1. food and drink
2. beverages
3. alcoholic beverages
4. wine

fermentAsian winelist
th
15 October 2014
N.B. Should the effort required to select a suitable wine from the pages of this list be more than you can face as you begin your
fermentAsian experience, please request our ‘Vino Espresso’ abridged selection: 100 of the less esoteric wines, sans commentary.
table of contents
forward
water and beer
cider, spirits and soft drinks
aperitifs: sherry
aperitifs: sake and liqueurs
wines by the glass
sparkling wine, champagne
riesling
fifty shades of gris
gewürztraminer, grüner veltliner & muscat varieties
semillon
sauvignon blanc
chenin blanc
chardonnay
viognier, marsanne, roussanne and blends
italian, spanish & other regional white varietals and blends
‘turbidity inc.’ natural / amber wines selected by Geoffrey Hunt
vin jaune
rosé
b la u frä n k isch
gamay
pinot noir
grenache and blends
mataro (mourvédre, monastrell)& blends
red wines from sun-drenched mediterranean isles (& a canary or two)
red wines from alpine regions of eastern france (jura, savoie)
cabernet, merlot & blends
shiraz & blends
nebbiolo
barbera, dolcetto, sangiovese et al
tempranillo, carignan et al
half bottles, sparkling, white and red
dessert wines
fortifieds by the glass and bottle
digestives by the glass
Appendices
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2
3
4
5
6
7-8
9 - 12
13 – 18
19
20
21
22
23
24 - 29
29
30 – 31
32 – 33
33
34
34
35 - 36
37 - 41
42 - 46
47 – 48
48
48
49 - 50
51 - 56
57
58
59 - 60
61
62 - 63
64
65
66 - 69
1!
Vini Odyssea
This list serves as a beacon to pilgrims of the palate whose questing brings them to the
Barossa in search of vinous exploration, evocation and education.
My hope is that it also represents a valuable resource for the local wine fraternity, many
of whose collective snouts are stuck within barrels, tanks and amphorae as they practise
the gentle art of raising local wines during the working week. Many winemakers have
expressed appreciation, and indeed joy at being able to dip their olfactors regularly into
a constantly evolving list of delicious, interesting and often rare and ancient bottles.
If you believe that ‘a list is a list’ and that any accompanying text represents an irritation,
or if the scope and diversity are rather more than you feel comfortable with in the time
that you have available, please request our abridged ‘Vino Espresso’ version which
limits itself to 100 wines carefully matched to the cuisine, sans commentary.
But for you pilgrims on the long wine road, let the crusade begin!
!
…Others have written glowingly about chef Tuoi Do's exceptional cooking. Less
well-known, but for me just as compelling a reason for visiting Tuoi's
restaurant, is her partner Grant Dickson's exceptional wine list. No wonder
this is a favourite hangout for the local winemaking community: they come
for the food and stay for the booze.
…Two things lift the list from the good to the wonderful: the unusually
reasonable, extremely attractive prices and the detailed, evocative
descriptions that accompany almost every wine on the list. Oh, and the fact
that the restaurant also accepts BYO at $15 a bottle.
BY: MAX ALLEN From: The Australian August 18, 2012 12:00AM
(Full article in appendices)
!
… A quick flick through the wine list convinced me that it was put together by
a global winemaker having the time of his life. Wrong again. Tuoi Do’s partner
and partner Grant Dickson did it. A musician. What’s gone wrong with the
world?
BY: John McGrath From: The Adelaide Review June 2012
Can't live without: Our weekly visit to fermentAsian in Tanunda. Chef Tuoi
Do's Vietnamese fusion food is lively, clean and fresh, and Grant Dickson's
wine list is deep, cerebral and completely underpriced (just don't tell Grant
this).
Short Order: Jeremy Holmes The Australian October 05, 2013 12:00AM
Organic, Biodynamic, lutte raisonnée: Throughout this list, wines from vineyards grown
ethically and sustainably without the use of chemicals are indicated thus.
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2!
fermentAsian beverage list: water and beer
water
San Pellegrino Sparkling: 1 litre
Acqua Panna Still: 1 litre
8
8
australian & new zealand beer
Barossa Valley Brewing ‘Bee Sting’ Honey Wheat Beer
Knappstein Reserve Lager
Lord Nelson Brewery ‘3 Sheets’
Barossa Valley, SA
Clare Valley, SA
Sydney, NSW
7
7
9
introducing prancing pony brewery from the adelaide hills:
A new range of natural hand-crafted, unfiltered micro-brews from the Adelaide Hills. The difference here is due to ‘firebrewing’; a traditional German brewing method that encourages a complex caramelisation and a distinct maltiness.
Prancing Pony Blonde Ale
Prancing Pony Pale Ale
Prancing Pony Amber Ale
Prancing Pony Black Ale
Adelaide Hills, SA
Adelaide Hills, SA
Adelaide Hills, SA
Adelaide Hills, SA
9
9
9
9
Vietnam
Salzbrg, Austria
Barcelona, Spain
Mexico
9
10
10
10
imported beer
333 Premium Lager
Trumer Pils
Moritz
Los Portales Pilsener
Tried this out at hip Mexican restaurant Mamasita in Melbourne recently. Loved the way it worked with a cuisine that shares so
many similarities with ours: big crossover in herb departments: coriander, sawleaf (Mexican coriander), fresh chilli; and lime
juice is also the principal acidifier. This beer worked a treat, and has so much more real captivating flavour than the ubiquitous
Mexican consumed by the Aussie masses!
lower alcohol beer
James Boag’s Premium Light
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Tasmania
7
3!
fermentAsian beverage list: cider, spirits and soft
cider
Kellermeister ‘Boots Apple Cider’
Napoleone & Co Apple Cider
Napoleone & Co Pear Cider
Barossa Valley
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Yarra Valley, Victoria
8
8
8
spirits et al
Bombay Sapphire Gin
Absolute Vodka
Chivas Regal
St Agnes V.S.O.P
Jack Daniels Old No 7
Hendricks Gin
30 ml
30 ml
30 ml
30 ml
30 ml
30 ml
5
5
6
5
7
8
Campari
Pimms
45 ml
45 ml
5
5
My pre-dinner drink of choice this year is Hendricks Gin served with FEVER-TREE Tonic and customary cucumber
garnish. Let’s face it; you’re going to walk out at the end of the night with a belly full of lime juice because of Tuoi’s
Nuoc Cham… You don’t really need another citrus component, even just a humble lime garnish during your meal.
This drink segues into a limey Eden Valley Riesling perfectly and absolutely refreshingly.
Served with FEVER-TREE mixes
Premium Indian Tonic Water
Premium Lemonade
Premium Lemon Tonic
Premium Soda Water
Premium Ginger Ale
5
5
5
5
5
Soft drinks
Coke
Coke Zero
Fruit Juice (Apple, Orange)
FEVER-TREE Lemonade, Lime & Bitters
FEVER-TREE Soda water, Lime & Bitters
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5
5
5
6
6
4!
aperitifs by the glass
The Spanish do Apéritifs better than most. We have made many customers happy as they have kicked off their fermentAsian experience with a
glass of Vallformosa Cava. But within certain special small-scale Bodegas in Jerez and Cadiz they seem to have a unique understanding of the
innate sensuality associated with that first glass sipped during a special meal. Jamie Goode of wineanorak.com wrote: "Equipo Navazos make
mindblowing Sherries. I’m drinking one at the moment, and it’s a life-enhancing experience." I think that if you try the Fino or Manzanilla from
Navazos, you will understand that these don’t merely stimulate the appetite; they actually make you ‘cachondo por la comida!’
See Appendices for more information on Equipo Navazos
sherry (60 mls)
NV Navazos ‘I Think’ Manzanilla
Cádiz, Spain
10
“You often hear about manzanilla having a light sea-spray freshness. This example is more like licking oyster shells in rolling
surf: its deeply savoury tangy dryness is just a stunning match with, well, oysters.” Max Allen, Australian Gourmet Traveller
“Bottled Feb 2013 from a single cask, 900 bottles only. Medicinally salty and iodine infused. Really surprisingly fresh acidity.
Herbal and scrubland by the sea. Really mouth-watering like a salted almond.” Julia Harding, www.jancisrobinson.com
!NV Navazos La Bota de Fino No 35
Jerez, Spain
15
The La Bota De Fino Macharnudo Alto 35 was bottled in June 2012, and shows a deep golden color. This wine is sourced from
the Inocente solera from Valdespino, and averages 10 years under flor. The idea is that once the wines age for a long time and
the flor sharpens the wine, if you continue to age it further it gains in volume and intensity, making them much more powerful
and if you like, less fine. An old wine that is a complex gentle giant crying for food. It shows a deep old-gold color, and feels
dense and concentrated. The very complex nose is redolent of yeast, chalk, esparto grass, salted almonds and iodine, and
keeps changing and developing as the wine stays in the glass. The palate is full-bodied, intense, balanced, ending dry with a
bitter note. As good as Fino gets. 95/100 points, Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
NV Navazos La Bota de Manzanilla No 42
Cádiz, Spain
94 points “The NV La Bota de Manzanilla 42 from the Balbaina vineyard in Sanlucar has a pure biological profile, saline, with
iodine, sea shell, aromatic herbs and a touch of smoke. The palate is extremely fine, saline, pungent, sharp, balanced, intense
and elegant. My experience with previous bottlings of this wine is that the wine evolves in bottle, getting more intense, losing
the saline edge, mellowing up but getting more complex at the same time. You should experiment and keep a bottle to see if
you like it.” Drink 2013-2018. Wine Advocate #208 Aug 2013 Luis Gutierrez
“This is our sixth release from the same solera that has already produced editions number 4, 8, 16, 22 and 32 of "La Bota".
Among them this new one is likely the freshest and most cheerful... La Bota de Manzanilla 42 has an intense nose as well as a
delicate, salty and cheerful palate; perhaps less powerful but fresher and more jovial. An unbeatable match on the dinner
table, it excels with dishes from the Spanish seafood tradition: mackerel potatoes, tuna stew, oven preparations and boiled
shellfish; international cuisine: toro sashimi, marinated herrings, mussels; and especially with the spicy dishes of the Asian
southeast. It has been bottled after only the slightest filtration in order to preserve its genuine character and its deep golden
color with green hues as if straight from the butt. It is advisable to handle this manzanilla with just as much care as any other
great white wine. It should be served at about 9/11ºC in fairly large stemware, never in the cliché copita..” Notes from
www.equiponavazos.com/en!
18
NV Navazos La Bota de Fino Pasada No 45 (…que va para Amontillado) Cádiz, Spain
20
NV Navazos La Bota de Amontillado No 37
20
“The NV La Bota de Fino 45 is from Montilla-Moriles, produced with Pedro Ximenez grapes aged under flor for a very long time
(maybe close to 15 years) on its way to becoming an Amontillado (it would be called a Fino Amontillado if such a category
existed), sourced from the Perez Barquero winery. It displays a deep golden color and a nose of yeast, chalk and bread dough,
showing its age, with a hint of caramel and roasted nuts. In the palate is has a slight rusticity, supple and saline, very long,
ending dry. It reminds me of some previous Manzanillas Pasadas from them. A superb, unique wine. Drink 2013-2018.” 96
points, Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
Jerez, Spain
"Hijos de Rainera Pérez Marín. Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Cask sample – due to be bottled in August 2012. Layered and rich start.
Then bone dry. Salivating. Tense." 19/20 points, Jancis Robinson MW, www.jancisrobinson.com
95/100 points, Guía Peñín
NV Navazos La Bota de Oloroso No 46
Jerez, Spain
The NV La Bota De Oloroso 46 is produced from Pedro Ximenez grapes in Montilla-Moriles, sourced from the Perez Barquero
winery. It displays a deep amber color, denoting its old age (it could be around 25 to 30 years old), the nose and palate show
the different grape, Pedro Ximenez, which gives more powerful wines than Palomino, with a touch of rusticity. Montilla has a
continental climate which ages and concentrates the wines faster than in Jerez. The nose has some sweet notes of dry apricots,
very fine and elegant. The palate is surprisingly dry, it fills the mouth with penetrating flavors of hazelnuts and cashews, is
powerful, with a very long finish. Benchmark Montilla Oloroso. 94 points, Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
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25
5!
aperitifs by the glass
sake (60 mls)
2012 Mioya Shuzo ‘Yuho 55’ Junmai Ginjo Muroka Nama Genshu Ishikawa, Japan
13
2014 Mukai Shuzo ‘Ine Mankai’ Junmai Genshu (Red Rice Sake) Kyoto, Japan
16
A delicate aroma of aniseed. Vibrant acidity, honeydew melon and spice. The finish is long and complex. BLACK MARKET SAKE
Kuniko Mukai constantly experiments with unusual rice and yeast combinations producing new and unique types of Sake,
most of which are made in minuscule amounts. Ine Mankai, the result of one of these innovations, utilizes an ancient variety of
red rice in part of its fermentation. Complex smokey cherry and vanilla aroma with a unique savoury, umami rich palate with
sweet and tart cherry and pomegranate flavours. BLACK MARKET SAKE
liqueurs (60 mls) fantastic poured over ice with or without fevertree soda water
2010 Laurent Cazottes Aperitif aux Noix du Pays d’Oc
South West France
15
2010 Laurent Cazottes Apéritif du Fleurs de Sureau
South West France
15
(Green Walnut)…our elixir unveils fresh nuts with healthy and tonic virtues. L. CAZOTTES
(Elderflower Liqueur) … Close your eyes you're in my garden… Laurent Cazottes
The family Tanunda Vineyard, autumn
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6!
wine by the glass
Ask sbout our ‘Mystery Wine’ challenge. $12 per glass and you could be drinking Rioja, Soave, old Barossa
Shiraz, or even Burgundy. Put your sniffer to the test!
sparkling (125 mls)
MV Irvine Meslier ‘Brut Royale’
Eden Valley, Barossa, SA
9
2013 Gramenon “Tout’ en Bulle’ méthode ancestrale
Côtes du Rhône, France
15
NV Agrapart Terroirs Blanc de Blanc Grand Cru
Avize, Champagne, France
24
Polish Hill, Clare Valley, SA
12
Petit Meslier is one of the rarest sparkling wine varieties, still used traditionally (if occasionally) in Champagne
where its reliable acidity proves useful within blends from warmer seasons. Characterised by light, lively and
lifted Granny Smith apple flavours, fruit and tingly acid are more to the fore rather than any leesy, yeasty or vinous
flavours. This is an aperitif style sparkling wine that works brilliantly with all our lime juice-dressed entrees.
This is a fine example of méthode ancestrale: the oldest known way of getting bubbles into a wine. In this case a
juicy blend of Clairette (80%) and Viognier is bottled during fermentation and finishes fermenting in the bottle.
The wine is sealed (belt and braces style) with both a cork and a crown seal, to be sure to be sure. The wine froths
momentarily when first opened but retains only a slight bead (Petillant) thereafter. We have been very impressed
by the manner in which this and other Pet Nats match the fermentAsian food with their fresh cidery flavours.
From a range of older vine Grand Cru sites in Avize, Oger, Cramant and Oiry, this is a brilliant demonstration of the
quality and finesse that may be found in grower Champagnes. A blend of equal parts 2007 and 2008, the wine is
vivid and intensely focused. Like many of the greatest grower releases, it is more an expression of site than of fruit
and with just 5g/l dosage, is reassuringly dry.
white (150 mls)
2014 Rieslingfreak No. 2
It’s hard to resist the allure of a new opus from John Hughes. Gauging the interest of our customers, many folk
are keen to audition his new dry expression from Polish Hill. As is usually the case with John’s wines, the nose
suggests gentleness, with white floral notes of jasmine and lime blossom that feather the nasal membranes. The
nose doesn’t prepare you for the glacial wash of electric lemony acidity that darts along the edges of the tongue;
for the thrilling grapefruit and lime flavours that explode across the gums, filling every oral nook. This will dance a
very merry dance with the prawn salad. A new digit has been added to John Hughes’ pin number of pleasure!
2013 Domaine de Belle Vue ‘Granit’ Melon de Bourgogne
Muscadet Sèvre et Maine
Muscadet is not a grape. It’s a region at the western end of the Loire, close to where the river drains into the
Atlantic. The grape variety is Melon de Bourgogne, a cousin of Gamay which was transplanted from Burgundy
back in the early 18th century. Serious Muscadet like this, grown in granite soils, exhibits some of the most
pedagogically illustrative expressions of terroir. A sea spray character blows in off the top of your glass, while a
line of oyster shell salinity jostles with subtle lemon curd notes that help to plump up the palate. Squid.
13
2014 Grand Casino Fiano
Barossa Valley, SA
11
2014 Rockford White Frontignac (off-dry)
Barossa Valley, SA
9
Legendary Barossa grape grower Keith Hoffmann told me once that he had whacked in some Fiano vines.
Diversifying. Recognising that the market’s in a state of epic curiosity insofar as exotic varieties go. He said he’d
sold the grapes to a young winemaker who would call in on me soon. Anyway, at 9 o’clock on a Saturday this
regular guy shuffles in. When he comes up to me and says, “I’m the Fiano Man” it takes me a few seconds and
double takes to get Billy Joel out of my head (I’m no hipster) and make the Keith Hoffmann connection. But when
he pours a schluck in my glass and I breathe in the pure essence of pear, tropical fruit and revel in some seriously
mouthcoating texture, I forgive the label’s gambling allusions and simply luxuriate.
White Frontignac, AKA Muscat à Petits Grains is one of the oldest wine cultivars, responsible for a wide variety of
different styles of beverage in France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Australia. If you have enjoyed a glass of Italian
Moscato d’Asti or Frizzante, French Beaumes-de-Venise or Vermouth, Samian dessert wines from Greece or a good
Rutherglen Muscat, then you have dipped a toe into the pool of the wonderfully ’grapey’ flavours that can be
coaxed from this varietal. Rockford has been making White Fronti for decades, unswayed by trends, such as the
current fashion for Moscato facsimiles. This is a real wine from a brilliant vintage that works insanely well with
South East Asian food. Line it up with a Thai or Vietnamese salad splashed with a lime juice and fish sauce
dressing, fresh garlic and some blistering heat from a scattering of scuds and it really starts to sing.
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7!
more wine by the glass
rosé (150 mls)
2013 Christian Ducroux ‘Esquisse’ (Gamay)
Beaujolais, France
13
Ducroux is nicknamed the ‘Godfather of Gamay’, with Demeter-certified biodynamic viticulture, horse-worked
vines, and no added SO2.
Breathing in the scents of a French white-tiled country kitchen, with vases of heirloom roses and warm brioche
straight from the oven. These aromas might suggest that a degree of sweetness will follow on the palate, but
instead the wine delivers a wash of tart, tongue-curling natural acidity and salty mineral notes etched into a
pomegranate and cherry stone fruit spectrum. This will deflect the palm sugar sweetness of the Tuoi’s various Viet
dressings deliciously. Can’t wait to line it up with the duck salad.
2013 Head Wines ‘Head Rosé’ (Grenache)
Barossa Valley, SA
10
Piccadilly Valley, Adelaide Hills, SA
13
A rosé made only in certain vintages by bleeding free-run juice into a couple of large old wooden puncheons
where it is allowed to ferment slowly over a six week period. Delicious strawberries-and-cream conviviality with
just the slightest dusting of fruit sweetness characterises a wine that’s neither heady nor hearty. But as Alex Head
suggests, it’s more for the heart than the head.
red (150 mls)
2013 Lofty Valley ‘Steeped’ Single Vineyard Pinot Noir
Tang Dynasty. If there is one vinous quality that really resonates with Tuoi’s food, it’s tanginess. Combine her
salty-sweet-sour sauces with wines that exhibit a tang factor and the pleasure is inevitable. Brendan Keys weaves
flavours of steeped morello cherry and bay leaf into a vibrant, lively elixir.
2013 Sigurd Red (Grenache, Mataro, Shiraz)
McLaren Vale / Barossa Valley, SA
10
Daniel Graham knocked our collective socks off last year with his Opus One: a deliciously scented skin-contact
white blend that melded oh so well with our food. So, still feeling slightly smug in having picked that winner at
the starting gate, we present Daniel’s first red wine, a deliciously sappy blend that has sweet-fruited McLaren Vale
Grenache sparring with some spicy Barossa Mataro and Shiraz. No simple confection, this has vibrant spice
bursting from its savoury depths and a cuisine-friendly amaro Campari-esque tangy finish.
2012 Alfredo Maestro ‘Viña Almate’ Tempranillo
Ribera del Duero, Spain
Continuing a focus on some of the world’s high altitude wine growing sites, we present a tempranillo grown at
1000 meters above sea level within the Ribera del Duero DO. Most of the fruit for this wine comes from 80 + year
old Tinto Fino planted in the high altitude riverstone terroir of Valtiendas. Wild fermentation, 30% whole bunch,
minimal extraction and just a four-month maturation in used French oak completes a flavour profile that is at once
vibrant, slightly rustic and pairs so well with spice on the plate.
12
2012 David Franz ‘Waxing Lyrical’ Mataro Shiraz Grenache
Stonewell Hill, Barossa Valley, SA
11
2013 Teusner ‘Wark Family’ Shiraz
Stonewell, Barossa Valley, SA
11
Eden Valley, SA
10
I cracked the stelvin and morphed into a scrawny cattle dog, all slobber and desperate eyes; itchy and overcome
by fresh carcass smells: venison or big red roo. Bloody backstrap and clotting plasma. Thankfully a civilising
marinade fills in the olfactory gaps. Coriander and cardamon pods, still smoking from the cast-iron skillet; rust,
cassia and a crack of tart frambois-acidity. Wild, untamed mataro often takes me like this; its meaty wildness
rambling beyond the confines of my Reidel. No wonder he’s waxing lyrical. He’s done it again!
For his services to Barossa wine, including a long stint at the wheel of the Yalumba sales machine, James Wark
was deservedly made a Baron of the Barossa in August 2014. His good friend Phil Lehmann initiated an
association between James and the Teusner boys while Phil was part of the Teusner wine making team. Teusner
purchased shiraz from a patch of James’ Stonewell vineyard back in 2012, ostensibly to augment their ‘Riebke’.
However Kym (a fellow August Baron) was so taken with the personality of the fruit that he decided to keep it
separate and the idea of a Wark Family Shiraz with a commissioned label by daughter Marnie began to ferment.
This wine, with its lovely melding of pure juicy fruit, gentle richness and velvety texture had me all slack-jawed
with pleasure when I first rolled a mouthful over my tongue. Easy on the oak, long on the finish; it’s a reminder of
the paltry price one needs to pay for artisanal Barossa deliciousness.
dessert (75mls)
NV Radford Fortified Riesling
!
8!
wine by the bottle
sparkling wine (australian)
MV Irvine Meslier ‘Brut Royale’
2014 Torzi Matthews Prosecco
Eden Valley, Barossa, SA
Eden Valley, Barossa, SA
39
39
This first release of a Barossa Prosecco is deliciously effervescent and bursting with pulpy tropical fruit. We
continue to enjoy the unfolding of Torzi’s portfolio of Barossa interpretations of classic Italian wine styles.
2011 Deviation Road ‘Loftia’ Vintage Brut
NV Stefano Lubiana ‘Sparkling Brut’
NV Henschke ‘Johanne Ida Selma’ Blanc de Noir
Lenswood, Adelaide Hills, SA
Granton, Tasmania
Lenswood, Adelaide Hills SA
66
68
75
We are very proud to release our first sparkling wine to celebrate Henschke’s 140th anniversary. In 1997 Prue and Stephen
decided to select fruit from certain sites and clones which were just colouring, at veraison, for sparkling production from their
pinot noir vineyard at Lenswood, rather than using these components for a dry red table wine. They had originally thought
about releasing a wine for the millennium, however as the year 2000 got closer they realised that the wine needed more time
to develop complexity on its lees. They continued to make the sparkling base wine in most years when the fruit quality was
ideal. With nearly 10 years of vintages on lees it seemed an appropriate time to look at a complex blend. Multiple vintages
from 1997 to 2005 were blended assemblage-style in April 2008, as a mature disgorged non-vintage blanc de noir. Careful
selection of only the best fruit has meant that this is a very limited production wine. Henschke website
2010 Disgorged David Franz ‘Nicole’ Cabernet Shiraz
2012 Disgorged Rockford ‘Black Shiraz’
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
94
120
sparkling wine (french: méthode ancestrale: single ferment sparklings)
2011 Renardat-Fâche ‘Methode Ancestral’ Bugey Cerdon
2009 Francois Chidaine Vouvray Pétillant non-dosé
2013 Gramenon “Tout’ en Bulle’ méthode ancestrale
2010 Vincent Carême Vouvray Ancestral
2007 Domaine Huet Petillant Brut
Merignat, Savoie, France
Vouvray, Loire, France
Côtes du Rhône, France
Vouvray, Loire, France
Vouvray, Loire, France
“Bright straw with a delicate bead. Intensely perfumed, spicy bouquet displays pear skin, nectarine, honeysuckle and mace,
along with a strong mineral undertone. Nervy and precise on the palate, offering lively citrus and orchard fruit flavors and a
deeper note of peach pit. The floral quality echoes on the long, spicy, impressively precise finish. This will age and I'd love to
stack it up against scores of Champagnes at anywhere near this price.” 91 points, Josh Raynolds, Stephen Tanzer’s
International Wine Cellar May/June 2010
!
48
68
72
72
85
9!
sparkling wine (italian, spanish, French - other than champagne)
NV Babo Prosecco
Friuli, Italy
45
(South Australian) Justin has this year added this delicious, delicately peachy, frothy sparkler to his impressive range. It's made
using Glera fruit (the historical name of the Prosecco grape), which is sourced, from the same Friuli grower that supplies Justin
with his Pinot Grigio. Made in the traditional Charmat method it is really vibrant, crisp - like biting into a cold orchard fruit - yet
pulpy and soft with lovely florals, lemony notes and also some yeasty depths. A lovely, balanced and fresh Prosecco that cries
out to be enjoyed anytime of the day or night. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO.
NV Vallformosa ‘Brut MVSA’
Cava, D.O. Penedes, Spain
45
NV Vallformosa ‘Clasic’ (sic) Rose
NV Céline & Laurent Tripoz Crémant de Bourgogne ‘Nature’
Cava, D.O. Penedes, Spain
Mâconnais, Burgundy, France
45
68
2009 Colet-Navazos Extra Brut Sparkling (Xarel-lo)
D.O. Penedés, Spain
78
2012 Domaine Belluard ‘Les Perles du Mont Blanc’
Ayse, Savoie, France
85
2008 Colet-Navazos Extra Brut Reserva Sparkling
D.O. Penedés. Spain
95
Fresh with granny smith purity and that characteristic Cava almond-meal complexity. This will certainly liven up your palate
before you deposit your first spring roll!
Made from 100% Chardonnay selected from the Tripoz's best vineyards this sparkling wine has a lovely fresh nose of citrus,
fresh baked bread and a lovely mineral complexity. It is very fine and has a lovely balance. As far as an elegant, pure and high
quality Sparkling to serve by the glass goes, this can't be beaten. "What can we say about this wine to properly express how
delicious it is? Our original tasting notes contain expletives, if that tells you anything. The producer is biodynamically certified;
the wine contains fruit from Macon, with no sugar and no sulfur added. The nose offers golden, ripe, apple-y notes, while the
palate is creamy and rich. The finish is long and the wine presents itself as being quite serious for a (value) sparkler from the
Macon. Please do yourself a favor and try one" Chambers St Wines NY
(Disgorged September, 2012) COLET-NAVAZOS 2009 Extra Brut has enjoyed an ageing process of 30 months.
Bone-dry, it has virtually no residual sugar and no sulfites have been added in the disgorging. The base wine is
dominated by the Xarel.lo variety, and the southern contribution gives it characteristic oxidative notes. 92/100
points, Guía Peñín
100% Gringet, an old indigenous Savoie grape variety. Delicate and mineral, the wine is reputed to be an
expression of the greatest purity because of the glacial water and the fresh mountain air of nearby Mont Blanc. GD
(Disgorged September, 2012) COLET-NAVAZOS RESERVA 2008 Extra Brut has undergone a long ageing period of
42 months. Bone-dry, it has virtually no residual sugar and no sulfites have been added in the disgorging. The
base wine is dominated by the Chardonnay variety, and the southern contribution gives it a subtle but singular air
of flor yeast. 94/100 points, Guía Peñín
2007 Raventos i Blanc ‘Gran Reserva de la Finca’
D.O. Penedés. Spain
99
2007 Agusti Torello ‘Kripta’
D.O. Penedés. Spain
209
Earthy and golden, nice nose of minerals and old flowers, plenty of development, but still bright; juicy, with fair bit of big
foam, and lovely crunchy green apple acid finish. Toasty and generous, but well-edged. 40% Xarel-lo/25% Macabeo/20%
Parellada/10% Chardonnay/5% Pinot Noir. Scott Wasley, The Spanish Acquisition
‘Kripta” is original not least for its Rapael Bartolozzi-designed bottle, in the shape of an amphora, as well as its long aging
period of over four years. This maturity, anchored in excellent fruit, gives a delicate creaminess, fine bubbles, and a complex
nose of almonds, brioche and toast. The palate is rich and savoury, with toasty notes. 1001 WINES YOU MUST TRY BEFORE YOU
DIE Ebury Press, 2008
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10!
sparkling wine (champagne)
NV Chartogne-Taillet ‘St Ann Brut’ (2010 Base) (375 ml)
NV René Geoffroy ‘Rosé de Saignée Brut’ (375 ml)
Merfy, Montagne de Reims Champ. Fr
Cumières, Champagne, France
66
69
NV Francoise Bedel ‘Cuvee Brut’
NV Marc Chauvet ‘Brut’
Crouttes-sur Marne, Champ, France
Champagne, France
74
98
Loving that René Geoffroy. He has such a delicate touch. The wines are very precise and layered. I love their palate balance and
dryness. SOPHIE OTTON, (Former) ROCKPOOL BAR AND GRILL WINE DIRECTOR
(2008 Base) (375
ml)
This week I’m recommending a grower’s champagne, Marc Chauvet, Brut Tradition NV Champagne. I liked it so much that I
ordered it for our elder daughter’s party for her friends after her forthcoming nuptials.
As I have just learnt from their excellent website, the vines are grown by attractive-looking young Nicolas Chauvet, who is
wedded to sustainable viticulture, and the wines are made by Clothilde Chauvet, proud of being a woman in what is usually a
man’s job. Tick, tick! More important perhaps is that the stuff tastes delicious. Not too sweet, not at all tart, nicely balanced,
very brisk and appetising but with good length. JANCIS ROBINSON
NV Agrapart ‘Terroirs’ Blanc de Blanc Grand Cru
Avize, Champagne, France
115
From a range of older vine Grand Cru sites in Avize, Oger, Cramant and Oiry, this is a brilliant demonstration of the quality and
finesse that may be found in grower Champagnes. A blend of equal parts 2007 and 2008, the wine is vivid and intensely
focused. Like many of the greatest grower releases, it is more an expression of site than of fruit and with just 5g/l dosage, is
reassuringly dry. GD
NV Larmandier Bernier Brut Tradition 1er Cru
NV Pol Roger ‘Brut Cuvee’
NV Egly-Ouriet ‘Les Vignes de Vrigny’ 1er Cru
2008 Chartogne-Taillet ‘Heurtbise’ Blanc de Blancs
Vertus, Champagne, France
Champagne, France
Montagne de Reims , Champ. Fr.
125
130
150
Merfy, Montagne de Reims Champ. Fr. 152
This is a fabulous estate, meticulously cared for with wines fermented separately by grape variety and by terroir and with
increasing use of oak. The wines are light, bone dry and deliciously fruity. Perfect aperitif champagne. The Chartogne family is
at the forefront of the movement to rejuvenate the reputation of the region with small, high-quality parcels of single-vineyard
wines, further refined by the increasing use of barrels. Marcel Orford-Williams, champagne buyer for The Wine Society UK
2000 Ployez-Jacquemart Vintage Blanc de Blancs
Ludes, Champagne, France
155
NV Diebolt-Vallois ‘Prestige’
NV Rene Geoffroy ‘Volupte’ Brut (100% 2006 fruit)
2009 Vouette et Sorbee ‘Fidele’ Extra Brut Blanc de Noirs
Cote des Blancs, Champagne, Fr
Cumières, Champagne, Fr
Aube, Champagne, France
158
158
162
NV Egly-Ouriet Grand Cru ‘Brut Tradition’
Montagne de Reims, Champagne Fr. 168
A bracing structure and supple mousse pick up a chalky feel as this wine plays out across the palate. Buttered popcorn, pencil
shavings and grapefruit provide the flavour spectrum. It all comes together on the elegant, smoky finish. WINE SPECTATOR
Bertrand Gautherot famously stopped supplying Dom Perignon and started bottling his own wines after his friend Anselme
Selosse subtly encouraged him: “release your own wine or I will shoot you!” NEVILLE YATES
….there are flavours and aromas here that don’t fit into the preconceived pigeon holes that Champagne as a brand has laid on
the table before us. There’s oak, there’s funk, there’s texture, tension and spunk…..more than enough to keep the old grey
matter busy when enjoying a bottle with friends. …one of the most complex Champagnes I’ve had the pleasure of
drinking…..white Burgundy-like with an endless array of complexity. Seek it out….go to the cupboard immediately and sell
some shit on eBay….just do it. DAVE BROOKES, VINOFREAKISM
Disgorged November 2011 after 40 months on lees. Perhaps the best introduction to the wines of Francis Egly – this is a wine
that does not require any bottle age. It is stunning right now! This is all about Grand Cru, low yield Pinot Noir ROBERT WALTERS
2008 Ulysse Collin ‘Les Pierrieres’ Blanc de Blancs
Sézannais, Champagne France
NV Cedric Bouchard ‘Inflorescence Val Vilaine’ Blanc de Noirs (2011)Aube, Champagne France
2008 Ulysse Collin ‘Les Maillons’ Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut
Sézannais, Champagne Fr.
NV DeMarne-Frison ‘Lalore’ Blanc de Blancs
Aube, Champagne France
168
168
168
172
NV Gosset ‘Grande Reserve’
2009 Vouette et Sorbee ‘Blanc d’Agile’ Extra Brut Bl de Bl
2008 Ulysse Collin ‘Les Roises’ Blanc de Blancs
180
192
19
The wines are rich and generous, showing both the character of the Aube and the influence of natural viticulture, and they are
keenly soil-expressive, adding to their overall feel of liveliness and energy. While ‘Lalore’ demonstrates the voluptuous depth
expected of the Aube, de Marne is careful not to harvest the grapes at excessive levels of ripeness. PETER LIEM
!
Ay, Champagne, France
Aube, Champagne, France
Sézannais, Champagne France
11!
more sparkling wine (champagne)
2009 Jérôme Prévost La Closerie ‘les Béguines’
Montagne de Reims, Champ. Fr.
197
“Today there are a handful of wines from elite, artisanal grower-estates in Champagne that have attracted a nearly cult-like
following. One of the most sought-after of these is the meunier of Jérôme Prévost... Selling a Prévost wine, or ordering one at
a wine bar or restaurant, has become almost a badge of honor, a secret sign that affirms your initiation into an exclusive club of
those in the know. Unfortunately, with an annual production of only about 13,000 bottles, Prévost’s wine is not always easy to
obtain...Needless to say, if you do happen across a bottle you ought to buy it, as Prévost’s champagne is an experience not to
be missed.” Peter Liem, World of Fine Wine & www.champagneguide.net
Jérôme Prévost is a man of rare artistic sensibilities; painter, sculptor, thinker and a perfectionist winemaker. As most of you
will know already, Prévost makes bugger all wine and so we receive a tragically small amount. Having said that, we visit each
year and Jérôme’s generosity with his time as well as his wine is truly gratifying. We are in fact blessed to receive a small
parcel to offer our top customers (many French restaurants cannot get any!) ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO.
