Vintage 2010 at Joh. Jos. Prüm Estate:
A very cold and long winter caused a rather late awakening of nature. Spring started slowly, rather cool and with good humidity. Budbreak took place in late April, when temperatures went up. In the following weeks, vegetation went on normally. Mid June, then, brought the so-called “Schafskälte” (“sheep’s chill) which caused an extension of the flowering period, not only retarding the flowering in cooler vineyards, but also stretching this vegetation step within certain vineyards and even at the same vine. Uneven sizes of berries within a cluster were partly to be observed, announcing lower yields.
There are more and more imported wines available in Australia. Chianti is a world famous wine region in Tuscany.
Wine consumers hear wine judges talking about wine quality and they hear the term “acid” and “acid balance” frequently. Acid is a natural component of grapes and wine, as it is in all fruits and vegetables, but the name “acid” conjures up poor images.
Alternatives to what? Well, alternatives to the mainstream! For example, you’ve been invited around to a friend for a meal and you have to bring a bottle. The friend knows a thing or two about wine and food and you’d like to take something interesting.
Everyone knows Chardonnay and Shiraz! Most know Cabernet Sauvignon and probably Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc as well. Then there is Pinot Noir that is quite well known but has some difficulty in the minds of consumers due to its difficult pronunciation, and due to its average price tag that is higher than other reds.
Aussie Chardonnay is famous world wide. In the UK where a knowledge of grape varieties by consumers has been low, until recently, wine buyers often thought that “chardonnay” was some location in Australia that churned out a vast quantity of a cheap but pleasing enough white wine! In Australia average consumer knowledge is much better.
"This wine is corked!"
It is a statement that causes controversy and misunderstanding throughout the wine industry. Many waiters and retail staff do not know what it means - it is vital that they do know.
“Air Force” – breathing and decanting
Most wine consumers have heard of decanting and “breathing”. The image is strong of beautiful glass decanters, candles and waiters with starched white aprons.
Andrew Corrigan MW discusses the role of soils and terroir (the French term for vineyard aspect) and goes exploring the vineyard sites of McLaren Vale.
Traditional European wine explanations dwell on soil type in the vineyard.
Andrew Corrigan MW enthuses about exploration of wine traditions in Germany and then discusses Riesling commenting on comparisons of German regions and Australian examples – the other acknowledged great producer of Riesling.
It has now been 11 vintages that I have been making the Farr Rising wines and what an amazing 11 years it has been. The wines were initially under the shadow of By Farr but in the last 4 years they have stood alone. These individual wines from estate grown fruit had continued to grow and build with my development as a winemaker. I planted the vineyards at the start of my journey and it is the future of these vineyards that I am most excited about. If wines of the quality and value for money can be made from vines of this age, look out for the next 11 years.
No! The word in the heading is not a misprint. Gewurz (pronounced Ger-verts) is a short name for the correct long name Gewurztraminer (pronounced Ger-verts-tram-in-er).
Petit Verdot (pronounced “petty ver dough” where the “dough” is as bread dough) is a classic French variety in Bordeaux. The name means “little green one”.
Durif has been grown around Rutherglen in north east Victoria, for many years , and quite a following has built up. It can be quite a full bodied high alcohol style and an approach by some producers has been to grow some Durif in the cold King Valley region and blend it with the traditional ripe big warm climate grapes.
Tempranillo is a red variety and in its home in Spain, it is considered a noble premium variety. It is often coined “Spain’s answer to Cabernet”.
"Green" is now the name badge on any activity that wishes to preserve the environment. The wine industry is not an especially polluting activity but, being a beverage associated with social misuse, the authorities pay close attention to it and labels have to show that preservative additive has been used.
I am often asked how we learn when to harvest each variety? And whether there is a great difference between hand harvesting and the now more common machine harvesting?
"I like red wine but it doesn't like me" is a common comment. There is frequent complaint about the constituents in wine which supposedly cause ill feeling the following morning.
Look for a style of wine to suit your occasion – usually the occasion has food. The rule of thumb is that lightness of wine should match the lightness of food.
The wine show system in Australia is famous. There are famous images of judges in white coats spitting out of the wines.
