Wine Notes

A selection of wines I have tasted in the recent past that I have enjoyed.

DR BURKLIN WOLF TROCKEN PFALZ RIESLING 2009 - The Bűrklin-Wolf estate is based in the Mittelhaardt, the quality core of Germany’s world-renowned Pfalz. Since the 2001 vintage Bűrklin-Wolf have classified their wines according to the vineyard site (similar to Burgundy) rather than sugar weight (as the 1971 German wine laws dictate). They have discovered that today’s top vineyards are exactly the same as those identified in the 1828 Bavarian Land Taxation Laws: A time when these vineyards produced some of the most expensive and highly regarded wines in the world.

This is a great introduction (or a welcome return) to the Pflaz style. Citrus, stone fruits and a mineral undertone. Dry (trocken means dry in this context) and clean with good fleshy fruit and mid-weight body.

DR LOOSEN DR L DRY MOSEL RIESLING 2010 - The King of the Mosel. Owning sizeable amounts of land across the great vineyards and villages of the region, Ernie (not actually a Doctor) and his team craft the best drinking wines out of the whole region, while the top end wines cellar and improve for a long time.

An easy drinking, zesty style of Riesling that offers lovely mineral, citrus and floral notes while having nice weight in the mouth and plenty of clean acid.

MAX FERD RICHTER ESTATE MOSEL RIESLING 2009 - There are many producers who are more recognisable in the Mosel, but Dr Richter at the family Estate consistently makes some of the best and most balanced Rieslings from the region. In great years like 2009 even the entry level wines will benefit from age. The Spatlese level wines are simple amazing too.

Produced entirely from Estate fruit this wine has juicy, ripe fruit and crunchy crisp green apple. The palate is off‐dry, perfectly balanced, fine and mineral.

MARC BREDIF VOUVRAY LOIRE VALLEY 2009 Chenin Blanc may not be the most popular or the most famous wine grape, but the good examples are seriously good! Lovely, fleshy/flowery apples and pears, a nice mineral - flinty streak, lemon zest and a touch of dough. I have always described good Chenin as feeling ‘pillowy’ and I stand by that. Round and fluffy mouth feel but the zesty acid kicks it into shape. Great balance and harmony. Entirely too drinkable, but like all great Chenin it will age surprisingly well (and long). If you are thinking of cellaring, drink from 2019-goodness knows when.

BERNARD DEFAIX LES VAILLON CHABLIS 1ER CRU 2009 - The estate owns 25 ha of vineyards in Chablis of which half are Premier Cru and the largest holder of the famed Cote de Lechet. A natural approach in used in the vineyard and they are getting close to organic certification. The wines are made to be pure, fresh and textural.

Vaillon gernerally makes a more round style of Chablis due to the higher content of clay in the soil. This wine shows crisp apples, and some pepper and leesy/dough like notes. The palate has a hint of richness of texture, and some stoney/chalky minerality. Overall it is well balanced and has a classic bone dry finish. Will fill out with more time.

PRAGER HINTER DE BURG WACHAU GRUNER VELTLINER 2009 - Innovative is his approach winemaker Toni Bodenstein has been in control of winemaking since the early nineties and has positioned the Prager estate as one of the very top echelon. The estates vineyards cover 13ha; 65% planted to Riesling, 25% Gruner Veltliner. A strong use of stainless steel retains freshness in the wines without sacrificing the lovely Gruner texture that everyone loves.

Like drinking some divine tea. This wine has apple blossom, lemons, white flowers, peaches, white pepper and some savoury leesy notes. The palate is lighter than the nose would suggest and drier. But has great fruit richness and amazing length. So much complexity packed into one bottle. Very enjoyable.

Wine Notes

A selection of wines I have tasted in the recent past that I have enjoyed.

