Tag Archives: New South Wales

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

Moppity Vineyards Reserve Shiraz 2008

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This is quite a wine. After a few days of tasting fundamentally uninteresting commercial styles, one sniff of this reminded me of what wine can be, of how it can fill a room and one’s senses with individualism and character.

Which probably means some people will hate it, and those likely to disapprove are those with an aversion to spicy, cooler climate Shiraz styles of the sort Australia does so well but is so little known for. This wine, from Hilltops in New South Wales, is a full-on pepper attack at first, each twist of the grinder revealing blackberry brambles, snapped twig and all sorts of other wild, meaty aromas that are about as far from Barossa Shiraz as you can get. It’s sharp and complex and neatly avoids any sense of out-and-out aggressiveness.

The palate is both light and powerful. What stands out most for me is the way each flavour wraps around the others while remaining quite distinct; this gives the wine a sinewy, taut character that is quite thrilling. Entry is spiced and red fruited in equal measure, the flavour profile being entirely savoury and the acid prominent. While the middle palate remains light to medium bodied, there’s a good deal of flavour and its sharp, spiced profile gives the wine satisfying impact. The after palate shows some plush plum fruit alongside twigs and spice (and a hint of vanilla ice cream oak), while the finish is both delicate and long. The acid needs a little time to settle, I think, as it’s currently quite assertive, something the sharp flavour profile does not mask. Tannins are drying and loose-knit.

Still an infant, but bloody impressive nonetheless. I’ll be fascinated to revisit this in a few years’ time.

Moppity Vineyards
Price: $A60
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

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

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

Angullong Sauvignon Blanc 2010

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If you’re going to drink cheap Sauvignon Blanc, it had better, at the very least, be a fresh release. It had also better be characterful, a bit of a coquette perhaps, not sweet so much as fruitful, bursting with the sort of guileless enthusiasm that’s embarrassing in company but awesome when it’s just you.

Except that, when you realise that you’re kind of digging it, you begin to want to share it with friends, because something this fun seems a shame to keep to yourself. And while you’re contemplating that contradiction, the smell of it yanks you back into the land of simple enjoyment, and makes you forget thoughts of wine as a mark of sophistication, or even as something that should attract your attention for more than a brief moment. And you just sniff it for fun.

But then you notice some subtle cut grass on the nose, and a refreshingly bitter phenolic twist through the after palate. And you start to think this wine’s kind of punching above its weight, that there might be something more to it than you first thought. Come on, though, it’s a $17 Sauvignon Blanc, and it’s not even from New Zealand! Surely it can’t hope to present a coherent alternative to the instantly recognisable Marlborough style without resorting to residual sugar, hideously vulgar fruit character, or both.

You keep sniffing, and tasting, and it all goes down terribly well, especially with some mid-week fish and chips. You begin to realise this is, in some ways, the perfect quaffing wine, the success of which isn’t about avoiding angularity so much as having just enough sharpness to challenge your palate and prime your senses for enjoyment of the fruit-driven flavour profile. If you’re a complete wine tragic, you might even blog about the experience of drinking it. Then, fish and chips eaten, wine consumed, the memory of it disappears in a puff of smoke, and your overriding impression is simply of an evening enjoyed, relaxation, pleasure.

Angullong
Price: $A17
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Scarborough Blue Label Chardonnay 2009

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Though just as generously flavoursome as its Yellow Label sibling, this wine is made in quite a different style, more aligned to the contemporary idiom. There’s no new oak, its fruit is crisp and fresh, its complexity apparently lees-derived with only partial malolactic fermentation.

The nose is crisp, flinty aromas overlaying white nectarine and some funk, possibly sulfurous in nature. Its impact is savoury and rather chiselled; this doesn’t present as an especially buxom style. But there’s a nice depth to the aroma that prevents it from being an exclusively high toned aroma profile.

The palate shows some richer fruit alongside a continuation of the nose’s savouriness. Entry is very flavoursome, an initially crisp mouthfeel becoming glossier and fuller towards the middle palate. A nice array of fruit flavours fans out here; there’s citrus and peach in equal measure, with just a hint of butterscotch. Mouthfeel is especially interesting, showing good texture and detail in a contradictorily soft package. A fresh herbal twang asserts through the after palate. The finish is sharp and lengthy.

An attractive style, well executed and priced.

Scarborough
Price: $A19
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Scarborough Yellow Label Chardonnay 2007

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Chardonnay, let alone Hunter Chardonnay, is hardly at the vanguard of vinous fashion, so one could be forgiven for greeting this Scarborough wine a shrug. It pays to remember, though, the Hunter has a special place in the history of Australian Chardonnay, and continues to be the home of two of Australia’s more sought after peaches: the Lake’s Folly white and Tyrrell’s Vat 47. Scarborough is something of a Chardonnay specialist, having earned an enviable reputation for this varietal, so I approached this wine with high expectations.

The nose is fresh and clean, showing aromas of butter, peach, a little bit of minerality, perhaps a herbal twang and some smokey toast. Complex, then, but its buttery balance speaks more of enjoyment than analysis. I like that the oak is subdued, the wine appearing to rely more on fruit character and other forms of winemaking input (some lees work, I suspect) to achieve its aroma profile.

The palate takes a step up in expressiveness, being quite rich and full-flavoured. Entry is strikingly flavoursome, a nice spectrum of peach, citrus and butter notes caressing the tongue and paving the way for a middle palate that is quite flooded with fruit. The flavours are very clean at this point, showing good definition and shape, supported by easygoing acidity. I feel this wine’s textural dimension, though, isn’t quite balanced, being too reticent and consequently somewhat overwhelmed by the fullness of the fruit flavour. I’d like to feel a bit more mealiness on my tongue on the mid-palate, which would add more sophistication to the palate structure. The after palate does offer a bit more in this regard, and this helps carry the wine through a finish that seemed a bit hot to me.

Lovely fruit here, made in a gloriously unfashionable style that I admit to enjoying more often than not. It’s not over the top, simply generous and warm. Very well priced.

Scarborough
Price: $A21
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Gardners Ground Merlot 2008

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Onwards with my train wreck obsession with Australian Merlot. This one’s from the Cowra region (well, Canowindra actually) and is a pretty good rendition of a quaffing red. A bonus is that it’s organic.

The nose is robust and relatively complex, with juicy, jube-like blackberries, crushed ants, subtle oak and a bit of snapped twig for good measure. The straightforward fruit flavours are pleasing enough, but what I like most is the savoury notes are quite assertive, bringing interest and an edge to an otherwise plump aroma profile.

The palate shows similar characters and a pleasingly rough mouthfeel. Entry is quiet, the most significant influence being quite bright acid. Fruit weight builds towards the middle palate, and there’s a fun medicinal edge to the flavour profile. I like the rustic savouriness of the flavours; there’s a sappy, wood-like note that comes across as dirty, in a positive sense. The main issue I have with the palate is what appears to be an excess of residual sugar, which adds body but also prevents the wine from reaching an extreme of style that I’d be interested in experiencing. Still, it’s well judged for pleasurable, mid-week drinking. And I’m not going to argue too much with that.

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