Briar Ridge 2015 Fiano - Hunter Valley

PASTA dishes and seafoods will partner
nicely with this Hunter Valley Fiano.

ONE TO NOTE: THE Hunter Valley's Briar Ridge Wines has released a 2015 Fiano, a Southern Italian varietal that in Australia has been mostly made until now in warmer regions such as McLaren Vale, Riverland, the Clare Valley and the Adelaide Hills.

Winemaker Gwyn Olsen brought in fruit from the Hunter's Howards Vineyard for this new-direction wine, a drop with an interestingly lively palate of ginger spice, cumquat and hazelnut to the fore and a quite lovely zestiness.  And while an enjoyable buy-now, drink-now wine, Gwyn says it's showing all signs of developing further complexity over the next five years; pay $28 and enjoy with pasta dishes or seafoods.

for week beginning 31 August 2015

Eden Hall 2015 Gruner Veltliner - Eden Valley

ONE to match up with a Wiener Schnitzel,
the national dish of its homeland Austria.

JUST THE DROP WITH WIENER SCHNITZEL

David Ellis

EDEN Valley in the Barossa may be one of our smaller winemaking regions, but even so is home to some exceptional makers, and at the same time some equally exceptional histories to many of their properties.

Among them is Eden Hall that dates back to the 1840s, was planted to wine grapes in the early 1900s, saw these ripped out 70 years later in favour of sheep grazing, and went back to winemaking again in the 1990s (while still keeping some sheep.)

And now it's released what's believed to be the Valley's first-ever Gruner Veltliner, a wine whose homeland is Austria, is made to a lesser degree in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and is fast becoming popular in the USA and here in Australia.

And Eden Hall had a trump card up their sleeve when it came to making their pioneering drop: one of their winemakers, Christa Deans spent time in Austria working in wineries there and getting to learn all she could about Gruner Veltliner.

Hers is a ripper drop with a rich palate of nectarine and white peach fruit flavours and back notes of citrus and grapefruit and a mineral finish. A naturally food-friendly wine with anything from chicken dishes to seafoods, vegetarian and even light red meats, it's a perfect match with Wiener Schnitzel… which after all is the national dish of Austria from which this variety originated. Eden Hall's Gruner Veltliner is $35 a bottle online with discounts for six or more: check out www.edenhall.com.au

for week beginning 31 August 2015

One to note: 2012 Girt by Sea label Cabernet Merlot - Voyager Estate

AN unexpected attention-grabber to enjoy with
lamb shanks cooked in a red wine sauce.

ONE TO NOTE: VOYAGER Estate in Western Australia's Margaret River in 2012 had one of its warmest summers, earliest vintages, and highest fruit yields ever, and despite some challenges these threw up at winemakers, it's released an exceptionally smooth and moreish 2012 Girt by Sea label Cabernet Merlot.

Something of an unexpected attention-grabber, this most pleasant drop has layers of dark cherry and blackcurrant fruit flavours, hints of vanilla, spice and nougat, fine-grained tannins and nicely integrated French and American oak. At $28, a great match with barbecued steak, or lamb shanks cooked in a red wine sauce.

for week beginning 24 August 2015

2015 Watervale Riesling - South Australia’s Clare Valley

ENJOY FOOD FRIENDLY WATERVALE RIESLING

David Ellis

A DROP to match with anything from seafood to
Asia, chicken, pork or vegetarian dishes.

ALTHOUGH they've been making wines in South Australia's Clare Valley since the 1850s, one little village that's particularly renowned for its Rieslings is Watervale – which all these years on, still has a population of under 250.

Jim Barry Wines is virtually synonymous with Watervale and premium Rieslings, and their now-released 2015 Watervale Riesling is another example of why the team there has such a well-deserved reputation, albeit 2015 wasn't exactly kind to them in many respects weather-wise.

