French value wines

I have been travelling in Europe during the last few weeks and have spent little time on wine. Hence no blogging. However, I tasted a number of cheaper (under 20 euros per bottle) red wines. This seemed attractive, as the 2009 and 2010 vintages are so highly regarded, in particular in Bordeaux and the Rhone.

Overall, the results have been disappointing. While there was more intensity of fruit than in lesser years, I found that the flavours were often a little simple and the structure unbalanced. A better example, but still along these lines, is the 2009 Chateau Meyney (86 points). Generally, wines from the Rhone faired a little better. This is because the varieties grown there, in particular Shiraz and Grenache, are more forgiving to less than perfect viticulture or winemaking than Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The best wine I drank in this category is also one of the highest volume wines. It was a 2010 Guigal Cote du Rhone. This wine impressed with the purity of its fruit and a generous, but balanced mouthfeel (92 points). It speaks of the superb winemaking skills of the house of Guigal to produce such a good wine from fruit from many different suppliers which it cannot fully control.

So the moral of the story is that the often quoted strategy of buying lesser wines in good years may not generate the hoped for results, and in fact may deprive you of the experience that can be had from the outstanding wines of these vintages, even though pricing may make this a rarer event than one would like.

Chateau Rauzan-Segla

To me, Margaux is Bordeaux's most intriguing sub-region. The floral character of many of its wines is so different from those of most Cabernet Sauvignons. Towering over others is of course Chateau Margaux, not always justified, I think. It is outside most peoples purse strings anyway.

Looking at others from the area, Rauzan-Segla is interesting. It is owned by the same owners as Chanel. A lot of investment has gone into the winery.

This time, I tried the 2004 Rauzan-Segla, from an average vintage. The wine has raspberry and cherry  sents on the nose. This follows attractively onto the front palate: an elegant and charming wine. But then it happens: the famous Cabernet Sauvignon hole on the mid-palate. All-up, the fruit does not carry the structure of the wine. The reasons for liking a Margaux wine are there, but unfortunately, this Rauzan-Segla does not fully deliver.

Score: 91/0

Seppelt Aeriu's Heathcote GSM

There used to be a time when I drank quite a lot of Heathcote wines, but somehow they have gone off my radar. Partly, because some of them are too alcoholic, partly, because attempts to 'tone them down' have not been so interesting.

So I was curious what the 2009 Seppelt Aeriu's Heathcote GSM would be like. The wine has a plummy bouquet. On the palate, raspberry flavours dominate initially, but very quickly this is followed by a sweet core, tasting like lollypop. Clearly the Grenache component dominates, and it is too sweet. The wine is not very tannic and finishes smooth and relatively simple.

Score: 86/--

Penfolds New 2010 Releases

Penfolds releases their prestigious wines in two batches. The premium releases in early March, the super premiums on 1 May. Penfolds winemaker Peter Gago went uncharacteristically gaga over the 2010 wines and  wine writers followed over the last few days. Phillip White disagreed and found too much oak in the wines. I tried three of the wines yesterday.

The 2010 wines are characterized by a very appealing purity of fruit. The fruit is intense, yet not overpowering, and generally in harmony with the structure of the wines. I found the oak to be much less prominent than in previous years, partly because of the intensity of the fruit. The wines are even elegant on release. In this sense there is less traditional Penfolds DNA in these wines, rather an evolution to better early drinkability without compromising the ageability of the wines.

The 2010 Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz, drawn predominantly from Barossa fruit, shows intense blackberry and plum fruit. The tannins are firm and the finish dry, but there enough fruit flavour to balance this out. This is a robust wine and clearly the value for money pick (93 points).

The 2010 Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz delivers beautifully elegant fruit on the palate. The wine is very rounded, yet complex, with mocca flavours supporting the primary dark plum and blackberry fruit. The wine moves seamlessly down the palate, before it finishes with fine tannins. Balance, balance is the word (95/++ points).

The 2010 Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon has quite a floral bouquet. The wine is incredibly smooth, yet intense and clean. It has a beautiful long finish based on fine tannins. This wine was the real surprise to me in this line-up. The quality is a major step-up from previous years. There is no green or overripe fruit in this wine. It is very drinkable now, but will develop for a decade and last for at least another (95/+++ points).

Momofuku Wine Pairing

As most of my readers would not have had the chance to eat at Momofuku in Sydney or New York, I feel it might be of interest to report on my recent wine pairing experience there.

