Cabernet Sauvignon
Regional wine show results – a mistery for some
Last week Friday I went to the regional wine show in Kiama. Here a tasting panel with renowned Australian wine judges got together including winemaker Keith Tulloch as Chairman of Judges, Christian Gaffey, himself winemaker and Wine Selector as well as Judge Bryan Martin, Winemaker at famous Clonakilla & Ravensworth Wines. They gave their best comparing local wines and a selection of participants from the Southern Highlands.
Kiama Wine Show 2009
No one so far could explain to me, how wines from 700m cool climate Highlands could be compared to wines from a distinctly different climate at the South Coast in a regional show- but here you go: the mission for the judging panel was ‘make this judging work on the basis, that the wines compare on distinct ‘international wine levels”.
The results are a repeat of former years and a few big surprises to me- firstly the repeat: Coolangatta Estate won best White Wine with their 2001 Estate Semillon, a great wine without any doubt and for sure one of the outstanding Semillons in the country. Good to have a Hunter Valley expert in Keith Tulloch (his Keith Tulloch Wines are Hunter based) confirm the success of Coolangatta’s flagship again. Owner Greg Bishop was very contempt with its Semillons, he even confirmed to me that the years 2005 and 2006 looked even more promising but needed more time to develop.
The surprises came with the awards for two categories I was having a close eye on: best Red Wine and also Best Wine of the show was awarded to Southern Highlands Wines with their Cabernet Sauvignon and best Pinot Noir was scored by the 2008 Centennial Wines Pinot Noir. I tasted both of them and these results were very much to my surprise to put it mildly. I tasted at least three Pinots at the show that were far superior and had no faults.
The Centennial Pinot tasted foul, even faulty – to its credit the bottle was open for 24 hours when I tried it. Still, a wine under screwcap must hold onto its credentials for more than 24 hours. This Pinot was one I would have not cared to finish the bottle – even if I had bought it myself.
And taking into account, that the judges were asked to apply international standards in this regional show, I have no understanding for the decision to award best red wine (and best wine of the show) to a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Southern Highlands. There is simply no good Cab Sav from this region, most serious winemakers actually pull the plug on this variety these days as the Highland’s climate simply doesn’t work for Cab Savs.
To award a gold medal to the Cabernet Sauvignon from Southern Highlands Wines is an absolute disgrace for all Cab Savs from Coonawarra, McLaren Vale or Barossa, that scored less in other shows. These judges must have smoked good stuff when they made this call, sorry guys.
But this is wine judging in Australia – sometimes you have to ask yourself how these results come up. Let me put one thing straight: my opinion of no good Cab Sav from the Southern Highlands stands and if this particular winery uses grapes from other regions, than this wine shouldn’t have been entered in the regional show. A good judge should figure this out.
____________________________________________________________________
In der letzten Woche war ich endlich einmal auf einer der vielen kleineren, regionalen Weinshows zu Besuch. Die regionale Wine Show in Kiama brachte in diesem Jahr neben einem wiederholten weissen Gewinner zwei dicke Ueberraschungen als bestem Wein der Show und bestem Pinot Noir. Jene beiden Entscheidungen lassen mich diese regionale Show eher ein wenig belaecheln, einer der Wine Makers vor Ort urteilte: well, there is another show next week. Den Besuch in Kiama werde ich mir naechstes Jahr allerdings schenken.
Ihr Michael Brecht
Wine advertisement on the radio – get Australian bargain hunters to your cellar door
Yesterday afternoon, I experienced an amazing phenomenon as I visited one of the wineries in the Southern Highlands. I spent two hours at their cellar door and although Fridays are usually busier than most other weekdays, this one was special: every five minutes a new car arrived at the car park with new people rushing through the door asking whether the radio advertisement was true and some of the announced wines still available.
Radio ads lead us to the latest bargain at a cellar door
So this is what they mean when they talk on the radio about how ‘radio advertisement works’ – I suspect everyone in Australia has heard the advertisement of Commercial Radio Australia for its own capability to make ads work (their latest slogan being: radio advertisement – economically sound).
