|
It’s Australia day today (26/1/07) and so to celebrate Martin will be
discussing Australian wines on the movies and booze slot with Sean Moncrieff on
News Talk 106-108 Fm after about 3.15pm.
The first fleet landed in
Sydney Cove on this day, 26th January in 1788 and shortly afterwards
planted vines picked up in the Cape of Good Hope and Brazil along the way. They
produced a few grapes the following year but were killed off by what they called
‘black spot’. There were various plantings in the greater Sydney area before
vines were established more successfully and lastingly in the Hunter Valley in
1830, to the north of Sydney.
The rising graph of
Australia’s modern success dates to the mid eighties when the world started to
fall in love with their richly fruity good value wines. Oddly though today that
tag is almost a mill stone. Many are bored by easy drinking simple cheap
chardonnay or shiraz, especially when produced by one of the big brand owners.
It’s a lazy attitude, in my
opinion, as there is so much more
to Australia than sub ten euro brands. Australia is rightly trying to talk up
its diversity of high quality regions and grape varieties. If you pay a few
euros more it opens a whole new vista of interest. www.wineaustralia .com is a
brilliant resource that outlines the regions and styles in detail. White wine
lovers should look out for any number of rieslings but especially form Clare,
Semillons but especially from the Hunter, Sauvignons but especially from
Adelaide Hills or Pemberton, plus increasing amounts of viognier and verdelho
from all over. Red lovers have a huge range of shiraz styles to choose from plus
classic cabernets from Coonawarra to enjoy and grenache and Rhone style blends
from Mclaren Vale and Barossa and frankly too many different grape varieties and
regions to mention. Go to www.vinodiversity.com
for a more complete catalogue of grapes grown in Australia.
Today on the show we step
outside the regular chardonnay and shiraz comfort zone bu tastings some of the
more unusual and emerging styles. First wine is Thomas
Mitchell Marsanne 2005, €8.49 from Dunnes, which is made from fruit
grown in Goulbourn, where this traditional white Rhone variety has an historical
foothold. Chateau Tahbilk (imported by Comans) is the best-known producer and
worth seeking out, but this example offers real value. It’s fruit is rich,
tropical and honeyed, buttery even, but never cloying.
The next wine to be tasted is
also from Victoria and very appropriate for a movies and booze slot and that’s
Hanging Rock Petit Verdot 2004 from
Heathcote, an hour north of Melbourne. It’s stocked by O’Briens and normally
€9.99 but reduced to €7.99 9.99 from Feb 5th in their sale. The
petit verdot verdot grape is a minor supporting player in Bordeaux blends,
rarely more than 5%, where it can give colour and backbone. It struggles to
ripen in the Médoc but that is less of an issue in a warmer climate like
Australia’s, were it is gaining ground as an alternative to shiraz.
Shiraz has its own amazingly
diverse range of styles, but one of the more interesting recent innovations is
blending with a little viognier. It works best, when co-fermented with shiraz
rather than blended later, at a mix of not more than about 5-6%. Winemakers tell
me that it softens the blend and also lifts the bouquet. As soon as you start to
taste it, then too much has been used. We’ll be tasting the d’Arenberg
Laughing Magpie 2004, imported by Taserra Wine Merchants
(01-495-2159) and sold mostly through independent wine stores. Oddbins also list
it, but it is currently out of stock awaiting the next vintage. Pricing is about
€17.50-19.99.
Another quick recommendation:
do try the Bushland Reserve Shiraz 2005 from the Hunter Valley Aldi at only
€6.99, as it’s made at Hope Estate in the Hunter and shows real regional
character with its slightly earthy and plumy style. Michael Hope sells his main
label at twice this price.
Finally,
it takes an awful lot of beer to make wine in my experience. Most Aussie
winemakers that I know avoid the big brands like Fosters or Castlemaine XXXX for
their own and theicew's consumption. Cooper’s is easily their most popular
brand, but when I visited Australia last year I enjoyed Hop Thief, James Squire,
Little Creatures and Hahn. Not surprisingly, I find that Australina wine makers
are more partial to beer thn the average French oenologue. Now why is that?
www.winerepublic.com
|
