2012 CANTINA ZACCAGNINI MONTEPULCIANO D’ABRUZZO - TRUE

The Cerasuolo rosé from Cantina Zaccagnini was enthusiastically reviewed on these pages some time ago. The Montepulciano from the same producer is a benchmark of the style. Although not a particularly complex wine, it delivers pretty much all one could want from a trattoria-style red for everyday drinking – medium weight, savoury, balanced acidity and a lick of tannin to hold things in check.

In this instance it went very well with ragu Bolognaise, cutting through the rich sauce with aplomb. One could see it alongside a platter of fine Italian salumi, or rich pasta dishes. Stylistically, the wine sits more in the traditional camp than the Terzini Montepulciano d’Abruzzo reviewed several months ago, but both are good in there own way.

2012 CANTINA ZACCAGNINI MONTEPULCIANO D’ABRUZZO
Producer: Cantina Zaccagnini
Variety: Montepulciano
Vintage: 2012
Region: Abruzzo, Italy
Alcohol: 12.5%
Closure: Natural cork
Retail Price: $29.00
Date Tasted: 21 November 2014

Tasting Note:
Deep ruby. Open and inviting nose of violet, aniseed, damson/black cherry, touch of cracked pepper. Medium bodied, dry and savoury, sour cherry/black cherry, dusty herbs, slightly drying tannin on the finish. Moderate acidity. Not a super complex wine, but does what it sets out to do admirably well.
Score: 16/20

2011 AJ ADAM DHRONER RIESLING - SHARP DRESSED MAN

In decades past, the Mosel was often seen to be marginal for producing dry wines. ‘Too austere’ was often the catchphrase for dry wines made from the steep slate-rich slopes of the Mosel. Global warming has by and large put paid to austerity. Producers along the Mosel have the luxury to make a full spectrum of wines from bone dry through delicate off-dry Kabinetts, rich Spätlese and Auslese and, when conditions permit, Beerenauslese, TBA and Eiswein.

AJ Adam is a producer whose star is very much on the rise. The estate is small, a mere 3.7 hectares in the middle Mosel. This particular wine is a dry ‘village’ level Riesling from the vllage of Dhron. In its youth, it displays plenty of structure by way of acidity, coupled with a complex citrus-laden palate. There is sufficient depth and intensity on show here to suggest that the wine will flesh out with medium term cellaring.

This is a Riesling for Riesling lovers, relatively delicate yet with plenty of ‘cut and thrust’. Enjoy it on a warm day or alongside mildly spiced food.

2011 AJ ADAM DHRONER RIESLING
Producer: Weingut AJ Adam
Variety: Riesling
Vintage: 2011
Region: Mosel, Germany
Alcohol: 12.0%
Closure: Natural cork
Retail Price: $42.00
Date tasted: 8 November 2014

Tasting Note:
Pale silvery yellow with green tinges. Open aromatic nose of apricot blossom, fresh apples, tangerine zest. Slightly off-dry, quite delicate, zesty tangy citrus, quince. Grapefruit and bitter lemon emerge as the wine warms up in the glass. Lively acidity. Should improve with medium term cellaring.
Score: 16.5/20

2013 CALABRIA WINES AGLIANICO - MAMA MIA....!

Calabria Wines (formerly known as Westend Estate) is the source of some of Australia’s best (and certainly best value) Aglianico. The 2009 and 2010 vintages of Calabria Aglianico have both been reviewed positively on these pages.

The 2013 vintage release follows in similar style, delivering excellent varietal definition and authentic southern Italian character. As with previous offerings from this address, the wine offers upside for development in bottle over the medium term.

Kudos to Calabria Wines for being prepared to invest in Aglianico and to produce an expression of the variety at a very modest price that benefits from cellaring. Those seeking an authentic southern-Italian inspired wine could do a lot worse than grab a few bottles of Calabria Wines Aglianico.

