Tasting in isolation works for some but not for us. One of the great benefits of judging as a team (albeit a very small team) is the ability to discuss each wine. Wine is a convivial subject and there was certainly plenty of frank and forthright discussion over this month's wines. A mixed bag; top end releases from New Zealand, good (and not so good) Australian reds and other odds and ends. Both of us have just returned from a week in Wellington judging the 2007 Liquorland Top 100 and Emma's report on this competition will be published in the September issue.
With the increase in wines to review, we realised we needed a tasting co-ordinator. We welcome on board Sandy Pont who is a WSET Diploma student and has proved invaluable in preparing and organising the wines. Luckily she seems immune to our arguments/discussions. After a quiet period over winter, wineries and their marketing departments seem to have experienced bud burst and invitations and samples are arriving thick and indeed fast. With only two months to go until the arrival of Jenkins jr we are still intending to keep to our schedule and continue to publish the Independent Wine Monthly.
If you have any questions or comments please email: info@thewineschool.co.nz
Julicher Estate (www.julicher.co.nz)
2006 Sauvignon Blanc
2004 99 Rows Pinot Noir | Martinborough
Martinborough | $19.30
$25.00 | 15.0
14.5 |
The
2006 Julicher Sauvignon Blanc has an aroma of greengage, cut grass and white nectarine mingled with a rather vegetal peas/tinned asparagus note, suggesting an older wine than 2006. There is no evidence of sweaty armpit characters. The palate is dry with very firm, lemony acidity. Moderate length. The
2004 Julicher 99 Row Pinot Noir has a developed colour, only light ruby saturation fading to a brickish rim. The nose is dominated by vanilla pod and sweet spice notes which overwhelm the pretty strawberry fruit. Delicate and savoury showing very little tannin but vegetal, forest floor characters. It is a shame that Julicher has waited so long to release this wine as it would perhaps have been better a year ago.
Jackson Estate (www.jacksonestate.co.nz)
2006 Widow Pinot Noir
2005 Gum Emperor | Marlborough
Marlborough | $35.00
$60.00 | 17.0
16.5 |
The
2006 Jackson Estate Vintage Widow Pinot Noir has a lovely bright mid ruby colour whilst the nose offers cranberry, wild raspberry and red plum aromas with just a touch of forest floor starting to emerge. The wine is still very much in its infancy; the vivid fruit flavours are still quite muted and tight. But it is a great relief to see oak sensitively handled and the long finish suggests this is a wine that will develop well. The
2005 Jackson Estate Gum Emperor Pinot Noir (named after the moth that lives in the estate's gum trees) has an astonishingly youthful colour. The nose is opulent and ripe with notes of dark plum, red cherry, cranberry and spice all interwoven with cedar and spice. The palate is dense with more fruit and riper in character but again, the acidity is prominent and there is just the merest hint of heat from alcohol on the palate. It is a more complex wine (hints of oven-roasted beetroot were noted!) and has good length. A wine that caused considerable discussion between us as to what we expect from a $60 pinot noir. While this wine ticks many of the boxes required for quality Pinot Noir, it didn't really come together in a fully satisfying manner and lacks the extra character and balance required at this level. Better to buy the cheaper Widow Pinot Noir and pocket the rest.
