australia

Tim Adams 2001 Aberfeldy

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Tim Adams 2001 Aberfeldy

Another wine from the cellar and I didn’t date the tasting note but it was a while ago. This is a Clare Valley Shiraz from the very well known (in South Australia, at least) Tim Adams stable.

The grapes come from the eponymous vineyard, first planted by the Birks (of Wendouree) in 1904. And some of this old stock remains – now well over 100 years old, but in 2001 the vineyard was just approaching its centenary.

This is not their cheap, every day quaffer and the winemaking notes (thankfully still available on the website) reflect that. Basket press, plenty of time on skins, and a year on both new and one year old American oak.

I can’t remember how much I paid for this bottle, but I know that I bought it at the winery in very early 2004. It is still available but you can expect to look for it and pay between $55 and $65 a bottle. When it was released it received plenty of praise and even today, at twelve years of age, it is looking very good. The current release (2009) sells through the website for $50.

Unlike many big family sounding names in the Australian wine industry Tim Adams Wines is still owned by Tim Adams and his wife and he is still chief winemaker.

In the glass the wine looked remarkably young: very intense, and more ruby in colour than garnet. I was very surprised because prior to opening I’d been concerned that I’d be drinking a lovely wine that, yet again, was past its prime.

The nose was quite pronounced, with fresh blackberries, pepper, with chocolate and leather. The palate was showing the age more than either the appearance or nose. The tannins were quite drying and, while there was a burst of fresh blackberry, the tertiary characters were much more apparent. There was a lot of chocolate and the wine was very savoury and leathery, with a meaty finish. Although the length was good the complexity of flavours did drop off quite quickly.

This is one wine that I feel I got to in the nick of time and I was very pleased that I did. If you have a stash of the ’01 I’d be taking a look at it now, at least, if not drinking it up.

This wine was purchased from the winery in 2004.
Closure: cork.
Alcohol: 13.7% abv.

Kangarilla Road 2009 Sangiovese

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You will struggle to find this wine. The 2010 (featured in the Winter issue of Sumptuous) has been sold out for ages. But my local bottle shop almost always has something interesting tucked away if you do a bit of hunting. Andy brought a bottle of this home for me one day, and I returned a couple of days later and bought the last bottle.

Kangarilla Road is a McLaren Vale winery with instantly recognisable labels: a black ground with an image of the vine leaf. Very striking and easy to spot.

Sangiovese is something of a ‘thing’ in McLaren Vale. Its Old World home is Tuscany. I guess I’d describe the climates as being vaguely similar but Tuscany has some rolling hills and makes McLaren Vale look seriously flat. Despite its Tuscan pedigree, Sangiovese is actually part Tuscan and part Calabrian, and is actually found growing in many wine producing areas, under a variety of synonyms. For example, you can find Coriscan, American and even Swiss examples of this wine. In Australia it arrived in the 1960s but was not commercially planted until the 80s, with the first block being in Penfold’s Kalimna vineyard. The commercial pioneers are considered to be Coriole and Dromana Estate (Mornington Peninsula).

I tasted this wine on 29 June, and the bottle had been open one day.

In the glass, the wine was ruby in colour with medium intensity.

The nose was quite pronounced: black cherry, vanilla, even blackcurrant. In fact, the blackcurrant was pushing towards blackcurrant jubes. There was a very slight green or herbaceous character to the nose which was a good thing as it balanced out the slightly confected jube notes.

The black cherry was dominant on the palate, with firm, but not drying, tannins providing a lovely structure. There was some cedar spiciness and the wine had good length. I did wonder if the finish was perhaps a little hot, but that didn’t stop me heading back and buying the last bottle.

This wine was purchased from Cellarbrations, Flagstaff Hill for $26.
Closure: screwcap.
Alcohol: 14% abv.

In the mouth,

Ochota Barrels 2011 Strange Little Girl Arneis

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I spent a long time complaining that Italian whites were boring. I maintained they didn’t taste of anything and if they did they had an unpleasant oily, nutty character to them that didn’t agree with me.

However, my attitude to wine is that if I don’t like something, I don’t understand it and I should try more of it. So I persisted with Italian whites and they continued to disappoint me. Until I tried a Roero Arneis one day in a restaurant.

And now I am something of poster girl for Arneis. Luckily for me, there is a fair bit being grown in Australia and it’s readily available, even from big chain bottle shops.

Ochota Barrels is a small, highly regarded Adelaide Hills winery. It’s taken me an age to get around to trying the wines (despite managing to cheerfully recommend them to others – I figure recommending something you want to try is valid) and earlier this year I picked up the Arneis from Belair Fine Wines. I seem to recall that the wine was marked down to $27 (from what, I don’t remember).

