Harkham Wines - Natural wine with a smile (Hunter Valley)

Maintaining a wine blog when you have a young family is tough, tougher when you combine it with a busy day job. The wine appreciation never stops, (nor do the recording of tasting notes, TBH) though the volume of articles being posted tends to inevitably decline. The post below should have been put on the blog over a year ago – the hospitality and enthusiasm of Richie Harkham demanded it, even if the quality of the writing in the post doesn’t quite. Regardless, this post was lost in the mix, and I have stumbled-upon it, dusted it off and posted it for the record. Tasting notes are from early October 2012. Thanks to Ritchie for taking time out of his day back in 2012.

The wine making industry loves ‘the next big thing’, especially when it polarizes opinions and has the potential to attract new customers to wine. In the last few years organic/biodynamic wine making practices and in particular, ‘natural wine’, have assumed this status. The growing trend of producing, selling and drinking natural wine polarises opinions amongst industry types, wine nerds and the wine cognoscenti.

While RedtoBrown have made light of natural wine in some of our posts (the ongoing ‘Wine Wars’ series of video clips being the most obvious example), on a serious note we have never shifted our focus away from the subjective assessment of the quality of the wine in the bottle for any given wine maker – be it natural or not.  If I like the taste of the wine, I like the wine: a tear-inducing, inspirational story behind the making of a wine does not mean I will enjoy drinking it.

With that elongated intro out of the way, my family headed to the Hunter Valley last October (editors note: 2012), for a relaxing few days. On recommendation of a wine friend, one of the wineries we visited was Harkham Windarra.

Owner and winemaker, Richard Harkham (Ritchie) has an infectious passion for his craft. Harkham is one of the few, (if not the only) Hunter Valley-based wineries making natural wine. This may be due to the regions successful battle with bret over the last 20 years, though it does seem strange that the major wine region closest to Sydney (the natural wine consumer capital of Australia) is not jumping on the bandwagon with more gusto.

When we met, Ritchie summed-up his winemaking philosophy as aiming for a wine that will be “as close to nature as you can get”. Ritchie noted winemakers tend to intervene too much in the winemaking process, and he tried to intervene only when necessary in a way that is done through positive energy in the cellar. As Ritchie noted, “wine is alive and always living and changing.”

Our tasting was a bit rushed, with Ritchie kindly fitting us in on a weekend prior to the arrival of a Chinese delegation keen to try his wines. The most impressive of the wines tasted had pure fruit flavours and refreshing, natural acidity. The least impressive strayed towards some left-field tropical fruit flavours and less structure. However, none of the wines tasted slotted into the cheap throw-away natural wine stereotype of faulty, funky barnyard reds and cloudy, orange, apple cider whites. Quite the opposite.

We left the winery with 4 bottles of wine (one of them a wine that Ritchie admitted did not turn out the way he would have liked, but was a wild wine to taste). The tasting notes below are for three of the wines, tasted in early November (Rose) and mid-November (the two Shiraz).  (As for the delay in posting the notes – blame my day job and downtime with my beautiful baby boy).

Harkham Aziza’s Shiraz 2012

An earthy, meaty nose with crushed grape stems, some dried florals, blueberry and dark cherry fruit. On the palate, a bit salty, with minimal tannin. Largely driven by juicy black cherry fruit and fresh acidity. The finish is earthy, meaty and savoury though clean, with a hint of residual salt.
After two days on the tasting bench/fridge, the nose opened up, with sweeter fruit coming out on the front palate, and a finish with additional dried herbs.
Given the difficult vintage conditions, and the minimalist natural wine making philosophy, this is a surprising result. Drink now.
Price: $22
Rating: 88pts

Shiraz Nouveau 2011

This wine hits home to me the razors-edge natural winemakers tread each vintage. If the winemaking is not at fault (and in this case it definitely isn’t), the fruit and vintage conditions can do their best to hijack a wine. Especially if the scientific – dare I say it, ‘industrial’ wine making work-arounds are not available. The wine had a banana-like nose with tropical undertones on the palate, arguably variable acidity, yet a core of ripe red cherry and raspberry fruit. Finished with an almost white wine textural mouthfeel. Ritchie noted that this was made from super ripe, small berries that were carbonically macerated in whole bunches in stainless steel tanks and bottled 3 months later. It was a tricky wine to make, and it shows in the glass.
Rating: 87pts

Harkham Rose 2012

Attractive light, pale strawberry colour. Nose – Sweet red fruits and a hint of spicy stonefruit (white nectarine). Juicy yet delicate fruit flavours, primarily strawberry, light and vibrant with lovely fresh, cleansing, integrated acidity. The finish is dry, with some mixed citrus peel lingering at the end. A very drinkable, refreshing wine, sweet on the nose, yet largely dry on the mid-back palate. The fresh, integrated acidity a standout. This wine passed the ‘Wife Test’, with the better half giving it two thumbs up.
Rating: 94pts

 Website: http://www.harkhamwine.com/

2009 Tyrrell’s 4 Acres Shiraz (Hunter Valley)

 

 

This was an unexpected treat at a family lunch on Australia day.

