Hooked on Wine

Huon Hooke is a leading Australian wine expert, critic and show judge, best known for his weekly columns in Sydney Morning Herald Good Food, and is contributing editor, tasting panel member and columnist at Gourmet Traveller WINE Magazine. Ever wondered which wine to order? Subscribe now to HuonHooke.com and get access to more than 30,000 tastings, ratings and Wine 360s of Australian and New Zealand wine. See plans and pricing Follow @HuonHooke

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New Tasting Notes: Nikolaihof

Austrian winery Nikolaihof lays claim to being the first biodynamically managed vineyard in Europe. Now, I’m not one to immediately prostrate myself before people just because they practise the arcane philosophies of Rudolf Steiner and his accolytes, but such vineyards do often produce superior wines, I find. But I put this down to the fact that if they practise biodynamics, they are obviously interested in quality, because it is a costly way to grow grapes. And if they are quality-orientated, they probably try harder. People who try harder generally make very good wine. 

I discovered Nikolaihof’s biodynamic history after tasting the wines, so I wasn’t influenced by this knowledge. The wines I tasted recently, thanks to some leftovers from a Summer of Riesling tasting provided by importer Tim Stock of Vinous Solutions, were very impressive. He said some of the bottles had been open for a day or two, and that although they are delicate white wines, they usually drink well a day or two after being opened, and often actually improve with extended breathing. All I can say is, none of the wines I tasted showed any ill-effects from exposure to the air.

These wines, from the Wachau region, are among the most recent tasting notes uploaded to the huonhooke.com app. The three gruner veltliners (tastings), peaking with the 2012 Im Weingebirge Smaragd ($116 - tasting) were excellent. But the five rieslings were a revelation: all were superb, and I was amazed to find some of the Vom Stein bottlings spent up to eight years in big, old oak. 

The climax was a 1997 Vinotek Riesling ($332 - tasting) which had spent 17 years (no, it’s not a typographical mistake!) in barrel before bottling last year. I rated it 98 points. In other words, I was gob-smacked. These are some of the true marvels of the wine world.

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New Zealand to establish GIs

New Zealand is to define the boundaries of its wine regions, much as Australia has already done. The NZ Minister for Trade, Tim Groser, made the announcement at the Cloudy Bay 30th anniversary celebrations in Marlborough on April 1. He said the New Zealand Government had given the green light to establishing national Geographical Indications, or GIs, which means drawing boundaries and determining territorial limits. 

No doubt this will cause some battles, as it did in Australia - especially in the Coonawarra region. Marlborough itself has sprouted outcrops of vineyards both inland from the original Wairau Valley plantings and along the coast towards Kaikoura. A committee will have to be established to decide where lines are to be drawn. 

The Cloudy Bay 30th anniversary was a distinguished occasion: it was also attended by the French ambassador to New Zealand, Florence Jeanblanc-Risler, the CEO of the Paris-based Estates and Wines division of Moet Hennessy, Jean-Guillaume Prats, New Zealand Winegrowers CEO Philip Gregan, and former consultant to Moet Hennessy, Yarra Valley-based Dr Tony Jordan. Moet Hennessy owns Cloudy Bay (tastings). 

Gregan said the GI move would equip the wine industry with the tools to protect its premium brands from misappropriation or misuse, as well as help secure market access in some regions, winebiz.com.au reported last week. "Governments could say unless there is a system of registration of Geographic Indications in New Zealand, then you can't export wine to our market using those geographic indications on the label,” Gregan said. "If that was to occur, that would stop us using Marlborough or Central Otago or Waiheke Island on the label, and that would be a major, major issue for us."

He expects legislation for Geographical Indications to take effect next year.

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Wirra Wirra buys Ashton Hills

Great news that Wirra Wirra has bought Ashton Hills. It’s like hearing that two of your best friends are hitching up: they could only have beautiful kids, no?

