Canberra
Der Nr. 1 Rotwein in Australien diese Weihnacht mit dem Christmas Turkey: Pinot Noir
“…Pinot Noir produces the most complex, hedonistic, and remarkably thrilling red wine in the world!” says Robert Parker, a statement that Jim Lumbers, owner of Lerida Estate, whole-heartedly agrees with – especially when matched with his Christmas turkey.
Pinot Noir from Canberra District
It was Jim’s love of Pinot Noir that saw him spend many days in the vineyards of Burgundy while living in France in the late 80’s, and prompted him to try the Pinot Noir wines of Dr Edgar Riek, one of the pioneers of the Canberra District wine region, on his return to Australia. This tasting bought him to the Lake George region of the Canberra District in 1997 to track down what he described as “some of the most outstanding Pinot Noirs I’d ever tried”.
As a result, Jim and his wife Anne Caine purchased a 40 acre plot of land nestled at the bottom of the Cullerin Range, overlooking the beautiful and mysterious Lake George – perfect for planting Pinot Noir.
According to Jim, “The terrior here is ideal; Pinot needs sunshine without excessive heat, dry air, deep soil and cool nights, and the gravelly, colluvial soil at the foot of the Range provides all of this. These conditions encourage deep-rooted, healthy vines with enough stress to favour the production of grapes with thick skins, excellent fruit flavours and high levels of anti-ageing polyphenols. The slopes face east, allowing the rising sun to dry out any dew, and so reduce the impact of moulds and mildews. The steepness of the slopes also contributes to vine health by promoting good air drainage and reducing the risk of frost damage during the growing season.”
Pinot Noir from Lake George
The newly released Lerida Estate 2009 ‘Cullerin’ Pinot Noir, Canberra District follows the highly successful 2008 ‘Cullerin’ Pinot Noir which received excellent scores from both wine critics and wine shows alike. Jim says, “The 2009 vintage was crafted to achieve a balance between a fruit driven style, and more texture and weight. In particular the aroma of the new 2009 is very evocative with stewed plums, rhubarb and spice, mixed with gamey and savoury overtones, and a hint of vanilla from 20% new oak barrel.” Whilst the 2009 is still young, if decanted before tasting you will discover that the wine already delivers the flavours to match its fine, silky tannins and body, and experience with previous vintages indicates that the wine will also improve over the next 8-10 years.”
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Fragt man die Winzer in Australien, so war die Nummer 1 unter den Weinen für den klassichen ‘Christmas Turkey’ der Pinot Noir. Keine andere Rebsorte passt so hervorragend zu diesem typischen australischen Weihnachtsgericht.
Wir dürfen nicht vergessen, es ist Sommer Down Under und in den Küchen werden bei 35-40 Grad Celsius gane Kämpfe zwischen Herd und Hitze (von außen) gefochten. Der delikate, häufig anstrengende und dennoch schwer zu schlagende Rotwein, den wir bei Downunder Wines so lieben, ist der ausgesprochene Liebling zu Christmas Turkey, in unserem Bericht aus dem wunderbaren Lerida Estate im Canberra District, keine 30 Minuten vor den Toren der Hauptstadt Australiens gelegen.
Die Temperaturen in Deutschland lagen mit 6-10 Grad nicht allzu fern dem australischen Klima, dennoch waren hier die schweren Rotweine und Champagner die vorherrschenden TRopfen, oder gab es irgendwo Pinot Noir zum Fest?
Ihr Downunder Wines Team
Canberra Riesling Winners – die besten Rieslinge Down Under
Der große Gewinner der elften Canberra International Riesling Challenge ist ein Polish Hill Riesling aus dem Jahre 2005. Der Winzer Neil Paulett schildert seinen sehr persönlichen Eindruck über den Gewinn bei dieser Riesling Challenge in Australiens Hauptstadt.
Insbesondere die Auszeichnung für “Bester Riesling der Welt” hat Neil ‘umgehauen’, “wir haben hier auf dieser Show so viele andere Rieslinge probiert und waren begeistert, diese Auszeichnung hier zu gewinnen ist ziemlich unglaublich”, so Neil in einem ersten Statement nach dem Wettbewerb.
Wir sagen herzlichen Glückwunsch, doch wo waren die J.J. Prüms, Kesselstadts oder van Volxems bei diesem Wettbewerb? Keine Zeit für Australien oder fürchtete man den anderen Geschmack für Rieslinge auf dem fünften Kontinent? Deutschlands Größen meiden noch den Wettbewerb mit den Rieslingen Down Under – das mag sich jedoch in den nächsten Jahren ändern.