The 4 Acres Shiraz is one of the jewels in the Tyrrell’s crown, and indeed for Australian wine more generally.  The 4 Acres vineyard was planted in 1879 by Edward Tyrrell. Like many other century old vineyards in Australia, it was spared the ravages of phylloxera, and since that time has produced a medium-bodied Shiraz very much in the classic “Hunter Burgundy” mode. Tyrrell’s are sensitive to this history and the style, and the viticulture and winemaking reflects this, in particular with the ageing of the wine in large format, old oak. 

We decanted the wine for a few hours before consumption, but it still didn’t reveal too much on the nose – red fruits and some earthiness. To drink however, there is more pleasure to be had. It’s a light-medium bodied Shiraz that is Pinotesque in its weight and mouthfeel. Indeed, forget for a minute the substance here, and it works as a lovely luncheon red. Ponder the wine for a moment however, and there’s a future in the cellar to be excited about. It’s very much acid driven with an insistent yet fine acidity underpinning its medium bodied frame. While light, the fruit has a pitch perfect ripeness to it that carry the flavours through a long finish. Red fruits, mainly cranberry, and a beautiful mouth perfume are given savoury purpose by a lovely earthiness.

The quality of the fruit, the acidity and the latent complexity all lend themselves to the suggestion that this will be something quite special in another 10 years and beyond. The history of Tyrrell’s reds, and Hunter Shiraz more generally give further weight to this proposition. I’ve got 3 bottles in the cellar, the first of which I’ll open in another 10 years or so, from which I’ll take my cue on the remaining two.   






Rated: 4 Stars ++
RRP: $50
ABV: 13.0%
Closure: Screwcap
Drink: 2019-2030+
Website: www.tyrrells.com.au


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2010 Drayton’s Heritage Vines Shiraz (Hunter Valley)

This is both quintessential and historic Hunter Shiraz. The grapes for this wine come from the “Flat” block planted in the 1890’s by William Drayton.

The wine opens up a bit funky and stinky as if to hark back to the problems Hunter Shiraz has had in the past. This element, however, blows off with some air. It's medium bodied, acid driven, and a touch rustic. It tastes of sour cherry and chocolate oak, but the flavours that really come to the fore are earth and leather. In fact those leathery notes are this wines unique calling card, while also marking it as quintessential Hunter. It improved nicely over a few days of tasting, lengthening through the finish, and I ended up bumping it up to 4 stars from an initial 3.5 Stars. It needs time in the cellar but will provide lovely Hunter drinking for many a year to come.

Rated:

RRP: $60
ABV: 14%
Drink: 2015-2025
Closure: Screwcap
Website: www.draytonswines.com.au


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2009 Thomas Motel Block Shiraz

I have tasted two bottles of the 09 Motel Block – one during a fantastic Hunter Valley taste and tweet event in 2011, and this bottle. Both have been robust, powerful renditions of Hunter Shiraz.

The Motel Block is one of the single vineyard wines from Hunter Valley wine making maestro, Andrew Thomas. Drawn from a dry grown, 2.8ha vineyard planted in 1967,  the nose is dark, brooding with quality sweet cedar oak, dark chocolate and some sweet roasted fennel, while on the palate, there are robust black fruits. With air and time in the decanter, the wine mellowed out to reveal more red fruits, yet with an earthy Hunter vibe. Aniseed and allspice become more prominent once opened and the wine freshened up further over time.

Unlike some warm climate wines, the Motel Block has powerful fruit on the palate, though refreshing acid on the finish: a wine that has oak, fruit and natural acid in fine balance. Should age nicely and mellow in old age.

Rating: 94

RRP: $45

ABV: 14.5%
Website: www.thomaswines.com.au

Tallavera vs Tallawanta: 2010 Pepper Tree Tallavera Shiraz & the 2010 Pepper Tree Coquun Shiraz

Two single vineyard wines from the Hunter Valley. Similar in name, but quite different in nature.