I experienced the simple truth of this fact when 80% of the mostly new visitors to this winery claimed, they had heard the spot on the radio. Which spot I asked, as I currently listen to a Mozart CD in my car and therefore avoid commercial radio’s inundating commercial breaks this way. I realised that my selfish behaviour might have made me miss out on the hottest news in the Highlands this week and only pure luck brought me to the place where all the action was taking place!
The cellar door manager informed me that they announced the sale of Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlots at $3.00 per bottle – vintages being their 2003 and 2004 ones. Here we are – the old Australian habit to love a bargain was happening right in front of my eyes. Highlights of these two hours were a Mercedes S-class from the Northern beaches in Sydney and various BMW four wheel drivers – all these guys hunting for the cases with $3.00 wines. Well, you can’t buy an S-class when you spend all your money on Penfolds Grange bottles, do you?
On the other hand, one customer told me: this is cheaper than buying your daily red at larger bottle shops such as Dan Murphy’s – and the wine is definitely better – this is for sure.
____________________________________________________________
Australier lieben ein Schnaeppchen, so geschehen gestern nachmittag, als ich viele Schnaeppchenjaeger in eine Cellar Door hereinstuermen sah – und das an einer Cellar Door, die viele Kilometer ausserhalb der Kleinstaedte hier in den Southern Highlands liegt. Ein Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot ist dort fuer $3.00 die Flasche zu haben – im Dutzend – und die Jaeger stroemten nur so hinein. Grosser Unterschied zu den $3.00 Australiern in deutschen Supermaerkten ist, dass dieser Tropfen hier richtig gut schmeckt, kein grand cru classe – aber immerhin.
Ihr Michael Brecht
McLaren Vale’s Kangarilla Road Wines – wine finesse for less dollars than expected
I tried a bottle of Kangarilla Road Shiraz Viognier on the weekend, which reminded me of a recent visit to meet Kangarilla’s owner Kevin O’Brien. Kevin and his wife Helen started Kangarilla Road wines in 1997 – he himself a trained oenologist with 20 years in the wine industry.
Kevin O'Brien from Kangarilla Road
The winery and most of its vineyards are based between McLaren Vale and Kangarilla just on Kangarilla road. Because of its slightly higher position compared to most vineyards in the McLaren district, its fruit ripen slower with an aim for more elegance.
I was certainly impressed with their Chardonnay, I tasted the 2008 one with 13.5% alcohol and really liked its length and character, taking into consideration that this wine retails for $15 (under EUR9).
Asked for his own favourite, Kevin named his 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon for his completeness. The wine is full of flavour but not off. Historically McLaren Vale had a 50/50 split of Shiraz and Cab Sav plantings and only in the last years, the Shiraz variety had overtaken the Cab Sav’s number of plantings. Tasting this Cabernet it became clear why Kangarilla aims for this variety.
Between McLaren Vale and Kangarilla
Back to my wine of last night: a 2006 Shiraz – a blend of selected parcels from the district. Mixed weather conditions with loads of rain in spring and a mild summer led to a milder February than usual in McLaren Vale. The use of 25% french and the rest american oak helped display a finer flavour than usual from this region and I really enjoyed the dark plum characters with a good elegance.
A nice example of a fully ripened but not overdone Shiraz from McLaren Vale.
____________________________________________________________________
Bei meinem Besuch in McLaren Vale vergangenen Sommer schaute ich bei Kevin O’Brien vorbei, er startete vor 12 Jahren die Kangarilla Road winery gemeinsam mit seiner Frau Helen. Die Weine liegen preislich am unteren Ende der weiten Preisskala der Region und dennoch muessen sie sich keineswegs hinter den Wettbewerbern verstecken. Ich selbst probierte am Wochenende den 2006 Shiraz, der durch eine gute Eleganz auffiel, die Reben von diversen Lagen etwas oberhalb des McLaren Vale geerntet und daher mit Finesse ausgestattet.