2013 CALABRIA WINES AGLIANICO
Producer: Calabria Wines
Variety: Aglianico
Vintage: 2013
Region: Riverina, New South Wales
Alcohol: 13.5%
Closure: Screw cap
Retail Price: $17.00
Date tasted: 6 November 2014

Tasting Note:
Bright ruby red. Varietal nose of plum, cherry, roasted spice, earthy notes. Dry, medium bodied, initially fruit forward. Acidity is fine and well balanced. Tannins become more forthright over time. Needs food and will benefit from a couple of years in bottle.
Score: 16/20

2009 CRITTENDEN ESTATE CABERNET SAUVIGNON 'LES ADIEUX' - GOOD IN GOODBYE

With many of its vineyards now fully mature, Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula has emerged as one of the key regions for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay (and Pinot Gris, if you must) outside of Burgundy. While best suited to varieties from the Burgundian family, a number of producers on the Peninsula have experimented and indeed persisted with varieties from further afield.

Gary Crittenden is an old timer when it comes to the grape growing on the Mornington Peninsula. As a peninsula pioneer, Crittenden played with a wide palette of grape varieties, among them Cabernet Sauvignon. To many, the notion of growing late-ripening Cabernet adjacent to Pinot Noir seems fanciful. One can only wonder how green and herbaceous Cabernet grown on the outskirts of Beaune would taste! But this is southern Australia, not cold continental France. Shiraz certainly ripens on certain sites on Mornington Peninsula (Paringa Estate, Paradigm Hill), so why not Cabernet Sauvignon?

2009 marked the death knell for Crittenden Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (hence the ‘Les Adieux’) but it certainly went out on a high. It is a stylish, svelte cool climate Cabernet that displays excellent varietal character with no suggestion of herbaceous. While there is an a clear affinity between Mornignton Peninsula and Burgundian varieties, the swansong vintage of Crittenden Estate’s Cabernet Sauvignon is proof positive that warmer sites are perhaps better suited to varieties that enjoy a long growing season under southern skies.

2009 CRITTENDEN ESTATE CABERNET SAUVIGNON ‘LES ADIUEX’
Producer: Crittenden Estate
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon et al
Vintage: 2009
Region: Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
Alcohol: 13.5%
Closure: Screw cap
Retail Price: $40.00
Date tasted: 31 October 2014

Tasting Note:
Deep ruby in appearance. Attractive nose of cherry coulis/Morello cherry, cassis, licorice, cedar and smoky oak. Medium bodied, satin-like in texture. Sweet cherry/damson fruit up-front leading to crème de cassis on the mid-palate. Fine powdery tannins carry the finish which is long and fine.
Score: 16.5/20

2013 CHAPOUTIER TOURNON 'MATHILDA' BLANC - FRENCH KISS

Michel Chapoutier has a number of interests in Victoria, both as a joint venture partner (notably with Jasper Hill’s Ron Laughton) and in his own right under the Tournon label. As with Alain Graillot in Heathcote, Chapoutier’s Tournon wines provide an interesting Francophile interpretation of Australian terroir.

Chapoutier fashions two entry wines under the Tournon ‘Mathilda’ label, the red being an excellent value Syrah (previously reviewed on these pages) and the white being a Rhône-inspired blend of Viognier and Marsanne. As is the case with the Syrah, at $20 per bottle or just under, it delivers a huge amount of flavour and character for a modest outlay.

Viognier can be a tricky variety, but this example captures its exotic honeysuckle an apricot blossom aromatics to a tee. The judicious use of Marsanne lends a savoury quality to the palate and fresh acidity. All in all, Chapoutier Tournon ‘Mathilda’ Blanc is a very attractive, dinner table friendly Rhône-styled white.

2013 CHAPOUTIER TOURNON ‘MATHILDA’ BLANC
Producer: Chapoutier
Variety: White Rhône blend
Vintage: 2013
Region: Victoria
Alcohol: 14.5%
Closure: Screw cap
Retail Price: $20.00
Date tasted: 24 October 2014

Tasting Note:
Greenish yellow in appearance. Aromatic nose of fresh green apples, apricot blossom and honeysuckle. Quite delicate and elegant; assertive Voignier-led palate of apricot kernel and candied apple. Moves to savoury on the mid-palate. Moderate length.
Score: 16/20

2009 GIACONDA NANTUA - HE AIN'T HEAVY, HE'S MY BROTHER

Few Australian producers occupy a more venerated position when it comes to Chardonnay than Beechworth’s Giaconda. Giaconda Estate Chardonnay is arguably Australia’s greatest white wine. For those wanting to experience Giaconda without the $100 plus price tag, Nantua provides an excellent insight into the house style.