2009 Jérôme Prévost La Closerie ‘Fac-Simile’ Rosé
Montagne de Reims , Champ. Fr.
235
2006 David Leclapart Cuvee ‘L’Artiste’
Trepail, Champagne, France
275
2004 David Léclapart Cuvee ‘L’Apôtre’
1999 Pol Roger Cuvee ‘Sir Winston Churchill’
Trepail, Champagne, France
Champagne, France
303
320
Prévost occasionally releases a second cuvée and this year he has made a tiny quantity of Rosé labelled as La Closerie FacSimile Rosé. This was produced by taking the 2009 La Closerie les Béguines and adding a small dose of red wine made from a
small parcel of Meunier in les Béguines affected with court-noué (a condition that produces tiny berries) ROBERT WALTERS
The most exciting, spine-tinglingly brilliant wines in Champagne are not from the well-known houses or big companies - as
good as some of those luxury brands can be. They're coming from small, independent growers such as Jean-Sebastien Fleury,
Anselme Selosse, Pierre and Sophie Larmandier and David Leclapart. Sommeliers and wine merchants in Europe and the US
fight over meagre allocations of Leclapart's champagnes, so it's a minor miracle that any bottles manage to find their way to
Australia. But I'm glad they do, because they're exquisite. The 2006 L'Artiste, for example, has laserlike precision, purity and
the unique dry, powdery taste of the region's chalky soils. What sets these champagnes apart and those of the other top small
growermakers - is that they are superb, nuanced, terroir-driven wines first and foremost, before they are sparkling wines. The
complexity and intensity and satisfaction found in them is every bit as great as that found in the finest whites from Burgundy
th
or the great sweet whites of Sauternes. MAX ALLEN 16 November 2012
The relationship between Champagne Pol Roger and Sir Winston Churchill dates back to a providential meeting at a luncheon
given by the British Ambassador to France some months after the liberation of Paris at which was served the sumptuous 1928
vintage of Pol Roger. Attending the lunch was the beautiful Odette Pol-Roger as well as Winston Churchill, with whom she
struck up an instant rapport. A friendship was born which continued until Churchill’s death, creating links between the PolRoger and Churchill families which are still as strong to this day.
The pressures of his post sadly prevented Churchill ever paying a visit to 44 Avenue de Champagne, the home of Pol Roger,
but he nonetheless proclaimed it “the most drinkable address in the world”. Champagne Pol Roger created their Prestige
Cuvée in homage to Sir Winston Churchill mindful of the qualities that he sought in his champagne: robustness, a full-bodied
character and relative maturity. The exact blend is a closely guarded family secret but it is undeniable that the composition
would meet with the approval of the man to whom it is dedicated: “My tastes are simple, I am easily satisfied with the best”.
Pol Roger Web Site
2008 Chartogne-Taillet ‘Les Barres’ Pinot Meunier
Merfy, Montagne de Reims Champ. Fr. 352
2002 Egly-Ouriet Grand Cru Millesime
2006 Agrapart ‘Venus’ Blanc de Blanc Brut Nature Grand Cru
Montagne de Reims , Champ. Fr.
Avize, Champagne, France
366
390
NV Jacques Selosse V.O. ‘Version Original’ Blanc de Blancs
Avize, Champagne, France
500
This Champagne comes from a rare, ungrafted vineyard of Pinot Meunier. Phylloxera has never touched this sandy parcel, and
we passionately continue to preserve these vines. The limestone content is lower in this vineyard than in the surrounding
ones, with only the primary root of the vine descending deep into the calcareous bedrock. This wine provokes strong emotions.
Once the proper tasting temperature is reached and the wine sufficiently aerated (varying according to the vintage), it offers a
wide range of flavors and aromas that reflect the history and origin of our terroir. Chartogne-Taillet website
This is a very special wine from a very special plot of dirt. It comes from one-third of a hectare of vines in the vineyard of La
Fosse, planted in 1959 and is named after the Boulonnais mare that first ploughed the vineyard. Vénus is a single parcel cuvée
made in tiny quantites. It always shows a greater finesse and subtlety, with extra layers and a complexity not only of fruit, but
also of minerality. Apart from being ploughed by Boulonnais horse, this section of La Fosse lies largely on the very chalkiest
portion of the slope, contrasting the clay soils of the vineyards used for the Avizoise. This is super floral, pretty and long. It has
a class that only the very greatest Champagnes can deliver and, as a zero-dosage wine, all of the character, finesse and class
derives from the fruit and the terroir. A brilliant wine. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM
“Drop all preconceived notions about what Champagne is and can be in order to fully experience the wines of Anselme and
Corinne Selosse, as these are Champagnes like no other.” Antonio Galloni (The Wine Advocate)
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12!
riesling (barossa and adelaide hills)
2012 Bethany Wines
2013 Forbes & Forbes
Eden Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
35
35
2012 Torzi Matthews ‘Frost Dodger’ Riesling
Eden Valley, SA
38
2014 Rieslingfreak No. 4
2012 Radford ‘Quartz Garden’
Eden Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
39
39
It was a number of different Rieslings crafted by Colin Forbes during the late 80’s and early 90’s that put the Riesling hook
deep into me. Delicious and profound wines adorned with the Craneford label, I still remember the sense of regret as I eased
the cork from my last bottle. It is clear that Colin has lost none of his touch with this grape during the intervening years. I am
excited to offer this 2013 expression that glimmers with powerful lemony austerity. GRANT DICKSON
Tasted this on a hot January Tanunda night; a moisture-sucking breeze rattling the brittle leaves outside our western window.
Then this elixir, this life-affirming squirt of chilled ripe Tahitian lime juice straight across the tongue’s gunwales, pooling
deliciously in the moats that run along each side of the oral cavity. A puckering muddle of kaffir, mineral salts and more
essence of zesty lime follows. Lingering deliciously. Textbook stuff, and thank you Dominic. GD
Here’s as deep-fruited, textured and deliciously complex a Riesling as you are ever like to encounter. The vineyard that
formerly supplied Siegersdorf Riesling made by Jim Irvine here contributes fruit for a wine that sits near the peak of Australia’s
Riesling Pantheon. It’s an engaging, involving wine that might make you think you must exercise some care in choosing
dishes to match. But relax, the luscious wash of lime and pink grapefruit will harmonise brilliantly with everything here. GD
2013 Dandelion ‘Wonderland of the Eden Valley’
2009 St Hallett
Eden Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
39
41
2013 David Franz Riesling
Eden Valley, SA
41
Spoken to a Riesling Nazi lately? You know the type. Deferential to the grape’s many charms, but with a compulsion to consult
a rulebook every time a bottle is considered. And the Riesling Nazi’s No.1 rule is to drink the stuff within a year or bury it for
ten. My thoughts? Misguided. Here is a brilliant reason to crack one at five years old. I love the counterpoint that starts to play
out between juicy wafts of lime and preserved lemon freshness and the first murmerings of approaching tertiary toastiness. I
love the fact that the sharp edges have rubbed off and a softer wine with greater heft of fruit now gravitates to the lower
regions of your oral cavity. More serious and contemplative to be sure, but sometimes I like that. GD
Certain wines resonate with cuisine-appropriateness at first sniff. This is one such wine. Pitch perfect Eden Valley Riesling,
awash with lime juice aromatics, mouthcoating texture and an unobtrusive line of acidity that effectively harnesses a scintilla
of residual sweetness. This will bring a smile to those who feel that too many Rieslings have become rather joyless recently. GD
2013 Teusner ‘The Empress’
2011 Rockford ‘Barossa Riesling’
2013 Mayhem & Co ‘Hipster’ Riesling
Eden Valley, SA
Eden Valley / Barossa Valley, SA
EdenValley, SA
41
41
41
2012 Jacobs Creek ‘Steingarten’
2008 Pewsey Vale ‘Contours’
2007 Peter Lehmann ‘Wigan’
Eden Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
49
55
55
2000 Orlando ‘St Helga’ Riesling
2012 mesh (by Jeffrey Grosset and Robert Hill Smith)
Eden Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
55
58
2013 Henschke ‘Julius’
2010 Radford Bio-dynamically grown
2002 Orlando ‘St Helga’ Riesling
Eden Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
59
59
65
An exotic, dry expression of Riesling from high Eden. Deep set aromas include Arum liliy, heady jasmine blossom and a
melenge of orange peel and ripe tropical fruit (perhaps even a provocative whiff of Durian). This olfactory cacophony prepares
you nicely for the long leesy palate where flavours are influenced by sponataneous whole-bunch fermentation and long lees
contact. No simple lime-juice or estery floral high notes; it’s deep-fruited and thought-provokingly delicious. GD
Andrew Wigan crafted many of the greatest Australian Rieslings that I have ever tasted. A recent pristine bottle of the 1993
Peter Lehmann ‘Reserve’, still limey and primary-fruited, pushed all my Riesling buttons: (Thank you Peter and Catherine). As
tightly strung as the E string on a Strad, this wine muddles lime cheeks and grapefruit pith. Wet stone and the first
encroachment of secondary toastiness counterpoint this wash of citrus. But the purity and resonance are what you’ll remember
as we enjoy one of the longest finishes in the game. GD
Two cold ferment warriors meet in High Eden each year to concoct a magical, pure, stony tasting Riesling. Like ancient samurai,
they meet at a round triage table to combine the skills and wisdom honed over long service to this most expressive of varietals
within their respective fiefdoms. Talcy minerality counterpoints a playful tug of grapefruit zestiness that sends vibrations of
pleasure across the palate. Dry and delicious. GD
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13!
more riesling (barossa and adelaide hills)
2005 Rockford Vine Vale Riesling
2003 Rockford Vine Vale Riesling
1999 Henschke ‘Julius’
Barossa Valley
Barossa Valley
Eden Valley, SA
75
75
79
Clare Valley, SA
Clare Valley, SA
Polish Hill, Clare Valley, SA
Polish Hill, Clare Valley, SA
39
39
52
52
riesling (clare valley)
2014 Rieslingfreak No.3
2013 Rieslingfreak No. 5 (off dry)
2014 Rieslingfreak No. 2
2013 Rieslingfreak No. 8 ‘Schatzkammer’
John Hughes’ repertoire of Riesling styles continues to grow. Here we have a delicious wine modeled on the great kabinetts
of the Mosel. He calls it Schatzkammer, the German word for wine closet or ‘cabinet’. Like its German inspiration, the wine has
slight sweetness, but with sufficient acidity to balance and pull the wine into a tight puckering line within your mouth. Ripe
limes and green apple aromas and flavours spill from the lip of your glass and will mix so well with so many of the
fermentAsian dishes. GD
2013 KT ‘Churinga’ Riesling
2013 Grosset ‘Alea’ (off dry)
Watervale, Clare Valley, SA
Watervale, Clare Valley, SA
55
59
2013 Crabtree ‘Robert Crabtree’
2002 Richmond Grove Watervale Riesling
2012 Jim Barry ‘The Florita’
Watervale, Clare Valley, SA
Watervale, Clare Valley, SA
Clare Valley, SA
59
68
85
2013 Grosset ‘Polish Hill’
Polish Hill, Clare, SA
93
The 2013 Grosset Alea Riesling is delightfully floral with white flowers and a whisper of lemon blossom and fresh garden
herbs. There are lime juice flavours, a hint of lemon and a beautifully balanced long generous palate that leads to a gentle grip
and zingy dry finish. “The Alea has come of age” says Jeff. “This vintage is a fraction drier than previous releases and is
wonderfully complex while remaining delicate and perfectly balanced. We put this down to equal measures of vineyard
maturity and experience.” Grosset Wines
“This micro batch super premium Riesling is the fruit of years of patience. We selected individual rows where the terra rossa
and loam barely cover the deep limestone below. To guarantee the freshness of these precious grapes, we carefully picked
batches to precisely fill our membrane press in the chill of night, and destemmed the bunches without crushing them. Only
the finest 40% of the juice was used in this pristine, intense, beautifully citric Riesling.”
The story of Riesling in Australia is as old as the wine industry itself. Aficionados will remember the legendary “dry white hock
style” wines from the 1960’s and 1970’s. The greatest Rieslings of that era came from the revered ‘Florita’ vineyard—a seventyfive acre block established one mile south of the Watervale township near Clare in the early 1960’s. Jim Barry’s sons purchased
The Florita vineyard in 1986. Leo Buring first registered ‘The Florita’ trademark in 1946, and Mark, Peter and John were forced
to wait, somewhat anxiously, until finally procuring it in 2004. JIM BARRY WEBSITE
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14!
riesling (other new world)
2012 Pressing Matters ‘R9”
Coal River Valley, Tasmania
50
Tasmania's Pressing Matters is one of my favourites, producing riesling at four different sweetness levels, from dry to very
sweet and labelled R0, R9, R69 and R139 (grams per litre of sugar). Off-dry wines make wonderful aperitifs or refreshers, and
go with different foods. They're especially useful paired with spicy Asian dishes, such as Thai fishcakes with chilli sauce. Off-dry
wines also have the potential to win back some drinkers who've reacted against the sometimes hard, tart and forbidding,
traditional bone-dry riesling style. Huon Hooke – Sydney Morning Herald
2009 Tunkalilla Vineyard Riesling
Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon US
Tunkalilla: “Place of many smells” in the Aboriginal Kaurna dialect and the name of a beach on the southern Fleurieu. 30 years
previously Brian Croser named his Adelaide Hills winery “Petaluma” after a Californian town. When seeking a suitable name
for his most recent Oregon venture, he reversed the procedure and named his vineyard after the beach closest to his Maylands
lamb Farm. The Tunkalilla project continues Croser’s obsession with varietal-specific sites that had previously given birth to
vineyards and wines such as ‘Tiers’. This Eola Riesling expresses rich and deep-fruited stonefruit and tropical flavours with a
curious subtle line of resiny acidity that perfectly offsets the tease of 11 gpl residual sugar. Very nuoc cham. GD
2012 Cherubino ‘Porongurap’
Porongurap, Great Southern, WA
52
52
A recent discovery, this immediately appealed to me in my quest to line up diverse expressons of Riesling. Minimal
intervention, mineral introspection; wild fermentation heightens a creamy texture that sets off delicious kaffir lime leaf and
poached pear. “A little oak” will purportedly contribute nutty notes with age. Age? Pop a glass with the Spring Rolls and
celebrate some serious and delicious youth! GD
2013 Auburn Dry Riesling
Central Otago, NZ
75
riesling (alsace, france)
2010 Meyer-Fonné ‘Kaefferkopf’ Grand Cru
2006 Meyer-Fonné ‘Kaefferkopf’ Grand Cru
2010 Albert Boxler Sommerberg ‘D’
2011 Weinbach Schlossberg St Catherine l'Inedit Grand Cru
Alsace, France
Alsace, France
Alsace, France
Alsace, France
102
110
174
198
2007 Zind Humbrecht ‘Brand’ Grand Cru Vielles Vignes
Alsace, France
200
1999 Zind Humbrecht ‘Clos Hauserer’
Alsace, France
200
The Schlossberg St Catherine l'Inédit (one of a kind) is from the oldest vines (planted in the 1940s) that deliver Weinbach’s
ripest, most powerful Riesling from the Schlossberg. It is only produced when the fruit reaches exceptional maturity and it is
picked in one trie. In the palate, the wine explodes with dreamy aromas of candied orange and lemon peel, cinnamon, ginger
etc. As the wine settles in the glass we see more Riesling shape and a luscious yet zippy personality. This is something special
with enormous aging potential and great versatility at the table. As stated in the review below, there is 10% botrytized fruit in
the blend. We love Catherine’s summation of the wine, too! ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
"Bright pale green. Lime and white flowers on the nose, with nuances of crystallized ginger. Very sweet on entry, then more
austere in the middle, with lively acidity lifting the concentrated peach nectar and quince flavors. This fruit bomb offers
compellingly sucrosite and superb palate presence--and a long, velvety finish. This was made from 60-year-old vines and 10%
botrytized grapes. According to Cathy Faller, the wine has "a baroque attack but a gothic finish." 94 (+?) points, Stephen
Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, Nov/Dec 2012
The name Brand has appeared for a very long time in the town archives of Turckheim, a reminder that this part of the hill was
eroded by fire. Brand means land of fire. Legend has it that the sun fought a dragon in this Grand Cru vineyard. The latter was
vanquished and obliged to withdraw into a dark cavern under the Brand, which explains the characteristic warmth of this
locality’s soil. The reputation of the Turckheim wines goes back to the Middle Ages and the Brand is the best known vineyard.
It is a place name found again and again among the Grand Cru vineyards of Alsace throughout history.
Mise 9/2000, 103 Oe (14.3°), 13.8° alc, 9g/lSR, 41 hl/ha, 2004-2015+
The Clos Hauserer is a small 1.19 ha vineyard located at the bottom of the Grand Cru Hengst and well protected from the north
winds. The soil results from an accumulation of marl on top of a young oligocen calcareous mother rock.. The quality of this soil
and the warm climate of the Hauserer explains the strong minerality of the wine. The 1999 has the strongest acidity of the
vintage in Riesling but is perfectly balanced with the high maturity of the grapes, harvested totally healthy. On the palate, the
wine is dry and shows a great ageing potential. Olivier Humbrecht MW Domaine Zind-Humbrecht
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15!
riesling (germany)
2009 Zilliken Estate Riesling
Saarburg, Saar, Germany
45
Crystaline and pure with that smell of a micro-plane after you have zested a bag of oranges and limes.
I love wines that seem to take a palpable few seconds to traverse the palate. Front to back, slow moving but persistent. I
admire persistence in wines. And people. ‘Tenacious’ may not be an oft-used wine adjective, but this riesling’s never going to
give up it’s quest to straighten up every papilla on your tongue and sizzle it’s laser-like way deep into your northern pleasure
zone. GD
2011 Robert Weil Trocken
2010 Emrich-Schoenleber Trocken
Rheingau, Germany (375 ml)
Nahe, Germany
45
48
2011 Dönnhoff Estate Riesling ‘Dry’
2011 Dr Loosen Wehlener Sonnenhur Kabinett
Nahe, Germany
Mosel, Germany
69
73
There is no question that Werner Schonleber has been one of the most consistent producers of first-class Rieslings in Germany,
His ability to make the character of each vineyard shine through in every wine is exemplary. JOEL PAYNE, STEPHEN TANZER’S
INTERNATIONAL WINE CELLAR
Wehlener Sonnenuhr is a precipitously steep and rocky vineyard which yields some of the most elegant and sophisticated
white wines in the world. It has very thin soil and the purest blue slate of any Mosel vineyard. This gives a lively minerality to
the wine, along with a delicate and crisp acidity that perfectly balances the bright white peach and lemon fruit. It’s an
aristocratic and charming wine that dances gracefully on the palate. Dr Loosen Web Site
2010 Günther Steinmetz ‘Alte Reben’ (70 year old vines) (12g/l RS) Brauneberg (Mosel), Germany
75
Magnificent nose, Expansive and with grand dimension. Old vines concentration – the colour a shade deeper than the others –
powerfully weighted and pitched. Lovely and powerful but sombre – this will last and last. AG
2011 Peter Lauer Ayler Kupp Fass 6 "Senior" Trocken,
Ayl (Saar), Germany
75
Senior is made in the just off-dry style that Peter Lauer Sr. loved so much to drink. Florian Lauer calls it "trocken bis feinherb,"
(dry to medium or "finely" dry) but we just call it wonderful. The nose shows some sponti richness along with a clean dose of
lemon cream. The palate is incredibly racy and lively with lemon and lime zest notes. It's really unlike any other Riesling, with
savory, high-toned citrus notes, and it's unmistakably Lauer. Notes: Chambers Street Wines, New York
2008 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese Riesling
2010 A J Adam ‘Hofberg’ Feinherb (off-dry)
2007 Schafer-Frohlich ‘Bockenauer Felseneck’ Dry
Mosel, Germany (375 ml)
Mosel, Germany
Nahe, Germany
Lovely nose: what strikes me first is the richness of fruit, sort of tropical and apricot-like in equal measure, and sufficiently
assertive that it initially masks the floral, mineral aspects of the aroma profile. Some more sniffing reveals the full extent of this
wine’s complexity. Once it’s had time to settle in the glass, it’s simply a wall of quite luscious, detailed aromatics: something to
sniff repeatedly for sure. The vibe here is balanced, elements combining with harmony. The acid is lovely: prominent and
shapely, a bit grainy even, without feeling coarse or out of control. Honeysuckle and mineral flavours flow through the afterpalate…Talc-like aromatics on the finish with a squeeze of grapefruit for good measure. Delicious wine. JULIAN COLDREY,
FULL POUR
76
76
86
2011 Joh. Jos. Prüm Kabinett Riesling
Mosel, Germany
2011 Peter Lauer Fass 12 "Unterstenbersch" Trocken bis Feinherb Ayl (Saar) Germany
88
115
2011 Robert Weil Kiedrich Klosterberg Trocken
2004 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese
2004 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese
1993 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Auslese
116
122
136
140
The last of the 2011 Peter Lauer wines I’ll be reviewing and whilst it’s been a pleasure, my teeth are in serious need of some
downtime.
Trocken-feinherb, 12g/l residual. A compact wine with mid-palate creaminess and a hint of freshly baked bread which has me
thinking it has spent time on lees. Not sure though. It’s grassy and herbaceous with white florals peeping out beneath the
greenery. Green apple, passionfruit and apricot are the dominant fruit flavours. Finishes reasonably dry and chalky with some
refreshing citrus. Tight at the moment but should become more expansive with time. Jeremy Pringle, WINE WILL EAT ITSELF
Rheingau, Germany
Mosel, Germany
Mosel, Germany
Saarburg, Saar, Germany
A stellar bottle of wine that is now beginning to really deliver primetime drinking. The bouquet is deep, delicate and
beautifully complex, as it offers up scents of white cherries, pears, slate, petrol, iris blossoms and a topnote of bee pollen. On
the palate the wine is medium-full, discreet and very elegant, with lovely filigree, zesty acidity and excellent length and grip
on the beautifully focused finish. This is a seamless and hauntingly beautiful thoroughbred. 93 points, drink N-2030. JOHN
GILMAN, A View From the Cellar
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16!
more riesling (germany)
2010 Clemens Busch Marienburg 1er Cru Grosses-Gewächs 'Fahrlay'
Mosel, Germany
142
From grey slate on an old part of Marienburg. Fine and pure style with slate, light spice and pretty, ripe citrus and yellow plum.
Very fine and elegant in the mouth but there is a deceptive amount of richness and a rich mineral core. TIM STOCk
“The 13% alcohol, manifestly extract-rich Busch 2010 Pundericher Marienburg Riesling Grosses Gewachs displays a complex
abundance of mineral matter – stony, smoky, sweaty, and saline – that seems to requiring scraping to remove from my teeth.
Peach kernel piquancy adds a slightly austere note to this firm Riesling’s gripping, strongly mineral persistence. Burgundian
in amplitude even if very Mosel in its minerality, this evinces no heat or roughness; and while from younger vines than Busch’s
two yet more site-specific Grosse Gewachse, this preserves a sense of primary juiciness and transparency to mineral elements
that those wines, for now at least, miss. I would anticipate at least 6-8 years of fascination.” David
Schildknecht, erobertparker.com # 200, April 2012
2010 Schafer-Frohlich ‘Felseneck’ Grosses Gewachs
Nahe, Germany
152
2010 Robert Weil Kiedrich Gräfenberg ‘Erstes Gewachs’ Trocken
Rheingau, Germany
170
2012 Eva Fricke Lorcher Schlossberg (off-dry)
Kiedrich, Riengau, Germany
170
2009 Clemens Busch Marienburg 1er Grosses-Gewächs 'Raffes'
2007 Clemens Busch Marienburg 1er Grosses-Gewächs 'Raffes'
Mosel, Germany
Mosel, Germany
209
215
After tasting a brilliant range of wines such as this all you can do is stand there with your mouth open in surprise. No other
estate in the Nahe region was able to present such a grandiose collection of wines this year. Indeed, the phalanx of Grands
Crus (Grosse Gewachs) and outstanding sweet botrytis wines is unmatched anywhere in Germany. The whole range simply
shines, showing off what makes a great estate so special: a totally individualistic style. Added to that comes the ability of
presenting this style in all its perfection practically every year. Gault Millau 2010
The appellation ‘Kiedrich Gräfenberg’ (Literally, the ‘Hill of the Counts’) has been used to designate Robert Weil’s finest wines
since the first vintage of 1868. Home to Weil’s oldest vines – up to eighty years of age with the majority on their own rootstock
- it makes perfect sense that Weil’s Erstes Gewächs* is made from this site. This receives a staggering 72 hours of skin contact
before indigenous yeast fermentation in 1200lt, neutral, German oak casks. The lees are regularly stirred and the wine is not
fined. Wilhelm Weil’s aim is to produce a wine in a similar way to the dry wines produced in the Rheingau a century ago. Back
st
then the finest Rieslings of the Rheingau were the most expensive wines in the world, more expensive even than the 1
Growth Bordeaux. The Kiedrich Gräfenberg Trocken Erstes Gewäch is an ideal specimen of this mineral-rich terroir, displaying
an extremely concentrated, textured and complex personality. Tasted from barrel it offered waves of fruit, spice and flintiness,
lifted by piercing citrus. It is substantial and complex on the palate, yet still quite elegant, with astonishing length and
intensity. It’s very early days though the 2010 is certainly one of the most balanced Erstes Gewächs we have tasted from Weil.
A towering and majestic dry Riesling. ROBERT WALTERS,BIBENDUM WINE CO.
The Erstes Gewächs (“first growth”) designation is used only in the Rheingau. Similar to the term Grosses Gewächs used in
other German wine regions, it is reserved for the finest dry wine from a classified vineyard. Rigorous quality standards apply,
and each Erstes Gewächs candidate has to be tasted and approved by the Rheingau’s governing wine board before it can be
released.
How can a start-up run by a young winemaker who grew up in the beer town of Bremen (home of Becks) end up on this hit list?
By making Rieslings like perfectly cut diamonds from forgotten vineyards such as the Schlossberg and Seligmacher. STUART
PIGOTT ‘The Riesling Story’ 2014
Perhaps an early-career winemaking stint in McLaren Vale sowed some diamond seeds? GD
“The 07's are truly profound. In a different style than Middle Mosel more like Austria meets the Mosel with some Boxler
thrown in … This is amazing wine and this note as they say is academic as there is so little of this. Maybe 25 cases and it will be
pricey but what a friggin' wine. My notes say out of control nose. Soft yet opulent and complex at the same time. The palate is
just a journey. Rich in textures but also precise in mineral and flavor definition. Incredible concentration but not freakish in
balance with the textures and detailed fruits and acids. The harmony was just beautiful. The finish was amazing and long and
just leaves you wanting more. One of the best dry wines of the trip. Epic, profound wine that tells a story of place, year, and
st
Clemens in one sip.” Lyle Fass, Rockss and Fruit (yes correct spelling!), September 1 2008
2008 Egon Muller Scharzhofberger Spätlese
2003 Joh. Jos. Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Auslese Goldkapsel
!
Mosel, Germany
Mosel, Germany
220
260
17!
riesling (austria)
2010 Nikolaihof Riesling ‘Vom Stein’ Federspiel
Wachau, Austria
92
2009 Nikolaihof ‘Elizabeth’ 'Tradition'
Wachau, Austria
125
2008 Nikolaihof Riesling ‘Vom Stein’ Smaragd
Wachau, Austria
152
Delicacy is the word here. A very restrained nose with typical spice and mineral notes plus dried white flowers, pink grapefruit
and fresh apple. Good texture and weight despite the delicacy. Sweet apple and citrus show before the powerful mineral acid
cuts a swathe through the palate. Lovely balance. TIM STOCK
Pale gold in the glass, this wine smells of white floral aromas and candle wax. In the mouth the wine has a wonderful soft and
fleshy texture with delicate acidity and beautiful floral and waxy flavors mixed with wet stones. This wine is technically a
Gemischter Satz -- a field blend of Riesling, Weissburgunder, Gruner Veltliner, Neuburger, and Auxerrois. Juicy, flavorful.
12.5% alcohol. Score: between 9 and 9.5.VINOGRAPHY
Intense and exotic nose with a strong stony mineral note. Longer lees aging (12 months) shows too. Ripe stonefruits with
marillen apricot and yellow peach. Sweet spices with hints of honey and wax. Reminds of baked marillen dumpling. Very rich
palate but still medium bodied and fine and focused with strong mineral structure. Ripe fruits and long lees aging build lovely
texture. Finishes with rich honeyed fruit flavours all the way down the back of the throat. TIM STOCK, VINOUS IMPORTS
2005 Nikolaihof Riesling ‘Steiner Hund’ Reserve
Wachau, Austria
172
1990 Nikolaihof ‘Im Weingebirge’ Smaragd
Wachau, Austria
428
The Steiner Hund vineyard actually lies in the Kremstal region. Perhaps this is what gives it a unique place among the
Nikolaihof range. Aged for 3 1⁄2 years in giant old casks it emerges incredibly complex with delicate fruit aromas, a brush of
Botrytis and a deep stony mineral note. The palate is light but juicy and pure and builds to surprising richness and texture.
Absolutely delicious with an emphasis on effortless poise and purity. TIM STOCK VINOUS IMPORTS
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18!
fifty shades of gris
Pinot, Grenache, Semillon, Frontignac, Terret, even Sauvignon exist as a grey skinned mutation with clear juice. The pinot version has a long
oenological history that has streamed into two main contasting styles: one richer and luscious from Alsace and one (at its best) crisp, mineral
and savoury from Northern Italy. Varying degrees of skin contact and extraction coax a wide range of hues and flavour profiles from vinification.
2013 Gibson ‘Rock Garden’ Pinot Gris / Traminer / Riesling
Eden Valley, Barossa SA
42
2012 Terre a Terre Pinot Gris
2013 Yabby Lake Pinot Gris
Wrattonbully, SA
Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
46
52
2012 Meyer-Fonné Pinot Blanc ‘Vielles Vignes’
Alsace, France
56
2012 Deiss Pinot d’Alsace
Alsace, France
56
2013 Henschke Littlehampton Innes Pinot Gris
Adelaide Hills, SA
58
2009 Deiss Pinot Gris de Bergheim
2012 Maxime Magnon ‘La Bégou’ (Grenache Gris / Blanc)
Alsace, France
Corbiéres, Languedoc , France
68
88
Rob Gibson has a new vineyard; bush vines planted on a precipitous rocky patch in High Eden. The first perfumed release from
what Rob calls this ‘freestyle’ vineyard will fit beautifully with many dishes on the fermentAsian menu. It has filigree laciness
with a veritable bouquet of florals, notably jasmine and roses. Lingerie drawer aromas, subtle unctuousness and a creamy
mouth feel. GD
(Slightly sweet)
The wine is pale yellow in colour with lifted aromas of green olive, wild honey, musk and pear. A mouth filling, vibrant and
savoury wine that is elegantly structured with sweet fruit, medium body and persistent crisp finish. Yabby Lake Website
Long have the aromatic varieties of the Alsace been given star billing in their ability to harmonise with Asian flavours on the
plate. Here’s a chance for you to make your own mind up. Various members of the Pinot family: Pinot Auxerrois, Pinot Blanc,
Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir combine to provide that rare muddle of fresh driving acidity and glycerol richness amidst a palate
dripping with stone fruit nectar and smoky minerality. GD
This one has most of the shades of Pinot covered, with components of Gris, Blanc, Noir as well as Meunier and Auxerrois. Thirst
quenching and quite dangerously gluggable but with an olfactory code that’s pretty hard to crack. There’s a bit of sweet orange
rind, some vanilla pod a grind of wattleseed and a gloop of acacia honey. But sits somewhere between the cracks. So while it is
easy to drink, it’s annoyingly thought provoking. What is that fragrance? GD
Littlehampton, recently rediscovered as a grapegrowing area, lies on the eastern side of the Adelaide Hills. This wine is named
after the owners of the vineyard, David and Annette Innes, who provide Henschke with wonderful pinot gris, called tokay
d’Alsace in France, grauburgunder in Germany and pinot grigio in Italy. The wine is fermented and lees stirred in tank to build
complexity, giving it a sweet, exotic fragrance of honeysuckle and stone-fruits with hints of marzipan and nashi pear. It has
excellent weight and depth, crisp acid and a long finish, making it a very food-friendly wine. STEPHEN AND PRUE HENSCHKE
Like Pinot, Grenache carries the three colour varients. This intriguingly textured wine is a blend of Grenache Gris and Grenache
Blanc. One of the most talked about of last year’s wines by the glass and really delicious! GD
2011 Leon Barral Vin de Pays ‘Blanc’ (Terret Gris, Roussanne, Viognier) Languedoc, France
88
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19!
There is an incredibly rare white wine produced from centenarian Terret Gris vines with a bit of Roussanne and Viognier,
labelled just as Vin de Pays “Blanc”. Fermentation takes place in cement vats with natural yeasts and a further malolactic in
seasoned barrels. No filtration or fining to leave a mark on this intense, hazy white that could possibly be called an ‘orange’
wine although only with reference to it’s colour. The mouthfeel and flavours are intense, sensual and electric. Didier had
trouble selling this wine when he first made it and now we all have to plead for it. ANDREW GUARD
gewürztraminer, grüner veltliner & muscat varieties
2014 Rockford White Frontignac (off-dry)
2013 Henschke ‘Joseph Hill’ Gewürztraminer
Barossa Valley, SA
Eden Valley/Adelaide Hills, SA
38
58
2012 Weinbach Reserve Gewürztraminer
Alsace, France
96
2010 Dry River ‘Lovat’ Gewurztraminer
2010 Meyer-Fonne ‘Sporen’ Gewurztraminer Grand Cru
Martinborough, NZ
Alsace, France
98
99
2012 Weinbach Reserve Muscat
Alsace, France
120
2010 Nikolaihof ‘Im Weingebirge’ Gruner Veltliner
Smaragd, Wachau, Austria
142
2005 Weinbach ‘Cuvee Laurence’ Gewurztraminer (off-dry)
Alsace, France
145
2010 Weinbach Reserve Gewürztraminer ‘Furstentum’
Alsace, France
176
The traminer grape originated in the Tramin area of Italy and has been grown for centuries in French Alsace and Germany. With
the German prefix gewürz, meaning spicy, this gewürztraminer exhibits aromas of rose petal, lychee and ginger spice, while
the dry, crisp palate provides a lovely texture. The first vines were planted in the Henschke Eden Valley vineyard in the early
1900s by Joseph Hill Thyer, after whom this wine is named. S & P HENSCHKE
Weinbach is an exceptional Gewürz Domaine. We believe the greatest. The style stands out for its purity, balance and focus
without any of the overt confected notes that mark so many examples. Cuvée Reserve is the Weinbach ‘entry level’ although
there is really nothing but benchmarks at this wonderful Domaine. From vines in the Clos Des Capucins, which gives
generously fruity, earlier maturing wines, this is a lovely, rose-petal noted wine with hints of orange oil, candied peel and
dried fig. In keeping with the Weinbach ‘style’, this remains quite linear with great varietal intensity and acidity to maintain
shape. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
Bio-dynamically grown. From 70 year old vines. This is off-dry and is qualitatively in the top 5 wines I have yet imported. A
multi dimensional pinnacle of Gewurztraminer. ANDREW GUARD
Weinbach’s wildly aromatic and grapey dry Muscat comes from old vines in the Clos des Capucins and the marly limestone soil
at the foot of the Altenbourg. 70 per cent of the blend is from Muscat Ottonel, the remainder from Muscat d’Alsace, better
known as Muscat à Petits Grains. The Fallers believe Alsatian Muscat should always be dry and that’s what this is. It opens with
an explosion of fresh jasmine and rosewater notes leading to a palate that’s wonderfully pure, jubey and vibrant. The finish is
bone dry, with a slight pithy bitterness that lends refreshment and liveliness. This will make a wonderful aperitif and, of
course, it performs wonders (in a similar way to Gewürztraminer) with Asian-influenced dishes. Robert Walters, Bibendum
We haven’t stocked any Smaragd level Grüner from Nikolaihof until this one which demanded to be represented. From soils
consisting of sand and gravel deposited over granite and quartz bedrock. The intensity of the nose shows the concentration of
the vintage. Pear, quince, yellow fruits, fresh honey and spiced apple. Floral with a strong savoury minerality as well as some
lees aging influence with white spice. The rich dry palate offers evolved citrus and pear fruits with great depth. Savoury
flavours of honey, herbs and lees build as the fruit subsides leading to an intense mineral finish. Still looks very pure and
delicate when compared to the average Wachau Smaragd. Stunning! Tim Stock, May 2012
“[Laurence Faller] is one of the best winemakers in the world. She manages to capture the tiniest detail in her wines and they
shine through their style, their precision of fruit, their elegance of texture and their amazing balance – they are faultless.”
