Australia is riding high at the top of the sales charts having
overtaken the French in the last year. OK
so it’s a couple of days late for Australia day but on News Talk 106FM’s Dublin Life show today
(28/1/2004) after the 3pm news Martin will be
discussing Australian wine.
There’s
a lot more to Oz than pineapple and wood chip flavoured chardonnay or
blockbuster jammy shiraz as you'll see if you read the exert
below from Wine republic 2004.
Not
withstanding that, they can be mighty fine wines and today’s wines of
the week are good examples of these popular varieties, Ch.
Reynella Chardonnay 2000, 88/100, €15.99 -
16.49 and fairly widely available is intense and rich. I worked
there during the 1989 harvest and despite my numerous screw ups they’ve
somehow survived. There’s a partner shiraz and it’s terrific too.
Today’s red is Paul Osika Shiraz 2001 from
Heathcote in Victoria €20-22, 90/100 from karwigs-wines.ie
(021-437-2864) or Baland Associates (01-453-3104) and has a
distinctive mint character to add to its cherry and pepper fruit and is
typical of the more elegant shiraz coming from cooler districts.
Also
in the coming week Oz wine fans should be aware of the big Australian
tasting at the Hogan stand at Croke Park on Monday February 2nd.
Trade will be admitted from 2 – 6pm and public from 6 – 8.30pm. I’ll
be there and will be giving a lecture about the various regional styles of
shiraz at 4pm. A limited number of public tickets are available and can be
obtained from John McDonnell at awbireland@eircom.net.
Not sure of price but I think it’s about €13.
What
should you look out for if you attend? Here’s an adaptation of the
Australian review in Wine Republic 2004:
They
have many impressive, unique regional styles to explore, new grape
varieties and styles coming on stream and oddly, at a time of convergence
and mergers in the industry, more new labels are appearing than ever.
Boutique wineries are popping up all over the place committed to quality
and the expression of the uniqueness of their patch of dirt. For example,
this year I tasted a barrel sample of a new label that is perhaps the best
Australian red, I’ve ever tried. It’s called Exile and is made from
very old vine shiraz in the Barossa and staggeringly will be over €200
per bottle when it’s released.
So
what should you be looking for if you want to explore beyond the big
brands?
Here’s
a brief tour to whet the appetite: New South Wales – semillon and shiraz
in the Hunter Valley are already established classics but increasing
amounts of interesting verdelho are appearing too. Anybody who is anybody
is buying land at Orange and some of the results from Rosemount and
Reynolds are very impressive. Further south around the capital territory
of Canberra there are small quantities of cool hill top fruit producing
stunning wines such as Clonakilla shiraz represented in the UK by Liberty
Across
the border in Victoria there’s almost too much going on to document. The
state is alive with passionate small producers rediscovering abandoned
Victorian sites and exploiting new ones. The Grampians, Geelong,
Mornington Peninsular, Yarra Valley and Macedon are all exciting place
names to look on labels. Then of course there are those that never went
away in places like Rutherglen with its incomparable muscats.
Further
south, Tasmania is Australia’s ultimate cool climate region. It’s
twenty years since I first visited and was impressed by the elegance and
purity of fruit to be found here and the intervening years have seen more
of that potential realised with world class wines emerging in categories
that include sparkling wine, pinot noir, riesling and sauvignon blanc.
Notably these involve grapes that really only thrive when the mercury
doesn’t rise too high too often.
South
Australia produces more wine than anywhere else and is home to most of the
big companies, but fortunately big doesn’t always equal bland down under
as my tasting notes reveal. It is also home to some really wonderful
Australian classics and exciting new boutique sized producers. Elegant,
minty, cabernet from Coonawarra is one of those modern classics as is big,
blockbuster, blackberry and black pepper scented shiraz from the Barossa
Valley. To the south of Adelaide Mclaren Vale produces seductive
distinctively shiraz that irresistibly combines ripe cherry with
chocolate.
It’s
not all about reds though as the cooler climate of the Adelaide hills
reveals its potential to produce brilliant elegant whites from chardonnay,
sauvignon blanc and riesling. Clare Valley riesling is perhaps the finest
the country has to offer, especially from the sub-district of Polish Hill,
with its sensational citric and mineral scents, but remarkably their
shiraz is superb too.
Way
out west, particularly around Margaret River to the south of Perth is
unquestionably evolving into a special place for growing vines. Production
is rarely large scale so prices can be a little steep, but they’re still
worth trying.
Chardonnay
and Shiraz still dominate the Australian production figures but there is
an awful lot going on beneath the surface. For some reason verdelho has
taken a hold and it can make a refreshing change. Bordeaux’s minor grape
petit verdot keeps popping up too, as a single varietal and is worth a
shot if you spot it. Italian grapes are getting fashionable so look out
for sangiovese in particular and interestingly this year I tried a couple
of versions of Spanish grapes including a lovely Brown Brothers’
graciano, as well as a couple tempranillos, which worked well too.
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