Author Archives: Julian Coldrey

Yelland & Papps Delight Vermentino 2011

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It’s always disappointing to me when a particular style of wine becomes fashionable and, therefore, ubiquitous. To me, it misses one of the key joys of wine, which is its infinite variety. I’ll never tell anyone what they ought to like, but when people talk of drinking only a particular style of wine, it smacks of posturing or willful ignorance, or perhaps both. I truly believe to get the most out of wine, one needs to explore a wide range of styles and learn to appreciate what they have to offer, even if some end up being preferred over others.

Given that little rant, it may seem contradictory of me to suggest that I’m no huge fan of the fairly recent vogue for alternate varietals in Australia. Maybe it’s unhelpfully conservative of me, but I believe we have well-established regional styles that, collectively, show great variety and distinction. And, were I given the choice, I’d prefer for those styles to be mined and elevated even further, rather than see our efforts spread far and wide in the search for the next great varietal sensation.

I therefore approach this wine with both curiosity and dread, hoping to find an unusual style and, at the same time, wondering if I wouldn’t be better off tucking into a great dry Riesling. After tasting it, I’m still not sure on either front; it’s nice try to a Barossa Vermentino for completeness’ sake at least, as I don’t believe I’ve ever had one before. It’s a clean-smelling wine, the aroma profile somewhat neutral but showing hints of honeysuckle, bubble gum and something much more interesting, akin to overripe fruit that has begun to spoil in its opulent fleshiness.

The palate carries this rather challenging note through, but what stands out most here is structure. This wine is all about zingy acid and the sort of lively mouthfeel that will go down well during summer. Palate weight is fuller than many aromatic whites, feeling closer to Semillon than Riesling. Flavour is quite generous on the middle palate, with good intensity and impact. The after palate and finish taper away elegantly, never losing their acid backbone and sense of freshness. An unusual wine, then, with some flavour components that I enjoyed for their angularity.

Yelland & Papps
Price: $A19.95
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Château de Sours Réserve de Sours Sparkling Rosé NV

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I’m not sure how active the market is for French sparklers at this price point; certainly, I don’t remember ever setting out to purchase a sparking wine from Bordeaux made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. And yet here we are.

What’s really nice about this wine is that it’s defiantly different in aroma and flavour profile from Champagne and its many imitators. There’s no mistaking the Cabernet at its heart; the aroma shows characteristic leafy overtones and a cool, red fruited core. It’s savoury at heart, though lacking the sorts of complexities that are par for the course in even moderately good Champagne. This is quite a different beast, simpler and fresher-smelling. The defining characteristic of the palate is its relatively soft acidity, something that one can’t take for granted in local sparklers at this price point.

Entry is immediate and fresh, again with leafy Cabernet notes dominating the flavour profile at first. Light, crisp berry juice glides over the middle palate with ease, if not intensity. It’s fairly light on the spritz as these things go; what there is contributes to a lively mouthfeel that is only one or two steps removed from a bright Riesling. A nice, fresh, leafy finish.

One of the more different sparkling wines I’ve had of late; certainly, I prefer this to some of the aromatic white sparkling wines that are becoming more common. There’s something jarring about a recognisably Cabernet rosé sparkling – I like it.

Château de Sours
Price: $A28
Closure: Cork
Source: Sample

Kingston Estate Echelon Petit Verdot 2008

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This makes an interesting comparison to the Echelon Shiraz I reviewed the other day, in that it’s quite a different beast in ways one might not expect. Petit Verdot is, of course, a relatively niche varietal compared to Shiraz, our most planted red wine grape by far. This wine hails from the Riverland, a region usually associated with large scale wine production – again quite a contrast from the Shiraz’s origins in more obviously prestigious parts of South Australia. It’s all in the drinking though, and it’s here that this wine delivers.

