Tag Archive | "Australian wine"
Interviewing Tasmania’s biggest Shiraz producer, Jimmy Watson Trophy Winner Nick Glaetzer
Drier and warmer than the rest of Tasmania, the southerly Coal River Valley has form when it comes to vinous surprises. Who would have believed Zinfandel could be grown on this cool climate island, less still that Stoney Vineyard’s 1982 Zin (pictured below) would still be in the game. In the 90s, Stoney Vineyard’s then new owners, [...]
Continue reading...First taste: Coriole Fiano 2011, ‘Best White Wine in Show,’ McLaren Vale Wine Show
Posted Wednesday 11th January 2012
Say what you like about the 2011 vintage in Australia, but the whites I’ve tasted have been terrific. Coriole Fiano 2011, which recently scooped ’Best White Wine in Show’ at McLaren Vale Wine Show, is no exception. And before I sing the praises of the Fiano, for an insight into the strengths and weaknesses of this atypical vintage, [...]
Continue reading...Dishing up the dirt: a focus on the Barossa’s rich and diverse terroirs
Posted Tuesday 10th January 2012
Following on from yesterday’s blog focusing on St Hallett’s single vineyard Shiraz range, here’s a hot off the press link to my Barossa Shiraz feature, “A Broad Church,” for Imbibe magazine. Thanks to all who contributed, mentioned or not. It was an eye-opening visit! If you’d like to find out more about the Barossa, check out [...]
Continue reading...St Hallett’s latest releases, including five taste the difference single vineyard Barossa Shiraz
Posted Monday 9th January 2012
This month’s Imbibe magazine will feature my in depth look at Barossa Shiraz following up on my visit last July to this iconic South Australian region. It really opened my eyes to the region’s diversity, which is finding vivid expression in a growing raft of single vineyard wines. When these form part of a range, it’s [...]
Continue reading...My Top 5 Wines of the Year: Australia
Posted Wednesday 28th December 2011
They say that life’s too short to drink bad wine and, in my case, it’s most certainly too short to taste bad wine and write about it! With the exception of lesser vintages in vertical reports, I rate highly every wine which makes its way onto my website, so it’s no easy task to select [...]
Continue reading...Leeuwin Estate Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2006: the best 2006 Margaret River Cabernet I’ve tasted?
Posted Wednesday 14th December 2011
This year, I’ve shown Leeuwin Estate’s Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 twice. It was a big hit at a London International Wine Fair masterclass I presented on behalf of Margaret River Wine Industry Association in May and, in June, was one of my Wines of the Month (see here). (Coincidentally, with Vasse Felix Chardonnay which is back [...]
Continue reading...A visit with First Drop at Home of the Brave, the Barossa – another revolution
Posted Monday 14th November 2011
Former St Hallett boys Matt Gant (winemaker) and John Retsas (marketeer, pictured) are “the players” behind First Drop wines. With a Shiraz named Mother’s Milk and a Cabernet called Mother’s Ruin, I reckon Dr Freud would have plenty to say about the pair. But personal psychology aside, there’s no question that they’re helping kick into [...]
Continue reading...Highlights from Les Caves de Pyrene goes Down Under tasting
Posted Friday 11th November 2011
Les Caves de Pyrene shows no signs of changing its name though the portfolio has long since extended beyond France. This tasting showed off its burgeoning New World Portfolio and I made a bee line for the Australia section which, as the labels pictured above suggest, has a distinctly artisanal/natural bent as you’d expect from Les Caves. My highlights. [...]
Continue reading...Mornington Peninsula: Eldridge Estate’s David Lloyd talks vintage & sub-regional variation, plus a mini vertical
Posted Friday 14th October 2011
At the end of last month I caught up, at last, with David and Wendy Lloyd of Eldridge Estate, Red Hill, Mornington Peninsula (pictured). We’d exchanged emails, tweets and I’d tasted their Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Gamay, all of which I rate highly. So great to meet them, taste a mini-vertical (loved the 2009s in particular), [...]
Continue reading...Torbreck: new releases, from Juveniles to the very senior, sophisticated The Laird
Posted Friday 7th October 2011
Torbreck’s Dave Powell is renowned for not pulling his punches and, though the photo suggests otherwise, I enjoyed his directness! It was good to meet him and catch up with his beautiful Barossa wines both at UK importers Fells’ portfolio tasting and over a press dinner later that week. As intense and involving as their [...]
