Author Archives: Julian Coldrey

Patina Pinot Gris 2008

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I’m shallow and pretentious; there’s no other explanation for leaving this wine untouched at the bottom of the sample pile for so long. In my defense, some kind of filter is more or less a necessity when there’s so much wine out there; one can’t simply taste it all. And if I instinctively gravitate towards varieties and regions I am experienced with and attracted to, is this really so wrong? 

It is if I miss out on nice wines. This bottle is a lesson in something unexpected (Pinot Gris d’Orange?) turning out to be bloody good. Perhaps not so unexpected, though; Orange has been steadily working its way towards some serious cool climate cred over the past few years, and Pinot Gris is a variety I usually prefer to drink when made into a wine that retains some elegance and shape. Add some clever winemaking and you’re almost there.
The rest comes through on tasting. The aroma is full and lush, with a sharp edge of citrus helping notes of subtle oatmeal and stonefruit to express with fresh vitality. There’s real complexity and depth to this wine’s smell, which is both unexpected and fascinating. I’m not used to tasting a reasonably-priced Pinot Gris with such character. It’s reads as an odd combination of Hunter Semillon and slighty busty Chardonnay, but with its own sense of integrity.
On entry, an immediate rush of fruit flavour and a level of intensity that confirms the nose isn’t a fluke. Flavours are simple and citrus-driven at first, building towards a lees-influenced middle palate that takes several steps up in sophistication. While it’s a bit of a sledgehammer of a wine, and its fruit flavours show a little too much sweetness for my taste, there’s good detail in its flavour profile and several layers to its texture. Mealy stonefruit peaks through the after palate, and the finish is impressively long.
What a pleasant surprise. Went exceptionally well with a simple omelette of ocean trout and goat’s cheese.

Patina
Price: $A22
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Tahbilk Eric Stevens Purbrick Shiraz 2004

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People seem to have very strong reactions to Tahbilk’s red wines; not like or dislike so much as love or hate. I wonder both why this is and what it means; in any case I’m tempted, from an aesthetic perspective, to value Tahbilk’s wines all the more highly because of it. Increasingly, I am impatient with wines that don’t display intent beyond correctness and technical perfection. Especially at a price point such as this, I feel we ought as drinkers to demand personality, a provocation, a point of view.

So, for lovers of Tahbilk reds, here’s one for you. It’s the companion wine to the Cabernet Sauvignon tasted a while back and, while I don’t like it quite as much as that wine, it’s unmistakably of this maker. The nose is expressive and grainy, with red earth, gum leaf, rustic fruits, nuts, some vanilla. The trick it pulls off is to be both distinctive and multi-dimensional, which is rarer than one might think. 
The palate is pure elegance and moderation. Not to suggest intensity of flavour is the casualty; in fact, this is quite a piercing wine in its way. Entry is fruit-driven and soft, with berry juice flavours and a sense of warm sunlight pushing the wine towards an earthy, detailed middle palate. As with the Cabernet, and most Tahbilk red wines it seems, the tannins are especially remarkable, here being both smotheringly textural (like a woolen blanket) and somehow unobtrusive too. It’s medium bodied, with bright-enough acidity and a clean, brisk flow through the mouth. The after palate sings cleanly with savoury dark fruits, and the finish is gentle and elegant, not to mention bloody long. A slight excess of sweet oak towards the end of the line is almost forgivable.
Regional, complex and authentic. 

Tahbilk
Price: $A60
Closure: Cork
Source: Sample

Gardners Ground Shiraz 2008

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I don’t know much about this producer other than what I’m reading on the bottle (and website): based in Canowindra, organic viticulture, reasonably priced. Again, I’m struck by the number of producers in this region who are overtly pursuing organics.

