Welcome to the latest edition of Soaked. In this edition we'll take a look at some of the strange goings on in the world of online liquor retailing and take a close look at and an ambitious new vineyard close to Melbourne, Galli Estate.

A quick visit to WineStar reveals that they are selling some of Fosters’ brands extraordinarily cheaply; the headline says 20% under cost. Bert the owner of WineStar has had it with Foster’s and he’s dumping loads of their wines. There are some great bargains to be had, especially the Seppelt wines which are already great value before any discounting.

So what happened to cause this falling out? You’re probably familiar with the Fosters an already huge wine company who acquired the Southcorp group including the leading brands: Penfolds, Seppelt, Wynns and Rosemount last year. These are some of the great names of Australian wine and were handled quite differently under the previous ownership. Southcorp built relationships with customers whereas Foster’s tends to have a more distant big monopoly approach. As a customer you deal with them on their terms, a far cry from the customer is always right!

Now WineStar is probably one of the biggest Southcorp accounts and as a result has been able to get larger allocations of the more sought after wines in the portfolio. The new Fosters arrangements have meant that WineStar can longer assume that a sales record and a relationship built up over many years will give them access to these allocations. So Bert has had enough and told them so, the drastic discounting undermines the pricing of these brands and is potentially quite damaging to them.

I have some sympathy for WineStar, which is an independent retailer. Foster’s is completely wedded to the duopoly of Coles/Myer & Woolworths, who are given preferential pricing and support. If you’ve noticed how dull many of the big two’s ranges are look no further than this cosy arrangement. Big company wines are given the most prominent locations and marketing support, for a new winery to get their wines into these stores is a minor miracle.

So if you want a bargain visit the WineStar web site, it will be interesting to see where this all goes from here.

 Galli Estate visit September 2006

Galli Estate is an impressive winery built with the considerable fortune and ambition of Lorenzo Galli. Galli is a well-known name in road construction, property development and quarrying businesses. After arriving from Tuscany in the 50s the Galli’s built up considerable business interests in Queensland and Victoria enabling Lorenzo to finance this ambitious winery and vineyard project.

Galli Estate is a substantial enterprise with 120 acres under vine in Sunbury and 250 acres in Heathcote, featuring state of the art vineyard management including drip feed irrigation. Cropping is kept deliberately low and an expensive set up should ensure top quality fruit arrives at the winery. Established in 1997 much of the vineyard’s production has yet to reach full maturity and the fruit will only continue to improve as the vineyards reach maturity.

The winery and restaurant/cellar door buildings elaborate winery & restaurant buildings are first rate. Head winemaker Steve Phillips displays a sensitive hand, showing an innovative approach to blending and the making of his wines. It’s early days yet as Steve gets to know his vineyards properly but many of the wines show great promise.

The untimely death of Lorenzo in 2004 has had a major impact on the project but his widow, Pamela and staff are determined to continue his ambitious plans. The realities of the current wine market dictate some testing times ahead for producers like Galli. It is incredibly difficult to develop a new brand in a market place that is so dominated by Coles/Myer and Woolworths at one end and price driven cheap discount independent stores on the other end. Throw in the wine glut with many producers selling their wine on the cheap and you can imagine how hard it is to get that precious spot on the liquor store shelf.

Galli has built a great foundation with top quality facilities and an excellent winemaking team. The wines have been earning good reviews, with Halliday giving the 2004 Chardonnay 94 pts, there have also been some excellent show results but the reality is with such a large output there is a lot of wine that needs to be sold. It would be pleasing to see Galli emerge as the pioneer of the promising sub-region of Rockbank in a few years time.

My pick of the wines.

Pinot Grigio 2006 (Sunbury)

“You say Grigio – I say Gris.” This is a good wine – but it is not strictly what I think of as ‘Grigio’. I often get caught up in the idea that ‘Grigio’ should be made as lean and austere as the style predominant in Northern Italy, steely, minerally, citrussy – less fruity and with more savoury characters to the fore. It’s not ‘Gris’ either, lacking the ripe sweet pear, thick texture, high alcohol and over the top floral aromatics of the classical Alsatian Gris style.