Whether to drink a wine straight away or whether to cellar it is one of the great topics in the wine industry. It is an avid interest not only in Australia but worldwide.
New Zealand is a wine producer with tiny volumes compared to Australia. The climate and soils lend themselves to aromatic styles of grape varieties that are best in cold climates.
Italy has a rating or 'appellation' system which was proclaimed in 1963, known as Denominazione di Origine laws where 220 zones are qualified to be DOC or DOCG wines (quality wines produced are in a specified region).
DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) is a legally binding stipulation covering geographical origin, permissible grape types, permitted yields, pruning methods, alcoholic strength and aging requiremements.
DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controlla 'Garontita') is 'Guarenteed' DOC and applies supposedly to the best wines and demands lower yields and better grape varieties. DOCG wines are supposed to undergo panel-tastings to ensure quality.
We see varieties listed on wine labels, but what do they really mean? You may not know it, but just because a wine says it is Shiraz, it does not mean that there are not other varieties blended with it. In Australia there are very strict laws governing what you can say on a wine label. They are known as the label integrity laws and while they are rarely policed, many producers (like me) follow them religiously as they are not only law but our labels are our shop front window, every customer sees what we write.
Fortified Muscat from Australia, and in particular from Rutherglen in north east Victoria, must rank amongst the world’s richest wines. The grape variety is simply called Muscat or Brown Muscat, although its correct and European name is Muscat Blanc a Petit Grains. There is more to the various names of Muscat below. A conventional alcohol table wine can be made with this grape but it achieves fame with a fortified liqueur style that results in a smooth, rich, sweet, and fairly alcoholic style...
Like the 1950's rock song which was used for the Malibu advertisement, Malolactic is a word which has a knowledgable ring to it yet is generally thrown around improperly.
Why should a wine consumer need to know about Malolactic processes in wine? Holy Jekyll and Hyde Laboratories Batman! - there is a chemical process in this wine!
Popular wine label McGuigan Brothers has just released a wine called "Malolactic Chardonnay" and it is bound to encourage curiosity about the term.
Most Australian wines are named using the grape variety that was used to make the wine. Common varieties include Chardonnay, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling (whites) and Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Grenache, merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon (reds).
In terms of Queensland, most people think of tropical fruit and the Barrier Reef and not wine – not realizing that the cold climate needed for wine grapes does exist. It is this high altitude this far north that creates the potential. It is particularly cold in the high altitude Granite Belt (on the top of the Great Dividing Range around Stanthorpe - north of Tenterfield, about 3 hours drive from Brisbane) where vineyards are situated at altitudes of 700 – 1020 metres (Hidden Creek Estate is particularly high at 980 – 1020 metres and receives snow each year). Compare to other high areas such as King Valley, Victoria and Tumbarumba, NSW (around 700 – 800 metres). Of course the Granite Belt is hot in summer. Other regions in Qld - the Darling Downs (around Toowoomba) and South Burnett (around Kingaroy) are also cold although not as high in altitude as the Granite Belt.
Wine regions are weird and wonderful, they are a cacophonous melee of characters, artists, artisans, locals, tradesmen, large industry, farmers, markets, vignerons, winemakers and of course the wineries and vineyards that bring it all together. No two wine regions are the same and no two wine regions produce the same wines.
Producers in South Australia (for example) do not and will never produce French, Italian, Spanish or any other European wine and the same is true for our friends in Europe. We all make our own styles.
I am asked frequently about screw caps on wine. The main reason for their introduction initially was to prevent the musty flavour that occurs in about 3% - 5% of corks. The musty flavour is caused by an invisible mould and the wine is said to be “corked” – a term that is confused with other cork problems such as broken and crumbling corks (the latter are physical problems but do not affect the wine flavour). However new reasons for screw caps (often known by the most common proprietary name, Stelvin) have emerged. Even though a cork may not have the invisible mould that causes mustiness, there are other problems with corks. They are inconsistent – some seal a bottle well and others not so well. Tiny traces of oxygen can leak in to a bottle through a slightly more porous cork. Over long periods of ageing bottles of wine, individual bottles taste differently to each other – some bad, some not so good, and some are great. Greater ingress of oxygen causes a wine to age faster. Screw caps offer a closure that delivers a consistent taste across all bottles.