First impressions are of overripeness, but this freshens quickly to show an aroma of savoury black fruits, gentle spice, a hint of volatility and cuddly oak. I don’t find it especially complex but it’s friendly and home-made in a positive sense. My key criticism of the aroma profile is that it is a bit blunt, lacking the finesse I’d ideally like to see. However, the spice is lovely and there’s no shortage of expressiveness.
The palate adds some lively acidity into the mix, and this helps the wine to express more sprightly fruit. Quite a flavoursome entry, with prickly acid and perhaps a hint of minerality, leading to a mid palate that is focused on savoury berry fruits. It’s refreshing to find a wine at this price point that is determinedly savoury, with just a hint of fleshiness. Any sweetness seems to come more from nougat oak, which becomes more prominent as the wine lifts through its after palate to an edgy finish.

Gardners Ground
Price: $A19.95
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Flaxman Shiraz 2005

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In response to my write-up of the 2007 Shiraz, Colin Sheppard of Flaxman Wines very kindly sent me a bottle each of the 2005 and 2006 versions so I could compare the site and its wine across vintages. After having tasted all three, and quite apart from notions of quality, one thing I can confirm is this wine’s transparency.

This one, from 2005, is my firm favourite. The nose is slightly muted but terribly rewarding once you find your way in; there are aromas of fresh, damp earth, plum skins, crushed granite and ripened twigs. In short, it’s complex, dark, etched and very adult, but with a core of plum fruit that issues a seductive call to taste. There are oak flavours in there too, in a gently nutty, nougat mode, very much secondary and well-integrated. I’m not getting a lot of age on the nose, though admittedly I never tasted this on release.
The palate is quite full in presence and volume, though this strikes me above all else as an elegant wine, despite its dimensions (and 15% abv). This is mostly due to a flavour profile that is precise and delicate, with a firm streak of minerality that cuts through juicy plums and tart skins. The whole is linear and direct in terms of how it moves through the mouth, with steadily increasing complexity and less fruit influence through the back palate and finish. 
If you have some of this in your cellar, consider yourself lucky.

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

Clayfield Black Label Shiraz 2002

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“Go to town on this one.”

So said Simon Clayfield as he gave me this bottle during a recent visit to the Grampians. We had just finished tasting through his range and, of the 2006 Shiraz, he remarked the spice had receded, but would be back. As an example of what it might become, he suggested I try the 2002 wine, noting it is drinking well and showing plenty of spice character.

He wasn’t wrong. This is essential Grampians Shiraz, a regional style that appeals to me very much. Of course, quality matters even in the context of an attractive style, though it can be more difficult to sort through. Spotting a diamond in the rough is easy; sifting through wines that you like right off the bat for their collective flavour profile necessitates a closer look to stratify quality.

This wine, in any case, is top shelf. The spice notes here — in fact the aroma profile in general — is both regional and quite transcendent of its origins, being utterly integrated and complex in its intense exoticism. There’s an enveloping blanket of spice and pepper, akin to a fine curry of the highest order, a multitude of ingredients fusing into a single wall of finely detailed fragrance. Great wines taste of themselves first and foremost.

Notable is the oak character, which is perfectly matched in character to the aroma profile, bringing a cedar influence up to, but stopping some way short of, the spicy fruit.

In the mouth, what’s immediately striking is a burst of fresh plum fruit atop what devolves into a cascade of aged, sweet leather, more spice and a well integrated structure. The high toned flavours are almost overwhelming in their intensity and persistence, and might threaten to unbalance the wine were it not for a firm line of plum underlining the whole. While the mid-palate shows the greatest concentration of spice, the after palate reveals a liquerous expression of plum-like fruit, bringing a sense of harmony to the flavour components and a curiously fresh resolution to the overall profile.

This wine was an interesting counterpoint to the 05 Castagna Un Segreto tasted immediately prior to it. I’d characterise the Castagna as in many ways a baroque wine; sinewy, complex, full of intertwining themes that echo and complement each other, but with a slightly hard aesthetic that tilts away from sensuality at times. This, by contrast, is like a Debussy tone poem; its face is atmospheric, its mood emotional, its construction crystalline. Fucking beautiful.