Sourced from estate grown fruit and grapes sourced from neighbouring vineyards, Nantua is principally Chardonnay, with a touch of Roussanne thrown in for good measure. Like the Giaconda Estate Chardonnay, it is a wine that is generous in flavour. In some respects, it is a slightly traditional Australian Chardonnay, with generous stonefruit and pear intermingled with forward nutty oak.

Nantua is a powerful and full flavoured wine well suited to richer seafood and white meat dishes. While it may lack some of the finesse and structure of its more prestigious sibling, it is nonetheless a very good quality Australian Chardonnay.

2009 GIACONDA NANTUA
Producer: Giaconda
Variety: Chardonnay
Vintage: 2009
Region: Beechworth, Victoria
Alcohol: 13.0%
Closure: Screw cap
Retail Price: $50.00
Date tasted: 26 October 2014

Tasting Note:
Bright lemon yellow with golden hints. Inviting nose of white peach, nectarine, fig, honey and nutty oak. At the fuller end of medium bodied, round and moutfilling, lots of flavour; nougat, cashew, pear and stonefruit. Classy oak is very well integrated and lends complexity. Generous depth of flavour and lovely complexity. Slightly ‘old school’ in feel, but that’s no bad thing.
Score: 17/20

1995 WENDOUREE SHIRAZ - ICH BIN EIN AUSLÄNDER

Wendouree occupies an exalted position within the Australian wine scene. It produces tightly structured, long-lived wines that blur the lines between Australia and the Old World.

James Halliday sums things up just about right when he describes Wendouree as ‘an iron fist in a velvet glove’. Wendouree’s wines possess immense power and concentration framed by marked tannins, but have an underlying sense of elegance and finesse.

While it is very much its own wine, Wendouree Shiraz gives a nod to the great long-lived Syrahs of the hill of Hermitage in the northern Rhône. Both are powerful, masculine wines built for the long haul, but completely unforced and natural. One certainly wouldn’t mistake Wendouree Shiraz for Rhône Valley Syrah. Up-front mint and menthol confirm its Australian origin. Yet, there is a serious savoury note to the wine, a sense of reserve, that places it outside the conventional Australian wine domain.

Almost 20 years from vintage, the 1995 (Wendouree’s centenary vintage) Wendouree Shiraz, is starting to take shape. Still deep crimson in appearance, it possesses a smouldering bouquet of coal, baked earth and dark fruits. While the structured tannins of youth have melted there is sufficient depth and intensity to suggest a further 10 or more years development potential.

This is not a wine for all. Those accustomed to typical Australian up-front sweet fruit will find little pleasure in this very serious and slightly demanding wine. This is a wine that will appeal to those with a leaning to the wines of the Old World.

1995 WENDOUREE SHIRAZ
Producer: Wendouree
Variety: Syrah/Shiraz
Vintage: 1995
Region: Clare Valley, South Australia
Alcohol: 13.0%
Closure: Natural cork
Retail Price: N/a
Date tasted: 18 October 2014

Tasting Note:
Deep crimson. Aristocratic nose of mint/menthol, graphite, coal, smoke, slightly earthy. Dry, medium bodied, savoury and very serious. Not an easy fruit forward wine – savoury sour cherry, tilled earth, cedar, dark fruits. Although the tannins have softened appreciably, there’s at least a decades upside with this wine.
Score: 18.5/20

2012 HEAD GRENACHE ROSÉ - WHOLE LOTTA ROSIE!

Rosé is a wine style that has only recently been taken seriously by Australian vignerons. While rosé is an important category in the Old World, particularly in Provence and parts of Spain, we in Australia have been rather slow in recognizing the commercial potential of rosé.

With Grenache, Syrah/Shiraz and Mourvèdre the backbone of the roses southern France and Spain (with Garnacha aka Grenache), Australia’s traditional warm climate regions (particularly the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale) have the necessary resources at their disposal to produce high quality rosé. However, only a few have incorporate rosé as a key player in their range.

Alex Head is one producer to have treated rosé with the merit it deserves. Head Grenache Rosé is more than a match for most Provence rosés that make it to these shores. Pale salmon pink in colour, delicate on both the nose and palate and weighing in at a modest 12.5% ABV, this is a wine that ticks all of the boxes.

