is riding a wave of interest due to its “clean and green” image, and its plethora of innovative small producers making artisan wine, beer, spirits, cider,…

Prices shown are approximate New Zealand retail. Wines available in export markets are shown as (A) Australia, (UK) and (US). Deutz Marlborough Cuvee Blanc de Blanc 2014 From 100% chardonnay, this delightful single vintage wine is elegant and poised. Strong autolytic characters of nougat, fresh pastry crust and brioche combine with lemon and red apple notes to create a complex, dry wine with great persistence of flavour and superb length. Excellent! $33 Brancott Estate Waipara Riesling 2016 Truly delightful expression of riesling; piercing notes of tangerine, fresh lime and white blossom coupled with knife edge acidity create a charming, off dry wine. Although it would cellar well, it is deliciously drinkable right now. $17.30 Jackson Estate Vintage Widow Pinot Noir 2014 Starting to show a little bottle development with some…

SPARKLING 9 TASTED 6 AWARDED A good range of wines showing plenty of "character". Kreglinger Tasmania Brut Rosé 2006 Developed tangerinelike hues and nice complexity of savoury fruit with subtle sweetness and underscored with a lovely phenolic grip. $70 Pipers Brook LD Tasmania Sparkling Pinot Chardonnay 2007 Complex toasty developed nose. Interesting development on the very rich orchard fruit filled palate with yeasty notes. $49.95 Molly's Cradle Premium Hunter Valley Sparkling Brut NV Fresh clean aromas and tightly constructed palate with nice length of fresh crisp lemon flavours. $20 Ninth Island Tasmania Sparkling Rosé NV Very pretty candied orange rind nose and an elegant light berry palate with delicate sweetness. $25 Barristers Block Legally Red Wrattonbully Sparkling Shiraz 2016 Fresh forest berry fragrances and a sweet chocolaty/plum palate with pleasant…

KANGAROO ISLAND Dudley Trading Pty Ltd Phone: 08 8553 1333 Email: dudleycellardoor@bigpond.com Web: www.dudleywines.com.au Snow Dragon Wines Phone: 0418 877 499 Email: sue@snowdragonwines.com.au Web: www.snowdragonwines.com.au CABERNET AND BLENDS Aldi Stores Phone: 02 9675 9382 Email: customerservice@aldi.com.au Web: www.aldiliquor.com.au Art Wine Pty Ltd Phone: 0411 422 450 Email: wine@artwine.com.au Web: www.artwine.com.au Australian Vintage Limited Phone: 08 8172 8333 Email: jsmith@australianvintage.com.au Web: www.avl.com.au Barristers Block/Celad’or Estate Vineyards Phone: 08 8389 7706 Email: jansiema@barristersblock.com.au Web: www.barristersblock.com.au Beresford Wines (Vok Beverages) Phone: 08 8182 1890 Email: info@beresfordwines.com.au Brygon Reserve Wines Phone: +61 419 865 556 Email: dean@brygonreservewines.com.au Web: www.brygonreservewines.com.au Coonawarra Jack Winery Pty Ltd Phone: 08 8736 3130 Email: sales@coonawarrajack.com Web: www.jackestate.com Deep Woods Estate Phone: 08 9756 6066 Email: stephenb@fogartywines.com.au Web: www.deepwoods.com.au Gralyn Estate Phone: 08 9755 6245 Email: info@gralyn.com.au Web: www.gralyn.com.au Kirrihill…

AS early reports start to drip in from those lucky enough to taste en primeur barrel samples, it seems the 2016 vintage is another great year for Bordeaux. It highlights the global interest and demand in cabernet sauvignon blends. The complexity that these wines can achieve makes it undoubtedly the best blended wine in the world. A traditional bordeaux blend is cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc, with the occasional splash of petit verdot. We use the term in Australia to indicate this blend of grape varieties and it is of course referring to the wines of the French region of Bordeaux on the south western Atlantic coast of France, and while we are a long way from the banks of the Gironde estuary, Australia produces some excellent blends from…

Auction reports MW WINES (MARCH & APRIL AUCTION REPORT, BY NICK STAMFORD) SERIOUS momentum has continued to build at MW Wine Auctions. Our March auction was our highest grossing ever, with buyers handing over $606,000 for the wine on offer. This represented a clearance rate of 68 per cent by value across the almost 5000 lots available. With highlights across a range of regions, varietals and vintages - we feel it was one of the best wine auctions ever held in this country. Not to be completely left behind, our April auction also produced an excellent result, with $414,000 worth of wine sold at a value clearance rate of 60 per cent across over 4000 lots. Demand appears to be nigh on insatiable, with competitive bidding across a wide range…

MERLOT 2016/2015 34 TASTED 24 AWARDED Overall a solid and consistent group offering nice “drinkability” but, apart from a few standouts, not a very exciting one. The judges were pleased at the lack of green fruit and hard tannic wines which showed in the results. Sileni Estate Selection Triangle Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2015 Highly concentrated dark berry and plum fruit aromas with subtle spiciness. Has a soft smooth palate that fills out with very rich sweet fruit flavours and has a drying tannic finish. $32.99 Beresford Bell Tower McLaren Vale Merlot 2015 Dark plumy fruit fragrances and a fleshy, well rounded, palate with excellent, slightly sweet, varietal fruit expression and lovely line of fine tannins. $18.99 Majella Coonawarra Merlot 2015 A different and unusual savoury character to the spicy fruit…

