Wine without BS

Xabregas 2010 Single Vineyard X Series Syrah

 The guys at Xabregas are pretty serious about Shiraz... or Syrah as they prefer to call it. This is fine by me as Shiraz is one of my all time favourite varieties. So when Xabregas told me they were sending over there two new, single vineyard Syrah's that show the different characteristics of two different vineyard locations within the Mount Barker region I was excited to try them side by side.

First we will start with the Spencer Syrah which had a vibrant colour of ruby, cherry and blood red like tones. A rather unique aroma that was unlike any other Shiraz I could recall reminded me of savoury and wood-like notes that was very pleasant. To drink it really benefited from 30+ minutes in a decanter and its flavours are in rather neutral territory between fruity and savoury. I can tell this wine will benefit greatly from further ageing.

On to the Figtree Syrah and the first difference I noticed was the colour. It had a far more noticeable purple tinge to it than any shades of red. To that effect it reminded me of many of the great Canberra districts Shiraz wines I'd enjoyed over the years. Its aroma had some floral and spicy notes and to drink it was noticeably smoother, softer and more enjoyable than the Spencer at this point in time.

To appreciate what Xabregas are wanting to demonstrate here you really do, and need to try them one after the other.

Xabregas X by Xabregas 2010 Spencer and Figtree Syrah's
Price - $50 rrp or $288 per six pack at Xabregas Online
Region - Mount Barker, Western Australia
Final Sip - Both well made wines that fans of cool climate Shiraz are sure to enjoy. For me, Spencer is the wine to put in the cellar, whereas Figtree is drinking perfectly fine now, but will also improve with age.

 

Torbreck 'The Struie' 2010 Shiraz

I've actually been looking forward to getting my hands on this wine ever since I was in the Barossa Valley in 2010 with a local wine maker who gave me a tip I've never forgotten when it came to buying Barossa Shiraz. He said that after 2005, 2006, not to waste any money on any other vintages until the 2010 reds are released and then... "buy as much as you can afford!". A large reason for this is that 2007 was a difficult year for the Barossa Valley and 2008 wasn't much better. 2009 was good but will probably be forgotten as 2010 was given 10/10 by Langton's and many have said it is the vintage of the decade... some say of the last two decades!

With this knowledge I started to think of all the great Barossa Shiraz wines I'd experienced from 2005 (another solid year for the region) and for me the 2005 Torbreck Struie stood out as it was under $50 and just had everything I really enjoy in this style of wine. I finally got the chance to get a 6 pack of 2010 Struie and had my first taste the other day. Immediately upon pouring it into my glass I noticed the deep purple hue to its colour. Given a little time the aroma becomes a lovely, almost vanilla oak/woody smell with fruit notes lingering in the background. Flavour wise there is no doubt this is a bold wine that is rich, full of quality fruit and I even found some faint chocolate-like flavours. Decant for an hour or so for maximum enjoyment. The true rewards will come with extended cellaring and I personally cannot wait to re-try this wine at 8-10 years.

 

Torbreck The Struie 2010 Shiraz
Price - $48.50 from Torbreck
Region - Barossa Valley, South Australia
Final sip - Fans of Barossa Shiraz will no doubt love this wine as much as I do and for those who think big, Barossa Shiraz is 'out of fashion' all I can say is while fads come and go in the wine industry as much as any, a truly great wine will always remain just that... a great wine! 

Brokenwood 2010 Quail Shiraz

Interestingly this wine wouldn't exist if Brokenwood had its way... its way with the weather that is! You see this release really should be the 2010 'Graveyard' Shiraz, the flagship wine from this Hunter Valley producer that is one of only 17 wines to be given the highest possible classification of 'Exceptional' by Langton's Fine Wines. However, a storm in 2010 damaged the fruit in the Graveyard vineyard, yet left nearby vineyards virtually untouched!

The solution was to take what fruit was salvagable and include 50% McLaren Vale Shiraz from one of Brokenwood's long standing growers in that region. This results in the Quail Shiraz, which was first released in 1994. 

The 2010 Quail Shiraz has a great colour that is an almost perfect mix of classic red and purple hues associated with great wines. It has a really lovely and rather complex aroma as I picked up hints of everything from fruit, oak, spices, vanilla and floral notes. Sounds like BS I know but there really was a bit of everything in there with no element overshadowing another. The aroma alone showed this was a high quality wine with plenty of potential.

To talk at length about how this wine is drinking now is probably not doing the wine, or yourself any great favours. Don't get me wrong, it is a perfectly decent drop as it is now, but it does come off tasting a little young and it reminds me of the first time I tried Penfolds 2005 St Henri, which was within months of its release. I knew I was drinking a really well made wine but that it really needed time to reach its full potential. 