While the wine is only moderately complex, it delivers most things one could want from a quality rosé at under $30 per bottle – elegance, refinement and most importantly, refreshment value. A wine like this is all too easy to guzzle back on a warm summer’s day, especially alongside appropriate food. – salade Niçoise would be perfect!

2012 HEAD GRENACHE ROSÉ
Producer: Head Wines
Variety: Rosé
Vintage: 2012
Region: Marche, Italy
Alcohol: 12.5%
Closure: Screw cap
Retail Price: $25.00
Date tasted: 18 October 2014

Tasting Note:
Pale salmon pink. Delicate nose of cranberry, redcurrant and lemon zest. Very pretty. Bone dry, medium bodied, savoury – a real food style. Delicate red fruits fill the palate (cranberry, sour cherry). Lemony acidity carries the finish, which is long and fresh.
Score: 16/20

2012 ROSS HILL ‘ISABELLE & JACK’ CABERNET FRANC MERLOT - AROMATIC LOVE

At its best, Cabernet Franc can be wonderfully aromatic and elegant. Appellations such as Chinon, Bourgueil and St Nicolas de Bourgueil showcase Cabernet Franc at its best. In Australia, we tend to see Cabernet Franc primarily as a blending variety as part of Cabernet Sauvignon-based Bordeaux blends.

Too rarely, Australian examples of single varietal Cabernet Franc display the grape’s alluring aromatics. Orange’s Ross Hill is one exception. ‘Isabelle & Jack’ is a Bordeaux Right Bank-inspired blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot. While relatively simple, it displays excellent varietal character, particularly in terms of the Cabernet Franc component.

This wine displays attractive grassy aromatics intermingled with red fruits (redcurrant, pomegranate) typical of Cabernet Franc. As mentioned above, it is straightforward and direct, but deserves merit for textbook varietal definition.

2012 ROSS HILL ‘ISABELLE & JACK’ CABERNET FRANC MERLOT
Variety: Cabernet Franc, Merlot
Vintage: 2012
Region: Orange, New South Wales
ABV: 13.5%
Closure: Screw cap
Retail Price: $20.00
Date tasted: 11 October 2014

Tasting Note:
Mid-garnet in appearance. Open and slightly aromatic nose; grassy, gently herbaceous, pencil shavings, redcurrant. Dry, medium bodied and savoury, gentle tannins. Relatively simple but displays good varietal character in the red fruit vein.
Score: 15/20

2010 SORRENBERG GAMAY - CHERRY BOMB

Beaujolais is a region undergoing somewhat of a revival at present thanks to the efforts of a burgeoning number of talented and dedicated growers. Price inflation in other regions, particularly Burgundy to the north, has also benefited Beaujolais, as consumers seeking value have redirected their buying towards those regions that over-deliver in terms of value for money.

Much of the allure of Beaujolais can be attributed to the affinity between the Gamay grape and the region’s granitic soils. What of Gamay in Australia? Unlike the cool climate darling that is Pinot Noir, Gamay tends to be overlooked by all but a few. In view of its great drinkability and food friendliness, one wonders why it hasn’t been more widely planted.

We have previously looked at the excellent Eldridge Estate Gamay on these pages. When it comes to Gamay in Australia, Sorrenberg is generally considered to be at or near the very top of the quality scale. Biodynamically produced from a relatively mild site in Beechworth, it has the necessary building blocks for success.

The 2010 Sorrenberg Gamay is bang on the money in terms of varietal definition, but is lacking a touch for complexity and general interest at this point in time. It would be interesting to see the same wine in 3-4 years time.

2010 SORRENBERG GAMAY
Producer: Sorrenberg
Variety: Gamay
Vintage: 2010
Region: Beechworth, Victoria
Alcohol: 13.6%
Closure: Natural cork
Retail Price: $45.00
Date tasted: 4 October 2014

Tasting Note:
Bright garnet. Open nose of red fruit (cherry, pomegranate, raspberry), slightly smoky. Dry, medium bodied, quite sweet fruited up-front. Relatively simple palate of red fruits. Lively line of acidity carries the finish, which is long and fine. Perhaps it needs more time?
Score: 15.5/20