OLIVIER POUSSIER, REVUE DE VINS DE FRANCE
OFF DRY. The Grand Cru Furstentum vineyard is one of the greatest terroirs for Gewürztraminer in all of Alsace and therefore
the world. The soil is brown yet chalky with a pebbly structure that holds both moisture and heat. The slope is steep, south
facing and between 300m and 400m in altitude. This is Gewürztraminer of the very highest expression, with striking floral
notes along with grapefruit, Moroccan spice and mixed peel aromas and flavours. Although intense and viscous, this is so
wonderfully refined and pure with incredible precision and detail. As Catherine Faller noted, “You need to ‘look’ at it from a
distance in order to get perspective. As you get closer it becomes more and more complex.” It is a late harvest wine as the
Fallers’ believe Gewürz must be picked late in order to be fully expressive. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
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20!
semillon
2012 David Franz ‘Long Gully Road’ Ancient Vine
2010 Whistler Semillon
2010 Rockford ‘Local Growers’ Semillon
Barossa Valley, SA (375 ml)
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
26
35
42
Check the numbers; Semillon represents about .03% of bottled white wine sales in Australia. The full-bodied wood-aged
Barossa style accounts for a miniscule percentage of that tiny slice.
This 2010 release of the ‘Local Growers’ shows how flawed the current anti-Semillon zeitgeist is.
On the nose, a beguilingly complex muddle of lemon curd, hay, lanolin and vinous waxy notes leads to a palate that delivers a
textural wash of sweet quince and lemon butter fruit in counterpoint with underlying savoury mossy flavours. The inclusion of
earlier-picked and higher altitude components ensures that a quite surprising tingly line of natural acidity keeps everything on
point. Ben Radford’s stylistic influence on this wine has been considerable, yet he has remained true to the soul of the wine,
ensuring that Robert O’Callaghan’s vision of a rich yellowed beauty will emerge over time. Squid, Chicken. GD
2006 McWilliams ‘Elizabeth’ Cellar Aged
2011 David Franz ‘Long Gully Road’ Ancient Vine
Hunter Valley, NSW
Barossa Valley, SA
42
44
2008 Burge Family Winemakers ‘Olive Hill’
Barossa Valley, SA
45
2003 Rockford ‘Local Growers’ Semillon
Barossa, SA
56
2013 Shaw and Smith ‘SSB’ (Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc)
2008 Peter Lehmann ‘Margaret Reserve’
Adelaide Hills, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
58
58
There’s obviously a Semillon gene; some have it, some don’t. This wine is a kind of ‘son-of Margaret’ just as its maker is a son
of Margaret. The gene runs through the whole Lehmann family, siring exponents of stunning expressions of a variety that the
world should be drinking a whole lot more of. The big difference here is freshness. Lemony freshness. And you’ve got to love
the buttercup crepe paper packaging. GD
Hard for me not to list a Barossa Semillon by the glass. Riesling is a given, in the way it’s almost an extension of the flavour
parameters of Tuoi’s food. But we have pendulums inside us all; after a glass of bracing linear white, we all crave some texture.
And this has texture to revel in… luxuriate in. This is quite a wine… I wonder to myself why Rick’s Semillon isn’t a household
name. Because it doesn’t get much better than this. It’s got lemon curd with some background herbal chartreuse notes, some
waxiness and some freshly rolled hay bail. Hay bail? Yes, stick your head in one sometime. Then when you’ve finished
sneezing, come back and line a glass of this up with the Squid. GD
I’ve seen Robert O’Callaghan emote on Semillon, all moist-eyed after slowly drawing half a lungful of air over the surface of an
old yellowed ‘Local Growers’. How many emperors’ new clothes moments will we need to endure before the tide of fashion
turns and propels a wider belief in these outstandingly flavourful, deep and contemplative wines, coaxed from the ripened
fruit of ancient vines during the five decades since Barossa Semillon went dry? Will it only return to favour after all the vines
have been grubbed or grafted? GD
Perhaps the most profound and pedigreed Semillon from this region, ‘Margaret’ redefined Barossa Semillon, moving it away
from the ripe-picked / old wood style that established itself from the early 1970s. This is pure and precise, unwwooded and set
up to age brilliantly for the next decade. More than that, it pays homage to Margaret Lehmann: visionary, mentor, great
supporter of all that is good for the Barossa. GD
2004 Henschke ‘Louis’
Eden Valley, SA
62
Named as a tribute to Louis Edmund Henschke (1919-1990), who owned and managed the Hill of Grace vineyard for 40 years.
His expertise as a vigneron has resulted in a legacy in the form of the famous vineyard being maintained using long-term
organic principles. The semillon variety has been traditionally used in Australia for the production of dry, full-bodied white
wines with excellent ageing properties. HENSCHKE WEBSITE
2007 McWilliams ‘Lovedale’ Single Vineyard Semillon
2005 Tyrrell’s Vat 1
2011 Sadie Family T’Voetpad
Hunter Valley, NSW
Hunter Valley, NSW
Swartland, South Africa
98
100
125
‘South Africa is the most exciting country in the southern hemisphere,’ maintains Neal Martin of Robert Parker’s Wine
Advocate, echoing the sentiments he expressed earlier this year. In his newly released South Africa report, which covers more
than 600 wines, Martin reaffirms that SA’s transition is well underway. Positive shifts in winemaking and viticulture, and a new
generation of ballsy (and bearded) young winemakers, are producing Old-World-inspired wines that are both elegant and
pure – wines that sing their own song and reflect their unique terroir.
A field-blend on the north-west side of the Piquetberg mountains. Semillon is the star of the show, blended with Semillion
Gris, Palomino, Muscat and Chenin. Subtle nuances of tropical fruit on the nose; peach, pineapple and passion fruit dance in
sync with an arresting minerality. The wine swirls on the palate elegantly with delectable creaminess. Textured in body, a
‘thinking’ wine. Something of a performance, quite appropriate to the amphitheatre-like vineyard it comes from. Ageing
potential: 5-10 years. Definitely one to keep your eye on. (2011 vintage – Wine Advocate 94 points)
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21!
sauvignon blanc
2011 Alphonse Mellot Sancerre ‘La Moussière’ (375ml)
2011 Gerard Boulay ‘Tradition’
2011 Alphonse Mellot Sancerre ‘La Moussière’
2011 François Cotat ‘Caillotes’
2010 Gerard Boulay ‘Monts Damnés’
2011 François Cotat ‘Monts Damnés’
2010 Gerard Boulay ‘Comtesse’
Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
52
66
88
99
99
121
126
2011 Alphonse Mellot ‘Generation XIX’
Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
144
2010 Alphonse Mellot ‘Cuvée Edmond’
Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
159
This comes from 0.40 hectares of 65 year old vines in the Comtesse lieu dit in the heart of Monts-Damnés. It is simply as
profound as Sancerre gets. Since 1870 Comtesse has been widely considered to be the finest vineyard in Sancerre. It was also
the last vineyard in Sancerre to resist phylloxera, right up until WW2. The composition is pure Kimmeridgian limestone with a
30/40-cm layer of soil above the solid limestone bedrock. This tiny parcel is Boulay’s pride and joy and while the wine is made
in the same way as the two crus above, it is notably more complex, mineral and graceful; a startling reminder of the difference
a few hundred yards can make in the world of terroir. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
Tasted in April - as was the corresponding Edmond - from wooden fermenter and demi-muid, the 2011 Sancerre Generation
XIX preserves the scallop-like sweet and saline savor that made the corresponding young Edmond memorable, while rich
though piquant nut oils and decided chalkiness further inflect the fundament of ripe grapefruit, orange, white peach, and
quince. This finishes bittersweetly, dominated by citrus and nut oils, with its umami- scallop-side serving for welcome
salivation...David Schildknecht , Wine Advocate #201
Cuvée Edmond is Sancerre at its most complex and detailed. As Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve have put it, Edmond is
"…uniquely pure and precise. The wine comes from a range of 40 to 87 year old vines on the south-southerly slope of the
Moussière site. It delivers everything you could ask of a great white wine - aromatic complexity, structure, substance, precision,
profound minerality and age worthiness. In the mouth there is a superb balance with a long, intense finish. It's a wine of vivid,
uplifting character, rich in aromas of verbena, lime and crushed, fresh herbs and possessing a remarkable, unyielding energy.
The 2010 is the most tense and ultra-pure Cuvée Edmond we can remember; a stunningly focused yet perfectly ripe wine with
a sense of minerality that comes with a capital M! ROBERT WALTERS
2011 Domaine Dagueneau Blanc Fumé de Pouilly
Pouilly, Loire Valley, France
220
2006 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc Cru Classe (Blend with Semillon) Pessac-Leognan, Bordeaux, France 250
An absolutely textbook great white Graves made from 85% Sauvignon Blanc and 15% Semillon and aged nine months on its
lees, this is a prodigious effort displaying notes of white flowers, currants, honeyed citrus, fig, and crushed rocks. The wine is
very pure, with full body and high acidity, in a backward, almost tannic style. Give this wine at least 8-10 years of cellaring and
drink it over the following 30 years.94+ Robert Parker
2005 François Cotat ‘Cuvée Paul’
Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
Named after François father, Cuvée Paul is a very rare wine made from the richest barrel of Sancerre La Grande Côte, set aside
as having the greatest potential for ageing. Made from very ripe grapes it shows sweetness and incredible power. A GUARD
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22!
chenin blanc
2013 Kalleske ‘Florentine’ Chenin Blanc
Greenock, Barossa Valley, SA
38
2011 Lammershoek ‘Roulette White’
Swartland, South Africa
52
2012 Sebastien Brunet ‘Arpent’
2008 Marc Bredif
2008 Huet Le Mont Demi Sec (off Dry) (375 ml)
2010 Clement Baraut ‘Pitrouillet’ (BD)
Vouvray Loire Valley, France
Vouvray ,Loire Valley, France
Vouvray, Loire Valley, France
Savennières, Loire Valley France
56
60
66
75
2012 Vincent Carême ‘Peu Morier’
Vouvray, Loire Valley, France
84
2009 François Chidaine ‘Les Tuffeaux’
Montlouis, Loire Valley, France
86
2011 Domaine Huet ‘Le Mont’ Sec
2011 Domaine Huet ‘Clos du Bourg’ Sec
2009 François Chidaine ‘Les Bournais’
Vouvray, Loire Valley, France
Vouvray, Loire Valley, France
Montlouis, Loire Valley, France
85
85
88
2011 Nicolas Joly ‘Les Vieux Clos’
2008 Domaine du Collier
2011 Nicolas Joly ‘Clos de la Bergerie’
2010 Domaine de Bellivière ‘Calligramme’ Vielles Vignes
2011 Nicolas Joly ‘Coulée de Serrant’
1997 Domaine Des Baumard ’Trie Spéciale’
2010 François Chidaine Les Bournais ‘Franc de Pied’
Savennières, Loire Valley France
Saumur, Loire Valley, France
Not much remains of the Barossa’s original plantings of Chenin Blanc. Apparently there was a bit of it around, albeit planted in
the usual small-plot patchwork that defines the viticultural history of our region. Despite notable climatic differences between
Greenock and Chenin’s ancestral home on the Loire, the Kalleske boys here show that they can coax real complexity and even a
measure of savoury Euro-funk from the variety, helped along with wild fermentation, and partial barrel maturatuion. With its
creamy texture, citrus, wild apple and bitter almond pungency, this will pair with our food delightfully. GD
The 2011 Roulette White (Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier, Clairette) has an attractive bouquet of dried honey and
frangipane, a slight petrol note that emerges with time. The palate is smooth and harmonious with intense notes of lime,
mango, guava and a touch of lanolin. It is packed to the rafters with flavor and yet retains admirable poise on the finish. This is
another excellent Roulette. 91/100 eRobertParker.com #209 Oct 2013 - Neal Martin
Savennières makes the ultimate dry Chenin Blanc.... It is, I think, the most cerebral wine in the world. When fully mature, it is
breathtaking. All about majesty, the wine spreads across the palate like cream, revealing glimpses of flavor like an everchanging landscape, a bale of hay, a whiff of chamomile, a basket of dried flowers, honey blended with quince and apricot or
peach, the sting of citrus zests, a sonorous wave of minerals. Simultaneously taut and lyrical, bone-dry yet marrowy, it is a stroll
along steep slate hillsides with Chenin. A wine of discovery, of reflection, Savennières is not for the uninitiated. J Friedrich, A
Wine & Food Guide to the Loire
Deep wild-meadow honey and herbs and quince. Compelling aromas that saturate the senses. Clementine and lemon and
lace-spun edges and finely stitched seams. Crisp, tightly furled, fine as blown glass. Impossible to spit. A wine you want to
dance across the room with.JANCIS ROBINSON
Off dry. 100% Chenin Blanc from a range of Chidaine’s old Chenin plots – including the Clos du Volagray and Saint-Martin –
sites that have stony soils, heavy in yellow limestone (or tuffeaux). Always one of our favourite Chidaine wines, loaded with
complex sarsaparilla, ginger and nectarine characters, a hedonist, layered, just off-dry personality in the mouth and a bright,
earthy close. Wonderful stuff. ROBERT WALTERS
Chidaine's 2009 Montlouis Les Bournais - not harvested until mid-October, from inherently cool, water-retentive, chalk-clay
parcels he says are - very like Vouvray - displays a sense of density, chew, and brightness of acidity that go beyond the
corresponding Clos du Breuil. Lemon, tangerine, and pineapple are here wreathed with buddleia - and lily-like floral perfume.
The vivid zest and fruit skin phenolics; bright, mouth-watering citricity; and saline, chalky, crustacean-reduction sense of
mineral stuff all combine for enervating complexity and I suspect few if any tasters would guess correctly that this harbors
more than 14% alcohol. As with the corresponding Breuil, I anticipate at least 6-8 years of fascination from bottle. 91-92+
points, David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate, Issue #190
95
96
Savennières-Roche-aux-Moines, Loire, Fra 138
Jasnieres, Loire Valley, France
142
Savennières-Coulée-de Serrant, Loire Fr 200
Savennières, Loire Valley France
200
Montlouis, Loire Valley, France
275
24 bottles shipped. Due to this cuvée’s rarity we haven’t had the chance to taste it. Indeed we had to beg and plead to get an
allocation at all. It derives from a tiny parcel (0.2 of a hectare) of ungrafted vines in Les Bournais. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM
1970 Domaine Huet ‘Clos du Bourg’ Demi-Sec
1969 Marc Bredif
!
Vouvray, Loire Valley, France
Vouvray, Loire Valley, France
380
490
23!
chardonnay (new world)
2010 Shaw and Smith ‘M3’
2011 Radford Eden Valley Chardonnay
2013 Teusner ‘The Playground’ Lehmo Chardonnay
Adelaide Hills, SA (375 ml)
Eden Valley, SA
Wilton, Eden Valley
2012 David Franz ‘Brother’s Ilk’
2012 Giant Steps Tarraford Vineyard
2012 Ministry of Clouds
2012 Yabby Lake
2012 Tolpuddle Vineyard (by Shaw and Smith)
2011 By Farr Chardonnay
Birdwood, Adelaide Hills, SA
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Tasmania
Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
Coal River Valley, Tasmania
Bannockburn, Geelong, Victoria
72
75
75
78
98
110
2008 Kumeu River ‘Mates’ Chardonnay
2010 Bindi ‘Quartz’
2010 Bass Phillip ‘Premium’ Chardonnay
2005 Canobolas Smith ‘Shine’ Chardonnay
Kumeu, Auckland Region, N.Z.
Macedon, Victoria
South Gippsland, Victoria
Orange, NSW
110
116
116
120
2012 Yabby Lake Block 1
2006 Giaconda Estate Vineyard Chardonnay
Mornington Peninsula, Vic
Beechworth, Alpine Victoria
140
200
Again, the Teusner lads have allowed us an allocation of this ‘Cellar Door only’ beauty. The 2011 Lehmo was one of our by-theglass triumphs. We witnessed many folk who had previously hardened their hearts against this varietal beginning a courtship
with chardonnay that has evolved and indeed blossomed during subsequent visits. This 2013 continues the seduction,
perhaps without the taut nervousness that a vintage like 2011 was able to deliver. Nevertheless, the wine is rich, brimming
with melon, cashews and orchard fruit. GD
Bright, medium yellow colour. Very complex butterscotch and buttery aromas, smoky toasty barrels adding their nuances to
hints of toffee and peanut brittle on nose and palate. Very fine and intense, with great balance and subtlety. It's rich and fullbodied yet light on its feet. Very long, clean aftertaste which is totally satisfying. A sensational wine of great complexity, and
yet great finesse. Rated: 97 points. Huon Hooke, huonhooke.com
Murray Smith was a member of one of the most star-studded classes to go through Roseworthy, with classmates including
Mike Brajkovich, Jane Ferrari, Rob Gibson, Rolf Binder and Chris Ringland. Chris has long been telling me about Murray whom
he credits as an absolute genius. When I visited Mt Canobolas in June 2013 with Wine Australia, his incredible chardonnays
struck a chord. There’s very little chatter on the airwaves about Murray Smith, but this is as close to classic Meursault as I’ve
seen from this land. Complex with creamy aristocratic oak, the wine sings with nuances of cashew and nectarines. GD
39
48
62
chardonnay & aligote (burgundy: bourgogne blanc)
2011 Bourgogne Blanc ‘Les Chataigners’
Hubert Lamy
78
Hubert Lamy is highly revered within Burgundy, on the shopping list every year for the likes of Vincent Dancer, Benjamin
Leroux and Thierry Pillot. This Bourgogne displays all the mineral complexity and nervous tension that you would expect from
a decent Premier Cru. Power and driving acidity melt into a wash of creamy lactic tenderness on the finish. GD
2010 Bourgogne Blanc
Denis Mortet
85
2010 Bourgogne Blanc
2011 Bourgogne Aligote
Etienne Sauzet
Francois Mikulski
94
55
Paul Pillot has long teased Mortet that, as a Gevrey producer, he would not be capable of producing a serious white. This has
only increased Arnaud’s desire to do something pretty special with this wine. This then is far from your average Bourgogne
Blanc. Like most ‘top’ white Burgundies, it is 100 per cent fermented in barrel giving spicy but well-integrated oak. It’s
beautifully aromatic with zesty lemon and orange notes complementing those gentle toasty nuances, while in the palate it has
the thrilling cut and drive of 2010 written all over it. The vines that produce this wine are located in Daix, the Mortet family’s
native town, northwest of Dijon. They are situated around 400m on very chalky soils. Both of these factors explain the
minerality and drive of this wine. Only a few casks are made each year and critics rarely see it. ROB WALTERS BIBENDUM
!
24!
chardonnay (burgundy: yonne)
2012 Chablis AC
2012 Chablis AC
2009 Chablis, ‘Forêts’ 1er Cru
Pattes Loup
Moreau-Naudet
Patrick Piuze
68
78
92
100% of the wine is aged in old oak. Some candied apple and pear aromas along with oyster shell. Ripe, rich and round in the
mouth with great line and minerally drive through the finish. JEREMY HOLMES
2010 Chablis ‘La Forêt’ 1er Cru
Domaine Jean-Claude Bessin
2011 Chablis ‘Montée de Tonnerre’ 1er Cru
Moreau-Naudet
2011 Chablis ‘Vaillons’ 1er Cru (375ml)
2009 Chablis ‘Vaillons’ 1er Cru
2009 Chablis ‘La Fourchaume’ 1er Cru
Domaine William Fevre
Domaine William Fevre
Domaine Jean-Claude Bessin
2011 Chablis ‘Beauregard’ 1er Cru
2011 Chablis ‘Butteaux’ 1er Cru
Pattes Loup
Pattes Loup
110
110
2012 Chablis ‘Beauroy’ 1er Cru
2010 Chablis ‘Valmur’ Grand Cru
Pacalet
Domaine Jean-Claude Bessin
160
178
2008 Chablis ‘Valmur’ Grand Cru
2010 Chablis ‘Valmur’ Grand Cru
2011 Chablis ‘Valmur’ Grand Cru
Moreau-Naudet
Moreau-Naudet
Moreau-Naudet
210
220
200
90 Points/Outstanding – “An attractively fresh if overtly exotic nose gives way to rich and voluminous flavors that possess good
mid-palate extract that buffers well the firm acid spine on the detailed and energetic finish. This full-bodied effort possesses a
fine sense of energy …” Burghound Issue # 48
“A textbook Montée de Tonnerre nose of white flowers and mineral reduction leads to rich and tautly muscular flavors that
possess a beautifully seductive mouth feel that adds to the appeal of the complex and highly persistent finish that is dry but
stops short of being austere. This is so well-balanced that it could be drunk now though it should amply reward 6 to 9 years of
cellaring.” 88-92 points, Allen Meadows, burghound.com issue 52
Jean-Claude believes the raison d’être for Chablis is minerality and is obsessed with preserving the mineral expression of his
old vines. So naturally his wines are incredibly pure, transparent expressions of their terroirs. The emphasis on finesse is not an
excuse for lean wines; instead they have powerful fruit concentration thanks to old vines and restricted yields.
Jean-Claude Bessin is already regarded as one of Chablis’ finest producers and his wines are well on their way to cult status,
yet his current pricing offers great value. TIM STOCK
One of the most exciting estates to emerge from Chablis in recent years. Thomas Pico started his tiny estate Organic estate in
Courgis in 2005, just outside of Chablis. 2.4 hectares of vines were planted by his grandfather in selection massale in the
hillsides near Courgis and Preys, the two highest altitude villages within Chablis, with vineyards up to 300 meters.
He ferments all his wines using indigenous yeasts. He does a 14-16 month élévage on the wines and bottles without fining
and filtration. His Chablis AC, from 55+ year old vines, is fermented in about 30-40% in concrete egg-shaped fermenters with
the balance in stainless steel. The Premier Crus, Côte de Jouan, Beauregard and Montmains (from the lieu-dit ""Butteaux""),
from hillside vineyards between 25 and 50 years old, are all raised in older oak. THE LIVING WINE
92 Points/Outstanding/Sweet Spot – “(from a 2 ha parcel of very old vines – Bessin is not exactly sure how old they are but he
claims they are the Domaine’s oldest vines; 20% of the blend was vinified in oak). Discreet but not invisible wood frames the
ripe pear, peach and green fruit-infused nose that marries into rich, intense, concentrated and powerful medium weight plus
flavors that possess an abundance of dry extract on the impressive rich, lemony, long and balanced finish.” Burghound # 48
92
128
56
96
86
The Valmur vineyard covers around 12 ha in total, forming a small valley in the heart of the Grand Cru slope. It is quite literally
wedged between Vaudésir and Grenouilles on its left and Les Clos on its right. Valmur is generally considered an extreme
meso-climate in Chablis; getting very cold in winter and hot in summer. It’s a site that lends itself, vigneron's interpretation
aside, to authoritative, steely and intensely pure wines of serious depth and power. Stéphane Moreau farms a 0.60ha parcel
that was planted in 1978 and the juice sees élevage in used barrels of various sizes. The finished wine is a hypnotic rendition
of the Valmur terroir, stone-soaked, seamlessly integrated, upfront and pulpy yet somehow fine and delicate and with a
thunderous close that goes down swinging. On Chablis’ biggest stage, this delivers a standout performance. R WALTERS
2010 Chablis ‘Vaudésir’ Grand Cru
2008 Chablis ‘Vaudésir’ Grand Cru
2011 Chablis ‘Les Clos’ Grand Cru (375 ml)
!
Bernard Defaix
Domaine William Fevre
Domaine William Fevre
210
200
110
25!
chardonnay (burgundy: côte de beaune)
2010 St Aubin ‘La Princée’
2011 St Aubin ‘Les Frionnes’1er Cru
2011 St Aubin ‘Les Frionnes’1er Cru
2007 Corton ‘Le Charlemagne’ Grand Cru
Hubert Lamy (375 ml)
Hubert Lamy
Hubert Lamy (375 ml)
Chandon de Briailles
68
132
78
370
2009 Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru (375 ml)
2006 Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru
Bonneau Du Martray
Bonneau Du Martray
172
360
2011 Meursault
2009 Meursault
2011 Meursault ‘Les Narvaux’
François Mikulski
Domaine des Comtes Lafon
Benjamin Leroux
148
210
180
Arnaud Ente
210
De Briailles have a paltry .3ha in En Charlemagne – but what a wine it makes! The vines are mature, ageing between 35-55
years and occupy the cream coloured marls high (320 m) on the hill between Pernand and Aloxe. This is gorgeous;
shimmeringly fresh with complex citrus and green apple aromas framed by quivering mineral notes that lead to powerfully
precise close. Brilliant wine from a great Corton-Charlie year.
A whiff of chalk dust, along with a vanilla note, introduces this intense white. Flavors of peach, grapefruit and oak spice persist
through the finish, with a mineral streak. Powerful and balanced, with a lingering aftertaste. Best from 2011 through 2024.
94 Points Wine Spectator
er
(Stelvin) Narvaux is another of Mersault’s highest vineyards, sitting above the 1 cru Genevrieres. This comes from a clos at the
top of the vineyard (Narvaux Dessus) so it could be labelled Clos de Narvaux and listed as a monopole. The soils here have
plenty of limestone and a lot of iron oxide, giving them a reddish colour. The wine from here is usually rounder and more
textural than the Vireuils cuvée (Clos de Narvaux has very shallow soils and a southerly aspect, which promote both low yields
and excellent ripening) although the tension across the palate in 2011 is invigorating. It is super sexy with pulpy, pure fruit
balanced by high altitude/fresh minerality. Terrific drive and length as well.
2008 Meursault ‘Clos des Ambres’
The 2008 Clos des Ambres is 12.2 percent in alcohol this year, and the energy, purity and mineral drive that the wine delivers
at this octane is truly stunning. The bouquet is a beautiful mélange of orange zest, apple, gentle notes of hazelnut, iodine and
truly striking minerality. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very complex, with great focus and balance, lovely
mid-palate depth and excellent length on the racy and transparent finish. A really fine bottle of Meursault. 2012-2030+. 92+
Pts John Gilman - View from the Cellar
2011 Meursault ‘Les Corbins’
Vincent Dancer
126
2010 Meursault 'Genevrières', 1er Cru
Arnaud Tessier
172
2008 Meursault 'Genevrières', 1er Cru
François Mikulski
220
2011 Meursault 1er Cru ‘Les Perrières’
Vincent Dancer
215
2005 Meursault ‘Clos de la Barre’
Domaine des Comtes Lafon
280
72 bottles shipped. Les Corbins is a very rocky site situated just below the Santenots vineyard. Dancer’s vines were planted in
1986. With deeper clays than the Chassagne site above, Les Corbins brings, accordingly, more flesh to the glass. A deliciously
creamy and mouth-watering Meursault ensues with lovely balance and finesse. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
One producer whose short track record was confirmed with his 2010s was Domaine Tessier of Meursault. Clearly he has some
top-quality old vines and considerable skill in turning them into crystalline white wines. Prices are very fair indeed for the
quality. Jancis Robinson:
(from a .55 ha parcel) Ultra pure and highly perfumed white flower and spiced pear aromas that possess a seductively exotic
character complement the generous yet detailed middle weight flavours that ooze class and refinement on the mineral-driven
finish…Mikulski consistently seems to craft terrific examples of Genevrières and the 2008 version is no exception. A
sophisticated and highly complex example. Allen Meadows
Dancer has a precious 0.29ha of this should-have-been-grand-cru site and his bottling is an exercise in precision. An intense,
smoky, blinding light from vines planted mostly in 1963 (buttressed with fruit from a parcel planted in the early 1980s). This is
packed with achingly pretty flavours and real presence. If Meursault shines the brightest in the Côte de Beaune firmament,
Perrières is the Sirius star — the brightest of them all. Fifty per cent new oak used in élevage, though you have to work hard to
detect it. ROBERT WALTERS
!
26!
more chardonnay (burgundy: côte de beaune)
2007 Meursault ‘La Seve du Clos’ VV
Arnaud Ente
319
Ente gained experience working with none other than Jean-Francois Coche-Dury. Today he belongs to the Big Four of
Meursault (the others being Comtes Lafon, Coche-Dury and Roulot), even though the domaine is quite small (a little over 4ha).
He is a perfectionist. He works his vineyards meticulously and yields are low. Burgoholic
Arnaud has clearly fashioned the most brilliant wines of his career. The results are hauntingly brilliant. The purity and almost
crystalline synthesis of fruit and terroir is very much on display up and down the quality hierarchy, and these are absolutely
beautiful white Burgundies. I look forward to a very long golden age here, as these 2007s are clearly the work of a very serious
vigneron who is at the peak of his career. John Gilman, A View From The Cellar, on 2007
2009 Meursault-Charmes 1er Cru
2010 Puligny-Montrachet
Domaine Roulot
Bachelet-Monnot
424
150
2002 Puligny-Montrachet
2008 Puligny-Montrachet ‘Folatieres’1er Cru
2002 Puligny-Montrachet ‘Folatieres’1er Cru
2010 Chassagne Montrachet ‘Les Embazees’ 1er Cru
Domaine Leflaive
Domaine Leflaive
Domaine Leflaive
Benjamin Leroux
195
360
420
196
2010 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru ‘Virondot’
Marc Morey
220
2010 Chassagne 1er Cru ‘Virondot’ (375ml)
2005 Chassagne-Montrachet ‘Boudriotte 1er Cru
2009 Bâtard Montrachet Grand Cru
Marc Morey
Domaine Ramonet
Bachelet Monnot
110
210
485
2002 Bâtard Montrachet Grand Cru
Domaine Leflaive
620
The Bachelets make wines that are classically styled, emphasizing the inherent freshness, complexity and minerality in each
cuvée ... This is a new producer to follow. Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar
Another of Chassagne’s hidden gems, Embrazees can be bottled under the Bois de Chassagne name. This site sits right on the
south western border of Chassagne above Tete du Clos and just below Les Baudines. So it is a terrific terroir with boney,
shallow soils full of limestone pebbles. It’s a site noted for its minerality (are you seeing a pattern in the terroirs of Leroux?) a
quality that this wine manages to deliver in spades. Racy, steely 'hillside' nose, the palate has real vim and vigor and the
length is terrific. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
“My personal favourite. From some of the domaine’s oldest vines. This vineyard sits by itself on the top of the hill behind the
village where the shallow soil is almost pure white with chalk rock. Opens with a spicy oak note and lifted limestone/chalk
minerality. Lime and grapefruit with vanilla, white anise and wild fennel. Hint of spearmint freshness. Hazelnut. Complex but
very pure. Surprisingly approachable, it offers creamy white fruits, citrus and a fine pure mineral note. The richness tapers in
nicely at the finish as intense mineral acidity and a little light phenolic grip combine. Excellent” Tim Stock, May 2013
93 Points, Outstanding – “(from a whopping 2.02 ha parcel, of which the Domaine owns 89% of the vineyard; because the
other owner does not declare the wine under En Virondot, Morey has, in effect, what he jokingly calls a “label” monopole).
Very mild reduction reduces slightly the expressiveness of the white flower, lemon rind and wet stone suffused nose. There is
wonderful transparency to the cool, rich and palate coating flavors that conclude in a mineral inflected, dry, clean and
gorgeously intense finish that combines both outstanding length with superb complexity. This is the finest example that I have
ever seen and is well worth your consideration.” Burghound Issue # 47
The Bachelet Monnot Bâtard comes from a small parcel of 50 year-old vines in the cooler part of Bâtard at the very top of the
vineyard. It is one of the finest, most mineral, most refined examples of Bâtard we have tasted.
chardonnay (burgundy: côte chalonnaise)
1999 Rully ‘Meix Caillet” 1er Cru (375 ml)
2009 Rully ‘Le Meix Cadot’1er Cru
Eric de Suremain
Vincent Dureuil-Janthial
60
92
2011 Rully ‘La Pucelle’ 1er Cru
Domaine Paul et Marie Jacqueson
95
We have also just received the wines of Durieul-Janthial of the Cote Chalonnaise and Rully in particular. A very old family run
Domaine but on my visit to Burgundy last year these were some of my favourite whites of the trip, even over much more highly
regarded communes. Perfect balance between fruit and minerals/acidity. STUART NORTHEY, BIBENDUM WINE CO
My personal favourite and the cuvee that you see the most on wine lists in France, also their largest parcel of premier cru at 2.5
hectares. La Pucelle (the maiden) is situated on the same slope as Grésigny but closer to the village itself and facing due east.
The soil here is limestone with a layer of clay over the top.
A complex and expressive nose of lemon rind, flint and hazelnut with intense minerality. It makes a very pure impression.
Succulent ripe yellow fruits with lemon curd and a light creamy lees note. Drying pithy grapefruit acidity cuts a swathe through
the middle. The richest and easiest of the 2011 premier crus. Tim Stock, May 2013
!
27!
chardonnay (burgundy: mâconnais)
2010 Mâcon-Villages ‘Terres de Pierres’
Verget
56
Made entirely from free run juice this wine always comes from the most stoney, chalky soils - Terres de Pierres means Stony
Soils. The 2010 is a lovely, fleshy, open Mâcon with intense notes of peach, all kinds of citrus and apricot blossom. It’s just as
well for the ‘other world’s’ Chardonnay producers that all Mâcon Villages don’t taste like this. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM
2010 Macon-Bussieres ‘Vignes de Montbrison’
Verget
60
I love the best wines of the Mâcon. Little wonder that Verget wine-maker and proprietor Jean-Marie Guffens has expressed
consternation about the undeserved basement stature of the region compared to Chablis and the Cote d’Or. Through his
Maison Verget negociant venture, he makes more wine in Macon than in any of other Burgundian appellation. This wine more
than justifies his championing of the region. It has that rare quality where delicacy of perfume plays shotgun to intensity,
richness and softness on the palate. A sense of balance pervades all and a thrilling seam of citric acidity keeps everything en
pointe and allows the wine to pair admirably with our cuisine. GD
2011 Mâcon-Cruzille ‘Les Genievrieres’ Blanc
Domaine Guillot-Broux
78
2012 Mâcon-Villages
Domaine Valette
88
2010 Mâcon-Pierreclos ‘Tri de Chavigne’
Guffens Heynen
132
2010 Saint Veran ‘Cuvee Unique’
Guffens Heynen
132
2011 Pouilly-Vinzelles ‘Les Quarts Cuvee Millerandée’
La Soufrandière
153
2010 Pouilly-Fuissé
Guffens Heynen
220
Domaine Guillot-Broux is a leading bio and natural domaine in the Mâcon. They are true believers in the importance of
working organically and naturally for the benefit of the wine, the earth and man, their philosophies going well beyond a need
for recognition or green marketing.
