2012 Mesh Riesling (Eden Valley)

Another cracking Riesling from the 2012 vintage and a fine addition to the Mesh stable.

Incredibly youthful and primary. Intense and beautiful fruit, predominantly lime in flavour. Talc, florals, and a slatey minerality are all nascent at this stage, but will emerge with time. The thing that gets you with this Riesling is its length and precision. It flows perfectly from front palate to back, and then finishes with incredible length. You could drink it now with some seafood, but the quality is such that it deserves a place in the cellar. Being a birth year wine I've decided to stash a few away. Superb Riesling. 4.5 Stars

RRP: $30

Drink: 2013-2027
Closure: Screwcap

Website: www.meshwine.com  

 

 

Red

2010 Mountadam High Eden Chardonnay (Eden Valley)

A great story and unique wine.

Mountadam was set up in 1972  by David Wynn, founder of Wynns in Coonawarra. Wynn would have been one of Australia's more significant wine figures, regardless of whether he had set up Mountadam or not. Mountadam, however, only furthered his legacy. It was was his attempt to find an elevated, cool-climate site, in order to produce great Chardonnay. This endeavour is of course myriad now, but Wynn's Mountadam decision was truly unique for its time. As such, I’ve always liked the idea of Mountadam, but for some reason have very rarely got around to trying their wines.

One of the interesting aspects to Mountadam Chardonnay is that at 550 metres in the Eden Valley, it is well and truly in Riesling country. Indeed this is where some of Australia’s finest Rieslings are born. Can a wine region produce both great Riesling and Chardonnay? This wine answers this questions very strongly in the affirmative.

To the wine. Many of my favourite Australian Chardonnays see 100% malolactic fermentation and plenty of new oak. This is not because I’m in love with overt oak or blousy wines, far from it, but because the best chardonnay grapes take new oak and malo in their stride. Great Chardonnay sites can produce wines that retain a steely acidity and a sense of restraint, while benefitting from the further complexity and texture that malolactic fermentation and new oak brings. Wineries like Sorrenberg, Savaterre and Main Ridge produce great examples of this style. Mountadam can be added to this list.

This is a wine that leaves an impression. It’s quite a heady Chardonnay with bold flavours of citrus, peach and grilled nuts. Spicy oak is prominent but in balance with the fruit. Lovely acidity. Tasting it over 3 days it became more and more refined and integrated with time, while a beautiful pebbly minerality began to emerge. Smooth yet powerful. The last couple of mouthfuls were superb as the wine really stretched out and strutted its stuff. Leave this in the cellar for a couple of years and then enjoy. 4 Stars +

Rated:

+

RRP: $30

ABV: 14.0%

Closure: Screwcap

Drink: 2014-2020

Website: http://www.mountadam.com.au/

Red

2009 Yalumba "The Virgilius" Viognier (Eden Valley)

Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris/Grigio, and Viognier are three white wines I rarely seek out. A standard offering from these three varieties doesn’t do much for me. However, I would also say that the best examples of any variety can be both impressive and enjoyable, regardless of your natural preferences and biases. And so it is with this wine. In fact it’s close to being the best Viognier I have had.

It’s a tidy $50 a bottle, but there is plenty of love and care that has gone into it. From Yalumba -

Hand-picked grapes were whole-bunch pressed directly to barrels, and the juice handled with passive oxidation. The wine was fermented in mostly mature French oak barriques by a population of naturally occurring and differing species of yeast indigenous to the environment of the vineyard. In these wild ferments each yeast played a small and subtly different part in the development of the wine, creating layers of richness, complexity, fine textures and flavours. After fermentation the wine was aged on lees with regular batonage for 11 months to further heighten the palate weight and increase the complexity and flavour generosity. At blending only the finest barrels were chosen for the final wine.

The wine lives up to the spiel. It’s got a bit of varietal apricot generosity, but keeps this often blousy aspect with Viognier in check. There’s a beautiful ginger spice that pervades throughout, while in the background notes of melon, musk, florals, and dried herbs add further appeal. Fine acidity and a bit of phenolic grip provide lovely texture. Once again that spice is there on a long, refined finish.

It should age nicely over the next 5 years, but is good to go now with a bit of air. A cut above.

