Newsletter - 3rd November 2008
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Considering I taste and drink good wine on a pretty regular basis (it is after all my job!), it would surprise many of you to learn that only a very small number of wines truly excite me. Perhaps it is the excitement of spring that has clouded my judgement, but this week's newsletter brings a number of sensational new releases, many of which would have to be on my short list for wine of the year. And all of them are from wineries that I have just 'discovered', which just goes to show that it is always worth seeking out wines that you haven't tried before. The old adage "variety is the spice of life" has never been more applicable to Australian & New Zealand wines, where an increasing number of new wineries raise the benchmark and over-deliver with wines at all price-points.
One
such winery is Helm, one of the shining lights of the
Canberra District. Their new release riesling and cabernet were of
such staggering quality that I had to include them both and I am happy to
concur with Drew Lambert when he says
"Clonakilla and Helm are standout wineries and proudly sit
alongside
It possible, the quality and style of the 2005 Helm Premium Cabernet Sauvignon amazed me even more. Canberra is not normally associated with big, rich, opulent and powerful reds like this beauty and I can guarantee that very few would guess the origin of this wine in a masked line-up! Suffice to say it was the undisputed highlight of my recent trip to Sydney where a couple of bottles bit the dust in record time. Third party reviewers of the wine have also been unequivocal in their praise:
"What a lovely, big rich wine this
"Potent and intense, with strong cedar, earth and spice notes to the blackcurrant fruit; the best Helm red wine for years; great aftertaste." James Halliday - 94 points
"…This is a Cabernet to rival the best in the country." Fergus McGhie
For a change I thought I'd feature an Australian sauvignon blanc instead of one of the increasingly ubiquitous examples from Marlborough. Chalkers Crossing are producing immaculate wines across the board under French winemaker Celine Rousseau. Born in France's Loire Valley, trained in Bordeaux and with experience working in Bordeaux, Champagne, Languedoc, Margaret River and the Perth Hills, it is no wonder she has taken this Hilltops producer's wines to a different level. Clean, fresh, tightly focused white wines are her trademark and the 2008 Chalkers Crossing Tumbarumba Sauvignon Blanc is no exception. Wonderfully fragrant, with subtle citrus and tropical fruit flavour and oodles of fresh acidity on a minerally palate that is intense and very long, this is the antithesis of the in-your-face fruit bombs from Marlborough. Every bit as good as last years wonderful release (James Halliday – 95 points).
James
Halliday has always raved about the wines from Tomboy
Hill, a tiny vineyard in Ballarat, but it wasn't until a
recent tasting of their wines from the 2006 vintage that I understood what
all the fuss was about. The sheer quality of all the wines that come from
the tiny plantings of chardonnay and pinot noir blew me away and made me wonder,
with global warming a certainty, if the Ballarat region will be Australia's
answer to Burgundy in the coming years.
I
know the warmer weather is upon us, but the demand for fuller bodied shiraz
does not seem to abate. This newsletter features two pearlers; the 2006
Chalk Hill McLaren Vale Shiraz and 2004 Hennings Heathcote
Shiraz; arguably the best value wines I have come across from McLaren
Vale and Heathcote respectively. Chalk Hill is new to me, but again it is a
female French wine-maker that has lifted the quality to new heights. The
traditional generous McLaren Vale fruit is still there; sweet, dense and rich
and beautifully interwoven with spice and quality oak; but the lovely
balance, structure and mouthfeel comes from having worked in many of
WINE CLEARANCE SALE
Prices on three delicious wines have also been slashed to clear excess stocks. Offers end close of business Friday 14th November or while stocks last.
Best Wishes and Good Drinking