Tallavera is in the Mount View sub-region, and the 15 year old vines at this site are growing roots in red soils and limestone. It’s a site of significant potential. Tallawanta, on the other hand, is of proven pedigree. Planted in 1920 on a red soil site just off Broke Rd, it produces beautiful old vine fruit.

2010 was a decent but not great vintage for Shiraz in the Hunter, but through vineyard care and intelligent winemaking, Jim Chatto has allowed these two vineyards to sing.

2010 Pepper Tree Tallavera Shiraz ($45) – A beautiful medium-bodied Hunter Valley Shiraz. It has a bright expressive nose of cherry and spice with the oak nicely tucked in. To drink it shows plenty of poise and length. Lovely acidity and fine tannins frame the wine nicely. It should age very nicely. 4 Stars +

2010 Pepper Tree Coquun Shiraz ($45, Tallawanta vineyard) – there is just a bit more stuffing and a bit more latent complexity with the Coquun as compared to Tallavera, with that old vine fruit strutting its stuff. There’s also a bit more obvious oak input as well. A seductive nose of cherry, spice, creamy oak, and just a hint eucalypt. As with the Tallavera there is a refined line and length of flavour, but it’s a bit more than medium bodied with some lovely choc-cherry flavours, and hints of that classic Hunter earthiness. Once again, this should age very nicely. 4 Stars +

With a bit of air both wines can be enjoyed now, but really both should be put in the cellar, and I plan to revisit them both at ten years of age.
 
 
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Squirrels and Woodchips: Autotune and the Over-use of Oak in Wine

“This is anti-autotune, death of the ringtone

 This ain’t for Itunes, this ain’t for sing-along

I know we facin a recession

But the music yall makin gonna make it the great depression”

Jay Z – D.O.A (Death of Autotune)

I am more a fan of indie guitar music, but Jay Z has a point in D.O.A – the proliferation of songs filled with autotune is not a promising trend for music, especially any musician aiming for some form of artistic credibility.

Personally, I see the overuse of oak in wine as the oenological equivalent to over use of (or in my view, 'any' use of) autotune in the production of music: if the fruit was top quality, the wine would likely be just as good with the oak turned down a few notches. If the fruit was poor quality, no amount of oak will ever fully mask this fact. As with 99% of autotune-heavy music, neither style of wine will live long in the memory, and if it does, it is likely to be for the wrong reasons.

For those not familiar with autotune, it is the computer voice tuning/pitch assistance program that enables even the tone deaf to sound bearable when recorded, and can be tweaked to create a ‘unique’ vocal effect. Musical sadists like T Pain and the Black Eyed Peas have embraced the software, and music has not progressed artistically one iota as a result. Luckily, in the years since Jay Z downloaded on autotune not many artistically credible musicians (across multiple genres) have embraced autotune in the same way as T Pain.

There was consternation in the wine cellar when cult contract wine maker Brice Dickenson suggested their wine could have used a little more new American oak.

Ironically, unlike music with autotune, the wine industry seems more inclined to drown a wide range of different wines - excellent, underrated, average and ordinary - in a layer of oak. Perhaps the lower incidence of death by autotune vs death by oak at the above average to elite level is due to the added production options when making music compared to wine.

The tragedy with overuse of oak in wine is that many wineries inflict it upon their best grapes: their reserve crop. If I had a dollar for every time I tried an estate wine that was far superior to the more expensive liquified oak tree reserve, I would be a millionaire (ok, maybe if I had $150k for every time). Somehow I cannot see Paul McCartney in the studio wanting to add an electronic autotune robot voice to the verses in Yesterday (noting  Yesterday was his Beatles, not Wings era), or Kurt Cobain insisting he have his grungy growl in the chorus of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' soar like a chipmunk as in Cher's horrendous autotune defining song, ‘Believe’.

“Do you believe in wine without oak? I can taste some fruit in this glass,
but really can’t taste it strong enough”

I am not saying every winery does this –unless rudely oaked wine is their house style, the elite winemakers get it right more often than not depending on the fashion of the day. Furthermore, in some very lucky vineyards it is harder to make a bad wine than a good/great one. 

Unfortunately, I have had too many glasses of (relatively) expensive, cellared, over oaked wine; the fruit trying valiantly to peep through in its death-throes. In these situations, I cannot help but think that there are many similar wines out there that could have been timeless classics, were it not for too much tinkering with the oak meter.