So do yourself and your cellar a favour and grab a bottle or as many as one desires and put it away for at the very least 5 years before opening and ideally I'd think 8-10 years would be better. If you do insist on trying it now then pair it with something meaty and fatty. A Wagyu steak would do the trick as would confit of duck!

One thing this wine does highlight for me is that blending of a single variety from multiple locations shouldn't be seen as a lesser wine than one that is 100% from the same vineyard.

Brokenwood 2010 Quail Shiraz
Price - $95 from cellar door and SVC club only
Region - 50% Hunter Valley, 50% McLaren Vale
Final Sip -  My tip is to try it at the cellar door so that you can say you've tried it, then purchase and put it away for celebrating NYE 2020! I'm also strongly tipping that this wine will easily make the cut for a HBA release, which is Brokenwood's release at 10 years of age.

Eloquesta 2009 Shiraz Petit Verdot

After reading the official press release for this wine and learned the wine maker has had no formal education in wine making, had his first release as early as 2008 and that he is blending Mudgee grown Shiraz, Petit Verdot with a touch of Viognier, I knew I had to try it.

I am certainly glad I did as it is a lovely wine with a deep, dark purple colour that is incredibly aromatic and perfume like. It is delicious and easy to drink, yet not so easy to describe the flavour profiles other than fruity perfume with a touch of oak. You just have to try it for yourself to know what I mean.

Eloquesta 2009 Shiraz Petite Verdot
Price - $28 from Eloquesta
Region - Mudgee, NSW
Final Sip - Easily amongst the better red wines I have had from the Mudgee and Orange regions. Plus, I need you to try it so you can tell me if it was BS to use the word perfume to describe how it tasted!

Islander Estate Vineyards 2009 Shiraz

For the first time ever, my family decided to have Christmas away from home and Kangaroo Island was picked as the venue for a one week Christmas vacation. Unbeknown to me when we made the booking, that Kangaroo Island is in fact a wine region in its own right and boasts around 15 or so wineries with approximately half that number having cellar doors/tasting rooms. Kangaroo Island is a cool climate region that is unique because it never, or extremely rarely, experiences below zero temperatures. 

The Island is much larger than I had imagined and has over 500Km of coastline and driving from one end to the other takes around 2 hours or more. Driving from one winery to another can easily take an hour depending on which two wineries you are travelling between. Red varieties seem to be the most favoured on the Island but I did have some pretty decent Sauvignon Blancs and Islander Estate have some great white wines in their line-up as well, including a Semillon Viognier.

This particular Shiraz from French winemaker, Jacques Lurton, is actually made up just over half Clare Valley fruit at 52% with the remaining 48% coming from his Kangaroo Island vineyards that are located in a central northern part of the island that I am told is referred to as 'the heartland'.

The 2009 Shiraz has a nice cherry red colour with an attractive aroma of berry fruit and oak which carry over in the flavours which show great balance between fruit and oak elements and there is even a hint of spice. This is a very well made wine that is thoroughly enjoyable and I can see why Halliday has placed it in his Top 100 wines this year and why it has sold out. Islander Estate are the clear benchmark for quality wines on the Island and I look forward to seeing more from their wine maker, Jacques Lurton, who has clearly invested heavily in this great facility.

 

Islander Estate Vineyards 2009 Shiraz
Price - It was around $18 but has sold out. If you find it, buy it! 
Region - Kangaroo Island, South Australia
Final Sip - A great wine at a fantastic price that shows Kangaroo Island wines are worth taking as seriously as anything on the mainland. While you may find it tricky to get your hands on this Shiraz, the 06 Malbec would be my next pick in their lineup and you can still get some from Islander Estate On-line.

(One of the more unique things I've ever seen at a winery are these open top cement wine fermenters at Islander Estate Vineyards. They were actually sourced from a french tomb maker and what you see in the picture is a modified version of an 8 person tomb!)

Xabregas 2009 Mount Barker Shiraz

Keen to show that Mount Barker is capable of producing very high quality cool climate shiraz that would rival the likes of the highly prized and scored examples coming out of areas like Canberra Districts, I was contacted by the Xabregas (pronounced ZAR-BREE-GAS) Vigneron, Paul Hogan, to check  out their new release. This is the second vintage of the Xabregas Mount Barker Shiraz I have tried, yet this time around Xabregas have a new winemaker, Martin Cooper, who said he had a new found appreciation of wine bloggers after comments I made on the winery's 2007 vintage back in 2010.