This wine lies somewhere between, a more fruity expression of Grigio, some floral notes on the nose, tight white spicy pear and hints of stone fruit, a touch of apricot kernel character and long clean citrussy acidity. The texture is pleasing, not oily in the Gris sense, or thin in the Grigio mould, somewhere in between, nicely viscous with a touch of grippiness without being unctuous. So if I can get over the Gris/Grigio dichotomy we’re left with a really pleasant food friendly Aussie take on this somewhat bipolar grape – try it with a simple presentation of free range chook.

Dos Rojo Tempranillo Grenache Mourvedre 2005

world wine, with soft fruit characters to the fore, yet with a delightful savoury edge. The wine displays a lovely spicy floral lift with some bright dark cherry fruit, it has a soft low tannin mouthfeel and a touch of spicy earthiness adds interest. A lovely lunch time wine that would go with lighter savoury red meat dishes or a gourmet pizza, priced at around $20

Shiraz 2003 (Sunbury)

This wine is a little reminiscent of the wonderful wines from Pat Carmody at Craiglee, not just a big fruity wine but reliant on balance and finesse, I’m intrigued to see what comes from this wine in future vintages. It completely belies its 15% alcohol by retaining a lovely balance of ripe red fruits and pepper/spice characters, not fat or unctuous in any way. The whole thing is quite classy, with the tannin and acid finely balanced by a lovely combination of sweet fruit and savoury characters. Should be great with a stocky meaty stew. Priced at around $20.

Block Two Shiraz 2005 (Heathcote)

The best Shiraz that Galli can produce from their Camelback vineyard in Heathcote is used for this impressive wine. This wine was not long in bottle and when initially opened the wine was quite tight and brooding, but there was evidence of a seriously good Heathcote Shiraz was waiting to emerge. As with all better substantial red wines it is definitely worth decanting, or giving a few hours breathing time before making a fuller assessment.

Once the wine had opened up, a concentrated regional nose displaying spicy red berry blueberry fruit leapt from the glass. The palate is focussed with the intense fruit, finely judged French oak and firm tannins matched by a very long finish. A serious wine that would sit well with a richer game meat such as venison, although I’d be sticking it in the cellar for at least two to three years. At around $25 this represents great value.

Cabernet Merlot 2003 (Sunbury)

Again a good wine that shows there might be a big future for Cabernet based wines from the Rockbank vineyard. The Cabernet Sauvignon shines through with focussed blackcurrant fruit, cedar notes and long fine tannins, made in an elegant food friendly style. Won the Best Wine of Show at the Daylesford wine show in 2004, sells for around $20. Good now with roast beef or lamb but it will age nicely with another five years or so in the cellar.

Sangiovese 2003 (Heathcote)

Sangiovese and Heathcote seem to be finding a happy partnership, although I’d like to see some more maturity in these vines before passing final judgement. Typically varietal and hence a lighter medium bodied red, with dusty black cherry fruit flavours and spicy oak characters. The tannins are very fine and the wine finishes with a pleasing savoury finish. Try with a savoury poultry dish, priced at around $20 retail.

Shiraz 2003 (Heathcote)

Galli Estate is placing great faith in Heathcote Shiraz and this wine shows why, again it is very varietal and regional in nature, this shows soft berry fruit and spices, fine tannins and excellent length, again the mouthfeel is excellent. I think a peppery lamb dish would be a great accompaniment, cellaring potential of 5 years or more, priced around $25

Galli Estate has a limited retail distribution, there is also an active wine club run through the cellar door. Visit the web site or give them a call on 03 9747 1444 if you want to track down any of their wines.

Please send me an email if you have any queries or comments.

Over the next few issues we'll look at some newly arrived Spanish & Kiwi wines, as well as take a look at the new Jamie Oliver restaurant project "15" in Melbourne.

Cheers for now,

Declan

Soak Wines

www.soakwines.com.au