Michael Brecht
A DogRidge Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 for our candlelight dinner at Earth Hour
As a regular reader of downunderwines, you know that we are strong supporters of Earth Hour. Last night saw the third official ‘Earth Hour’ unfold in more than 83 countries with over 1 billion people participating.
While many of its critics point out, that switching your lights off for one hour does not really contribute to the well-being of our planet, many of our friends use this event to make us and particularly our children aware of what we mean by wanting to create a more sustainable future. I am very disappointed that we get 47 developing economies, up from nine last year, taking part, and then having to read that in my country of birth, Germany, there was only one city taking part, being Hamburg.
80 million Germans missed out on an opportunity to take place in an emotional worldwide gathering to show support for action against climate change. There is a great article in one of Germany’s leading weeklys der Spiegel (in German language though).
Candlelight dinner and Earth Hour
Back to the wines: while playing board games with our children at candlelight, we drank a 2004 DogRidge Cabernet Sauvignon. This bottle was a present from winemaker Fred Howard from McLaren Vale, made from vines that were planted in the 1940s. He made this wine together with friend and winemaker Mike Brown from Gemtree Wines. The Cab Sav proves to be a great example of a full bodied red from the McLaren Vale, I do not seem to realise its strong alcohol content of 15%, it is a smooth wine with a sensational length.
I really enjoyed this wine, lots of dark berries fruit and these first few years of ageing make it a great wine to red meat or cheese. I will certainly cellar a few of these bottles to enjoy them even more in 5-10 years time.
___________________________________________________________________________
Den gestrigen Abend verbrachten wir bei Kerzenschein und Brett-Spielen mit unseren Kindern. Hierbei hatten wir saemtliche Sicherungen des Hauses ausgeschaltet, es war Zeit fuer Earth Hour. Als inzwischen globales Ereignis wird die Welt fuer 60 Minuten dunkel, in 83 teilnehmenden Laendern haben gestern ungefaer 1 Milliarde Menschen teil genommen.
Schade ist, dass Deutschland nicht oder besser kaum dabei war. Auf der Karte der angemeldeten Staedte sieht man lediglich Hamburg als einzige deutsche Stadt dabei – eine verpasste Chance, wie auch der Spiegel ganz richtig tituliert. Dabei geht es hier weniger um wissentschaftlich bewiesene Einsparmassnahmen waehrend dieser Stunde, es geht nicht um Dogmatik, nein: hier geht es darum weltweit dazu aufzurufen ueber unseren Umgang mit der Natur nachzudenken. Ich fuerchte, dass vielen Deutschen die Ungezwungenheit fehlt – einfach einmal an einem emotionalen Erlebnis dieser Art teilzunehmen. Ganz zu schweigen von der Chance, hiermit unseren Kindern ein grossartiges, friedliches und sehr familienfreundliches Miteinander zu zeigen.
Ihr Michael Brecht
Wine tasting at a Cellar Door and Business Networking
I enjoy the combination of the above, meeting new business people and tasting new wines at the same time. On invitation of ZaaBiz, Australia’s largest business network and Tertini Wines from the Southern Highlands, business people form the Highlands, Wollongong, Sydney and even Melbourne met at Tertini’s cellar door last night for this purpose.
We tried the 2005 and 2006 Riesling, the 2005 and 2008 Arneis – a highly difficult variety from the North-West of Italy, two Pinot Noirs and the Tertini Cabernet Sauvignon on the night.
The crowd was also volunteered to taste a selection of Italian cheeses, picking out the ones that tasted well with the various wines. All in all it was a great event, Tertini’s Sales Manager Robert Kay guided us through the evening and gave insights into the wine making techniques of this young winery from the Southern Highlands. Tertini has won 89 medals in the last three years at various wine shows across the country, not bad for a small Boutique Winery.
I thoroughly enjoyed this wine tasting and met some great new business people from the area.