JL WOLF JESUITENGARTEN GRAND CRU RIESLING 2009 - Ernst Loosen, owner of the world-class Dr Loosen estate on the Mosel, also has the reigns of this estate in the village of Wachenheim in the Pfalz region. Ernst aims to preserve the traditional character of the region, but with a new level of concentration and opulence. Typically, wines from the Pfalz are weightier and drier, than Mosel wines, and have a style that’s rounder and more earthy. The wines are clean and focused with good body, full fruit flavours and a strong backbone.

This top-class vineyard produces highly refined Rieslings that have a delicate complexity and extraordinary finesse. The well-drained, weathered sandstone soil yields wines of amazing purity and grace. Drink now or leave until 2014-2024 and possibly longer.

GEORG BREUER SAUVAGE RIESLING 2009 - The Breuer Estate was a major force in the re-emergence of Rheingau as a pre-eminent wine region. And were very active in promoting the Charta wines, as well as being major players in the “Erstes Gewachs” vineyard classification movement. Breuer is especially successful with their dry Rieslings, which are clean, firmly structured and finely balanced.
Sauvage is a regional blend designed to reflect the house style of Breuer and reflect the vintage. In great years (like 2009) this wine is outstanding value. Drink now or from 2014.
 
DR BURKLIN WOLF WACHENHEIMER RIESLING 2009 - The Bűrklin-Wolf estate is based in the Mittelhaardt, the quality core of Germany’s world-renowned Pfalz. Since the 2001 vintage Bűrklin-Wolf have classified their wines according to the vineyard site (similar to Burgundy) rather than sugar weight (as the 1971 German wine laws dictate). They have discovered that today’s top vineyards are exactly the same as those identified in the 1828 Bavarian Land Taxation Laws: A time when these vineyards produced some of the most expensive and highly regarded wines in the world.

A village blend rather than from a single site means this wine benefits from receiving de-classified fruit from several of Burklin-Wolf’s most prestigious sites. This is a classic Pfalz Riesling with depth of flavor, aromatic spice and a soft, voluptuous dry finish. Drink now or leave until 2014 and beyond.

           

HUDELOT-NOËLLAT BOURGOGNE ROUGE 2009 - With a 10ha cache of superb vineyards brought together by the marriage of Alain Hudelot to Odile Noëllat from Vosne Romanée in 1960, Hudelot-Noëllat is a consistent first-rate red Burgundy producer. Their philosophy is simple, maintaining high average vine age, organic viticultural practices, ploughed vineyards and low yields.
Alain Meadows of Burghound included this wine in his top value in the vintage and suggested it is drinking well from now.

HUDELOT-NOËLLAT VOSNE-ROMANÉE SUCHOTS 1ER CRU 2009 - Wedged in between Clos St Denis and Romanee St Vivant on the Routes des Grand Cru, but only ranked Premier Cru because the middle of the vineyard gently dips down lower than the other Grand Crus. In the hands of good producers this vineyard excels and is often quite a bargain. Drink from 2016.

TOLLOT-BEAUT CLOS DU ROI BEAUNE 1ER CRU 2009 - Everything about this fine Domaine is attractive - even the elaborately decorated concrete cuves. The Tollot's and the Beaut's have remained together for many generations and therefore have maintained excellent and valuable vineyard holdings. The younger generation - cousins Nathalie, Jean-Paul and Olivier direct the Domaine. They have made substantial changes in the past few years and quality has risen at this progressive and fine Domaine. Always a consistent source of delightful and serious Burgundy that represents very good value coupled with wonderfully stylish presentation.

On the Savigny side of Beaune, this wine offers a more elegant and stylish version of Beaune. Drinking well from 2014 and beyond.

LANGOA-BARTON ST-JULIEN 3RD GROWTH 2008 - Located in the centre of the appellation along the banks of the Gironde river, Langoa-Barton has roughly 37 acres (15 ha) under vine. The plantings are: 70% Cab Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 8% Cab Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot. Typical of the area, the soil composition of the vineyard is composed of a gravel topsoil over a clay sub-stratum. Château Langoa-Barton shares its cellar with its sibling Château Léoville-Barton, and though the red wines share similar upbringing in the cellar, Langoa-Barton generally ends up as the lighter style of the two. About 7,000 cases of Château Langoa-Barton are produced in an average vintage.