I wasn’t a fan of Kingston Estates low end Petit Verdot, but this is the goods — if you value drinkability above all else, that is. Everything about this wine encourages smelling and tasting. The aroma is soft and purple fruited, showing a plushness of character combined with the sort of easy, rich berry notes that can be so inviting. Riding atop is a sprinkle of brown spice — presumably oak-derived — and a cooler edge of plum skin. All in all, a gorgeously accessible aroma, without ever smelling cheap or simple.

Thankfully, the palate is well structured; arguably rather too acid-driven, in fact. Entry is clean and well-fruited, showing more of those purple and red berries. Things don’t get overly expansive through the middle palate, though the wine does open up a little and spread over the tongue. It’s no more than medium bodied, which is charming considering the wine’s buxom flavour profile. Fine, silty tannins descend on the after palate and the wine tightens up through the finish, a hint of bitterness marring what is otherwise an elegant descent.

So, an easyoing adult quaffer then, quite different from its more serious Shiraz sibling. Both are good; I prefer this.

Kingston Estate
Price: $A27.99
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Kingston Estate Echelon Shiraz 2008

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I suspect the very idea of this wine will offend some people. It’s the antithesis of the sort of artisanal, terroir-driven wine that is idealogically safe to like. No, this is from Kingston Estate, producer of reliable and occasionally striking value-priced wines. It hails not from a single, characterful vineyard but from three regions in South Australia: Mount Benson, Clare Valley and Adelaide Plains. No undiluted terroir here. Despite all that, I must admit I was very excited to see this sample arrive in the mail, for all I saw were the positives: a relatively expensive wine made by a producer with all the technology and know-how one could wish for at its disposal and, I assumed, a large network of growers from whom to procure good quality fruit.

The reality sits somewhere in between these two extremes. There’s no doubting the seriousness of this wine; the aroma is quite closed at present, with dense, almost inscrutable aromas of dark berries, the glossiest of glossy oak, deep spice and deeper brambles. It’s nowhere near ready to drink, really, but even at this young age it shows good depth and detail. Its overall vibe is savoury and adult, no hint of the confectionery fruit one might expect to see in this producer’s lower tier wines.

This palate isn’t as forbidding as the nose suggests it could be, although it’s certainly not in the zone at this stage either. The entry shows good attack and an elegant swell of fruit into the middle palate. Here, it becomes apparent that this wine is far from the blockbuster one might expect. Indeed, it’s wonderfully elegant, with good shape and flow, medium weight at most. The flavours here span red and black fruits, spice and cedar oak, winding around each other with good delineation and balance. The after palate and finish display a slight rawness that speaks of youth more than anything else; a year or two in bottle and the line should fill out into the back palate.

Ultimately, this beautifully made wine is both satisfying and frustrating. For, as much as I want to enjoy its slick perfection, it lacks a particular dimension, one that values exaggeration and imperfection above the ideal form. How silly, perhaps, to criticise a wine for being too good; buy a bottle and enjoy what is arguably an expression of what we do best.

Kingston Estate
Price: $A27.99
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Flaxman Dessert Semillon 2010

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A cordon cut style, this wine hails from boutique producer Flaxman Wines. It’s shot through with authenticity, at least as far as the back label is concerned: hand pruned, hand picked, old vine, dry grown, low yielding. It’s a veritable checklist of cred. What I like most about the packaging, however, is the exceptionally attractive label design, something it shares with all the Flaxman wines.

To what’s in the glass, an initially funky, almost musty, aroma gives way to unexpectedly savoury notes mixed with tinned peach and pear. The savouriness is, I suspect, somewhat sulfur-driven, so may blow off with some time. I hope it does, because the fruit here is quite lovely, and surprisingly subtle for what can tend to be a straightforward style. The key to its interest is that it’s not overwhelmingly sweet, it holds something in reserve, which makes the whole thing a lot more sniffable.

The palate shows good freshness and balance, thanks to a pleasing interplay between sugar, fruit intensity and acid. Again, the wine surprises with its subtlety, being neither too sweet nor too bracingly acidic. Entry splashes the palate with cool, structural refreshment, taking a while to build a level of fruit intensity that is ultimately satisfying without ever being especially impressive. The middle palate is awash with a range of fruit flavours: fresh citrus, candied peel, ripe stonefruit, some syrup. The after palate becomes more savoury and textural, with perhaps a hint of minerality edging in. A nice, gentle finish brings things to a close.

