Mornington Winzer erfolgreich bei der Chardonnay du Monde 2010
Sechs australische Chardonnays gewinnen Silbermedaillen bei der Chardonnay du Monde 2010 in Frankreich. Die zum 17ten Mal abgehaltene Ausscheidung fand wenigen Tagen im Burgund in Frankreich statt.
Mit 887 Weinen aus 37 Ländern nahm in diesem Jahr eine Rekordanzahl an Chardonnays aus aller Welt teil. Und die 300 Preisrichter verteilten 296 Medaillen. So gab es zwar in diesem Jahr keine australischen Goldmedaillen, dafür eroberten die Chardonnays aus Down Under sechs Silberne.
Stunning views @ Red Hill Estate vineyards
Darunter ein Wein von einer Winery von der Mornington Peninsula in Viktoria. Dieses Weingut beobachten wir seit einiger Zeit besonders, denn die Weine, die wir testeten machen uns grossen Spass.
Die Red Hill Winery aus Victoria erzielte in diesem schwierigen internationalen contest mit Silber ein grossartiges Ergebnis –
congratulations an das ganze Team.
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We have just got news that the Red Hill Estate Chardonnay 2008 has won a Silver Medal at the recent Chardonnay du Monde 2010.
The 17th annual Chardonnay du Monde international wine competition was held between March 10-13th 2010 at Château des Ravatys, the wine estate of the Pasteur Institute at Saint-Lager in the Burgundy wine region (France). A serious place to hold these contests, very prestigious for all wines from France but all other worldwide competitors too.
Chardonnay du Monde is the strongest concentration of chardonnay wine ever realized with 37 countries and 887 wines entered. Chardonnay du Monde occupies a special place amongst international competitions thanks to its worldwide scope and its rigorous method. Strict quality standards and optimal tasting conditions enabled the 300 expert international judges to award a total of 296 medals this year.
There were only 6 wineries from Australia that were awarded Silver Medals, and no Gold Medals were given to Australian Chardonnays. The Mornington Peninsula producer Red Hill managed to score a silver medal in this very tough contest.
Red Hill Estate winemaker Luke Curry notes: “This is a great global recognition of our pursuit for consistency in the Red Hill Estate wines. This wine has been amongst the medals on every occasion that we have entered this prestigious competition and certainly vindicates our decision to adopt an uncompromising approach to quality and maintenance of the cool climate style that we strive for.”
Well done Red Hill Estate Team – one of the top Australian Chardonnays in such an international context – this is great news for wine producers from Down Under.
Michael Brecht
Cool Climate Chardonnay in erster Reihe bei James Halliday
Wir vertreten ja seit geraumer Zeit die Auffassung, dass die einst über-opulenten Chardonnays aus den sehr warmen Gegenden Australiens, wie etwa dem Margaret River, inzwischen stärkste Konkurrenz durch die cool climate Chardonnays erhalten haben.
Cool climate Chardonnay
Jüngstes Beispiel hierfür ist der 2008 Cuttaway Hill Estate Chardonnay, der Anfang dieser Woche von niemand anderem als James Halliday mit 93 Punkten ausgezeichnet wurde. Das ist ein absoluter Spitzenwert für einen cool climate Weissen, zumal James durchaus die vollen Chardonnays schätzt.
Unseren Glückwunsch an das Team von Mark Bourne, die mit ihrem 2008er Chardonnay einen ausgezeichneten Wein geschaffen haben.
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One of Australia’s prominent wine reviewers, James Halliday, has just reviewed the 2008 Cuttaway Hill Chardonnay on his Australian Wine Companion Website.
The wine shows a bright colour; the bouquet is starting to build some bottle-developed complexity, the palate bringing grapefruit and white peach flavours to the fore, oak merely a whisper. The alcohol level of this wine is moderate with 13%. Drink now or in the next five years.
