by Martin Field

Down the road apiece, just over an hour’s drive southeast of Melbourne, lurks West Gippsland, a relatively unsung region producing fine Victorian wine. On a day trip there in late October, I learned that the area is not only the source of fine cheese and asparagus (85% of the Australian crop), but that it also hosts some 20 and more up-and-coming wineries.

However, according to the geographically challenged boffins who created the Australia Geographic Indications appellation, some of the wineries at the Melbourne end of West Gippsland are in the Port Phillip zone. What would they know?

Gippsland, I was already aware, produces some great pinot noir and chardonnay but on tasting a cross-section of current reds and whites I was surprised to find examples of sauvignon blanc that could eventually challenge the classics of New Zealand and the sauvignon blancs of other, better-known Australian regions.

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Puffed sangers in the electric samosa maker
by Martin Field

Our resident genius R&D chef, Beery Mag, has created yet another culinary mistresspiece. She calls it ‘Electric sandwichmaker leftover puff pastries’. (No surprise that Beery dropped out of her copy-writing course early.)

This is one of her variations on the theme. Defrost some sheets of frozen puff pastry. Heat up the non-stick sandwichmaker – one of those with two square compartments, each divided into two triangular sections. Rifle through the fridge for some non-toxic leftovers.

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Muttonfish at Apollo Bay
by Martin Field

One summer, when I was about twelve years old, I went camping with friends and we set up our tents by a creek near the surf, down Apollo Bay way. Rob and I spent the days getting sunburnt, trying to bodysurf, fishing, chasing elusive crayfish and generally mucking about. To quote Noel Coward, ‘I couldn’t have liked it more.’ While snorkelling below the turbulent water line we scraped from the rocks a number of strange-looking, ear-shaped shells. I thought they were a sort of large sea slug but Rob’s dad Art told me they were muttonfish, which, he said, the locals used for fishing bait.

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China correspondent Ken White reports from Dalian.

‘Hi Martin, My favourite tipple here is Dragon seal 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s about $AU9 but in my opinion is above the rest for everyday quaffing. That said there is a great Cabernet Franc I drink every time I’m in Beijing, the name of which escapes me. [Possibly Changyu? Ed.]

I have only found it in Morels, a European restaurant in the San Litun district where the Embassies are situated. Sells for about 40 bucks in the restaurant. Yantai, which is just across the bay (three hours by fast ferry), is a fast growing wine area and the above wines stem from there.

Forget the whites. Long way to go before they become drinkable.

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by Martin Field

Pooles Rock Hunter Valley Semillon 2003 – up to $25 \_/\_/\_/
Grassy, lemon sherbet nose. Light-bodied style with lemon zest, fine honey and a crisp, citric acid finish. Will cellar well to 2011.

Grant Burge East Argyle Pinot Gris 2006 – $20-ish \_/\_/
Eden Valley, South Australia. Nose of tropical fruits and dried apples. Quite full-bodied for this varietal. Shows more of the Granny Smith apple on the palate leading to a dry, tangy finish.

Tallarook Viognier 2006 – up to $24 \_/\_/\_/
Tallarook, Victoria. Shows attractive aromatics of dried pears with a hint of oaky butterscotch. This wine has a creamy mouth feel with rich full flavours of dried orchard fruits. Finishes slightly off-dry with soft acidity.

Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2006 – up to $32 \_/\_/\_/\_/\_/
Marlborough, New Zealand. The benchmark of Australasian sauvignon blanc does it again with a nose of pungent grassiness, blackcurrant leaves and asparagus. All these characters and more combine on the palate, held together with lip smacking lime acidity. Delicious and persistent finish.

Red Knot Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 – up to $15 \_/\_/
McLaren Vale, South Australia. Purple edged crimson. Warm spicy plummy nose. Ripe plums continue on the palate with earthy undertones, medium tannins and good acid structure.

Sparkling Mad Shiraz – $12-15 \_/\_/\_/$
Clare Valley, South Australia. Nose of ripe blackberries supported by subtle French oak. Rich and smooth in the mouth showing flavours of ripe summer berries and lightly toasted oak. Ideal summer drinking.

Campbells Bobby Burns Shiraz 2004 – up to $22 \_/\_/\_/
Rutherglen, Victoria. Deep ruby appearance. Complex nose of plums, raspberries, aniseed and vanillin oak. Robust Rutherglen red shows good ripe fruit concentration, medium tannin astringency and a noticeably firm, food-demanding finish.

Taminick Cellars Durif 2005 – $15 \_/\_/\_/\_/$$
Glenrowan, Victoria. Nose of ‘fruits of the forest’ conserve, liquorice allsorts, vanilla and coconutty oak and noticeable alcohol (15.8%). A red wine for serious red wine drinkers. Extravagant fruit matches well with integrated American oak. Solid drying tannins lead to a long, warm ‘let’s have another glass’ finish.

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.

The news group alt.food.wine recently ran a thread featuring the Japanese poetry form haiku – using wine as the main theme. Martin has risen to the challenge with this little offering – inspired by the recent devastation of Victorian vineyards by a bout of cold weather.

Frost, the wrath of grapes
Sly night-stalker culls the vines
Bare vats, wine unborn

Virtues and Necessities
by Martin Field

Wine is all about the senses. About sensory evaluation, sensuality and consensual enjoyment. And wouldn’t it be awful to lose your sense of taste, of smell, of touch, of sight?