“Genievrieres was ranked among the great terroirs of the Mâcon at the turn of the century, but like so many vineyards it was
abandoned after being devastated by phylloxera. Jean-Gérard reclaimed it in 1985 and it is now the largest of the GuillotBroux single vineyards. Élevage is longer for this cuvée at between 11 and 18 months, our bottling being the fresher 11
month version. Tim Stock, January 2013
An exciting find; sauvage, wild and alive. Unusually complex for such a young wine, it’s slippery and a touch hazy, but in an
unfiltered, not cloudy-for-the-sake-of-it kind of way. Creamy and textured, it’s an absolute pleasure to drink. GRANT DICKSON
This wine is the result of many successive sortings in the vines at the top of “Le Chavigne” parcel. For the price, this is truly an
epic wine: infinitely deep yet very precise, mineral, and with an incredible rocky structure in the mouth. The texture almost
borders on the luscious yet the wine retains fantastic sap, cut and pithy freshness. To quote our own tasting note; "Very, very
pure!" ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
This small plot lies below the Vergisson rock and has been described by Guffens as the "Chevalier-Montrachet of Davayé", no
doubt in reference to the steepness of the site and the rocky, limestone rich soil, not to mention the site’s ability to produce
ultra pure flavours with tremendous stuffing and extract. This wine has an alluring, dense nose also bursting with aromatics of
white flower and cool juicy stone fruit. The palate is both vibrant and intense, with citrusy freshness melding with some riper
fruits on the mid palate. It's very mineral, powerful and long. R WALTERS
Cuvée Millerandée is a selection of older vines in Les Quarts (70-plus years old) that have succumbed (due to the vine’s old
age, the paucity of topsoil and their low-vigour rootstocks), to the vine affliction called millerandage. Known in Australia as hen
and chicken, millerandage is a consequence of poor fruit set and results in itsy-bitsy bunches with few, small berries that are
ultra-concentrated in both fruit and acidity and a very high skin to juice ratio. A wine made from millerandage fruit is going to
manifest inflated depth and richness, as it does here, although this power is balanced by the concentrated acidity that ensues.
Enthralling white Burgundy that is the essence of Les Quarts: rich, dense yet elegant and long. One of the most exciting 2011s
we have tasted on our travels. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
“Once again, strong fermentation aromas render the nose unreadable. The medium weight plus flavors possess outstanding
mid-palate concentration as the deep reserves of dry extract stain the palate on the explosively long, intense and tension-filled
finish. This is almost painful at present though clearly packed with upside development potential. In a word, impressive.” 9093 points, Burghound.com, Issue #48
‘Tris des Hautes des Vignes’
Tris des Hautes Vignes is the top wine in the Guffen’s stable in 2010. This wine is a blend of only the free run juices of
successive tries (harvest selections) of grapes from the Vergisson crus of La Roche, Les Croux, Les Petits Croux and Les Crays.
This Germanic styled fruit selection in the vineyard ensures only pristine, ripe fruit goes into this wine and then Guffens uses a
Champagne press so that he can be extremely precise and gentle. With this seemingly absurd attention to detail, the wine
undergoes a meticulous, coddled production that coaxes something remarkable and rare from already low-yielding vines.
Absolutely none of the pressings are blended back in and, as with all Guffens’ wines, it is neither fined nor filtered. The
resulting juice is a silky, rare, infinitely complex, soaring expression of the Mâcon. There is so much going on here - creamy
texture, spiked with profound minerality, complex notes of preserved lemon, quinine, smoke, pine and lime - yet again, the
overall impression of this powerful, chiseled wine is of pristine limestone-enriched juice of the very highest order. We don't
come across a rare bird like this very often. A heroic wine. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM.
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chardonnay (jura)
2008 Julien Labet ‘Les Varrons’
2011 Julien Labet, Nature ‘En Chalasse’
Rotalier, Jura, France
Rotalier, Jura, France
85
88
2011 Jean-Francois Ganevat ’Cuvée Florine’
Rotalier, Jura, France
125
Savoury, complex and creamy in the mouth, this is an exultant wine that makes a pretty persuasive argument that
membership in THE APPRECIATION SOCIETY OF WINES FROM THE JURA should not be limited to ticket holders in the hipster,
if-it aint-weird-it-ain’t-real-wine fraternity. Because this sings. Coats the mouth with a wash of stone fruit, peppered with leesy
struck match bâtonnage flavours. There’s some fruit sweetness, but it finishes tight and dry with a closing grapefruity finish as
it slowly melts over the back palate. GD
viognier, marsanne, roussanne and blends
2012 Turkey Flat ‘Butchers Block’ Marsanne Viognier Roussanne Barossa Valley, SA
2013 Tim Smith Viognier
Eden Valley, SA
2012 John Duval ‘Plexus’ Marsanne Roussanne Viognier
Barossa Valley, SA
39
40
46
2013 Michael Hall Roussanne
Greenock, Barossa Valley, SA
54
2010 Yalumba ‘The Virgilius’ Viognier
2011 L’Oratoire Cairanne ‘Haut Coustias’ Blanc
Eden Valley, SA
Côtes du Rhône, France
69
82
This perfectly straddles that line between purity and unctuousness. Those craving a bit of texture will enjoy the mouth-coating
viscosity; those who worry about overt oiliness in some of these Rhone blends will be impressed by the wine’s line and length
and delicious savouriness. GD
Roussanne might not be the most familiar sounding of white grape varieties grown in Australia, yet it’s been around here since
the 1860s. Originating in the Northern Rhone, where in Crozes Hermitage, Hermitage and Saint Joseph it is blended with
Marsanne, Roussanne is notoriously difficult to grow, with fickle yields and pretty ordinary disease immunity. When you taste
a good, slick Roussanne, rejoice! It usually represents a significant struggle to get some high quality grapes over the line.
Here we have another enchanting wine from Michael Hall, who with wild yeast barrel fermentation has managed to coax
textbook camomile florals and waxy quince-skin aromatics from Roussanne grown in depleted sandy soils in Greenock.
There is a meagre 60 bottles of this nectar for Australia. Haut Coustias Blanc is a hyper-rare selection of the Estate's oldest some 70 years old- lowest-yielding, white vines from the lieu-dit Haut Coustias, the chalkiest, coolest part of the appellation. In
a region where fruit purity and mineral incisiveness (in the white wines) are notoriously hard to come by, the Alary's have
forged a cult following for their pure, zingy whites. The amazingly fresh 2011 combines Marsanne, Roussanne, Grenache Blanc
and Clairette. Each variety is not only vinified separately but Francois, interestingly, likes to match a different elevage vessel for
each juice. Hence for this upcoming vintage we tasted the Marsanne component from a 22hl wooden 'egg', the Clairette from
a 6hl Nomblot concrete egg, while the Grenache Blanc was offered from the latest piece of Nomblot equipment in the Oratoire
cellar- a 10hl conical vat called an Ellipse. Finally the Roussanne was offered from neutral demi-muid. ROBERT WALTERS,
BIBENDUM WINE CO
2011 Chateau de Pibarnon Bandol Blanc
2011 Pierre Gonon ‘Les Oliviers’
2012 Domaine de Marcoux Blanc (Roussanne, Bourboulenc)
2009 Georges Vernay ‘Les Chaillées de L’Enfer’ (Viognier)
2009 Georges Vernay ‘Coteau de Vernon’ (Viognier)
Bandol, Provence, France
Saint Joseph, Rhone, France
Chateauneuf du Pape, France
Condrieu, Rhone, France
Condrieu, Rhone, France
88
110
175
256
312
2005 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave ‘Hermitage Blanc’
Hermitage, Rhone, France
650
Few wine-growing areas owe as much to one emblematic vineyard as Condrieu does to Georges Vernays’s coteau de Vernon.
Perched above the eponymous town, these 5 acres of lonely vines winked like a lighthouse throughout the dark days of the
1950s, ‘60s, and 70s, when Condrieu (and with it Viognier) nearly slipped beneath the waves. AJ 1001 WINES YOU MUST TRY
BEFORE YOU DIE Ebury Press, 2008
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29!
italian, spanish & other regional white varietals and blends
2012 Irvine Springhill Savagnin
Eden Valley, SA
36
2014 Grand Casino Fiano
2013 Martinsancho Rueda Verdejo
Barossa Valley, SA
Rueda, Spain
46
48
I’ve seen Jim Irvine get a twinkle in his eye when he makes a new wine discovery. I wish I had been a fly on the wall when he
and his lovely wife Marjorie were first poured a glass of Albarino at a Bar in Zurich back in 1995. He would have thumped the
table and enthusiastically declared “Marjorie, we just have to have a crack at this at Spring Hill!” Even if the vines imported
eventually turned out to be Savagnin, a variety interplanted with Albarino in N.W Spain, the wines that Jim and daughter
Joanne craft from the fruit may as well have been made to drink with Asian food with their crisp fruit flavours and hints of
jasmine, lychee and freshly cut ginger. GRANT DICKSON
At fermentAsian we are as passionate about the narratives pinned to each wine as we are about the aromas and flavours that
spill from the glass. But this wine outdoes the best storytelling without even trying. It’s an authentic, humble and delicious
th
drop from one of Europe’s highest altitude vineyards planted in the 17 century. Many of the vines are nearly 200 years old. If
your curiosity has been piqued, please take a moment to read the Bibendum boys’ description of the landscape, the vineyard,
the protagonists and the wine in the appendices of this list. It makes fascinating reading.
2013 Domaine de Belle Vue ‘Granit’ Melon de Bourgogne
2011 Lusco Do Miño ‘Zios’ Albariño
2013 John’s Rock Garganega
Muscadet Sèvre et Maine
Rios Baixas, Salnes Valley, Spain
Keyneton, Eden Valley, SA
Here we have a very special and rare wine. In the words of its maker:
Garganega grapes from a dry-grown vineyard, planted in 1998 at Keyneton, in the Eden Valley wine region were wholebunchpressed, fermented and left on lees for eight months before bottling.
The resulting wine was produced and named in memory of a dear friend who died too young. An engraved rock was placed in
the vineyard and the wine is enjoyed annually by friends in John’s honour.
Thank you Stephen Henschke for releasing a few bottles from your personal cellar.
2012 Suertes del Marqués ‘Trenzado’
Valle de La Orotava, Tenerife, Canary Islands
50
52
54
64
Dry white. This captivating white takes its name from the above mentioned trellis system, unique to the Canary Islands and
known locally as el cordon trenzado (the braided cord). This type of trellising results in a plaited cordon with a number of the
vine’s branches braided together. Trenzado is a blend of mainly Listán blanco – from the high altitude, north facing vineyards
of El Esquilon and La Piñera – blended with a “vidueño”, or field blend, from La Florida where Gual, Marmajuelo, Baboso
Blanco, Albillo Criollo, Vijariego Blanco and Verdello populate the vineyard. All grapes are whole berry pressed and the must is
racked into 500-litre, used French puncheons where it does its thing for about 10 months on lees. It is then bottled unfiltered.
It’s a wildly distinctive, thirst-quashing and authentic white with beautifully pulpy, pear and ripe stone fruit notes, a dash of
lemon, lime & bitters and a taut, zesty finish. There is also a unique, nutty, briny complexity that is esoteric enough to freak
some out! ROB WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
2010 Dominio Do Bibei ‘Lapola’(Godello, Albarino, Dona Blanca)
2010 Domaine de la Pépière ‘Clisson’
Ribeira Sacra, Spain
Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Loire, France
2010 Olivier Rivière ‘Jequitiba’ (100% Viura)
Lardero La Rioja, Spain
This is one of the greatest wines ever produced at Domaine de la Pépière, which can be enjoyed now for it's magnificent stony
elegance or can be cellared for 20 to 30 years to enjoy at maturity. From 50 to 110 year-old vines on a lower slope at Pépière,
carefully hand-harvested, with only a partial clarification, then aged on the lees for 24 months. The resulting wine is dense and
stony with hints of citrus, white fruits and anise, with fabulous length. A super value and one of the greatest whites of the Loire
- congratulations to Marc and Rémy! Chambers St Wines, NYC
64
76
78
Olivier used to make Burgundy at Domaine Leroy and Chassorney; this wine fuses his Burgundian experience with the local
Viura; it's one of the best whites I have. ANDREW GUARD
2011 Navazos Niepoort (Palomino)
Jerez, Spain
86
2008 Bodegas Valdesil Godello ‘Pezas Da Portela’
Valdeorras, Galicia, Spain
86
It is no more and no less than that, a white wine, that we offer now as the fourth vintage of Navazos-Niepoort 2011, produced
by Equipo Navazos following exactly the same rigorous quality criteria employed by the best winemakers of the Bajo
Guadalquivir some 200 years ago: palomino fino musts sourced from a historic albariza vineyard, fermented in butt with
indigenous yeasts that impregnate the vines and the fermentation vessels themselves, aged for more than six months under a
layer of flor thanks to the action of more indigenous yeasts that take control immediately after fermentation, and of course
with not a single drop of added alcohol. Bibendum Wine Co
This stunning and unique white wine is one of Spain’s finest examples of Godello. It is an eye-opening white – complex,
layered and long with loads of pulpy textured fruit. It has intense concentration complemented by crisp acidity, subtle French
oak and a marked slatey minerality. This competes very well with many, more famous wines from France - at a fraction of the
price. ROBERT WALTERS
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more italian, spanish & other regional white varietals and blends
2012 Algueira ‘Cortezada’
Ribeira Sacra, Galcia, Spain
86
Released after a year in bottle, this outstanding white is tasting like a Galician homage to the finest Grosses Gewächs of the
Pfalz. Cortezada is a blend of Godello (40 per cent, bringing fruit and structure), Albariño (40 per cent, to provide acidity and
perfume) and Treixadura (20 per cent, for freshness and elegance). Previously simply called Blanco, this wine is now named
after the vineyard that supplies its raw materials (which lies in the more sheltered, mineral slopes of the Doade-Sober). What a
wonderful wine. Intense and perfectly balanced with incredible clarity and vibrating freshness, it offers yellow plum and
apricot fruit, vibrating acidity and an almost salty finish. There’s a fabulous interplay between silky, pure fruit and the lively,
briny, stone-edged freshness. Super wine. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
2012 Domaine Belluard ‘Les Alpes’ 100% Gringet
Ayse, Savoie, France
90
Grown on a chalky scree slope of the Cablais Mountans, in the shadows of Mount Blanc, wild fermented. 60% elevage in
concrete eggs and bottled with minimal SO2. Lively yet soft, mineral, fresh and balanced. GD
2010 Antoine Arena Patrimonio 'Carco' Blanc 100% Vermentinu Corsica, France
2010 Domaine de l’Horizon Vin de Pays Blanc
Roussillon, France
98
98
A blend of mainly Macabeo with Grenache Gris and a touch of Grenache Blanc, from 85 years old vines and older, grown on
limestone soil. There is a very attractive reductive quality to this wine that recalls the fabulous Meursault's of Coche-Dury. Great
wine ANDREW GUARD
2012 Daniel Landi ‘Las Uvas de la Ira’ (Grapes of Wrath) Albillo
Mentrida, Castilia-León, Spain
99
Only 400 bottles made – 60 bottles imported (24 available) Altitude 750m, 50 year old vines off Quartz This Albillo is made in
miniscule quantities, 1 barrel, and has awesome minerality. Liz Carey Alimentaria Movida Wholesale
2009 Dominio Do Bibei ‘Lapena’
(Godello)
2011 Terroir Al Limit ‘Terra de Cuques’
Ribeira Sacra, Spain
Priorat, Spain
115
136
2010 Rene Barbier Clos Mogador ‘Nelin’
Priorat, Spain
138
Terra De Cuques – which translates as bug’s earth – takes its name from the fireflies that light up the landscape in this area at
night. Fireflies are extremely sensitive to chemical contamination and their presence, like ladybirds, indicates a healthy,
natural vineyard environment. Terra De Cuques is a blend of 20 per cent Moscatel de Alejandría (macerated and fermented on
its skins for seven days before being transferred into 500 litre demi-muid) and 80 per cent Pedro Ximénez (picked early,
whole-berry pressed and then tank reared). The source vineyards face northeast and are 400-600m above sea level. Both these
factors mean the grapes are sheltered from the sun’s harshest rays and ensures cool nights to lock in the grapes’ refreshing
acidity.
We have heard of soil-to-glass transfer. Well, this is rock-to-glass transfer. It’s an ultra-pure expression of high-country Priorat
with thrilling texture and body given agile shape and length by a surge of rippling acidity. To be honest it’s not a wine to
deconstruct. So it is a little hard to describe, although the words mineral and savoury seem to do it the most justice. Perhaps
the most telling analogy came from a taster who suggested that if you were to drill a hole in a mountain rock, this is what may
come gushing out! Engaging and thrilling wine. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
The white Grenache base evokes hills under a merciless sun, splashed with scents of spices and quince paste, with the
minerals of the shale. This white is adorned with a light golden yellow colour. On the nose, it has an intense aroma, complex,
seductive. Sweet scents reminiscent of peach, apricot, lychee and pink grapefruit with, on the finish, a touch of minerals and
reminders of flowers and honey. On the palate, we find volume and remarkable finesse. Its balanced acidity refreshes its
structure to develop into an intense and delicate palate, unusually lingering for a long time. NOTES BY RENE BARBIER
2010 Olivier Rivière ‘Basquevanas’
(Albillo)
2007 Jean-Francois Ganevat Savagnin ‘Prestige’
2011 Domaine Dagueneau ‘Les Jardins de Babylon’ Sec
Arlanza, Spain
Rotalier, Jura, France
Jurançon, France
160
178
250
We’ve been teased by this incredible dry white ever since it was first made in 2009. 2011 represents our first allocation – all 48
bottles of it. Without being disrespectful to the region and its finest growers, this example is on another planet when it comes
to quality. It is unique – so different that it may need its own AOC! AOC Dagueneau du Sud has a ring to it, don’t you think?
Unlike the moelleux wines below, this is made from all five of Jurançon’s permitted white grape varieties: Petit Manseng, Gros
Manseng and smaller quantities of the strictly local (and seldom grown) Courbu, Lauzet, and Camarelet. The winemaking
mirrors that of the Blanc Fumé de Pouilly in that Dagueneau uses both stainless steel and his “cigars” (in the élevage) before
putting the final blend together. Let’s just say this wine is stunning: complex, enigmatic and totally unconventional. An instant
cult classic? You bet. We’re equally sure Didier would approve of what Benjamin has crafted from his initial experiments.
ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM
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31!
turbidity inc.
fermentAsian sommelier Geoffrey Hunt is very passionate about wine, especially wines that you can’t see through.
In a region like the Barossa, which professes to practise ‘traditional’ wine making, it is important to acknowledge that some wines
highlighted on this page represent traditions that date back literally thousands of years. While some practitioners are
undoubtedly cashing in the fact that ‘orange’ styles are currently very much in vogue, there are wines listed here that represent an
unbroken tradition of amber winemaking in countries like Georgia.
Let Geoffrey lead you into the clouds…
2014 TT Wines Riesling
Watervale, Clare Valley, SA
55
2014 KT ‘Pazza’ Riesling
Watervale, Clare Valley, SA
55
2014 Turkey Flat 5-Month Skin-Contact Roussanne
2013 Patrick Sullivan ‘Britannia Creek’
Barossa Valley, SA
Yarra Valley, Victoria
48
69
Returning from his latest foray into the realms of Riesling, Travis Tausend has brought us back this powerful prize. A subtle
start builds into a wave of tannin and acid, crashing together. Elements of ginger, sherbet and caramel leap from the glass
after a shock of air, demanding that I drink. I oblige. Geoffrey Hunt
Apparently “Pazza” means crazy in Italian girl talk, but I’m loving the way Kerri’s very sound mind is working here!
Biodynamically / organically grown Watervale fruit has undergone wild ferment; the usual reductive Riesling shackles were
loosened with the wine completing fermentation in tank and in old barriques. No fining; no filtering. GD
Pat dropped a bottle of this off before a lazy lunch service with a few words of explanation. 'Dry-grown'. 'Field-blend'. 'Upper
Yarra'. With that, he was headed for the door. I quickly scrambled for questions, and managed to blurt out 'What are the
grapes?'. Pat tossed over his shoulder 'Whatever you want.' Well then, what did I want? I wanted this. In a decanter. With
Tuoi's food. Geoffrey Hunt
2013 tripe.Iscariot ‘Aspic’ Rosé
Margaret River, WA
52
2013 tripe.Iscariot ‘Brawn’ Chardonnay
Margaret River, WA
66
2013 tripe.Iscariot ‘Marrow’ Syrah / Malbec
2008 Sebastien Riffault ‘Akmeniné’
Margaret River, WA
Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
66
89
‘Nose to tail. Berry to stalk’ cries the bottle, and the winemaking info that was included details an ideal that sees everything in
the fruit included in the winemaking. The idea that berry, skin, stalk, pip, pulp don’t all get meshed together in winemaking,
that parts are discarded, is integral to this very interesting suite of wines from winemaker Remi Guise. His skill set comes from
time abroad, but he’s settled in Margaret River. I even had a friend from Swartland, the influential and wonderful winemaker
Craig Hawkins eagerly asking me ‘have you seen the tripe.Iscariot wines yet?’, let alone his distributor being uber sommelier
Dan Wegener from Perth. Compulsion and inertia.
This is 100% grenache from Karridale off 15 year old vines, fermented on stalks though destemmed (stalks were brought back
into the must). Stainless steel was for early on, oak barrels finished the wine off, and there was nine months of barrel age that
followed ferment. Intriguing process. . Mike Bennie - The Wine Front
The winemaking is called ‘berry to stalk’ with a nod to ‘nose to tail’ in the food world – the idea being that winemaker Remi
Guise utilises all the components of the fruit, stalk and all, seed and all, skin and all, pulp and all, pip and all, juice and all, in
the winemaking. The fruit is hand-picked and 25% here is fermented as whole bunch, the rest destemmed, and the whole
bunches are pushed under the juice of the other 75% of whole bunch pressed juice. The whole bunch fruit is pressed
separately later on, then the whole lot is sent to oak barrels for nine months maturation. Complex, but intuitive winemaking
here – after an impact of fruit. Mike Bennie - The Wine Front
I like this explanation ‘As a winemaker I have spent a great deal of time tasting clean juices and the pure wines that are made
from them. I’ve also spent a great deal of time chewing on skins, cracking seeds between my teeth and sucking on stalks,
forcing me to ask: ‘why are we getting rid of all this flavour’?’ Amen.
“Ninety-five per cent of Sancerre is the same, with one oenologist for all. We are not in this way,” Sebastien declares. They work
the vineyards by horse, use various plants to reduce sulphur in the soil, pick by hand and allow the grapes to reach full
maturity. They also work a variety of sites, some steep, boasting a range of mineral components…. Then we get a little freaky.
Sebastien’s three cuvées are aged in oak and handled in an oxidative manner. They won’t appeal to everyone but I find them
compelling. Perhaps they are more suited to Jura or Sherry lovers. They defy logic and challenge description. Akmeniné is
from a 1.3ha parcel grown on limestone and carries Sebastien’s trademark texture, majesty and mystery. The name literally
means the wine is made with stones. It was aged in old oak and has developed oxidative aromas but there’s still freshness on
the palate and a riot of flavour that intrigues and puzzles. NEVILLE YATES, EUROCENTRIC
2010 La Grande Colline ‘Saint Peray’ Marsanne Roussanne
2011 Puligny-Montrachet
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Saint Peray, Northern Rhone, France
JJ Morel
95
176
32!
turbidity inc. continued
2011 St Aubin ‘Les Combe’ 1er Cru
JJ Morel
2011 Pheasant’s Tears ‘Kisi’
Kakheti, Georgia
Jean-Jacques’ philosophies in the vineyard are natural to the extreme and so labour intensive that they can only be effectively
applied on a micro scale. He uses no chemicals in the vineyard yet does not prescribe to a particular regime of management
but would qualify as (extreme) organic. He possesses only one small caterpillar tread tractor with the rest of the work done by
hand. He never cultivates the soil in his vineyards, instead allowing the natural grasses and flora to coexist with the vines,
weeding only by hand to keep the vine canopy free of other plants. We visited one small vineyard and found wild fennel,
thyme and a myriad of wildflowers and natural grasses growing in and around the vines, as well as evidence of local fauna. He
says the soil is not cultivated in nature so why should it be in the vineyard if you really want to be natural, plus the roots of the
wild vegetation aerate the soil naturally eliminating the need to work it from that point of view.
Jean-Jacques observes his vineyards closely and uses bio teas and tonics that are preventative, working with and not against
nature and its threats such as mildew. TIM STOCK, VINOUS
132
85
These amber wines are some of the most profound wines in the world today. Intensely savoury they have shed primary fruits
for secondary and tertiary characters and typically carry more complexity than most red wines, and often as much tannin. These
are soulful natural wines that possess an umami quality that pairs with an amazingly wide range of food. These are the original
‘orange’ wines made with the ancient Georgian knowledge that have inspired many of today’s iconoclastic producers such as
Gravner. TIM STOCK
A full-coloured amber skin contact white. Aromatic with a lovely palate showing herbs and pear with some tannic grip. Fresh
and pretty. 92/100 Jamie Goode – wineanorak.com
2005 Gravner Anfora Ribolla Gialla
Venezia Giulia IGT, Italy
2013 Smallfry Cinsault Grenache Rosé
2013 Christian Ducroux ‘Esquisse’ (Gamay)
2012 Mas Coutelou ‘7, Rue de la Pompe’ (Syrah)
Barossa Valley, SA
Beaujolais, France
Hérault, Languedoc, France
38
61
45
2012 Mas Coutelou ‘Le Vin des Amis’ (Grenache / Syrah)
2012 Lammershoek ‘Cellar Foot’ The Underwater Wine
Hérault, Languedoc, France
Swartland, South Africa
49
65
Gravner. A name which enchants the minds of those of us who adore the weird and wonderful. Less weird than some of his
contemporaries, possibly more wonderful. This is absolutely a red wine drinker's white: full, structured; caramel, peach and
spice. I'd follow this man into hell for a chance to taste his wines. G. HUNT
Mas Coutelou is an organic producer from the Languedoc, East of Béziers. Not simply organic, Jean-Francois tailors the winemaking to the vintage: varying maceration time, use of carbonic, and only the smallest touch of sulphur when necessary.
Layers of meat and mushroom, scattered with bright, fresh raspberry and red cherry. Possessing far more elegance, structure
and complexity than you'd expect from a mere entry-level red, this is a fantastic value Syrah that hits all the right notes. GH
195
Lammershoek is crafting some of the most talked about wines on the world stage. Yes, they’re edgy and unconventional, but
they are wines that dance light as Fred Astaire around food, always allowing the flavours on the plate to lead. They work well
with spice, including Ginger, again, just like Fred. This is a blend of Pinotage, Grenache, Carignan and Mouvedre. Eight old
225 French oak barrels were submerged in a concrete fermentation tank for 12 months. Winemaker Craig Hawkins explains
that the process prevents the loss of wine through evaporation or oxygen exchange through the wood, enhancing the purity of
the wine. GD
2012 La Stoppa Malvasia Dolce Frizzante
Emilia-Romagna, Italy
vin jaune (savagnin) (all bottled in 620 ml ‘clavelin’)
2004 Michel Gahier
2006 Julien Labet
2006 Domaine de l'Octavin ‘Cherubin’
1978 Fruitiere Vinicole
1942 Domaine Meurgey
!
Arbois, Jura, France
Rotalier, Jura, France
Arbois, Jura, France
Arbois, Jura, France
Château-Chalon, Jura, France
42
120
185
200
336
750
33!
rosé
2011 Cirillo Grenache Rosé
2013 Tomfoolery ‘Trouble & Strife’ Cabernet Franc Rosé
2013 Torzi Matthews ‘Vigna Cantina’ Rosato di Sangiovese
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Mount McKenzie, Eden Valley, SA
36
38
38
2013 Turkey Flat Rosé (Grenache, Shiraz, Cabernet, Dolcetto)
2014 Rockford Alicante Bouchet
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
40
40
2014 Charles Melton ‘Rose of Virginia’
2013 Head Wines Head Rosé
2012 Maison Verget Rosé
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Vaucluse, Provence, France
40
44
44
2012 Farr Rising Saignée Pinot Noir Rosé
Bannockburn, Geelong, Victoria
55
Mount McKenzie can be a bleak place for agricultural pursuits. When you select a landscape for a serious quality and
expression-defined viticultural project, the risks associated with working in such a marginal pocket are part and parcel of both
your endeavour and your narrative. You need to feel deep in your bones, (after the chills associated with winter pruning are
exorcised) that the purity and worthiness of expression will be enhanced by the proximity of possible obliteration. Great
memorable wines are often etched from such environments.
This Rosato communicates the chill, the isolation. It’s sapid with wild-grown strawberries and cool sucking-on-a-cherry-stone
tang. A seam of smokiness and crunchy acidity keep it tidy across the tongue. Duck or Yellow Curry. GD
Alicante Bouschet is a grape variety with more pigment than any other. Because the juice is already a science fiction pink at
crushing, it requires no skin contact; the resulting rosé is just pure unadulterated juicy pink goodness. Rockford have dried it
off slightly over the last few releases, so it’s a bit more grown up now, but still so moreish. Sub 10% Alcohol adds to the thirstquenching appeal. GD
Guffens has again taken a famous wine style – Provencal rose - and redefined it. It’s dry, yes, but also has a wickedly sexy,
pulpy texture, thanks to the exclusive use of free run juice. The light colour belies an explosion of creamy raspberry and white
strawberry character on the palate with a delicious seamless texture and crunchy freshness to close. ROBERT WALTERS
This has to be one of the most complex rosés going around. After 3-4 hours on skins in the pinot tank, juice is bled into 5 year
old barrels where it ferments cool and wild.
2013 L’Anglore Tavel
Tavel, Southern Rhone, France
Eric Pfifferling crafts one of the greatest Rosés in an appellation that can be declared only with Rosés. Sourced from old
Grenache vines planted in gallet-strewn soil, the wine is darker coloured than any Provencal Rosé; dry, delicious, savoury and
structured. A cocktail of greengage, morello and wild strawberry immediately tantalises the nostrils, but this olfactory
chameleon appears to shift and transform every few moments in your glass. GD
2011 Domaine de la Tour du Bon (Mouvedre)
Bandol, Provence, France
2011 François Cotat Rosé (Pinot Noir)
2010 Domaine Tempier Rosé (Mouvedre)
2004 Domaine de Belliviere ½ Sweet Rosé Pineau d’Aunis les Giroflees
2004 Domaine de Belliviere Sweet Rosé Pineau d’Aunis la Salmandre
Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
Bandol, Provence, France
Jasnieres, Loire Valley, France
Jasnieres, Loire Valley, France
This terrific wine goes way beyond the fashion for Bandol Rosé. It's beautiful colour looks like the light of Provence itself and it
has many layers of flavour and contrast. ANDREW GUARD
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68
75
100
180
210
Hens’ teeth. Belliviere’s Australian importer Andrew Guard made me promise to save a bottle of these to share with him. Made
only very occasionally, Andrew had never experienced one of these rosés, but had heard about them. We drank it over the
Christmas period with Fraso and Dan & Nicole Standish. A very memorable experience, the wine is luscious yet tightly linear.
The Belliviere web site suggests curries or aperitif. I suggest Vietnamese! GD
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red wines
blaufränkisch
2010 Hahndorf Hill Blaufränkisch
Adelaide Hills
54
Blaufränkisch is a red grape variety that produces wines of superb quality in its homeland of Austria, where it ranks as the preeminent grape in the red wine province of Burgenland. UK wine guru Jancis Robinson has referred to this blueblooded
varietal as the 'Pinot Noir of Eastern Europe'. Hahndorf Hill Winery is currently the only producer of Blaufränkisch in Australia.
This 2009 vintage has produced a wine of great suppleness and elegance, with a gentle tumble of spice, dark cherries,
blueberries, violets and fennel. HAHNDORF HILL
2010 Moric Burgenland Blaufränkisch
Burgenland, Austria
72
Beaujolais, France
42
2010 Alain Coudert Clos de la Roilette Fleurie ‘Tardive’
2011 Vissoux Fleurie ‘Poncié’
Fleurie, Beaujolais, France
Fleurie , Beaujolais, France
52
62
2010 Vissoux ‘Les Trois Roches’
Moulin-a-Vent, Beaujolais, Fr
64
gamay
2011 Vissoux Fleurie ‘Poncié’
(375 ml)
Pierre-Marie Chermette’s 2011 Fleurie “Poncié” is a beautiful wine in the making, with a synthesis of the vintage’s intensity of
flavor and great transparency coupled to a vibrant sappiness that is quite impressive. The very pure and expressive nose wafts
from the glass in a blend of cherries, red plums, blood orange, a touch of cocoa, a lovely base of soil, fresh herbs and dried
violets in the upper register. On the palate the wine is fullish, pure and loaded with almost sweet fruit at the core, with
excellent focus and balance, impressive, nascent complexity and stunning length and grip on the very tangy and vibrant finish.
This is one 2011 Fleurie that does not seem to need cellaring to start to seduce and should be a superb drink right from the
start. Lovely juice. 2012-2022+. 94 points, John Gilman, View from the Cellar
Vital and red-fruited this is a pretty natural fit with any one of our menu items, even those with snapper, prawns and squid.
Fleurie is the best known of the ten villages of Beaujolais and this wine from old vines, organically grown in pink granite soils
exudes aromas of cranberry, Campari, blood orange, fresh green herbs, cloves, smoke and dried flowers. Simple winemaking
sans filtration has ensured that the natural crackling tangy energy is preserved. Forget any lingering prejudices formed during
the 1980s and 90s when Beaujolais Nouveau killed the market for the good stuff. GRANT DICKSON
This is the Chermette's top cuvee. It is named for the three parcels of vines from which it is grown in the famed Moulin à Vent
cru. Rochegrès is said to give the finesse, Roche Noire the liveliness of fruit, and Rochelle the power. But it is the sum of the
whole that we are concerned with here and it is a fabulous example of Moulin à Vent; intense and deep, yet beautifully
balanced and long. It is aged half in older tuns and half in 1 to 5-year-old barriques. There is natural austerity here alongside
powerful coiled fruit and a crackling mineral seam that is most likely derived from the local pink granite soils which are rich in
manganese. The flavour here is just waiting to explode. Great Beaujolais, great Moulin à Vent, great wine. R. WALTERS
2010 Jean-Marc Burgaud ‘Cote du Py Reserve’
2011 Paul Janin et Fils Vieilles Vignes ‘Greneriers’
Morgon, Beaujolais, France
Moulin-a-Vent, Beaujolais, Fr
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68
Janin's glass-staining Vieilles Vignes Des Greneriers is based on 1.1 ha plot of 100 year old vines in the Les Greneriers climat
or plot. The soils here are overwhelmingly red clay over pink granite which results in a densely woven, firm and deep Moulin;
the most powerful wine in the Janin stable. Again 100% whole-bunch ferment is practiced and ageing takes place over 11
months in foudres and barrels. Clearly the most intense and structured Janin cuvée, the nose is restrained at first yet after a
little coaxing it offers up roasted blue fruit and smoky stem aromatics. The mouth is lavishly textured and mouthfilling yet with
electrifying energy. At this stage it lacks the openness of the Tremblay but it makes up for this with its ruggedly handsome
personality and power. There's so much going on here that it’s hard to capture in words. The finish is full of chewy extract and
tingling freshness. A badass Beaujolais. Eric Janin suggests holding this for at least a few years before drinking, although even
at this stage (with the help of a little air) you will find something pretty special in the glass. You can't keep a good Moulin-àVent down! ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
2011 Daniel Bouland Morgon ‘Corcelette’
Morgon, Beaujolais, France
Bouland is one of those pure growers. He works alone in his vineyards in the Morgon lieux-dits of Douby, Corcelette and Delys,
where most of the material is gnarled, old, goblet vines. His practices are classic minimalist, ‘old school’ and his wines are the
products of hand harvesting, very low yields, old wood, wild-yeast fermentations, 100 per cent whole bunch fermentations and
no filtration. For those new to this grower, the style of wine that results from Bouland’s terroir and methodologies results in
deliciously hearty, deep and fleshy country-style reds with plenty of intensity and plenty of structure. They are wines that
overflow with personality. Tannin is an important part of the personality of these wines when young. They also have wonderful
perfume, purity and depth. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
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35!
more gamay
2013 Hervé Souhaut’ La Souteronne’
Ardeche, Rhone, France
82
The wines of Hervé Souhaut are so hot right now…….
