Tag Archives: 2010

Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc 2010

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Just the other day, I was reflecting on the nature of quality and Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, on how to tease apart a bunch of wines whose obviousness of style tends to cause them to be lumped into a single, undifferentiated lump (I’m just as guilty as the next wine writer on this count). Along comes this wine to provide some answers.

It really is excellent. I’ve always liked Dog Point wines and feel they are especially sophisticated expressions of their regional styles. And it’s sophistication that immediately lifts this wine above any number of others. It’s complex, aromatically, with honey and grass and capsicum and gooseberry and, well, you get the idea. Typicité in spades, then; what’s rarer is how this almost magically balances each element and has them weave in and out of the overall profile, all with the most beguilingly supple liveliness. It’s what separates a great dancer from a merely good one, such nuance and seamless transition between attitudes. A pleasure to smell.

The palate is in no way a let down. Crisp and quite minerally, it again shows amazing complexity for such a simply made style. Here, I’m reminded of the best Rieslings and the way they can at times possess an infinite, fractal-like depth of flavour; do we underestimate this varietal? The more vulgar aspects are kept in check, but not through any artificiality in the vineyard or winery designed to pull back the style; there are no extremes here at all. An intriguing, slightly candied finish rides what has become by this stage a drying, chalky mouthfeel.

Dog Point
Price: $A11/glass
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Retail

Mud House Sauvignon Blanc 2010

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Given the recognisable — some might say obvious — character of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, trying to establish a hierarchy of quality is more difficult than it can be with other wine styles. Once a wine has passed the threshold test of “yes, it taste like what it is,” nuances of balance and emphasis arguably play a disproportionately large role in sorting the best from the rest. As an aside, they’re also terribly difficult wines to write about, not least because I can’t think of any wine style that discourages analytical tasting more vigorously than this.

Loaded with that baggage, I taste the Mud House Sauvignon Blanc tonight, and note initially that it stresses the capsicum and cut grass (methoxypyrazines) aspects more than some. The aroma profile is stridently, though not forbiddingly, tilted towards green notes, backed up by typically passionfruit-laden fruit and a hint of citrus peel too. Absolutely of its style, if more lively and aggressive than some.

The palate is predictably abundant of acid and sharp of flavour; these are, after all, the characters that make this style so successful. Again, it treads a fine line between zingy and flat-out harsh, falling back onto the right side in the end, and mercifully avoiding the sort of crass accessibility that inevitably involves noticeable residual sugar. Indeed, this is a well-judged wine, unafraid to indulge the more controversial aspects of this varietal without becoming a caricature of itself. Big entry, brisk mid-palate, a smidgeon of length, plenty of lively flavour and structure. There’s no complexity to speak of, but nor is there any pretension.

It certainly won’t convert anyone to the style, but lovers of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc needn’t hesitate.

Mud House
Price: $A22
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Ocean Eight Aylward Pinot Noir 2010

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When attending a residential school for the course I’m doing, many wines are inevitably dragged out for tasting, some more interesting than others. Last night, they ranged from blandly commercial to full-throttle odd. This Pinot was the undoubted highlight of the evening’s selection, so I will write it up in full, noting that it’s not yet released and in fact has only been bottled for a month.

Cloudy in appearance, this is immediately savoury and dark on the nose, with stalk, edges of oak, bubblegum and marzipan, pinosity leaking from every pore. It’s complex and moody, and what I like most is the way the aroma profile draws you in despite what are some challenging and offbeat aroma components.

The palate is all over the place, which is understandable, but shows the hallmarks of a wine that will sing with time: power, intensity, drive and, most of all, length. The flavours balance a swell of sweet red berry fruit with a range of more savoury fruit notes and vegetal influences. It’s a very textural wine, partly due to some short-term CO2 and more interestingly through a good deal of acid, a big whack of slightly green tannins on the middle palate (stalk?) and a decent layer of puckery sweet fruit tannins on the finish. There’s minerality here too, just one of the many flavour components this wine throws into the mix.

This is exactly what I look for in Mornington Pinot — a broody, structured wine whose fruit shows an inherent complexity of flavour, and whose winemaking isn’t afraid to push the boundaries. Look out for this one.

Update: check out Andrew’s review over at the Australian Wine Review.

Ocean Eight
Price: $NA
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Other

Dowie Doole Garnacha & Tempranillo 2010

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This wine’s packaging, with which I was so taken when I tasted last year’s release, still made me grin when I unpacked the sample box this evening. It’s just so bold and fun, without resorting to the sort of immediately dated look that so many other producers seem to arrive at when trying to make their wines stand out on the liquor store shelf.

I was also impressed with the wine in the bottle last year; for my taste, though, the 2010 is a marked step up in sophistication and style. If I were to level a criticism at the 2009, it would be at its fruit character, which was quite sweet, perhaps too much so for some, and overpowering the positive, dirty influence that Tempranillo can bring. This is still a lusciously generous wine that wears its Grenache on its sleeve, but there’s a savoury dimension that seems more prominent this time around, taking the aroma profile to a darker place and helping the whole seem more complex.