Pegasus Bay (www.pegasusbay.com)
2006 Semillon Sauvignon Blanc
2005 Pinot Noir
2004 Prima Donna Pinot Noir | Waipara
Waipara
Waipara | $25.50
$43.95
$75.00 | 16.5
17.0
17.5 |
The
2006 Pegasus Bay Semillon Sauvignon Blanc caused a great deal of debate. I have loved previous vintages of this wine and so was a bit concerned when my initial impression of the nose was of rubbery, reduction characters. However these soon blew off to reveal ripe lemon sherbet, red capsicum and a hint of cut grass. Emma had no worries about the nose and found lime, melon, grassy, spicy exotic, tinned pineapple, hints of lemon sherbet. The real joy of this wine is the palate; moderately full-bodied, though not as fat and creamy as in previous years, with a similar medley of citrus and tropical fruits. This is a very youthful wine, with high acidity and at this stage is looking a bit gawky at the edges, with the acidity detractingly from the expected mouth-filling texture but the depth of fruit and length suggests more time in the bottle may smooth things out. Perhaps not quite up to scratch texturally compared to previous vintages but still one of the best, (if not the best in top years) example of the style of wine from New Zealand. The
2005 Pegasus Bay Pinot Noir has a rich, opulent nose full of plum, dark berry and sweet spice aromas.On the palate it is ripe and dense with flavours of fresh dark berry joined by liquorice, tobacco and vanilla, finely-tuned acid and spicy cedary oak. This is a crowd-pleasing style, such is its lushness and density. Deliciously drinkable now but with enough fruit intensity and balance to suggest ageing potential. But the thought does occur that this wine may be a bit too overblown and fall over in the future? Time will tell.Certainly, this is a very definite style of pinot noir, and one that is sure to win many fans with its intensity of fruit and general lushness, but it is also slightly overwhelming with all the sweet fruit and exotica. But if you want a wine to drink when wearing a fur coat and no knickers, this is the wine to go for. The
2004 Prima Donna Pinot Noir is Pegasus Bay's flagship wine, released in outstanding vintages and is an even bigger, spicier version of the regular estate pinot noir. It has tremendous power and richness on the nose with aromas of dark plum, smoky bacon rind, liquorice and leaf tobacco and some menthol oak. A massive rich, deep palate, this wine is almost a meal in itself, dominated by sweet cherry and raspberry, plummy fruit with sappy cedary oak. Very young and rather tight, it ticks all the boxes with ripe fruit, density and richness, balance and length (with alcoholic heat), but is it just a bit too bold for its own good? If you love big rich reds, then this is the pinot for you, but it is a bit hard to square with the delicacy and finesse usually seen in the variety. Nevertheless, this wine regularly attracts accolades and praise of the highest order, so perhaps this is what people are looking for in top-end New World pinot noir, but we'd love to see what the obviously skilled bunch at Pegasus Bay could do with this fruit in a more restrained,elegant manner, seeking to express the variety's silkiness and ethereal character instead.
Framingham Wine Company (www.framingham.co.nz)
2006 Gewurztraminer
2005 Pinot Noir
2005 Montelpulciano
2006 Noble Selection Riesling | Marlborough
Marlborough
Marlborough
Marlborough | $25.95
$26.90
$26.90
$29.95 | 17.5
16.5
16.5
16.5 |
The last couple of issues of the IWM have included some fabulous examples of gewurztraminer so the
2006 Framingham Gewurztraminer had a lot to live up to. Thankfully it stood up to the task admirably. The nose falls into the talcum powder, musk and turkish delight camp; aromatic, delicate and appealing. The wine has masses of beautifully defined fruit flavours, medium-dry in style, with pleasing viscosity and while not massively rich or dense, has excellent balance offering a refreshingly clean finish with satisfying length. Absolutely delightful and weighing in at only 13.0%, proof that you don't always need to have a 14.5%+ monster wine to get extract and concentration. The
2006 Framingham Pinot Noir has a lovely fragrant aroma; wild raspberry, forest floor and red cherry and hints of vanilla, coffee and cedar from the oak. The palate is ripely fruited, sweet plums and spicy vanilla, not a massively complex plate but attractively put together with bright acidity keeping the sweeter fruit in line and a touch of sappy cedary oak given a bit of extra depth. Not complicated but an enjoyable drop all the same. Delicious is the word that springs to mind.
