Category Archives: Wine

TheWineBlog.net – General articles about wine.

Spitbucket drinking

by Martin Field

Capel Vale Debut Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon 2007 – up to $17 \_/\_/
Juicy ripe sauvignon nose to start. This dryish style shows kiwi fruit flavours along with oodles of lip-smacking acid. Just the thing for an aperitif to serve with canapes.

Murdoch Hill Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2007 – up to $19 \_/\_/\_/
Cool climate, blackcurrant leaf pungency on the nose. The generous palate is full of abundant ripe sweet berries with a hint of passionfruit adding zest.

Shaw and Smith Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2007 – around $25 \_/\_/\_/
Lychees, asparagus and just ripe apricots lead the bouquet. There is more of the lychee flavour in this full-on, mouth filling white and just a hint of pineapple. Would go well with any entrée you’d serve a squeeze of lemon with – say, fried haloumi.

Jim Barry Watervale Riesling 2007 – up to $15 \_/\_/$
A bouquet of white flowers, lime cordial and fresh grape skins. Dry on the palate, light and citrussy with zingy refreshing acidity and a firm minerally finish.

Chandon Tasmanian Cuvée 2004 – up to $40 \_/\_/\_/
Pinot noir and chardonnay from Tasmania’s Coal River Valley. Lemon green hues, busy long-lasting bead. Generous bouquet of lemons, a delicate floral note and fresh bread. The mid-dry palate shows lovely balance and length with more citrus aspects, green apple and just right acidity to finish.

Angove’s Nine Vines Shiraz Viognier 2006 – up to $15 \_/\_/
Slight purple hues. Light peppery and plum aromatics on the nose. Soft warm ((14.5% alcohol) plummy flavours and mild oakiness continue to a quite firm finish.

Hardys Oomoo Grenache/Shiraz/Mourvedre 2005 – cost $14 \_/\_/$
Fruity blackberry aromatics with an edge of anise. Blackberries, coffee, and chocolate spice up the palate supported by textured tannin chewiness.

Hanging Rock Heathcote Shiraz 2004 – $60 \_/\_/\_/\_/
A nose of intense perfumed berries and sweet vanillin oak. Full-bodied red with mulberries, a hint of mintiness and robust tannic astringency. Definitely main course wine and will cellar gracefully to 2014.

Tahbilk Reserve Shiraz 2001 – up to $60 \_/\_/\_/\_/
Tahbilk is one of the few Australian winemakers that does not depend on lashings of new oak for their reds. Their methods, including open vat fermentation, are more in tune with European tradition and the results are noticeably different from the brash young things that often reek of the barrique rather than the wine.

This wine has a complex aroma of berries compounded with pencil shavings, leather and tobacco leaf. The palate shows some bottle development and is full of savoury character with stewed plums and aniseed over a substructure of sinewy, assertively astringent tannin. Cellar to 2020.

Spitbucket rating system
Five gold spitbuckets \_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ – brilliant
\_/\_/\_/\_/ – classy
\_/\_/\_/ – first-rate
\_/\_/ – good stuff
\_/ – spit it!
An added $ or two denotes excellent value for money. Prices in Australian dollars.

AOC wines: SEVE agrees with UFC Que Choisir enquiry about quality

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SEVE communiqué

For several years now, consumers organizations and the press have alerted the public to the degradation of appellation (AOC) wines in France. Let us recall that in December 1995 consumer magazine UFC Que Choisir published an enquiry (Vins français, la qualité en peril = French wine, quality endangered) questioning in a well argued article the quality of wines and the authenticity of the claims of French AOCs. We also recall that Alain Berger, at the time director of INAO, declared in this article that “one can find on the market today some horrible products marked with the AOC label… AOC wines today represent half of the French production by volume. It is too much, we must stop this now”.

Finally we recall that the winemaker’s unions at that time arrogantly and violently attacked Que Choisir, and managed to get Alain Berger fired.

In its announcement on September 3rd, 2007, UFC Que Choisir asks the same question again, 12 years later: for wine consumers, is the AOC label reliable? Sève, an association of winemakers founded in order to obtain a radical reform of the appellation system, agrees with the answer given by UFC Que Choisir: No! Because “the loss of credibility of the AOCs is explained also by the coexistence within the appellations of two types of wine with very different quality-price ratios, and which must now be officially separated: on the one hand, wines that have a strong link to terroir that respect the original definition of AOC, on the other hand wines with less character that correspond to a new market demand, and that should develop outside of the appellation system. By distinguishing these two categories with distinct labels, we can satisfy the double requirement of making consumer choices clearer while safeguarding the AOC heritage.” (UFC Que Choisir)

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The AOC reform will fail if the French wine appellation system refuses to redefine its market segments.