The palate is perhaps a tad more gushy than the aroma suggests. Viscosity and intensely gorgeous red fruits on entry, this moves to the middle palate with a whoosh of acid and several licks of sweet/savoury character. I’m sure if I had a very savoury red wine alongside, this would seem hopelessly naive, but on its own terms it is positively delicious and, given the style sought, it seems quite perfectly judged.

Bloody good quaffing wine for the drinker with attitude.

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

Scarborough White Label Semillon 2010

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It’s a truism that fresh Hunter Semillon is tough. All that acidity, a relative simplicity of flavour, etc. Indeed, we generally focus on what the wines become with bottle age — a honeyed, nutty wonder that embodies one of the most dramatic transformations in all of wine. I wonder, though, whether our collective tendency to lump young Semillon together works to obscure the very real differences these wines can show from one another when first released. Perhaps changing the critical dialogue around Semillon; elevating the value of the young form while retaining the aged’s deservedly prized place; might help us to appreciate and even enjoy the style at all stages of its evolution.

This wine is a case in point. For a young Semillon (oops, there we go again), it shows considerable complexity and character, much more than the cliché of “lemon juice and battery acid” might suggest. It’s actually as much about funky minerality as it is citrus. I’m not sure where those flavours come from (sulfur? carbon dioxide?) but I like the vibe and don’t mind that they fatten the aroma profile somewhat, creating a broader wine, more suitable for earlier enjoyment and faster maturation than one might expect from a premium label.

The palate is a slightly noisy mix of zingy texture — showing a little spritz and more than a little acid — savoury base notes and high toned florals. The texture in particular modulates between chalky, bubbly and surprisingly viscous. It’s worth drinking for this alone. The flavour here is again relatively broad, though I hesitate to suggest it shows much, or any, development. It’s just a fuller, softer style of Semillon, easier to approach than many while retaining enough of the angularity of this style to fit within the mainstream.

I’ve no idea how this will look in ten years’ time. What I do know is that it’s a fascinating, left-of-centre wine right now.

Scarborough
Price: $A35
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Mitchell Harris Sauvignon Blanc Fumé 2010

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It seems fashionable to play with Sauvignon Blanc, and the results have often divided critics. Manipulating a grape like Chardonnay is a no-brainer; straightforwardly made wines of this variety can be boring (with notable exceptions, of course). Sauvignon Blanc, on the other hand, is a variety with intense character right from the starting line, some might say too much. So the choice of winemaking inputs may be less obvious here.

Mitchell Harris has chosen two techniques — wild yeast fermentation and barrel maturation — in the making of this wine. Of these, the oak is most immediately apparent on the nose, with a distinct smokey note sitting alongside gentle fruit aromas that remind me of red papaya. The smoky note brings in hints of bacon fat, but I’m not sure if that’s just me dragging in inappropriate associations; no matter, it’s a distinctive aroma profile, though I’d prefer the oak influence to be more tightly woven into the whole. The fact that it’s not speaks of fruit character that tends towards reticence.

The palate is marked by the same sharp smokey note that floats over the entire line. Underneath, a slippery, cool wine that slides along the tongue with a rather beguiling texture. I’ve learned to expect a degree of acidic bite from Sauvignon Blanc wines, and this has a decent spine of acid to be sure, but it’s the wine’s satiny voluptuousness that stands out for me most. As with the nose, fruit flavour could be more forward; as it is, there’s a slightly hollow impression to the profile, as if it needs to step forward a bit. Yet it manages decent impact and drive down the line, and the more time I spend with the wine the more I am appreciating its subtle complexities. The caramel finish is especially enjoyable.

An odd wine in some ways, and one I suspect will challenge peoples’ idea of the varietal. Nonetheless, I am enjoying its distinctiveness and hand-made vibe. Great value for the style.

Mitchell Harris
Price: $A19.95
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Louee Nullo Mountain Riesling 2010

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Yesterday’s Pinot Grigio underwhelmed me, and I wondered at the time whether it was my general lack of enthusiasm for the style as much as the wine itself. On the tasting bench tonight, I have a wine from the same vintage and producer, but made from a grape for which I have much more affection: Riesling. Let’s see how we go.

The nose is subtle, with prickly wisps of lemon rind, minerality and edges of candied peel. It brings to mind watercolour and pastel shades, which is pretty I suppose but also a bit wishy-washy. I want more here: some impact or at least a twisted sense of humour. Some air and a warmer serving temperature help it to show to better advantage. As it warms, there’s greater volume and an emerging thickness to the aroma that you may or may not like.

he palate is altogether more satisfying. Entry is tingly with sherbet-like acid and some straightforward lemon juice flavour. This lemon juice is the most prominent flavour component right along the line, though it’s joined through the middle palate by savoury minerals and higher toned florals. I find the flavour profile a bit clumsy and straightforward, particularly for a wine style where delicacy and finesse are often highly valued. The acid is also a bit tiring after a few mouthfuls. However, it has impact and decent intensity. After palate and finish show good persistence.