Like many, in particular up-market, restaurants do, Momofuku indulges in presenting obscure wines, where the customer has no reference points. I find this often a disappointing experience, but at Momofuku something else happened. Following are the wines
  - Keller 'von der Fels' Riesling 2011 (Rheinhessen, Germany)
  - Philippe Bornard 'le blanc de la rouge' Chardonnay 2008 (Jura, eastern France)
  - Ngeringa 'growers selection' Pinot Noir 2010 (Adelaide Hills)
  - Matej Skerlj Vitovska 2009 (Friuli, Italy)
  - Eric Bordelet poire 'granit' 2011 (Normandy, France)

The Riesling and the Pinot Noir were pretty much what you would expect. The other three wines, on their own, were very ordinary. The Bornard Chardonnay showed very little fruit. Minerality dominated. The Vitovska, a relatively rare grape mainly grown in Slovenia, equally had not much fruit flavours on the palate. The wine was tight and quite nutty. The Eric Bordelet is a pear cider with relatively high sugar content and firm tannins.

Yet with the food matches, these wines suddenly were shining. I have never experienced such a difference. The Bornard was paired with a trumpeter. The Vitovska was paired with congee and marron, and the cider with curd. In all cases the wines supported the food. They were all quite low alcohol. The lesson is, many wines fight with food for dominance. These wines could not dominate anything, but they added real flavour complexity in the background. What looked like a wine pairing to score points for being exotic, was actually brilliant.

Yalumba The Menzies Cabernet Sauvignon

Supposedly, this wine brand has improved significantly over the recent years. I cannot really comment as the 2006 Yalumba The Menzies is the first wine of this label I have ever drunk. I bought it years ago, as it appealed to me then, and it has a number of positive aspects now.

The fruit flavours are very typical of the variety as well as the Coonawarra region. The wine has a strong redcurrant flavour, but there is quite a lot of complexity on the palate as well, as savoury tones start to appear. The oak is well integrated. The tannins are firm and lead to a dry finish. On the other side of the equation, this wine lacks elegance and is a little rough around the edges. This will smooth out further in the next 2-3 years, but elegance will never be a feature of the wine. If you like the terra rossa fruit flavours, this wine is for you.

Score: 90/+  

Kooyong New Releases

I had an opportunity to taste almost all of the current releases from Kooyong. Kooyong is a very serious producer on the Mornington Peninsula, specialising in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Overall, the wines are quite European in feel and flavour, more texture than fruit dominated.

In the last couple of weeks I read a number of articles about the reducing influence of vintage variation, due to better care in vineyard and winery, and technology. This might be generally so - and I have written about the problems with vintage generalisations anyhow, a number of times -, but when you taste wines from 2010 and 2011, you cannot escape the differences.

First to the Chardonnays. These are all from 2010. The 2010 Kooyong Estate Chardonnay is a blend from the owned vineyards. It is quite fresh with very explicit minerality on the palate (91 points). The 2010 Farrago Chardonnay is a single vineyard wine grown on a soil of sand and pebbles.It is a lively wine, with grapefruit flavours, and again a lot of minerality on the back palate. It is quite austere (92 points). The 2010 Faultline Chardonnay comes from a block with heavy clay influences. And interestingly, this wine while similar in flavour, has a much bigger mouthfeel (93 points).

I have always enjoyed the Pinot Noirs a little bit more. The 2011 Kooyong Massale Pinot Noir is the entry level wine, which often provides great value for money. However, in this year, the wine is very savoury and simply lacking fruit on the palate. As a result, the taste is a little rough and unbalanced (86 points).

The 2010 wines are of different calibre. The 2010 Kooyong Estate Pinot Noir is savoury, but very balanced, with fine tannins and good length: a great food wine (94 points). The 2010 Kooyong Meres Pinot Noir was my favorite. The vineyard is surrounded by water, and this seems to translate into a softer, feminine wine. The wine has floral aspects on the nose and has a wonderful combination of softness and plushness on the palate, while maintaining a savoury note throughout. It fills out the mouth nicely - really beautiful (95 points). The 2010 Kooyong Haven Pinot Noir has much darker fruit and tastes of forest floor. The wine has a good balance and a long finish. The vineyard is surrounded by forest. (94 points). The 2010 Kooyong Ferrous Pinot Noir, which grows on quite stony ground, hence the name, is quite a tannic wine, where the fruit is quite backward at the moment and the finish is a bit dull. However, I am sure it will show more favourable in a number of years (93 points).

