Unfortunately, I could not attend the Bring a bottle club this month due, on this occasion, to a work commitment. But every cloud has a silver lining: here is a guest blog from Rob:
For the second notable birthday of the month, attention was focussed on a region known by reputation by all of us and especially by our birthday boy. Through the BBC’s association with Caviste we have a fondness for Australian wines, but more so perhaps for the Barossa. Nonetheless, we all felt confident of spotting a cooler climate Margaret River chardonnay or cabernet sauvignon: so how would we fair with all of Western Australia to go at?
Two themes emerged. Firstly, in an interesting twist on the excellent Two Ronnies’ ‘Mastermind’ sketch, an ability to identify the next wine and how wines age differently in Western Australia (and classically the whole of the New World) than the old.
First up, four whites of excellent calibre and unanimity of the order of preference from the group.
We started with a lively fresh, limey, just-the-right-amount-of-petrol, well, riesling surely? “Chardonnay” declared one member of the group. The 2009 Plantagenet, Great Southern, Riesling was a good example of cooler climate new world riesling.
The second wine was as predicted by our Ronnie Barker, a chardonnay. The Umamu Estate, Margaret River, Chardonnay, was everything we had hoped it would be: creamy, rich, lovely buttery oak well integrated with tropical fruits and, suggested one of us, Greek yoghurt. Everything a well-aged Margaret River Chardonnay should be. However, does a 2006 count as “well-aged”? The old world would need 10+ years to be as rich; this was lovely at half that age.
The third wine was just as easy to spot: waxy, good palate-weight, lovely balance, tell-tale lanolin. Mid aged semillon surely? ‘I know what this is!’, one member confidently declared, ‘McHenry Hohnen’s 3 Amigos’. The Moss Wood Vineyard, Margaret River, Semillon, 2010 was neither a Rhone blend nor mid-aged.
The four reds offered a different perspective: do Western Australian reds have a closed phase at the same age as the whites are beautifully showing tertiary characteristics?
The first red was unanimously declared as wonderful. “One of the best wines I have had in quite some time”, thought one. Dense, but feminine: burnt pepper and floral notes of a Coti Rotie; silky but rich; pale cherries and roses. The richness and the density of colour showed the Wignalls, Albany, Pinot Noir, to be some distance from an old-world cousin, but unlike the whites, from 2007, it was still an energetic teenager.
Bramble jam! Rich, succulent, sweet, brooding, blackberry, damsons, blackcurrant, tell-tale mint and green leaf. Classic Margaret River cabernet sauvignon. One member spotted the blended merlot in the Cape Mentelle, Margaret River, Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot. We were even not too far away from 2004.
If the 2004 was showing its fruit wonderfully well, the Cullen, Mangan, Margaret River, 2006, a blend of merlot, petit verdot and malbec, was still relatively closed. The nose was not giving much away, although the palate opened up nicely showing violets again (is this a Western Australia theme?) and pepper against a dark, brooding background of dense red fruit. Lovely, but still young.
The final red was even more impenetrable, but then a 2007, Plantagenet, Great Southern, Cabernet Sauvignon would be expected to be more closed than a pinot noir of the same age. Lovely tannins and suggestions of fruit hinted at more to come with time.
A final sweet concluded the evening and returned to the white ageing theme. A lovely rich amber colour, suggesting the winemaking processes involved, underlined by the rich orange marmalade balanced by lighter apricot. Mid aged, botrytis Semillon? Botrytis Semillon sure, but the 2009, Vinelane, Noble Botrytis Semillon followed the theme that at three years it showed a depth which a good Sauternes would envy at six years.
