Pinot Noir
Methode Traditionelle from the Southern Highlands
Australia’s top sparkling wines are very close to the french champagnes. In a former post we recommended Tasmania’s sparklings, the innovative ‘methode tasmanoise‘ was all present at Sydney Airport too.
Cool Climate Methode Traditionelle
Twenty years ago, some brands in Germany started with the ‘methode traditionelle’ or ‘methode champagnoise’ and did everything the way the French do with their champagne, only not using the grapes form the champagne region (hence not calling the end product champagne). It worked well, even in the country which loves German Sekt from German drink giants such as Henkell or Rotkaeppchen.
One of our current favourite sparklings here Down Under comes from Cuttaway Hill. These guys entered the sparkling arena only last year and what an entry this was: their top sparkling is named Laurence Chardonnay Pinot Noir and won the gold medal in Murrumbateman and a couple of silvers in its first year. Impressive.
The Laurence range of sparkling wines from Cuttaway Hill wines are named in honour of the founder of Cuttaway Hill, Laurence O’Neil. A premium single vineyard blend from hand harvested grapes followed by a slow cool primary fermentation only for the base wine was the base for this sparkling. The end product is then made in a traditional single bottle fermentation method and aged on lees for a minimum of two years before disgorgement and release. Low yields and dry ripening conditions produced full flavoured wines for Laurence.
We like this combination of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir – both excellent grapes that grow well in cool climate conditions here in the Southern Highlands. And Laurence is an excellent example of well made sparklings Down Under.
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Unsere Serie ueber australische Sparklings wird heute fortgesetzt mit einem pitzelnden Wein der Marke ‘methode traditionelle’. Jene Bezeichnung wird nicht mehr lange auf australischen Flaschen stehen duerfen, denn im Einigungsvertrag zwischen der EU und Australien hat sich Letzteres dazu verpflichtet, jenen franzoesischen Ausdruck nicht mehr auf australischen Flaschen zu verwenden.
Hier in der cool climate Gegend Southern Highlands werden erstklassige Chardonnay und Pinot Noir Trauben angepflanzt. Jene sind Grundlage fuer den Laurence Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir, ein erster Wurf der Cuttaway Hill Winery und ein aeusserst erfolgreicher dazu: der sparkling sahnt bereits in seinem ersten Jahr eine Goldmedaille nach der anderen ab – ein koestlicher Tropfen, der Lust auf weitere sparklings hier aus Down Under macht.
Ihr Michael Brecht
A nice Pinot Noir from Orange in Australia
Wine making family Shaw from Orange are well known for their various brands here Down Under.
Philip Shaw's No. 8 Pinot Noir
Last night we tried the 2006 Philip Shaw No. 8 Pinot Noir – brought along to dinner by close friends of our. “Pinot is a hard variety to classify, with everyone having an opinion on what it should be – I can eliminate what it shouldn’t be but the rest is the gamble” says Philip on their website.
And he is right: Pinot Noir is such a difficult variety – many winemakers here in Australia get sleepless nights when they think about their Pinot grapes.
Well, the gamble in 2006 has worked out well for the Shaw family – its lifted and spicy nose comes out immediately, a soft fleshy palate and a lightly savoury finish really make this Pinot Noir a great representative for that year.
The Orange Wine region is so much into growing grapes from this hot and warm climate to be added to wines from other regions, who need the volume (or taste). Well, the No 8 shows its own character, its vineyard named Koomooloo is established on 900m altitude, a nice altitude comparable to most cool climate regions from Australia.
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Gute Freunde brachten gestern abend eine Flasche 2006 Philip Shaw No. 8 Pinot Noir zum Abendessen, ein schoener Tropfen mit Pinot typischen Gewuerzaromen und einer schoenen Laenge.
Die Trauben der Orange Weingegend werden von vielen Winzern hier Down Under gerne als ‘add-on’ fuer ihre eigenen Weine genutzt, dieser Pinot Noir No. 8 von Philip Shaw hat seinen eigenen Charakter.