Rated:


RRP: $50
ABV: 13.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: http://www.yalumba.com/


Red

Teusner 2010 'The Gentleman' Eden Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Teusner’s ‘The Gentleman’ Cabernet Sauvignon appears to be the Cabernet sister to the Riebke Shiraz – same price point, similar labelling, but also similar bang for your buck? Let’s take a look:

Subtle liquorice/ aniseed, molasses, allspice and largely black fruits on the nose,.  Ripe black fruit on the palate, initial cola flavours, yet finishes with a savoury herbal/dark chocolate note, a degree of alcohol heat and pleasantly surprising length. The tannins are ripe and soft, medium to full bodied and a nice intensity and a silky mouthfeel.  
(Almost predictably), at around $18-22 per bottle, this is another promising, good value release from Teusner, alongside the excellent ‘The Independent’ Shiraz Mataro and Riebke Shiraz ranges.  They are a winery on top of its game from a wine making and wine marketing perspective.

Rating – 90points / 3.5 Stars
ABV – 14.5%
RRP: $18-22
Website: http://www.teusner.com.au/

2009 Mesh Riesling (Eden Valley)

Minerality is this wine’s thing.

The Eden Valley has a varied terrain but much of it is rocky with ironstone and quartz gravels, and the Riesling from this region often has a distinct sense of minerality on the palate. Is this sense of minerality a direct translation of the terroir or just a coincidence? It’s an ongoing scientific debate as to how much the sense of minerality that a wine delivers is a result of the soil that the grapes are situated in. The romantic in me would like there to be a direct correlation but at this point in time the science doesn’t seem overly supportive of this. Whatever the case it’s a trait I love in Eden Valley Riesling and this wine in particular.

The nose of this wine is classic Eden Valley with aromas of lime, apple blossom, slate and talc. On the palate however, it’s somewhat atypical. It doesn’t have as much of the crisp acidity as other 09 Eden Valley Rieslings that I’ve tried, and instead delivers a rounder and fuller mouthfeel. Lovely, pure fruit with flavours of lime and apples along with a touch of spice. The finish is long and is underpinned by an overall sense of minerality. As the wine moves from chilled to closer to room temperature this sense becomes more pronounced and more appealing. It’s not exactly like having pebbles in your mouth but near enough (in a good way).

A quality Riesling that I am looking forward to seeing age over the next decade.

Rated:


RRP: $26
ABV: 12.0%
Website: www.meshwine.com

2008 Growers Co-Op Chardonnay (Retail, Eden Valley & Tumbarumba)

I was out of cheap white wine, and needed some for a Risotto I was doing, so I went downstairs to Vine, an excellent independent bottleshop, just around the corner from where I live. I spotted a bottle of this wine at $10. Price wise it fitted the bill, but I also held out hope that it might be a half-decent wine. Given the grape glut at present in Australia, I figure it’s a pretty good time to be buying a Co-op wine like this, given that it should in theory have some half decent grapes going into it. It’s also from two interesting regions for Chardonnay, the Eden Valley and Tumbarumba.


Normally you’d be well advised to avoid a lot of $10 chardonnay, but not in this instance. This Chardy provides simple, yet smooth and enjoyable drinking. The perfect wine to add to your cooking (from a cost perspective) and then have a glass or two of it with your dinner.

It has a varietal nose of grapefruit and peaches, along with a touch of oak. On the palate it has some nice sweet fruit on the front palate, before moving towards more sour, grapefruit flavours along the back palate. Good length. A bit of minerality. A touch of woodiness on the finish my only real criticism.

Not sure how many $10 Chardonnays I’ve consumed, but this would be just about the best I’ve had at this price point.


Details:
Rated:


RRP: $10
Website: www.edenroadwines.com.au


Red

Eden Valley or Clare Valley Riesling?

I was reading an article by Tyson Stelzer in Decanter magazine recently about Clare Valley and Eden Valley Riesling. Of his top 15 picks from the 2009 vintage, 11 were from the Clare Valley. This preference for Clare Valley Rieslings over the Eden Valley is something I’ve noticed more generally amongst critics. Halliday’s best Riesling lists generally have about double the amount of Clare Valley. Jukes’ latest top 100 wines has 7 Clare as against 3 Eden, while Nick Stock’s Penguin Wine Guide has 40 odd Clare reviews compared to only 4 for the Eden.

The reason this broad trend has caught my attention is my preference for Eden Valley Rieslings. The lovely floral bouquets, and the minerality and acidity on the palate of the Eden generally does it for me just that bit more than the rounder, more citrus flavours of the Clare. Eden Rieslings from Pewsey Vale, Poonawatta, Torzi Matthews, and Peter Lehman have all tickled my fancy of late. Before I get into this further I want to say that I love Clare Rieslings. Recently I’ve had the 09 Grosset Polish Hill, as well as the 09 Petaluma Hanlin Hill, and both were absolutely stunning. However, in nominating a preference between these two wonderful Riesling regions, I fall on the Eden side of the ledger.