In this case, a highly respected McLaren Vale winery buys a similarly respected Adelaide Hills micro-boutique. They can only make sweet music together. Stephen George established Ashton Hills (tastings) in 1982, and built it into a leading pinot noir producer. The tiny 3-hectare vineyard at Ashton in the Piccadilly Valley is dry-grown and cool – its altitude is 570 metres. 

Wirra Wirra (tastings) was re-established in 1969 by the Trott family. I say re-established because it was begun in 1894 by Robert Strangways Wigley, and went out of production between his death in 1925 and Greg Trott rebuilding it in 1969. It has grown gradually but has never acquired another winery before. 

Wirra Wirra has been making white wine from Adelaide Hills grapes since 2003, but not red. Managing director Andrew Kay said “The chance to build on the legacy of Stephen’s work was too good to pass up, and for it to happen not only with his blessing, but also his ongoing contribution, is incredibly satisfying for us.”

Kay said George had a definite role to play in the future. “Stephen will continue to reside at his home at the winery and is keen to mentor our winemaking team in the intricacies of pinot making ‘Ashton Hills style’, as well as be involved in a hands-on capacity in the vineyard.”

George seems very comfortable handing the reins over to Wirra Wirra. “I feel a definite rapport with their people and having seen how respectfully and successfully they have managed their business in the wake of Greg Trott’s passing (in 2005), I believe the legacy of Ashton Hills is in safe and sensitive hands,” he said.

Kay said Wirra Wirra would continue to make its own Adelaide Hills range of white wines, but did not rule out an expanded offering under the Ashton Hills label. “Wirra Wirra was named most successful exhibitor at last year’s Adelaide Hills Wine Show, with all our wines performing well and our Lost Watch Riesling (tastings) scoring a trophy, so it makes good sense for those to continue,” he said.

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Something Else

Bluegrass Bourbon $27.89 / 700ml 

Pungent coconut, vanilla American oak drives the nose and palate together with smoky and dried citrus- peel nuances. There’s generous sweet fruity/oaky flavour, and the spirit has a little hotness, but this is hardly an issue at the price. Hard to beat for value, especially as a mixer. (40 per cent alcohol.) 

Stockists: Aldi supermarkets that sell liquor; www.aldi.com.au

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French champagne makers showcase bubbly in Sydney

Melbourne-based wine importer Bibendum recently staged a tasting unlike any other. Entitled "Dots and Bubbles", it was a mini-exhibition of Champagnes from six small houses including two of the rarest and most extraordinary, Jacques Selosse and Jerome Prevost – and the winemaker/proprietors themselves were there, pouring their wines. 

It has to be said that people like Anselme Selosse and Jerome Prevost are seldom seen, and for Bibendum to persuade them to travel to Australia and conduct exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne was extraordinary. 

Read more...

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Indulge Yourself

Brokenwood Latara Vineyard Semillon, Hunter Valley 2009 $55 This is a great semi-mature semillon such as only the Hunter can produce. It has lemony fruit and straw-bale, dried-herb developed nuances. The palate is fresh and intense with focused lemony fruit, still bright and primary. Great length and lip-smacking dry finish. Delicious. (11 per cent alcohol.)  Ageing: Now to six years. Score: 96 - Huon’s Wine 360

Food: Oysters with lemon juice. Stockists: Vino Central, Ivanhoe, Melbourne; Best Cellars, Sydney.

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$20-$35

Domaine du Vissoux Les Griottes Beaujolais 2013 $32-$33 A smart, stylish, modern Beaujolais with very attractive clean, fresh cherry and strawberry aromas, with a pleasing lack of meaty carbonic maceration character. It's soft, fruity and delicious and the tannins are light and gentle. (12 per cent alcohol). Ageing: now to 2023. Score: 91 - Huon’s Wine 360

Food: Country-style terrine. Stockists: Prince Wine Store, Melbourne; Annandale Cellars, Sydney.