Clayfield Wines
Price: $NA
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Castagna Un Segreto 2005

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A Sangiovese Shiraz blend from Beechworth.

This wine raised a lot of questions for me – on the role of blending, on whether a wine is worth ageing, on what is value for money. It also had quite a few of the answers once I came to terms with it. 
For me, on the basis of this wine and a couple of others (notably the much cheaper Pizzini), Shiraz and Sangiovese are undoubtedly synergistic companions. The way aromas intertwine on the nose here is very exciting. Orange peel, almond meal, tonka bean – it all begins to smell rather like a Guerlain concoction before a big hit of nougat and vanilla oak reminds me it’s for drinking, not just smelling. 
The palate is sinewy and intricate, with an array of sensational, intense flavours. Black pepper, dried cherries, unfolding ferns, dark fruit. The fruit character reminds me of the strange little dried things my grandmother used to hide inside dumplings on Chinese New Year – savoury, dehydrated and intensely juicy at the same time. This seems designed to age in that its flavours hint at the sort of complexities that will develop with some time in bottle without yet possessing any such notes. Quite the opposite of a sweetly fruited wine whose vibe might contest developed flavours. Medium bodied, the structure is particularly sophisticated, with acidity blending beautifully into fabric of the wine, and chalky tannins providing textural counterpoint through the after palate.
An intellectual, strong, elegantly masculine wine. Classical sculpture and proportion. Just lovely.

Castagna
Price: $NA
Closure: Diam
Source: Gift

Karra Yerta Barossa Shiraz 2005

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My acquaintance with Marie Linke of Karra Yerta Wines has been rewarding in all sorts of ways; it has provided me insights into the world of the boutique micro-producer, into the trials associated with just getting your wine out there in the public eye, into the challenges of juggling family and work life. And, not least, it has provided me with the opportunity to taste wonderful wines, borne of passion and commitment to regional tradition. My view is producers such as Karra Yerta are the backbone of the industry, providing a philosophical base around which trends and companies may come and go.

Case in point: this wine. It’s identifiably Barossan in character, with that luscious, irresistibly drink now fruit character starting to come up against some more adult, bottle-aged aromas. So, it’s very much in transition. I sometimes read that as a mark of disinterest, but that’s kind of like saying teenagers aren’t interesting because they’re neither children nor adults. Surely there’s a particular fascination in the confluence and clash of nascent maturity? That’s what I’m seeing in this wine’s aroma. 
The palate is full of flavour in a characterful way. An interesting counterpoint to this wine was a 2006 Penfolds Bin 407 I tasted just the other day. I didn’t write it up because it was pristine, perfect, clean, and faceless. This is precisely the opposite; it’s tangibly textured, imprinted with imperfection in the most positive manner; from entry through finish, a dense wave of regional fruit, roughed up by an edge of earthy, spiced humanity that puts corporate swill to shame. This isn’t trying to win medals, it’s simply a reflection of its place and maker, and is utterly worthwhile for precisely this reason.
Perhaps not much of a tasting note, then, but, one hell of a worthwhile experience to taste. Highly recommended.

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

Howard Park Riesling 2009

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It’s endlessly contested, but beauty (if it exists at all) is something I search for in wine as in most things. Perhaps that marks me as profoundly romantic, or foolish, but if something so inessential, so essentially frivolous as wine doesn’t encapsulate an aesthetic of a kind, then I really do wonder the point of it at all. Hence my difficult relationship with wines that express themselves on a purely functional level – I’d rather drink beer. 