____________________________________________________________________
Das australische Business Netzwerk ZaaBiz hatte gestern zu seinem event in den Southern Highlands geladen. Neben diversen networking sessions gab es ausreichend Gelegenheit, die Weine von Tertini Wines zu testen. Mein Favorit: der 2008er Tertini Arneis, eine Traube aus dem Nordwesten Italiens die hier in Down Under von lediglich 15 Winzern bearbeitet wird. Mehr zu diesem Wein in einem gesonderten Bericht.
Ihr Michael Brecht
Fosters: restructure, breakup and sell-off to help shareholder value – but is this enough?
Facts first: the Australian beer and wine giant has today announced to retain its wine business. Since evaluating its options with the departure of its former CEO Trevor Hoy last year, the business community was speculating whether or not the wine business could be history in Fosters liquor empire.
Instead of sealing its fate, the Fosters Group today announced major changes to their wine business itself:
- 36 ‘non-core’ vineyards will be sold,
- 37 Fosters owned ‘tail’ brands will be sold or discontinued,
- 3 wineries in Australia and California will either be closed, reconfigured or consolidated, and
- the Group expects to book total asset writedowns and restructuring charges between $330 million and $415 million in the second half of this 2008/09 financial year.
So let us look behind the scenes and explain why they are doing it:
Firstly the decision to keep the wine business was heavily influenced by external factors: “The current difficult conditions in debt and equity markets mean this is not the appropriate time to sell or de-merge Foster’s Wine business,” Fosters Chairman Crawford said today in his address to the media. Point taken, it doesn’t help presenting your wine business to potential buyers in an economic climate like ours today. So the Fosters management didn’t have a real chance and now has to make the best out of it.
Secondly: Foster’s management seems to understand the signs of the times, let me give you some examples:
I am a former (tiny) shareholder in Fosters and I still receive their newsletters in print to my post office box, although I told them in several of their frequent sales calls that they should better take me of their list. But hey: this is fun – as it gives me exposure to some of the best trained telephone sales people the wine industry has on offer.
But then I open the mail and I am confused: so many brands, so much Shiraz and Cabernet, but so little variety: I have in the past simply questioned Fosters capacity to market what today’s wine drinkers really like, its management still living in an Australian wine climate of 10 years ago. The reshaping of its brands will change this.
Another major lesson learned is the fact that wine and beer just don’t sell well together: the multi beverage model Fosters was pursuing never worked and now is officially called dead. Its Australian wine and its beer, cider and spirits divisions will be structurally separated. I still smile at the idea of having a Fosters/Southcorp sales rep try to convince the average retailer in Wagga to buy one of their 47 wine brands, while the consumer was mainly connecting the Fosters brand with beer.
So there is good news and bad news in today’s announcement for the 7,000 other Australian winemakers: the bad news is that Fosters management has woken up and will stick to its portfolio – they have the deep pockets to finance this change and profits from its beer and spirit business will help turn around their wine story. The only good news in this is that it will take some time for the giant to make it happen.
Valuable time I will take and open another bottle from one of the many fine smaller Boutique wineries here in Australia.
____________________________________________________________________
Die Fosters Gruppe hat heute einschneidende Veraenderungen fuer ihre Struktur beschlossen. Nachdem in den letzten Monaten so ziemlich jede strategische Variante fuer oder gegen den Verbleib der Weinsparte im Konzern diskutiert wurde, hat heute Chairman Crawford verkuendet, dass die Weinsparte an Bord bleibt. Basta!
Allerdings werden innerhalb der Weinsparte massive Veraenderungen vollzogen:
- 36 Weinberge werden verkauft
- 37 Marken im Rahmen der Fosters/Southcorp Weine werden abgegeben
- 3 Wineries in Australien und Kalifornien werden geschlossen oder konsolidiert
Das Ganze fuehrt zu Umstrukturierungskosten in Hoehe von 330-415 Million AUD.
Wir werden diese Vorgaenge in den naechsten Tagen weiter analysieren und Sie auf dem Laufenden halten.