For our non-Australian readers, the Australian wine industry has battled its oak (and acid) demons for some time now. You need only compare a late 1990's/early 00s (Parker Points aspiring) Hunter Valley Shiraz with their equivalents being made today to realise how much of a positive difference reducing the amount of new oak had made to the wines. The Region’s ‘voice’ is heard, unaccompanied and solo: infinitely more enjoyable and long lasting without the wine equivalent of autotune smothering it. This example is one I would love to see more often in some other regions.

The Black Eyed Peas inspect one of their many low-yielding, biodynamically grown Pinot and Riesling vineyards in between recording of their new autotune-lathed album.

At the lower end of the wine market, it is all out marketing and stylistic warfare. We have wine companies marketing non-vintage fruit and herb infused cooler as wine, low calorie fizzy alcoholic grape juice as wine, and the topic of this post, cheap, sweet, heavily oaked (chipped) reds and whites.

At this end of the wine and music market, the use of oak and autotune is not so much of a tragedy as a lazy lost opportunity. The $5-$15 wine segment is as much awash with sugary sweet wines as it is heavily oaked wines – most commonly in combination, though there are more than enough straight out sweet wines.

As with the lower end wine market, the music industry is overflowing with sugary sweet pop and RnB songs that chart one week and are forgotten the next. The music is generic, the style derivative, the attention span of the listener fleeting, and the cultural impact of the song, negligible.

Part of me would love to see smarter, well-crafted throw-away pop songs being produced, or a higher percentage of intelligently conceived, quaffable wines released.

One is, stupid, cynical, sickly sweet, infantile and supposedly attractive to the 25- 35 year old female demographic. The other is David Beckham
      

However, in this segment of the music and wine markets, autotune and heavily oaked wine is merely one of a multitude of problems facing both industries and the topic of a much longer conversation (to be held with a glass of oaky Cabernet in hand and the dulcet, autotune-affected tones of the Black Eyed Peas playing in the background. Not.)

2007 Scarborough Shiraz (Hunter Valley)

I tasted this wine alongside the 09 De Iuliis Steven and 09 Pepper Tree Coqunn. Stiff competition to be up against, especially when Scarborough are better known for their Chardonnay and Semillon. To Scarborough’s credit, however, it performed well and served to highlight what a good vintage 2007 was for Hunter Shiraz.

Tasted over 4 nights, it was initially a touch disjointed and primary fruit dominant, though on days 2 and 3 it had integrated nicely. Then by day 4 it had become distinctly “huntery” with notes of earth and leather coming to the fore.

To the specifics, it smells lovely with aromas of cherry, musk and some nice oak. On the palate it’s medium bodied, well balanced between fruit and savoury flavours, has some lovely spice, and delivers a long sour cherry finish. I initially gave it 3.5 stars on Day 1, but the wine’s subsequent performance over 4 days warranted a nudge. 4 Stars and a big tick of approval from my wife as well. It should drink nicely over the next 5 years.

Rated:


RRP: $25
ABV: 13.5%
Website: www.scarboroughwine.com.au
Source: Sample


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A tale of two vineyards: 2009 De Iuliis Steven Shiraz & 2009 Pepper Tree Coquun Shiraz

RedtoBrown was sent these two wines as part of a recent Hunter Valley ‘tweet-up’. I was very impressed with both, and a subsequent trip up to the Hunter gave me an opportunity to visit the two wineries in question, and talk to the respective winemakers, Jim Chatto at Pepper Tree and Mike De Iuliis.

In the end, what I came away with from this visit more than anything, was a sense of excitement about the prospects for two historic vineyards. Both of these sites had been somewhat neglected in recent years. Now, however, through the intervention of these two Hunter winemakers, they are set to see a renaissance and produce some wonderful wines.

The first of these vineyards is Tallawanta. It was planted in 1920, and despite a history of producing great fruit, had fallen on lesser times, and indeed was due to be mothballed until Jim Chatto stepped in to take up the lease at the end of 2009. The other is the Steven Vineyard, which was planted in the 60s by Lindemans, and had been the source of the Lindeman Steven Shiraz. As with Tallawanta, it had been less than fastidiously looked after of late. De Iuliis then also stepped in at the end of 2009 to take over this vineyard.

The thing that struck me was that the two respective wines that came from these two sites, the 2009 De Iuliis Steven Shiraz & 2009 Pepper Tree Coquun Shiraz (Tallawanta Vineyard), were made prior to these two gentlemen gaining control of the vineyards, a period in which they were receiving less than meticulous care. Despite this, the two wines are very impressive. I tasted them over five nights, and both integrated and developed beautifully during this time. They are wines undoubtedly for the long haul. This ultimately is testament to the inherent qualities of these vineyards, the quality of the vintage, and the intelligent treatment of the fruit from Chatto and De Iuliis.

