Category Archives: White

Domaine Rapet Père et Fils Pernand 1er Cru Le Clos du Village 2000

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Rather too oxidised to be fully enjoyable, I’ll write this up for completeness’ sake. And because I worked my customary magic on the rather crumbly cork.

The colour is an attractive golden straw. The nose immediately betrays excessive oxidation – whether it affects just this bottle or the wine generally is something I’m not in a position to know. I tasted a similar wine (vintage, producer, classification) in 2009 and it was on song. In any case, that softly rancid brown apple aroma pervades an otherwise rather attractive, fruit-driven profile that seems quite cuddly but with a savoury, herbal edge.

The palate shows good acid and crisp flow down the line. There’s enough fruit here for me to know this would have been a nice wine, once. Good weight and generosity of flavour – the fruit tends towards white stonefruit, with a repeat of the herbal, basil-like notes seen on the nose. The palate’s texture is creamy and soft, but not flabby, thanks to that acid.

I wish I had known it in better times.

Domaine Rapet Père et Fils
Price: $A60
Closure: Cork
Source: Retail

Ross Hill Pinnacle Series Sauvignon Blanc 2011

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It’s turning summery all of a sudden here in Brisbane, which has reminded me with a slight pang of guilt that I have not yet trimmed my passionfruit vines. Not a metaphor. It has also reminded me that I’ve had this wine for a little while, waiting to be tasted. There aren’t too many $30 Sauvignon Blancs from Orange, let alone ones that have experienced some fancier treatment in the winery like whole bunch pressing and wild fermentation. I’m curious.

Yet again, the whites from Orange impress. This is a long way from the pungency of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, and an equally long way from tropical fruit basket that some of our regions tend to express. It’s lean and tight, as much suggestion as flesh, edging on green without being offensively unripe. It’s marginal in the positive sense, communicating the effort with which it was brought into being.

The palate is equally taut, a nice line of citrus fruit and heady vegetation riding fine, bright acid. There’s definitely some funk here, perhaps a result of the wild fermentation, that pushes this wine’s flavour profile into distinctive territory. There aren’t any magic tricks; the wine still lacks presence through the after palate, but that goes with the territory with this varietal. What’s here is clever and interesting.

It’s so nice to come across a Sauvignon Blanc that tries to be something new.

Ross Hill Wines
Price: $A30
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Taylors Riesling 2008

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In the throes of Dookie madness at the moment, although I’m enjoying a quiet weekend in between residential sessions. I’m staying on campus over the weekend, and there’s only one other student here – the lovely Lyn Rochford from Viridian Wines in Tasmania. We’re working our way through a six-pack purchased at the surprisingly spacious Liquorland in Shepparton. Amongst the delights we obtained (at 30% off, no less) was this wine, a bin end.

Not a terribly glamorous life for the wine so far, then, but it has redeemed itself on opening. Considering its price, this is very satisfying. The aroma immediately shows aged notes of toast and spice alongside a core of primary lemon juice fruit. It’s not as finely delineated as some, but this is a very correct aroma profile that shows the wine in the early stages of development. The palate is aggressively structured and the acid remains somewhat formidable, despite a few years in bottle. I don’t mind a bright wine, though, so I’m going with this Riesling’s flow of lemon, honey and toast. There’s a tropical dimension to the flavour profile that thickens it, aided by what might be a bit of residual sugar. There is some pithy texture on the back palate that contributes a fresh twist.

Overall, this is still very young-tasting, and I’d be happy to let further bottles go for a few years yet. Very nice richer style that should keep improving.

Taylors
Price: $A15
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Louee Nullo Mountain Riesling 2011

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As good as they are, I often find myself seeking out expressions of Riesling that are different from our classic Clare and Eden Valley wines. Canberra and Henty are two regions that show distinctive styles in their own right, and I’m excited to think that yet more regions may have some surprises in store for us. While not to the same extent as with Chardonnay, local producers seem to be playing with Riesling style too, and it’s more common than it was a few years ago to see some wines with a bit of residual sugar, or more complex handling in the winery. I’m not sure I’ve found any such wines that I’d place above our long established benchmarks, but one ought to keep an open mind in such matters.

This wine comes from a site in Mudgee that sits 1100 metres above sea level. If Riesling likes cooler weather, then that sort of elevation is not a bad place to start. The nose suggests a good deal of austerity, with aromas that are fruity but with a good layer of chalk dust sprinkled on top. There’s an interesting contrast at work, as the fruit is quite full (think citrus flesh rather than pith) and the dryer notes quite prominent.