When the influential Masters of Wine from the UK visited Australia several months ago, they were impressed with our Semillon. It is a white that is fresh and lemon in flavour when young, and with age it develops richness and complexity.
Fortified wines offer a lot - as well as taste, their enjoyment represents a wonderful part of wine history. Wine has a long history - around 5000 years! Most wine drunk over that time has been fortified.
Spain is the third largest producer of wine in the world (after Italy and France) and, at annual production of 3200 million litres (32 million hectolitres using the European measure, where a hectolitre is 100 litres) in 1999, is 4 times the size of Australian production of 750 million L (7.5 M hL).
Aussie reds are gradually changing their style. The traditional rich sweet chocolatey oaky flavour can still be found but at a high price.
What is Champagne?
Champagne is a region in France, to the east and slightly north of Paris, near Reims. It is the coldest wine region in the world, being further from the equator than others.
Chardonnay is a name known to most wine drinkers. Of course, it is the name of a grape variety which is found growing successfully in most wine districts of Australia and all over the world.
One of the most frequently asked questions that I hear is about the design of a wine cellar. For wine enthusiasts there is a powerful image and attachment to the concept of "the cellar".
What do you take to a dinner party? There are no rules anymore... or are there? I was at a dinner party on Saturday and everyone seemed to have a story about how the special bottle of wine they had taken with them vanished or how the host had pulled out an old (and stuffed) or very cheap wine to drink. So what are the rules? Here is my take on it.
I have seen the above title so many times now that I am getting tired of reading it. The question should not be 'which one of these old world styles our new world style fits best?' The questions should be; 'What did the Winemaker set out to produce? And what characters does that great Australian region give to the variety?'
There is little point in knowing anything about wine without knowing a great deal about vineyards. I have to add here that there are many people who are far smarter than I who know far more about vineyards, however vineyards are complex to understand and every site is unique. No one can know them all. Many very happy people have spent their entire lives tending to single parcels of land and even for them, surprises continue to appear.
2011 Vintage In The Barossa
Henschke, 2005.
This was my first vintage in the Barossa and I still remember walking into the cellars at 7am on the first day. As you walk into the ancient buildings you notice that the temperature drops, it drops because you are surrounded my stone and carefully created cellars, but it highlights the fact that it is hot outside, hot and dry.
Godfrey, 2011.
Seven years on now to the day and as I look out my winery door I can see sleet and the wind racing through the trees. It reminds me of the last time I was in Sauterne and it could not be more different to any of the last 6 vintages. There has been a great deal written about the 2011 vintage already and much of it is wineries scrambling to protect their wines as irresponsible journalists write off the entire crop. The truth is that it was wet vintage, it rained when it wasn't supposed to and the temperatures remained moderate creating an environment that was not conducive to ripen Shiraz to the usual powerful levels. So the reds will be a little lighter this year. I still picked much of my red fruit over 13.5 Baume and it looks excellent, just more elegant and restrained than in previous years. This should be cause for celebration as the alcohols are lower and if you believe the Press, the Australian consumer wants lower alcohol wines. They will certainly get it this year, but I doubt the Press will be happy about it. No on
In Australia in the 1970’s, wine consumption boomed and there was a scattergun approach to the explosion of new plantings of grapes. All sorts of varieties got planted in all sorts of regions.
There are two types of information that you see on the label.
Firstly, there is important statutory information that must be shown.
Keep in mind a serving temperature that achieves a pleasant taste. Whites should be cold but not icy cold.
You may have noticed that I have been talking about everything except the contents of the bottle over the last few weeks. Well, I will get to the wine, in fact I will never stop talking about the wine, but I do want to cover some fundamentals first.
It is this moment in the process that captures the most attention and often steals the thunder from the vineyards. Winemakers weave their magic and turn the carefully nurtured fruit into wine.
Semillon, Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Gris, Marsanne and blends of these make light fresh dry whites and match fresh light foods. Sauvignon Blanc has a more lifted flavour and medium flavour.