Deutscher Riesling chancenlos in Canberra Challenge
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Neil Paulett is the proudest winemaker in Australia after bringing home four individual trophies for his 2005 Aged Release Polish Hill River Riesling at the 11th Canberra International Riesling Challenge last week.
Amongst some of the World’s finest examples of the variety, the 2005 Paulett’s Aged Release Riesling beat all comers winning Best Australian Museum Class, Best Dry Riesling in the World, Best Riesling in Australia and the competition’s highest award, Best Riesling in the World.
Accepting his swag of trophies at the Gala Awards Dinner last Friday night Neil, with his wife Alison, celebrated the biggest win in their boutique winery’s 27-year history.
“The whole experience was a bit surreal to be honest, the first one was a great surprise, I said a few words and thought that would be it for the night. Then they called me up for the second one and I thought ‘how good is this?’ When they called me a third time I must admit I started to get the shakes, it was absolutely incredible.
“The fourth trophy for Best Riesling in the World just blew me away, I literally couldn’t speak.
“On the night of the awards we tasted many of the other trophy wines. That’s when it really sunk in, it’s quite humbling to have been recognised against our peers, such fantastic Riesling makers from around the world.”
A proud family owned and operated winery, tucked away in the Polish Hill River sub-region of the Clare Valley, Paulett’s has always maintained a quietly confident attitude towards producing regionally distinctive wines of finesse, elegance and intensity. “We’ve never worried too much about what other people do, we have great vineyards and we just make great wines with the grapes we have.
“We’re lucky here in Clare though. When we got home we had messages with a pat on the back from a couple of our neighbours who’ve won the same trophy and from many of our winemaking peers and the general community, it’s wonderful to have their support.
“Clare does produce fantastic Rieslings, of course they’re different to a European style but so they should be, we’re not Europeans. “If this award gets a few new people trying aged Rieslings then it’s a good thing. “Riesling is like a person, when it’s young it’s bright, full of life and energetic but when they get older, like me, they get a bit softer and rounder, develop great character and complexity.”
Michael Brecht
Gibt es ein Regionalitätsprinzip in Australien?
Ich werde immer wieder gefragt, ob es in Australien ein Regionalitätsprinzip gibt, ähnlich dem deutschen oder französischen Modell. Der Riesling gilt ja als gesamtdeutsche Traube. Aber bei der Frage nach Rivaner, da denkt der geneigte Weintrinker recht bald an das Frankenland, bei deutschem Burgunder an Baden usw. Noch prägnanter ist das Thema in Frankreich besetzt, denn bei einem Burgunder aus der Bourgogne ist ja sogar der Name Programm.
Red Hill Estate Pinot Noirs
Nun, wenn man diese Rebsorten-zu-Weinregion Zuordnung auf Australien überträgt, so gibt es tatsächlich gewisse Zusammenhänge. Diese neue Serie auf Downunder Wines soll Einblick geben in diese Korrelationen – auch wenn eine solche Betrachtung natürlich immer subjektiv ist.
Machen wir also den Anfang mit meiner Lieblingsrebsorte, der Pinot Traube. Pinot Weine, oder in Europa auch Burgunder genannt, werden in Australien in der Regel in Gebieten angebaut, welche zu den ‚cool climate’ Gegenden zählen. Warme und sehr sonnige Sommertage gepaart mit kühlen Nächten sind einfach ideales Klima für diese Königin unter den Trauben (ok, ich gebe zu, auch diese Behauptung ist jetzt schon wieder subjektiv!).
Canberra Region Pinots - still cool climate?
Wenn jetzt die Bodenverhältnisse noch zu den Reben passen, dann finden wir den Ursprung für Burgunder Rebsorten, ob Noir, Gris, Grigio oder gar Meunier. Wobei selbst innerhalb einer Region diese Böden stark unterschiedlich sein dürfen, hier spricht man dann wohl von einer Vielfalt des Terroirs.
Die Mornington Peninsula ist so ein Beispiel für exzellente Klima- und Bodenbeschaffenheit für den Anbau von Pinots. Extrem sandig rund um das kleine Städtchen Red Hill herum finden die Winzer keine 10km entfernt schon eher vulkanische Böden vor. Und schon ist die Basis für Pinotvielfalt vorhanden. Fragen sie mal die Herren Richard McIntyre von Moorooduc oder Sandro Mosele von Kooyong und Port Philip Estate.
