Tag Archives: South Australia

Ishtar Goddess White 2009

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I find it interesting that Viognier seems to polarise not only drinkers, but winemakers as well. It’s perhaps not unexpected for a variety that is still quite new in mass market Australian terms, but there’s a diversity of styles (see our recent mega-tasting for some examples) that, it seems to me, speaks more of uncertainty than confident choices. 

By contrast, one of the things I enjoy about Anita Bowen’s wines is that they are all about confidence. Not showiness, but a certainty that enables them to reveal themselves slowly, never crying out too loudly for either love or admiration. Her 2008 Viognier stood out in the mega-tasting lineup for its appropriate winemaking and sense of stylistic resolution. This more recent vintage is no different, though apparently achieved with more subtle winemaking inputs.
A heady, perfumed nose of honeysuckle, spice and nectarine skins. It’s an entirely coherent aroma profile without being especially complex (in the sense of having a cascade of different flavours). It is, however, very well defined and precisely layered, and becoming more expressive the longer it sits in glass. 
The palate is similarly etched, with an additional, quite adult, streak of phenolic bitterness that strikes me as entirely positive. First, the entry, which is immediate and fleet, depositing bright fruit flavours onto the tongue before reaching a middle palate that shows good balance between acidity and the sort of viscous mouthfeel that can easily sink Viognier. The tension between these two elements is more interesting to me than the flavours here, which are very correct but slightly simple and “grapey.” The after palate shows that lovely bitter, pithy streak before the wine tapers off through a reasonable finish.
This wine just feels right in the way it has been judged and executed. 

Balthazar of the Barossa
Price: $A19.50
Closure: Other
Source: Sample

Karra Yerta Bullfrog Flat Eden Valley Shiraz 2005

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There’s a reason why I’ve not posted recently, and it’s not entirely related to a lack of time. I have indeed tasted several wines this week. And they were all crap. Which does wear one down after a while. The point of my drinking, or so I have convinced myself, is to enjoy moments of abstract sensual pleasure. I drink wine for the same reason I listen to music; to hear, feel, disagree, discover. In other words, I drink to experience beauty. So a series of ugly wines gives me absolutely nothing to write other than tiresomely self-reflective introductions like this.

Anyway, it’s Saturday night and I’m worth a good wine. So out popped this sample from my tasting pile, a wine that has been waiting a few months to be experienced. I tasted the companion Barossa Shiraz a few weeks ago and found it intensely pleasurable. So it was with pleasure that my first smells and tastes of this wine revealed a similarly characterful, regionally-driven wine. Which you prefer may simply come down to your passion for one region’s flavour profile over another. 
Fabulous aromas of dirt roads and crushed stone, along with warm blackberries and well-judged, nutty oak. This is one to smell through the course of an entire evening, and to watch duck and weave through its full range of expressions, including the merest hint of aged leather. To be sure, there’s a lot in here, yet it’s not a self-consciously difficult wine. It just is, with a sense of easy, natural vibrancy that speaks both of its origins and its intent. 
Entry brings dense, liqueur-like fruit into focus at the temporary expense of some minerality, but the latter is flung back into the picture on the mid-palate, which is the wine’s high point of complexity. The structure is notable at this point, with firm underlying acidity and plush tannins keeping things in shape without ever seeming like the main event. A bit of vanillan oak pokes out its head through the after palate, but this wine is and remains all about spectacular fruit character; squashed blackberries and stones and dusty summers. 
What a treat. This is easily a $40 wine.

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

Dowie Doole Shiraz 2008

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Make no mistake, the Dowie Doole California Road and Reserve Shirazes from 2008 are very good wines. The single vineyard wine, in particular, is a beautifully characterful, limpid expression of McLaren Vale Shiraz. One could argue, though, this producer’s stylistic philosophy finds its most satisfying expression in the regular Shiraz, reviewed here. 

The nose is a little spicy and a lot fruity in a typically straightforward McLaren Vale manner, all liquorous red plums and dusted cocoa powder. There’s some savoury aniseed too that is part sweet and part herbal. The aroma profile has a clearly defined shape to it, simple and forthright. If it’s slightly blunt, it’s also enticing, very much in the manner of an old-fashioned baked dessert.
The palate is where things come together. Entry starts small but quickly crescendos to a mid-palate of bright, fresh berry fruit and edges of fennel. The fruit flavours are clean and well-defined, if straightforward, and (as with the nose) suggest an expression akin to the guilty pleasures of liqueur. The acidity is quite bright and causes the wine to jump around over the tongue as it progresses to the after palate. Here the flavours lift and become quite savoury, aniseed and coffee pushing the wine towards a decent finish.
What I like most about Dowie Doole reds is they chase deliciousness above all else. So despite this wine’s relatively simple flavours and a bright structure, it is absolutely delicious, and there’s something deeply attractive about a reasonably priced Shiraz that drinks as this wine does. Don’t hesitate.

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

Yelland & Papps Devote Greenock Shiraz 2008

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The third in Yelland & Papps’s trio of new release reds (Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon reviewed earlier). I think I like the Grenache most of all, though this comes in a close second.

The nose shows brown spice, oak, liquerous dark fruits; generous and comforting without being excessively rich. It’s a very clean aroma profile with a hint of mystery too — a dark pool of smells, rippling gently and promising cool refreshment.
A gentle entry follows, showing no great rush to get to the middle palate. Rather, fruit begins to come in waves, riding slightly prickly acidity and an incline of grainy tannins. Not a highly defined wine, this is more about expressionist brushstrokes and broad statements. It’s also quite sophisticated; the flavour profile, mixing sourness and nutty oak flavours with just enough fleshy fruit, seems quite adult to me. A nice, long, gentle finish.
This held up well over three days of tasting. Give it a couple of years and then tuck in.