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Under $20

Toi Toi Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2014 $10 Intense lantana, nettle and gooseberry aromas are typical of Kiwi savvy. It’s bright and appealing, very fruity in the mouth with an obvious lift of sweetness, balanced out by crisp, refreshing but not aggressive acidity. Juicy taste; long finish. A bargain at this price. (13 per cent alcohol). Ageing: Now to five years. Score: 89 - Huon’s Wine 360

Food: Mussels mariniere. Stockist: Dan Murphy’s stores.

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Wine competition woes

Some wine competitions seem to be in business only to earn an income for their owners. How else to explain the hyperbole they use to ramp the credibility and importance of their results – results which, after all, are only as good as the wines entered in the competition. Sometimes their gold-medal lists read like a “Best of a bad lot”. 

Germany has a competition called Berliner Wein Trophy. The title itself is ridiculous. A competition may award trophies to various wines, but it is not in itself a ‘trophy’. Yet that is what this one is called. 

Barossa Valley winery Chateau Tanunda (tastings) recently trumpeted its considerable success at 2015 Berliner Wein Trophy. No argument about the wines – they are superb – but the poor old consumer who tries to make sense of the names of show awards will quickly find his or her head in a spin. Chateau Tanunda won a premium gold, five gold and six silver medals. The picture accompanying the announcement shows a sticker for a ‘Grosses Berliner Gold’. What is the difference between a gold, a premium gold and a grosses gold, we are not told. 

In many international wine competitions, there is a superior type of gold medal, called – variously – double gold or grand gold. These terms are by now reasonably well understood as awards for a particularly high-scoring gold-medal wine. They are higher than a gold medal but not as high as a trophy. But why introduce more levels of gold, and more names no-one understands? Also, as the name of the show, Berliner Wein Trophy, appears on all of the medal stickers, who can blame the punter for assuming the wine has won a trophy? 

A trophy is normally awarded to a wine that is judged the best of a number of gold-medal winners. To include the word trophy in the name of a competition is misleading and confusing.

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Screwcaps highlighted in Italy

Brisbane wine writer Tyson Stelzer has used his International Wine & Spirit Competition Communicator of the Year 2015 award to give him a platform to turn on a few light-bulbs in Italy regarding screwcaps. 

Stelzer, a long-time screwcap advocate and author of two books on the topic, was presented with his award at the opening ceremony of the annual Italian wine exposition Vinitaly in Verona recently. He used the opportunity to present a blind tasting of five mature flagship Australian wines sealed under both screwcap and cork. 

Italy, of course, is one of the last bastions of blind loyalty to cork. Italy has gone so far as to legislate against the use of alternative closures on its DOCG wines. But the expert panel voted the screwcapped wines ahead of the cork-sealed wines in the blind tasting. 

The wines included Henschke Hill of Grace 2004 (tasting), Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Merlot 2004 and ‘05 (tastings), Yalumba The Signature Cabernet Shiraz 2003 (tastings), and Brokenwood Rayner Shiraz 2001. 

“The result was ground-breaking for Italy, where screwcaps remain controversial and until recently have been prohibited on the country’s top wines,” Stelzer said. He said the tasting was significant for Australia, whose global reputation as a fine wine producer relied on overcoming the misconception that screwcaps are inferior.

Venice sommelier Annie Martin-Stefannato admitted “we will have to change our mindset”. Panama wine expert Fabrizio Cezzi was impressed with the aging of the wines under screwcap. “I did not expect that they would age so well – even better than under cork; it really surprised me.” Argentina sommelier Ariel Morales agreed, saying the tasting demonstrated that red wines can mature reliably under screwcap.

Well done, Tyson, on both counts. We in Australia see the evidence every day that screwcaps are reliable and that cork is fallible, but the rest of the world will never wake up unless they are shown.

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New Tasting Notes: sauvignon blanc

It always surprises me that despite the flood of sauvignon blanc Australia imports from New Zealand, there’s a lot of it also grown – and, presumably, sold - here. My latest tastings suggest there is no easing of Aussie sauvignon blanc production. We aren’t hoisting the white flag just yet. 

Sauvignon blanc is our second-most widely grown white grape variety, although it’s a long way behind the leader, chardonnay. We’re not likely to catch New Zealand, though. In 2013, we grew 43% as much sauvignon blanc as those across the ditch. 