His domaine, the 5 ha Romaneaux-Destezet, sprung to life in 1993 near Arlebosc in the Ardeche. Hervé Souhaut’s wines from
this funky little region are classified as Vin de Pays and grace the tables of some of the funkiest wine-bars in Paris and the U.S.
The thing of interest to wine trainspotters like my tragic self is besides producing kick arse wines, Hervé spent time working for
the cats at Dard et Ribo and owns a press that once belonged to the Obi Wan Kenobi of natural wine…..Jules Chauvet.
The Gamay vineyard used in the VdP La Souteronne is between 60 to 80 years of ages and is farmed organically. The grapes are
harvested by hand and undergo a long maceration at low temperature without destemming. The wine is aged on its fine lees
in old oak casks before being bottled unfiltered with just the merest dab of sulphur to send it on its way. DAVE BROOKES,
VINOFREAKISM
2011 Jean Foillard ‘Côte du Py’
2012 Georges Descombes Brouilly ‘Vieilles Vignes’
Morgon, Beaujolais, France
Brouilly, Beaujolais, France
90
90
2010 Georges Descombes Fleurie ‘Vieilles Vignes’
Fleurie, Beaujolais, France
90
2012 Georges Descombes Régnié ‘Vieilles Vignes’
Brouilly, Beaujolais, France
90
2011 Domaine Guillot-Broux
Mâcon-Cruzille Rouge
90
2009 Jean Foillard ‘Fleurie’
2007 Jules Desjourneys ‘Fleurie’
Fleurie, Beaujolais, France
Fleurie, Beaujolais, France
The nose is bright and crystal clear with entrancing aromas of red/black cherries and hints of sweet kirsch. The taste is
energetic, fresh and focused, with juicy fruit, fresh acidity and a firm mineral grip. It has beautiful tension, balance and length.
To me, this is perfect Cru Beaujolais from a master – stunning. ANDREW GUARD
Energetic and crystal clear with entrancing aromas of griottes and hints of sweet kirsch. The taste is seductive, fresh and
focused, with juicy fruit, fresh acidity and a lovely mineral grip. It has beautiful tension, balance and length. Super, as always
from Georges Descombes ! ANDREW GUARD
These vines touch Fleurie and the wine made from this small parcel is exquisite. Régnié was awarded Cru status only as
recently as 1988 so it’s wines are not as well-known as others. They are a little bit of a secret. The vines are grown on granitic
topsoil with a clay base that gives a good amount of body to the wine. If the Fleurie is the most elegant wine he makes and the
Brouilly the richest, this is somewhere in the middle stylistically - it’s drop dead gorgeous… ANDREW GUARD
Domaine Guillot-Broux is a leading bio and natural domaine in the Mâcon. They are true believers in the importance of
working organically and naturally for the benefit of the wine, the earth and man, their philosophies going well beyond a need
for recognition or green marketing.
This is assembled from several parcels of old Gamay vines and fermented with 100% whole bunches. This is exactly as you
might expect from Gamay grown north of Beaujolais. Pale cherry with bright crimson hue. Moderate concentration of fresh red
berries with a slight tart edge. Deliciously fresh. Quite pronounced chalky minerality on both nose and palate, with a
smokiness too and delicate dusting of pure grape-derived spice. Elegant, pure and focused Gamay. Tim Stock, January 2013.
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120
I know of no more exciting Beaujolais wines than these, and subscribers must seek them out in order to learn what is possible
from the old vines and top sites of this region. David Schildknecht Wine Advocate
2008 Jules Desjourneys ‘Moulin a Vent’
Moulin a Vent, Beaujolais, France
120
2008 Jules Desjourneys Vin de Pays ‘L’Interdit’
(Fleurie), Beaujolais, France
120
The Desjourneys 2007 Moulin-a-Vent is scented with peony, iris, black raspberry, resin, and black tea. A hint of reduction no
doubt enhances the sense of smokiness on a firm, bright palate underlain by a sense of salted beef stock. There is once again a
sense of white wine clarity about this, yet with plenty of black fruit richness. The empty glass – wherein the wine breaks
completely free from reduction – is riveting in its melange of flowers, tea, black fruit essences, as well as mineral and carnal
nuances. From Wine Advocate, 92 points.
The wine that will be known as 2008 Desjourneys is none other than Duperray’s 2008 Fleurie – combining Chapelle des Bois
and Les Moriers – that was refused appellation and so is officially, merely, “vin de France.” Believe me, this is “vin de France” in
the same sense that Debussy signed many of his late masterpieces “musicien francais.” The high-toned floral, herbal, and fruit
distillate esters that memorably marked the Chapelle des Bois from cask as well as the black tea-tinged and more bittersweetly
herbal and concentrated dark berries of the original Les Moriers, have been preserved in this marriage – in fact, after
recovering from my chagrin at this wine’s having been denied its rightful appellation, I am now entirely reconciled to the two
sites having been blended, inasmuch as the whole seems, remarkably, even greater than the sum of its already profoundly
delicious parts! This finishes with mouthwatering salinity and a tenacious, almost Gewurztraminer-like meld of brown spices
concentrated floral and herbal essences. I would anticipate it being worth following for half a dozen years, but on no account
should it be missed earlier-on. 93 points. David Schildknecht
2010 Jean Foillard ‘Cuvée 3.14’
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Morgon, Beaujolais, France
200
36!
pinot noir (new world)
2011 Warramate Pinot Noir
Yarra Valley, Victoria
48
One of the pioneers in Yarra Pinot, with vines planted back in 1969. This is breezy, brambly, stemmy and delicate. GD
2011 Kooyong ‘Massale’
2011 Valli ‘Gibbston Vineyard’ (375 ml)
2012 William Downie Gippsland (375 ml)
2012 William Downie Yarra Valley (375 ml)
2011 Ata Rangi ‘Crimson’
2013 Lofty Valley ‘Steeped’
2012 Michael Hall
Mornington Peninsula, Vic
Central Otago, NZ
Gippsland, Victoria
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Martinborough, NZ
Adelaide Hills, SA
Adelaide Hills, SA
2011 Ashton Hills ‘Estate’
2009 Two Paddocks
2012 Henschke ‘Giles’
2010 Bass Phillip ‘Crown Prince’
2012 Giant Steps ‘Sexton Vineyard’
2012 Giant Steps ‘Gladysdale Vineyard’
2010 By Farr ‘Farrside’
2011 Valli ‘Waitaki Vineyard’
2011 Felton Road ‘Bannockburn
2011 Freycinet
2010 Kooyong ‘Meres’
Adelaide Hills, SA
Central Otago, New Zealand
Lenswood, Adelaide Hills, SA
South Gippsland, Victoria
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Geelong, Vic
Central Otago, NZ
Central Otago, NZ
Bicheno, Tasmania
Mornington Peninsula, Vic
75
75
82
88
95
95
98
98
98
100
106
2011 By Farr ‘Sangreal’
2013 William Downie Gippsland
2013 William Downie Mornington
2013 William Downie Yarra
2012 Tolpuddle Vineyard
2010 Craggy Range ‘Calvert’
2011 Ata Rangi
2011 Felton Road ‘Cornish’
2012 Felton Road ‘Calvert’
2011 Bindi ‘Original Vineyard’
2010 Bass Phillip ‘Estate’
2010 By Farr ‘Tout Pres’
2011 Bindi ‘Block 5’
2012 Felton Road ‘Block 3’
2012 Felton Road ‘Block 5’
2010 Bass Phillip ‘Premium’
2000 Giaconda Pinot Noir
Geelong, Vic
Gippsland, Victoria
Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Coal River Valley, Tasmania
Central Otago, NZ
Martinborough, NZ
Central Otago, NZ
Central Otago, NZ
Macedon, Victoria
South Gippsland, Victoria
Geelong, Vic
Macedon, Victoria
Central Otago, NZ
Central Otago, NZ
South Gippsland, Victoria
Beechworth, Victorian Alps, Victoria
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110
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110
110
116
116
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116
120
143
146
160
160
210
250
Beneath the Barossa region’s top layer of wine identities there are different strata of wine genii that seldom draw focus.
Michael Hall is one such fellow. But if this Pinot is anything to go on, his relative anonymity will be short-lived. This is as
complete an Adelaide Hills Pinot as I have seen, relying on nuance, layering and complexity rather than just piercing bright
fruit. A pot pouri of pomegranate molasses, morello cherry and campari citric notes. Delicious! GD
Fabulous complexity of dark cherry, raspberry and spice aromas – a totally bewitching nose. The texture is gorgeous as well. It’s
a slinky, sexy beast that offers an extra layer or two of character over most of its brethren. Ample soft tannins add structure
without being obtrusive. Huon Hooke, AGT WINE, Feb/March 2013
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58
58
58
58
65
37!
pinot noir (burgundy: bourgogne rouge)
2009 J Roty Bourgogne ‘Cuvee de Pressonnier’
Burgundy, France
75
A discreet touch of wood still allows the ripe red berry fruit, pepper and earth notes to be clearly appreciated. The rich and
relatively full-bodied flavors are delicious, velvet-textured and sappy but best of all, there is a really lovely sense of complexity
on the mouth coating finish. An excellent example and recommended. Burghound Issue # 41
2009 Géantet-Pansiot Bourgogne Fin
2012 Frédéric Cossard Bourgogne Rouge ‘Bedeau’
Burgundy, France
Burgundy, France
88
145
2007 Gevrey-Chambertin ‘Vieille Vignes’
2007 Gevrey-Chambertin ‘Clos Prieur’
Domaine Marc Roy
Domaine Marc Roy
170
227
2009 Gevrey-Chambertin ‘Cazetiers’ 1er Cru
2000 Gevrey-Chambertin ‘Cazetiers’ 1er Cru
2008 Mazis Chambertin Grand Cru
2009 Mazis Chambertin Grand Cru
Bruno Clair
Faiveley
Harmand-Geoffroy
Joseph et Philippe Roty
350
190
320
560
2008 Morey-Saint-Denis
Domaine Lécheneaut
156
If there was a hierarchy in the group of producers I work with, Cossard would be an easy pick for the top bracket. He has taught
his methods to Bruno Duchêne, Olivier Rivière and Maxime Laurent from Domaine Gramenon amongst others.
Another brilliant winemaker, Eric Pfifferling from Domaine de L'Anglore, who is close friends with Cossard has been recently
encouraged by him to modify slightly his fermentation and extend his elevage with stunning results. You could say Cossard
has the touch, the knack. What makes his wines so good? Well I think you have to start in the vines which are entirely tended
by hand.
In addition to this he works with a trusted friend, Philippe Secques, who prepares homeopathic tinctures for the vines to help
against the disease and maladies that can often present themselves in Burgundy. The area between the vines is ploughed, in
the traditional manner, using a horse. During the vintage particular care is taken in only selecting the ripest and healthiest
grapes. On their arrival at the winery the grapes are examined again before being put into the vat, complete, unbroken and
without the addition of sulphur. A traditional Burgundian vinification follows and the wines are bottled unfiltered after about
18 months with a tiny addition of sulfur. ANDREW GUARD
pinot noir (burgundy: cote de nuits)
“A slightly more complex nose of pure red and dark pinot fruit with traces of iron-infused earth, underbrush and a bit of the
sauvage that carries over to the rich, full, fresh and equally delicious flavors that possess both fine volume and an attractive
texture on the energetic and slightly peppery finish underpinned by relatively fine tannins.” Allen Meadows, Burghound
“From near Clos de Beze but on a steeper slope. Lovely deep colour. Deep spice. Oak framed and a little closed at present.
Mocha. Superb finesse and concentration of powdery floral red fruits. Structure is fine and elegance already apparent on the
juicy, expressive red berry finish.” Tim Stock, June 2011
Good full red. Wild, scented nose offers currant, cherry, dried rose and game. Juicy, brisk and delineated, showing a distinctly
imploded quality to the red raspberry, mocha and floral flavors. Firmly tannic but not hard, finishing with superb rising length
and lovely perfume. Dense, concentrated and in need of patience. 93 Points – Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar.
Classic aromas with slightly charry oak and a nice herbal whole bunch list. Good depth and polish. Concentrated and textural
palate full of rich cherry and red berry fruits. Lovely mineral purity too. Earthy grainy tannins. Long sweet floral fruits, mineral
acidity and earthy tannin finish. Tim Stock, June 2011
2010 Bonnes Mares
Grand Cru
Benjamin Leroux
460
This site has always been managed organically, never seeing any herbicides or pesticides. The fruit quality and overall
presence of this wine is simply ravishing. We have very little of this so the less said about it the better! Only two barrels made.
1976 Clos la Roche Grand Cru
Domaine Dujac
Very good mature colour. Really quite full for a Dujac wine. Full nose. Slightly animal. Good grip. Quite meaty, but not a bit of
astringency. Full bodied. Vigorous. Mellow. Profound. This is a splendid wine for food. Rich, but with very good acidity. Ripe,
aromatic, surprisingly clean and vigorous. Very Fine. Clive Coates, September 2002
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more pinot noir (burgundy: cote de nuits)
2010 Clos St Denis Grand Cru
Benjamin Leroux
460
This site has also always been managed organically. It’s from a tiny plot in the southern sector of the grand cru near
Chambolle. The soil here is called Terres Blanches and has a greater concentration of rocky limestone that contains an
abundance of fossilised seashells. As with many of his wines, Leroux again challenges our preconception of this vineyard by
producing a far more refined example than the norm. It’s a scintillating, finely wrought Bonnes Mares and again only two
barrels made.
"Comments: Don't miss! Once again, reduction makes this impossible to accurately examine. The rich but beautifully welldetailed and overtly muscular flavors possess excellent depth and plenty of supporting material, all wrapped in a highly
energetic, firm and driving finish that delivers outstanding length." 92-94 points, Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 46
2007 Chambolle-Musigny
2005 Chambolle Musigny ‘Les Véroilles’
2011 Chambolle-Musigny
Jean-Claude Boisset
Bruno Clair
Arnoux-Lachaux
166
206
210
2006 Chambolle-Musigny
2006 Chambolle-Musigny
1981 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru “Les Amoureuses’
2009 Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru
2010 Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru
2009 Charmes Chambertin ‘Très Vieilles Vignes’ Grand Cru
Méo-Camuzet
Dujac Fils et Pere
Dom. Misserey
Géantet-Pansiot
Géantet-Pansiot
Joseph et Philippe Roty
234
140
360
420
430
590
2009 Vosne-Romanée
2011 Vosne-Romanee
2009 Vosne-Romanée
2007 Vosne-Romanée 'Les Jacquines'
2010 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru ‘Les Chaumes’
2009 Vosne-Romanée ‘Les Champs Perdrix’
2001 Grands Echézeaux Grand Cru
2003 Richebourg Grand Cru
2006 Romanée St. Vivant
2010 Clos De Vougeot Grand Cru
Faiveley (375 ml)
Domaine Daniel Rion
Faiveley
Jean-Claude Boisset
Domaine François Lamarche
Bruno Clair
2009 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru ‘Classique’
Château de La Tour
Pascal’s Chambolle comes from five parcels all at the top of Chambolle’s slopes. The soil here is rich in limestone, which
contributes to the energy of the wine across the palate, while the mature vines bring the waves of plush, scented fruit. A
complete and delicious Chambolle. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
“Deep red colour. Incredible depth of kirsch, licorice, spice and dried red berry fruits. Super ripe and hugely concentrated
palate, but still pure and aristocratic. Amazing length but never heavy. This is very refined despite the density” Tim Stock 06/11
“(from vines planted in 1885 that have never been pulled up though Roty points out that all those that have died over the
years have been replanted). A very ripe nose of cassis, warm earth and black cherries is trimmed in soft wood notes. There is
superb richness to the opulent and mouth coating big-bodied flavors that possess positively buckets of extract, all wrapped in
a hugely long and mildly toasty finish. This is not necessarily more complex than the Griotte though there is more underlying
material so it may be in time.” 94/2024+, Burghound Issue # 41
Domaine de la Romanee Conti
Domaine de la Romanee Conti
Domaine de la Romanee Conti
Domaine François Lamarche
"A very fresh nose of red currant, earth and soft floral aromas merges into cool, precise and utterly delicious medium weight
plus flavors that possess a mouth coating and moderately austere finish. This has fine balance and the finish is just as
persistent as that of the Ech but it's not quite as complex. To be fair, it may achieve more depth in time as there is good
underlying material. Still, I prefer to remain conservative at this early stage." 91-93 points, Allen Meadows, Burghound.com,
So incredibly fine and pure. This is remarkably delicious to drink now. Only a year like 2009 could produce an old vine, whole
bunch, Clos de Vougeot that is so damn seductive that it is perfect to serve in restaurants now. But don’t be fooled, it will also
cellar for decades. ROBERT WALTERS BIBENDUM WINE CO
“Visible but reasonably well-integrated wood sets off somber, very ripe and distinctly earthy dark berry fruit liqueur aromas.
There is impressive richness to the powerful broad-shouldered flavors that brim with dry extract that does an excellent job of
buffering the very firm tannins on the beautifully balanced, long and quite serious finish. This is an excellent example whose
only fault lies in being completely overshadowed by its’ 09 VV counterpart.” 94 points, Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue 45
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150
154
249
239
2500
2100
3000
370
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more pinot noir (burgundy: cote de nuits)
2010 La Grande Rue Grand Cru
Domaine François Lamarche
670
2009 Nuits-Saint-Georges ‘Clos De Forets’ 1er Cru
2003 Nuits-Saint-Georges ‘Clos Des Porrets’ 1er Cru
2010 Nuits-Saint-Georges ‘Clos Des Porrets’ 1er Cru
2009 Nuits-Saint-Georges ‘Clos De Forets’ 1er Cru
2007 Nuits-Saint-Georges ‘Les Damodes’ 1er Cru
L’Arlot (375 ml)
Domaine Henri Gouges
Dom Henri Gouges (375 ml)
L’Arlot
Aurelien Verdet
111
172
98
212
220
2008 Nuits-Saint-Georges
Domaine Lécheneaut
239
1999 Saint Aubin ‘Les Castets’ 1er Cru
Domaine Hubert Lamy
290
2007 Corton ‘Clos Du Roi’ Grand Cru
2009 Corton Grand Cru
1976 Corton Bressandes
2010 Savigny-lès-Beaune
Chandon de Briailles
Bonneau Du Martray
Domaine Prieur
Benjamin Leroux (375 ml)
306
335
298
72
“This is clearly a wine of distinction – Vosne-Romanée royalty if you prefer – and there is no royally higher in the Côte de Nuits.
It is elegant, endlessly complex, and I could spend the whole night sniffing the glass.” Bill Nanson, The Finest Wines of
Burgundy
th
The 1.65ha slither (never more than 50m wide) of La Grand Rue dates back to the 15 century and takes its name from the
small road bordering the vineyard as it climbs above the town. The vineyard - enviably situated between La Romanée-Conti, La
Romanée and Romanée-Saint-Vivant to the north and La Tâche to the south - first fell into Lamarche hands in 1933. After La
Romanée, La Grand Rue is the second smallest of the Vosne grand crus and is sometimes compared, stylistically, to RomanéeSaint-Vivant. It can also be thought of as a lighter bodied (and lighter priced!) version of La Tâche. Clive Coates surmises, “La
Grande Rue, in my view, is a more feminine wine than La Tâche. It is closer to Romanée-Saint-Vivant.” Meadows goes on to add
that the wine’s ageing potential most closely mirrors that of Romanée-Saint-Vivant (The Pearl of the Côte). We include the
quotes above to give you some idea of the wine’s nature. This is clearly one of the great sites in the Burgundian mosaic and in
the tremendous 2010 vintage, has produced a truly outstanding wine.
"This is quite ripe though still fresh and bright with intensely spicy aromas of red berry and cherry liqueur. There is a
seductively silky texture to the middle weight and delicious flavors that possess excellent depth as well as seriously impressive
persistence. As with many wines in the range in 2010, the phenolically mature tannins possess a very fine grain and while
firm, they are already well-integrated. The overall impression of this lovely effort is one of balance and harmony. In a word,
terrific" 95 points, Allen Meadows, Burghound.com, Issue 45
From an area neighbouring Vosne-Romanée, sharing more in character with the soft, elegant wines from there than it does
with those from south of the village where wines are renowned for being sturdy and more tannic.
This elegant, fruit-driven wine is quite fascinating to smell and taste. A lifted nose of sour cherries, earthy, herbal notes and a
touch of animale, with a silky texture and soft, barely perceptible tannins. NEVILLE YATES EUROCENTRIC
‘Les Pruliers” 1er Cru
More new oak of course but threaded through the aromas. Pure red fruit with no herbal accent (no stems in 2008). Red and
pink florals and spicy lify. Heading into purple fruit ripeness and intensity. Rich sweet plum and red fruit flavours but with
great poise and a fine structure; lots of mineral acidity. Very long flavours to the back of the throat. Grainy tannins will ensure
excellent longevity and only just outlive the rich sweet fruit on the finish. Tim Stock, June 2011
pinot noir (burgundy: côte de beaune)
“Comment: Outstanding. Quite spicy on the nose with the same elegant, fine cherry, raspberry and pinot notes but this has
more size and structure as well as more flavor interest. The purity here is terrific.” Allen Meadows, Burghound Issue #2
The 2010 Savigny-les-Beaune (from tank) shows remarkable intensity and depth at this level. Layers of dark red fruit flow
through to the textured, inviting finish. This is all declassified 1er Cru fruit. (87-88) points, Antonio Galloni, Wine Advocate
2002 Savigny-lès-Beaune ‘Aux Fourneaux’ 1er Cru
Chandon de Briailles
115
2010 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru ‘Lavieres’
Catherine et Claude Maréchal
148
This fine 1er Cru lies on the Pernand Vergelesses side of the village and takes its name ‘at the ovens’ - probably not for climatic
reasons, but because the site once housed the village’s charcoal ovens. A low lying vineyard with eastern exposure, the deep
soils combine well with the Domaine’s 60+ year old vines to produce deep, flavoursome red Burgundies. ROBERT WALTERS,
BIBENDUM WINE CO
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40!
more pinot noir (burgundy: côte de beaune)
2010 Pernand Vergalesses 1er Cru ‘Ile de Vergalesses’
Domaine Rollin
120
The Rollin family has been making wine for four generations, steadily building up the domaine to its current 12ha which cover
five communes and produce 14 different appellations.
The vineyard work here is meticulous and, although not certified organic, the methodology in practice is applied in a manner
designed to maximize the expression of terroir by eliminating (or reducing to an absolute minimum) any treatments in the
vineyards. All grapes are harvested manually and fermentations proceed with indigenous yeasts. The white wines are pressed
very gently and undergo long fermentations in barrel and are aged on the fine lees for twelve to fifteen months.
The reds are hand-sorted in both the vineyard and at the cellar before being pressed. The maceration is long and the élevage
is in small barrel with the malolactic fermentation occurring therein. In almost every instance, neither the white wines nor the
red wines are fined or filtered. This is in every way, a first class Burgundy estate crafting wines of both colours with balance,
precision and finesse. ANDREW GUARD
2006 Beaune ‘Pertuisots’ 1er Cru
Domaine des Croix
128
2010 Pommard
2011 Pommard 1er Cru ‘Les Pezzerolles’
Jean Marc Bouley
Domaine de Chassorney
138
193
2010 Volnay
2010 Volnay
2009 Volnay ‘Santenots’ 1er Cru
2009 Volnay 'Les Caillerets' 1er Cru
2007 Volnay ‘Les Santenots du Milieu’ 1er Cru
2000 Volnay ‘Les Santenots du Milieu’ 1er Cru
2008 Beaune ‘Les Cent Vignes’ 1er Cru
2010 Beaune Grèves ‘Vigne de l’Enfant Jésus’
2010 Santenay ‘Vieilles Vignes’
2008 Monthelie ‘Sur la Velle’ 1er Cru
Thierry Glantenay
Jean Marc Bouley
Faiveley
Bernard &Thierry Glantenay
Arnaud Ente
Domaine Comtes Lafon
Camille Giroud
Domaine Bouchard
Jean-Marc Vincent
Here the genius is David Croix, the winemaker at Maison Camille Giroud. The 2005s and 2006s are very promising. I expect
great things here. CLIVE COATES
In my little world of wine, Fred Cossard is many peoples favourite winemaker. Many I know have worked for him and many
winemakers I know have visited and become friends with him, shared a meal and asked him questions about wine. You could
say he has the touch, the knack.
What makes his wines so good? Well I think you have to start in the vines which are entirely tended by hand.
In addition to this he works with a trusted friend, Philippe Secques, who prepares homeopathic tinctures for the vines to help
against the disease and maladies that can often present themselves in Burgundy. The area between the vines is ploughed, in
the traditional manner, using a horse. During the vintage particular care is taken in only selecting the ripest and healthiest
grapes. On their arrival at the winery the grapes are examined again before being put into the vat, complete, unbroken and
without the addition of sulphur.
So how do they taste? The whites are ripe, crisp and juicy; the reds sumptuous, soft and velvety and importantly both the white
and red wines are balanced by a deep mineral salinity and the overwhelming feeling once you have swallowed them is one of
freshness and vitality - like the (these days) rare sensation you get when you bite into a perfectly ripened piece of fruit. It
makes them quite hard to stop drinking. ANDREW GUARD
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115
124
163
176
190
283
102
229
106
Eric de Suemain, Chateau de Monthelie 120
41!
grenache & blends (barossa and other australian)
2012 Cirillo ‘The Vincent’
2012 Spinifex ‘Papillon’ Grenache, Cinsaut
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
38
39
This tastes brambly, stemmy, smoky and wild. The fruit’s finely delineated, but resides within a surprisingly firm mesh that the
colour in no way prepares you for. But wafts of delicious frambois fruit steal their way through the structure, ensuring that the
overall impression is one of easy, genial drinkability. GD
2011 Rockford ‘The Frugal Farmer’
2013 Sigurd Red (Grenache, Mataro, Shiraz)
2012 Purple Hands Old Vine Barossa Valley Grenache
Barossa Valley, SA
McLaren Vale / Barossa Valley, SA
Lyndoch, Barossa Valley, SA
39
42
42
2012 Izway ‘Mates’ Grenache Mataro
Barossa Valley, SA
45
2013 Head Wines ‘Head Red’ (Grenache, Shiraz, Mataro)
Barossa Valley, SA
48
Deftly handled, the fruit of the Barossa’s now ancient Grenache bush vines can be crafted into wines that rival cooler climate
Pinot Noir in terms of lacy perfume, aromatic complexity and serious structure. Here, Grant Burge’s senior winemaker Craig
Stansborough has had a whole lot of fun concocting a partial whole bunch, wild yeast, basket pressed expression that yields
vibrant and delicious frambois and bright red fruits. Little wonder Mr Halliday rated this one so highly! GD
Here’s a wine that celebrates the perfect ripeness that can be achieved in our region. This is perfumed and vibrant; Barossa
sunshine in a glass. Torbreck maestro Craig Isbel has crafted a wine that harbours a bit of a savoury edge due to the influence
of Adrian Hoffmann’s fruit. His spice-laden Mataro component adds a wild cowlick to a wine that otherwise might be slightly
not-a-hair-out-of-place predictable. And nice to see a little homage to Dave on the back label. GD
Alex head is one of a new generation of Barossa winemakers who have broadened the flavour expectations of wines from our
region. No longer content with offering plump contented wines grinning with sweet, simple opulence, Alex is crafting wines
that writhe and wriggle, dart around the inside of your mouth, shower the mid palate with savoury complexity and finish in a
long saliva inducing wash of deliciousness. GD
2010 Burge Family Winemakers Garnacha
2012 Eperosa ‘Synthesis’ Grenache Mataro
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, Eden Valley
48
48
2010 Rockford ‘Moppa Springs’ (Grenache Mataro Shiraz)
2013 Ochota Barrels ‘The Green Room’ Grenache Shiraz
2012 Yelland and Papps ‘Second Take’ Grenache
Barossa Valley, SA
Onkaparinga Hills, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
48
49
56
Brett Grocke’s wines are a veritable celebration of healthy, premium fruit, grown without compromise. Gentle, minimalist
small-scale winemaking captures the essence of each parcel of fruit and results in wines that taste vital and alive yet with a
softness in the mouth that makes them immensely pleasurable to drink. GD
Here’s a different take on Barossa Grenache. Long skin contact (2 weeks) and partial whole bunch fermentation have
successfully wound back the natural forward fruit and opulent ‘framboise’ grandma’s kiss kind of plushness that we often
associate with Grenache grown in these parts. Instead we see a wild herbal savouriness counterpointing some mineral ferrous
notes. The finish is long with some pleasantly grippy tannin. A pleasure to drink with food. GD
2012 Kellermeister ‘Whiskers’ Single Vineyard Grenache
2012 Ruggabellus ‘Timeaus’
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
62
65
2012 Elderton ‘Western Ridge’ Grenache Carignan
Greenock, Barossa Valley, SA
68
During our first year, we were among the first to sip from the Ruggabellus challis. We poured Abel Gibson’s ‘Fluus’ before
anyone had even heard of his label. Later that year, Spectator’s James Suckling, lauded Abel’s wines following a tasting held
within our restaurant. Suckling commented on the wines’ restraint; we have celebrated the bony, earth characters that have
cleaved the grainy textures of each release ever since. We have loved the manner in which the wines have disassociated
themselves with the big-fruit-big-oak-big-alcohol Barossa stereotypes, making them perfectly suited to the delicate flavours in
Tuoi’s food. But with this release of the 2012 Timeaus, Abel has pulled some of the vestments back; let some sunshine in
beneath his wimple. There’s still a nervy, cool-fruited energy running though to the long finish, but there’s some frambois
softness beneath perfumed wafts of spice. Frankincense and myrrh. Don’t miss this. GD
We have long saluted wines made from Grenache and Carignan grown in hard places in SW France and Spain. So it was a
revelation to unscrew a bottle of this Elderton wine and splash the contents into a big glass. The Carignan component was
planted by the Helbigs way back in 1915 in deep sand, the Grenache in 1969 in bonier soils of the upper contours of this
highly regarded Greenock vineyard. Olfactory memory is a powerful thing. This wine immediately conjured up wafts of my
mother’s plums, poached with a cinnamon quill and one or two cloves. Perfumed, sappy, pure and delicious. GD
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42!
more grenache & blends (barossa and other australian)
2009 Cirillo 1850 ‘Old Vine’ Grenache
2008 Cirillo 1850 ‘Old Vine’ Grenache
2007 Cirillo 1850 ‘Old Vine’ Grenache
2006 Cirillo 1850 ‘Old Vine’ Grenache
2005 Cirillo 1850 ‘Old Vine’ Grenache
2004 Cirillo 1850 ‘Old Vine’ Grenache
2003 Cirillo 1850 ‘Old Vine’ Grenache
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
80
90
90
100
100
110
120
2010 Charles Melton ‘Nine Popes’
2012 Izway ‘Three Brians’ (Vines planted 1901)
Barossa Valley, SA
Seppeltsfield, Barossa Valley, SA
98
110
Côtes du Rhône
42
2011 Roucas Toumba ‘Les Grands Chemins’
Vacqueyras, France
44
2010 Domaine de Ferrand ‘Demoiselles’
Côtes du Rhône, France
46
I count myself very lucky to have mates like Marco. I love his approach to Grenache, which although picked nice and ripe still
seems to sizzle with tightly coiled tension. I’m going to love watching these things grow. I’m also flattered that Marco and
Annie have moved into Elizabeth Street just to be closer to fermentAsian! GD
grenache & blends (france)
2011 Un Air de Réméjeanne
(Biodynamic)
This is just the second release of Un Air and unlike the 2010, which was made from local, yet non-Estate grapes to make up the
shortfall in that low yielding vintage, the 2011 is 100% organically grown Estate fruit. As tasty as last year's wine was, Olivier
Klein - Rémy's son, who is the talent behind this cuvée - told us he's infinitely more excited about this vintage which displays
more of the elegant and lucid cues we have come to expect from Réméjeanne's fascinating terroir. The blend now reverts to
80% Grenache and 20% Syrah but it is still the tangy raspberry/dark cherry and spiced Grenache fruit that is to the fore. The
grapes were picked by hand, sorted, and then de-stemmed, the wine then spent eight months in concrete tanks with no fining
and only a light filtration prior to bottling. The nose brims with red berries, lifted spice, mostly anise, with hints of freshly
turned earth. It’s lovely in the mouth, oozing very pristine fruit and more sapid meaty notes – racy but also delicate. There’s a
long, spicy finish with lots to keep you interested and it demands a second, third and fourth glass. All up, embarrassingly good
Côtes du Rhône at a brilliant price for the quality. Any other questions can be answered by opening the bottle. R WALTERS
Rarely does a first tasting with a new vigneron excite me as much as it did at Roucas Toumba, these are all stunning
wines. This is 80% Grenache and 20% old Carignan aged only in Concrete cuve. It has perfumed aromas of dark berries,
garrigue and attractive spice. In the mouth it is rich and impressively pure wine with excellent finishing grip, lift and length.
This is a terrific wine for a modest price. ANDREW GUARD
I don’t often think of opening a red when I’m hot and thirsty (that’s what beer is for, right?), but after enjoying a glass of this,
I’ll be recommending it to all the perspiring men and glowing ladies who walk in through the door. This is as joyous (and
thirst quenching) a Grenache as you’re ever likely to encounter. It’s got spicy upper partials and some fresh raspberry tang in
the middle register. Fruit-driven, beautifully balanced and delicious, this will wash down the beef salad very nicely! GD
2011 M.F. Laurent ‘Il Fait Soif’
2010 L’Oratoire Saint Martin Rouge
2010 Elodie Balme ‘Côtes du Rhône’
Côtes du Rhône, France
Côtes du Rhône, France
Côtes-du-Rhône, Fr.
46
48
55
2011 Domaine de Ferrand ‘Vielles Vignes’
2011 Roucas Toumba ‘La Grande Terre’
Côtes du Rhône, France
Vacqueyras, France
58
66
Another rock star in the making, Elodie branched out in 2006 after mentoring under Cairanne’s natural icon, Marcel Richaud.
Luckily she just happens to come from well-stocked vigneron families and now has 12 hectares in organic conversion taken on
from her father.
