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29 June 2015

Australia: Tasmania

Looney Tunes' Tasmanian Devil
downloaded from You Tube.
Australia's island state of Tasmania lies due south of Victoria (there's 450 km of ocean between Melbourne and Devonport on the north coast), and its wine-producing areas are roughly on the same longitude as the northern part of New Zealand's South Island. Vineyards are a relatively recent thing in this wildly beautiful place - present-day production essentially dates from the 1950s at the earliest, although some plots were planted before the mid 19th century. To name just two highly regarded pioneers as examples, Graham Wiltshire established Heemskerk in the 1960s and Dr. Andrew Pirie Piper's Brook Vineyard in 1974. Wine-growers/makers like them and the next generation have shown in a fairly short space of time that Tassie has fast become the cool climate region of Aus (even if on a limited scale and thus wines on the dear side), especially for aromatic white varieties, top Pinot Noir (which now accounts for almost half of varieties planted) and fine fizz too. See winetasmania.com.au and tamarvalleywineroute.com.au for more info.
So here are four well-known Tas wineries and notes on some of their wines, tasted in London and Dublin on different occasions. The AU$ prices are cellar door and £ prices as per stockists mentioned.

Tamar Ridge - Tamar Valley
Owned by Brown Brothers, their vineyards are located near Launceston in northern Tasmania and the Devil's Corner cellar is on the east coast. UK importer is ABS Wine Agencies, available from Fine Wines Direct UK and Bin Ends at the Bear among others.
2013 Tamar Sauvignon blanc – hints of gooseberry and green pepper vs a fatter riper edge, crisp and juicy with lingering green berry fruit. Au$28, £14.99
2013 Devil's Corner Riesling (from two specific vineyards) – yeasty vs oily nose with light lime fruit, quite intense and 'mineral' with tight vs oily texture; nice style. Au$20, £14.49
2010 Kayena Vineyard Riesling – complex maturing oily notes vs intense 'mineral' palate with long zesty finish, drinking nicely now but will last longer. Yum. £14.99
2011 Tamar Gewurztraminer – quite elegant lychee and rose water style, rounded and mature, drink up now. £11.49
2013 Devil's Corner Pinot Noir ("small amount of barrel ageing") – light and fruity with cherry and herby berry, soft and elegant mouth-feel with a touch of grip and tasty juicy fruit. Au$22, £15.99
2011 Pinot Noir Kayena Vineyard – showing more depth and savoury development, firmer palate yet still silky with fresh structured feel vs attractive sweet/savoury fruit, still quite closed up actually. £15.99

Jansz is a consistently very good bubbly brand made by the traditional or Champagne method, or 'Méthode Tasmanoise' as they call it on their site in typically Aussie two fingers to the French style. The proof is in the pudding as we say...
Jansz Premium Cuvée NV (Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay; 2+ years lees ageing in bottle) – Nice toasty touches on the nose, elegant vs yeasty profile with crisp steely bite vs lingering oat biscuit flavours, mouthwatering and tasty finish; good stuff. Au$22.95, £13-£15 Wine Direct, ND John, Hennings.
Jansz Premium Rosé NV (up to 3 years lees ageing) – Similar in some ways, more delicate even with subtle red berry and chocolate cake notes, yeasty vs refreshing crisp finish. Yum. Au$24.95, £14.95 Wine Direct, ND John.
Jansz Vintage Cuvée 2007 (Chardy, Pinot; 4.5 years ageing)  complex nose with toasted oat biscuit, lots of rich yeasty flavours vs again very crisp and well balanced; lovely classy fizz. Au$38.95, £21-£22 Frazier's, Field & Fawcett, Slurp.

Dalrymple Vineyards
This "premium" 12 ha estate is found in the Pipers River region northeast of Launceston, was planted in the early 1990s and is now run by viticulturist / winemaker Peter Caldwell.
2011 Piper's River Estate Chardonnay – complex lees-y oaty and buttery nose, savoury and nutty palate, soft and delicate with nice maturing vs still structured profile, long tasty finish; delicious wine. Au$35, £21-£25 Free Run Juice, Australian Wine Store.

2011 Pinot Noir – perfumed sweet/savoury nose, pure and elegant, lush s/s fruit vs crunchier fresher side, light bite of tannin vs silky maturing Pinot finish. Aus$36, £25 Australian Wine Store, Free Run Juice.

