Angullong 2016 Fossil Hill Orange-Region Sangiovese

Angullong 2016 Fossil Hill Orange-Region Sangiovese ($26): grapevines are propagated from cuttings and different source materials show variations that are known as clones. This medium-bodied dry red is made from the 'brunello' and 'piccolo' Sangiovese clones, which produce smaller, more intensely flavoured berries than the 'grosso' clone, which is proving ideal for making the Angullong Rosato. I like this dry red a great deal and find it a good match for a range of red meats, especially rare beef.

- John Rozentals

Angullong 2017 Fossil Hill Orange-Region Rosato

Angullong 2017 Fossil Hill Orange-Region Rosato ($24): This wine recently went a treat with the nibblies we grazed on before a suitably long lunch in Angullong's vineyard near the locality of Panuara, on the southern slopes of Orange's main landmark, Mt Canobolas. It may be quite a frivolous pink in colour, but this wine has some substance to it. It's made from the Italian red variety Sangiovese, completely dry and packed with quite a delicious, morish flavour.

- John Rozentals

Huntington Estate 2013 Mudgee Special-Reserve Shiraz

WINE OF THE WEEK

John Rozentals

Huntington Estate 2013 Mudgee Special-Reserve Shiraz ($36): This is a fine example of Mudgee red — and exactly of what Tim Stevens is talking about. It's a richly flavoured, full-bodied dry red with a lot of earthy flavours and plenty of fine-grained tannins that are already well balanced against those flavours. It's drinking well now and will only get better. Match it with some of the best steak, char-grilled medium-rare for me.

It's all in the tannin. Mudgee red wine and Huntington Estate

JOHN ROZENTALS returns from Mudgee thinking about full-bodied dry reds and urges readers to go with the flow of the tannins.

Tannin structure is critical to the way that a red wine tastes and responds to food, yet I doubt that most wine lovers understand tannins.

Tannins come mostly from the skins of red grapes and aren't bitter, they're astringent. There is a big difference.

They have a high affinity for proteins and combine them to form long-chain insoluble molecules. That's why they dry the mouth. Saliva contains a lot of protein. Red wine combines with these proteins and hence your mouth feels dry — and you can sometimes scrape red-coloured residue off your tongue with your teeth.

It's why protein-based fining agents, such as egg-white and skimmed milk, are sometimes used to remove tannins from red wines.

Foods such as red meat contain a lot of protein, so when you consume them with red wine, the wine's drying effect on the tongue is lessened. That's one reason they go well together, and it's certainly why you should taste wine with appropriate food before buying it.

The tannin structure of grapes — and hence of the wines they make — depends much on environment, grape variety, growing conditions, timing of harvest, etc. The extraction of that tannin, and its persistence in the wine depends much on winemaking techniques.

It's the regionality that comes to the fore when Huntington Estate owner and winemaker Tim Stevens claims the area can produce some of the best red wines in Australia, and hence in the world.

"There is no doubt that our style of red wine is unique; we have high levels of high-quality tannin and acid that can make the wines somewhat astringent when young. I make no apologies for this, as the structure makes the wines great for aging and great with food … In time the fruit and tannins integrate to become sublime," he said.

"Our wines are old-style and don't suit tastes where body and complexity are not important. The style of Mudgee reds is not something we can change, even if, God forbid, we wanted to. This is because of our unique climate and soils, which are what they are.

"Time and again, I have seen Mudgee winemakers (myself included) try to tame these tannins by manipulating the vineyard conditions or playing too much with the wine in the cellar. Invariably, the wine becomes stripped or dull. Handled properly, Mudgee wines are full-bodied, have loads of super-fine tannins, good acid levels, with concentrated and complex flavours that last of the palate.

"The trick is to be guided by the vineyard and intervene as little as possible. Go with the tannins, not against them."

Caption: Tim Stevens working on a Huntington Estate red … "The trick is to be guided by the vineyard and intervene as little as possible."

Grey Sands 2015 Pinot Gris - Tamar Valley, Tasmania

TASSIE PINOT GRIS' COOL SUCCESS STORY

David Elli

WHILE living in the UK in the early 1980s, Bob and Rita Richter spent a lot of time exploring the wine-growing regions of Europe, and concluding that Europe's best wines were coming out of its cooler regions.

So on their return to Australia at the end of 1984, and keen to get into cool climate winemaking, Bob enrolled into a winemaking course at the Roseworthy Agricultural College in 1985 – and he and Rita gave themselves a holiday to Tasmania that same year to see what was already there, and what the potential may be for their own future in the cool island State.

