WINE ... with David Bray
Say G’Day to Mr Mick. Reckon you’ll like him because he has a good Aussie story behind him and good people running him. Mr Mick is a very interesting new wine brand created by Tim Adams out of what was the sad financial shipwreck of the once-great Leasingham winery in the Clare Valley.
The name honours Mick Knappstein who gave Tim Adams his first job as a cellar rat at Leasingham in 1975. The winery, dating from 1895, at one stage made more wine than all the other Clare wineries combined, was sold to HJ Heinz in 1972, to Thomas Hardy and Sons in 1988, saw a name change into part of Constellation Wines Australia in 2008, was closed down in 2009 and, to the relief of many, was bought by Tim Adams and his wife Pam Goldsack early this year.
Adams says the winery has some of the most efficient winemaking gear in the world, enough of it to handle 5000 tonnes of grapes and will process fruit from local growers. He plans to make it “a community winery” as it was during his apprenticeship to Mick Knappstein from 1975.
He says: “I was Mick’s last apprentice – the last apprentice of the last private owner. He was a generous, community-minded man. He loved making wine for all sorts of people to enjoy. He cared for the 130-odd growers”.
It’s a real home-coming for Tim Adams. He tells us that as a Clare Valley lad growing up among pioneering grape growers and winemakers, he skipped his final year at school, giving up study and instead writing to local wineries looking for a job. And so it was that “he found himself monitored by a revered pioneer of the modern Australian wine industry” who helped him go study for his bachelor’s degree in wine science. By the time he graduated in 1981 Tim was assistant winemaker.
The next year he was appointed winemaker, responsible for day-to-day operations of the winery, which then employed up to 60 people. Mr Mick retired in 1975 after 57 years at the winery.
Adams has aimed Mr Mick, priced around $12 to $15 a bottle, sometimes likely to be lower on special, at the retail and restaurant markets. Eighteen months before buying Leasingham winery, he had bought its 80-hectare Rogers Vineyard of shiraz, riesling, cabernet sauvignon, semillon, chardonnay and malbec.
He’s been using these grapes in his own brand (made at the 1500-tonne capacity Tim Adams winery). Now they will also go into the Mr Mick brand, the first of which I have seen landed at my door recently: There are six of them. Mr Mick 2011 riesling is a fine wine, with just a touch of appealing sweetness and heaps of flavour. The 2011 rose delivers berry and other fruit flavours with a clean dry finish. The 2009 shiraz is nicely full-bodied with soft tannins and its companion red, 2099 cabernet shiraz is an excellent example of this genuine Australian blend. A fresh blanc de blanc Clare Valley fizz named Gela (Mrs Mick), a very moreish, clean and dry and a sweet “but not too sweet” 2011 late harvest botrytis riesling complete the current range. They are excellent wines, particularly at the price.
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Show results don’t often appear in this space, but here’s a useful bit from the recent Riverina Wine Show. As well as rewarding excellence in Australian wines through more traditional trophies, the show “uniquely” aims to also specifically recognise the quality of “popular premium” wines – wines which are widely available to the general public.
To be eligible a wine must have a production run of at least 45,000 litres (the equivalent of around 60,000 bottles). The two winners in this category were McWilliam’s Wines 2010 Hanwood Shiraz and Jacob’s Creek 2011 Riesling. Chair of judges Ben Edwards (co-contributor to James Halliday’s Wine Companion and president of Sommeliers Australia) said: “The 2011 Riverina Wine Show once again revealed the depth of quality and diversity in Australian wine, by awarding many different styles and regions with top awards.
“The consumer is the big winner, with plenty of larger volume wines receiving awards, ensuring that no matter what peoples level of passion or knowledge of wine is, they are sure to get plenty of bang for their buck.”