Ihr Michael Brecht
Find the right tag and win a case of sixfootsix wines from Austins Wines in Geelong
We found a nice challenge with an excellent reward in a newsletter of Victorian Austins Wines today. Their wines include the sixfootsix label, one of our first posts judged their Pinot Noirs to be a very nice drop, read more about its win in our 3-Pinot challenge here (sadly in German language only).
sixfootsix Pinot Noir from Geelong
And now the boys from Austin Wines need your help: their sixfootsix range is crying out for a tagline and they are asking for your creative input. Find the right tagline and win a mixed case of sixfootsix wines (of course).
The brief is wide open. Whether you call it a tagline, a positioning statement or a catch-phrase – Austins Wines are asking for a short, memorable and relevant string of words to reflect all that’s good about sixfootsix. We liked the wine, so now you’ve got to help them find the right tagline!
Simply eMail your suggestion (one each) to info@austinswines.com.au by the 31st of August. Scott Austin himself will be the judge and the winner will be announced in a future newsletter.
Downunderwines supports these grass roots branding efforts, this is why we published that competition here on our blog, good luck to those of you participating! And don’t forget to let us know, if you win: we count on you!
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Die Austins Winery aus dem Pinot Anbaugebiet Geelong in Viktoria benoetigt Ihre Mithilfe.
Die Weine des sixfootsix Labels gewinnen einen Wettbewerb nach dem anderen und doch fehlt den Inhabern ein Slogan, der diese Marke erklaert. Auf geht’s, vielleicht faellt Ihnen ja etwas Originelles dazu ein, ich bin mir sicher, dass wir unter den downunderwines Lesern eine Menge kreative Koepfe haben. Und lassen Sie uns doch wissen, falls Sie der glueckliche Gewinner sind, schliesslich wollen wir uns alle mit Ihnen freuen.
Ihr Michael Brecht
Cool delights in the Southern Highlands
Last weekend saw the first ‘Cool Flavours’ event of its kind here in the Southern Highlands. The tourism bureau in Mittagong had labeled this long weekend the ‘Event of Cool Delights’ and the event met all expectations: great food, a great selection of wines to taste from the region and it was cool – extremely cool.
Cool Delights at Tertini Cellar Door
A Queens Birthday weekend is usually the start for the cold winds in the Southern Highlands and that is what we got. Colder temperatures with a very chilly breeze invited all of us to focus on red wines and find our spot close to the next open fire. The cellar door of Tertini Wines luckily had both and so we indulged in their Italian cheeses, great Pinot Noirs and I didn’t move from the fireplace myself.
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Im Juni wird hier in Australien der Geburtstag der Koenigin gefeiert, auch wenn der tatsaechliche Geburtstag der 21. April ist. Sei’s drum, der Montag ist anerkannter Urlaubstag und so entschloss sich die hiesige Region in den Southern Highlands, das Wochenende zum ‘Food and Wine’-Wochenende zu vermarkten. Bei eisig kalten Winden wurden vor allem die roten Weine probiert und gekauft, ich selbst positionierte mich bei Tertini Wines an deren offenem Feuer und genoss italienischen Kaese zu feinstem Pinot Noir. Cool climate eben.
Ihr Michael Brecht
Cuttaway Hill Estate – cool climate Pinots from the Southern Highlands
Its been a while since I tried Cuttaway Hill Estate – one of the larger wine growers in the Southern Highlands. This is a winery which grows its grapes across the Highlands, has them processed and bottled in the Hunter Valley and unfortunately sells only through bottle shops – hence has no own cellar door.
Cuttaway Hill Pinot Noir
This is such a shame, as the Cuttaway Hill wines receive awards across the country – latest example is the five star ranking of its 2006 Chardonnay in Winestate Magazine (March/April edition).
Trying their 2007 Pinot Noir last night showed, how far the top Pinot producers in this region have come: soft berry and plum aromas, rich fruit characters and a nice finish – quite long for a Pinot Noir. I am so much more into these Australian Pinots this year than the – in my opinion – overrated and overpriced Pinots from New Zealand. Sorry my kiwi friends, I think that Australian Pinots have really caught up and in some cases overtaken you in this variety.
By the way: the new labels work wonder for Cuttaway Hill – I am sure that many wine buyers appreciate a real good label when purchasing new wines.
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Ich probierte den 2007 Cuttaway Hill Estate – einer der top-Pinot Produzenten der Southern Highlands. Ein sehr schoener Wein, der zeigt, wie weit diese junge Weinregion inzwischen mit Pinots gekommen ist.