It happens. Years ago, a wine-loving colleague went through a devastating course of chemotherapy to treat cancer and was cured. Afterwards he told me he had permanently lost his taste for wine. He sold his not inconsiderable cellar soon afterwards. Another friend had an operation on his nose that left him without a sense of smell. He’ll drink a glass of wine with dinner but admits to being indifferent to its finer points.

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Best Shiraz in Australia
by Martin Field

Announced on 27 October was this year’s winner of the Great Australian Shiraz Challenge – the irrepressible Geoff Merrill, with his Geoff Merrill Reserve McLaren Vale Shiraz 2002.

Twelve years ago the search for the best shiraz in the country saw the creation of the inaugural challenge competition. This year 370 wines competed for the prestigious trophy and were judged by a panel of leading palates – James Halliday, Stephen Henschke, John Duval and Geoff Merrill. Merrill admitted at the awards ceremony that he was the only judge to give his own wine (unidentified at the time of judging) a low mark.

My tasting notes for the winning wine read, ‘Rich, dry red with a nose of blackberry, a hint of mocha and toasted oak. Mellow on the palate, with plums, sweet oak and lasting fine tannins.’

Runners-up were, in second place, the 2004 Clayfield Grampians Shiraz; third place, the 2004 Howard Park ‘Scotsdale’ Shiraz. The award for best under $25 wine went to the 2004 McLaren Wines Linchpin Shiraz.

Ever heard or read a conversation like this? ‘It’s been a long and exciting journey. I feel empowered when I’m making wine. I’m passionate about it. I have a commitment to quality and have a vision that our product will one day become an Australian icon. I’d like to thank my mentor.’ ‘Absolutely!’ Yuck!

Writing about wine sure brings out the clichés but I reckon reporters, copywriters and publicists easily outgun wine writers in over-spicing their paragraphs with hyperbole. A little while back, I ran the word wine – combined with some of my least favourite psychobabble words – through Google’s News Search. (For example, enter wine +passion, in the News search window.)

The wine and passion combination brought up 643 news items, while passionate rated 274. Journey rated 674; commitment – 603; absolutely – 790; vision – 499; mentor came up with 201; icon scored 269; empowered rated 22 and empower 33. Wine and pretentious scored 56. Remember, these results are from current daily news sources.

A straightforward Google web search for wine and passion scored over 12,000,000 hits. I quit while I was ahead.

I hope I’ve engaged you with this research – admittedly, the context in which the words are used in news items varies considerably – but you get my drift.

by Martin Field

Matilda Bay Crema $15 the 750ml bottle \_/\_/
‘Would you like a coffee with that beer Sir? In the one glass?’ Yep, this is a beer made from malted barley and wheat and Arabica coffee. Sounds unusual, but it’s not all that uncommon to hear beers described as having coffee flavours – so why not brew some in? Orangey gold in colour. Nose of malt and café latte. Full and soft in the mouth with an edge of bitterness and a tang of mocha.

Yellowglen Vintage Crémant 2004 up to $17 \_/\_/\_/
Pale gold. Nose of white flowers, pears and lightly toasted bread. Creamy texture on the tongue and pleasing peachy flavours. Finishes off-dry with an edge of lemon zest. I served this blind to a wine class recently – they loved it and went out the next day to buy a case or two to share.

Pauletts Polish Hill River Clare Valley Riesling 2006 Cellar door price $18 \_/\_/\_/\_/
Near water pale, green-gold edge. Nose of lime flowers and lemon. Clean, quite dry, elegant palate of mixed citrus fruits and minerals. Zesty lasting finish. Cellar to 2016.

Tahbilk Viognier 2006 up to $19 \_/\_/\_/
Will be released mid November. Nagambie Lakes Victoria. Pale straw, hint of green. Aromatic, grassy, apple skin, kiwi fruit nose. Dry, with more kiwi fruit on the palate and tangy acid. If you tasted this blind you might think it was a riper style of sauvignon blanc. Lovely main course white.

Phi (Φ) Lusatia Park Vineyard Pinot Noir 2005 around $55 \_/\_/\_/\_/
Yarra Valley Victoria. One definition (www.answers.com) of phi that might apply here is ‘A shorthand representation for an aromatic functional group in organic chemistry.’ Another is a super-premium Yarra Valley collaboration between Yarra Valley makers De Bortoli and the Shelmerdine family. Rosy, mid red appearance. Generously perfumed nose of strawberries, cherries and smokey oak. Stacks of juicy, bursting ripe pinot berries in the mouth supported by fine tannins and beautifully integrated oak. Delicious.

Penfolds Koonunga Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 about $15 \_/\_/$
South Australia. Mid crimson colour. Plummy ripe nose, hint of oak. Mid weighted style showing more of the plumminess, ripe berries leading to a firm warming finish. Well priced dining red.

Shingleback McLaren Vale Grenache 2005 up to $25 \_/\_/
This is the first wine I’ve tried from the company that won this year’s Jimmy Watson Trophy. Bright mid-ruby. Fresh, juicy fruity nose. An approachable red that offers plenty of sweet fruit flavours and soft tannins leading to a smooth finish. Will suit people who find bone dry reds intimidating.

Majella Coonawarra Shiraz 2004 $28 \_/\_/\_/\_/
Purple edged mid crimson. Nose of blackberry conserve, white pepper and sweet charred oak. Blackberries again come into play on the palate along with a hint of minty eucalyptus. The mature berries are nicely supported by fine drying tannins and integrated oak flavours. Finishes firm with persistent fruit intensity.

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