Elodie’s cuvees share the weight of Domaine Richaud with immense concentration. Pure, fruity and floral but dense and
deeply flavoured, Her Côtes-du-Rhônes are scarce even in France, thanks largely to the thirsty Parisienne wine bars where she
is well represented. Natural, but incredibly fresh and pure, these are immensely seductive; her wines have many fans here
already. Elodie’s 2010s are beautiful Grenache driven expressions that show purity and balance. Expect to see more sanguine
minerality, red berry fruit and finer tannins among the rich dark fruits and warm spices. Dense but pure. TIM STOCK
This is produced from a single parcel of 55 year old Grenache and 30 year old Syrah and Mourvèdre. Deep ruby in colour, this
is still extremely primary. It's bright and lively in the mouth, offering intensity and is distinctly 'Burgundian' in style. It shows
outstanding clarity and intensity on the finish where it weaves lovely freshness into density and power. This would make
many Châteauneuf du Pape's blush. ANDREW GUARD
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43!
more grenache & blends (france)
2012 Domaine Gramenon ‘L’Elementaire’
Côtes du Rhône, France
72
Produced from 40 year old vines from a 5ha property purchased in 2007 in Valreas and farmed bio dynamically (as at the
estate) This is deep, lush and incredibly impressive with beguiling scents, carnal richness and an incredibly silken finish. Great
drinking now and, provided it is cellared well, will last and last. Brilliant ANDREW GUARD
2011 M.F. Laurent ‘Pourpre’
Côtes du Rhône, France
76
This is son Maxime's take on what can be done with old vines - this from two parcels, one 40 year old and the other 80 year old.
I always love this wine and wrote in my notebook, "very silky, very fine and elegant. Lovely grip and freshness. Has a lovely
seamless quality. Very silky and fine". Incredible Grenache. A. GUARD
2011 Domaine Gramenon ‘Les Laurentides’
Côtes du Rhône, France
76
Produced from 50 year old vines in the village of Vinsobres where the terroir is known for it's galets roulés - the large rust and
cream coloured, smooth, rounded stones that keep and transmit heat resulting in rich, powerful wines that have the capacity to
age very well. This is a magnificent Côtes du Rhône and one where the use of the term Burgundian is well warranted. A Guard
2010 L’Oratoire Saint Martin Cuvée Prestige
Cairanne, Côtes du Rhône, Fr.
85
2011 L’Anglore ‘Cuvee de la Pierre Chaude’ Grenache Clairette
2006 Domaine de Marcoux
(375ml)
2010 Domaine du Cayron
Tavel, Southern Rhone France
Châteauneuf du Pape, France
Gigondas, Rhone, France
85
95
98
2012 Domaine Gramenon ‘La Sagesse’
Côtes du Rhône, France
98
2009 Clos du Mont Olivet
Châteauneuf du Pape, France
110
2009 Bois de Boursan
Châteauneuf du Pape, France
128
60% Grenache, 40% Mourvèdre. The Cuvée Prestige comes off vines planted in 1905. Wildly aromatic and dripping in
liquorice-coated red fruits, this offers an inky, musky mass of flavour. In spite of its richness, the palate has a punchy, bright
pulsating depth of flavour, nicely complemented by herby tannins on the finish.
“The dense ruby/purple-hued 2010 Cotes du Rhone-Villages Cairanne Cuvee Prestige displays classic notes of kirsch liqueur
intermixed with licorice, incense and pen ink. This deep, rich, full-bodied wine should evolve for 7-8 years. It over-delivers for
its price point and humble pedigree.” 91-93 points, Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #197
93 Points – “Vivid purple. A wild, exotic perfume of red and dark fruit liqueur, incense and potpourri, with an intriguing note
of apricot emerging with aeration. Deeply pitched black raspberry and blueberry flavors stain the palate and are lifted by juicy
acidity. The floral quality comes back strong on the long, supple finish, which shows excellent energy and clarity.” Josh
Reynolds, International Wine Cellar Jan/Feb 2013
La Sagesse’ means “the wise one” and is produced from produced from 70 year old Grenache from the original vines on the
estate. Michèle Aubèry’s favourite of her wines. ANDREW GUARD
The blend for the Châteauneuf red is 80% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 6% Mourvèdre and 4% of the other permitted varieties. The
grapes are fermented with predominantly whole bunches and natural yeast in concrete vat. They are then aged in large
foudres. Based around Grenache, the wines are very Burgundian in their medium weight and long fine structures but have the
fruit intensity and air of Châteauneuf rusticity that drinkers love. If you love a pure expression of Grenache, then Clos du Mont
Olivet are a must-have producer. TIM STOCK
Ever since the late 1990s, this fine estate...has done everything right, turning out classic but elegant wines from Chateauneuf
du Pape that texturally often seem to have more in common with fine Burgundies than southern Rhone wines. Robert Parker:
Wine advocate
2012 Domaine Gramenon ‘La Mémé Ceps Centenaires’
Côtes du Rhône, France
140
Gramenon’s La Mémé is one of the Rhone Valleys original cult wines. First made in 1989 from estate Grenache vines already
over 100 years old, it has the capacity to age for many years. Rare and Wonderful. ANDREW GUARD
2004 Domaine de la Charbonnière ‘Cuvée Vieilles Vignes’
Châteauneuf du Pape, France
142
2007 Domaine de la Charbonnière
‘Mourre des Perdrix’
2009 Bois de Boursan ‘Cuvee des Felix’
2009 Domaine Marcoux
2010 Domaine Marcoux
Châteauneuf du Pape, France
Châteauneuf du Pape, France
Châteauneuf du Pape, France
Châteauneuf du Pape, France
142
160
165
180
90 Points – “The dark ruby 2004 Chateauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes is layered, but dominated by its kirsch liqueur notes
intermixed with pepper and earth. The wine is expansive, beautifully textured, and tastes like a sweet cherry cocktail with
plenty of structure and decent acidity. This is a beauty that should evolve for up to a decade or more.” Robert Parker, Wine
Advocate # 169, February 2007.
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44!
more grenache & blends (france)
1998 Andre Brunel ‘Les Cailloux’ Cuvee Centenaire
Châteauneuf du Pape, France
650
1986 Chateau Pignan (Rayas)
1978 Chateau de Beaucastel
Châteauneuf du Pape, France
Châteauneuf du Pape, France
750
800
The 1998 Cuvée Centenaire is an awesome Châteauneuf du Pape. Made from extremely old vines (in excess of 100 years) by
one of the appellation's most talented proprietors, André Brunel, this is the essence of both Châteauneuf du Pape and the
Grenache grape. A small amount of Mourvèdre and Syrah are included in the blend. The wine boasts a deep ruby/purple colour
as well as an extraordinary bouquet of melted, jammy black cherry, raspberry, and currant fruit mixed with pepper and spice
box. In the mouth, it is rich, full-bodied and unctuously-textured, with extraordinary purity, and laser-like definition for a wine
of such massive concentration and depth. The finish lasts for nearly a minute. This spectacular, youthful, amazingly accessible
offering is a tour de force in winemaking, and a tribute to just how great Châteauneuf du Pape can be. Anticipated maturity:
now-2025. Score: 100 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (138), December 2001
grenache & blends (south africa)
2011 Lammershoek ‘Roulette Red’ Grenache / Syrah / Carignan
Swartland, South Africa
65
2011 Sadie Family ‘Soldaat’ Grenache
Swartland, South Africa
125
The 2011 Roulette Red has a gorgeous, pure bouquet of intense boysenberry jam, blackberry and dried prune that is
beautifully defined and controlled. The palate is ripe and flavoursome on the entry with blackberry and boysenberry once
again, wrapped around quite firm but unobtrusive tannins. You might describe the finish as economical. It does not have a
tremendously long aftertaste but you cannot wait for another sip. Superb.90/100eRobertParker.com #209 Oct 2013 - Neal
Martin
Eben Sadie is considered one of the great preservationists and visionaries in the new generation of South African winemakers.
To Eben, the vineyard and fruit are part of the story—the truest expression of his art and philosophy. The wine writer Neal
Martin recently called Sadie an “outspoken, peripatetic, terroir-obsessed winemaker who has been instrumental in putting
Swartland on the map. He produces a small portfolio of comparatively expensive, but highly coveted wines based on Rhone
varieties sourced from his seemingly never-ending search for pockets of old bush vines and unique terroirs. These are cerebral
wines built to age.”
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45!
grenache & blends (spain)
2012 Comando G ‘La Bruja Averia’ (The Witch)
Rozes de Puerto, Madrid DO, Spain
62
Here’s a bewitching wine that is making me question a long-held belief that Cru Beaujolais represents the best red-wine-fit
with Tuoi’s perfumed food. High altitude (900 to 1,000m) biodynamically grown fruit from granite soils is crafted into a playful
wine by a trio of young Spanish winemakers intent on proving that old vine Garnacha can produce wines as elegant and
ethereal as the Burgundies they so enjoy. The playfulness extends to the six different witchy witchy labels in each box. GD
2012 Maestro Tejero ‘El Marciano’
Madrid, Spain
68
The Martian. We’ll have to ask Alfredo the meaning behind the name but at this stage we’re guessing it’s a reference to the
remote and barren, granite-ridden landscape that make up this wines terroir. The isolated Gredos mountain range lies 70
kilometres west of Madrid and is home to a mosaic of tiny old-vine vineyards planted mainly to Grenache. This comes from one
such 70 year old site lying at a staggering 1,150 metres elevation. Mainly destemmed with 20% whole bunches retained, the
wine was fermented with wild yeasts in stainless steel. This gorgeous wine typifies Maestro’s delicate touch and respect for his
land. It's juicy and flavoursome, laden with spicy, ripe blackberry, raspberry, liquorice and lavender aromas and flavours. The
texture is rock-sculpted (perhaps reflecting the granite bedrock that lies just a few inches below the surface here) and the
acidity is racy and bright, drawing all the elements together. Unique, enchanting stuff. Robert Walters, Bibendum
2012 Daniel Landi ‘Las Uvas de la Ira’ (Grapes of Wrath)
Mentrida, Castilia-León, Spain
2009 Alvaro Palacios ‘Les Terrasses’
2011 Comando G ‘Las Umbrias’ (The Shade)
2008 Alvaro Palacios ‘Vi de Gratallops’
2008 Rene Barbier ‘Clos Mogodor’
2009 Rene Barbier ‘Clos Mogodor’
Priorat, Spain
Razos de Puerto, Madrid DO, Spain
Gratallops, Priorat, Spain
Gratallops, Priorat, Spain
Gratallops, Priorat, Spain
10 months large format old French oak; 60 year old vines, 750m altitude. Granite and sand, 100% whole bunch
68
138
160
198
230
230
"The 2009 Clos Mogador was tasted from a barrel sample. Asian spices, tapenade, incense, licorice, espresso, and blackberry
aromas inform the nose of this structured, dense plush, powerful yet elegant offering. It is beautifully proportioned with
exceptional length and incipient complexity. Give it 4-5 years of cellaring and drink it from 2015 to 2029." (95-98) points, Jay
Miller, The Wine Advocate, Issue #194
2011 Comando G ‘Rumbo al Norte’
Vinos de la Tierra Castilla y Leon, Spain 230
2010 Rene Barbier ‘Clos Mogodor’
Gratallops, Priorat, Spain
230
2010 Terroir Al Límit ‘Les Manyes’
Priorat, Spain
570
Rumbo al Norte (Northbound) is also from 60 year old vines grown on 0.3 hectare again with a limited production of 1000
bottles. It is situated at 1200m altitude in Navarrevisca and classified as Vinos de la Tierra Castilla y Leon as it falls outside the
Madrid D.O
"René Barbier (Junior) kindly put together a blend of the five barrels that will go to constitute the 2010 Clos Mogador. It has a
stricter, fresher bouquet than the 2009, with great minerality and sparkling precision. The palate is medium-bodied with very
fine tannins and wonderful purity. It exhibits notes of dark cherries, crushed stone, slate and touches of thyme and white
pepper towards the finish, which has immense precision and focus. This is going to be a razor-sharp Clos Mogador – do not
wait to place your order!" (94-96) points, Neal Martin, Wine Advocate #200 Apr 2012
Vi d’altura. The Les Manyes vineyard is located at a remarkable altitude of 800m (the highest in Priorat) and is now about 54
years old. The vineyard is only 1.4ha and is planted almost exclusively with Garnatxa. This is not the only difference with Les
Tosses. The latter is planted to Cariñena on pure llicorella slate while the Les Manyes site adds elements of quartz, limestone
and clay into the mix. In 2010 Les Manyes is an intensely aromatic wine, full of majestic grace. It’s the kind of wine that was
made for the term “sexy time!” (as coined by one of our finest producers). Indeed, if we had to put forward a single wine that
symbolised the antithesis of Priorat’s bodybuilder image, this would be it. It teases you with shades of Château Rayas in the
vividly fresh raspberry aroma, a hint of the sapid, umami character of grand cru Gevrey and alludes to the exotic spice of fine
Barolo. And yet it is high-grown Priorat through and through. The purity, deliciousness and length of flavour is pure genius.
“Glass-staining ruby. Heady aromas of candied raspberry, potpourri, spicecake and smoky minerals. Deep and velvety, with
powerful, palate-staining red berry preserve and floral pastille flavors given spine by zesty minerality. Smooth and seamless on
the sweet, potent finish, which refuses to let go of the palate.” 95 points, Josh Raynolds, Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine
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46!
mataro (mourvédre, monastrell) & blends (barossa & other australian)
2010 Ballycroft ‘Small Berry’ Mataro
Greenock, Barossa Valley, SA
38
2012 Ruggabellus ‘Fluus’ Mataro, Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault
Barossa Valley, SA
48
2012 David Franz ‘Waxing Lyrical’ Mataro Shiraz Grenache
2010 Radford Wines ‘Menagerie’
2011 Eperosa ‘Totality’ Mataro
Stonewell Hill, Barossa Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
Ebenezer. Barossa Valley, SA
48
48
50
The impact of various New Zealanders on the Barossa winemaking landscape, while not yet challenging that of their Silesian
forebears, is nonetheless considerable. Chris Ringland, Russell Johnstone, Peter Schell, Fraser McKinley, Dave Brookes have
all made serious contributions to the raft of knowledge and the diversity of wine styles coming from our region. Joe Evans
from Ballycroft harbours a passion as intense as anyone’s and is becoming well known for small bottlings of wine from vines
he planted and nurtured with the nutrients of whey and associated waste products from his sister-in-law’s now defunct
cheesery. We are fortunate indeed to have a few of Joe’s meagre 300 bottle output of Small Berry Mataro to splash into a few
lucky customers’ glasses. GRANT DICKSON
An exciting new Barossa venture headed by Abel Gibson who is pretty passionate about organics, biodynamics, and Latin
nomenclature. He also walks the walk with regard to capturing the essence of each vineyard with which he works. We are
impressed with his greenness, his story and with his wines. Permissum fluus fluus exsisto is is a fructus dies vel radix dies. (Let
the Fluus flow, be it a fruit day or root day)! G.D.
Brett Grocke is a dirt man. A soil sniffer. He probably eats little handfuls of alluvium when no one’s looking. I don’t know when
he developed this predilection for sand grit pebbles clay slate... but you can see it consumes him. And you can see the
manifestations of this dirty little obsession in the beautiful wines that he crafts in the tiniest of quantities. The 2011 ‘Totality’
makes a lie out of our region’s wettest vinatage showing unusual generosity and warmth. Of course Adrrian Hoffmann’s
pedigreed fruit is nice fodder for a dirt man to play with! GRANT DICKSON
2012 Tim Smith Mataro
Ebenezer, Barossa Valley, SA
54
There are whispers afoot suggesting that the greatest red wines from our region might be crafted from Mataro rather than
Shiraz; a red like this presents that argument pretty persuasively. Ancient Mataro vineyards exhibit an unruly posture: upright
tangled cordons that before winter pruning, you’d struggle to get a hairbrush through. This straggling wildness manifests
itself in the wine too, where gingerbread spice is tangled with blood, iron, offal and brambly wild damson plums. A complex,
riveting drink that tastes sleek, generous and delicious. GRANT DICKSON
2009 Flaxman Wines Mataro
2010 Syrahmi Mourvedre
Barossa Valley, SA
Heathcote, Victoria
55
56
For the first time Syrahmi Shiraz has a sibling welcome Syrahmi Mourvèdre! The grapes are planted in the same vineyard as
the Shiraz, Greenstone vineyard located 45km north of Heathcote. Vintage 2010 was in my opinion the greatest growing
season I have seen since I have been making wine in Heathcote. This close planted Mourvèdre vineyard (4545 vines per
Hectare) on rich pre-Cambrian soil produced fruit of amazing complexity and length of flavor. Bright raspberry red and purple
in colour the perfumed nose of ripe blue fruits; think wild blueberries, boysenberries and layered with dried herbs, savory
earth spice, lifted whole bunch (25%) and a meaty small goods character. Soft sweet entry and long mid palate make way for
velvet like fine tannins; palate is long, expansive and balanced. ADAM FOSTER SYRAHMI
2012 Ruggabellus ‘Efferus’
Barossa Valley, SA
62
This is wild, primeval and bristling with personality. Abel is one of the most searching practitioners I know. Completely selfeffacing, his wines do his talking for him. Efferus is the most heathen member of the Ruggabellus quartet. It has a wild look in
its eye and a brazen masculine tang; but subject it to a vigorous decant and we can tame some of that testosterone-fuelled
bony spiciness and glimpse a softer side of this Janus, predicting perhaps a more domesticated, gentle maturity. Please try
this with the pork belly. Just once or twice. GD
2008 Veritas ‘Bull’s Blood’ Shiraz Mataro Pressings
2012 Caillard Mataro
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
78
80
A different painting every year. I like that.
Plenty of spice and dried herb in this one, blackberry pastille, blackcurrent, nuts and a little toast and creamed honey. Medium
bodied, has a juiciness of fruit yet stays dark and spicy and earthy with a pleasing Amaro-like twang. Generous open weave
tannin - good feeling here - good length. Articulate wine. Give it a big glass and take your time. 94 Points
www.winefront.com.au Gary Walsh: 11 April 2014
!
47!
mataro (mourvédre, monastrell) & blends (france and spain)
2009 L’Oratoire Saint Martin ‘Haut Coustias’
Cairanne, Côtes du Rhône, Fr.
85
2009 Mas de Libian ‘Le Calade’
Côtes du Rhône, France
98
Bandol, Provence, France
Languedoc, France
120
143
60% Mourvèdre, 20% Syrah and 20% Grenache. Singled out as “one of the finest wines for ageing” in Cairanne by La Revue du
Vin de France, the Haut Coustias is the finest wine of the Domaine. It is made from vines planted in rocky blue clay and
limestone-laced soils in the Saint Martin lieu-dit with an average age of 65 years. The grapes are sorted and destemmed and
the wine spends 24 months in large format, neutral oak, much like a traditional styled Barolo. As you would expect, the 2009
version of this wine is a richer, denser beast than 2008. It opens with flamboyant Mourvèdre notes of roasted blackberry, violet
and peppery grilled meat. The silky texture and mouth coating flavours of black cherry, earth and spice are clearly underscored
by the lay of the land, as well as the generosity of the vintage. Clearly this wine has a lot more tucked up its sleeve, though
even now this expressive bottling is chock full of character and southern Rhône heart. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
This is Hélène’s rarest offering and we have very, very little arriving! It’s a blend 90% Mourvèdre and 10% Grenache. Cropped
at a meagre one tonne per acre, this is a rich and concentrated CDR with a deeper register of flavours than its stablemates. It’s
almost saturated with freshly picked blackberry and black cherry fruit interwoven with licorice, chocolate and smoke.
Mourvèdre’s imprint is given away by hints of iron filings and the ample, savoury tannins on the finish. Gorgeous, leviathan
wine. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO.
2008 Chateau de Pibarnon Bandol Rouge
2007 Leon Barral Faugeres ‘Valiniere’ 80% Mourvèdre 20% Syrah
Didier Barral makes Faugères that sets a high bar not only for his appellation but artisan farming and wine making in the
Languedoc. Barral’s vineyards are farmed biodynamically and he offers several different cuvées, each expressing differences in
terroir, vine age and blend. His wines remind me very much stylistically of the wines of the great Gerard Chave of Hermitage.
‘Valiniere’ is from the oldest vines and called "the Chambertin of the South" by Jacqueline Friedrich - a great old bottle of this
will bring you to your knees. A. GUARD
red wines from sun-drenched mediterranean isles (& a canary or two)
2012 Suertes del Marqués ‘7 Fuentes’ Listàn Negro, Tintilla (Trousseau) Valle de La Orotava, Tenerife, Canary Islands 62
“The wines from Suertes del Marques prompted me to write this [Wine Advocate] article about wines from the Canary Islands,
as I was excited with their marked personality... Their philosophy is to intervene as little as possible, ferment in cement vats
with natural yeasts, age in 500-liter barrels (and bigger volumes in the future), and use as little sulphur as possible, respecting
the wine and the terroir.” Luis Gutiérrez, eRobertParker.com
“Vivid red. Asian spice-accented red berries and white pepper on the nose. Juicy raspberry and bitter cherry flavors are
underscored by a zesty mineral quality. Fat-free and focused, with excellent finishing clarity and subtle tannic grip. There's a
pinot-like delicacy and nerviness to this wine that I find really interesting.” 91 points, Josh Reynolds, Stephen Tanzer’s
International Wine Cellar
2012 4 Kilos ’12 Volts’
Mallorca, Spain
100
2008 Domaine Gentile ‘Cuvee Grande Expression’ (Nielluccio)
2012 4 Kilos (Callet field blend)
Patrimonio, Corsica, France
Mallorca, Spain
120
150
Dark and Mediterranean, a delicate wine of lovely line and movement, 12 Volts is a potpourri of the island, representing all
parts and varieties. It’s Callet-Fogoneu 50%, Syrah 30%, Merlot 10% and Cabernet 10%.
It’s a wine in which Francesc seeks to promote fruit character, and here it is: bramble rose florals over dark humus soil aromas.
Bright and purply in the mouth, extremely subtle oak, soft tannin and electric acidity promote a wine of dance and line. The
sweet, pippy dark blue fruit is lined with lignite mineral, like a liquorice squeezed from stones, and runs through a tannin
complex at once vegetal and slick, gravely and lined with bosque woodiness. SCOTT WASLEY, THE SPANISH ACQUISITION
Typified by fresh red fruit showing its soil, earthy with mineral acidity. First released in 2006, 4 Kilos features a steadily
declining French varietal content – by 2012 it’s solely Mallorcan autocthons.
Old vine wood and an airy potpourri of countryness populate a lovely nutty red berry nose replete with Mediterranean herb.
The palate is fantastic – round and slick to begin with, then perfume and tannin rolling back long in the mouth. Delicate, with
mineral-acid freshness above lovely baked earth. SCOTT WASLEY, THE SPANISH ACQUISITION
red wines from alpine regions of eastern france (jura, savoie)
2011 Maison Pierre Overnoy Ploussard
2012 Jean François Ganevat ‘Julien en Billat’ Pinot Noir
2012 Fabien Trosset Arbin Mondeuse
2012 Les Fils de Charles Trosset ‘Confidentiel’ Mondeuse
2007 Domaine Prieuré St. Christophe Mondeuse Tradition
!
Arbois, Jura, France
‘La Combe’ Rotalier, Jura, France
Arbin, Savoie, France
Arbin, Savoie, France
Fréterive, Savoie, France
150
165
120
160
180
48!
cabernet, merlot, malbec & blends
2012 Majella ‘The Musician’ Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz
2012 Schild Estate Merlot
2010 Rockford ‘Rifle Range’
(375 ml)
2009 Irvine ‘The Baroness”
Coonawarra, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa, SA
39
42
48
69
50% Eden Valley Grand Merlot, 25% Barossa Valley Cabernet Franc and 25% Barossa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. With 61
vintages under his belt, Jim Irvine decided to act on a belief that he could fashion a wine that could compete with the great
Merlot dominated wines that he had admired for so long from Pomerol and St Emillion. Jim had worked in his youth with two
‘master blenders’ at Hardy’s Mile End: Roger Warren and Dick Heath. Fortunately some of their consummate skill and
creativity was absorbed; Irvine has crafted a lovely, complex but soft-fruited wine that shows the potential of Barossa Cabernet
Franc within a blend and demonstrates that a wine can become greater than the sum of its parts.
2011 Greenock Creek Cabernet Sauvignon
2012 Tomfoolery ‘Monkey Business’ Cabernet Franc
2010 Yalumba FDR1A Cabernet Shiraz
2006 Irvine Grand Merlot (375 ml)
2010 Rockford ‘Rifle Range’
1999 Rockford Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Jacobs Creek ‘St Hugo’ Cabernet Sauvignon
2010 Te Mata ‘Coleraine’ Cabernet Merlot
1996 Orlando ‘St Hugo’ Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Irvine Grand Merlot
1999 Pontet Canet 5me G.C.C, 1855
1997 Tenuta San Guido Bolgheri ‘Sassicaia’
1997 Marchese Lodovico Antinori Bolgheri ‘Ornellaia’
1997 Piero Antinori ‘Solaia’
Seppeltsfield, Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Coonawarra, SA
Hawkes Bay, NZ
Coonawarra, SA
Eden Valley, SA
Pauillac, Bordeaux, France
Tuscany, Italy
Tuscany, Italy
Tuscany, Italy
69
75
75
78
80
90
120
128
128
200
200
520
550
750
Winter in the family vineyard.
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49!
more cabernet, merlot, malbec & blends (the holmes suite…)
Just like Sherlock, Wednesday customers Jeremy and Heidi Holmes have a sleuth-like ability to follow a trail. A vinous trail that is. They have
th
sniffed out some of the oldest and rarest bottles that I have ever experienced. Although they haven’t yet offered me anything from the 18
Century or anything with a dusty trace of“Th J” etched into the glass, their ancient vinous bounty has been considerable, matched only by the
generosity with which they share their discoveries with their friends.
The pages of this list are strewn with other brilliant offerings from D’or to Door (Jeremy and Heidi’s wine agency) including current offerings
from Daniel Rion, Jean-Claude Boisset in Burgundy and Marc Chauvet in Champagne. Ancient wines from Vouvray may be found in the Chenin
Blanc and Dessert Wine sections of this list.
If you’re keen to learn about the good stuff, keen to source some of the most delicious wines (young and fresh as well as the more mature) with
comprehensive and reliably pedagogical and entertaining tasting notes, tap into their website: www.dortodoor.com or contact them about
purchasing a copy of their magazine ‘Repast’.
For this list Jeremy and Heidi have very kindly made available a few bottles of great older Bordeaux. In Jeremy’s words:
Here is a list of wines we have been sent by a contact of ours in Paris. We have been dealing with him for the past 2 years and have shipped 30+
orders with good results. The wines have always been in excellent condition and true to label.
The wines below have recently been acquired from a 2 star Michelin restaurant. Pricing is very fair and we have drunk a couple of wines from
this particular cellar that have shone including an 85 Ausone, 78 Drouhin Chiroubles and a no name Negociant 59 Richebourg.
1976 Chateau du Tertre
1993 Chateau Branaire
1975 Chateau Canon La Gaffelière
1980 Chateau Montrose
1966 Chateau La Croix du Casse
1974 Chateau Leoville Las Cases
1972 Chateau Leoville Las Cases
1972 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou
1967 Chateau La Mission Haut Brion (mid shoulder)
Margaux, Bordeaux, France
Saint-Julien, Bordeaux, France
Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux, Fr.
Saint-Estephe, Bordeaux, Fr.
Pomerol, Bordeaux, France
Saint-Julien, Bordeaux, France
Saint-Julien, Bordeaux, France
Saint-Julien, Bordeaux, France
Graves, Bordeaux, France
180
210
240
300
340
360
360
380
490
Here are the last of the wines acquired from a restaurant cellar in Normandy, France. The colour and condition of cork on all wines offered is very
good. There are some great birth year Bordeaux options plus a couple of iconic and extremely rare wines from Huet from the 70's. JEREMY
HOLMES (Snapped up some of the Huets too: see under Chenin Blanc GD)
1992 Domaine Joguet ‘Varenne du Grand Clos’
1978 Chateau Margaux
1985 Chateau Mouton Rothschild
1986 Chateau Cheval Blanc (scuffed label)
1937 Cos D’Estournel
Chinon, Loire Valley, France
250
Margaux, Medoc, Bordeaux, France 1000
Pauillac, Bordeaux, France
1200
Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux, France 1400
Saint-Estèphe, Bordeaux, France 2200
Appeared to be in good shape and looks were not deceiving, it was sublime. It smelled of R.M Williams boots that had just
been polished. There were some moss, cedar and earth notes and a delicious vinous sweetness. It had a briny, oyster like
texture that you see in many pre-war Burgs and Bordeaux and the whole mouth was enveloped in umami flavour. It was
complete with no hard edges but no oxidative notes and had great length. JEREMY HOLMES
1924 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, 1er Cru Classe
1959 Chat. Haut Brion, 1er Cru Classe (mid-shoulder)
!
Pauillac, Bordeaux, France
3300
Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux, France 4400
50!
shiraz & blends (barossa)
2013 Teusner ‘The Wark Family’ Shiraz
2010 Red Art Shiraz
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
45
48
2012 Torbreck ‘Woodcutter’s’
2012 Laughing Jack ‘Moppa Hill’ Shiraz
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
48
52
Densely packed, black fruited, with an underlying layer of sooty fireplace smells, this sits in the more savoury hemisphere of
Barossa Shiraz expression. It’s more about lifted spice than sunshine or sweet fruit and background older-barrel oak flavours
do nothing to distract. Tannins are quietly firm but cleverly knitted into the concentration of dark satsuma flavours. The
overriding impression is one of impeccable balance and considerable potential longevity. However even in the short term this
will match the Pork Belly and Wagyu dishes deliciously.
I’ve known Shawn and the Kalleske family for many years. They remain valued growers for Rockford; some of the most prized
components that end up in BPS and Rod and Spur originate from the family’s vineyards in the north-western Barossa. It was
always part of my plan to have Laughing Jack represented within this list but so tightly allocated are Shawn’s wines that it has
taken 3.5 years to receive our first wine. What a beauty it is! Dark fruited, richly resonant; it highlights the magnificence of the
high altitude site on Moppa Hill from where the fruit comes and where classic irone-stone-strewn, sandy, depleted Moppa soils
force vines to struggle to yield the most intensely flavoured juice. Go on: Wagyu.
2013 Cirillo Shiraz
Barossa Valley, SA
55
2012 Kalleske Shiraz ‘Moppa’
2010 Radford ‘Spice Bush’ Shiraz
2011 Michael Hall ‘Flaxman’s Valley’ Syrah
Moppa, Barossa Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
55
55
62
Marco Cirillo is a wine maker to watch. Like Black Caviar in her second or third outing. I feel a certain excitement each time he
drops me in a sample, and this bottle was no exception. We all know Barossa Shiraz: the templates drawn by masters of past
and present. And yet here, hot on the heels of McKinley’s ‘Little Wine’, we have another example that breaks the mould.
Redefines most deliciously.
Wine speaks to me in musical analogy, and for this one the riot of Asian spice conjured up a cacophony of gamelan, koto,
temple-gongs and shakuhachi. Pentatonic melodic patterns scored for Satsuma, cardamon and star anise. It’s going to sing like
a Tibetan monk with our food. GRANT DICKSON
I love making discoveries. You can imagine my thrill when wait staff May, Prabal and Daniel, all studying Food and Wine at
Nuri TAFE introduced me to the wines lovingly made by one of their lecturers, Michael Hall. Each wine I tasted was intriguingly
expressive, individual and delicious. They were the kind of wines that spoke of the sites from which they came, but even more
compellingly offered a sensual beauty that thrilled my palate. This Syrah, from high altitude Eden exhibits all manner of tightly
furled Satsuma and Blueberry layers framed very subtly by aristocratic French oak. It’s lovely to be able to spread the word. GD
2010 Chris Ringland / North Barossa Vintners Shiraz
Ebenezer, Barossa Valley, SA
66
2010 Radford Bio-Dynamically Grown Shiraz
2012 Ruggabellus ‘Archaeus’
2012 Eperosa L.R.C Greenock Shiraz
Eden Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Greenock, Barossa Valley, SA
69
69
72
The Barossa’s iconoclasts, intent on moving the flavour posts might pull focus right now, but credible and skilled growers and
winemakers with long-held belief systems continue to turn out wines that sing from a songbook orchestrated by legends such
as Colin Gramp, Max Schubert, Cyril Henschke and Peter Lehmann. Unashamedly rich, sweet-fruited and lovely, this Shiraz is a
passion project from a small group of very regular fermentAsian customers led by my old friend, mentor and former colleague
Chris Ringland. There’s also Hughesy, (probably on a table near you right now), Nathan Burley, and Ebenezer grape growing
supremo Adrian Hoffmann. Our other regulars, the Johns of AP John fame have also had a bit of a hand in framing up the
robust Ebenezer flavours within this bottle. Classic! GD
144 Shiraz, a few Riesling, one Mataro and a lone stranger make up a stand of vines that once formed the boundary row of an
old vineyard. The siblings of this row have long gone with subdivisions and housing taking their place. The boundary row
survived as it grows on land owned by the Light Regional Council. The L.R.C. has recognised the importance of these beautiful
45 year old Shiraz vines and in conjunction with Eperosa’s sister company Grocke Viticulture has ensured their survival. The
vines are hand pruned and the fruit handpicked and sorted. Matured for 14 months in 100% seasoned French oak
2012 Head ‘The Blonde’ Shiraz Viognier
2012 Caillard Shiraz
Stonewell, Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
72
80
The first release from Caillard using the Barossa Valley’s second best red grape.