We're talking about rain – firstly a lack of it, and then absolutely plenty of it, combined with unwanted extreme heat. In five months from early August 2014 to early January 2015, the Clare Valley got a mere 67mm, just enough as Peter Barry put it, "to wash the dust off the vines."  Then in three weeks of January down it came… 100mm of it, combined with that extreme heat in February.

'

But remarkably the vines came through well, and the 2015 Jim Barry Watervale is a great Riesling, with mouth-filling ginger and lime fruit flavours, crispy apple-like acidity and a nice varietal creaminess. Pay $18 and with Riesling being one of the most food-friendly of wines, match this one with anything from seafood to Asian, chicken, pork or vegetarian dishes.

for week beginning 24 August 2015

One to note: Tim Adams Clare Valley Pinot Gris

A PUNT that paid off makes for a great-matching
wine with Asian cuisine and seafoods.

#wine

ONE TO NOTE: THE CLARE Valley’s Tim Adams took a big punt when he planted his first Pinot Gris after enjoying an Alsace Pinot Gris with an old mate, and afterwards thinking the variety might do well on a couple of sites he had in mind in Clare.

And that punt certainly more than paid off, for today Tim Adams’ is amongst the top-sellers of premium Australian Pinot Gris, Tim making his from fruit off his own and select other Clare Valley vineyards.

This 2015 is all about mouth-filling flavours of pear, leatherwood honey and peach, off-set with a subtle citrus zest, fruity sweetness on the middle palate, and cleansing acidity. Nicely priced at $22 for a wine of this quality, it’s a natural to enjoy with Asian cuisine, seafoods and salads.

2013 Limestone Ridge Shiraz Cabernet - Coonawarra

#wine

SHIRAZ CABERNET GETS TONGUES WAGGING

David Ellis

PERFECT conditions result in the perfect
wine with roast beef or lamb dishes.

WHEN you’ve a vineyard that sits directly over Coonawarra’s famed Terra Rossa strip right where the soil is at its most-shallow above a ridge of marvellous limestone, and you enjoy a fantastic growing season to boot, it’s a pretty safe bet you’re going to create wines to have tongues wagging.

And that’s exactly what Lindeman’s got a couple of years’ back, and from which they’ve now-released their 2013 Limestone Ridge Vineyard Shiraz Cabernet, a premium drop that’s worth every cent of the $60 asking price.

Winemaker Brett Sharpe sums up 2013 simply as “excellent” in Coonawarra, with a warm, dry summer followed by a cool autumn. “We had great fruit set, undertook targeted fruit thinning, and cooler ripening conditions followed by a late ‘Indian Summer,’ resulted in reds that ripened slowly and fully and provided us with excellent fruit concentration and ripe tannin structure,” Brett says.

With a lovely spiciness to it, oodles of red and black juicy fruit flavours, subtle floral notes and toasty oak, this 2013 Limestone Ridge Shiraz Cabernet is a great drop for special-event dining, and a perfect match with roast beef or lamb dishes.

One to note: Rymill Coonawarra Brut

FOR those next celebrations a great Aussie bubbly
from a French-born, Champagne-trained winemaker.

ONE TO NOTE:  A NICE bubbly to think about for any celebrations you have in the wind, is a 2012 Rymill Coonawarra Brut that's made from grape varieties used in the finest traditional French Champagnes – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

And who better to make it than Senior Winemaker at Rymill, Sandrine Gimon who is French-born and Champagne-trained… and for this drop changed the component percentages a little to reflect the exceptional 2012 vintage for Chardonnay in Coonawarra: she made this one with 90% Chardonnay fruit, and for sticking with tradition, equal parts of the two Pinot.

And although those two are just five per cent each of the blend, they're enough to give the wine a nicely subtle pink hue. With a nice creamy mousse, fresh fruit flavours (peach, melon and red berries mostly) and good acidity, it's a great drop for partying – or any time. And nicely priced too at $25.

for week beginning 10 August 2015