Continue reading...Heads up: Aussie fine wines at a snip at Fortnum & Mason’s culinary carnival
Posted Sunday 2nd October 2011
Over the coming fortnight, Fortnum & Mason’s Gallery Restaurant plays host to a culinary carnival featuring Michelin-starred guest chefs, each of whom will produce their signature dishes focused on regional produce. Here’s the “rota.” 3rd October – Sat Bains (Notts) 4th October – Philip Britten (- formerly of the Capital Hotel and Solstice ltd) 5th, 6th October – Shaun [...]
Continue reading...Vanya Cullen on the 2011 harvest, Margaret River plus a 2011 tasting across different harvest dates
Posted Friday 30th September 2011
Over the last two weeks I’ve posted links to my video interviews with several Australian producers about the 2011 vintage, assessing its highs and lows – which varieties performed best and which struggled with the unprecedented cool, wet weather. The winners? Well it depends, of course, Australia is a huge country, but in Victoria, Pinot [...]
Continue reading...David Lemire MW talks vintage 2011 in Adelaide Hills, “a race between ripeness & botrytis”
Posted Friday 16th September 2011
So far, this week’s 2011 vintage reports have focused on New South Wales (Clonakilla) and Victoria ( with reports from William Downie, Nick Farr of By Farr & Steve Flamsteed of Innocent Bystander). Today’s video focuses on the Adelaide Hills, further west, in South Australia. Click here for my video interview with David Lemire MW of Shaw [...]
Continue reading...Innocent Bystander’s Steve Flamsteed toasts the cream of the Yarra Valley 2011 crop & talks surplus
Posted Thursday 15th September 2011
In my fourth video interview this week focused on Australia’s 2011 vintage, I talk to Steve Flamsteed of Innocent Bystander/Giant Steps about the Yarra Valley. Despite swingeing crop losses - the harvest was down by around 40% – Flamsteed had plenty to smile about when we discussed which varieties performed best. He reckons “the Chardonnay was the best they’ve [...]
Continue reading...Nick Farr: latest releases & an interview about Geelong’s 2011 Pinot Noirs & Chardonnays, “unlike any vintage we’ve seen before”
Posted Wednesday 14th September 2011
Gary and Nick Farr (pictured) are the father and son team behind By Farr in Geelong, Victoria. At last year’s Landmark tutorial Michael Hill-Smith MW memorably described Gary Farr as “John the Baptist of Australian Pinot” for his pivotal role in converting the industry to a variety once widely regarded as “positively unAustralian.” Getting under Pinot’s skin has seen Farr [...]
Continue reading...William Downie: latest releases & an interview about the exciting 2011 Pinot Noirs
Posted Tuesday 13th September 2011
They say one man’s meat is another man’s poison and so it was for Pinot Noir specialist William (Bill) Downie in the 2011 vintage, in which the eastern states experienced unprecedented wet, cool weather over summer and through autumn (click here for the Winemakers Federation of Australia’s 2011 vintage report). As Downie puts it “Pinot Noir [...]
Continue reading...Clonakilla: latest releases & an interview with Tim Kirk about the 2011 vintage
Posted Monday 12th September 2011
By all accounts, big picture, 2011 was a challenging vintage for Australia’s winemakers in the eastern states (South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland), which experienced unprecedented wet weather over summer and through autumn, resulting in some heavy crop losses. There were high hopes that these losses might at least help redress the country’s [...]
Continue reading...A couple of delicious new releases from Pierro, Margaret River
Posted Monday 22nd August 2011
My white August Wine of the Month is a Margaret River Chardonnay and here’s another beaut, also from the Wilyabrup region, plus a fine Cabernet blend. Pierro Chardonnay 2009 (Margaret River) Pierro are renowned for their Chardonnay and I reckon this is the best I’ve tasted yet. Bright yellow/gold with green glints it’s exceptionally pure and silkily focused with great line [...]
Continue reading...Into the heart of the Hunter with Tyrrells – sublime Semillons & sensual single vineyard Shiraz
Posted Monday 15th August 2011
Participating in a Decanter panel Shiraz tasting the week before last reminded me just how exciting the Hunter Valley is at the moment, prompting me to write up the first of my winery visits, with Tyrrells. And this is where it all started -the ironbark slab hut in Pokolbin, the Hunter Valley. Hand built in [...]
Continue reading...Earthy McLaren Vale: getting to grips with biodynamic cow pat pit with Paxton’s Chief Viticulturist Daniel Lavrencic
Posted Thursday 4th August 2011
It’s day two of a Decanter panel tasting of regional Australian Shiraz today. Yesterday, we focused on South Australia and the ripe and savoury wines from McLaren Vale showed plenty of intensity. And speaking of “ripe”, below you’ll find a link to the last of the videos I took during my recent visit. This one focused [...]
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Posted Thursday 2nd February 2012
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