Author Archives: Julian Coldrey

Lowe Merlot 2006

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An organic wine from Mudgee, this comes complete with a few years’ bottle age and a cork seal (!). It forms the latest chapter in my search for great Australian Merlot, a search that has provided flashes of aesthetic satisfaction in amongst large swathes of disappointing mediocrity. This wine is promising in terms of the manner of its creation: fruit from a single block, hand picked and passed through a largely “non-interventionist” (don’t get me started) winemaking regime. So far so good.

There was an odd sediment in the neck of the bottle that I had to dislodge before pouring. I was momentarily fearful of spoilage, but the bottle is sound. Aromas of clean red fruit, not plums so much as raspberries and brandied cherries, with a distinctive edge of undergrowth mixed with damp earth This isn’t the red earthiness of Hunter wines, but rather something more decaying, autumnal. There’s a twiggy sharpness at the back of the nose, perhaps related to oak. Good depth of aroma profile.

The palate possesses a thick, textured mouthfeel that, oddly, feels related to the earthy aromas on the nose. Immediate flavour and texture on entry, with quite bright acidity ushering complex red and black fruit flavours onto the middle palate, where they are joined by black olives and brown earth. The wine is full and rich-feeling, not plush so much as charismatic. I wish for slightly greater definition to the flavours; I enjoy Merlot that embodies the paradox of soft fruit flavours, cleanly articulated. But there’s no lack of flavour, and this continues well through the after palate, where oak and brandied fruit take over. The tannins are full and velvety, very much present even at this stage of the wine’s life. A dry, raspy finish that shoots up into higher toned fruit flavours and which persists well.

There’s a lot to like here, though the overall impression is of rough-hewn wood rather than polished sculpture. Potential plus, and a label to watch.

Lowe Wines
Price: $A30
Closure: Cork
Source: Sample

Tinja Preservative Free Merlot 2010

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It strikes me as difficult to write about this wine without making its preservative free, organic status central to the discussion, purely because such wines are relatively uncommon. This wine understands the value of rarity; its back label acknowledges it has been made to meet an “overwhelming demand” for such styles. I don’t know enough about the market to know if this is accurate or anticipatory. In any case, it appears this isn’t a one-trick pony. For starters, the fruit originates from low-yielding, unirrigated vines and was handpicked; hardly the most cost-effective way of supplying a niche market that (and perhaps I’m being unkind) may not be driven primarily by a passion for beautiful wine.

So I approach it assuming an integrity of intent, and am pleased to note it is, at the very least, soundly made. It’s also extremely young; there’s even some spritz in the glass that seems to have wandered in from a bottle of Hunter Semillon. Given its age and style, the flavour profile is inevitably bright and redolent of fermentation esters as much as fruit notes. I’m a little torn; on the one hand, my instinct is to suggest leaving it for a few months to settle, but I’ve no experience with this type of wine so wouldn’t have a clue how it will evolve.

The palate is light and quite savoury, with crunchy (perhaps overly assertive) acid cutting through moderately intense fruit flavours that tend towards the red fruit spectrum. What tannins there are come across as chalky, loose and pleasantly textural. There’s basically no complexity, and nor would one expect there to be. What’s important here is a flavour profile that avoids obvious, sweet fruit, and which I suspect is very food friendly.

I’m not sure this wine has a place in my life, but it’s nice to know there’s a worthwhile example available to those who value the style.

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

Windowrie Family Reserve Sparkling 2010

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Curiously, the label makes no mention of the grape variety from which this wine is made. A quick search shows the answer to be Chardonnay, which means this is a blanc de blancs. So much more enticing, no?

In the end, I wanted to like this wine more than I did. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it; in fact, it went quite well with a mid-week fish and chip fest. The disappointment for me here lies in this wine’s coarseness of texture, something that will hold any sparkling wine back, so dependent is the style on a certain finesse of spritz and delicacy of palate. No, this is full-throttle, more soft-drink than Champagne in terms of its mousse and bead.

On the plus side, there’s real flavour locked in this wine, the fruit clearly possessing a degree of power, if not subtlety. Almost tropical in character, this flavour profile is about as far away from Champagne as one might get, but I don’t believe that automatically devalues the style. What I miss from the model, though, is the savoury complexity that transforms the best sparkling wines from frivolous fun to something worth considering as more than a simple accompaniment to miniature deep fried food. There are hints of brioche and mushroom, but they don’t stand a chance against all that buxom fruit flavour and what appears to be a reasonably generous dosage. The after palate and finish are rich and clingy, not quite showing the freshness one might look for.

There are better value wines at this price point (the standard Brown Brothers springs to mind), but I am glad Windowrie is trying something new and upscale with this wine. The packaging is quite beautiful and, although it’s not pressing my Champagne-loving buttons, this is undeniably flavoursome and fun. I hope it finds an audience.