If you want a prime example of the influence of terroir, try these wines. They express the differences perhaps better than any other in Australia.

Thomas Wines Sweetwater Shiraz

Andrew Thomas was almost single-handedly responsible for rekindling the interest in the core wines of the Hunter Valley: Shiraz and Semillon. Most of his wines are single vineyard wines, and so is this mid priced Sweetwater Shiraz.

The 2009 Thomas Sweetwater Shiraz received a lot of accolades on release, no doubt because of its immediate fruit appeal. The wine has a strong purple colour, often seen in cooler climate Shirazes. And it certainly has the spice and white pepper to back this up. The plum flavoured fruit, however, is thick and sweet (connection to the name?). The alcohol content is moderate at 13.5%.Tannins and oak are well integrated into the structure. But the undifferentiated fruit flavour dominates the palate and it is not pleasant. I thought maybe the wine was too warm, and it benefits from a drop in serving temperature, but this just pears the flavours back and does not add interest.

Score: 88/-

Moorilla Muse Riesling

This producer has gone from strength to strength since its integration into MONA (Museum of old and new Art) in Hobart, and presumably a lot of money spent on the winery. The 2010 Moorilla Muse Riesling is my second pick from the 'Summer of Riesling'.

This wine is fashioned in the modern bone dry style.  Fresh citrus flavours dominate. The structure is very precise, almost piercing. The mouthfeel is linear with a long and satisfying finish.

Score: 94/++

Pewsey Vale Riesling

One of the oldest vineyards and brands in Eden Valley and Australia is still going strong. The 2012 Pewsey Vale Riesling from a near perfect vintage has very strong lime flavours. It is a zesty wine, floral but dry. The wine has a big mouthfeel for a young Riesling and a full blooded finish with the right amount of acidity. It is great now, but will also age well.

I only went to one of the many 'Summer of Riesling' events, but it was a big one, and this was one of  two Rieslings I bought.

Score: 94/++

Penfolds 311 Chardonnay

Most Australian Chardonnays are now of the 'crisp' variety. The 2011 Penfolds 311 Chardonnay from Henty in Victoria is a prime example. It tastes of citrus and passionfruit and has appealing precision in its texture. The wine is a little lean, quite Chablis-like, and comes in at a pleasing 12% alcohol.

There are no huge surprises in this wine, but there is a lot to like: a very modern, well made, not overly made Chardonnay.

Score: 93/++

NZ Pinot Noir, part 4, Marlborough

Central Otago and Martinborough have the reputation, but about half of New Zealand's Pinot Noir volume is grown in the Marlborough region. I enjoyed some Villa Maria Pinot Noirs from the region in the past, so I was looking forward to this more comprehensive review.

There are three sub-regions in Marlborough: the flats along the river (this is premier Sauvignon Blanc country), the Southern Valleys and Awatere, south of the ridge. The better Pinot Noir is grown in the last two sub-regions. Overall, however, this tasting was disappointing and demonstrated that Pinot Noir from Marlborough still has a long way to go. It simply does not yet achieve the intensity and complexity of Central Otago and Martinborough.

My favorite wine was the Greywacke Pinot Noir, which showed darker fruit,  more weight, but good balance (92 points). Also from the Southern Valleys was the TerraVin Hillside Pinot Noir with a similar profile, but quite closed at present (91 points). I also enjoyed the Foxes Island Belsham Awatere Pinot Noir, which had good intensity and balance (91 points). A lighter wine, more feminine and elegant is the Saint Clair  Block 14 Doctor's Creek Pinot Noir (91 points).

Quite a number of wines, lighter in style, would fall into a rating of 88-90 points:Astrolabe, Churton, Cloudy Bay (the Mustang has more fruit intensity), Dog Point, Framingham, Hans Herzog, Jules Taylor (a soft, easy drinking style), Wither Hills (a bit fruity) and Villa Maria with their Reserve, Southern Clays and Taylor's Pass.

Overall, this Pinot Noir festival was well organised. Pretty much all major players participated, and I got around to taste a good selection of their wines. There were no great surprises in the regional aspects of the wines' flavours and structures. With the competition intensifying and the vines aging, the future looks bright for consumers of New Zealand Pinot Noir.