Australia Day Tasting

This year’s London celebrations of Australian wine were held at the new Emirates Stadium in Highbury. There was a public session on 28 January and a trade session the following day. The scale of the presentation is very large, with 59 stalls run by importers showing perhaps 400 wines, and a further seven themed rooms upstairs with some wines that are not currently imported. Some 150 winemakers were featured, each of them sending their favourite wine for the show, although few were present in London.

Although Shiraz and Shiraz blends dominates output, the winemakers are continuing to broaden the range of varietals and styles produced: the ‘focus’ table showed 45 sparkling wines, including 7 rose and 8 red bottles – the latter including Merlot and Cabernet based wines as well as the more common Shiraz. I am afraid that I did not find any particularly interesting wines on this table.

I started the day with some of the best white wines that I found, from a company called ‘Ten Minutes by Tractor’ from the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. They had oak aged Chardonnays at three levels - £15, £20 and £23. Their ‘entry level’ 10X was dominated by oak, the middle wine having more balance, elegance and length, and the single vineyard Wallis being elegant but very backward. A new entry from Tasmania, Stoney Vineyard showed a Sauvignon Blanc in the New Zealand style. Then I found a style of wine that I rather like – the aged Hunter Valley Semillons from New South Wales. The Tyrrell’s Winemakers Selection Vat 1 2002 was already starting to show some oily character, and at a rather lower price level, the Brokenwood 2007 had enough lemon acidity to ensure a long life. Another good Semillon, with more weight, came from Moss Wood in Western Australia. It may have lost out in the popularity stakes, but to my mind, Australia is the best place to make dry Semillon in the world.

While Shiraz and the other Southern Rhone grapes flourish in the hotter areas of Australia, Cabernet Sauvignon benefits from a cooler climate. In addition to the Coonawarra examples, there were impressive entries from Western Australia, particularly the Stella Bella Suckfizzle, the Thomas Hardy, Houghton Jack Mann, the Leeuwin Estate Art Series and the Cullen Mangan blend. For contrast, a good example from the McLaren Vale was the Pertaringa Rifle and Hunt. Jim Barry was showing The Benbournie from the Clare Valley – the Cabernet equivalent of the McRae Wood Shiraz.

I was set on finding some top Shiraz wines, and I was not disappointed. Tyrell’s were showing three excellent Hunter valley examples, the best of which was the Double Barrel 24 – ages in two sets of new oak barrels. Brokenwood’s Graveyard Vineyard was more characteristic of the dusty Hunter Valley style. From the Canberra region of New Soth Wales the Clonakilla wines were showing well, the best being the O’Riada Candberra District Shiraz. Moving to South Australia, I headed for Ben Glaetzer stall. The entry level Heartland shiraz wines, particularly the Director’s Cut had good fruit, but the premium Glaetzer Wines are a step or several above. These wines take time to come round, and tasting the 2007 versions was a mouth-puckering experience. Nevertheless, the Bishop, Anaperenna and especially Amon Ra were all huge, concentrated Shiraz wines from the heat of the Barossa valley. Tim Adams makes much more elegant wines in the Clare Valley, and The Aberfeldy 2006 showed finesse as well as fruit character. From the same area, and there was a rich and minty Shiraz from Skillogalee.Finally, I tried the two Pertaringa Shiraz wines: Undercover from old vines, and Over the Top from a more recently plated high altitude vineyard, finished in new oak. The cheaper Undercover was slightly my favourite.

From high up in the football stand, we could watch the grounds staff quietly mowing the pitch. Upstairs, the pace was more frenetic, with big crowds in front of the popular stalls. Rather than fight the crowds after lunch, I concentrated on finding some more unusual wines. One of the themed rooms was dedicated to alternative varietals and blends. The cooler country reds did not fare particularly well, with many of the Italian varietals giving a rather thin taste. I suspect that this may be due to the youth of the vines. Two wines stood out: A Kangrilla Road Primativo at under £10, and Tim Adams Tempanillo. The wines in the Cabernet room fared better, the peak being reached by the Balneves Tally Reserve from the Coonawarra (at a mere £50).

The top wines of Australia may no longer be the absolute bargains that they once were, but the premium level wines compare extremely favourably with those from France in terms of fruit, overall quality and price.