The back label also says of this wine that it has “no story.” While its provenance and production suggest otherwise, it loses nothing by being judged purely for what’s in the bottle. Nice wine.

Flaxman Wines
Price: $A20
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Angullong Fossil Hill Pinot Gris 2011

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Although I’ve only tasted a few, I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that Pinot Gris from Orange has a lot of potential, and might be one of the most pleasing white varietals to come from this very cool region. This isn’t to be underestimated; I think in general we’ve struggled in Australia to produce interesting expressions of this grape.

This wine is no exception to the Orange rule. The nose starts by suggesting the neutrality that can plague this varietal, but quickly evolves to release quite rich fruit notes of candied peel, ripe pear flesh and some surprising savoury minerality. Sure, it’s not a complex aroma, but its character is fresh and appealing, quite juicily delicious in fact.

The palate is where this wine really shines, thanks to a tingly acid structure and impressive generosity of flavour. Entry is fresh and quite textural, leading to green pear flavours that carry through to a middle palate that is both expansive and lively; this wine proves that a lot of acid doesn’t necessarily translate to a tight, linear experience in the mouth, partly because there’s a nice viscosity on the middle palate that balances the wine’s acid structure and creates a really interesting tension between the two. More of that savouriness creeps in as the wine moves along, becoming more prominent through the after palate. A decent finish tapers gently away, leaving a residue of savouriness and an impression of fresh fruit.

Angullong
Price: $A22
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Yelland & Papps Delight Grenache Shiraz 2010

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To my mind, Yelland & Papps is a bit of a Grenache specialist, or at least I consistently like its Grenaches more than any other wines in its range. There’s something about the Yelland & Papps style that lends itself especially well to Grenache’s generosity and sweet fruit character. I’ve enjoyed this label in the past, perhaps more than the straight Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon in the Delight range.

In 2010, though, the Shiraz remains the best release. The nose here is expressive and smells of artificial vanilla essence, a slightly edgy sappiness and gobs of sweet, somewhat stewed fruit. The fruit is red and black, ranging from plums to blackberries, all arguably overripe, showing a jammy rather than fresh fruit vibe. To my palate, more freshness would have led to a better aroma profile, along with more subtlety of oak character and volume.

The palate is again very generous, fruit driving a flavour profile that backs up with abundant, rather edgy oak and some pretty spiky acidity. I like the wine’s consistent volume through its line; there’s certainly plenty of fruit to go around. Again, fruit character has a question mark over it, with an overripe edge contributing hardness and detracting from the suppleness this wine occasionally hints at but never achieves.

A pretty good quaffer, then, but not quite up to the same year’s Shiraz.

Yelland & Papps
Price: $A19.95
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Peregrine Chardonnay 2009

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Descriptors are unhelpful enough without having to endure the mangling to which we often subject them. The fruit analogues are one thing; “peach” is at least somewhat determinate; the stylistic descriptors are altogether more problematic, which is a shame, because they’re often the most telling words we use as wine writers. Describe a Chardonnay as tasting like grapefruit, and I sort of know what you mean. Describe it as elegant, however, and I’m much less confident I understand the wine’s style. Yet I reach for these stylistic descriptors often in my writing, because I feel they communicate much more of the experience of drinking a wine than fruit notes, or perhaps even structural descriptions.

Partly, the problem arises because we tend to use these descriptors interchangeably, or as euphemisms for one another. To describe a wine as elegant represents an enormous (positive) value judgement, but often it’s code for “lean,” which is, to me at least, less unequivocally good. Indeed, heavily worked styles can be elegant, and lean wines clumsy. Is elegant a worthless descriptor, then? Not at all, but something so abstract must be used with precision and perhaps even caution.