Ihr Michael Brecht
‘My Drink Today’ features Riesling lover Shane from High Range in NSW
Nice temperatures on the weekend brought us a few stories in our series ‘My Drink Today’. Thank you Shane for sending us your entry, I have to admit the background view on your photo is spectacular.
Shane from High Range with her drink of the day
Shane enjoys a glass of Tertini Riesling from cool climate Southern Highlands.
“I have been a big fan of Sauvignon Blancs in the past years, both from New Zealand and Australia. But I am over them now – the usually high levels of acidity and lack of distinct palate are turning me off now. I’d rather prefer Rieslings these days, this one here shows more delicate fruit flavours and is simply more interesting.”
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In unserer Serie ‘My Drink Today’ berichtet uns Shane aus High Range in NSW über ihren Wein, einen 2005 Tertini Riesling aus den Southern Highlands. Shane war bis vor kurzem ein grosser Sauvignon Blanc Fan. Ihr Geschmack hat sich aber in den vergangenen Monaten davon weg entwickelt, hin zu interessanteren und eher komplexen Trauben wie etwa Riesling.
Michael Brecht
The hot cool climate wines down under
Es ist Frühling hier in Australien, und da wir auf ca. 700m Höhe leben, ist es hier in den Southern Highlands normalerweise um die 20 Grad warm. Die Gegend gehört somit zu den ‘cool climate‘ Regionen Australiens, wohl temperierte Tage und kühle Nächte berechtigen zu diesem Titel und verheissen für das Wachstum der Trauben einen gut temperierten Ablauf.
My car says it all - it's hot in our cool climate region
Ganz anders in diesem Jahr – heute schreiben wir 41 Grad Celsius, das Photo belegt es – keine Spur von gemässigten 20 Grad im Frühling.
Das Panel meines Mietwagens zeigt 41 Grad an, ich gebe gerne zu, dass ich bei diesen Temperaturen den Musiksender Sydney’s 104.1 = ToDay-FM höre. Zu schwerwiegenden Diskussionen auf ABC Radio steht mir der Sinn heute nicht.
Wir werden in den nächsten Tagen einmal versuchen herauszufinden, was diese Wärme für die hiesigen Rebstöcke bedeutet.
Fröhliches Schwitzen hier in Australien allerseits wünscht
Ihr Michael Brecht
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41 degrees centigrade, this is what my car thermometer tells me today at 11:16am.
That’s big! Especially because this measurement was taken on about 700m altitude in the Southern Highlands at 11:16 o’clock in the morning.
We’ll check with one of the local wine makers in the next days, what these abnormal temperatures mean for local varieties, which are normally cool climate. In my view, this is more hot climate today.
Ein australischer Riesling aus Orange – Word of Mouth 2009 – cool climate white at its best
Der australische Riesling ist einen weiten Weg gekommen – ich werde eines Tages einen grossen Test der besten deutschen und australischen Rieslings machen, das nehme ich mir fest vor.
Heute abend geniesse ich einen Riesling aus der Orange Region – der cool climate Gegend im Westen von NSW. Der Wein gehoert zur Reihe der ‘Word of Mouth’ Weine, einer Familien geführter Winery, die auf ca. 1.000 Meter Höhe ihre Weine anbaut.
Seine Farbe ist leicht grün, das Aroma eröffnet einen leichten Zitrusduft und sein Säuregehalt und langer Abgang zeigen von einem sehr gepflegtem Wein, der über viele Jahre hinweg in ihrem Keller lagern kann. Füer die nächsten 10 Jahre können Sie diesen Wein kellern – ich bezweifele, dass der Wein das so lange in ihrem Keller schafft.
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Riesling from Orange Australia
Australian Riesling has come a long way – there are quite a few regions, which produce Riesling wines that can compete with the recently re-born German grands.
I tried a Word of Mouth Riesling the other day, with another great season and slightly cooler than 2008, the winery produced an outstanding wine. Light straw green, this wine has delicately perfumed talc and fresh cut lime aromas.