Windowrie
Price: $A25
Closure: Cork
Source: Sample

Karra Yerta Riesling 2010

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This is a wine I look forward to each year.

Youthful spritz in the glass and swirling, estery fragrances on the nose. This is many things at once: the Karra Yerta vineyard with the vivid, neon-pastel tones characteristic of this site, an Eden wine full of bath salts and minerals, and a product of its vintage, showing a richness I’ve not seen from this label before. Realistically, this needs a few more months to blow off some residual sulfur and show its pristine self, but already there’s much complexity and detail, which is impressive in any wine, let alone a wine made so simply and available at such a reasonable price. No wonder Australian Riesling is so revered.

The palate is powerful and full, again showing a relatively rich, fleshy fruit flavour profile. In addition to the expected lime rind and lemon juice, there’s a hint of papaya alongside crystalline minerals and rather breathtaking acid. Good intensity. The texture here is wonderful; chalky, dry, etched. It’s a refreshing foil to the fruit flavours and ensures this wine leaves the palate clean and refreshed and, most importantly, eager for another sip.

Another cracker from this vineyard.

Karra Yerta Wines
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Second Nature Cabernet Shiraz Merlot 2009

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I hope you have all been enjoying Chris’s recent pieces as much as I have. They have resoundingly made up for the fact that wine has been an infrequent visitor to my household of late, owing to a confluence of circumstances including a pile of study and a lot of travel for work. Tonight, though, I’m home and selected this bottle from the sample pile. Considering it’s a straightforward commercial style, I’ve begun to look forward to this wine each vintage the way one anticipates a favourite local take-away on a Friday evening. You know it’s not going to be haute cuisine, but that doesn’t in any way detract from the generous enjoyment you know you’ll experience.

There’s a big hit of spicy plum and raspberry on the nose, both engorged and nicely detailed, that immediately sets the tone. It’s expressive and heady and not even close to the sort of industrial anonymity that can plague wines at this price point. Indeed, within the confines of the style this is full of character and the smell of vintage conditions, some caramel and slightly overripe fruit contributing personality to the clean, correct aroma profile.

Very well judged on the palate, this wine starts and ends with mouthfilling fruit. In between, there is a range of spice and twig notes and an undercurrent of nougat oak that is set to the right volume. Structure, such as it is, encourages gulps rather than sips. There’s some bright acid and relaxed tannins, sure, but the fruit is so dominant here that one never questions the intent behind the style. This wine is just all about the mid-palate; fleshy, fresh, delicious. It’s not a remarkable wine in any particular way, but it succeeds so well in what it sets out to do that one can’t but praise it wholeheartedly.

Dowie Doole
Price: $A19
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Reichsrat von Buhl Dry Riesling 2008

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Dry German Rieslings interest me for at least two reasons. Firstly, I rarely see them for sale locally. Secondly, they inevitably invite comparison to local Rieslings, which to my mind are amongst the best, indeed are perhaps the very best, dry styles in the world. Ironically, just as dry Germans seem to be coming into vogue, Australian makers are chasing off-dry styles that model Old World wines. One wonders sometimes whether adventurous winemakers are motivated by the pursuit of beauty or simply by boredom.

Anyway, there’s no mistaking this wine for an Australian Riesling, which in theory is a good starting point. There’s a bit of spritz evident on pouring. The nose is broad and shows slightly dull tropical fruit notes (think jackfruit) alongside a touch of sulfur and some minerality. The aroma profile lacks the immediacy and piercing clarity of many Australian dry Rieslings, substituting a certain rich fullness. Being critical, this lacks oomph in the upper registers, and I would have preferred greater definition. It all smells a bit lazy to me.

The palate shows more life, thanks in part to that bit of spritz, which contributes impact and a sizzled mouthfeel. Flavoursome on entry, with a mixture of citrus and tropical fruit flavours, plus a streak of more angular minerality that carries right through the middle and after palates. Good intensity and generosity for sure, though the flavour profile for me is again rather broad, suggestive of some oxidative handling, and lacking the precision and focus I admire in good Riesling. A nice, dry, minerally finish is most pleasing.

Not a bad wine, but too hazy to truly press my buttons. Still, a flavoursome drink by any measure.

Reichsrat von Buhl
Price: $A27.90
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Taltarni Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

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I struggled a bit with the 2007 version of this wine, even as I ended up enjoying its down home company and forgiving its less polished edges.

This wine seems to me an improvement, although I qualify this impression by saying if you are averse to tannins, then skip this completely and take the next train to flabby Merlot; you’ll probably hate this wine. Personally, I’m kind of a tannin addict, and enjoy being roughed up occasionally by a brute of a red like this.