Marlborough Montepulciano. Not a pairing that trips off the tongue very often. The Oxford Companion to Wine describes the grape as having great colour and tannin and, if yields are kept in check, capable of producing a robust, cheerful wine. This seems to describe the
2006 Framingham Montepulciano admirably; vividly coloured with a powerful, perfumed aroma of black cherry, leaf tobacco and raspberry.Chunky and full flavoured with prominent yet ripe tannins and a fairly strong acid bite (not unbalanced though, just a character of the variety) and a moderately long drying finish. This is an unusual, yet curiously appealing wine which should lend itself well to food where the acidity will soften and cut through richer red meats but it is a tinge keen to just drink by itself at this point. Well worth seeking out if you want to try something different. The
2006 Framingham Noble Selection is richly scented with apricots and hints of marmalade. Medium-bodied with refreshing acidity, more late harvest than botrytised in style, particularly on the palate. Some light spice and apricot flavours, quite refreshingly balanced.
Rosemount Estate (www.rosemountestate.com)
2005 Merlot
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 Shiraz | multi regional
multi regional
multi regional | $16.99
$16.99
$16.99 | 13.5
14.0
14.0 |
Rosemount held out as long as possible to retain its distinctive bottle with the flanged neck but the inexorable rise of the screwcap meant a change of packaging was needed. The marketing gurus have turned their attention not to the business end of the bottle but instead to the lower third designing an odd, diamond shaped bottle, no doubt to emphasise the diamond label. The
2005 Rosemount Merlot has an almost cordial-like nose, lots of fruit with a token effort at ‘oak', palate is similarly sweet and confected in style, again simply sweet. There is apparently an eager market for these types of wines and this is probably no worse than most but it is wine as a commodity rather than a reflection of place or variety. Perhaps you may argue that at that price (and this range of wines is almost certain to be heavily discounted) that is all people are after, but you could find another 20 wines around the price point offering the same or better value, and some even with a nod towards the complexity and diversity that make wine what it is.
2005 Rosemount Cabernet Sauvignon has some varietal character evident in the light cassis and hint of tobacco leaf notes. A bit short and oddly tart though there is a little tannin adding some structure.
2005 Rosemount Shiraz has red and black fruits, very sweet palate, undistinguished in every way.
(N.B. To herald the launch of the diamond bottle, Foster's marketing department came up with the ridiculous PR stunt of sending a plastic replica of the new bottle in three parts under separate cover. In these sensitive, eco-friendly times the wisdom of sending a courier three times must be questioned. A raft of glossy notes accompanied the wines that finally arrived, outlining details of the full Rosemount range, from the basic varietal wines up to the premium Roxburgh and Balmoral bottlings. It would have been interesting to have received some of the more expensive wines to review but it seems that although Rosemount makes some excellent wines (winemaker Charles Whish is a top chap) it seems Foster's has abandoned all efforts to promote them, instead preferring to see the supermarkets discount them heavily. These dull releases show what a sad state of affairs the once proud Rosemount label has become).
Brothers in Arms Vineyards (www.brothersinarms.com.au)
2004 Shiraz No.6
2002 Shiraz | Langhorne Creek
Langhorne Creek | $24.00
$45.00 | 16.5
17.0 |
The Adams family have been grape growers in Langhorne Creek for over 100 years and their famed Metala vineyard produces fruit that finds its way into some of Australia's most famous wines. In 1998 Tom and Guy Adams decided to have a go at making wine under their own label and came up with the Brothers in Arms brand. The
2004 Brothers in Arms Shiraz No.6 has a deep youthful ruby colour whilst the nose has developed some complex animal notes, chocolate, spice, dark plum and berry. There is richness, opulence and, thanks to the inclusion of some cabernet sauvignon, a certain freshness and faint leafiness that lifts the flavour profile. This is attractively made wine, surprisingly poised and drinkable, these guys are obviously aiming for a more stylish point of difference in the crowded field of $20-odd Aussie reds and doing a good job of it. The
2002 Brothers in Arms Shiraz has a greater depth of colour, more saturation. The nose is opulent and lush and has a tantalising combination of blackcurrant throat sweets, wine gums, eucalyptus and dark berry. Interwoven with creamy spicy new oak is masses of fresh blackcurrant and dark plum fruit, a real core of fruit sweetness and tremendous persistence. Restrained and very well-balanced, this is a more dense, rich and complex wine and offers very attractive drinking. At $45 you would be hoping for a serious wine, and thankfully, here you won't be disappointed.