The palate allows this tension to play out. An apparent touch of residual sweetness plumps up fruit flavours, suggesting some tropicals alongside citrus juice. Running alongside are dashing streaks of acidity and equally prominent minerality. The structure of this wine is quite breathtaking in its severity, which would be fine except that it never quite reaches out to the lusciousness of the fruit, leaving the wine to flip-flop between fruit and acid then back again. This impression of a disconnect between two halves persists for most of the line, until the finish almost, but not quite, unifies the components in a sherbet flourish. I don’t think this is a fully achieved wine, but its angularity and genuine difference keep me coming back for another taste.

I’ve no idea how this will age, but it might be worth chucking a couple in the cellar for interests’ sake.

Lowe Wines
Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Waipara Hills Chardonnay 2011

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What with all the Chardonnay play of late, it can be disconcerting to taste an example that isn’t trying to say something new (or old) and bold about how the varietal should taste.

This wine, at first, is self-effacing to the point of blandness. It’s not overtly worked, nor it is self-consciously lean. It’s not much of anything, really, until you realise that it just is, throwing straightforward fruit notes that are part citrus, part stonefruit. It’s totally varietal, if not terribly exuberant in its expression. There’s just a hint of winemaker input in a caramel edge that seems the only embellishment on what is otherwise a pure, fruit-driven style.

The palate maintains the simple purity shown on the nose. It is, again, all about fruit flavours — pineapple, nectarine, lemon. Quite simple and not massively intense, but pretty and unpretentious. Acid is firm and fresh, and the wine fans out softly through the finish in an attractive manner.

In the end, that this wine struck me because it does not sit at a stylistic extreme perhaps says more about me than the wine. It’s nice, though, to taste a straightforward Chardonnay now and then. A pretty antidote to all the fuss.

Waipara Hills
Price: $A22
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Stefano Lubiana Estate Chardonnay 2010

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A fascinating companion to the Estate Pinot Noir from 2010, this swings in altogether a different direction. Where the Pinot is a brooding, masculine style, this becons more openly, flaunting its charms with little reserve.

The nose gives its game away quickly. At a time when many Australian Chardonnays are shedding pounds in the pursuit of a lithe line, this wine positively flops into one’s nostrils, offering full stonefruit, spice, caramel and other luscious aromas. Don’t let me be misunderstood, though; I have a lot of time for more opulent Chardonnay styles, and feel at their best they represent the apex of the grape. A few sniffs suggests this might be a good one, as there is good complexity and harmony amongst the wine’s aromas. I particularly enjoy the hint of struck match that sneaks in alongside more fruit-oriented notes.

The palate contains these flavours in a framework that is tauter than one might expect. There’s real shape and flow here, thanks in part to an acid line that is fine but firm where it needs to be (notably through the after palate). The wine is mouthfilling, due in turn to the intensity of its flavour and a certainly slipperiness of mouthfeel. There are some prickly, refreshingly bitter phenolics too, which add a nice twist to the flavour profile. Spiced oak sings through the finish.

Not a wine of subtlety, then, but quite delicious and cleverly balanced. I like it.

Stefano Lubiana Wines
Price: $A48-50
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Domaine de la Bongran Viré Clessé Cuvée Tradition 2002

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I have a few Jean Thévenet wines in my cellar and they always provide a completely different view of white Burgundy from pretty much anything else. This wine, from the Mâconnais, is startlingly young for its age and shows the distinctive, botrytis-tinged character that I’ve come to enjoy from Thévenet.

I experienced not-entirely-irrational anxiety as I was opening this wine, based partly on a ridiculously oxidised 2005 white Burgundy I was excited, then disappointed, about last week. This wine’s cork, on extraction, proved to be long and of an apparently high quality. Colour in the glass is beautifully golden, with not a hint of the distressing brown hue that I had feared. So far so good.

What’s really enjoyable about this wine is how it flips between the mineral-driven austerity of tighter Chardonnay styles and the opulence granted it by a hint of residual sugar and botrytis. The palate is grippy and textural, combining with a grapefruit-accented flavour profile to give the impression of pith and pips. So it moves between modes, tight then loose, acid and slight bitterness an intriguing foil to notes of marmalade and richer, riper fruit. If there’s something missing here, it relates to intensity of both aroma and flavour. This isn’t a blockbuster as its 14% ABV and slightly hot finish might suggest. Instead, the wine’s demeanour is laid back, and I suspect what it loses in impact it makes up for in food friendliness.

Cleverly made and provocative in style. Given its freshness, I might taste this again in a few years’ time.