Michael Brecht
Australia’s young wine regions in the news: New England in NSW
A few years ago it was decided that it was fundamental to the organisation and development of the Australian wine industry to create wine zones, wine regions and sub-regions throughout the country. Following the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation, Australia has its vineyards spread throughout a total of 62 designated wine regions totaling 170,000 hectares.
Cool climate vineyard
Internationally known are the classic wine regions such as the Barossa and Yarra Valley or McLaren Vale. Our aim here at downunderwines is to introduce to you a number of smaller and mostly newer regions over the coming months. Let us start with a region that was officially established on 23 January 2008 – the New England Wine Region.
This region is an inland district in northern New South Wales, situated at the top of the Great Dividing Range. It has a mild alpine climate and four distinct seasons. The winemakers are still trying to find out, which varieties will be most successful, however, the typical cool climate varieties seem to be doing well, such as Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Noir as well as Riesling.
Although officially only a bit more than a year old, the area is in fact a re-emerging wine region as early settlers planted their own wine already in the 1850s. Between 1870 and 1920 wines from New England won quite a few awards at wine shows in Sydney, London, the US and France.
What is fascinating is the climate of this large region, obviously strongly influenced by its elevation. It ranges from 404m in and around Tamworth to the New England Plateau where vineyards grow at 900m around Glenn Innes in the Great Dividing Range. High altitude, cooler nights, snow in winter and still only two hours inland from the sub-tropical north coast of NSW.
It will be interesting to see, how winemakers in these new areas will try to distinguish themselves from the bigger and better known regions. One of the suggested differentiators will be the use of new, almost unique varieties such as Arneis, Gewurztraminer or Tempranillo.
This week we have tried a wine from Topper’s Mountain Wines – a winery with first plantings from 2000 and 2002. They are trying out quite a few new varieties and we opted for the 2005 topper’s Mountain Traminer – a Gewurztraminer following a truly traditional German style. Typical for this style is the toastal floral aroma of Jasmine. The scent of Turkish Delight makes Michael think of his home country Germany, the wine itself lacks a bit in length which shows that this is a wine that will need a few more years of work.
Gewurztraminer is a difficult variety but has the potential to be outstanding in a few years time and therefore become a good differentiation for Topper Mountain Wines. And this is what wine from Australia is also about: having a go at new varieties in new regions.
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Downunderwines bringt ihnen in den kommenden Monaten Berichte zu den weniger bekannten Weinregionen Australiens. Wir beginnen mit der Region New England, die erst seit Januar 2008 eine der 62 offiziell anerkannten Weinregionen hier Down Under ist. Wichtiges Differenzierungskriterium fuer die neuen Weingegenden ist die Verwendung unbekannterer Weinreben, wir haben in dieser Woche einen Gewurztraminer aus dem Jahr 2005 getestet.
The traveling wine drinker: tell us about your Australian wine experience
Australian wine is all about the experience. And the bouquet. And the taste. And the length. Well, I could go on, but with so many of our friends traveling this great country, I would like to share with you the feedback I get.
Bruny Island Pinot Noir
Many travelers discover wines from Down Under for the first time here. Let us start with Julia Orlowski from Germany telling us about her Aussie wine experience Down Under – on beautiful Bruny Island in Tasmania:
We bought this wine right here at the winery on Bruny Island, $28 for a Pinot Noir from Tasmania. Bruny Island Premium Wines are a small family owned and operated vineyard on picturesque South Bruny Island, approx 1.5 hours south of Hobart (including a 15 minute vehicular ferry trip).
The label states that this wine is proudly grown, made and bottled by hand on Wayaree Estate and is best drunk anytime, anywhere, with anything! In our view a perfect match to a cheese platter after a long day on the beach.
Not too fruity, a dry taste and a good length for an evening sun-downer.
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Wir sind derzeit auf Bruny Island im Sueden von Tasmanien. Heute abend haben wir einen lokalen Wein gekauft fuer 28 Aussie-Dollar. War ein sehr schoener, trockener Rotwein (Pinot Noir 2008 von Bruny Island Premium Wines Tasmania) und passte perfekt zu unserer Kaeseplatte 
Lieben Gruss aus Tassie von
Julia Orlowski als Gastbeitrag fuer downunderwines
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.
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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