I’m mindful this is a pre-release, though, so one would expect some calming of the tannin profile by the time it’s widely available. In a way, it’s fun to taste now, with those rip-snorting, black tea, fuzzy-tongue, rough wood tannins overwhelming what is very clean, high quality Cabernet fruit expressed in a regional-eucalypt idiom. The fruit takes a while to resolve in the glass, so let it breathe a bit and you will be rewarded by increasingly focused, clean fruit that isn’t outrageously varietal in terms of flavour profile but is definitely Cabernet in terms of its weight, structure and sense of clarity.

One to watch.

Taltarni
Price: $A35
Closure: Cork
Source: Sample

Taltarni Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

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Balance is one of those elusive concepts in wine that’s difficult to defend because, to my mind, there’s a continuum in which a wine style can exist, and the point of imbalance on that continuum is pegged differently by different drinkers. 

This wine’s an interesting example of what I mean. I’m not averse to some green flavours in Cabernet. In fact, I’m probably one of the few people who have semi-fond memories of some green-ish Coonawarra Cabernets from the 1990s. But there’s a point at which the green stops being challenging and angular and stylish and becomes simply unpleasant. Does this wine cross that line? I’m not sure. It certainly did on initial opening, offering clearly unripe notes and raw, puckery tannins as proof. Curiously, it also showed the most seductive, plush fruit aromas that created an interesting push-pull aesthetic.
On day two, the wine is tiring a little, but also evolving to show more complex fruit and spice influences on the aroma, and deliciously tart orange-juice like notes on the palate. The green, curiously, has receded a little, dragging the wine back into the land of characterful balance. Tannins are better behaved, though ultimately still a bit aggressive, and it’s here the wine’s questionable astringency remains most present. Overall, though, there’s a sense of honest regionality with this wine that I am enjoying, despite the rough edges.
I also have a 2008 vintage in the pile and will taste it with interest.

Taltarni
Price: $A35
Closure: Cork
Source: Sample

Mountain X Bluechip Canberra Shiraz 2008

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I’m on a Mountain X roll, having just written up the wonderful Jack Mattinson’s Deluxe Dry Red from 2009. Here I have now the 2008 Mountain X wine, which in this year was made from Canberra fruit as opposed to the usual Hunter Shiraz (with a dash of Yarra Pinot). The reason’s simple: 2008 was a crap vintage in the Hunter for red wines, but a great one in Canberra.

There’s seems a fashion for stalk in Shiraz at the moment, particularly cooler climate Shiraz. For me, stalk is like oak: an influence that can either complement and enhance a wine or overwhelm and destroy it. It’s not just a matter of volume either; some fruit flavour profiles go better with a bit of whole bunch action than others.

Canberra Shiraz seems especially amenable to whole bunch influence. There’s something about its red fruited, somewhat medicinal regional character that meshes with the often spiky, aromatic vibe of stalk. And so it is with this wine. At first I found the spice and stalk a bit overwhelming, but it does settle with some air, and after a couple of hours it is drinking well. It’s still wild, though, a real hair-toss of an aroma profile, heady with astringent stalk and sharp spice atop crunchy red fruit and charcuterie.

The palate shows good intensity. It’s the sort of wine that seems to cut through the palate with tight focus. Indeed, there’s a good deal of acid, and the wine is only medium bodied. But it’s the stalk and spice that contributes most to this wine’s sense of concentrated focus. The flavour profile is precise and spare, cleanly delineated and almost the opposite of generous. This might be described, in aesthetic terms, as a modernist wine, the very opposite of the kind of ornamented plushness one sees in many bigger red wines. It’s stripped back to the essentials, and for me there’s a real beauty to this style.

Very much enjoyed drinking, and thinking about, this.

Mountain X
Price: $A19.95
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Jack Mattinson's Deluxe Dry Red 2009

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Prickles of green and brown, red and black. The aroma wraps spice and flesh in the skin of a fruit that is equal parts familiar and fictitious, not-quite-plum in its tart angularity, almost-blackberry in its brambly heat. This wine throws the sort of abstract aroma profile I associate more with fine fragrance than wine, something that approaches real life through a lens of artifice and construction. Yet it’s so earthy too, redolent of dirt roads and rough bark and things you feel as much as see. And it’s beautiful to smell.

The palate rushes at you with surprising, and surprisingly relaxed, fruit. This is the fruit of overripe plums, not baked or stressed so much as juicy to the point of bursting. It would be almost Barossa-like if not for the vibrantly purple-fruited Hilltops character that, after some air, emerges powerfully from a background of subtle oak, spice and structure. There’s certainly enough acid and tannin, the latter chunky and textural in character. This is all quite savoury and in its sense of integrity reminds me of home made preserves, baked things and slow cooking. Its finish caresses my tongue and reminds me that wine is for drinking — most days if you’re lucky — and that no critical endeavour will ever cause me to lose my enjoyment of the drink.

All this without even touching on this wine’s maker, its back label, the blend, its name, its price, the intent so clearly on display. I figured it best to just describe the wine, in order to do everything else justice. I’ll be buying a dozen, and I suggest you do too.

Mountain X
Price: $A15
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Gift