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In an article in the French language section of TheWineBlog.net Marc Parcé, winemaker at Banyuls and Maury (Domaine de la Rectorie and Préceptorie de Centernach) and one of the leaders of the winemaker’s association Sève, has pointed out the risks of the AOC reform being prepared by INAO, the French government body in charge of regulating appellations for food and wine.

In his reading of the recent reports from INAO and CNAOC (the national confederation of AOCs) concerning the specifications and the plans for inspections and controls on wine, all the positive points of the reform have been diluted or removed, while the most dubious ones, especially those that will bring a leveling down of all wines, remain.

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Assessing French appellations: do AOCs today bear any relation to what their creators imagined?

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The time has come to assess a century of rules and practices of the Appellations d’Origine Contrôlées in France.
Patrick Baudouin, winemaker in the Loire and a leader of Sève, an association of winemakers identified by terroir, has published an article in the French language section of TheWineBlog.net advocating such an assessment, arguing that the appellation system is part of France’s cultural heritage and that it naturally implies “terroir”, a word impossible to translate, and therefore used in all languages to convey the importance of origin in quality wine, and the need to defend this origin, be it in France or anywhere in the world, for wine or for any quality produce. Despite this, the following question has never been more pertinent than today: in 2007, do the appellations bear any relation to what was imagined by their creators, a group that included J Capus and baron Le Roy? What follows is an abridged translation of his article.

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Freeing the taste of AOC wines from the shackles of “organoleptic profiling”

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Patrick Baudouin, winemaker in the Loire and a leader of Sève, an association of winemakers identified by terroir, has published an article in the French language section of TheWineBlog.net about the tyranny of the wine tastings used to approve appellation wines, pointing out the absolute unreliability of such subjective, imprecise procedures. What follows is an abridged translation of his article.

Despite all the criticism and evidence of their shortcomings, these tasting are being reintroduced by the current AOC reform as the most important criterion for approving wines as AOC. The latest INAO report argues that it is not the tastings themselves that are at fault, but the way they are conducted, which does not offer guarantees of impartiality. In order to correct this, INAO proposes to replace the current tasting panels, composed only of the winemakers themselves, with panels comprising experts, consumers/merchants, and something described as “carriers of memory”, whatever that means, presumably sages that know what wines from a certain area should taste like!

This flies in the face of the reforms that Seve had suggested, because it reintroduces tasting as a fundamental test for approving wines, because it allows the local control organization to chose the tasting panels, and because it brings back, through this tasting, the idea of a taste profile for each appellation, and wines that do not fit that standardizing profile will be rejected. It is the return of the slippery notion of what is typical of an appellation. Such procedures are not based on any solid scientific, cultural or commercial logic.

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Summer travelling in Italy

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For the last two weeks we have been traveling through Sardinia and central Italy. Our trip began with an overnight stop at the Relais San Damiàn, in the countryside behind Imperia, a very beautiful small agriturismo (farm hotel) with ample spacious rooms and a small pool nestled in an olive grove. The stop was needed because we had planned a dinner in Imperia, with friends from the alt.food.wine newsgroup: Nils from Sweden, Dale from New York, Luk and Fil from Liguria, and consorts.

Agrodolce

Imperia is one of those places that one would normally skip as a tourist, yet it is interesting and in many ways charming. Imperia was an invention of a certain past leader of Italy, the one with the large chin that made the trains run on time but set Italy on the wrong path; the city is actually the artificial fusion of the very large fishing ports of Oneglia and San Maurizio. Agrodolce is situated in Oneglia right on the quays, in a curious mélange of residential palaces and industry, so it is normal, while sitting at a table under the arcades, to get the occasional whiff of olive oil, fish and pasta from the nearby plants. The chef of Agrodolce is Andrea Sarri, and with his wife Alessandra he runs what I consider to be one of the best fish restaurants. Photos of some of the dishes are interspersed throughout this article.

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Europe launches wine reform by proposing a new Council Regulation

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Last week week the European Union released the full text of the “Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION on the common organisation of the market in wine and amending certain Regulations”, this had been announced a few days earlier on the website of the European Commission’s Agriculture and Rural Development section.

This new Common Market Organisation (CMO) for wine will lead to the repeal of current CMO as stated in Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 of 17 May 1999

The main stated objectives are:
– increase competitiveness;
– strengthen the reputation of EU quality wines;
– recover old markets and win new ones;
– set clear, simple rules;
– preserve the best traditions of EU wine production,
– reinforce the social fabric of many rural areas,
– ensure that all production respects the environment.

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Early days in Noosa

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by Martin Field

Fauna and flora
I’ve been off the air for a while – not least of all due to months of house selling and buying, household removal and acclimatising to the sub tropics. We’ve moved from a house a few kilometres from Melbourne’s city centre to sixty acres of eucalyptus bush in the hinterland of Noosa, Queensland. Our temporary accommodation comes complete with lace monitors (big lizards), scrub turkeys, carpet snakes, feathertail gliders and paralysis ticks. Oh, and a lot more sunshine than we’re used to.