But I guess my question is what is the reason for the clear dominance of Clare Rieslings amongst wine critics? Is it people’s opinion that Clare Rieslings are definitively better than those of the Eden Valley? Is it possible that in the slightly more objective elements of wine like length, structure, and balance, that the Clare produces better wines.

Do people prefer the flavour profiles of Clare Riesling?

Is it the history of the Clare and the fact it there are possibly more historic wineries of real pedigree? Wineries like Knappstein and Grosset produce truly iconic Riesling, but are they given higher regard than a Pewsey Vale Contours or a Leo Buring Leonay?

Or is it nothing more complicated than the fact that there are more wineries in the Clare with more hectares of Riesling?

Whatever the case it’s an enjoyable conundrum. Both regions occupy a loving place in my cellar but for the minute the Eden has the edge for me . . .


Red

Heggies Eden Valley Riesling 2009

Proclaiming that the 2009 Heggies Riesling is great value and a delicious, reliable drop is definitely stating the obvious. Indeed, one of the cruellest ironies when it comes to Australian wine is that as tertiary white varieties (in my ignorant opinion) like the all-conquering Sauvignon Blanc dominate the best sellers lists of the bottle shops of Australia, noble and delicious varieties like Riesling suffer a consumer / popular backlash.

The cruel aspect to this commercial reality is that wine makers who are persevering with Riesling are not getting as much kudos from the general public or financial returns they deserve for making high quality wines. This is despite the best efforts of the wine critics and bloggers I follow who repeatedly discuss the ‘Riesling revival’ (which makes sense to me, but is not reflected in wine drinking trends).
The irony of this situation is that the (seemingly) small minority of wine consumers who love good quality Riesling have choice aplenty when it comes to wine at a low price point. For example, I am able to purchase top quality bottles of several 90+ rated Riesling for well under $20.

In the lead up to Christmas, the much better half (LB) and I are trying to save money (or build up a festive season war chest as I like to put it). On a reasonably frugal budget, we decided to kick it old school and have fish and chips on Coogee Beach as the sun went down on a warm late spring Sydney Saturday night.
In my humble opinion (and the late Len Evans’ deservedly not as humble opinion), nothing goes better with freshly shucked oysters than young Semillon. However, when it comes to other white wine/ seafood matchings, no other wine comes close to paring as neatly with fresh fish and chips as a well made, affordable young dry Riesling. Therefore, we purchased a bottle of Heggies, ordered two serves of fish and chips and settled down on Coogee Beach for dinner.
Most wine drinkers have heard of Heggies and/or consumed a bottle or two of their Riesling, Chardonnay or other white varieties (plus their sometimes very good Merlot).
As their wine is affordable, and has always been a dependable drop, I had wanted to try a bottle of the 2009 vintage for some time..
Whilst on a wine tour in the Barossa/Eden Valley in October, Red and I had heard from a few wine makers that the Eden Valley did not suffer as much heat damage as the Barossa Valley floor during the killer heat wave in late 2008/early 2009. We also heard that the weather was much more even in February to March, which led to even ripening of the fruit (and I assume increased natural acidity – but don’t quote me on that!!). To support this, the 2009 Rieslings I tried in the Barossa were almost universally more floral, light, and pleasantly more acidic than the very good, but not amazing (and early ripening) 2008 vintage.



Due to the lovely, laid-back setting, my ‘tasting notes’ for the Heggies are not comprehensive – the wine had a typical floral and lime nose, but I found it a bit more developed than other Rieslings of the same vintage with a hint of melon and even passionfruit (an earlier drinking style despite the seeming longevity if EV 2009 vintage?). I found it a more forward wine, a tad ‘ballsier’ than I expected, though with a crisp, refreshing acidity. I thought it was more Clare than typical Eden Valley, but was crisp and clean on the palette.

It matched superbly with fish and chips – the acidity cutting through the batter, the lemon/lime notes of the wine complementing my lemon-soaked fish fillets.

Combine the wine and food with a family friendly Coogee Beach setting, at twilight at the end of a scorching late spring day, and it was a very enjoyable – and affordable night out.



Why people do not bring more bottles of sub $20 Riesling to summer BBQs and seafood dinner parties is beyond me. However, with people coveting the Sauv Blancs and Pinot Gris of the world, I cannot complain that there are several cheap Riesling options available to me at most bottle shops in Sydney at any given time that can give me a similar value for money experience.



#Footnote – I repeated the same type of evening only a week ago, this time with a Jim Barry Watervale 2008 Riesling. Similarly great value wine, though with less lime and lemon. It was a fleshier wine with not as much crisp acidity. Still, for the price a great wine that complemented the food. You cannot go wrong with a bottle of Pewseyvale, Heggies, Jim Barry, Leeuwin Estate or Peter Lehmann Riesling, to name but a few.