I enjoyed the taste of lime juice on the palate. Finishing long and clean with the perfect balance of acidity and the barest hint of sweetness.
Asking the winemaker about its aging potential I received the answer, that the Riesling has a potential to develop richer honeyed notes as it matures. They even recommend it to drink now to 2019.
Not sure whether I can wait this long.
Michael Brecht
Der 2006er Cool Climate Pinot Noir von Brangayne aus Orange
Brangayne of Orange is a winery which claims a highly famous prize within their trophies won over the past years: their 2008 Sauvignon Blanc won a Gold Medal of the New Zealand International Wine Show this year – a prize that is as difficult to achieve as a win for the Wallabies at the All Blacks in Rugby Union.
The Brangayne Driveway in Orange
I met Marianne Brown on a cold, rainy and windy spring day while visiting the cellar door, no one else around and while looking at the photos with snowy poplar trees on the walls of the shed, I was clearly reminded that this part of their winery lies above 1,000 metres in altitude.
Quickly I begin to understand that this boutique winery emphasises on the cool climate traditions – the wines include the regional ‘hero’ Sauvignon Blanc, an unwooded as well as a Reserve Chardonnay. Asked for her personal favourites Marianne tells me that due to the cold weather she really likes the reds at the moment, the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon recently won a Gold medal at the Australian Cool Climate Wine Show and the newly released 2006 Shiraz was outstanding when I tried it at the cellar door on the day.
The cool climate wine selection
I chose the 2006 Pinot Noir for the night – cherry red in colour – and though still young already displaying strong wild berry characteristics. The palate shows ripe plums with a well balanced acidity – a real highlight of a finely crafted cool climate Pinot Noir. I enjoy its long finish and finish the bottle on the same night in front of a warm fire – Orange in October can be a bit chilly.
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Der Held der Region Orange ist die Sauvignon Blanc Traube – sie gewinnt sogar im Sav Blanc Heimatland Neuseeland Goldmedaillien – so geschehen dieses Jahr in Form des 2008er Sav Blanc von Brangayne.
Die Winery besetzt zwei verschiedene Hügel um Orange auf 1000 und 850 Meter Hoehe, hier wachsen die Trauben für vorzügliche cool climate Weine heran. Das Sortiment umfasst neben den Sav Blancs zwei Chardonnays, einen Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz und Pinot Noir.
Wir geniessen einen noch recht jungen und doch grossartigen Pinot Noir aus dem Jahrgang 2006 zum Dinner und bei offenem Feuer – draussen tobt der Regen bei gerade einmal 5 Grad Celsius – Orange im Frühling kann doch recht kalt sein.
Ihr Michael Brecht
Orange Wine Week – you’re only in it when you are based on 600m plus altitude
From the 16th to 25th of October 2009 Orange wine enthusiasts celebrate their wine week consisting of 10 days with close to 100 events showcasing the district. Whether wine, food, music, sport or arts, there is a lot to do in this time.
Wine week in Orange
Orange winemakers claim to make wine that people like to drink, this is at least the comment I get most when travelling through the region and visiting its many cellar doors.
Orange is considered cool climate with an altitude from 600m to about 1,000 metres and the night temperatures dropping to quite pleasant levels even in the sometimes extremely warm summer months.
Don’t even try to call your wines from ‘Orange’ if your grapes grow under 600m altitude. The ‘climbing’ and ‘rolling hills’ story of Cumulus wines confirms this story nicely, we’ll report on this in a separate post.
Rain closing in
But the local winemakers also claim that the soil plays a major role too: there is the volcanic basalt of the old volcano on Canobolas (the views frrom there are the more impressive when rain is in sight) or the red-brown clay in some other parts, the Orange region provides very rich and fertile grounds for the vines to thrive on.