The 2009 release is a very deep, rich purple colour that is almost the 'classic' colour for young, cool climate shiraz. The aroma was one I had trouble pinning down. The label suggests half the kitchen sink will be in there somewhere but, with a bit of time and more persistence on the nose than I suggest many will bother with, I can report that I picked up on the sweet plum fruit and at times could smell faint white pepper.

It is a lovely, balanced wine to drink with elements of fruit, spice, pepper and oak on the palate with no single element over powering the others. It is a totally different wine in all the ways I'd hoped over the 2007 and goes to show that you can never judge a winery on just one wine.

 

Xabregas Wines 2009 Mount Barker Shiraz
Price - $23 from Xabregas online
Region - Mount Barker, WA
Final Sip - A great wine and from what I hear, just the beginning, as I believe the Xabregas line up will soon include 4 Shiraz wines at different price points. I certainly look forward to trying them all but i'm more than happy with this drop for its price!

Bridlewood Estate Winery

While currently living in Los Angeles, I was lucky enough recently to be invited to a VIP/Press only day at Bridlewood Estate Winery, located in the Santa Ynez Valley, 30 miles north of Santa Barbara which is approx a two and half hour drive from Los Angeles. This event was to show-off the new Bridlewood Gallery, which is a collaboration between nine California Central Coast artists and the winery, which brings different styles and types of local art and puts them on display for visitors to Bridlewood Estate.

Art lovers should definitely check it out as it gives you the chance to see an interesting variety of art by local artists based in the Californian Central Coast, all in the one place that just happens to be a winery to boot! However, art is not my forte and I will move straight onto what brought me to Bridlewood... the wine!

I was lucky enough to spend time with Bridlewood's wine maker, David Hopkins, who really enjoys working within a region as large and diverse as the Californian Central Coast. The region known as California's Central Coast is rather unique given its sheer size of around 100,000 square acres, stretching 250 miles (402 Kilometres) from Santa Barbara up to the San Francisco Bay area, where the sub-regions offer vineyard blocks of varied weather conditions. This allows David to make great Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Viognier in cooler places, while using areas of greater warmth to make great Syrah, Grenache and Zinfandel.

During my visit I worked my way through the full range of wines on offer by Bridlewood and even enjoyed barrel samples of upcoming Pinot Noir and Syrah that were not far off being bottled. All of the wines were high quality and enjoyable wines, however I am picking out two of my favourites, the 2010 Reserve Viognier and the 2007 Reserve Syrah.

The 2010 Viognier was a classic light lemon/pale straw like colour and had a nice aroma of banana and subtle vanilla. Flavours included pear, green apple and subtle banana. The aroma and subtle taste of banana made this Viognier rather unique as I cannot recall coming across a Viognier quite like it and I highly recommend it.

(The spanish style building at Bridlewood Estate pays homage to California's historic missions)

The 2007 Syrah was the biggest surprise to me as, having now been in the USA for two months with plenty of time in wine country, I hadn't until now come across a pure Syrah/Shiraz that really impressed me. I mean I have had some good Syrah's here, but the better ones were often blended with Petite Syrah.

It is a dark cherry red colour with a unique and very pleasant aroma of dark berries, spices and an ever so slight note of a jube lolly. The flavour is full of juicy fruit combined with well integrated hints of spice and oak. This is easily the best 100% Syrah/Shiraz I have had from any wine region within the United States.

Both wines sell for $25 a bottle and are available from Bridlewood's Online Wine Shop.

Wine lovers in and around Los Angeles should definitely take a weekend trip up to Santa Barbara and include a visit to this beautiful winery that was once an Arabian horse farm and an equestrian rehabilitation center. Visitors to Californian Wine country need to ensure the Central Coast is included alongside the more famous regions of Napa Valley and Sonoma in their travel plans and that, despite the dominance of Chardonnay and Cabernet in California, that it be known that many other varieties are not only worth trying but really shine alongside the two superstar varieties in this great state of California!

(A section of California's Central Coast. Picture taken from Hearst Castle)

Thomas Wines 2007 Kiss Shiraz

On a recent trip to the Hunter Valley I was interested in the fact that many wineries I visited were offering both a Hunter Valley Shiraz and Barossa Valley Shiraz. Two unique regions that do have their noticeable difference. I've been to the Barossa a few times before and don't recall any of their wineries offering me a Hunter Valley Shiraz!

The 2007 Vintage in the Barossa Valley wasn't a great one so perhaps what the Hunter Valley wineries are doing is capitalising on this point, as I can say from all comparisons I tried at various cellar doors , the Hunter Valley shiraz in 2007 was the better drop.