Meine Favoriten an Pinot Gegenden in Down Under: die oben genannte Mornington Peninsula, gerade wegen der beschriebenen Vielfalt, Geelong (westlich von Melbourne gelegen) und das recht bekannte Yarra Valley, alle in Victoria. Letzteres hat jedoch aufgrund steigender Temperaturen ein wenig von seinem ‚cool climate’ Status eingebüßt. Die verheerenden Buschfeuer der letzten Jahre haben zusätzlich die Ernten der Winzer vorsichtig formuliert ‚beeinträchtigt’.
Etwas weiter südlich ist auf Tasmanien das Eldorado der Pinotwinzer: trotz mindestens zweier, wenn nicht gar dreier verschiedener Terroirs (Halliday erwartet in naher Zukunft gar das Entstehen von drei Weinregionen auf der kleinen Insel) oder gerade wegen dieser Unterschiedlichkeit gelten die Pinots der Insel als führend Down Under. Ich teile diese Auffassung nur zum Teil, selbst von den dort vergötterten Winzern wie Pirrie habe ich schon sehr durchschnittliche Pinot (insbesondere Noir) probiert, doch generell gilt, dass Pinots aus Tasmanien echte Aushängeschilder modernster australischer Burgunderqualität sein können.
In South Australia sind meine klaren Favoriten für Pinots die Adelaide Hills, in NSW sind die Southern Highlands und Orange besonders geeignet, tja und die Canberra Region gilt zwar noch als ‚cool climate’, ist es aber in Wahrheit nur noch in Nischen, denn gerade das Klima entlang des ausgetrockneten Lake George erlaubt nur vereinzelt noch hier von kühlem klima zu sprechen. Nichts desto trotz haben auch hier einige Winzer einige tolle Pinots produziert. Es bleibt abzuwarten, wie Climate Change sich auf die dortigen Reben auswirkt. Ein steigender Alkoholgehalt ist zumindest für meinen Geschmack bei Pinots nicht sonderlich förderlich.
Bleibt noch Western Australia: hier ist es schwierig zu sagen, denn die dortigen Pinots sind so viel schwerer als die des Restes des Landes, ich habe allerdings schon gute Pinots von der Mount Barker Region getrunken, gerade weil dort das Seeklima für Abwechslung sorgt.
Soweit zur Regionalität der guten Pinots aus Australien. In wenigen Tagen werde ich von einer weiteren Rebsorte berichten. Bis dahin.
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Is there a correlation between grape and region in Australia, such as the French or Germans have their specific grape to region fit? I think there is and my first example featured my favourite (yes I am very subjective today) grape Pinot as a standout wine from regions that are mostly cool climate.
Mornington Peninsula, Geelong, (in parts) the Yarra Valley, Adelaide Hills, Orange, Southern Highlands, (in parts) the Canberra Region and if you like the Mount Barker region are the best regions for producing outstanding Pinots. For me. Very subjective, that’s true.
Michael Brecht
Happy Birthday Brindabella Hills
Brindabella Hills is celebrating its 20th Anniversary of opening the cellar door in November 1989 today. I came across this winery from the cool climate Canberra region by accident, a friend recommended them as they became a James Halliday 5 star rated winery with a very small production of now 2.500 cases per year.
2007 Brindabella Chardonnay Viognier
The winery is named after the Brindabella’s, a mountain backdrop to the capital Canberra and is situated 25 kilometers north of the city on a ridge above the Murrumbidgee. Well drained granite soils help growing premium grapes and I enjoyed a Chardonnay Viognier last night.
Barrel fermented Chardonnay was aged for five months and blended with Viognier to give this wine a very nice complexity. Spicy orange and citrus flavours on the nose, a rich textured palate so typical for Australian Chardonnay and a very nice length make this a perfect wine to seafood or white meat.
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Gestern hat mir ein guter Freund eine Flasche Brindabella Hills mitgebracht, ein 50:50 Chardonnay und Viognier aus der Canberra Region, die ja selbst für heisse Tage und kühle Naechte bekannt ist. Dieser Wein ist ein köstlicher Tropfen zu Meeresfrüchten oder Huhn, er ist perfekt für den heutigen Genuss wird allerdings in den kommenden 12-18 Monaten noch reifen und dann noch besser sein.
Dieses Wochenende wird in Brindabella Hill das 20 jährige Bestehen der Cellar Door gefeiert – happy birthday von uns allen bei Downunder Wines.
