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Stelvin and 2 recent important wine shows. - Thursday, 9 June 2005
Welcome to the first edition of my
fortnightly newsletter update on matters vinous, “Soaked”. Soaked will
keep you informed of developments in the world
of wine, give tips on how to get the most out of wine and give you a guide to some of the best value wines around. In this edition we’ll be taking a look at the debate over Stelvin wine seals and review two important recent wine shows.
Stelvin and it’s other screw cap cousins
are increasingly being used by wineries, now appearing on even super premium
reds such as Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon & Grosset Gaia.
By the way if you do see any of the 2001
Moss Wood Cabernet around, buy it, this is for me perhaps the best ever wine
under this label. A glorious wine which is already beautifully supple, the core
of cassis fruit is tightly focused with an immaculately precise structure, it
really demands to be left in the cellar for another five years or so, expect to
pay around $100 per bottle.
Where
do you sit on the use of these relatively new seals? For me anything that
eliminates cork taint has to be a good thing. The screw cap closures are not
perfect, being susceptible to damage due to dings and the like. If the cap
receives a hard blow the interior seal may be dislodged allowing air into the
bottle. If you’re purchasing wines avoid any wines with screw caps showing dents
or that rattle when you move them and you’ll avoid the major draw back of this
seal.
Challenge International du
Vin 2005
The prestigious Challenge International
du Vin wine show held annually in France has awarded it’s 2005 gongs, with 30
countries represented and more than 4860 wines submitted. This is a seriously
big wine show, even more spectacular is the number of tasting panel members,
800! Australian wines are well represented amongst the medal winners this year
with five golds, five silvers and seven bronzes.
De Bortoli continues an amazing show
record for their stunning dessert wines, with it’s superb Noble One 2002 &
Black Noble being awarded gold. Goundrey, now owned by Canadian giant Vincor,
picked up two golds, one for it’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 and the other
for the cheaper standard Cabernet Sauvignon 2003. The last Aussie gold went to
the humble Jacob’s Creek Chardonnay Pinot Noir NV, now I’m sure this is the wine
that sits around a $10 price point, which for me is one of the best cheaper
bubbles around, but if I had more to spend I’d be looking elsewhere. JC bubbles,
a gold winner at the Challenge International du Vin! Another example of the
wonderful vagaries of show judging.
Sydney Royal Wine Show
2005
Closer to home the Sydney Royal Wine
Show for 2005 has been run & won. Yet again our magnificent Hunter Semillons
and Rieslings took the major honours in the white wine classes. Three superb
Rieslings took trophies:
Peter Lehmann Reserve 2002 for best
white varietal across 10 classes.
Annie’s Lane Copper Trail Riesling
2004 won the “Best Young White Varietal
Trophy”
Pewsey Vale Contours 1999 took the
Douglas Lamb Trophy for “Best Riesling, Dry Style in
Show”.
To complete a quadrella of trophy winning Rieslings the
Wynn’s Coonawarra 2003 took the trophy for the Best Commercial Wine under
$15.
Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Semillon 1997 received
an extraordinary 4 trophies, and one special prize, including the “Tucker
Seabrook Trophy for the Best Show Wine”. Now this is a glorious wine, a
magnificent expression of a unique wine style Australia should be proud of, 8
years old with another 10 years of improvement ahead of it. Complexity, depth
and balance are the hallmarks of the style. It is a youthful green/gold in
colour with the clean lifted “soapy ” fruit aromas of the classic old style
beginning to develop. The palate at this stage is still tightly structured with
lemon citrus overtones, it is just beginning to display toasty bottle aged
complexity.
Tyrrell’s are to be congratulated for
delaying the release of Vat 1, the bottle age lets the passionate wine consumer
see the full spectrum of aromas and flavours that this wonderful wine is famous
for. The current release 1998 has a similarly spectacular show record but if you
hunt around you should be able to find the 1997. Expect to pay no more than $50
for what is an Aussie classic; this is much more my cup of tea than JC bubbles!
An interesting sidelight is the absence
of a Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc amongst the best whites in the show. The
average wine consumer continues to consume vast quantities of these grapes and
shun Semillon and Riesling. Hunter Semillon and Clare or Eden Valley Rieslings
are for me, Australia’s best white wines, yet you can pick them up in your local
bottle shops for a song.
Why spend $60 or more on a premium
Chardonnay when you can buy the Vat 1, or Mount Pleasant Lovedale for around
$45? The Rieslings are even cheaper, if you haven’t taken the opportunity to try
these wonderful wines do so, they are world class and bargains to boot! Having
worked in wine education, auctions and retail, I’ve always been mystified by the
consumer resistance to these national treasures, does anyone have any ideas? For the
informed wine buyer these wines will continue to be great value for a
considerable period of time to come.
The most successful red wines in the
Sydney show were the increasingly impressive Yering Station Reserve Shiraz
Viognier 2003 and the export only Greg Norman Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2002.
Best bubbles went to Hardy’s Arras 2000 and De Bortoli Noble One 2002 adds yet
another major award, the “Hanaminno Trophy for Best Sweet Wine of
Show”, to it’s incredible show record,. I don’t know if De Bortoli is
going to have to add yet another cabinet to their already bursting trophy
display.
Well that’s all we’ve got space for this
time, please feel free to voice your opinions on any of the matters raised or
with any suggestions you may have. I’d love to hear from you.
Until next time, happy
drinking.
Declan Barron
declanb@soakwines.com.au
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