Not just Hastings Street
Getting acclimatised means getting around and checking out the local scene. One thing you learn quickly after visiting the local eateries is that Noosa is not just glitzy Hastings Street.

For example, the restaurant strip in and off Gympie Terrace, Noosaville, is first class. For starters, check out the Italian style cuisine at Pilu Ristorante E Bar, at 2/257 Gympie Terrace. We dined there a few weeks back and I went there again for a Noosa Long Weekend tasting of Barambah Wines.

Barambah is made in Queensland’s South Burnett region by winemeister Peter Scudamore-Smith. His Barambah First Grid Verdelho 2007 is a stunner. Water pale, with a fragrant kiwifruit and fresh cut cucumber nose, it displays a lively palate of fruit salad cut with citric tang. Could be the region’s answer to NZ Sauvignon blanc. About $19 – order via the website (www.barambah.com.au)or email manda@barambah.com.au.

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Travelling Blues

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by Martin Field

Someone once alleged that the journey rather than the arrival was ninety percent of the fun of travelling – he or she must have always travelled first class. Moving the household from Melbourne to Noosa entailed driving twice up the Newell and Bruce highways – some 1900 kilometres each time. We stayed at various inns, hostelries and motels and it was like a trip into the past. Quality control and modern amenities appear to be very low on the accommodation industry priority list. Here are a few items that annoyed me 20 years ago, and still do.

Slimy shower curtains that cling to legs like glad wrap
Mini fridges where the freezer is fully occupied by impenetrable permafrost
Bathroom vanity basins that hover adjacent to or just above the toilet bowl – be careful with your toothbrush, specs and dentures
Threadbare bath towels the size of large handkerchiefs
Sachets of instant tea dust and instant coffee that taste of mud – or nothing
Nano-serves of milk, butter, jam, honey and tomato sauce in plastic squeezy things
Absence of individual bedside reading lamps or, worse, bedside lamps that could light up the MCG
Polyester blankets and sheets
Filthy toilets at service stations and municipal rest stops
Electric hand dryers – your hands are still wet after five minutes of gesticulating wildly under tepid zephyrs
Beds with sheets and blankets tucked in by sadists
Tablets of soap that smell like Bangkok Bordello Number 5, so small they are in constant danger of inadvertently disappearing into various orifices.

I should add however, that the standards of accommodation associated with travelling in Australia are a joy compared with those I have experienced in Europe.

Spitbucket Drinking

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by Martin Field

Scarborough White Label Semillon 2006 – $22 \_/\_/\_/
Hunter Valley, New South Wales. Pale, youthful greenish tints. Unwooded, dry, steely, typically Hunter style of lemon, lime and lemongrass structured over lip-smacking acidity. Great aperitif. Will cellar gracefully to 2017.

d’Arenberg The Noble Riesling 2006 – 375ml bottle $25 \_/\_/\_/
Golden yellow. Aromatic nose of Seville orange marmalade, honey and pears. Luscious palate of orange peel and honey and cleansing tangy acid.

Claymore Déjà vu Rose 2006 – $15 \_/\_/
Grenache and Malbec blend from the Clare Valley, South Australia. Pale, rose petal pink. Fresh fruity nose with a hint of strawberries on the palate and some grapey sweetness. Easy drinking style.

Pfeiffer Gamay 2006 – $16.50 \_/\_/
Light cherry hues. Sweet, almost fruit pastille nose with a hint of Turkish Delight. The palate showing a touch of maraschino cherry with some firmness at the finish.

Kangarilla Road Sangiovese 2005 – up to $17 \_/\_/\_/
Ruby appearance with a slight russet edge. Liquorice, new oak and mulberries on the nose. The palate shows substantial berry fruit and assertive tannins. Would suit pizza nicely.

Terra Felix Shiraz Viognier 2006 – up to $15 \_/\_/
Crimson hues. Restrained blackberry and vanilla oak nose. Medium-weighted dryish style with continuing blackberries on the palate and a hint of dark chocolate.

Lou Miranda Estate Old Vine Shiraz Mourvedre 2005 – up to $30 \_/\_/\_/
Black cherry hues. Generous bouquet of berries, vanilla and a touch of coconut. Palate is softish with flavours of ‘fruits of the forest’ conserve underlaid with hints of mint and eucalypt. Very approachable style.

Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2003 – $70 to $80 \_/\_/\_/\_/
St Henri is surely the most European of Australia’s classic reds in that it doesn’t depend for its classiness upon lashings of new oak and jamminess. Rather it is a wine of beautiful structure: long lean and sinewy, with elements of plums, aniseed, cigar leaf, bitter chocolate and the subtlest oak sub-strata. Cellar to 2027.