There are cleanskins and cleanskins, or perhaps slightly less cleanskins. We are all looking for good ones. A particular friend, a man who knows his wines and is a very long way from being impoverished, makes major forays into the local cleanskin racks.
There is a huge range of barely labelled, carrying minimum legal information, almost anonymous bottles out there. But now and again someone in the marketing department has a crack at lifting the price, just a bit. And the best of luck to them. Here’s an example: Browsing recently through a suburban emporium, Mrs B was attracted first to a bottle by the price, then by the information on the label that here was a 2010 Marlborough sauvignon blanc.
The label also proclaimed it to be a Clean Skin and more creatively that “this wine has lively green straw hues and displays luscious gooseberry aromas. An uplifting palate with passionfruit and melon flavours and a crisp fresh finish”. All this at $7.99. So we bought some and enjoyed it so much we went back and bought more. Still around at time of writing, in the same rack.
But then the courier service delivered a neat parcel containing a bottle with a very similar label, differing only in colour (grey as opposed to the original white) and adding “Taster’s Choice” to the title. Looks, smells and tastes the same to me. The accompanying blurb says the recommended retail price is $9.99.
There are less expensive sauvignon blancs around, some labeled. There is also a CleanSkins Taster’s Choice DW31 Shiraz Barossa Valley 2009 at the same price. Fair enough wine, too. The handout, among other things, that ”the CleanSkins Selection is backed by Woolworths Best Value Guarantee: Our CleanSkins are sourced by our wine experts directly from wine makers. . . The range avoids expensive packaging in favour of a clean and simple label. . . The . . grey label . . . comprises varietals drawn from the best-suited regions”.
Look in BWS and Dan Murphy’s.
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Gewürztraminer. How long since we last heard of this one? Some time; years, I reckon. So it is good to be reminded of a grape we enjoyed when we first encountered it and have it brought to our attention by a winemaker we have similarly unjustly neglected.
Here it is from John Cassegrain (pictured at above), whose Cassegrain Wines is to be found on the Pacific Highway just south of Port Macquarie on the mid-north coast of NSW. He tells us he practices a heritage of French winemaking skills combined with Australian technology to produce a wide range of wines that are “full-flavoured, yet soft and elegant”.
The wines in question are Cassegrain 2010 Edition Noir Gewürztraminer ($25) and 2005 Limited Release ($35). The grapes are from Toppers Mountain vineyard on volcanic basalt at Tingha, just south of Inverell. Mr Cassegrain says this provides “the perfect terroir for producing great gewürztraminer”.
He points out that the vineyard is on the western side of the range at about 850 metres – “about the same as Orange, another area that grows the variety well. . . (though) New England is generally a bit more temperate, the environment a bit gentler for what is really quite a delicate grape variety”.
And he is firmly of the belief that the grape is capable of producing “great long-living wine as long as it’s grown in the right area and treated with compassion in the winery”.
"The variety’s reputation in Australia suffered . . . during the 1970s and 1980s when it was grown in decidedly warm climates and blended with riesling to produce sweetish, fairly ordinary, entry-level wines.
“What we are looking at here, though, are wines that will sit comfortably alongside the great gewürztraminers of Alsace. They’re fragrant and quite seamless on the palate without any of the coarseness or oiliness that have sometimes dogged the variety in Australia.”
So how does it go with a bit of age? Very nicely, thank you. Mr Cassegrain says that if the grape grown in the right place and handled properly handled in will cellar nicely.
“The 2005 clearly shows that and the 2010 is good for at least five or six years.” As for food matching, “the younger wine works beautifully with quite spicy but not too hot Thai dishes such as grilled fish with lemongrass-based sauce and fresh coriander.
The older wine has developed some lovely depth and complexity and can take more substantial dishes, perhaps even a laksa or Szechuan-style chili mudcrab...(or) oysters grilled with Roquefort cheese.”
Nothing much your reporter wants add to that.