Decanter rate this wine four stars and say “Deep purple-red, deep, slightly smoky, slighty briary black fruits nose, both freshness and depth on the palate, elegant concentration of fruit, tannins that will blend in to show an expressive, classy wine. Drink 2015-25”

DURFORT-VIVENS MARGAUX 2ND GROWTH 2008 - The Durfort-Vivens vineyards comprise 32 hectares on the typical gravelly soils of Margaux. Cab Sauvignon dominates, accounting for 70% of the vineyard. The remainder is 20% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc.

The 2008 is typically Margaux with a lovely perfumed nose, a lean and structured palate and a core of acid. Will build with time in the bottle. Drink now or leave until 2015.

D’ISSAN MARGAUX 3RD GROWTH 2008 - 53 hectares of vines planted on an estate which covers 120 hectares, most of which is pasture. The main vineyard which gives rise to the grand vin lies adjacent to the château, has a typically gravelly terroir and is planted with 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot.

The wine is dark, silky and generous, nice density and balance. It definitely needs a bit of time in bottle. Drink from 2017.

January Sale

It seems somehow unbelieveable but I forgot to mention we have a sale going for the month of January.

For all wines we currently have in stock we are offering:

10% off 6 bottles or more. Or
20% off 12 bottles or more.

Below are the up-to-date lists:

Cellar List Highlights include an amazing array of Aussie Semillon -  world class wine! Some truly great Burgundy, and some really fascinating wines from Loire, Bandol and the Rhone.

Stock On Hand There are notes on most of the wines listed. These are all well worth tasting, and it really depends on what you like to drink or are looking to cellar.

All wines can be dispatched immediately, or repacked and left in our cellar and out of tempations way until they are mature.

For more information or for orders you can email, call 0418 23 04 82 or post comments.

Happy shopping.

FINE PRINT:
This is for January only.
It applies only to wines we have instock and will be first in best dressed.
Payment must be made in January. The wines can be dispatched at anytime that is convenient.

Escaping To The Yarra Valley Pt2

The exciting conclusion to one of the great stories of 2011... (or something). Read part one here

Lunch was at Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander and included my first introduction to pork rillette - this could be a life long love affair. Great venue, great food and well worth a visit. The staff were great even the guy who foolishly assumed the guy would be drinking beer and the girl wine. Ohh how we laughed!

The weather had been hot all day and was starting to get oppressive, as was my need to spit everything so I could continue to drive. The heat seemed to be bothering the people at our next stop too. Rochford was strange. At first we couldn't attract anyones attention and then they seemed to be giving us an angry tasting. The wines were a mixed bag. Some where good, some were uninspiring.
They also tried to sell us a segway (pictured below) tour of the winery. An interesting idea, could certainly get hairy dealing with people at the end of a long day touring. But it was not for us on a day like that. Plus, we had more wine to taste.

Oakridge was next, an air-conditioned cellar door was just the trick! As were the stunning the Chardonnays that they made. From entry level to the single sites they were all great. A great source of amusement was had when my companion went off on a tangent of how Australian's should make Australian wine and not compare it to French wine. And just after this our friendly host came up to pour the Syrah for us, called so "because it is more French in style than the Barossa style Shiraz." In the face of such a challange I feel I did exceptionally well to maintain my composure. The reds were nice, but I left with a bottle of the Estate Chardonnay. Seriously, Try the chardonnays!

Did I mention it was increadibly hot?

The last stop was Chandon. A chance to taste some Aussie 'Champagne' (ha!), the wines are always quite well put together and enjoyable. But, it would have been more enjoyable to have been sitting down and relaxing with a glass I could drink.