Dark cherry and boysenberry, mocha and spice with a subtle sort of vanilla, almost jasmine scented, perfume. Medium to full
bodied with juicy cherry pip acidity and grainy ‘al dente’ tannin that fans out and runs silty on the finish. The balance and
drinking force is strong in this one. Not a blockbuster, a wine of subtle charm and effortless drinking appeal. Lovely. 94 Points
www.winefront.com.au Gary Walsh: 31 October 2013
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51!
more shiraz & blends (barossa)
2005 Rockford ‘Rod and Spur’ Cabernet Shiraz
2012 Glaetzer ‘Anaperenna’ Shiraz Cabernet
2012 Head ‘The Brunette’ Shiraz
2010 Henschke ‘Keyneton Euphonium’ Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot
2012 Sami-Odi ‘Baby Tui’ Syrah
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Moppa, Barossa Valley, SA
Eben-Ezer, Barossa Valley, SA
Eben-Ezer , Barossa Valley, SA
80
80
96
96
120
2010 Kaesler ‘Old Vine’
2012 Standish Wine Company ‘The Relic’
2012 Standish Wine Company ‘The Standish’
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
130
142
142
2009 Standish Wine Company ‘Borne Bollene’
Barossa Valley, SA
142
A composition of our purest, most individual and prized casks from 2012 and a celebration of the birth of our wonderful
daughter 'Tui.' Procured from our three treasured plots within the Hoffmann families 'Dallwitz' vineyard; each planted on their
own roots in 1996, 1995 & the oldest vines (planted prior to family records being established in 1912). Yields of between 29
& 32 hectolitres per hectare 4288 Bottles filled Label: 'Nana Mason & Baby Tui' Images gathered from Nana's matchbox
collection, Pukekohe, circa 1930 Rest in Peace Nana xxx (1924-2013).WINEMAKER
Dark and brooding with immense concentration, persistence and energy, its flavours are gently laced with a long fine cloak of
silken tannin. ANDREW GUARD
"Glass-staining purple. Highly expressive aromas of blackberry, blueberry, olive tapenade, incense and smoked meat. Deep,
sappy and pure, offering sweet dark berry compote flavors and an exotic floral pastille quality. Becomes spicier and more
powerful with air, finishing with outstanding clarity and thrust. This extremely impressive wine offers the energy and
pungency of a high-end northern Rhone red." Josh Raynolds - International Wine Cellar
2010 Standish Wine Company ‘The Schubert Theorem’
2010 Standish Wine Company ‘Andelmonde’
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
142
142
1996 Rockford ‘Basket Press’ Shiraz
1998 Rockford ‘Basket Press’ Shiraz
1999 Rockford ‘Basket Press’ Shiraz
2000 Rockford ‘Basket Press’ Shiraz
2001 Rockford 'Basket Press’ Shiraz
2002 Rockford ‘Basket Press’ Shiraz
2003 Rockford ‘Basket Press’ Shiraz
2004 Rockford 'Basket Press’ Shiraz
2005 Rockford ‘Basket Press’ Shiraz
2006 Rockford ‘Basket Press’ Shiraz
2007 Rockford ‘Basket Press’ Shiraz
2008 Rockford ‘Basket Press’ Shiraz
2009 Rockford ‘Basket Press’ Shiraz
2010 Rockford ‘Basket Press’ Shiraz
1996 Rockford SVS ‘Hoffmann’ Shiraz
1996 Rockford SVS ‘Flaxman’ Shiraz
1996 Rockford SVS ‘Moorooroo’ Shiraz
1997 Rockford SVS ‘Hoffmann’ Shiraz
1998 Rockford SVS ‘Flaxman’ Shiraz
1998 Rockford SVS ‘Pressings’ Shiraz
1999 Rockford SVS ‘Flaxman’ Shiraz
1999 Rockford SVS ‘Pressings’ Shiraz
1999 Rockford SVS ‘Helbig’ Shiraz
2004 Chris Ringland Shiraz (formerly Three Rivers)
1996 Ringland Vintners’Three Rivers’
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Barossa Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
250
250
250
200
180
250
180
180
180
180
180
180
150
130
380
380
380
380
380
380
380
380
400
900
2000
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52!
shiraz & blends (other australian)
2012 Sanguine Estate ‘Progeny Shiraz’
Heathcote, Victoria
48
2010 Campbells ‘Sixties Block’
Rutherglen, Victoria
48
2010 Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz
2012 Farr Rising Shiraz
Murrambateman, NSW
Geelong, Victoria
55
64
2009 Syrahmi ‘Climat’
Heathcote, Victoria
64
2009 Woodstock ‘The Stocks’
2009 Tyrrell’s ‘Vat 9’
McLaren Vale, SA
Hunter Valley, NSW
92
130
2009 Syrahmi ‘La La’
Heathcote, Victoria
180
2003 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier
2004 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier
2005 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier
2006 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier
2005 Giaconda ‘Warner Vineyard’
Canberra District, NSW
Canberra District, NSW
Canberra District, NSW
Canberra District, NSW
Beechworth, Victoria
220
220
220
220
250
In June 2013 I spent a couple of very pleasant days in Heathcote with Wine Australia and a group of sommeliers from some of
the best restaurants in Oz. This was one of the wines that stood out. Its charm lies in the fact that the Shiraz has been crafted
without manipulation, additions or lashings of expensive oak. It speaks of the ancient Cambrian soils pure and simple. I wasn’t
surprised to hear in August that the wine had cleaned up comprehensively at the inaugural Heathcote Wine Show, winning the
trophy for best Shiraz. GD
Shiraz, Tempranillo, Graciano, Tinta Cao, Souzao, Carignan
“Planted by my brother Malcolm in the early 1960’s, our ‘Sixties Block’ contains a single row of many obscure & interesting
grape varieties. Today this mature vineyard produces small quantities of intensely flavoured fruit, from which we select the
very best for this intriguing blend.” Colin Campbell
Look out from the inside of the Barossa Shiraz fishbowl. Not just to the Northern Rhone but to contrasting expressions from
around Australia itself. Cool climate offerings like this one from Pinot master Nick Farr from Geelong exhibit a captivating
coolness, an attractive pinosity that comes, at least in part from whole bunch ferments. Means that we get a whole raft of
subtle flavours that transcend the usual cool climate wish-we-could-get-it-riper-white-pepperiness. Mace, cloves, sour cherry
stones, rhubarb and stony mineral notes contribute to a wine that intrigues. I love this… GD
Mossy spicy nose – curry bush almost . really savoury smelling. Sort of peat-flinty. The palate is fruitcake and preserved peel
tasting. It is loaded with fruit and yet is dry and firm to close, with a touch of the peatiness of the nose. Shows forest humustype characters too: this is facinating stuff. Gets better – richer – as it opens up with air. 94/100 TIM WHITE Australian Financial
Review
…I have not tasted a young vintage as flattering as 2009. From the oldest and finest blocks of the Ashman’s vineyard, matured
in large French oak casks (building texture rather than overt structure or oak flavour), this is a flatteringly soft, textural and
approachable style in the true spirit of Hunter shiraz. There are nuances of pepper to its vibrant blackberry, plum and black
cherry fruit, with the classic, taut acidity that defines 2009. A wine of brilliant persistence and understated concentration that is
approachable now and will live twenty years. TYSON STELZER
In homage to Guigal’s famous La Mouline, La Turque and La Landonne - my vision for this wine was to attempt to age a single
vineyard Heathcote Shiraz in 100% new oak for 36 months. This is the third release of Syrahmi La La. It’s small batch – from a
single barrel of Shiraz and will only ever be released in great vintages. ADAM FOSTER, WINEMAKER
!
53!
shiraz & blends (as expressed by alain graillot)
2008 Alain Graillot ‘Syrocco’ Syrah
Morocco
Graillot is one of the world’s great Syrah producers, arguably the finest in the Rhône’s Crozes-Hermitage appellation, and this
is the 2nd vintage of his Moroccan project. This is an energetic, juicy young Syrah. Despite its up-front appeal and sheer
drinkability, it’s a very refined and complex wine. The nose is full of bright red and blue fruits; dry stone, black pepper and star
anise aromas. Smooth and lush on the palate with black cherry, thyme, tobacco and a long, silky finish. If it isn’t the first
Moroccan wine you have ever tasted, it will almost certainly be the finest. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO.
2011 Alain Graillot Syrah No 1 11
Heathcote, Victoria
In a nutshell, these wines are the result of an intense collaboration between myself and Alain Graillot, one of France’s most
respected wine growers. Those familiar with Graillot’s work in the Northern Rhône won’t be surprised to hear that Syrah is the
conduit of choice, with fruit selected from a single, eroded basalt and lime-rich vineyard in Heathcote. Both Alain and I were
very attracted by the idea of coming together to produce a sophisticated, restrained and linear expression of Australian Syrah
from what we felt was a special piece of dirt. Alain Graillot, a great lover and collector of Burgundy, was recently described to
me as “... the man who makes Syrah that tastes like Pinot...” His obsession with elegance shines through in this wine. From a
single vineyard that was chosen because it was a site that we felt could produce highly aromatic, pure, precise and super
refined wines. Initially we sourced fruit from across this vineyard, yet now we work with only one plot (that I’ve nicknamed
‘Clos Graillot’). It was this plot that we found to produce exactly the style of wine we were after. The vines are tended without
any herbicides or pesticides. The grapes are handpicked, left to ferment without any yeast additions and are not fined or
filtered. Almost no new oak has been used and sulphur is kept to a minimum (none was used at bottling for example). The
conditions of Alain’s involvement were simple: only if he was able to produce the highest quality wine with the kind of
elegance for which he is renowned and that he likes to drink, would he be willing to put his name to this project. ROBERT
WALTERS
2010 Domaine Alain Graillot
Crozes Hermitage, France
60
78
150
The grapes come from the Crozes-Hermitage appellation in the Rhône, particularly from the Pont de l’Isère, where the soil is
formed from alluvial deposits of sand, gravel rocks and stones. The soils there have excellent drainage. The grapes are farmed
organically, grapes are hand harvested and macerated (whole cluster) prior to fermentation for 2 – 5 days, while fermentation
takes place for 15 – 21 days. Some of the wine is matured for one year in French oak barrels from Burgundy (80%), while the
remaining wine ages in concrete vats for the same amount of time.
2011 Domaine Alain Graillot
Crozes Hermitage, France
140
2012 Domaine Alain Graillot
Crozes Hermitage, France
140
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54!
shiraz & blends (france)
2012 Domaine de la Grande Colline ‘Le Canon’
Vin de France, Nth Rhone, France
57
2011 Hervé Souhaut Syrah
2009 Rousset St Joseph Rouge
2009 Rousset ‘Les Picaudieres’
Ardèche, France
St Joseph, Rhone, France
Crozes Hermitage, France
66
75
75
2012 Domaine Gramenon ‘Sierra du Sud’
Côtes du Rhône, Rhone, France
78
Made from 100% Syrah this year is every bit the vibrant juicy fruited northern Rhône Syrah. Fermented like his other reds but
with only 9 months in barrel, maximum freshness is preserved.
We tasted this in bottle in June but it was the first wine opened off the recent boat so the tasting note is as fresh as the wine.
Bright purple red it looks exuberant and is in every way. The nose has a beguiling array of floral aromas and spices – peony
rose, violet and musk spring to mind. Rich cassis, mulberry and boysenberry fruits and a fairly intense minerality lurking in the
clouds of flowers and fruit. In the mouth it follows through with immense concentration with flavours reaching all the way
down the throat. The Syrah personality is more evident here as you feel the granitic minerality, a little pepper from the whole
bunches but the sarsaparilla spice is the real give away. A light preserving spritz is not a distraction from the thick, mouth
coating flavours. This is no simple vin de soif instead it has the concentration and supporting grainy tannins to evolve but I
th
doubt it will be given the chance – it’s simply too delicious. Great value too.” Tim Stock, October 12 2013
Syrah. The Picaudieres vineyard is very steep, with old terraces hewn out of the rotted granite. The oldest vines date from the
1930s and this supplies the fruit for the special Picaudieres cuvee. The Picaudieres is a wine of genuine breed and character
and evolves well. It is one of the most distinguished red Crozes - the depth coming from it terroir and its old vineyard. J.
LIVINGSTONE-LEARMONTH Wines of the Northern Rhone
Produced from 65 year old Syrah vines that are planted across from the winery. It is, as always, a beauty – the
2012 is the best I have tasted – this is limited as always and very popular so be quick! ANDREW GUARD
2011 Hervé Souhaut Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph, Rhone, France
104
2010 Domaine de la Grande Colline Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph, Rhone, France
120
2011 Pierre Gonon Saint Joseph Rouge
2008 Maxime Graillot Equis Cornas
Saint Joseph, Rhone, France
Cornas, France
120
123
100% Shiraz. Astoundingly fresh and approachable young Saint-Joseph, with all the floral, smoky, graphite notes you'd
expect, and with all it's glossy, pristine fruit prominent but considerably more understated most other young Saint- Josephs I
taste that are smothered with oak. This is a beauty and the wine is so drinkable and aromatically outrageous at this young age
that it's hard to keep yours hands off it. ANDREW GUARD
“From a 0.3 hectare plot of 15 year old vines in the north of the appellation on an exposed, ENE facing hilltop. The cooler site is
reflected in the low alcohol, bright acid and pronounced minerality. Dark black and purple fruits, a little closed and brooding
as is typical of the vintage. Not floral and pretty, quite serious instead. Deep granitic minerality. Nice supporting stalky/earthy
whole bunch tannins.” Tim Stock, June 2013
The fruit comes from the vines situated on the slopes of one of the great Cornas lieux dits, Les Chaillots. The soils here are very
rich in granite and the vines have been organically managed for all of their 60+ years. From the much cooler 2008 vintage,
it’s a seductively fragrant and supple Cornas that reminds one of how stylistically close the northern Rhône can get to red
Burgundy in some vintages. In fact, Maxime thinks this looks like a Nuits St Georges. It certainly has the purity, heady
perfumes and depth of fruit of the southern NSG 1er Cru’s, though its northern Rhône origins are revealed by the structured,
powdery tannin and savoury minerality. Cracking, old vine Cornas. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO.
2007 Guillaume Gilles Cornas
Cornas, France
125
2011 Hervé Souhaut Sainte Épine
Saint Joseph, Rhone, France
140
2010 Benjamin and David Duclaux ‘La Germine’
2009 Georges Vernay ‘Blonde du Seigneur’
Côte-Rôtie, Rhone, France
Côte-Rôtie, Rhone, France
180
186
Guillaume Gilles is one of the leading lights of the new generation of Cornas producer turning this appellation around from
stoic old cuvées into rich expressive Syrahs to rival Côte Rôtie and Hermitage. He makes the wines in a very traditional fashion
using 100% whole bunches, pigeage and hand plunging, natural ferments, low sulphur regime, and predominantly old demimuids (600l barrels) for aging 18- 24 months. Despite their traditional production, Guillaume’s wines have an immediate
appeal with floral notes, sweet, ripe berry fruits and a lovely herbal note imparted by the whole bunches and a fresh mineral
character — a very pure expression of Syrah. TIM STOCK VINOUS IMPORTS
100% Shiraz. Sainte Épine is a famed south-facing lieu-dit on a granite hillside right next to the hill of Hermitage! This is from
100 year-old Syrah vines, is a star, displaying dark, brooding aromatics of blackberry, schist, lavender and the distinct
character I love in the Northern Rhône, almost like meat, along with a gentle cloak of pepper and spice. Great Syrah, Great
wine. ANDREW GUARD
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more shiraz & blends (france)
2009 Domaine Bernard Faurie ‘Greffieux / Bessard’
Hermitage, Rhone, France
190
The Greffieux vineyard sits immediately below Le Méal. Here the vines were planted by Faurie’s great-grandfather in the ’20s
and ’30s. Formerly known as “Assemblage”, a miniscule amount of this wine – 50-80 dozen – is made each year, depending on
the size of the harvest. We get 10 dozen which, in the scheme of things, is pretty good. As the name suggests, this comes from
vines with their soils in both the les Greffieux and les Bessards terroirs on the hill of Hermitage. The Greffieux component
comes from the rockier (granite) seam of this vineyard and brings a convoy of supple, meaty fruit which partners so well with
the more structured, vigorous and mineral-etched fruit of Bessards (Bessards is a steeply terraced hillside vineyard with a
south-western exposure; the soil is sandy gravel over granite). The wine opens with billowing aromatic intensity - confit red
fruits, raspberry and graphite - leading to a strapping palate which combines searing depth with sparkle and complexity. The
tannins are fine and bring seamless structure to the flourishing, long finish. If the point of wine is to mirror its place of origin
then this wine nails it; it simply couldn’t come from anywhere other than this dramatic granite outcrop. ROBERT WALTERS,
BIBENDUM WINE CO
2010 Domaine Bernard Faurie ‘Greffieux / Bessard’
Hermitage, Rhone, France
194
2009 Domaine Bernard Faurie ‘Bessard / Méal’
Hermitage, Rhone, France
205
2010 Benjamin and David Duclaux ‘Maison Rouge’
Côte-Rôtie, Rhone, France
220
2006 Chateau de Fonsalette Syrah (Rayas)
2008 Domaine Auguste Clape
2002 Domaine Peyre Rose ‘Clos des Cistes’
2002 Domaine Peyre Rose ‘Syrah Léone’
Côtes du Rhône, Rhone, France
Cornas, Rhone, France
Coteaux du Languedoc, France
Coteaux du Languedoc, France
250
260
270
270
2000 Guigal ‘Ampuis’
2008 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave
2001 Guigal’ex voto’
2001 Guigal ‘La Turque’
1961 Chapoutier ‘Monier de la Sizeranne’
Côte-Rôtie, Rhone, France
Hermitage, Rhone, France
Hermitage, Rhone, France
Côte-Rôtie, Rhone, France
Hermitage, Rhone, France
2010 was a pitifully low-yielding vintage across France and Mother Nature showed little by way of regional bias. Faurie’s
already low yields were further cut to the tune of 30%. Accordingly our allocation of this wine is just 96 bottles. See the note
above for more details on the vineyard source. Again, this is a vivid and stylish Hermitage, bursting with violet, rose and a
cornucopia of finely etched fruit aromas and flavours, all complexed by a smoky savoury note. The wine has a wonderful clarity
and sublime texture, all wrapped up in a blanket of refined tannins. This already has a semblance of completeness even
though it will live for decades. Manna from Hermitage. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
This is the wine where the vast majority of Faurie’s Le Méal fruit ends up (not that there is much of that – Faurie farms just
0.2ha). As the name suggests, it is a blend of the vineyards les Bessard and le Méal. The Le Méal (pron. leh may-arl) vineyard is
situated right smack bang in middle of the Hermitage hill, directly above the town of Tain l’Hermitage and just to the east of La
Chappelle. The steep, south facing slopes of Le Méal make it one of the warmest sites in Hermitage and, by extension, one of
the most prized. It’s associated with rich, silky, open wines (in the context of Hermitage) and, as Faurie is typically the last to
harvest, his wines from this site fit this stereotype. Le Méal lends this bottling a much more lusty, textured, and hedonistic
personality, both in terms of the aromatics and the tannin profile; the Bessards component adds a little oomph, backbone and
structural ballast. The Bessard/Méal was looking the more feminine of the 2009 blends when we last tasted them; more
perfume on the nose, sleeker of texture and, sorry gents, more complexity. Plush plummy fruit, woven though by cocoa and
rose point to a ripe vintage, though the mouth feel is cool, refreshing and ultra refined. There is a lot of latent power here enhanced by a prominent mineral vigour and notable poise. A class act, this is a strikingly textural and pure expression of
Hermitage. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
Their winemaking style utilizes little new oak, but they believe in 100% de-stemming and the aging of the wines in 500-liter
demi-muids, and occasionally smaller, used 228-liter casks. About 5% Viognier is co-fermented with Syrah for the La Germine,
and their flagship wine, Maison Rouge, is 100% Syrah from the Cote Blonde. This is a special source of traditional Côte Rôtie
from two hard working brothers working great terroir. In many ways the exemplary work of the Gonon brothers in St Joseph
come to mind when I think of the frères Duclaux which is no small praise. ANDREW GUARD
These are wines that get right under your skin. Upon tasting, Peyre Rose wines are both emotive and overwhelming because
they have the rare ability to be at once powerful, precise and sensual. The impression of the first Peyre Rose wine I tasted
lingered in my memory many weeks after tasting (I remember this also happened the first time I tasted Thierry Allemand’s
Cornas ‘Reynard’ and Coche-Dury’s Meursault ‘Rougeots’!) showing just how great these Syrah dominant blends from the
Languedoc really are. Please note these wines are extremely rare and as such are available in miniscule quantities. A. GUARD
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490
1200
1200
4000
56!
nebbiolo
2013 Unico Zelo
st
Adelaide Hills, SA
48
Brendan Carter and Laura Blandan are archetypal young Australian 21 Century winemakers, incredibly well versed in all the
latest developments on the international wine scene, and hell-bent on fashioning wines that are expressive, edgy, fresh and
very, very drinkable. This Nebbiolo is gently crafted in a ‘nouveau’ style. Fine, juicy and delicious, it will complement many of
the dishes on our menu.
2011 Giovanni Rosso Langhe Nebbiolo
2011 Massolino Langhe Nebbiolo DOCG
Serralunga d’Alba, Piedmont, Italy
Serralunga d’Alba, Piedmont, Italy
75
85
2006 Solita Nebbiolo
Macclesfield, Adelaide Hills, SA
92
2010 Luciano Sandrone Valmaggiore Nebbiolo D’Alba
2011 Cavallotto Langhe Nebbiolo
2010 Henschke ‘The Rose Grower’ Nebbiolo
2010 Massolino Barolo DOCG
2010 Massolino Barolo DOCG (375ml)
Barolo, Piedmont, Italy
Castiglione Falletto, Piedmont, Italy
Eden Valley, SA
Serralunga d’Alba, Piedmont, Italy
Serralunga d’Alba, Piedmont, Italy
95
95
96
135
78
2010 Albina Rocca Riserva ‘Vigeto Ronchi’
Barbaresco, Piedmont, Italy
135
Massolino's 2011 Langhe Nebbiolo is a stunner. Sweet red berries, rose petals, sweet spices and mint all flesh out in a
gorgeous wine loaded with pure pedigree. Best of all, the 2011 is flat-out delicious. Silky, polished tannins grace a finish of
impeccable class. Simply put, this is a fabulous wine. Readers looking for a Nebbiolo to drink over the medium term will find
much to admire here. 91 points, Antonio Galloni
A collaboration between Chris Ringland and Nick Stock, Solita Nebbiolo is sourced from a Macclesfield vineyard in the
Adelaide Hills, planted by Duncan MacGillivray. A combination of clones 230, F12V7, F12V13, and 1-11 which undergo wild
yeast fermentation in one new French oak Demi-muid, which is then used for maturation of the wine.
“The 2010 Barolo is gorgeous. Sage, rosemary, tar, dried rose petals and sweet spices meld together. An impeccable,
perfumed Barolo, the 2010 impresses for its balance. Fine, silky tannins support the gracious finish in this medium-bodied,
refined Barolo. Readers who want to get a sense of what the 2010 vintage is all about will want to check out this fabulous effort
from Massolino. This is decidedly a medium-bodied style for Serralunga, but it works.” 92 points, Antonio Galloni
Albino Rocca has also done an excellent job with the 2010 Barbaresco Ronchi. This is a stunning and strikingly beautiful wine
that evolves and shifts with each swirl of the glass. At first you pick up on the brightness of the fruit, then the warmth of its
leather and tobacco aromas. Lastly, the wine imparts a beautiful string of licorice, tar, cola and dried mint. This is one of my
favorite Barbarescos in 2010. 94 points, Monica Larner, Wine Advocate #207
2009 Giaconda Nebbiolo
2009 Cavallotto Barolo ‘Bricco Boschis’
Beechworth, Victoria
180
Castiglione Falletto, Piedmont, Italy 190
2009 Massolino Barolo Margheria
Serralunga d’Alba, Piedmont, Italy 197
Cavallotto’s 2009 Barolo Bricco Boschis is rich, seductive and totally beautiful. A radiant Barolo, the 2009 captures the essence
of the year. Sweet red berries, flowers, spices and mint all flesh out in this gorgeous, sexy Barolo. The 2009 should drink well
pretty much right out of the gate. 91 points, Antonio Galloni
The 2009 Barolo Margheria, however, moves us over to the Serralunga d’Alba township where power and structure are the
name of the game. This wine shows big bones with firmly rooted tannins and a bold, fleshy quality of fruit. Black currant,
chopped mint and licorice are woven tightly within the fabric of the wine. 93 points, Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate #207
2008 Az. Agr. Giovanni Rosso Barolo ‘La Serra’
Serralunga d’Alba, Piedmont, Italy 212
2008 Luciano Sandrone Barolo Le Vigne
Barolo, Piedmont, Italy
265
2007 Cavalotto Barolo Riserva ‘Bricci Boschis Vigna San Giuseppe’ Castiglione Falletto, Piedmont, Italy 280
The winery’s top-shelf selection is the 2007 Barolo Riserva Bricco Boshis Vigna San Giuseppe that makes an immediate
showing of underbrush, white truffle and autumn leaf. This is a classic portrayal of Nebbiolo with added layers of licorice and
dried fruit that forge a clean link between the grape and the territory. Don’t put your guard down. This is an explosive wine
with impressive power and fortitude. 94 points, Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate #207
2001 Massolino Vigna Rionda Riserva X Anni DOCG
Serralunga d’Alba, Piedmont, Italy 450
1999 Luciano Sandrone Barolo Le Vigne
Barolo, Piedmont, Italy
“The 2001 Barolo Riserva Vigna Rionda is stunning. It opens with gorgeous aromas of rose petals and sweet ripe cherries that
meld seamlessly onto a palate of dark raspberries, cocoa and licorice. It offers super length and elegant tannins in a style that
is incredibly delicate and surprisingly approachable today. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2026.” 95 points, Antonio Galloni Wine
Advocate # 173, Oct 2007
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57!
barbera, dolcetto, sangiovese et al
2009 Heartland Wines Dolcetto / Lagrein
2012 Torzi Matthews ‘Vigna Cantino’ Negro Amaro
Langhorne Creek, Limestone Coast SA
Barossa Valley, SA
36
38
2012 Pizzini Sangiovese
2011 Heathvale ‘The Belief’ Sagrantino
King Valley, Victoria
Eden Valley, SA
42
44
2011 Luciano Sandrone Dolcetto D’Alba
Piedmont, Italy
52
2009 Girlan Schiava ‘Gschleier’ (Schiava)
Alto Adige, Italy
55
2011 Tscharke ‘The Master’ Montepulciano
2005 Cupano Brunello di Montalcino
Barossa Valley, SA
Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy
58
280
I’m reminded of a Negro Amaro made by Chris Ringland during a Puglian sabbatical some 15 years ago. I can still visualise
that wine’s black satin negro sheen but recall my impression that any amaro had been concealed deep within the wine by
Chris’ signature vinous structure, which in its (beautiful) heft reminded me of Rodin’s craggy Balzac. I have one last lingering
precious bottle of that wine in the cellar at home.
So I was excited when Dom Torzi phoned and delivered news that he had a few wines to show me that illustrated his own
émigré status. This Negro Amaro immediately jumped out at me for a place on the list. Made to drink joyously with food, it’s a
wine-as-diet kind of a wine. Within textbook southern Italian savouriness, the amaro element actually pulsates. Enjoy the
sensation as it deliously fractures the sweet orangeness of Tuoi’s Pork Belly. GD
Sagrantino is native to central Italy, where its most renowned expression is Sagrantino di Montefalco in Umbria. For those who
enjoy a tannin jolt, Sagrantino might just provide the ultimate experience, though ferrous elements, rusticity and underlying
brooding black fruit complete a more complex flavour profile.
Trevor March experienced his personal Sagrantino epiphany back in 1996 during an Italian Varieties tasting at Regency TAFE
hosted by Dr Richard Smart. This black tannic grape red-lined all of Trevor’s internal sensory gauges. With a fundamentalist
zeal, he doggedly pursued the Sagrantino Sangreal for the following 13 years, despite viticultural and other setbacks. Three
th
times he had to replant! Appropriately, since the 11 Century, Sagrantino was usually crafted by wine-making Umbrian monks
into sacramental wine. Taste and believe brother. GD
Notable for its lively, immediacy, this is, as always, a wonderfully seductive, textural style with a lifted, heady perfume and a
beautifully bright palate that reminds of cherry, musk, anise and spice notes. In his seminal book Barolo to Valpolicella,
Nicolas Belfrage describes the Sandrone Dolcetto as a "mouthful of sheer fruit, but with guts." Hear, hear. ROBERT WALTERS,
Under Gerhard Kofler’s stewardship, Girlan’s Schiava Gschleier has reached a new level of refinement. This is a fascinating and
unique, single vineyard wine from 85-95 year old vines. This is closer to Pinot than anything else, with a pretty, floral, smoky
nose and a fresh, medium weight, mountain fresh palate. There's lots of jubey fruit and a powdery grip. Absolutely delicious,
this is a versatile food wine that we have found to work particularly well with Asian dishes: everything from spicy dumplings to
Peking duck pancakes - the crunchy acidity cleans up the hoisin beautifully. If you’ve never tried a decent example (of Alto
Adige Schiava) we strongly recommend this to you. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO.
Cupano's 2005 Brunello di Montalcino is one of the unqualified successes of the vintage. A richly-textured core of perfumed
red fruit flows from the glass, along with suggestions of French oak, tar and smoke. The oak seems more measured than it has
been in the past, and what emerges is a transparent yet deeply expressive personality. The wine's inner perfume and
expansive fruit follow through to the long, caressing finish. The 2005 is a wonderful effort from Cupano. Anticipated maturity:
2010 to 2023 Antonio Galloni, Wine Advocate (188),March 2011 Score 93
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tempranillo, carignan, mencía, et al
2013 Smallfry ‘Joven’ Tempranillo, Garnacha, Monastrel, Carinena, Bastardo
Barossa Valley, SA
2012 Chateau Tanunda ‘Chorus’ Tempranillo Garnacha Graciano Barossa Valley, SA
35
38
2010 Brezo Mencía Tinto
44
In the rush to celebrate the Barossa’s most extraordinary single sites, we need to be mindful of the long history of skillful
blending that has capitalised on the patchwork of small local growers’ lovingly grown vineyards. Such blends often end up
being greater than the sum of each part, as Stuart Bourne skilfully demonstrates with this mix of three Spanish varieties. A
harmonious food friendly wine. GD
Bierzo, Spain
This is perfect for summer drinking; a red that washes over you and is just too easy to swallow. But the joyous fragrance will
entrap some of you I’m sure, before you commit to that first thirst-quenching gulp. The vibrant crunchy primary fruit is backed
by a whole chorus of savoury notes; complexity enhanced by partial whole bunch fermentation and the addition of a whack of
Garnacia Tintorera (a.k.a. Alicante Bouschet) which (as in the Rockford ‘Frugal Farmer’) adds a sniff of African Spice intrigue. GD
2012 Alfredo Maestro ‘Viña Almate’ Tempranillo
2010 Domaine Rimbert ‘Le Chant of Marjolaine’ (Carignan)
Ribera del Duero, Spain
Languedoc, France
46
50
2010 Olivier Rivière ‘Rayos Uva’ Tempranillo,Garnacha Graciano
2010 Robert & Bernard Plageoles ‘Le Duras’ (Duras)
Rioja, Spain
Gaillac, SW France
50
54
2011 Maxime Magnon ‘Rozeta’ Carignan, Grenache, Shiraz
2009 Olivier Rivière ‘Ganko’ Tempranillo, Garnacha
2010 Henschke ‘Stone Jar’ Tempranillo Graciano
2009 Olivier Rivière ‘Viñas del Cadastro’ (old vineTempranillo)
2010 Quinta da Muradella ‘Alanda Tinto’
Corbières, Languedoc, France
Rioja, Spain
Eden Valley, SA
Arlanza, Spain
Monterrei, Spain
56
75
75
78
78
2011 Maxime Magnon ‘Campagnes’ Carignan
Corbières, Languedoc, France
84
2011 L’Anglore ‘Comeyre’ Carignan
2005 Valenciso ‘Reserva’
Tavel, Southern Rhone France
Rioja, Spain
86
98
There will be some who dismiss this wine because it’s from a grape variety that they’ve never heard of, some because it’s
proudly ‘natural’. But dribble some of this over the tongue, let it pool in the lower salivary regions of your oral cavity, delight in
the wild purity of tangy plums and feel the rust and mineral-laden acidity tug at the corners of your mouth. Indeed, you might
let out an involuntary “Schist” as you delight in the celebration of terroir. This is one of the greatest expressions of 100% old
vine Carignan grown in schist in a corner of Languedoc. I actually feel a bit sorry for the folk who don’t have a glass of this in
front of them when the pork belly is brought to table. GRANT DICKSON
A glass of this represents the work of vinous archaeologists father and son Plageoles in the region of Gaillac, midway between
Bordeaux and Montpellier in South-Western France. Drinking wine made from Duras, an (almost) extinct, forgotten
indigenous grape variety, is the vinous equivalent of treading on fresh Tasmanian Tiger scat, or retrieving a bunch of DoDo
feathers from the mouth of your cat. Duras is one of a number of such variatels that have been resurrected by the Plageoles
and crafted into amazing organic natural wines. Impressions? Black. Like licking a coal seam. Rich. Dried herbs and distant
smoke-house. There’s a hit of bay leaf, raspberry, plum, earth, soot, blood and exotic spice. Contemplative, different but
undeniably delicious. Line this up with the pork belly. GD
The red Alanda is a cuvee of Mencía, Bastardo (Merenzao/Trousseau), Garnacha, Tintorera, plus a swig of Mouratón and Arauxa
(Tempranillo) crafted from a mosaic of different vineyards spanning Monterrei’s myriad of soil types and sub-zones. The result
is a kind of vinous mural of the Monterrei landscape. All the grapes are co-fermented with one-third destemmed, and the wine
is aged for 14 months in used oak barrels and six months in vat before bottling. Pure, seductive and fresh with sweet berry,
root beer and licorice aromatics lead to a juicy, free flowing palate laden with sweet raspberry, blueberry and blackcurrant jube
notes. The structure is truly seductive and the fresh, energetic drive shows the Atlantic influence in this part of Spain; fabulous
perfume in the mouth with a sophisticated, lacy feel in the mouth. Yes! ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM
“Bright cherry-colored, with notes of red fruits, cherries, blood orange, sundried tomatoes and a chalky and spicy feeling. The
palate is round, balanced, elegant, and polished.” 91 points, Luis Gutiérrez, eRobertParker.com #209
The Campagnes comes from a 100 year old plot of Carignan planted on decomposed, schistic soils and it was first produced
with the 2005 vintage. No pesticides of herbicides are used in nay of Maximes vineyards….nada. The grapes are hand
harvested and cooled before an initial wild yeast, whole bunch carbonic maceration before continuing in open wooden
fermenters. Pigeage takes place once a day and elevage takes place in concrete tanks and old oak casks. Of course, all the
ferments take place using indigenous yeasts and the wines see no fining or filtration. Dave Brookes, Vinofreakism
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more tempranillo, carignan, mencía, et al
2008 Domaine de l’Horizon Vin de Pays Rouge
Roussillon, France
98
Ribeira Sacra, Spain
Monterrei, Spain
115
120
The 2009 Domaine de l'Horizon Rouge reflects its vineyard make-up in two-thirds Carignan (some vines 100 years old); onethird Grenache...The parcels here are evenly divided among dark Marne, chalk, and schistic soils. The infusion of fresh red and
black fruit along with an invigorating earthern lift are elegant and attracive; the mouth-feel is rich but measured with tea-like
tannins; it's clarity and energy reminds me of good red Burgundy. A wonderful, individual wine. ANDREW GUARD
2008 Dominio Do Bibei ‘Lacima’ (Mencía)
2010 Quinta da Muradella ‘Gorvia Tinto’ (Mencía)
I had a bottle of the Gorvia Tinto over the weekend and it has to be one of the wine highlights of the year for me. Have you had
a chance to try any of these yet? STUART NORTHEY, BIBENDUM
The red 2010 Gorvia is field blend of 95% Mencía with the balance being Bastardo and Caiño. Whole bunches are fermented
with natural yeasts in an open wooden vat. The wine is then transferred to stainless steel tanks for nine months and aged for
14 months in barrique. The barrels are then blended together and the wine aged a further five months. Gorvia Tinto has a
beguiling and deep, dried cherry and dark fruit perfume to it with a tangy, mulberry, cherry and nettle noted palate; juicy and
fresh with excellent pulp, very fine tannins and lots of perfume in the mouth. Atlantic Gevrey it is, then! ROB WALTERS
“Deep cherry-colored, with a very floral, elegant and attractive nose, with violets and dry roses, a spicy touch, in a nice
combination of dried fruit and black spices. The palate is earthy in a Gevrey-style, with flavors of sour cherries, ending spicy and
long. A superb Atlantic red.” 93 points, Luis Gutiérrez, eRobertParker.com #209
2011 Algueira ‘Pizarra’ (Mencía)
Ribeira Sacra, Spain
Pizarra comes from the oldest vines of Estate Mencía, mainly from the sun-trapping sweet spot of the Carballocovo vineyard.
Pizarra is the local patois for the schist and slate soils that seem to bring a pungent, smoky minerality to the wine. Nominated,
by Jesús Barquín et al in The Finest Wines of Rioja and Northwest Spain, as one of Galicia’s top 10 reds, this is clearly one of
the most inspiring Mencía (and Spanish reds) we have had the pleasure to import. Scratch that, this IS the most inspiring
Mencía we have had the pleasure to import. The aromas are a sublime distillation of the purest Mencía; black cherry and
redcurrant fruits, while the palate has similar fruit but now also wood-spice and that bright, graphite/bloody mineral character
on the very long finish. The tannin is particularly fine-boned. The balance across the palate is perfect – intense, pure, rich yet
mineral. Here’s another big statement – this delivers more, on every level, than many grand cru Burgundies. And if Ribeira
Sacra ever develops its own hierarchy, than this will surely be fast-tracked for grand cru status.