In the glass the wine was a pale gold colour. The nose was quite pronounced, showing preserved lemon with some honeysuckle and a slight nutty character.

In the mouth, there was good and persistent line of acidity, with definite herbal notes: think anise characters like fennel and dill, some marzipan/bitter almond nuttiness that was not too pronounced, and a well balanced mouthfeel. The finish zipped in with some raw, fresh lemon.

This was a well balanced and integrated wine and one that I desperately wanted to love (you know – all the hype about finally trying one of these wines), but the leanness and the raw citrus edge just made it fall slightly short of the expectation I’d set.

I think the problem here was all about me. The Ochota Barrels website doesn’t list a current vintage Arneis so I’m probably not going to have a chance to revisit this wine. On the one hand, this is a shame, but on the other, it means I’ll just have to keep my eyes open and pick up something else from the same stable.

This wine was purchased from Belair Fine Wines for $27.
Closure: screwcap (I think).
Alcohol:  12.5% abv.
Bottle 214/286.

Robert Oatley 2012 Great Southern Riesling

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I have a massive backlog of tasting notes, so in order to work my way through them in a timely fashion, I’m going to aim for some short(ish) reviews. Wish me luck.

I’d have to say that I’m not as familiar with the wines of Western Australia as I should be. Something I’ll have to try to rectify!

This Robert Oatley Signature Series Riesling comes from WA’s Great Southern region. If you believe the hype, it’s Australia’s new high quality Riesling region.

With Larry Cherubino Director of Winemaking at Robert Oatley, expectations should be high, even though this wine retails at under $20.

Pale straw in the glass, the nose was very restrained: unsurprisingly citrussy with just a slight floral characteristic.

In the mouth, the wine was nicely balanced: mostly citrus with some crisp green apple. The acidity was not the searing, racy acidity that regular Clare Valley Riesling drinkers will be accustomed to – and I wonder if that is going to be a characteristic of Rieslings from Great Southern.

I found the wine pleasant enough and a good reminder that I clearly drink far too much Clare Valley Riesling, but given how much I love Riesling, I also found it a little disappointing.

I wrote my tasting note on the second day the wine was open (and, apparently, after a couple of days being hit in the nose by my toddler!). I can’t for the life of me find the photo I took of the bottle, hence the use of a stock image.

The wine was purchased from Cellarbrations, Flagstaff Hill, for $17.
Closure: screw cap.
Alcohol: 12% abv.

Oakridge 2009 Chardonnay Pinot Noir

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Oakridge is a brand with which I’m a little familiar – mainly by reputation but I’m pretty sure I’ve encountered the wines at at least one tasting.

As it feels like a while since I’ve had some bubbles, I popped into East End Cellars and pretty much picked up the first thing I saw that I hadn’t tried (and wasn’t crazy money!). It was the Oakridge 2009 Chardonnay Pinot Noir. In typical fashion, I took it up to the counter and said “is this nice?”. The guys assured me it was, so I took it home and put it in the fridge, so it would be all ready for a bubble emergency.

Something like 24 hours later, the bottle was duly opened. As soon as the cork was phutted (I open bubbles properly … there’s no crazy popping here!) a gorgeous yeasty aroma was released and I was hopeful I was in for a treat.

I wasn’t disappointed.

In the glass, the wine is very pale straw in colour – almost lemon like, which surprised me given its age and the fact that it’s spent 3 years on lees (the same legal minimum as vintage Champagne). The nose is quite pronounced, with beautiful toasty and yeasty notes, accompanied by vanilla and citrus.

On the palate, there is some very good, persistent acidity, and a very pleasant phenolic grip which really adds to the mouth feel. Lovely lemon and lemon sherbert flavours, with great length and flavour development, so you end up with lemon pith. There is also some brioche character but the palate isn’t nearly as bready as the nose might suggest.

An absolutely lovely wine – one I’d definitely buy again. It’s a shame I can’t find it on the Oakridge website …

Domain Day 2005 One Serious Sangiovese

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I’ve spent the last two weeks enjoying the company of a head cold so I’ve had plenty of alcohol free days and stuck to drinking the odd beer and very little in the way of interesting wine.

I do have a backlog of proper notes to type up, so fresh content is on its way!

As the cold stuck in its claws, I opened a bottle of Domain Day 2005 One Serious Sangiovese which I’d found in a bottle shop, (slightly) reduced to $27.

No tasting note today, as I drank the wine under the weather and figure that it’s hardly fair to either the wine or readers to attempt to pass sophisticated judgement. I will, however, say that I enjoyed it very much over a couple of nights. Based on my slightly befuddled state, I’d buy it again!

