WINE .... with David Bray
The wine industry may be – make that is definitely – in trouble but by gee it is making some ripper wines. Too many vines, changing drinkers’ preferences and some very ordinary weather have not slowed the development of quality, interesting and usually nicely priced wine.
Look here at some of the whites, recently arrived in time for the last (we hope) of our sub-tropical summer. And see some of the interesting people who make them Here, for example are the 2009 vintage of the Wine by Brad semillon sauvignon blanc and an addition to the range, Wine by Brad rosé.
Two seriously good wines that are still a lot of fun. Winemaker Brad Wehr started working in the Western Australian wine industry (Leeuwin Estate and Xanadu) when its youthfulness gave it a feeling of freedom, innovation and fun. In his words, all anyone wanted to do was surf and make “hot wines”. During his career, the calibre of the wines being produced by Margaret River heralded a change and the region became more serious in its approach. Brad wanted to balance this serious quality with the unpretentious sense of fun that wine can deliver, so he left the big wineries behind and created Wine by Brad.
The Wine by Brad labels (based on Lichtenstein pop art from the 60s) convey the brand’s sense of fun and attitude, and the wines inside are good examples of their regional styles… The fruit for the semillon comes out of southern and central Margaret River vineyards.
Brad: “2009 was almost the perfect vintage so we chose fruit from southern vineyards to highlight the aromatics, and offer a fresh, citrus-based style – crisp and lively, yet richly textured.” The new 2009 rosé was made from Margaret River cabernet:
“We’ve deliberately gone for the savoury and dry style of rosé to ensure it is complementary to food. Cabernet made as rosé gives you the ability to highlight the flavours without overpowering the food. Of course you can still sit and quaff it on the front porch too.” Each of these two retails at $17 max.
Big jump eastwards to Orange, where the region’s founding winemaker, Bloodwood have released the 2009 Bloodwood chardonnay. This comes from the region’s oldest chardonnay vines, planted in 1983.
“These vines were propagated from a mother-vine plantation of the original small berried Penfolds P58 clone,” explained Bloodwood owner and winemaker, Stephen Doyle. “This is a very low yielding clone and one highly suited to marginal cooler climates.”
“The challenge with chardonnay in a soft and sunny growing area like Orange is to express the inherent crispness and minerality of this classic variety by being sensitive in the vineyard and gentle in the winery” “The 2009 vintage is a lovely bright, fresh style that reminds us of our 1992 chardonnay which is still drinking beautifully."
This wine was then cool fermented in stainless steel with 30 percent matured for a few months in old Saury French oak hogsheads. There was no acid addition or malolactic fermentation, ensuring that the focus of the wine is on freshness and its quality cool climate fruit. Likely price around $25.
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Now to one of my favourite districts, Mudgee, where Optimiste is producing a great range of hand-crafted wines.
Optimiste has come a long way since owners and vignerons the Dadd family first planted their vines on the hills just south of Mudgee over 10 years ago and is launching a fresh set of varietals, the first of which to arrive is the 2009 Optimiste Pinot Gris (pictured above), soon to be followed by a semillon and a tempranillo.
The Optimiste Estate grown pinot gris grapes were selectively hand harvested in the cool mornings when fully ripe to ensure maximum flavour and mouthfeel. A portion was also fermented in aged French oak to emphasis the full, rich pinot gris style, with complex sweet spices. It is a ripper wine, drinking very nicely now, hefts 13.5 percent alcohol and will cost you around $20. *** Reckon you know your champagnes? How about Armand de Brignac? It has been named as the best, number one, top of the lot. Apparently late last year some of the world’s leading wine critics and sommeliers ran a serious blind tasting of more than 1000 brands.
The results have been published in Fine Champagne magazine, said to be the only international publication devoted to champagne and a renowned authority on the industry. The top 10included many classic names with the surprise first place going to Armand de Brignac Brut Gold. Its recipe is fairly conservative at 40 per cent chardonnay, 40 per cent pinot noir, and 20 per ent pinot meunier.
The magazine described it as complex and full-bodied, with light floral notes, a racy fruit character, with subtle brioche accents, and a long creamy finish. There’s a bit of presentation here, too. The fizzy stuff comes in a stunning gold bottle originally developed by Cattier for the Andre Courreges fashion house. Labels are made of pewter, polished and applied by hand. You can snap up a bottle for just $495 from Brisbane experts at www.champagnegallery.com.au .