“Mencía. It is marvellous and electrifying, with the ability to convey emotions even though being tasted blind. Very clean nose
driven by the spiciness and the stoniness more than the fruit, expressive and complex. The fruit is concentrated but still light,
delineated with clinical accuracy, very pure. The tannins are extremely soft and well integrated and the overall sensation is
refreshing and flavourful. One of the most delicate wines in Spain.” Ferren Centelles, jancisrobinson.com
2008 Standish Wines ‘El Standito Provecto’ Garnacha Tintoria’
2009 Pedro Balda Majuelo de la Rad Cosecha
Yecla, Spain
Rioja, Spain
140
142
160
One of the purest, most intense expressions of tempranillo you're likely to find, handmade without sulphur but with pinpoint
accuracy by University of Logrono oenology lecturer Pedro Balda. Available in Australia in minute quantities, at the world's
No.1 restaurant El Celler de Can Roca, and just about nowhere else in the world. A vinous experience not to be missed. Neville
Yates, Eurocentic
2008 Rene Barbier ‘Manyetes’ Old Vine
2006 Bodegas Roda
Roda 1 ‘Reserva’
1982 Martinez Bujanda Conde De Valdemar ‘Gran Reserva’
2009 Rene Barbier ‘Manyetes’ Old Vine
Gratallops, Priorat, Spain
Rioja, Spain
Rioja, Spain
Gratallops, Priorat, Spain
200
209
210
210
The dedication and care that goes into the production of Mogador is also lavished on Manyetes (hence Barbier sells it for a
similar price). While the wine comes from a separate vineyard, it is made side by side with its sibling at Barbier’s Clos Mogador
winery. Apart from the vineyard, the biggest differences are the age of the vines and the blend of grapes: Manyetes is a more
traditional blend of native varieties- mostly Cariñena (Carignan), typically 70%, though as much as 90% in 2009, and the
balance Garnacha, all from 80+ year old vines. Some would argue this classic Mediterranean blend is a more authentic
expression of Priorat. It is certainly more traditional in style. The 2009 Manyetes offers immense complexity, power, spiciness,
minerality and depth of flavour. Its bottom note is unmistakably flinty or mineral tasting. When you drink the wines here, you
are drinking the pure llicorella soils. The old vine Carignan brings its expressive and distinctive, inky, savoury fruit and fresh
tannins, the Garnacha providing the flesh and a long, gently perfumed finish. It is powerful yet savoury and is simply a
wonderful example of classic Priorat. R WALTERS
!
60!
half bottles (375 ml)
sparkling
NV Chartogne-Taillet St Ann Brut (2010 Base)
NV René Geoffroy Rosé de Saignée Brut
Cumières, Champagne, France
66
69
Crouttes-sur Marne, Champ, France
74
2012 David Franz ‘Long Gully Road’ Ancient Vine (Semillon)
2010 Shaw and Smith ‘M3’ Chardonnay
2011 Robert Weil Trocken Riesling
2011 Alphonse Mellot ‘La Moussière’ Sauvignon Blanc
1999 Suremain Rully 1er Cru ‘Meix Caillet” Chardonnay
2008 Huet Le Mont Demi Sec (off Dry)
Barossa Valley, SA
Adelaide Hills, SA
Rheingau, Germany
Sancerre, Loire Valley, France
Monthelie, Burgundy, France
Vouvray, Loire, France
26
39
45
52
60
66
2010 St Aubin ‘La Princée’ (Chardonnay)
2011 St Aubin ‘Les Frionnes’1er Cru (Chardonnay)
2008 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese Riesling
2011 Chablis ‘Vaillons’ 1er Cru (Chardonnay)
2011 Chablis ‘Les Clos’ Grand Cru (Chardonnay)
2010 Chassagne 1er Cru ‘Virondot’ (Chardonnay)
Hubert Lamy
Hubert Lamy
Mosel, Germany
Domaine William Fevre
Domaine William Fevre
Marc Morey
Cote de Beaune, Burgundy, Fr.
Merfy, Montagne de Reims Champ. Fr
He is now better placed than ever to capture the fruit purity, poise and deep minerality of some of the finer premier cru
locations of the Vallee de la Marne. Every step along the way is geared towards maintaining freshness and vineyard character,
which he achieves admirably. TYSON STELZER
NV Francoise Bedel Cuvee Brut
(2008 Base) (375
ml)
white
"White truffle, white pepper, and chalk dust in the nose of the Huet 2008 Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Mont set the stage for another
pungent, practically sizzling palate performance with citrus zest and radish adding to the peppery and tactile mineral
impressions. This strikingly long and mineral-dominated Le Mont - which tastes nearly dry despite its 27 grams of residual
sugar - should be left to rest for 2-3 years and then enjoyed for another 20 or more. Drink: 2012 - 2032." David Schildknecht,
Wine Advocate
2009 Bonneau Du Martray ‘Corton Charlemagne’ Grand Cru (Chardonnay)
68
78
76
56
104
110
172
red
2011 Vissoux Fleurie ‘Poncié’ (Gamay)
2010 Rockford ‘Rifle Range’
(Cabernet Sauvignon)
2011 Valli ‘Gibbston Vineyard’ (Pinot Noir)
2012 William Downie Gippsland (Pinot Noir)
2012 William Downie Yarra Valley (Pinot Noir)
2010 Benjamin Leroux Savigny-lès-Beaune (Pinot Noir)
2006 Irvine Grand Merlot
2009 Faiveley Vosne- Romanée (Pinot Noir)
2010 Massolino Barolo DOCG
Fleurie, Beaujolais, France
Barossa Valley, SA
Central Otago, NZ
Gippsland, Victoria
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Savigny-lès-Beaune, Burgundy, Fr
Eden Valley, SA
Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
Serralunga d’Alba, Piedmont, Italy
39
48
52
58
58
72
78
78
78
“The 2010 Barolo is gorgeous. Sage, rosemary, tar, dried rose petals and sweet spices meld together. An impeccable,
perfumed Barolo, the 2010 impresses for its balance. Fine, silky tannins support the gracious finish in this medium-bodied,
refined Barolo. Readers who want to get a sense of what the 2010 vintage is all about will want to check out this fabulous effort
from Massolino. This is decidedly a medium-bodied style for Serralunga, but it works.” 92 points, Antonio Galloni
2006 Domaine de Marcoux (Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Cinsault) Châteauneuf du Pape, France
2010 Dom Henri Gouges ‘Clos Des Porrets’ 1er Cru (Pinot Noir) Nuits-Saint-Georges, Burgundy Fr.
2009 L’Arlot Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru ‘Clos De Forets Saint Georges’ Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
!
95
98
111
61!
dessert wines (375 ml unless indicated)
2006 Rockford ‘Cane Cut’ Semillon
NV Radford Fortified Riesling
2013 Henschke Noble Gewurztraminer
2012 Massolino Moscato D’Asti DOC (750 ml)
Barossa Valley, SA
Eden Valley, SA
Eden Valley / Adelaide Hills
Piedmont, Italy
50
50
52
56
2012 Maestro Tejero ‘La Cosa’ (The Thing)
Segovia, Madrid DO, Spain
65
This is small batch Moscato quite removed from the tutti fruiti norm that dominates the market. Produced from 1.5 ha of handharvested Moscato Bianco grapes (Muscat Blanc a Petit Grains) grown in Serralunga d’Alba, it is really a superb example of how
mineral and cleansing Moscato can be. It’s absolutely bursting at the seams with pear, sweet herb and white peach notes and a
refreshing chalky, mineral close brought by the Serralunga soils. Much more dense and mineral than what you typically get
from Moscato. There is a light spritz and although the style is medium sweet, the finish here is quite dry, thirst quenching and
very morish. Enjoy its fruity charms young and fresh, 5.5% alcohol. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO.
We have written about some unusual wines over the years but this takes the biscuit. The Thing finds Alfredo in a goodhumoured mode. It’s made from 100 per cent Moscatel de Alejandría from a high-altitude site at Segovia near Valladolid and
the Spanish capital, Madrid. After picking, the grapes are hung for aeration and dehydration for two months. Roughly 50 per
cent of the crop is affected by botrytis. The grapes are then pressed, stems and all, into stainless steel and left to ferment until
the native yeasts give up the ghost. The entire mixture is then decanted into individually hand-labelled bottles. The resulting
brew is turbid amber colour and cloudier than a home brew, but much more compelling. Every bottle – we only got 48 – will
taste different so there is little point in writing a tasting note. Let’s just say it’s mad and delicious character-rich booze with
amazing, rapier-like acidity splicing though a luscious core of unctuous fruitiness. Only those who really love kooky wine
should go anywhere near this. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
2009 Telmo Rodriguez ‘MR’ Moscatel (500 ml)
D.O. Malaga, Spain
75
2004 Henschke Noble Rot Riesling
2010 Chateau La Tour Blanche1er Cru Classé en 1855
2003 Isole E Olena ‘Vin Santo’
2010 J. J. Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese (750 ml)
Eden Valley, SA
Sauternes, France
Chianti, Tuscany, Italy
Mosel, Germany
79
110
120
120
‘Mountain wine’ - grown at 900 metres on steep, schist slopes. Golden, brimming with blossom, marmalade edges
underpinned by shale minerality. Full and soft with fine acid providing drying cut at the finish. Scott Wasley The Spanish
Acquisition
Stunning. The balance between acidity and sweetness here is perfect. You feel the power yet it is so refined, so balanced, so
open… The texture is almost silky but then the structure and wildly mineral finish kick in. ROBERT WALTERS
2010 Chateau Suduiraut 1er Cru Classé en 1855
2002 Huet Clos Du Bourg Moelleux 1er Trie
er
Sauternes, France
Vouvray, Loire Valley, France
130
140
If the vintage allows, each vineyard may produce a Moelleux 1 Trie (the first picking of botrytised fruit). This first selection of
botrytised berries produces a wine with a residual sugar level of about 60-100 g/lt and yet one that is also packed with ripe
acidity. It is this interplay of sweetness and vibrant freshness, like the greatest wines of the Mosel, that makes this wine so
delicious and so sought after. Imagine the greatest pieces of fruit you ever had: the sweetest, the freshest, the juiciest. Well,
this is the vinous equivalent but it’s even better. It offers a succulence, an intensity, a raciness that fruit cannot hope to match.
er
Little wonder that Huet’s 1 Trie wines are some of the most revered in the entire Loire valley. This is brilliant stuff, intensely
racy, the finish almost dry, yet the residual is 68g/l! Simply a stunning drink.
"Full-bodied, with sweet earth, truffle, graham cracker, honey and spice aromas and flavors. Also shows matchstick and apple
flavors. Long, sweet finish ripples with acidity. Shows more flash and power now from its sweetness. Minerality should develop
with time. Drink now through 2020." 94 points, Wine Spectator, July 2005
2009 Clemens Busch Riesling Marienburg 1er Auslese ‘Falkenlay’
Mosel, Germany
141
2010 Robert Weil Kiedrich Gräfenberg Riesling Auslese
Rheingau, Germany
164
An alkaline note in the nose of Busch’s 2009 Pündericher Marienburg Falkenlay Riesling Auslese – along with vanilla, caramel,
white peach preserves, and pear drops – establish the theme for a scintillating interplay of mineral, confectionary, and
confitured elements on a creamy, levitating palate. With ravishing refinement and superb length, this should continue to
stage successful seduction for the better part of three decades and perhaps even beyond. 93 points, David Schildknecht, The
Wine Advocate # 192
Great, great things come in small packages. Weils Gräfenberg Riesling Auslese (technically a BA) is produced in almost
homeopathic quantities and is the essence of the site. The 2010 is a pure delight; intensely powerful yet so refined, almost
fluffy in the mouth, ethereal even. Ultra pure, with great clarity and perfect harmony. Elegant, silky fruit and very fine, grape
fruity acidity. Wonderful complexity here too with earth and mineral flavours complementing the stone fruit and citric notes.
Fabulous nectar from the Riesling gods. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO.
!
62!
more dessert wines (375 ml unless indicated)
2010 Jean-Francois Ganevat Vieux Macvin (750 ml)
Rotalier, Jura, France
165
Blend of 2/3 unfermented must of Savagnin from 2003 vintage and 1/3 Marc of Savagnin from 1992 vintage
Blended in 2003, aged in barrel for 8 years before bottling.
2009 François Chidaine ‘Les Lys’ (750 ml)
Montlouis, Loire Valley, France
186
2005 Nikolaihof Trockenbeerenauslese ‘Nikolauswein’
Wachau, Austria
250
1999 Jacques Puffeney ‘Vin de Paille’
Arbois, Jura, France
258
For Chidaine, the perfect conditions required to grow this style of Montlouis only come around once in a blue moon. The
previous outing of the Les Lys - a wine made entirely from botrytised fruit - was in 2003, so this is only the second vintage we
have managed to get our hands on. Less than 100 cases were made and we relieved the Domaine of 36 bottles. Les Lys is a
multi-site blend and is matured in demi-muid. It stopped fermenting with around 100 g/lt of residual. This is simply delicious.
Somewhere between the textured richness of Sauternes and the clarity/finesse of great Mosel Beerenauslese, Les Lys draws
you in with its bewitching aromatics of candied peel, leatherbox honey and apricot conserve, before the same characters
saturate the palate with layer after layer of rich, tangy goodness. Sculpted by buoyant freshness, the long, drawn-out length
stubbornly refuses to let go of your taste buds. An amazing feat. ROBERT WALTERS BIBENDUM WINE CO
“From several small pickings of botrytized fruit that filled five demi-muids, Chidaine will assemble (as he infrequently does) a
2009 Montlouis Les Lys that is a distilled essence of billowing and liquefied floral perfume - prominently lily and linden
(tilleul) - along with candied grapefruit rind, glazed pineapple, and quince preserves. Silken in texture and seamlessly long,
this is ethereal rather than (as is more typical for moelleux Chenin of the vintage) confectionary and preserves a marvelous given its ripeness and vintage, almost miraculous - sense of refreshment. This extraordinary elixir promises to be one of the
high points of its vintage and to merit following for at least a quarter century.” 95-96 points. David Schildknecht, The Wine
Advocate, Issue #190
A blend of 70% Riesling, 20% Grüner Veltliner and a variety of TBA grapes from other varieties across the estate. A seamless
balance of richness, sugar, texture and acidity. Secondary notes of honey, nuts and smokiness compliment the fruit ripeness.
Unctuous flavours of cumquat, apricot and orange are cut with tart apricot acidity on the beautifully poised finish. Tim Stock,
May 2012
Puffeney makes his Vin de Paille from Chardonnay, Savagnin and Poulsard. After raisining the grapes, there is a long
maceration and fermentation. The color has an orange tint, the sweetness of the wine is married to lively acidity and the
concentration level is formidable revealing note of citrus confit and honey.
2003 Joh. Jos. Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Auslese Goldkapsel
Mosel, Germany
2004 Dom. de Belliviere ‘Elixir de Tuf ‘Chenin Blanc (500ml)
Jasnieres, Loire Valley, France
1997 Dom. de Belliviere ‘Discours de Tuf’ Chenin Blanc (500ml) Jasnieres, Loire Valley, France
2009 Domaine Dagueneau ‘Les Jardins de Babylon’ Moelleux (500ml) Jurançon, France
260
300
320
320
1996 Château d’Yquem Grand Cru Classé
Sauternes, France
450
2007 Clemens Busch Riesling Marienburg 1er Cru Beerenauslese
2008 Robert Weil Kiedrich Gräfenberg Riesling Beerenauslese
Mosel, Germany
Rheingau, Germany
385
800
1939 Chateau Rabaud Premier Cru Classé (750 ml)
Sauternes, France
This wine, made in tiny quantities from ridiculously low yields of Petit Manseng, offers all the purity and precision of
Dagueneau’s greatest wines. The pricing reflects the costs of making the wine (via a berry-by-berry selection despite the fact
that no botrytis is involved here). To arrive at the sale price Didier previously claimed he simply totalled up what he needed to
recover from the project each year and divided this total by the number of bottles made! Both vintages offered are intense
wines with ethereal, racy personalities and offer all sorts of florals, stone fruits, citrus and honey aromas and flavours. The 2009
is seductive and juicy with approximately 125g/l residual sugar. It glides across the palate with mouth-watering, tangy acidity
keeping it fresh and impulsively moreish. A superb achievement, these beautiful sweet wines will drink well for decades.
ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM, edited GD
Compared with the flamboyant aromatics of the 1997, Yquem's 1996 plays it closer to the vest, although there is a lot going
on. Light gold with a tight but promising nose of roasted hazelnuts intermixed with creme brulee, vanilla beans, honey,
orange marmalade, and peaches, this medium to full-bodied offering reveals loads of power in its restrained, measured
personality. There is admirable acidity, weight, texture, and purity in this impeccably made Yquem. However, patience will be
a virtue. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2060. (Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #146 – 95+pts)
Only 350 litres made; fermented in tiny, purpose built stainless steel tanks and/or glass vessels. Picked at -7°C degrees. One of
the great sweet wines of the world and from a great vintage. We have not yet tasted the wine (we have bottles only!) but the
track record speaks for itself. Expect greatness in 2008. This is the 20th consecutive year Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese
and Eiswein have been produced from the Grafenberg vineyard, something that has never been achieved before, anywhere.
They can live for ever. Alcohol: 7.5%, Acidity: 10.2 g/l, Residual sugar: 214.5 g/l. ROBRERT WALTERS BIBENDUM WINE CO
!
1000
63!
fortifieds by the Glass (60ml)
Rockford ‘PS Marion’ Tawny
Seppeltsfield Grand Muscat
Seppeltsfield Grand Tokay
Valdespino Pedro Ximenez Yellow Label
Seppeltsfield DP90 ‘Rare’ NV Tawny
2009 Pierre Gaillard ‘Cirera’ Banyuls Rouge
Barossa Valley, SA
Rutherglen, Vic
Rutherglen, Vic
Jerez, Spain
Barossa Valley, SA
Pays Catalan, France
10
10
10
12
15
15
2011 Pierre Gaillard ‘Asphodèles’ Banyuls Blanc
Pays Catalan, France
15
Made from predominately Grenache, with a 100g/l residual sugar and aged in 30-hl casks (15% new) for a minimum of 10
months, this vintage Banyuls is a creamy, chocolatey wine that is velvety, inky and pure, with no alcoholic “heat” to speak of.
Notes of the ocean creep in adding a welcome savoury edge. One of the few wines that is a perfect match with chocolate and
chocolate based dishes. ROBERT WALTERS BIBENDUM
Banyuls blanc is a rare commodity. Gaillard produces just 1000 bottles of this wine which is made from Grenache Gris and
named after the small white Mediterranean flower, L'Asphodèle Blanc, whose sweet aroma the wine is said to resemble. It's a
winner. The aromas are redolent of the Mediterranean country; of citrus and orange peel, honeyed orchard fruit and blossom.
In the mouth it's viscous and pulpy with a combination of sweetness, figgy depth, freshness and lingering flavours of
honeycomb and peach. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
1983 Toro Albalá Don PX Gran Reserva 1983
Cordoba, Spain
20
fortifieds by the bottle
1983 Toro Albala ‘Don PX” Gran Reserva (375 ml)
2005 Rockford Shiraz ‘VP’
2000 Croft Vintage Port (375ml)
!
Cordoba Spain
Barossa Valley, SA
Portugal
95
125
200
64!
digestives by the glass (30ml)
Limoncello
(served from freezer)
Nonino Amaro
Cognac Tesseron Lot No. 90 XO “Selection”
Sorrento IGP, Italy
Udine, Friuli, Italy
Cognac, France
12
15
15
Weinbach Marc de Gewurztraminer 45°
Alsace, France
15
With an average age of around 15 years, this is quite remarkable for the money. Made from the finest terroirs in Cognac;
Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne, predominantly distilled in 1990, the Selection’s unique character comes from
long ageing in oak barrels, which adds incomparable fullness and sweetness. The striking aroma offers up pears, apples, and
fruity scents of banana, maple syrup, and vanilla. The palate is supple, plump, and grapey, with a mouth coating texture and a
lingering finish that is satin smooth. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
The aromas are more on the sugary side, molasses, crème brulee and some toasted wood, good structure on the palate; it has
a pleasant bitterness that gives structure, some dried fruits and a slightly sweeter finish. Andreas Larsson, March 2008. (Best
Sommelier of the World, 2007).
It's not just stunning aromatic wines that are produced at Alsace's Domaine Weinbach. The Fallers also make a terrific range of
artisanal Eau de Vie and Marc d'Alsace from Estate grown fruit, using a traditional Holstein still. These are some of the finest
examples we have come across with incredible perfume and purity on both the nose and palate. After several years of enjoying
these at the Domaine, we have brought in a few bottles to share with the trade. An Eau de Vie is a clear fruit-based spirit, rarely
stored in wood and usually bottled, sold and enjoyed young. Marc is made using the same method, though using grape
pumice as its base. Unlike other spirits, good Eau de Vie and Marc captures fresh, lively fruit flavours rather than the nutty
depth achieved by oxidation and prolonged wood contact. The Faller's aim is to preserve as much of the fruit aromatics as
possible, so you'll find delicate red fruits in the Marc de Pinot, musky spice character in the Marc de Gewürz, grapey florals in
the Marc de Muscat and pure, yellow plum notes in the Mirabelle Eau de Vie. In ye olden times the spirit was drunk more as an
anaesthetic against hard times and apparently Water of Life was 'invented' as a possible cure for Cholera. Today they can cure
many more ills but are conventionally served as a digestif. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM.COM
2010 Laurent Cazottes Eau de Vie, Goutte de Poire Williams Passerille (Williams Pear)
18
2009 Laurent Cazottes Eau de Vie, Goutte de Mauzac Rose (Mauzac Rose Grape)
18
William Pear Overmatured for over a month, our williams pears are selected and sorted
daily to allow a greater concentration of sugars and aromas. This is what we call “passerillage”. We eliminate the queues
manually (stem) eyes (chalices), all the seeds and suspicious sores or changes in order to preserve the flavor of the pear.
Discernment and cleanliness in the rhyme crushing to start promptly fermentation. Unsupplemented with any artificial
product, the metamorphosis of flavors and sugars is accomplished during six weeks. The spirit free, perry becomes quality. Our
expertise combined with the “alambic”, completing our works to give you "the spirit of Williams pears.45%Vol. LAURENT
CAZOTTES
Pink Mauzac Grape Oginal from our terroir our pink Mauzac grape “goutte” draws its spirit from the berries
overripe. Bud removal in spring, green harvest in summer, grapes are overmatured, such grape brandy lust merit and
application. Manually sorted, light sqeezing and natural incomplete fermentation, leaving residual sugars are distilled
carefully drop after drop. Personality, flexibility, is an Indian summer in a bottle!. 45% Vol. LAURENT CAZOTTES
2010 Laurent Cazottes Eau de Vie, Goutte de Reine-Claude Dorée (Golden Plum)
18
Sassicaia di Grappa
Cognac Tesseron Lot No. 53 XO “Perfection”
19
32
Reine Claude Dorée Plum variety introduced very early into our area, the Queen Golden Claude Plum is well known by jam,
distillers and liqueur producers. To improve the flavor of our plum, after picking, we perform a “passerillage”on racks. We
eliminate manually all the tails and all cores to get the maximun of fruit aromas. They are, then, only flesh and skins.After a
long fermentation, a thin but deep scent of Queen Golden Claude freezes. Our gentle distillation and amplifies specific aroma.
Again, the tasting breaks the purity of the flesh and skin length. 45% Vol. LAURENT CAZOTTES
Chianti, Tuscany,
Cognac, France
A blend of Tesseron’s sublime stocks of Grande Champagne Cognac distilled in the 1950s. This is what the Tesseron family call
their “two generations” Cognac and it is truly a Cognac that borders on perfection! It is incredibly complex, powerful, round
and long and includes some Colombard adding both richness and texture. Here the Grande Champagne terroir really comes
into its own, the wine having fully opened, with layer after layer of rich, hedonistic waves of nuts, mixed peel, raisins, dark
chocolate, charcoal and wild honey notes. For all of its mouth coating richness and intensity, there is a knock out, pillowy
texture and perfect spirit integration. Like many great wines, there is somehow both tremendous elegance and power on show
in the one glass. ROBERT WALTERS, BIBENDUM WINE CO
There is an old cognac in the Tesseron range that is subtle and complex and probably (for aficionados) good value. But for my
money, the best value is this brooding (Lot 53). Reticent at first, reluctant to release its aromas of woodsmoke and grilled nuts,
but one sip persuades you to admire its refined, citrussy, silky, haunting beauty. Max Allen, the Australian ‘Wish’ magazine,
April 2008
!
65!
Appendices!
!
A New Take on Old Sherry
The renewal of interest in Sherry this enterprise has caused,
despite its tiny production, has been amazing.
Equipo Navazos is a peculiar team made up of a winemaker in Jerez (Eduardo
Ojeda of the Estévez group—Valdespino, Tío Mateo, Real Tesoro); a professor of
criminology at Granada University (Jesús Barquín, who also writes about
Sherry); and a science historian with the Superior Center of Scientific Studies in
Barcelona (Alvaro Girón Sierra). This trio of Sherry fanatics has an encyclopedic
knowledge of every old butt in every nook and cranny of bodegas in Jerez (and
Montilla). They select outstanding old butts, buy the contents from the producer
and then bottle a few hundred bottles of amazing dry and sweet Sherries of very
old age (and now, for the first time, an old brandy). Their aim is to make worldclass old Sherry known and available to fans everywhere, thus preventing it
from getting dumped into large commercial blends. The renewal of interest in
Sherry this enterprise has caused, despite its tiny production, has been amazing.
—VICTOR DE LA SERNA
Equipo Navazos produced only 600 bottles of their first wine, called La Bota de
Amontillado #1, in December of 2005. Subsequent releases from various other
soleras have been similarly labeled (La Bota de...) and numbered in purely
chronological order: Their most recent wine, the June 2008 bottling of La Bota de
Fino Macharnudo Alto, is release #15, of which they made 2,500 bottles. With the
unwieldy names, erratic schedule of releases and miniscule quantities of
production, this project is clearly a labor of love, which was exactly how it was
conceived. “This didn’t start as a commercial venture,” says Jesús Barquín. “We
found some excellent wines that were not on the market, and we wanted to bottle
them [for ourselves].” Worldwide attention and a resulting increase in demand
have encouraged the team to expand their production and continue to seek out
hidden gems among Jerez’s vast collection of soleras. “Mainly we are looking for
two things: authenticity and quality,” says Barquín. The project’s artisanal
approach and focus on individuality of character is taking Sherry in a new
direction, opening the door to as yet unrealized possibilities: If a Sherry
revolution does arrive, Equipo Navazos will certainly have been one of its
progenitors.
—PETER LIEM
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Ángel!Rodríguez!
Storytime)Rueda)—2013)Martínsancho)Verdejo!
On! a! scale! from! 1! to! 10! –! with! one! being! a! modern! winery! set! up! and! ten! being! medieval! –!
Ángel!Rodríguez’s!joint!rates!about!a!9.5.!Tucked!away!in!the!backstreets!of!La!Seca,!this!place!
isn’t!so!much!a!bastion!of!traditional!winemaking—it’s!an!impenetrable!fortress.!There!is!only!a!
single!wine!produced!here;!less!than!2000!cases!of!a!Verdejo!that!takes!its!name!from!a!17th!
century! vineyard! or! majuelo! called! Martínsancho.! The! oldest! vines! in! this! ‘museum’! vineyard!
are!pushing!200!years!old!and!are!the!oldest!Verdejo!in!the!world.!If!you’re!wondering,!Verdejo!
is! an! ancient,! indigenous! variety! to! Rueda! and! has! nothing! to! do! with! Verdello.! The! original,!
ancient!Martínsancho!plot!was!expanded!in!the!1970’s!using!massale!cuttings!from!the!ancient!
plot,!yet!those!original!vines!still!persist,!producing!tiny!volumes!of!fruit,!and!looking!like!props!
from!the!Blair!Witch!Project.!
The!Martínsancho!vineyard!is!something!to!behold;!all!old!bush!grown!vines!rooted!in!ancient!
alluvial! gravels! some! 30! metres! deep.! It! is! managed! organically,! unWirrigated! and! cropped! at!
very! low! levels.!! Along! with! South! Tyrol,! Rueda! is! Europe’s! highest! vineyard.! Up! here! in! the!
Rueda!tablelands,!the!harsh,!continental!climate!and!altitude!ensure!small!crops!of!juicy,!thickW
skinned!fruit…!enviable!raw!materials!by!any!measure.!
!!
Things! get! even! more! archaic! when! the! fruit! makes! its! way! to! the! bodega.! The! cellars! here,!
unusual!for!Spain,!are!underground,!and!the!grapes!are!slow!pressed!into!two!huge!glassWlined!
tanks! where! the! juice! ferments! naturally! before! being! transferred,! via! gravity,! to! the!
underground!cellars!for!an!undisturbed!élevage!in!the!huge,!century!old!5,000Wlitre!oak!botas.!
These!cellars!are!extremely!cold!(they!hold!at!10!degree!C)!and!this!enables!the!Rodríguez!clan!
to!avoid!sulphur!during!winemaking!while!the!wine!matures!slowly!on!its!lees.!Each!of!the!huge!
casks!has!a!feather!sticking!out!of!it,!which!is!obviously!a!surprise!for!first!time!visitors.!Ask!for!a!
taste!and!Ángel!Rodríguez!holds!up!a!glass!and!plucks!out!the!feather!which!has!a!little!cork!on!
the!other!end.!!This!cork!had!stopped!a!tiny!hole!in!the!cask,!which!now!shoots!a!jet!of!Rueda!
that!he!expertly!catches!in!the!glass.!Yes,!culture!shock!is!still!something!that!the!wine!traveller!
can!encounter!on!the!wine!route.!
!!
The!spritely!85WyearWold!‘godfather!of!Rueda’,!Ángel!Rodríguez,!and!son!Ricardo!would!seem!to!
personify! the! opposite! of! “progress”.! And! yet! as! anachronistic! as! they! may! seem,! this! is! (by!
default)! a! producer! in! the! vanguard! W! the! organic! viticulture,! old! vines,! hand! harvesting,!
minimalist!winemaking!and!the!absence!of!sauvignon!blanc!(a!curse!in!Rueda)!offers!a!shining,!
idealistic! example! for! newer,! forward! thinking! producers.! The! racy,! rocky! purity! of! the! wine!
brings!it!all!home.!Everything!old!is!new!again.!Luckily!for!us,!the!Estate’s!wine!culture!isn’t!the!
only!thing!here!untouched!by!time;!Senor!Rodríguez’s!tariff!hasn’t!budged!in!the!10!years!we!
have!been!shipping!his!wine.!
!
100%!Verdejo,!NO!Sauvignon!blanc,!no!new!oak!or!small!oak.!Just!pure,!old!vine!Rueda!aged!in!
large! neutral! oak.! This! wine! is! always! juicy! and! textural,! with! a! fresh! racy! mouthfeel! and! the!
kind!of!palateWawakening!precision!that!belies!its!modest!price!tag.!!Vintage!2013!furthers!the!
cause! with! magic! gooseberry,! green! melon,! pulpy! nectarine,! bay! leaf! and! complex! mineral!
notes.! There’s! a! lovely! juicy! texture! leading! to! a! sappy,! zesty,! racy! close.! Totally! unique! and!
100%!authentic,!this!is!for!us!the!benchmark!Rueda!and,!at!this!price,!is!almost!too!good!to!be!
true.!A!steal.!ROB!WALTERS,!STUART!NORTHEY,!BIBENDUM!WINE!CO!
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Right on cue, the perfect wine list
BY: MAX ALLEN From: The Australian August 18, 2012 12:00AM !
IT'S so unexpected. You walk into the old stone house on the main street of Tanunda in the heart
of the Barossa Valley and your nostrils immediately fill with the curling scents of lime and
coriander and fish sauce. Everywhere outside is Schulz's bacon, Henschke's riesling, Linke's
bakery. But here inside fermentAsian restaurant, the food is startlingly Vietnamese. It's such an
invigorating cultural jolt.
Others have written glowingly about chef Tuoi Do's exceptional cooking. Less well-known, but for me
just as compelling a reason for visiting Tuoi's restaurant, is her partner Grant Dickson's exceptional
wine list. No wonder this is a favourite hangout for the local winemaking community: they come for
the food and stay for the booze.
I sat down with Grant during a lunch service at fermentAsian recently. The place wasn't packed but
the room was buzzing: at one table two winemakers and a visiting sommelier were working their way
leisurely through the menu, washed down with a progression of increasingly adventurous wines from
the list. Grant kept hopping up to open something new; glasses were passed from table to table: "Here,
try this, what do you think?"; lots of boisterous banter. A typical scene.
Grant trained and still works as a classical musician; his instruments are oboe and cor anglais which, he points out with characteristic dry humour, is "neither English nor a horn". Since the late
1980s, he has also worked as the South Australian agent for Rockford Wines.
The list is stuffed with a mouthwatering and diverse range of bottles, from rare nutty manzanilla
sherry (so stunningly well-suited to the deep soy and sour tastes in Tuoi's food) to page after page of
rieslings from near and far ("I wanted this to be a temple to riesling," says Grant), mature Barossa
reds (2000 Rockford cabernet sauvignon by the glass? Yes please!), and an increasing number of
edgy, sometimes challenging natural wines such as Jean Foillard's exquisite beaujolais. Again, it's so
refreshing to see this eclectic collection of bottles in the heart of an Australian wine region.
Two things lift the list from the good to the wonderful: the unusually reasonable, extremely attractive
prices and the detailed, evocative descriptions that accompany almost every wine on the list. Oh, and
the fact that the restaurant also accepts BYO at $15 a bottle.
The descriptions are there, explains Grant in the introduction to his list, because of an experience he
had recording a Bartok concerto: unexpectedly asked to step in and sight-read the oboe solos, he can
"still remember the fear, (hoping) the conductor would give me some obvious cues".
Being handed a restaurant wine list that only catalogues producers and vintages and doesn't provide
helpful descriptions brings on the same fear: "I vowed that if I were given the chance to craft my own
wine list, it would include a few road signs and navigational devices. Conductor's cues, if you like."
fermentasian.com.au [email protected]
The input of the following wine professionals is acknowledged:
Glenn Beale; Dave Brookes; Nathan Burley; Lynette Collins; Tim Evans; Tom Grant; Andrew Guard; Stephen
Henschke; Bernard Hicken; Jeremy and Heidi Holmes; Geoffrey Hunt; Cameron Kidd; Fraser McKinley; Alice
McGilvray; Stuart Northey, Ben and Gill Radford; Tim Stock; Scott Wasley; Rob Walters, Luke Willis, Neville Yates
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My sincere apologies to all those diners whose fermentAsian experience has been tarnished by
their dining companion’s magnetic attraction to the pages of this document. I have seen some
pretty ugly domestic situations brewing as gentlemen immerse themselves between these
pages, oblivious to the conversational requirements of their wives (and vice versa).
I considered embedding the list within a device that self-destructed after a vinous selection
had been made, but unfortunately the costs were prohibitive and the residual smell of cordite
is less than conducive to sensory evaluation and enjoyment of beverages and subtlety-spiced
Asian dishes! GD
Although every effort is made to ensure that each wine listed is available, and that vintages listed are correct, I
enthusiastically list wines of which tiny allocations are made available. I reprint frequently to update, but regret that
on occasions wines might have recently sold out or moved onto a subsequent vintage.
Spied a fairy ballerina in the vineyard…
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