Domaine de la Bongran
Price: $35 (ish)
Closure: Cork
Source: Retail

Ross Hill Pinnacle Series Chardonnay 2011

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When I taste a Chardonnay nowadays, my mind seems first to go to the style in which it has been made. There seems much more variety within as well as between regions compared to many other varietals. My view is that this stylistic variation is a reflection of how unsettled we are with respect to the grape, and that style is sometimes seen as synonymous with quality (or lack thereof). Ultimately, that’s a distraction that stops us from seeing these wines for what they are.

And yet I do it too and, as I sniffed this wine, I was first most curious to know how worked a style it is. The answer is: pretty worked. The nose is very young-smelling, with pineapple and grapefruit notes in equal measure. underpinned by determinedly funky smells and a lot of oatmeal. The aromas exist in layers at the moment, not intermingling as much as they might, and perhaps will with a bit of time. It’s a vibrant aroma profile, though.

The palate is, initially, overwhelming and unbalanced in its texture. It’s as if a big ball of oatmeal protrudes in the middle palate, rudely dwarfing everything else around it. This feeling never quite goes away, but the wine’s dimensions do balance out with some air, and this allows citrus and light tropical fruit flavours to emerge with the same clarity and crispness seen on the nose. Intensity is decent, especially through the after palate, where citrus flavours are joined by some nice herbal, basil-like notes. Despite the texture being quite worked, the wine isn’t over complex in flavour. Good thrust and aromatics through the finish.

Not entirely convincing, then, but there’s no getting away from the power of that fruit. I wonder what this would be like if it were made in a purer, simpler way?

Ross Hill Wines
Price: $A35
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Ross Hill Pinnacle Series Pinot Gris 2011

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For a region to do Pinot Gris especially well may seem like a dubious claim to fame (sort of like the Hunter doing great Verdelho). I think Orange does a great line in this difficult varietal, though. The examples I’ve tasted have, for the most part, avoided the many traps this style can fall into: too neutral, too hot, too fat, and so on. This one is no exception – I like it a lot.

A full nose showing nashi pear, spice and a range of interesting, more herbal notes. It’s certainly not the last word in complexity (nor would I expect it to be) but it’s generous and poised, never tipping over into the kind of coarseness that I find especially destructive with this style. The aroma seems to have texture, which sounds odd but I think results from the way spice is woven through the fruit, creating spikes and valleys of aroma. It’s a very happy smell.

The palate shows controlled body and fullness of fruit flavour, along with sufficient acid to give the wine shape and flow. Entry is cool and subtle, building to a middle palate full of yellow fruits, spice and flowers. The fruit is somewhat one-dimensional in flavour, but it’s correct and well proportioned. I like the way a range of higher toned aromas seem to hit the top of my mouth with each sip. Flavour persists through the after palate, where it remains mercifully unmolested by alcohol (this is only 12.5% ABV).

Good Gris.

Ross Hill Wines
Price: $A30
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Cumulus Chardonnay 2010

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Although deeply problematic, one of the most positively provocative aspects of Jonathan Nossiter’s book, Liquid Memory, is its questioning of the manner in which we talk about wine. I’ve half-written a post expanding on these thoughts, and who knows if I’ll ever finish it; I have, though, been more mindful since reading Mr Nossiter’s book of the part, however small, I play in privileging a particular sort of wine conversation, one that centres on descriptors and a particularly banal narrative of wine, over a more aesthetically inclined view, in which one puts one’s self and one’s reaction to a given wine above a purely descriptive story of tasting.

This wine prompts me to think of such things because there’s a schism between what I taste and how I feel. What I smell, first, is an incredibly clean wine with a range of aromas that is textbook with regard to how a cooler climate Chardonnay ought to taste. There’s clean citrus fruit, a hint of white peach and the sort of tasteful, just-savoury-enough winemaking artifact to trigger an appreciative reaction. This wine is, in its way, perfectly formed, and I have no wish to deny the achievement associated with it (goodness knows I’m an expert in the art of fucking up winemaking). Yet I’m unmoved by it, in the same way I might pass yet another cleanly executed minimalist interior without so much as a “wow.” What is, I wonder, the point of such lithe shapeliness? What is there for me to grab hold of and caress?

The palate is, again, beautifully executed. The oatmeal flavours are a real feature of the wine, taking quite severe fruit flavours and granting them dimension and texture. Balance is exceptional, as is shape and line. This really is a good wine, well-judged and full of inherent quality. It’s just that I’m desperate for something human and sensual, a flaw or outsize dimension to give me an aesthetic hook on which to hang my own sense of beauty. It’s as if I’m not good enough for this wine, that it doesn’t care especially if I like it or not. But, in a profound sense, I need a wine to need me back, otherwise there’s no dialogue, no reason to stick around and keep talking.

This wine deserves the deepest admiration for provoking such a reaction. A second date, however, is out of the question.

Cumulus Wines
Price: $A30
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample