Innocent Bystander Pinot Gris

 

I find discussions about the names of grape varieties boring and not very helpful. Is everything named Syrah really cool climate? Is everything named Pinot Grigio like the light Italian style or Pinot Gris like the Alsace examples? So let us just look what is in the bottle, in this case the 2021 Innocent Bystander Pinot Gris from the Yarra Valley.

The colour of this young wine has a green tinge, and it kind of translates to the palate, where the main flavour is pear, supported by green apple and a dash of lemon. This wine delivers a fairly full mouthfeel and is a little broad. However, the fruit is balanced by lively acidity driving the wine to a decent finish.

Score: 90/++

Logan Weemala Pinot Gris

 Pinot Gris/Grigio has gone the way of Sauvignon Blanc to some extent: large scale production, not much focus on typicity or special quality attributes. It is positioned as a summer wine, not many questions will be asked.

It is therefore good to see, when a positive surprise, and from an unexpected corner, comes along. The 2020 Logan Weemala Pinot Gris comes from Mudgee and includes some fruit from Orange. The wine has a pale orange/grey colour. 

This is a light and refreshing wine with lemon peel and pear flavours, and a pleasant mouthfeel, as the wine has good energy. It is still enjoyable on the back palate, where many others fall short. The wine finishes dry. It is excellent value for money.

Score: 91/++ 

Hans Herzog Pinot Gris

 There are not many exciting Pinot Gris outside of France and maybe Italy. But there is this guy in Marlborough, New Zealand who is an exception. Coming from Switzerland, it is not surprising that there is this attention to detail, in this vineyard of many varieties. In a way, Herzog reminds me of Domaine A in Tasmania, the other Swiss influenced winery in Asia/Pacific, now owned by MONA's David Walsh. The wines are totally different, but the focus on quality is very similar.

The Herzog winery is organic and this 2017 Herzog Pinot Gris is made in a modern style, with an extended period spent on skins. As a result, the colour is orange/pink, of medium depth.

This has created more intensity on the palate, with flavours of apricot, melon and almonds. There is great purity in this wine. There is a hint of sweetness and honey on the back palate, but the finish is refreshing. This is quite a delicious wine.

Score: 93/++ 

Hoddles Creek Pinot Gris

You may have often wondered why Australian Pinot Gris (and certainly wine labelled Pinot Grigio) is more expensive than water. A new approach was needed. This is expertly performed by Hoddles Creek.

The 2019 Hoddles Creek Pinot Gris is not gris, but shows a rather rosé colour. This stems from an extended period on lees.

This wine is refreshing, with flavours of lemon rind and orange peel. This creates a very round and satisfying mouthfeel and a crisp finish.

This is the best Pinot Gris I have tried in ages - and attractively priced. Get some!

Score: 93/+++ 

Moorooduc Estate Wines

Moorooduc has been a dependable wine producer of the Mornington Peninsula for many years. They would probably just scrape into my top 5 from this region. The latest releases confirm this view.

Interestingly, the Chardonnays are matured longer than the Pinot Noirs. The 2014 Estate Chardonnay shows a deep yellow colour and is quite a big and open wine. Stone fruit and mango are accompanied by biscuit flavours. The acid manages to cut through it and delivers balance (92 points). In contrast, the 2014 McIntyre 'The Duck' Chardonnay is much tighter, while of a similar flavour profile. I would have enjoyed a bit more definition in this wine, but it will open up well in the next couple of years (92 points).

Something unusual is the 2016 'Pink' Pinot Gris - On Skins. This wine has a beautiful bright pink colour, and on the front palate is similar to a Pinot Noir based Rosé. Unfortunately, the finish is disappointingly short (88 points).

The stars are the Pinot Noirs. The 2015 Robinson Vineyard Pinot Noir has flavours of red cherry and strawberry and is a very smooth wine (93 points). The 2015 McIntyre 'The Duck' Pinot Noir is more profound, with a bigger mouthfeel. It is pretty and open, and quite complex on the palate, with mushroom flavours as well. The tannins are silky, and the taster experiences a wonderful expanding finish (95 points).