Most of the top scoring wines in my latest tasting were Kiwis, but of the best Aussies, a couple were of special interest – they were fermented wholly or partially on skins. Now, I’m no great fan of the ‘orange’ or ‘amber’ wine movement or the fashion for so-called ‘natural’ wines, but what excites me is the way intelligent winemakers draw on fashions such as these to improve their own wines – without throwing the baby out with the bathwater. 

Three Dark Horses MC (maceration carbonique) Sauvignon Blanc 2014 (tasting), from the Adelaide Hills, is a very interesting wine. Winemaker Matt Broomhead says 75% of the grapes underwent carbonic maceration for 7 days, then full-solids fermentation in barrels. The other 25% were fermented on skins for 40 days. The wine is full of flavour and personality, and is clean and technically unimpeachable. It has undoubted sauvignon varietal character and the extra structure built into it by the skin contact helps it partner food. 

Bannockburn 2014 Sauvignon Blanc from Geelong (tasting) is another partially skins-fermented style which works beautifully. The colour, like all skins fermented white wines, is scarily dark yellow, but the wine has monumental personality and charm. Far from being tannic and coarse, it is concentrated and powerful but beautifully balanced. The array of aromas and flavours has to be experienced to be believed. It’s 86% sauvignon blanc, of which one-third was whole-bunch fermented. Just by the by, the wine was aged for 10 months in French oak and Italian acacia barrels. There were one or two other whole-bunch savvies in the tasting that didn’t work so well, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. 

I’d also like to highlight three very tight, fine, minerally styles of Aussie savvy that I really liked: Ross Hill Pinnacle Series 2014 (tasting) and Swinging Bridge 2013 (tasting) (both from Orange), and Port Phillip Estate 2014, from Mornington (tasting). Sauvignon blanc doesn’t have to be pungent, mawkish and smelling of sweat or cat’s wee.

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Join me for a Champagne masterclass

A handful of seats are still available for my Champagne and sparkling wine masterclass at The Grace Hotel on April 14. We’ll be sampling some leading Champagnes and Aussie bubblies. This tasting would make a fine gift - birthday or not - for your significant other. It will put some sparkle into both of your lives! 

My co-host will be Kate Laurie, winemaker and co-proprietor at the up-and-coming Adelaide Hills winery Deviation Road (tastings). Kate has worked and studied in Champagne and is now making superb sparkling wines of her own. She and her husband Hamish make wine from the Laurie family’s vineyard, established by Hamish’s father and formerly known as Hillstowe. Hamish Laurie’s great great grandmother, Mary Laurie, was South Australia’s first female winemaker. 

All 12 wines are top wines in their categories, and the idea is to taste, discuss and compare - it’s not a competition. 

The wines will include: 

Krug Grande Cuvée, Pol Roger, Delamotte Vintage Blanc de Blancs, Deutz Cuvée William Deutz, Deviation Road Beltana Blanc de Blancs, and the stunning Arras E.J. Carr Late Disgorged 2002.

An antipasto plate will accompany the wines. Lucky door prize is a magnum of Lake’s Folly 1989 Cabernet.

When: Tuesday 14 April 6 – 8pm Where: The Grace Hotel, Level 2, 77 York Street, Sydney Cost: $144 Bookings: www.boutiquewines.com.au

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A question of wine tampering

Excuse me if I haven’t road-tested the Coravin gadget yet. I haven’t felt the need to shell out US$299 for a piece of kit that may or may not work, which is probably only of interest to mega-wealthy collectors with cellars full of fancy ‘collectable’ wine who want to be able to have a sip of it whenever they feel like it. 

I was prompted to write about this because the London auction house Bonhams has flagged a pre-auction tasting of some ‘collectable’ wines, sampled by Coravin. Presumably Bonhams won’t be trying to flog the sampled bottles afterwards.