This wine is a case in point. It’s not a lean wine, nor is it nimble, or dainty, or even especially fine. It is, however, complex, worked, generous and, in its way, gaudily elegant. It’s Versace to Chablis’ Armani, a wine dripping with ornament, very much a more is more aesthetic. Yet this is somehow contained within a bright, firm-enough acid structure, so that it stops short of being overwhelming and remains simply a mouth full of pea

ch, butterscotch and herb flavour, slightly hot on the finish, lacking in intensity, making up for it with some fine detail and complexity. Peregrine
Price: $A35
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Yelland & Papps Delight Shiraz 2010

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It’s easy to heap praise on premium wines, for there’s often an outstanding quality to their fruit or winemaking that attracts easy attention. And we expect a lot from expensive wines, so it’s no surprise when they display excellence of style. I often think the task of the quaffing wine is so much more difficult. These are wines that are made to a certain price point, perhaps limiting the winemaker’s options with regard to fruit and oak. It’s the difference between the architect designing a luxury villa versus affordable mass housing. Yet, does the latter demand less intent or attention? I don’t think so. The challenge is simply different, and should be appreciated differently.

I’m thinking these thoughts as I taste this sub-$20 wine from Barossa producer Yelland & Papps, whose house style is firmly oriented towards easy drinkability at all price points in its range. What I’m looking for here is regional character and a total absence of the sort of insultingly simple fruit character that, all too often, gets trotted out at these price points. Happily, this wine delivers.

It’s not a wine of refinement or delicacy, nor does it need to be. The nose, in fact, is quite blunt, with highly regional ripe plum fruit character bursting from the glass, tangles of spice swirling around its core. That’s it, more or less, with little in the way of nuance or layers, but its total honesty carries it through and gives it attractive appeal.

The palate is of moderate weight and intensity, carrying a consistent line from the aroma through to entry and middle palate. There’s a simple rusticity to the flavour profile; red fruit and brown spice sharing equal billing; that makes this an easy, generous experience, despite its modest dimensions. Is the oak a little obvious (even synthetic) in character? Perhaps, but that only slightly detracts from the straightforwardness of the experience.

This seems really well-judged, as much for its lack of pretension as anything else. Drink, enjoy.

Yelland & Papps
Price: $A19.95
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Dowie Doole Cane Cut Viognier 2010

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For some reason, I don’t often reach for a sticky, even though I have thoroughly enjoyed many bottles over the years. I suppose it’s the, perhaps unfair, anticipation of flabby, sweet vulgarity that keeps me away; to my palate, there are few things as undrinkable as a low acid, high sugar, sweet white dessert wine. So, despite almost tasting this on several occasions, I’ve restricted myself to admiring its spectacularly pretty packaging and thinking about the various ways in which a cane cut Viognier might go off the rails. Not known for its subtlety, my greatest fear was too overt an expression of Viognier varietal character; I imagined great gobs of apricot flopping over yet more gobs of apricot, cloying its way along my palate, making me wish I’d stuck to admiring how well-judged the slightly blingy label is against the lovely hue of the wine.

The reality of this wine is diametrically opposed to my fears for it, and in fact shows an exceptionally well-judged sense of style in its making. It’s a light sticky, fleet in the mouth, with just enough fruit flavour to fill out its delicate vibe. In fact, the nose could be that of a rich dry table wine, showing apricot kernels, firm stonefruit flesh, light vanilla and heady florals. There’s an almost savoury tone to it that is a lovely counterpoint to the relative richness of the fruit character; certainly, everything seems in balance. Mostly, this aroma speaks simply of fresh fruit, picked and eaten at the point of early ripeness.

The palate shows great continuity of style, echoing the nose’s nimble aroma profile with a palate structure that is gentle but shapely, well matched to the wine’s moderate weight and body. It’s here the wine’s sugar content has an impact, creating good intensity of fruit flavour from entry onwards, and rounding out the mouthfeel. There could probably be a touch more acid, as the fruit just starts to cloy through the after palate. The whole is so light, though, that this isn’t a serious flaw.

Mostly, this is fun, delicious, and just sophisticated enough.

Dowie Doole
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample