6 Mac Forbes Pinot Noirs

Sorry for being absent for a while. Opportunities for reviewing wine while trekking in Nepal do not really arise. I am now back, and I thought I start with a review of the 2012 releases of perhaps the currently "hottest" winemaker in Australia. The problem is, I was struck with a cold. Therefore the descriptions are not going to be detailed, but hopefully you will get an idea.

Mac Forbes explores the terroir in the Yarra Valley and apart from the entry wine, all wines are single vineyard, some owned, some contracted.

The 2012 Mac Forbes Yarra Valley Pinot Noir from declassified single vineyard fruit is not your typical fruit driven Australian version, but more European in style. Mushroom flavours dominate in this very dry wine, yet it is quite accessible now. Terrific value.

Score: 92/++

The 2012 Mac Forbes Coldstream Pinot Noir comes from the valley floor and is Mac Forbes' warmest site. The wine has appealing aromatics, quite feminine in the strawberry spectrum, well rounded and elegant.

Score: 93/++

The 2012 Mac Forbes Gruyere Pinot Noir, also from the valley floor, is one I struggled with. It has great texture and balance. At one point it is quite soft, then savoury mushroom flavours take over. There is a good tannin structure in the wine, but it may take a couple of years for everything to come together.

Score: 93/++

The 2012 Mac Forbes Woori Yallock Pinot Noir is the most celebrated wine of this line-up. Phillip Rich of the Financial Review called it his wine of the year. The wine is quite complex, with black cherry, floral and spice flavours and its main feature, the silky tannins, which lead to a long finish.

Score: 94/++

The 2012 Mac Forbes Wesburn Pinot Noir was my favorite. It is from an even colder site than Woori Yallock, in the hills of the eastern part of the valley. The palate is very complex, with more intense cherry flavours and a very steely structure. This wine needs to soften a bit, but the aromatics are beautiful.

Score 95/+++

The 2012 Mac Forbes Yarra Junction Pinot Noir was harvested last and caught a couple of heavy rain days. As a result, it is remarkably different from the previous wines. It is more forward and a little sweeter, yet displays beautiful aromatics, a bit similar to the Coldstream.

Score: 92/+

This is a terrific line-up. Over time, the different personalities of these wines, from different altitudes and soil types, will become more pronounced. I would love to do a vertical tasting of these wines to see these differences more clearly.

Bottega Gold

Many companies try to sway people with their labels or bottle designs. Only a few succeed. But look at this bottle! Eye-catching, but still classy.

The Bottega Gold is a high-end, but not so expensive Prosecco. It is attractive in the glass, quite pale, and with a lot of tiny lively bubbles. This is not a yeasty French Champagne, but a refreshing aperitif. This sparkling wine is on the fruity side and quite feminine, with a vibrant finish.

Tahbilk White Rhone Varieties

 Tahbilk has bottled Marsanne long before it became more fashionable to drink white Rhone varieties. There are three such wines in the current offering.

The 2013 Tahbilk Marsanne is refreshing on the front palate. It has pear flavours, and some sweetness on the back, but the wine is more about its balanced texture. This is a very clean wine. I would drink it well chilled and have it with Thai food or even desert.

Score: 90/++

The 2013 Viognier is equally clean, but I find the flavour profile a little nondescript. The acidity on the finish is pleasant, but otherwise there is not much of anything, really.

Score: 88/-

The single vineyard 2004 Tahbilk 1927 Vines Marsanne uses some of the oldest Marsanne vines in the world. The style of this wine is different from typical Rhone wines of this variety. The wine is picked early and has more acidity than is common for Marsanne. The 2004 shows pear fruit, blended with toasty characters. The wine carries quite a bit of fruit characters, but finishes dry.

Score: 92/+

Dutschke Oscar Semmler Shiraz

I still remember when I first met Wayne Dutschke. We had to go to a restaurant to taste his wines, as he had no facility to do so. Dutschke is a somewhat unfortunate name, as the former leader of the Red Army Faction in Germany in the 70s was called Dutschke, but not many will remember, and he is a very charming man anyway.

He has come a long way since then with a range of wines from the Lyndoch subregion. The Oscar Semmler is his premium wine, coming from a block of the oldest vines of his St. Jakobi vineyard.

The 2010 Dutschke Oscar Semmler Shiraz is full-bodied, yet a lively wine. Blackberry flavours stand out in this well balanced wine. The fruit stays strong to the back palate, until finely grained, but firm tannins take over on a long, long finish. This is a thoroughly enjoyable, modern Barossa Shiraz, not light, but fresh and delicious. Best drinking time: 2015-2017.

Score: 94/++  

Barossa Shiraz

This blog does not engage in promotion nor advertising, but I must make an exception, given I just published a wine book.

Barossa Shiraz: Discovering the tastes of the Barossa's regions is the first book in Australia to systematically investigate the relationship between the flavour and structure of a wine and its origin. Barossa Shiraz divides the Barossa into eleven sub-regions, each with its own terroir. Major differences between terroirs are identified, and a tasting profile for each sub-region is provided. Major wineries and benchmark vineyards are discussed. Their locations are shown on detailed maps, and the book includes profiles of leading Barossa winemakers.

Reading Barossa Shiraz will enable enthusiasts to appreciate the differences in flavour and structure of Shiraz - and to enjoy their wine even more.

Andrew Caillard, MW: Thomas Girgensohn's observations and intuitive tastings, based on extensive personal experience and systematic review are topical, sagacious and prescient... Barossa Shiraz is a remarkable and enlightened achievement.

For more details visit the publisher's website www.wakefieldpress.com.au. You can order the book there or from any good bookstore.  

Sake

I have spent the last 10 days in Japan and tried to come to terms with sake (not the major objective of this trip). I thought I might share some basics with you. The two major dimensions by which sake is distinguished are the amount of rice grain which is used and the brewing method.

Junmai is the basic variety, based on rice, water, yeast and koji (mold). Honjozo has 30% or less of the rice grain milled off. This gives the sake more intensity of flavour. The next level is Ginjo, where up to 40% is shaved off, and the most intense sake is Daiginjo (Dai-ginjoshu), where up to 50% of the rice kernel is taken off.

The previous sakes usually have about 15% alcohol. Then there is Gensyu, which is not diluted with water and has a 17-20% alcohol content. It has deeper and richer flavour. There are some other, less important variations.

Within each category, you can have higher and lower quality. This is also subjective, and depends on at least five dimensions: dry-sweet, acidity, savouriness, flavour notes (apple and banana are often dominant), and fragrance. Most highly regarded sakes are those, which have these dimensions in harmony and have a quick disappearing finish (very different from wine assessment).

I found it quite difficult to assess sake in this brief period of time. It is as complex as our wine, but maybe this note helps as an initial introduction.

Grosset New Rieslings

At a recent larger gathering of people tasting the 2013 Rieslings of Jeffrey Grosset, I was astounded to find that half the group favoured the Alea off-dry Riesling over the Polish Hill.

The 2013 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling starts with citrus flavours, but I taste mainly apple rind in this wine. The wine is quite lean and astringent at this point (maybe this put some people off), but I loved the minerality, preciseness and linearity in this wine. This feature is unmatched in Australia.

Score: 96/+++

The 2013 Grosset Alea Riesling is regarded as an off-dry wine with 9 grams of residual sugar. This is right borderline to the 'trocken' definition in Germany, and Jeffrey Grosset calls it no longer off-dry. The wine has a bigger mouthfeel and some sweetness throughout, but with a fresh finish. What makes this wine less good than the Polish Hill is the fact that it is less precise on the palate and delivers less minerality, a key feature of a top Riesling, in my view.

Score: 92/-

4 Icon Wines, over 10 years old

As it happened, I drank four highly regarded wines over the last few days (a little while ago):

-2002 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling
-2001 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon
-2002 Torbreck RunRig
-2002 Barossa Valley Estate E&E Shiraz

Most of the time, wines are compared in the same class, but what about comparing what you might have drunk? The criterion in this case is really the enjoyment factor, and I am not going into a detailed analysis here.

Needless to say, all the wines were quite outstanding. I am more of a red wine drinker, but I got most enjoyment out of the Grosset Riesling. This wine is simply fantastic. Age has added  toast and lemongrass flavours, but the wine is still fresh and beautifully balanced. The Moss Wood Cabernet was also excellent. Still vibrant, the Cabernet fruit is beautifully polished and runs seamlessly over the palate towards a velvety finish. No heaviness here. The RunRig is a different story, of course. This wine is big with a capital B. The first glass is the best - and it is quite exceptional. It is a rare skill to incorporate such ripe and alcoholic fruit into a drink which clearly tastes like wine, and not port. This is a uniquely sun-kissed, Australian wine. The E&E is not quite as big, but combines concentrated fruit with intense chocolate flavours - an attractive match.

Clonakilla Shiraz/Viognier

The 2012 Clonakilla Shiraz/Viognier is quite a special wine, like many before. The vineyard is at high altitude and the grapes grow on deep granite soil. But it is not just the terroir that makes this wine special. It has a lot to do with Tim Kirk's skill, who very deservedly was crowned Winemaker of the year this year by Gourmet Traveler Wine magazine. 2012 produced a low yield and thick skinned grapes, which produced quite intense flavours.

In a blog-post in the past, I discussed some of the less often cited criteria which make wines great. One was 'paradox'. And this is what I find in this wine. The wine is savoury, with a lot of depth, but there is also some sweeter fruit on the back palate and floral aspects throughout. The wine appears quite linear, but also has a satisfying mouthfeel. - This complexity delivers the wine's unique personality.

Score: 96/+++

Macedon Ranges

As I mentioned before, I wanted to find out if Macedon can be a region producing exceptional wines, or if Bindi and Curly Flat are outliers and for what reason. Macedon is quite different from what I expected. It is less than an hour north of Melbourne, but feels very remote. You can (and I did) actually get lost in the hills, and the Hanging Rock mistery feels quite real.

Hanging Rock was actually the first winery I visited. It is best known for its Sparkling wine, but I wanted to taste the still wines. The 2009 Jim Jim Chardonnay was what I expected from the area: a citrus tasting wine, quite closed and austere. I liked the style (92 points). The 2012 Macedon Ranges Pinot Noir was less convincing. It was a focussed and very spicy wine (90 points). The 2011 Members Reserve Shiraz had a strong fruit core, but a slightly rough structure (89 points). I also tried their 2009 Heathcote Shiraz. The colour of this wine was a strong purple, with attractive dark cherry and redcurrant flavours on the palate. Spices added complexity to this well rounded wine (92 points). Overall, I thought this was not a bad portfolio of wines.

Like Hanging Rock, Curly Flat is located 500 meters above sea level. The 2011 Lacuna Chardonnay is made in a Chablis style, unwooded, where citrus and minerality dominate (90 points). The 2010 Curly Flat Chardonnay shows more complexity and depth of fruit, but is quite heavily oaked (92 points). Williams Crossing is the attractively priced second label Pinot Noir. The 2011 Williams Crossing has a beautiful strawberry/cherry fragrance. The wine is relatively light, with silky tannins and well structured (92 points). The 2010 Curly Flat Pinot Noir, grown on rich red volcanic soil, has the expected fruit intensity and delivers a good mouthfeel with silky tannins and a long finish. It does not have an x-factor like the 2006, but is recommended (94 points).

Cope Williams is even higher at 650 meters above sea level. Again, it is best known for Sparkling wine, but I wanted to try the still wines. On tasting were fairly old Chardonnays. The 2006 Chardonnay tasted of citrus, with a fine fruit focus. The wine was still crispy after seven years (92 points). The other Chardonnay was the 2000 Chardonnay. Wow, who would dare to open a thirteen year old Chardonnay? This wine had more toffee flavours, and the structure was still holding. The cold climate here obviously adds acidity and aging potential. This was an unusual wine, of which I bought a few bottles (94 points).The 2001 Pinot Noir, in contrast, was a shocker. It tasted of licorice and was over the hill (less than 80 points). The 2006 Shiraz did not ripen properly and was no good, either (80 points).

So what about the Macedon as a region? Why is it that only a small number of wineries shine? I think I found the answer. Many wineries are run more as a hobby, being so close to Melbourne. Some are a side show to function centres and similar. In addition, the extreme climate means that some vintages can be very difficult and require constant attention and a focus on detail. As a result, only the most focused operations will succeed consistently, but then they can produce extraordinary flavoured and long lived wines.

Penfolds RWT Shiraz

The hallmark of Penfolds is the longevity of its wines. I was therefore looking forward to open a bottle of the 1998 Penfolds RWT Shiraz. This was a great vintage, but I found this RWT quite disappointing. It is supposed to be quite different from Grange, full-bodied, but a little gentler

This wine was quite thick on the palate, with a wall of blackcurrant attacking the mouth. The French oak was  also quite prominent. This is a big, alcoholic wine with some burnt fruit and tough tannins. I give it a reasonable score, because the structure will deliver a long living wine, but the flavour profile was not to my liking.

Score: 90/--

Kumeu River Chardonnay

Kumeu River is probably New Zealand's best known Chardonnay producer. I have not drunk their wines for a number of years, but the other day I picked up a couple of bottles from the cellar.

Kumeu River produces a number of different Chardonnays from different blocks of their vineyard. The 2007 Kumeu River Hunting Hill Chardonnay shows the typical flavour profile of this producer. The fruit is quite tropical, melon and pappaya, but it is overwhelmed by oaky flavours and some butterscotch. This feels oddly out of place now if you mainly drink Chardonnays from Australia, although this wine is not nearly as big as some Californian Chardonnays. This wine was a relatively recent addition to Kumeu River's portfolio at the time, and I wonder what it adds. The palate is quite harmonious and the structure of this wine is balanced (well, too much oak for me).

Score: 90/-

The 2007 Kumeu River Mate's Vineyard is their 'Reserve' Chardonnay. The flavour profile is similar to the wine above, but a little creamier and more elegant, with malolactic fermentation playing a major part. This is a good wine, although it lacks some preciseness or linearity on the palate.

Score: 93/+

At six years, these wines have held up quite well. They are not dull, as many aged Chardonnays can be, but I would have preferred to drink them younger.