Ihr Michael Brecht
The Canberra District Wine Harvest Festival in the ACT and surrounding hills
The Australian Capital Territory is not really known for its funky lifestyle and its population doesn’t include too many extravagant food and wine addicts. But despite its reputation of being the most boring of the bigger cities here in Australia, the Canberra region itself has become home of about 180 vineyards with 32 cellar doors. And when the harvest is done, the winemakers, their families and friends celebrate the Canberra District Wine Harvest Festival.
Magnificent Lake George just outside Canberra
More than 2 million bottles are produced this year in the region alone, many of which have gained a strong following thanks to the rise of cool climate tastes in the past years. The famous Helm Rieslings for example have long been one of the favourite drops in the Qantas first class wine list with many locals missing out on the drop as the Australian carrier bought so many of them.
For the last 20 years the first weekend in April has become the time to celebrate the wine harvest. The wineries in the area invite you to come and taste their wines and participate in all sorts of activities:
- gain insight in bio-dynamic winemaking at Lark Hill
- have your kids scarecrow making at Yarrh wines
- play petanque at Lerida Estate
- have a picnic at Mt. Majura Wines or
- walk the Lake George Vineyard’s Walk between 10am and 5pm starting at Lerida Estate.
All in all a great way to taste the wines made in this region, I will most certainly be there and tell you all about it next week.
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Die Canberra Weinregion hat mit 180 Weinbergen und 32 Cellar Doors inzwischen einen sehr guten Ruf in der umkaempften Weinindustrie Australiens erworben. Die Weine gelten als cool climate, wohl mehr wegen der angenehmen Nachttemperaturen, als wegen der manchmal sehr heissen Sommertage. Und wenn die Ernte eingeholt ist, dann ist es Zeit zu feiern, so auch an diesem Wochenende, dem Canberra District Wine Harvest Festival.
Ihr Michael Brecht
And the winner is: Lerida Estate 2008 Pinot Gris from the Canberra Region
I have started writing up the results of our wine tasting from Friday night, if you have missed out on this read the introduction here.
Just to remind us, the contestants in this tasting were (in alphabetical order):
2008 Innocent Bystander from the Yarra Valley in Victoria
2008 Kirrihill from Adelaide Hills in South Australia
2008 Lerida Estate from Lake George, Canberra Region
2007 McVitty from the Southern Highlands here in NSW
2007 Mornington Estate from the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria
2007 Nepenthe (Australian Vintage) from Adelaide Hills.
Pinot Gris and Grigio contestants
The typical fruity and lively signs of Pinot Gris and Grigios could be found in any of these wines. So how were they coming across on the night:
The Innocent Bystander and the McVitty both showed a spicy honeyed pear nose, fresh citrus and apples and were less acidic as others on the night. What they were both lacking was the length and finish. The Nepenthe and Mornington Estate both finished last, rather disappointing their lack of character. Pretty thin especially the Nepenthe, this one only scored highest in alcohol level: with 14% it was the highest level on the night – not really a sign I am looking for when trying a Pinot Gris.
The decision for the winner was a hard one as both the Kirrihill as well as the Lerida Estate showed wonderful details of fruityness, they are both balanced wines with a good length on the palate. The Lerida Estate definetely scored maximum points on fruityness and displayed less acidity, the Kirrihill impressed because of this natural acidic taste – one of the judges found it almost Sauvignon Blanc style.
The final result crowned the 2008 Lerida Estate Pinot Gris as the winner, its rich palate and its balanced acidic finish helped this white from Lake George win the night. Well done!
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Ein solches Weintesten ist anstrengend, zumal wir in dieser Runde die grosse Schwierigkeit hatten zwei ebenbuertige Kontrahenten zu plazieren. Der Lerida Estate Pinot Gris setzte sich letztlich gegen den Kirrihill Pinot Grigio durch, seine exzellente Laenge und ausgewogene Saeure machten den Ausschlag. Diese beiden sind vorzuegliche Vertreter einer cool climate Generation von weissen Pinots – stark abgeschlagen am Ende des Feldes der Nepenthe aus den Adelaide Hills, ein Wein aus Massenproduktion und leider ohne jeglichen Charakter.
Ihr Michael Brecht
Cool Climate Pinot Gris Tasting with friends on a rainy evening
The readers of my blog know that I am a keen supporter of Australian boutique wineries. Of these my favourite ones are either based in cool climate regions or they produce wines with grapes from vineyards in cooler regions. The latter is true for quite a few winemakers in McLaren Vale, which isn’t really cool climate, but profits from the proximity of the adjacent Adelaide Hills.