Deviation Road Pinot Gris

Deviation Road from the Adelaide Hills, not far from Lenswood, is a winery to watch. Kate Laurie, who was a finalist GTWine Winemaker of the Year this year, is the winemaker. When it comes to generating cash-flow, aromatic white wines are the way to go. This 2016 Deviation Road Pinot Gris is the first wine I review from the current vintage.

I am always a bit worried when I open a bottle of Pinot Gris. Many wineries make it as a quaffer, just in case Sauvignon Blanc finally gets out of fashion. The Deviation Road Pinot Gris is a cut above that. Made in the Italian style, but with more fruit at its core, this wine has a lovely texture. Intense pear flavours dominate The wine is clean and refreshing. The flavours move along the palate without broadening out despite their intensity. It would have been nice to see a bit more complexity, but I enjoyed this well made wine.

Score: 90/++

Orange Wineries, Day 1

de Salis vineyard

I spent two days in the Orange district to explore and better understand this relatively new and diverse wine region. The vineyards here are at high altitude, between 600 and 1100 meters. Pretty much every popular grape in the book is grown here: from aromatic whites to Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Bordeaux blends, Shiraz, 'new' varieties, such as Vermentino, Arneis, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Barbera, the list goes on. What is it all about?

My first stop is Philip Shaw. He is perhaps the best known proponent of the district today. His premium range is called the 'numbers' range. The numbers have no particular logic. They refer to birthdays, lucky numbers etc. I tried the most recent Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz in this range. Overall, the results were disappointing. I did not find much interest in these wines. These wines lacked depth and structure (85 to 89 points). There were certainly shades of his commercial past (Rosemount, Southcorp) in these wines His most famous wine, the #11 Chardonnay, of which I tasted 2014, had reasonable stonefruit, but it was very young, with oak being quite prominent and the finish quite short. I was not off to a good start.

Thankfully, things changed when I arrived at my second stop, Ross Hill. Phil Kerney, the winemaker, has certainly made his mark here, and he is not shy to tell you about it. There is a style which cuts across the wines. The key characteristic is the wild yeast fermentation directly into barrel. The 2014 white wines are of high quality. The Sauvignon Blanc is quite lean, is based on whole bunches and does not taste like anything from New Zealand. This is a delicate wine, made in the Loire style, with a focus on texture, and made to last (93 points). The Pinot Gris is lean also, with a good balance between the pear fruit and acidity (91 points). The (very young) Chardonnay is more tricky. There is a fair bit of sulphur covering the grapefruit and nutty flavours, but I think it will develop nicely (92 points). The fruit for these wines is grown at the winery vineyard, more than 900 meters in elevation. The red wines come from a lower lying vineyard, just over 600 meters. Still, I found the 2013 Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz lacking in depth, while the structures were strong (88-90 points). The best of the red wines was the 2012 Cabernet Franc, which is a focus at Ross Hill. This wine, with a purple colour, had a huge aroma. The flavours were intense and unusual, mainly like provancale herbs, in particular lavender and rosemary. There was good depth in this wine and a balanced texture (93 points).

The third winery of the day was De Salis. The vineyard here is over 1050 meters high, one of the highest in Australia, with beautiful views across the valley. Most of the white wines (Fume Blanc and Chardonnay) did not fully convince me, but the 2013 Blue Label Chardonnay hit the spot. This is like a reserve wine, 100% new oak, with more intensity and power. The flavour spectrum is stone and poached fruit, and the taste is a bit oily as well (93 points). The focus of De Salis, however, is Pinot Noir. The intention is to make quite feminine wines, suited to the cool climate. Burgundy clearly is the model. I tried five Pinot Noirs, and three in particular were outstanding. The two based on the MV6 clone were darker, with sour cherry flavours, well structured, but not totally harmonious (90/91 points). The two based on the Dijon clones (the Lofty Pinot Noirs) were more in the strawberry spectrum spectrum, finer and quite elegant. In particular the 2013 had great balance and a smooth finish (94 points). The 2013 Blue Label Pinot Noir was a bit different. It was ethereal, not weighted, similar to the last two, but also had earthy and truffle flavours; quite a complex wine (94 points). The Bordeaux reds have a play on using stems, but also Saint Emillon. They are called St Em M (for Merlot) and St Em F (for Cabernet Franc), named after the dominant component in the blend. These are Bordeaux blends for Pinot Noir drinkers, quite light bodied, but with an attractive texture. There was also a 100% light and elegant Cabernet Franc. These were from the 2012 vintage, which was quite cool in Orange (all 92 points). De Salis has developed this style based on texture and an ethereal feel - best suited to the Pinot Noirs.