One of the Hunter Valley's relatively new star wine makers is Andrew Thomas, whom after working at length with Tyrrell's, took the plunge and started his own label called Thomas Wines. The thing I like about Thomas Wines is that they only make two varieties, Semillon and Shiraz, which many would argue are the Hunter Valley's two most successful varieties.

This Shiraz has a deep plum purple colour with an aroma of dark fruits and slight hints of vanilla as a result of the use of new French Oak. It's wonderfully smooth to drink and the flavours of fruit and oak are very well balanced. I found the alcohol slightly noticeable yet not in any detrimental way and at 14.3% it is actually well within the normal range for Australian Shiraz.

Thomas Wines 2007 Kiss Shiraz
Price - $64 from Nick's Wine Merchants
Region - Hunter Valley, NSW
Final Sip - One of the finest Hunter Valley Shiraz's I've come to experience and something I'd definitely buy more of for cellaring.

Moppity Vineyards 2009 Lock & Key Shiraz and 2008 Reserve Shiraz

   
 
 

I recently had the privilege of receiving samples of  many of the great wines currently available from Moppity Vineyards in the NSW Hilltops. The samples included all three of their consumer release Shiraz's, the 2009 Lock & Key and Estate Shiraz as well as the 2008 Reserve. While the 2009 Estate Shiraz is a lovely wine it is the entry level and flagship Shiraz that really dominated my experience of Moppity Vineyards wines.

To start with the entry level 2009 Lock & Key shiraz I won't muck about. When I first started drinking it I was thinking "Wow, this is really nice", then when I noticed the recommended retail price was $14.99 Ithought "Holy S%#T!, that's bloody awesome value for money", and Jason Brown from Moppity tells me some retailers are selling it for a few bucks less than this again! I can honestly say this would go close to the best value red wine I've come across in at least a year or so. The 2009 vintage for the Hilltops region has been one of their best on record and I can see why when wine at this price is already drinking as well as this 09 Lock & Key Shiraz.

While the 2008 Reserve Shiraz see's a 400% increase in price, the key thing to remember is that it's entry level counterpart is bordering ridiculously good value and that the difference in the 2009 and 2008 vintages will also play a part in skewing any direct comparison. They are totally different wines made for a totally difference market. All cool climate Shiraz lovers will appreciate them both but the real fanatics of the variety, like myself, will love the elegance of the 2008 Reserve shiraz, that unlike the Lock & Key, contains 3% Viognier. It is far more savoury and spice in both its aroma and flavour profile than the Lock & Key and after an hour in the decanter it was getting seriously smooth.

Moppity Vineyards - 2009 Lock & Key Shiraz and 2008 Reserve Shiraz
Price - $15 for Lock & Key, $60 for the Reserve from www.moppity.com.au
Region - Hilltops NSW
Final Sip - The fact that I couldn't split these two wines in deciding which to write about is hopefully a great compliment for Moppity Vineyards. Both are different in many ways and with one catering for everyday and the other perfect for a special occasion or for further cellaring my recommendation is buy both!

Capel Vale - 2008 Regional Series Mount Barker Shiraz

 

Wines from Australia's cool climate regions are all the rage at the moment and Shiraz is certainly appearing to be a bit of a superstar variety for producers in these areas. Taking things one step further, WA producer, Capel Vale, spent over 30 years researching and trialing different varieties in specific sites amongst three of Western Australia's coolest regions. The end result is the release of their Regional Series from which optimal results have said to have been achieved after growing each variety on the site that brought out its maximum potential.

Mount Barker, a sub-region within the Great Southern wine region, was selected for Shiraz as it was found to produce a more elegant and classic style of Shiraz more in-line with European examples. In the glass it has a colour of cherry and ruby red followed by a nice aroma of fruit, oak and just a hint of spice/pepper. It drinks really well and has flavours of fruit, oak and some savoury aspects that are all well balanced. After a glass or two I found my palate was layered with the flavour of fresh cherries.

Capel Vale - 2008 Regional Series Mount Barker Shiraz
Price - $24.95 from www.capelvale.com and will also be found in many major retailers.
Region - Mount Barker, Western Australia
Final Sip - This is the second time I've had the pleasure of trying the Capel Vale Regional Series Shiraz and the quality has been consistently high, however it does have plenty of competition at this price point and even slightly below. If you are not a fan of the more popular, fruit driven styles out of regions like the Barossa Valley, or you are looking to try different styles of the variety, then I highly recommend you give this wine a try!