Mega brand Hardy's does also do a selection of high quality limited edition wines - after all they do own some historic vineyards - and their Eileen Hardy label is among them. They're sourcing fruit for the Chardy and Pinot from Tassie...
2012 Hardy's Eileen Hardy Pinot Noir (13.5% abv) - Perfumed and floral with sweet/savoury cherry fruit, quite delicate vs concentrated too, lovely lingering floral Pinot fruit on a silky backdrop. Yum although expensive: €45 in Ireland, UK: £35 Majestic Wine.

24 June 2015

Champagne: Drappier IV 'Quattuor'

As an appetiser to all my Champagne talk fizzing up on a handy new archive page, and a Champagnes de Vignerons special feature (links to it: 'growers' Champagnes, i.e. smaller vineyard owners who make Champers from their own grapes rather than selling them to the big houses) coming out after the summer... Here's a note on a very tasty and unusual (and rather expensive alas) special cuvée made by the perhaps less well-known brand Drappier (outside of France at least).

Drappier's Quattuor IV or 'Blanc de Quatre Blancs' is a blend of four white varieties, 25% of each including three "forgotten" and now replanted grapes Arbane, Petit Meslier and Blanc Vrai in addition to good-old Chardonnay. Their blurb also informs us that "only natural compost" was used in the vineyard, and "minimal added SO2 (the standard wine-making preservative) and unfiltered..." The dégorgement (when sediment is removed after second fermentation and lees ageing for "at least three years" in bottle) took place in January 2014, meaning the wine's had nearly another year and a half maturing gracefully before release.
12% abv: This bubbly shows fair class with its enticingly toasty yeasty nose and honeyed oat biscuit notes, fragrant and fruity too; quite rich baked biscuit and brioche flavours vs fine steely mouth-feel, fresh 'cut' and very dry appley finish (the dosage is only 4.2 g/l residual sugar, about one half to one third of the usual amount for 'Brut' styles); tight crisp and long with delicious complex lingering yeasty tones.
Costs about €60 a bottle in France. The UK agent is Berkmann Wine Cellars in London (where I downloaded the bottle shot from), who told me this Champers is mostly sold in restaurants, such as Les Mirabelles near Salisbury, Burythorpe House Hotel in North Yorks, Lake Road Kitchen in Cumbria, Andaz in London, Midsummer House and Alimentum in Cambridge and The Fat Duck in Berkshire. Approx retail price is £50 e.g. Hedonism wine shop in London. Dublin: €84.95 at The Corkscrew.

23 June 2015

South African Shiraz update: Cloof

Following on from my recent piece on South Africa: Pinotage & Shiraz / Syrah, I've added two more tasty Shirazes ("sexy" even...) to this and featured them below as well, which are definitely worth throwing out there into the digital wine sphere (they've been winning a few medals recently too: find out more on their site). Both come from Cloof Wine Estate in the Darling region (about an hour or so north of Cape Town) and are 2012 vintage: 'The Very Sexy' Shiraz and Cloof Shiraz. Click on the highlighted link at the top to read the original post. These reds were both aged for 15 months in barrel with more new oak used for the second one, which is also only made from selected bush vine fruit with much lower yields. UK importer: Berkmann Wine Cellars, Cloof Wines UK; online: SA Wines Online, Wines U Like, All about Wine (£ prices stated). O'Brien's in Ireland (€) and many other international distributors (see site as linked above).

2012 Cloof 'The Very Sexy' Shiraz Darling (14.5% abv) - Attractive style, deep purple black, nice peppery black fruit nose with earthy gamey edges even and a hint of coconut oak, quite punchy and spicy mouth-feel, ripe and rounded with light coco texture vs a tad of dry grip, enticing lingering ripe vs savoury fruit with some freshness too. Next day: more savoury and peppery with roast red pepper tones vs fairly rich dark olive vs blackberry and meaty edges. Drinking nicely now although there's no hurry. R75, £12-£13, €15.49.

2012 Cloof Shiraz Darling (14.5% abv) - Apparently there's more oak on this wine but it doesn't really taste of it apart from a background note/texture. Nice wild herby/minty aromas with dark berry, cassis and cherry and liquorice vs savoury tones too; rounded and powerful with attractive tannins vs sweet fruit, roasted red pepper and meaty undertones, light bitter twist and grip on the finish vs a bit of punch and sweet/savoury flavours. Next day: meatier, mintier and spicier and a tad oakier wierdly (?) with that funky roasted red pepper vs cocoa/mocha notes too, sweet dark fruit vs firm and punchy vs rounded and textured, pretty concentrated as well with that light bitter twist adding a bit of edge. R120, £35?

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