It was really hot by now and so home time was called. Overall it was an interesting trip, we tasted some of the best in the Valley and some of the indifferent. It certainly will have to be repeated in the near future. There were quite a few great places on the wishlist that we didn't get a chance to see. Plus, cellar door people are some of the most amusing and sometimes alarming people you could hope to interact with.

Stay Connected

Hi Friends and Followers,

We at TWD would love to get a few more people on to our monthly email list and we could use your help. To sweeten the deal, we have some incentives:

Everyone who signs up gets a chance to win a $50 gift voucher. One random winner will be announced each month. Facebook Signup, Website Signup or you can email us wine@thewinedepository.com.au. 



Also, the top referrer each month will be given a special gift (to be decided each month. But it will be awesome). Make sure everyone you talk to fills out your name on the sign up sheet!

Keep these guys smiling.



Tempier - Junior Vice President

Charlie - Editor In Chief, TWD Magazine

The Wine List Code

Wine lists can sometimes be like a Dan Brown novel, loosely based on fact and surprisingly popular. Sometimes they are great and sometimes they are not. Like a Dan Brown novel you have to read it before you can tell if you like it or not. This article will hopefully give you a few tips to make things a bit easier when it comes to choosing the wine you have with dinner.

First off, talk to the Wine Waiter (aka Sommelier). If they seem confident, knowledgeable and passionate about the list then it might be best to listen to their advice. If they suggest a wine by the glass they may even be able to give you a small taste of the wine they are recommending before you commit.

The problem comes when the waiter doesn’t seem all that confident (or competent) and you have to make your own choice. Or if you are trying to impress someone and don’t want to be seen taking advice.

If the wine list has interesting wines on there, such as; Gruner Veltliner or Blaufrankish (both Austrian varieties), a good selection of wines from all over the world or even a wine from Marlborough in New Zealand that isn’t Sauvignon Blanc then it could be safe to assume there has been some thought put into the list and therefore most of the wines are good quality and interesting.

In the event that it is quite a conservative list, you can always stick to the classics (after all there is a reason they are classics). Riesling from Clare Valley, Sauvignon Blanc from Adelaide Hills, Hunter Semillon, Coonawarra Cabernet and the like.

If you are feeling adventurous and you spot them on the list the following are usually very reliable: Wines from Waiheke Island in New Zealand.
Chardonnay or Pinot from Marlborough.
Wines from Tumbarumba in NSW.
Shiraz or Riesling from Canberra District and Hilltops Regions.
Austrian Gruner Veltliner (think Riesling).
Riesling from Rheingau in Germany.
South American Malbec or blends or Malbec.

The other consideration is the best three letters in the English language B.Y.O – most restaurants will allow this (generally with a corkage fee) and this obviously gives you a chance to take whatever you can lay your hands on.

Is It Cellarable?

Originally feature in our TWD Magazine October and November Issues.
Sign Up here or email us

So I do bang on a lot about cellaring wine. You've all probably heard me talk about it or read how good and important it is. So I guess I should equip you with at least the basic knowledge on what makes a wine cellarable (it's not price!). For me it is balance. If all of the wines' parts; acid, tannin, flavours, sugar (where applicable), alcohol and even savouriness are all in balance and nothing sticks out overtly then it will probably age quite well. In the same vein, if a wine is seriously lacking in any of these qualities then it will probably struggle. The problem with a balanced wine is that is it often easy to overlook. Wines with a strong defining feature will often stick in our brains for that very reason. It is the one flaw in Australia's excellent show judging circuit... More to come on this topic.