Winemakers such as Philip Shaw with his Koomooloo Vineyard, the famous Printhie Wines with winemaker Drew Tuckwell or Stephen and Rhonda Doyle as two of the pioneers of the Orange wine region: they all came to produce outstanding wines and their highlights so far have been their whites: Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. The latter is claimed in Orange’s prospectus for the wine week as ‘the hero variety with international recognition’.
I will check out on this in the coming days, as our spring family holiday leads us to this wine region – so far pretty undiscovered by myself. I am also told to watch out for the cool climate stars Pinot Noir and Shiraz – well it will be a pleasure to start the discovery.
The time is ripe, as James Halliday’s guide descibes the 2009 vintage from Orange as ‘a memorable vintage for some, especially reds: whites good with volumes down 10%’. Let’s see what the next days bring.
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Ich befinde mich in Orange – einer Region im westlichen NSW – keine 5 Stunden von Sydney entfernt. Hier haben sich grosse Namen wie Philip Shaw, Drew Tuckwell oder das Doyle Ehepaar angesiedelt, um hier ihre Weine anzubauen. Sie werden ergaenzt um eine ganze Serie an kleineren Wineries, die zwischen 1,000 und 5,000 Dutzend im Jahr abfuellen und meist komplett vermarkten.
Ich freue mich auf diesen Besuch, denn die hiesigen cool climate Weissen und inzwischen auch Pinot Noirs und Shiraz gelten als Geheimtips Australiens in diesem Jahr. Begleiten Sie mich auf dieser Reise durch eine der jungen Weingegenden Australiens.
Ihr Michael Brecht
Five star Printhie’s Sauvignon Blanc wins Trophy for Best Small Vigneron in Canberra
A five star James Halliday rating in 2009 and 2010 promised to make Printhie Wines a pretty good winery to look at when I came across the results of the latest cool climate wine show in Canberra:
Printhie Wines in Orange NSW
The Sauvignon Blanc is a bit of a landmark for Printhie wines - 15 wines they serve in total at their cellar door close to Orange in NSW. While harvesting this year, the juice required little fining or acidification prior to fermentation. Winemaker Drew Tuckwell explains that "selected commercial yeasts were used for fermentation to highlight fruit purity and maintain a clean aromatic profile". He uses stainless steel tanks for fermentation exclusively to retain the aromatic intensity and complexity of the wine and filters the wine immediately after fermentation and bottles it early to capture it in its freshest state.
I find the bouquet quite intense and full of grapefruit and lime, the palate offers generous fruit flavours supported by lively acidity. The wine has a great length and persistence with a dry finish, great with the fish and aspargus we are having tonight.
Winemaker Drew Tuckwell spent several years in Europe and after four years in Adelaide and vintage work with Wirra Wirra Vineyard in McLaren Vale, he settled in Mudgee NSW to start playing with Italian varieties like Sangiovese, Barbera and Pinot Grigio, as well as the more traditional varieties such as Chardonnay, Shiraz and Cabernet.
Today this is a great combination: the cool climate Orange region with its arguably not very cool climate hot summer days, a family owned winery with enough capacity to try out things and a winemaker who has learned the trade at famous other places – Printhie Wines is a winery to watch out for and I really liked their 2009 Sauvignon Blanc – well deserved its win in Canberra a few days ago.
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Printhie Wines hat vor wenigen Tagen die Trophaee des besten Weines kleiner Produzenten in Canberra gewonnen. Der Sauvignon Blanc ist ein herrlich fruchtiger Vertreter seiner Zunft, erstaunlich hierbei dass zwischen Gewinn des Preises und der Ernte der Trauben gerade einmal 11 Wochen gelegen haben.
Ein wunderbarer Vertreter seiner australischen Sav Blanc Zunft – ich geniesse den Printhie Wein zu einem gegrillten Lachs auf Spargel an einem dieser ersten Fruehlingstage hier in Australien 2009. Einfach herrlich.
Ihr Michael Brecht