However, I thought I’d use this as an opportunity to write not about a grape variety, but a little about a winery whose focus is very much on the alternative varieties.

I first came across Domain Day when I was researching some wines for a client. In this instance, I was after a Saperavi. There’s actually a few South Australian Saperavi producers and in this instance, the Domain Day offering ticked quite a few boxes: it was one I hadn’t tried before, it was at the right price point and it was (relatively) easily available retail. I was pretty impressed with the wine – and, if I recall correctly, at least a couple of people in the resulting class had rated it highly too – so Domain Day as a producer was already on my radar when I saw the Sangiovese.

In addition to the Saperavi and Sangiovese, Domain Day produces a Lagrein, sweet and dry Garganegas, and a few wines made from grape varieties with which you most likely will be familiar.

The winery is at Mt Crawford, in the south eastern corner of the Barossa. In fact, it seems that it’s really pretty well subsumed by the Barossa as various erudite wine tomes* fail to mention it individually. At 450m the Domain Day vineyards are high enough to enjoy a cooler climate so they get to grow Riesling and Pinot Noir alongside the slightly quirkier varietals.

Robin Day is the proprietor and winemaker and comes scarily well credentialled. He’s ex Orlando Wyndham and Pernod Ricard with plenty of overseas experience.

Domain Day is a great example of a smaller, and dare I say it, less well known winery, with some formidable winemaking experience at the helm. Personally, I will always pick up a wine with which I am not familiar in preference to a big brand name. I’m on a bit of a mission to convince other wine buyers to do the same. A small, unfamiliar name doesn’t mean a lack of inside nous and competence.

This wine was purchased from Cellarbrations, Flagstaff Hill for $27 (reduced).
Closure: screw cap
13.8% abv

* By which I mean Sotheby’s Encyclopedia and the World Atlas of Wine.

Caudo 2012 Peace Chardonnay

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Another wine from the same cheap Cellarmasters carton that yielded the Zenith Sauvignon Blanc.

At an average of $5 or so a bottle, expectations were set accordingly, and this bottle was actually hiding in the fridge, a little forgotten.

Caudo is based in the Murray Lands, in South Australia. 700 acres are planted to vine (300 of those planted in 2001), with a further 150 acres preserved as a wildlife sanctuary. The website makes a reference to the Peace Chardonnay on the “about” page but I couldn’t find it anywhere else on the site. The Cellarmasters site will only find it if you search using Google rather than the on site search. Judging by the availability of the reds, I’d suggest these wines have been run out so I think you’ll struggle to find this wine (unless you are in NZ).

The wine producing areas along the River Murray are perhaps most crudely characterised as heavily irrigated bulk wine production areas. This is actually unfair because there are many producers doing small scale, interesting winemaking and it’s where we’re seeing a lot of work with emerging varieties.

However, at its price point, it’s not going to surprise anyone that this wine falls into the stereotype. And, indeed, if you are looking for that archetypal Aussie Chardonnay: sunshine in a bottle with lots of oak, then you’ve hit the nail on the head.

In the glass, the wine is straw in colour. The nose is dominated by butter and vanilla, with some lemon and apple. The butter and vanilla give away the oak treatment (at this price we’re talking something less subtle than new French oak barriques – the small, 225L barrels that you’ll find used in wines ten times the price and more). The palate is similarly dominated by the oak which is decidedly unbalanced. The wine’s acidity is OK and the weight is decent – it feels pleasant in the mouth. But the flavour profile is all about cream and vanilla with a touch of citrus.

The above might sound like I’m handing this wine a bit of a hiding, but I’m actually not. Yes, it does rather fall into my ‘boring’ category (hey, I’m someone who gets excited by the weird and wonderful) but I think this wine absolutely delivers in this style for its price. Just as there are people who like their Chardonnays lean and crisp, there are plenty of people who would really go for this wine. It’s all about your expectations as you open the bottle.

So not for me, but there are far worse t hings you could drink at this price point.

This wine was purchased through Cellarmasters in a mixed case.  Average bottle price was somewhere around the $5-6 mark.
Closure:  screw cap
13.5% abv

Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch 2010 Merlot Lagrein Tempranillo

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Well, isn’t that a mouthful and a half?! I first became aware of the Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch brand way back in 2009 when Andrew Barrow wrote about the Shiraz and Chardonnay, which were being sold in the UK by Naked Wines. Brand awareness in place, it’s been ‘on the list’ ever since. Which shows you that I need more time, more money and quite possibly some kind of reserve liver.

Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch is a label produced by Plunkett Fowles in Victoria’s Strathbogie Ranges. In addition to the Chardonnay and Shiraz, the stable also consists of a Riesling and this unfamiliar blend of Merlot, Lagrein and Tempranillo.