It is a rainy evening in the Southern Highlands and we have invited some friends to help me go through a half dozen of cool climate Pinot Gris. I have deliberately picked a selection of six with each one originating from a different wine region in Australia. They are all available for under $25 in either bottle shops or at the cellar door.
Vineyard in the cool climate Adelaide Hills
The background to this tasting lies in the feed back I received to an article I wrote a few days back on the production and labeling of Pinot Gris versus Pinot Grigio in Australia. Our selection of wines for our tasting again proves my point, the usage of the word Gris or Grigio here downunder does not necessarily help when trying to identify a typical Gris or Grigio stlye, as is possible in Europe.
The contestants in this tasting were (in alphabetical order):
2008 Innocent Bystander from the Yarra Valley in Victoria
2008 Kirrihill from Adelaide Hills in South Australia
2008 Lerida Estate from Lake George, Canberra Region
2007 McVitty from the Southern Highlands here in NSW
2007 Mornington Estate from the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria
and I have added a
2007 Nepenthe from Adelaide Hills which belongs to Australian Vintage, the 2nd biggest player in Australia simply because I wanted to find out how the big boys compare against the boutique wineries.
All wines display a freshness, that is so typical for Pinot Gris or Grigio. Some of them were more on the fruity side with strong characters of apple, citrus and melon, others were more subdued and unfortunately two were really lagging character when it came to displaying fruity characters or natural acidity. Find out who the winner of this contest was in my next entry.
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An einem regnerischen Freitagabend begehe ich eine Weinprobe mit ein paar Freunden hier auf unserer Farm in den Southern Highlands. Wir testen sechs verschiedene Pinot Gris und Grigios aus diversen cool climate Gegenden Australiens. Allen sechs Weinen gemein ist eine so typische Gris/Grigio Frische, dennoch finden wir schnell grosse Unterschiede in der Faehigkeit die fruchtige Frische zu einem wirklich guten Abgang zu transportieren. Lesen Sie mehr ueber das Endergebnis in meinem naechsten Beitrag.
Ihr Michael Brecht
NSW Wine Week 2009 – happy drinking in Sydney’s Hyde Park
Having spent a few days in Melbourne and Adelaide this year I can confirm: Melburnians and people from Adelaide (is there such a thing as in Adelaidian?) are true supporters of their respective wine regions. The majority of the wine lists in ‘their’ restaurants are full of local wines. So how about New South Wales?
Winebar in Melbourne with local Victorian Wines
Sydneysiders tend to buy and try drops from interstate or even international producers – Victorian, Tasmanian and South Australian wines as well as the latest drops from Europe or the US dominate wine lists in Sydney and around. The latest MAT Nielsen Data shows us that only 6.3% of the total bottled wine sold in NSW comes from local producers although the States’ wineries produce about one third of the wines here Down Under.
I can confirm this result as the most famous wine region here in NSW considered by my friends is the Hunter Valley. That’s it! Basta!
Not too many people in Sydney itself know, that the Canberra region or the Southern Highlands produce some outstanding drops. And this is the reason why NSW wine producers have teamed up and started the NSW wine week, for the first time last year. Their strategy is to seriously increase NSW wine presence in bottle shops and restaurants over the next five years.
The wine week kicked off on Sunday in Sydney’s Hyde Park, with more than 100 wineries displaying their wines. A fantastic event with thousands of wine enthusiasts and lots of sunshine. But don’t forget the rest of this week: in many restaurants we will find lunch specials (for under $50 per head) and in various places in Sydney, you’ll be able to learn and experience wine and food prepared and commented by the city’s finest chefs and wine experts. Enjoy.
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Die NSW Wine Week (vom 1. bis 7. Maerz) findet nun schon zum 2. Mal statt. Mehr als 100 Produzenten haben am vergangenen Sonntag ihre Weine im Hyde Park bei herrlichstem Wetter zur Schau gestellt. Viele Tausend Besucher kamen und probierten was das Zeug haelt.
Und warum gibt es diese NSW Wine Week: ganze 6.3% aller in NSW verkauften oder servierten Weine kommen aus den lokalen Wineries, das ist zu wenig – so haben jene beschlossen und somit die NSW Wine Week ins Leben gerufen, um damit ihren Ruf hier in und um Sydney zu verbessern. Wir wuenschen viel Erfolg.
Ihr Michael Brecht