Pizzini Pinot Grigio

The brand gives the style of this Pinot Gris away: it is in Italian style, light and fresh .I quite enjoy this 2012 Pizzini Pinot Grigio. The wine tastes of fresh pear. It tastes quite pure and linear. Nothing complex here, but satisfying summer drinking.

Score: 88/++

Tasmania, part 1

On a recent trip to Tasmania, I visited a number of wineries in the Southern part, not far from Hobart.

Home Hill is a new winery to me. It has been successful recently in regional shows with its Pinot Noir. The 2010 Pinot Noir has strawberry and cherry flavours. It has an attractive linear structure down the palate and good length (91 points). The 2009 Pinot Noir is similar, but does not have the same length (89 points). The 2010 Home Hill Kelly's Reserve spends twice as long (16 months) in new oak. It is a more closed wine, built on cherry flavours. It has a very dry finish (91 points). I actually preferred the freshness of the regular Pinot Noir.

The surprise at Stefano Lubiana was its 2010 Estate Chardonnay. It is a fresh wine, with complex citrus, melon and peach flavours. The wine had 20% new oak treatment. It has a linear structure and good length (92 points). Its brother, the 2010 Estate Pinot Noir is not of the same calibre. I found the fruit a little thin and therefore the oak too pronounced (90 points). I also tried the 2010 Merlot. This is clearly a cool climate wine, not plummy, with fine tannins, but the fungus flavour on the finish was a bit unpleasant (89 points).

Moorilla had a major revamp since it got 'integrated' into the stunning Museum of Old and Modern Art. Its premium brand is called Muse. It shows quite risque labels (The Pinot Noir shown below).

 
The 2010 Moorilla Muse Pinot Noir is very moreish - a wine for winter. It has a good mouthfeel of black cherry fruit, but the focus is on texture, which is elegant and rich. This is a wine which stands out and wants to be noticed. I liked it a lot (93/+++ points).

The other good wine was the 2010 Pinot Gris. Made in the Elsassian style, it tastes of pear, with a clean, good mouthfeel and again, excellent texture. The wine has good length.

(to be continued...

New Zealand Pinot Gris

After the excellent experience with the Ata Rangi Pinot Gris (reported a few posts below), I tried a couple of other ones, the 2009 Takatu Pinot Gris and the Man 'o War Pinot Gris.

These were pleasant enough wines, but they were not as focussed and slightly dull. The Takatu in particular, lacked acidity.

Takatu Score: 87/--

Man 'o War Score: 89/-

This is it from me on New Zealand wines for a while (thank God I hear you say).

Ata Rangi 'Lismore' Pinot Gris

I spent a few days in New Zealand and tried some interesting wines there.

The 2009 Ata Rangi 'Lismore' Pinot Gris is an illustration of how good the wine makers at Ata Rangi are. This wine impresses with its purity and linear texture. In terms of weight, it sits between Pinot Gris from Alsace and Italian Pinot Grigio, a bit more towards the Italian style.

The fruit is predominantly pear, but the wine is all about purity and balance. It flows perfectly down the palate and finishes with just the right amount of acidity. This is an outstanding example of Southern Hemisphere Pinot Gris.

Score: 93/+++

Kooyong Pinot Gris

Pinot Gris is a grape variety which has never grabbed me, particularly not when made in Australia. Most of them lack definition and structure and, I guess, this grape variety is really not very interesting.

Then somebody suggested I should try the new Pinot Gris from Kooyong. Now I have a lot of time for the Kooyong wines and it is Mornington where most Pinot Gris experience resides. So I tried the 2008 Kooyong Beurrot Pinot Gris, a couple of times in fact.

I am disappointed. The wine is well made, no doubt, but the flavour spectrum is broad and somewhat flat, not very expressive. As a backdrop to Asian food, the wine is ok, but I prefer a Gruener Veltiner for a bit more character.

So, the search goes on.. or do we just dump this grape variety?