The exciting thing is that Tallawanta and Steven in 2009 were like Porsches that hadn’t been fine tuned for many a year - still capable of wonderful things, but certainly not delivering at peak performance. Now, however, they are under more watchful gazes. From the 2011 vintage we should start to see the effects of greater care and attention in both vineyards. I tasted barrel samples of both wines from the 2011 vintage, and while still very young and somewhat difficult to assess at this early stage, they are looking full of promise.

Considering that it will probably take a few more years of effort in these vineyards to see them realising their full potential, it’s exciting to think of the quality of wine that will be produced in future vintages.

A final thing to note is the high levels of natural acidity that fruit from Tallawanta and Steven produce. Both of these wines have a lovely, insistent acidity upon which their longevity will be built. Talking to Chatto about this, he reckons the best sites in the Hunter have always produced fruit with high levels of acidity, and all that is needed to retain this acidity is to not leave the fruit on the vines for too long. To me this is a major part of the Hunter’s appeal, that as a sub-tropical region it is able to produce wines that are acid driven, and hence very age worthy. Indeed Chatto claims that he’s more likely to need to add acid to wines he makes from Coonawarra and Wratonbully (relatively cooler regions), than to his Hunter wines.


2009 De Iuliis Steven Shiraz – $40 - Line and Length. No, I’m not talking about Glen McGrath’s style of bowling, but rather the style of wine. It presents a refined and well defined line and length of elegant, medium-bodied Hunter Shiraz. While it’s very enjoyable now, it’s undoubtedly built for the long haul. Lovely flavours of cherry, violets, earth, meatiness, and just a hint of vanillan oak. A classic Hunter “Burgundy” in the making. 4 stars ++

2009 Pepper Tree Coquun Shiraz – $45 - This Shiraz has a different feel compared to the Steven, and highlights the difference between wines that can be savoured and enjoyed when single vineyards are ably expressed. This wine has a darker fruit profile, some interesting notes of pepper and mint, and some lovely oak that integrated well with time. While it’s still in medium bodied territory, it’s more towards the full bodied side of the ledger. It has a nice bit of mid-palate richness before delivering a long finish of lovely sour cherry flavours that are supported by fine, drying tannins. In fact, that finish just got longer and longer over the 5 nights. 4 stars ++

I sometimes shake my head at my own change in attitude towards the Hunter Valley. 5-10 years ago I had a fairly lukewarm view of wines from this region. This was to some extent ignorance on my part (or at least a fairly narrow palate at that stage), but it was also a period in which Hunter wine reached somewhat of a nadir, producing often less than inspiring wines. What then happened gradually during the noughties, was an effort by vignerons to better care for and express their vineyards, as well as work more judiciously in the winery. These efforts continue apace, as evidenced above, and to my mind make Australia’s oldest wine region also one of its most exciting.


Websites:
www.peppertreewines.com.au
www.dewines.com.au



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1994 Mount Pleasant Maurice O'Shea Shiraz (Hunter Valley)

All roads seemingly lead to the Hunter Valley for RedtoBrown at the moment. Hunter Valley tastings, samples, and tweet-ups have been a focus in the past couple of weeks, and as it so happens I’m heading up to the Hunter this weekend for a mate’s wedding. Staying on message I thought I’d talk a bit about the 1994 Mount Pleasant Maurice O’Shea Shiraz, which I had a few weeks back with Brown and our much better halves.

When a wine is 17 years old I’d generally err on the side of caution when considering whether to decant for a while before drinking. If you decant for too long with an aged wine you might in fact miss its best moments, before it starts to slowly decline. So this was given a quick decant before it found its way into our glasses. As it turned out, I shouldn’t have been so conservative, as this Hunter Shiraz has plenty of years in front of it, and I’m sure it would have been better on day two, had we not polished it off in the one evening.

The dominant aroma on the nose initially was some characteristic Hunter leather along with some chocolate oak. As it opened up over the next couple of hours however, notes of cherry, earth, and black olive came to the fore. A lovely aged Hunter bouquet. The palate was defined by a spine of quite prominent acidity from which everything else flowed. It’s medium-bodied, wonderfully food friendly, tastes of classic Hunter sour cherry and earth, and finishes with fine, drying tannin. It’s not incredibly complex, and I could quibble about oak being a tad too prominent here, but there’s an appeal and persistence to this wine that’s hard to resist. Cork permitting, it would not surprise me to see this still drinking well in another 10 years time. 4 Stars.

Rated:



Website: www.mountpleasantwines.com.au


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