Various ‘experts’ have heralded the Coravin as the most game-changing wine invention of recent times. I’ve read the testimonials on the Coravin web-site which are nearly all glowing. But something sends a shiver up my spine whenever I think of the idea of inserting a needle through a cork and stealing a sample of wine, then putting the bottle back in the cellar and treating it as though it’s an untampered bottle. Because tampering is what this process seems to be. 

If you can take a glass or three out of your treasured bottle of ’45 Mouton, it’s not beyond the realm of imagining that you could squirt some Jacob’s Creek back through the same needle to make this bottle of wine seem virginal. Maybe the present Coravin isn’t able to do this, but it surely isn’t far off. 

The Coravin, just to fill in some background, replaces the wine you remove with argon gas. Argon has been in use for quite a few years in those wine preservation systems you see in restaurants. Argon supersedes the gases previously used for this purpose, carbon dioxide and nitrogen, because it’s heavier – it sits more heavily on the wine’s surface to shield it from destructive atmospheric oxygen. With Coravin, no oxygen gets into the bottle in the first place, so the argon’s job is easier. 

Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t like the idea of leaving space inside a bottle of wine, irrespective of what occupies that space. My feeling (possibly totally unscientific) is that when you have a liquid and a space, the liquid will lose aromatics to the space, no matter whether the space is a vacuum or is occupied by gas. 

The Coravin is described by its inventor as a ‘wine access system’, and it can be used as a short-term preservation system as above, or as part of long-term cellaring. I’ve read people who claim to have sampled the same bottle of wine over a period of years and the last sample was as good as the first. I find that hard to believe. 

The few complaints on the website feedback page revolve around the cost of the unit, the slowness of pouring, the speed with which gas canisters run out and the cost of replacing them. 

Bonhams auction press release is headed ‘Try Before You Buy at Bonhams April Fine Wine Sale’. In the lead-up to the sale, four recent vintages of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild are being offered for tasting in Bonhams’ restaurant – 2003, ’04, ’07 and ’08 at £25 a glass. 

It reads: “This is possible because the Coravin wine access system used in the restaurant keeps the wine in perfect condition day to day. The bar also offers a light lunch menu…” etc. etc. 

Bonhams is using the Coravin simply as a short-term preserver, which seems fair, but the idea of syringing an occasional fix of, say, 1988 Romanée-Conti (also in the sale at £90,000–110,000) seems like desecration to me. www.bonhams.com , www.coravin.com.

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Brew

Stone & Wood Pacific Ale, Byron Bay  $5-$7/330ml (six-pack $19-$23)

A very fruity, character-filled ale brewed from all Australian ingredients at Byron Bay. It has a cloudy golden appearance and very aromatic, tropical, hop-driven bouquet, while the taste is satisfying and refreshing with pleasant hoppy bitterness. (4.4 per cent alcohol.) 

Stockists: The Oak Barrel, Sydney; The George Basement, St Kilda, Melbourne.

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Indulge Yourself

Fletcher X12 Langhe Rosso, Piedmont 2012 $40-$45 This nebbiolo, cabernet sauvignon, merlot blend is produced by an Aussie living in Piedmont. It’s a seriously good red, with foresty and subtle berry aromas, richness and density in the mouth, lots of fruit and tannin. All components are beautifully melded. It finishes with authoritative grip. (14.5 per cent alcohol.) Ageing: Now to 12 years. Score: 91 - Huon’s Wine 360

Food: Beef casserole. Stockists: Vaucluse Cellars, Sydney; Prince Wine Store, Sydney & Melbourne.

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$20-$35

De Bortoli Melba Lucia Cabernet Sauvignon, Yarra Valley 2012 $22 The colour is deep red-purple and the aromas recall red cherry, raspberry, violet and a little briar. It’s elegantly weighted and fine, with length, harmony and style. The tannins are firm and tight, but without astringency. A stylish cabernet. (13 per cent alcohol). Ageing: now to 20 years. Score: 94 - Huon’s Wine 360

Food: Aged Comte cheese. Stockists: Vintage Blue, Sydney; Leo’s Fine Food & Wine, Melbourne.