Brown Brothers (www.brownbrothers.com.au)
| 2007 Dolcetto Shiraz | Victoria | $15.95 | 16.5 |
How much fun is this? The
2007 Brown Brothers Dolcetto Shiraz is a jewel-coloured wine with a fantastic nose - almost like Early Cheer flowers plus raspberry and plum. It is almost impossible to dislike this wine, so cheery and unpretentious, with its light sparkle and soft fruity character. This possibly won't be everyone's cup of tea, and probably there is some unnecessary snobbishness in that view, but this is a great example of a fruity, sweetish red and the experienced, clever and experimental crowd at Brown Bros have come up trumps again.
From the Cellar . . .
| 2003 Fiddler's Green Pinot Noir | Waipara | | 15.0 |
(www.fiddlersgreen.co.nz)
This wine received a Gold medal from the Royal Easter Wine Show in 2005 and many other glowing reports at the time of its release. I thought it would be interesting to see how it had stood up to a few years' bottle age. Sadly, the answer is that it is now so marred by Brettanomyces that it is difficult to enjoy the obvious improvement in complexity and still appealing texture and balance showing in the wine. The colour is deep (more akin to merlot or cabernet than the expected lighter hue of pinot) but while fading slightly at the margin, shows little brickishness developing - not b ad for a four year old NZ red. The nose is spicy, showing glimpses of black cherry and plums, laced with cedar oak, not especially varietal but with the dominating Brett, it probably doesn't matter. Again, the palate shows the same problem; while it is medium-bodied with good silky texture and fine acidity, exhibiting very good balance, the Brett has all but killed the fruit. I am certainly not a member of the ‘Brett police' by any means, but at this level it obscures the actual wine itself, which is particularly frustrating when clearly Fiddler's Green may have produced that rarity in NZ pinot - a wine that ages well. Not having tried the wine on release, I would be interested to know how much Brett was apparent then - perhaps at that stage it was just adding ‘attractive Burgundy-like complexity'! (EJ)
| 1998 Giaconda Chardonnay | Beechworth, Victoria | | 18.5 |
(
www.giaconda.com.au)
A bottle of Giaconda Chardonnay still stands out in my memory as one of the best chardonnays I have ever drunk. Last year I made the pilgrimage to Rick Kinzbrunner's Beechworth winery and spent a very interesting couple of hours tasting through barrel samples of chardonnay, pinot and shiraz. We didn't taste immediately but sat talking in Rick's laboratory first (though the term ‘laboratory' gives the wrong impression - a corner of the stone winery, lined in handmade wooden cabinets and with a church pew to sit on, it had an almost ecclesiastical atmosphere). When we'd finished tasting Rick showed me his personal wine cellar where hundreds of bottles from all over the world lined the racks. It may be coincidence but the most thoughtful and engaging winemakers are usually those that drink widely and retain a curiosity for wines produced outside their own sphere of expertise.
As I left, Rick gave me a bottle of 1998 Chardonnay and last week, almost a year to the day since my visit, I opened it. At first I was slightly disappointed. The wine has a rich straw colour and a very developed aroma; slightly honeyed, almost figgy and ripe. But in the glass the initial blowsy character blew off to reveal a complex aroma of white nectarine, cedar, spice. In the mouth the wine was rich and strongly textural, the concentrated flavours underpinned by acidity. As the evening wore on the wine continued to change and develop so that every taste revealed subtle shifts in flavour. A special bottle indeed. (JS)
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