Last month I started explaining what makes a wine cellarable. To summerise; the balance of the wine is the key. There are, of course, always exceptions. Hunter Semillon, which can seem so piercingly acidic young, ages so well and so gracefully it is truly one of the treasures of the world. It builds weight and stuffing in the bottle. Nebbiolo (especially from the regions of Barolo and Barbaresco) is another example. Traditional styles are unbelieveably tannic on release; so astringent they can border on unpleasant if you have to taste more than a few. But these tannins (somewhat) meld into the wine so the beauty and elegance comes to the fore.
Is there a quick way to know this? No, apart from asking someone who has experience in the matter. The only way to learn is to taste wines both young and old and try to see the connection. It takes a lot of practise. Yep, that's right. Practise drinking wine.
Does this help or does it pose more questions? Let me know via email, or on Facebook.

Wine Tastings

I've tasted some interesting wines of late and thought I would share.

First off there is the wines from my Yarra tour. Part two to follow.

Then there was:

Pierre Gaillard St Joseph Clos de Cuminaille 2009 - Brilliant wine! I tasted their standard (horrible term but it is said with love) St Joseph and thought it was a bit tight and mean at the time. But this wine is sensational. It was lush and compact, spicy and savoury with plenty of vibrant fruit. It was a pleasure to drink and I would only wish that they put it in a 1lt bottle. Plenty of dry spices, a certain meaty character with the stoney undertone and red and blue fruits that are the hallmark of great St-Joseph. Seriously good wine!

Krinklewood Chardonnay 2009  - I have a lot of respect for this winery and a quite fond memories too. A biodynamic outfit in the Hunter Valley's subregion of Broke-Fordwich. You might have seen this mentioned in our November drinking wines A beautiful set up really great wines. The 09 Chard is a particular stand out. Very lean and tight. Shows a lot of citrus, peach and nectarine with hints of white flowers. The palate is dry, with a spine of zesty acid. The fruit weight balance this out well and there is great harmony. The wine changes a lot with air too.

Domaine de la Mordoree Tavel Rose 2010  - Also written up in our wines to drink for November. There was a bottle in the fridge that paired nicely with the little heatwave we had. Even though it was nice and cold it still had the lovely rose petal and floral characters with some attractive red fruits. The cold knocked out a bit of the body, but I know from experience that when it is a bit warmer the texture is a highlight of this wine.

Escaping To The Yarra Valley Pt1

A few weeks ago, in a vein attempt to educate a Burgundian friend on the merits of Australian wine, we set out to see the delights of the Yarra Valley. Unfortunately our designated driver was extremely hung over and went back to bed, which meant that I had to shoulder the driving responsibility.

Despite our early set back it turned out to be a fruitful (pun attempted) day and quite interesting. I've always liked the Yarra but found that it is very two speed. There are some of Australia's best wines in it's boundaries, and also some shocking wines. We tried to avoid the latter. Speaking if it's boundaries, the Yarra is too big, the diversity and footprint make any generalisations about the region almost impossible and rather silly to attempt. Thankfully however, there is now a push to define subregions and even highlight particularly good individual plots. Hopefully this will help improve regional understanding and quality.

We started at the Coldstream Hills winery as they were opening the doors. This earned us the tag of "early internationals". True to form and expectations there was a range of wine from commercial to interesting to amazing. Pinot and Chard were the best varieties. The Reserve wines stood out as did some of the single vineyard wines. A good yardstick for measuring further visits.

A little further down the road we stopped at the wonderful Yarra Yering. The wines are consistently amazing as they were this day. I grumbled to myself as my French friend and the guys pouring us the wine discussed their favourite Grand Cru's of Burgundy and giggled inwardly as they scorned peoples love of screw caps and I got to point out that one of the wines was in fact corked.
Great wines, highly recommended.



Great View from Warramate.

Warramate was the next stop and proved fascinating tasting wines from the top of the hill Coldstream Hills, midslope Warramate and the lower down Yarra Yering. It also gave us our most informal host, freely poking fun at customers and their peculiarities (once they had left of course). The wines here were not bad, just not exciting. They seemed to be missing something.

That took us to lunch. This topic and more tasting will be tackled in a later entry.

Read the stunning conclusion here