There’s an awful lot I could write about this wine but that would make for one long blog post, so I’ll focus on the quirkiest aspect of this wine: the Lagrein. Lagrein hails from, and is indeed native to, Alto Adige in north eastern Italy. Wine Grapes tells us that it’s been written about since the fourteenth century and has a complicated family tree (including being a cousin of Shiraz and a grandchild of Pinot!). Got to love DNA analysis!

In Italy, where it is found in Trentino as well as Alto Adige, it is often blended but varietal wines are allowed by both DOCs. There are quite a few Australian producers, and I’ve enjoyed it before in a Heartland wine, where it was blended with Dolcetto. There are also a few Californian producers – although with just 31 hectares in 2008 I think we’d struggle to find those wines in Australia.

Wine-geek talk over, the thing to take away is that this is an unusual blend and you’re unlikely to find parallels within Australia, let alone in European wines. In many ways, this is a good thing because it means you can come to the wine with no expectations.

In the glass the wine is a very pretty ruby colour, which is reasonably dense. The nose is quite pronounced and initially comes across as a touch alcoholic, but it has a fabulous warm spice aroma, with a hint of herbaceousness. There are also black plums and black cherries with a touch of vanilla and dark chocolate. This is a pretty complex nose and there’s plenty there to think about and also to struggle to pin down!

In the mouth, this wine is all black plum with slightly earthy characters and chocolate and vanilla. There’s really good acidity and the wine finishes with a real flush of fresh fruit, including sour cherry. The tannins are very soft: unless you put in serious thought you won’t spot them but I suspect you’d miss them if they weren’t there! The length is good, but if you want to be really picky you could complain that it rather flatlines with the sour cherry.

I loved this wine. Don’t come to it expecting big, bold fruit flavours or mouth drying tannins because you’ll leave disappointed. But if you want a wine which is immensely drinkable, with some lovely complexity, and that is extremely food friendly, then you’ve come to the right spot.

I’d also like to commend Plunkett Fowles for the comprehensive tasting note on the website. If you want the nitty gritty on this wine, take a read! I wish more wineries provided this level of detail.

This wine was purchased from Belair Fine Wine for $30. It’s worth every penny.
Closure: screw cap
13.5% abv

Adelaide Hills Crush Festival

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View Crush – Cellared Guide in a larger map

Direct link to map: https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=205193576936381767862.0004d3ca3c382723bce9e&msa=0

This weekend sees the Adelaide Hills play host to the Crush Festival. Most of the events take place on Sunday but a few wineries are hosting events across the long weekend.

When you’re out visiting a wine region you always need to know where the closest cellar door is, so I’ve put together a google map detailing all the participating cellar doors as well as some information about opening times, events and whether bookings are required.

I’ve taken the information from the Crush brochure. The beauty is that when you’re out and about this weekend, you’ll be able to load up this map on your smartphone and work out where to head to next. In theory, no wasted time driving around in circles and no disappointment on arriving somewhere and discovering it’s hosting a ticketed only event.

Let me know what you think!

42°S Premier Cuvée

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On the weekend we bought a new car. This was not an exciting car purchase – more one borne of necessity after our trusty old car was crumpled by an SUV neglecting to stop. With both time frame and budget severely limited we were so pleased with our efforts that I decided celebratory bubbles were in order.

I ducked into a wine shop I don’t normally visit and I felt that I was a little bit spoilt for choice with novel wines. After some umming and ahhing, I chose the 42° South Premier Cuvée made by Frogmore Creek in Tasmania. This decision was ultimately based on the fact that, at $25 a bottle, it was $5 cheaper than my initial choice!

Pale gold in the glass, with the nose requiring some thought. Milk arrowroot biscuits and lemon are the two things that immediately spring to mind. In the mouth, the mousse is fine, persistent and foamy. There’s good acidity which drives lemon, shortbread, a hint of brioche and some simple red berry fruit (strawberry). There is even a hint of chalkiness. The length is pretty good.

This is a good wine: it’s straightforward and not particularly complex. The flavours are not so much obvious as a little one dimensional. Having said that – I am talking about a wine that retails at $25 and is a non vintage bubbles, and both the wine’s length and acidity deserve a big tick.

Sparkling wine at this price point seems to be particularly competitive at the moment. There are equivalent (or even slightly better) wines that you can spend less on, and there is a lot of choice out there. $25 is fair money for this wine and if I were to spot this on special, I’d definitely buy this again. If you have the spare $10 or so, then I would buy this in preference to Blue Pyrenees Luna.

This wine was purchased from Cellarbrations, Brighton for $25.
Closure: Diam.
12% abv