Ihr Michael Brecht
St. Huberts – ein ‘Nachtesten’ des 2001er Cabernet-Sauvignons aus dem Yarra Valley
Es gibt solche Tage, an denen man in den Weinlaeden Australiens auf ‘alte Schaetze’ stoesst, jene Weine, die vom jeweiligen Einzelhandel fuer ein paar Jahre gelagert wurden. Juengst wurde ich von dem Cellarmaster von Dan Murpys, einer grossen Kette mit scheinbar einem riesigen Keller, angerufen, denn er hatte ein paar Kisten von St. Huberts Cab Sav aus dem Jahre 2001 parat. ‘Dan the man’ hatte also verinnerlicht, dass ich die Weine von St. Huberts sehr schaetze und am selben Tag machte ich mich auf und kaufte ein gutes Dutzend dieser Weine aus dem Jahrgang 2001.
Tja, und was ist mein Eindruck? Den Test der 2006er Variante habe ich vor wenigen Wochen gerade publiziert, ich war so richtig angetan von diesem Jahrgang und diesem ‘cool climate’ Cabernet Sauvignon. Und jetzt kaempfe ich mit dem 2001er und ganz ehrlich, er ist ein wenig duenn, kraftlos, so ganz ohne den Charme der 2006 Version.
Bitte verstehen Sie mich nicht falsch, denn wir trinken nach wie vor einen guten Wein, der tatsaechlich aus guter Hand stammt, aber mir fehlt der volle Geschmack und der wirklich gute Abgang der juengeren Generation. Vielleicht habe ich mir die vielen Jahre im Keller besser fuer den Wein vorgestellt, vielleicht hatte ich einfach gehofft, dass wir den kuerzlich genossenen 2006er in aelterer Version finden. Das war nicht der Fall, was mir wiederum zeigt, dass die jungen Aussie-Weine ihren aelteren Jahrgaengen haeufig ueberlegen sind.
In diesem Sinne,
Ihr Michael Brecht
Warrabilla vor Rutherglen: vom Schlossherrn zum Winzer im Aussie-Shed
Nun, wer haette das gedacht: als 1988 die Smith Familie das beruehmte All Saints Weingut verkaufte, dachte wohl niemand in Rutherglen, dass ein Smith Nachkomme innerhalb von 20 Jahren eigenstaendig eine gleichwertig gute Weinproduktion aufbauen koenne. Die Rede ist von Andrew Sutherland Smith, der bei den grossen Namen in Australiens Weinindustrie das Handwerk lernte: Seppelts, Yellowglen oder Mildara waren seine Stationen, bevor er mit Warrabilla seine Meisterpruefung ablegte.
Keine 50m rechts des schnurgeraden Murray Valley Highway liegt die Warrabilla Winery, ein Tinshed typischer Aussie-praegung, im Grunde genommen wenig einladend so auf den ersten Blick. Dieser Schuppen ist das krasse Gegenteil des schlossartigen AllSaints Anwesens und doch wird beim Eintritt in die Halle sehr schnell klar, dass es bei den Smiths um die Weine selbst geht, und weniger um das Drum Herum.
Hier finden wir die fuer diese Gegend so typisch vollen, alkoholreichen Durifs, Shiraz und Cabernet Sauvignon. Wer sich vor 15, 16 und gar 17 Prozentern nicht fuerchtet, der ist bei Warrabilla genau richtig. Spitzenreiter in der scheinbar nach oben offenen Alkoholskala ist ein Parola’s Limited Release Durif mit sage und schreibe 18%, Schwarzkirsche und Schokoladengeschmack sind bei diesem ausserordentlichen Wein erstaunlich ausgewogen fuer diesen Alkoholgrad. Neben den vollen Shiraz und Cab-Savs runden diverse Portversionen, Tawny’s und ein Reserve Muscatwein die Produktpalette ab, allesamt eher fuer den frostigen Winterabend vorm Kaminfeuer, als fuer die hiesigen 40 Grad im victorianischen Januar gemacht.
Wohl bekomm’s
Ihr Michael Brecht