As a result, in November of 1987 they bought land in the Tamar Valley, and because as Rita puts it "everyone down here was growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay," they opted instead for Pinot Gris and Merlot… with smaller quantities of some 16 other varieties on their Grey Sands vineyard (so-named after the silty sand atop hardpan and clay.)

With some varieties struggling in the Tasmanian conditions the Richter's did a bit of varietal juggling, and today they've still an amazing seventeen different varieties.

And their decision in 1987 to include Pinot Gris has proven a judicious one, for sales today of the variety are the fastest-growing of any white wine in Australia, at around a healthy 15 per cent annually.

Interestingly, Pinot Gris is something of a What Is Old Is New Again as it was first planted in Australia in 1832 by James Busby in the Hunter Valley, but never really took off, probably because being a cool climate variety it ripened in the warm Hunter Valley before developing any significant flavour or aroma. But then in the 1990s when plantings began in cooler regions, it suddenly hit its straps.

Bob and Rita Richter's Grey Sands 2015 Pinot Gris is a particularly inviting example of the varietal, with wonderful aromas of crystallized pineapple and custard apple, and with a lily of the valley floral lift to it. And when it comes to flavour, this one's beautifully rewarding with deep and ripe varietal fruit flavours coupled with suggestions of ginger and quince, and a long, long finish.

Certainly well worth it's $45 cellar door and website price with spicy foods like Thai fish cakes, green chicken curry – or if you aren't into spiciness, with calamari or paté as a meal starter. To see more and order online, go to www.greysands.com.au

NEED A FOOD/DRINK IDEA? Check out http://www.vintnews.com 

                                                             ………………..

PHOTO CAPTIONS:

[] FROM out of the cool of Tasmania, a perfect match with spicy Thai fish cakes or a green chicken curry.

[] "Should we net these now or can they wait a bit longer?" That's the question for the Richters in their constant battle with fruit-stealing birds (mainly Silver Eyes)… they delay netting as long as possible as it reflects some of the important radiation.

week 23 Oct 17

2017 NSW Wine Awards winners announced

#nswwineawards17

The finalists of the 2017 Pier One Sydney Harbour NSW Wine Awards have just been revealed, and the 22nd annual NSW Wine Awards has unveiled one of the most exciting and diverse ranges of new gold medal wines on record.

In fact, 58 gold medals have been awarded this year, to wineries from 10 different NSW wine regions and to wines made from Semillon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Vermentino, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Tempranillo, Barbera, Merlot and Durif, as well as blends of the above!

President of the NSW Wine Industry Association Tom Ward clarifies, “We have indeed had a great result for both the show and our state’s wineries this year, with a high proportion of gold medal winners highlighting the quality and diversity of NSW wines available out there. This is in no way a result of us trying to punch up the wine and make everyone a winner; a gold label is a level of trust for the consumer and our gold medals have to be seriously earned. That is why getting such a high profile and experienced panel of judges is so important. This year we were thrilled to have Dave Brookes as our Chief Judge, leading a panel of 8 other expert judges from across Australia, and 6 associate judges.

We have also introduced a more hi-tech scoring process with an iPad based system from the Australian Wine Research Institute. This has enabled us to really get the best out of the judging - correlates all the scores in one system and monitoring judges high and low scores - and be as efficient as possible.”

Please see below a full list of all the wines that are now competing for top honours and one of the 20 Trophies available (preliminary results for all entries can also be accessed at www.nswwine.com.au). Announcement of the 2017 Trophy winners will take place on Friday 27 October at the NSW Wine Awards Presentation Lunch at Pier One Sydney Harbour.

Who do you think will take home the coveted title of 2017 NSW Wine of the Year?

@nswwine



List of gold-medal-winning Finalists ~ in alphabetical order only …

Patritti Lot Three Shiraz - McLaren Vale

GREAT match with a winter's beefy stew
or roast beef with a pepper sauce.

ONE TO NOTE: TUCKED away on a quiet street in suburban Dover Gardens in Adelaide is historic Patritti winery and cellar door, the last of what were once many such family-owned suburban wineries in the city.

Established in 1926 they've just released a very more-ish 2014 Shiraz made at Dover Gardens from fruit hand-picked off Patritti's Lot Three Elliott Road vineyard at Blewitt Springs in McLaren Vale. With typical McLaren Vale Shiraz black fruits and dark chocolate notes, this one's backed-up with blue fruits and savoury elements that make it quintessentially Blewitt Springs.

At a recommended $35 it's a great match with a winter's beefy stew or with roast beef and a pepper sauce.

24 July 17