MIRANDA Devine, one of News Corp’s most outspoken columnists, pulls no punches. In a recent diatribe against Canberra, she berated public servants in the nation’s capital for their love of high-class restaurants and cafes on every corner, among other things. A writer for the Canberra Times newspaper immediately took issue, claiming that Canberra is Australia’s best kept secret with food, wine and culture to match any state capital without the traffic and crime. Both are right. Over the past three years there’s been a flood of new restaurant and cafe openings across the preciselyplanned city where it takes mere minutes to drive anywhere. There’s only one standard - excellent - even at the local PappaRich outlet in the Canberra Centre shopping mall. There is a downside to this frenetic culinary…

Everybody has heard of “The French Revolution” which started in 1789 and brought about dramatic and radical changes to life in France. Well, right now there is the “French Evolution” which is happening within their wine industry. This will subtly change the wine world given that France is one of the top three wine producing countries in the world. As we all know, France along with the rest of the “Old Wine World”, has over the centuries focused on where a wine came from, as the main indicator of quality for the wine. As a result, over time, they developed stricter and stricter rules governing almost every aspect of their wine industry. What started out centuries ago as a good way to ensure wine quality has over time become somewhat…

IN April, Melbourne closed the curtains on what was broadly considered one of the greatest culinary shows on Earth. The World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards were held, which coincided with the 25th Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and anyone with even a passing interest in chefs, restaurants and cooking jumped on board and got involved in dinners, tastings, talks and kept on eating through the city and the State. While this energy amped the city up for a few weeks, Melbourne stayed steadfastly on-script with openings, closings and even some refreshing renovations giving well-loved dining rooms a fresh contemporary look and feel. One of these fresh new looks has been given to Oriental Teahouse on Chapel St in South Yarra. Originally established in 2004 by restaurateur David Zhou, the transformation…

FINDING a good steak isn’t a difficult thing to do in Adelaide, especially given many of the local steakhouse owners’ familiarity with star South Australian waygu beef producer Mayura Station, along with other local producers of black angas and Hereford cattle. One of the most spectacular offerings comes from the Hilton Adelaide’s Coal Cellar + Grill, whose signature dish is a 1.2kg angas tomahawk steak resting on a tumble of roast heritage vegetables, served with bearnaise sauce and a highlyreduced red wine jus. Although well suited to corporate dining, Coal has a comfortable, informal style to it. A massive coal-fired grill glows on one side of its elegant dining space, while a glass-encased 3000-bottle cellar with one of the best shiraz lists in Adelaide beckons on the other. It’s also…

CABERNET & BLENDS UNDER $10 12 TASTED 4 AWARDED The judges agreed that at this price point these wines are technically well crafted but in general lacked weight and a few used sugar rather than fruit. “Even for the cost conscious there is something reasonable to drink here,” said one judge. Berton Vineyards Head Over Heels SEA Cabernet Merlot 2016 Vibrant meaty/herbal bouquet. Smooth and tasty in the mouth with a hint of oak sweetness. $8 The Pond South Eastern Australia Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 Earthy cranberry aromas and a light bright and fresh palate with good fruit/tannin balance. $6.99 570 Vines The Seafarer South Eastern Australia Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 Medicinal notes to the nose and a lightweight red fruit palate with ripe tannins. $7 Hardys Crest South Eastern Australia Cabernet…

SPARKLING 1 TASTED 1 AWARDED Zonte’s Footstep Bolle Felici Fleurieu Peninsula Prosecco NV Attractive apple-like bouquet and a mouthful of crisp fruit flavours. $20 OTHER WHITE VARIETALS & BLENDS 2 TASTED 0 AWARDED CHARDONNAY 6 TASTED 3 AWARDED A mixed bag with some lacking definition and others heading in the right direction. Clarence Hill Adelaide Chardonnay 2016 Attractive lifted oaky aromas; some leesy complexity. Nice complete and well balanced palate with good acid spine. $15 Shaw Family Vintners Stonemason Currency Creek Unwooded Chardonnay 2016 Creamy oak nose with light bright lemon butterlike flavours and crisp acidity. $12 Andrew Peace Wines Winemaker’s Choice Langhorne Creek Chardonnay 2015 Ripe varietal fruit characters nicely supported by the oak and the acid backbone. $18 ROSÉ 1 TASTED 1 AWARDED Zonte’s Footstep Scarlet Ladybird Fleurieu…

SPARKLING 4 TASTED 0 AWARDED No wines made the grade here. The issues here were that some were overly sweet and out of balance but most were lacking vibrancy, which is a key factor for sparkling wines. OTHER WHITE VARIETALS & BLENDS 15 TASTED 8 AWARDED A solid group of interesting white varietals. "It was good to see the varietal character but watch the phenolics (extraction, pressings)," warned one judge. "Some seem to be focussing on what they can’t do rather than what they can do." Horner Wines Family Reserve Hunter Valley Viognier 2016 Honeyed apricot bouquet and tightly wound palate with excellent peach-like varietal characters and crisp acidity. "Needs time to relax!" $22.99 Horner Wines Family Reserve Hunter Valley Verdelho 2016 Fragrant floral aromas with a nicely textured palate…