Riesling is a varietal that gets me excited because it sometimes reminds me, more than any other wine, of perfume. I, along with my excellent co-author Chris, are fans of fragrance, and Riesling, in its expressive austerity, comes closest to the manufactured landscapes of man-made smells. Which is quite remarkable, really, as a commercial smell is carefully crafted, layered and assembled to be both distinctive and reproducible; one might reasonably assume a relatively haphazard aroma like that of wine would never come close. Yet it does, to my delight and endless fascination.
This wine isn’t perfect, but it has a sense of construction and layered complexity that excites me. The aroma is awash with high toned, aldehydic aromas that echo the extravagant top notes of an old-fashioned, French whorehouse-type cologne. There are some deeper, lemon rind notes underneath the florals that provide an anchor of sorts, something fleshier around which more fleeting aromas can circle.
The palate is quite generous and, compared to some Howard Park Rieslings I recall from the late 1990s, much less austerely acidic. This isn’t such a bad thing, especially for present drinking. There’s a dramatic but cuddly entry onto the palate, followed by a wash of soft lime juice through the mid-palate. It’s a bit lazy, but it’s also very pretty, content to be admired for its easy charm. A tangy after palate and long finish round things off well.

Howard Park
Price: $A22
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Ridge Dusi Ranch Zinfandel 2006

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I’m an unabashed fan of Ridge wines, rarely having experienced a disappointing example. Ridge introduced me to the joys of Zinfandel with its Geyserville label, and continues to provide beautiful Californian wine experiences each time I am lucky enough to taste its wines. Sometimes, one connects with a particular producer’s approach beyond all reason; if I overpraise Ridge wines, understand this is as much an emotional response to context and company as to the wines themselves. 

Be that as it may, I defy anyone not to respond positively to the exuberance of this wine’s aroma. It’s powerfully fruity in a way utterly unfamiliar to me, raised as I have been on Australian red wines. There’s rich fruit cake, spice, and an overwhelming sense of completeness that makes this an envelopingly sensual experience. Forget angularity and enjoy the luxe of this wine’s blanket of aromas. 
The palate is surprisingly elegant considering the range of flavours and 15.8% abv. Yes, I consider this wine an elegant, balanced wine, despite its scale and technical measurements, which makes its achievement simply more remarkable. Masses of flavour immediately on entry, slinking to a middle palate awash with fruit cake flavours. Clearly, this isn’t a chiselled wine style, but nor is it formless. In fact, there’s plenty of structure, and my only criticism is that these elements don’t cohere as well as they might. The acidity in particular stands out a bit from the rest of the wine. This isn’t nearly enough to derail my enjoyment, however, so I prefer to focus on the immense generosity here, as well as the unexpected freshness of the flavour profile. Alcohol becomes most evident on the finish, which is noticeable hot.
An astonishing wine in many ways. Wines like this will never be considered great, but in their own way they exemplify the purity of a certain regional style. 

Ridge
Price: $NA
Closure: Cork
Source: Gift

Stefano Lubiana Brut NV

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I’m sad tonight for two reasons. Firstly, the ferment on my sad little student wine appears to have stuck, and secondly, Dan flies home tomorrow morning, so I shall shortly be deprived of his compelling company. To make the most of what remains of his visit, though, we’re currently working our way through a selection of wines. First up is this sparkling from Tasmania, which is being rapidly consumed as we await a delivery of assorted Dominos pizzas.

Colour is a rich golden hay, with quite vigorous mousse and a very fine bead. Pungent aromas of brioche, rich fruit, some cheese, etc. Basically, it smells very much like a sparkling wine on the fruitier, richer end of the scale. It also smells great, inviting, and flavoursome.
The palate confirms these impressions. Full but well weighted, the wine enters with a lovely tingling on the tongue and light nectarine fruit flavours, before switching gears on the middle palate and expressing more power and weight. The fruit flavours become a tad simple at this point, but remain delicious and brisk. A lively after palate leads to a finish of reasonable length.
This seems to me a fruit-driven style of good balance, if slight coarseness on the palate in terms of the straightforwardness of its fruit flavours. Crucially, the acidity is in balance, avoiding the harshness of some local sparkling wines. 

Stefano Lubiana
Price: $A35
Closure: Cork
Source: Retail