Yelland & Papps
Price: $A32
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Yelland & Papps Devote Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

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Two things to note up front regarding this wine: it doesn’t smell or taste much like Cabernet, and I’ve personally struggled with it over two days of tasting. From which some readers may conclude it’s a bad wine, or that I don’t like it, neither of which is necessarily the case. It is atypical and difficult. It’s also oddly compelling and quite drinkable. 

Starting with the nose: nougat-heavy, somewhat malty oak flavours cushion red, plum-like fruits and an odd tarry note. It’s very expressive in its way, though the aroma profile is angular and overwhelming in equal measure. It reminds me of a woolen blanket you’ve just taken out of storage; promising comfort but giving off strange smells that are both familiar and difficult to love.
In the mouth – plenty of flavour for sure. A rush of confectionary red fruit alongside a slightly raw, twiggy note, plus the aforementioned coal tar. In form, it’s quite uncontrolled, lurching this way and that, swelling on the middle palate and turning suddenly towards a thinner expression through the after palate. It’s also charismatic and a bit of a wag. Some heat on the finish seems oddly appropriate.
What to make of this? Bad vintage? Perhaps, though in terms of wine appreciation, that strikes me as a cop-out. Still, its aesthetics defeat me; you may have better luck.

Yelland & Papps
Price: $A32
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Yelland & Papps Devote Old Vine Grenache 2008

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As nice as it was, the 2007 vintage of this wine pales in comparison to the current release 2008. This is seriously good Barossa Grenache in all respects.

Part of the reason why it’s good is that it doesn’t try too hard. Rather than going down the “more is better” road to quality, I feel this aims for a distillation of the style’s potential, cleanly articulating instead of overreaching. The colour here is certainly approachable, quite see-through really, showing some vibrant purple hues and flashing brightly due to its moderate density. 
The nose is complex and bounces between sweet and savoury. There’s certainly a hit of sweet Grenache fruit, but there’s also musk, nougat, deeper plum fruit, coffee and more, wrapped in an expressive, almost piercing bundle. Though there’s clearly oak here, it’s not the dominant element. Good integration for such a young wine, and any slight edginess that is showing at the moment will no doubt calm further with short term bottle age (or some air).
The palate is simply awash with fruit from entry through to finish. It’s quite tingly at first, fine but edgy acidity pushing bright red fruits onto the tongue, at which point they take a fast ride to the mid-palate and are joined by an altogether darker series of notes. A slightly meaty element asserts at this point, along with black fruits and coffee grounds. Nervous structure aside, the flavours are well harmonised. Brisk movement through the after palate, where a medicinal note lifts and carries the wine through a high toned finish.
There’s lots going on here, most of it attractive and compelling. I suspect this will be a ripper in two to five years’ time.

Yelland & Papps
Price: $A32
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

Petaluma Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay 2005

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Q: What do you do in the event of an earthquake?A: Well, if you’re me, you quickly check to make sure none of the wine fell over and broke (it didn’t) and then grab the first bottle you can find to calm your nerves.Thanks to the vagaries of the international wine trade, the local bottle shop had a dozen of these for a meager $14 a couple of months back. Sadly, the first two bottles were corked and nonrefundable, but this one appears intact.Not visibly old at all – it still looks bright and clean – the nose tells quite another story, with hazelnuts, burnt matchsticks, and pineapple clotted cream cake coming together to suggest a wine that’s been around for a few years. Rich, unctuous, and ever so slightly overwhelming (think California style) in the mouth, there’s a thick seam of rich, buttery pear and roasted nuts to be found here. The finish is plenty long, with just enough acidity to make it easy-going enough to please most anyone, I reckon. In short, this would be the ideal wine to serve in Qantas business class: rich, stuffed with enough flavor to register at even thirty thousand feet, and fat enough to please folks who don’t enjoy their wine unless it’s got a certain sense of luxurious, hedonistic plushness to it.The only thing I am is surprised: I love Petaluma’s riesling and viognier, both of which are wonderfully expressive and full of character – and yet this wine seems a bit vague (in the international style, at least). It doesn’t compare well, I think. to the Grosset chardonnay (which is presumably made from fruit from the same general area)… but it is at least a surefire crowd pleaser. Shame about the dead tree stopper, though. Petaluma
Price: $14
Closure: Cork
Source: Retail

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

Flaxman Sparkling Shiraz NV

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Disgorged in 2009. This is essentially the same wine as the Karra Yerta Sparkling Shiraz previously reviewed on Full Pour, so one might wonder the point of writing it up. Two reasons: firstly, it’s an excellent sparkling red worthy of some air time, and secondly, I’m kind of curious of my impressions the second time around.

That fabulous purple mousse that makes me want to squeal with delight (in a manly way). Liqueurous nose showing ripe cherries, spiced oak, chocolate and some lees influences.  Subtle and complex, it gives more as one puts more into it. It’s an earthy aroma profile that seems, somehow, artisanal in that it’s not squeakily, soullessly clean. 
The palate shows a similar complexity of flavour profile, though this bottle is less lively than the Karra Yerta I looked at in December, and consequently lacks a little pizzaz in the mouth. No matter, lots going on for sure; dark berry fruit flavours, savouriness, oak, tannin; this is a mile from the simple, sweet sparkling red some might be familiar with. Medium bodied, emphasising elegance and shape rather than outright power. Beautiful, cotton-wool finish of great finesse and delicacy.
Quality red bubbles. Fans of the style would do well to seek it out.

Flaxman Wines
Price: $A35
Closure: Crown seal
Source: Sample