This is my pick of the best wines from the 2011 Australia/New Zealand Organic Wine Show, which was judged by myself and four others in Sydney on Monday September 26.
GOLD MEDALS and TROPHIES
2009 Lowe Zinfandel, Mudgee - BEST RED,
WINE OF SHOW
An excellent expression of zinfandel, and a
testament to the quality of the Lowe vineyard in Mudgee: dark, dense and brooding, it has
lots of woody-spicy fruit framed in a complex, dusty tannin structure.
2011 Battle Of Bosworth Puritan Shiraz, McLaren
Vale - BEST PRESERVATIVE FREE WINE
This preservative-free red fair bursts out
of the glass: heaps of joyful black fruit, but layers, too, of more complex
flavour - garrigue (wild thyme, dried oregano) and game (rare seared venison, I
think).
2009 Tamburlaine Noble Chardonnay, Orange -
BEST WHITE
A glorious sticky for sipping with rich
parfait and brioche toast: super-rich and peachy to start - almost like apricot
syrup - it finishes with, and is balanced by, fresh citrusy acidity.
BEST OF THE REST
2011 Thistle Hill Riesling, Mudgee - SILVER
MEDAL
A good follow-on from the trophy-winning
2009, this lean and savoury riesling has lovely crystalline green acid line and
structure. Should develop well in the cellar.
2008 Robinvale Wines Kerner, Robinvale -
SILVER MEDAL
A perennial favourite at this and other
shows: rich fruit flavours, like mandarin juice and butterscotch, balanced by
fresh acidity. Very drinkable wine.
2009 Ascella Semillon, Hunter Valley -
SILVER MEDAL
Gently easing into what looks like being a
happy life as a classic Hunter sem: some tangy lemony richness, developing
classic waxy complexity and length.
2010 The Millton Vineyard Riverpoint
Viognier, Gisborne, NZ - SILVER MEDAL
Bloody ripper of a viognier, this: rich and
creamy, honeyed and fine, with lovely weight and complexity.
2011 Salena Estate Ink Series Vermentino,
Riverland - SILVER MEDAL
Some of the judges thought this was one of the
best examples of Australian vermentino they’d ever seen: crisp green apple and feijoa
fruit; bright, chalky texture.
2010 Richmond Plains Pinot Noir, Nelson, NZ
- SILVER MEDAL
Terrific, lighter style of pinot that
screams its origins: juicy, sappy, herbal, powdery, some beetroot juice,
rhubarb, forest floor and tamarillo. Phew ...
2008 Cape Jaffa Wines Cabernet Sauvignon, Mount
Benson - SILVER MEDAL
Tastes more like a big Spanish red (think Toro,
Ribera del Duero) than a typical Limestone Coast cab, but loadsa fun: mocha oak, blackcurranty
fruit, ample sooty tannin.
2004 Temple Bruer Reserve Cabernet Petit
Verdot, Langhorne Creek - SILVER MEDAL
This rang many judges’ bells because it has
more than a touch of mature Bordeaux about it: cedary oak, dark, licoricey
blackcurrant fruit, savoury tannins.
BUT NOT LEAST ...
I thought the following two wines were very
good indeed, but my fellow judges weren’t quite so enamoured. Both wines are
quite tight, tannic and savoury. I perceived these qualities as positive expressions
of terroir and vineyard; other judges perceived them as ‘lacking varietal
character and fruit’. As I was totally out on my own on this one, I had little chance of talking all of my fellow jurors round - I’m no Henry Fonda -
and, after all, the whole point of having multi-person panels in wine shows, surely, is
to encourage consensus, not bullies. But I thought I’d tell you about them all the same.
Just in case, like me, you like tight, tannic, savoury wines.
2010 Switch Organic Wine Pinot Noir, Adelaide
Hills
From a new label on the organic wine scene,
Switch’s pinot is all about powdery tannin, dried herb aromatics, brooding black fruit and cellaring potential - classic Hills pinot characters, really, I
would argue.
2009 Lowe Wines Reserve Shiraz, Mudgee
I thought this wine was stunning; it
certainly had a very commanding presence. Tight and sinewy, with iodine and black
soil and graphite rippling though it, it’s a wine I’d love to have in my
cellar.
