Savour Australia Day 1: Shiraz the Aussie way
Posted on 18 September 2013
Greetings from Australia. I am attending the first edition of Savour Australia, the country’s major wine trade conference. The cream of the cream of the wine world, importers and writers have gathered to celebrate Australia as a leading wine nation in what is the best-organised (and I’ve been to quite a few) wine event anywhere.
Over the last two days we have experienced and succession of business sessions as well as tastings that I will review separately. One of the landmarks, nomen omen, was the Landmark series of tutored tastings that continued the theme of Australia’s famous historical tasting event. Yesterday my session was “Shiraz the Australian Way” presented by Mark Davison with a panel of experts including Huon Cooke.
The tasting took place in the stunning 1880s State Library of South Australia.
I’m not usually romantic about Oz Shiraz but this was an extremely impressive tasting by any standards. Organised in two sessions it first focused on young wines, showcasing a rather surprsing selection of Shirazes with many cool-climate wines that tasted much more acid-driven and crushed-peppery than your average jammy, eucalyptusey South Eastern Australia Shiraz. The 2010 Plantagenet 2010 Mount Barker Shiraz tasted of freshly cut stems and leaves and shocked with its searing acids; the De Bortoli 2010 Yarra Valley Reserve Shiraz was light-coloured like a Beaujolais Nouveau and had the vibrant paint-like tart cherry profile of Gamay (it is whole-bunch-pressed with no destemming which notionally increases the crisp side).
Maline indeed.
Yet as favourable as I am to Aussie wines becoming crisper and more balanced in the European vogue, two wines that I like most in this flight were the most unashamedly jammy-pruney-liqueurish Australian: Spinifex’s 2010 La Maline Shiraz and Torbreck’s 2009 The Factor Shiraz. Torbreck is currently undergoing an ugly change of ownership and tasting this fantastic wine, I can only wish the new owner continues with the stellar level of quality here. The only slight disappointment of this flight was d’Arenberg 2009 The Dead Arm, perfectly OK but a little green and drying and I expected more from this renowned bottling.
The incredibly youthful colour of Jim Barry’s Shiraz at 15 years of age.
The second sessions was, if anything, even more impressive. We dug into older vintages and world-famous single vineyard bottlings here. Suffice it to say the the 1999 Penfolds Grange, Australia’s most expensive icon wine, struggled to get on the podium! I was impressed by the 1996 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz, complex, beautifully balanced and unevolved, and the 2004 Henschke Hill of Grace didn’t disappoint, headily aromatic with quintessential Australian notes of menthol and spice (although I wouldn’t like to be paying $600 for it).
Clonakilla: subtle might.
My two favourite wines were the 2005 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier, subtler than most wines on this flight with a fantastic silky precision to the fruit. But even that was humbled by the 1998 Jim Barry The Armagh Shiraz. Unashamedly Australian with a nose thick of green spice and superripe fruits, it has aged majestically well and is just explosively full-flavoured and balanced. The current release is $215 – not cheap, but that 15 years the wine really impressed.
An unashamedly Australian beauty.
Reports from other tasting here at Savour Australia coming soon.
Disclosure: my trip to Australia including flights, accommodation and wine tasting programme is sponsored by Wine Australia.