>Another mixed bag here. Neither Louee wine tasted has nailed the style sought, but both are cleanly made, so perhaps a bit more experimentation is in order.

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

Louee Nullo Mountain Pinot Grigio 2010

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I don’t remember ever having tasted a Pinot Grigio from Mudgee, so this wine is a first for me. The back label suggests the Grigio style (earlier picked, lower alcohol) suits this vineyard’s grapes well. Key words are light, fresh and clean. No argument from me there. This is a dry white made in a mode unlikely to cause offence.

If you think that’s a dig, then you’re probably right, although there’s a lot right with this wine. For starters, it’s very cleanly made, showing sharp aromas of quince, white flowers and the heat of Summer on ripe foliage. It strikes me as an aroma profile that lacks character and distinctiveness but which is nevertheless very correct.

The palate shows lovely acidity and really well-judged phenolic bitterness. So, mostly a structural experience, and the flavour, such as it is, serves to illustrate the wine’s foundations rather than take centre stage. The entry is deceptively light, filling quickly through a middle palate that hints at a more satisfying opulence of mouthfeel. Flavour is at its most intense through the after palate, where a nice lilt of honeycomb and florals carries through to a mostly textural finish.

You’ll get more flavour from a good Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc but, as it is, not a bad example of the style.

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

Scarborough Green Label Semillon 2010

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Hunter Semillon’s renown is due largely to its ability to age in the most astonishing fashion. From young liquid neutral in flavour develops a complex, funky, rich wine that wears its bottle age with pride. It’s a style revered both in Australia (though arguably not as much as it should be) and abroad.

All of which is potentially problematic for Hunter Semillon made in a style designed for early drinking. The attraction of fresh young white wines is self-evident, but the most popular tend to be highly perfumed and of obvious charms. How to handle a variety, then, that wants to hold itself back until it has rested for more than a few years? The obvious answer is to mitigate the most challenging aspects of young Semillon (acid, neutrality) and bring forward those dimensions mostly likely to charm (fruit flavour, fullness of body). A winemaker risks vulgarising the varietal in the process, though, so it’s a fine line to tread.

This Scarborough wine makes a reasonable case for the value of drink-now Semillon. What I like most about it is that it doesn’t try too hard to please. There a few things more distressing than Hunter Semillon pushed in the direction of Sauvignon Blanc (even though, in other contexts, the two varieties are classic bedmates), and this wine certainly avoids an impression of unnatural styling. The nose shows relatively forward but still austere aromas of pebbles, herbs and tart citrus juice. No great complexity but, happily, good typicité. This reminds me of lawns mowed in Summer, the sound of cricket on the television, curtains drawn to keep the heat out.

The palate capitalises on the strengths of this varietal, with good presence and lively acid. It’s not forbidding, structurally, just fresh and zingy, which suits the style. Again, complexity of flavour isn’t a strong point, but I like the slightly mineral edge to what is a mostly citrus-driven flavour profile. Overall, it’s softer and blurrier than Semillons designed to age, and the lack of definition that results seems a well struck compromise, given the intent behind this wine.

Clean, clever and as tasty as one might reasonably expect.

Scarborough
Price: $A22
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Flaxman Riesling 2010

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There’s a collection of quality-focused producers, rather micro in scale, in and around the Flaxman Valley who are together creating a real stir amongst the cognoscenti. Flaxman is one such producer, and I’m pleased tonight to be tasting the latest estate Riesling, sourced from vines considerably older than myself.

The Flaxman Riesling style is typically a fuller, richer interpretation of the grape, and this is no exception. Where the Karra Yerta wines from the same area, for example, play with delicacy and pastel hues, this is a full throttle streak of sunlight, yet still identifiably Eden Valley, preferring floral and talc notes to the Clare’s juicy flavours. The nose first, which is full of bath salts, powder, puffs of citrus oil and spongey pith. It isn’t out-and-out powerful so much as firm and persistent, carving a clear line into one’s senses and never letting up until it’s time to sniff again.

The palate is an icepick of a thing, so cleanly articulated are the flavours and sharp the impact. But it’s not clumsy; indeed, there’s masses of detail as the wine unfolds from entry, notes of slate, talc and citrus rind each dovetailing neatly, culminating in a cool, crystalline climax on the middle palate. From here the wine softens marginally, some tropical flavours like pineapple adding a rich opulence to the flavour profile. Nice dry texture kicks in as the finish takes over, ending things on a flinty flourish of Riesling goodness.

You won’t go wrong with this.

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