Masked WinesMartin Field
Quotes In summary, life is too short not to try one of the Muscats or Tokays from Chambers Rosewood…a true Australian treasure
Another big, red, wine
Masked tasting Grant Burge was in town last week with his latest Holy Trinity and a bunch of other Rhones and clones. He presented the wines - masked - to a bunch of wine writers for their consideration. There was a clear divide between the Old and New World wines, with most tasters able to separate and identify the styles. The new world, generally showed purple-edged colour, stacks of primary fruit and perhaps too much new oak. The old, showed integrated oak (if any), tawny edges, leathery, secondary, savoury and developed flavours and, to my taste, too much volatile acidity. I was left with the impression that the younger wine writers thought the Oz wines showed too much ripe fruit! Fruit that many European winemakers would die for (but that's just me). A few tasting notes: Grant Burge - Mid-red, sweet ripe berries. Well-balanced, clean, firm. Bonny Doon - Cherry-black, bouquet of leather, tar and anise. Palate, long dry and hard. Guigal - Deep red, light-edged. Nose of open vat fermentation, slightly volatile. Palate, secondary - developed, long and complex, tannic. Charles Melton - Mid dark crimson. Restrained ripe fruit and sweet oak on the nose. Mouth-filling with powerful choc/coffee finish. (I really liked this one) Wines tasted: Domaines Perrin 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape (Rhone Valley) $AU55 Guigal 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape (Rhone Valley) $AU72 Domaine du Vieux Telegraph 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape (Rhone Valley) $AU100 Clos des Papes 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape (Rhone Valley) $AU65 Bonny Doon 1998 Le Cigare Volant (California) $AU55 Charles Melton 1999 Nine Popes (Barossa Valley) $AU40 Rosemount 1998 GSM (McLaren Vale) $AU25 RBJ 1999 Theologicum (Barossa Valley) $AU27 Penfolds 1998 Old Vine Shiraz Grenache Mourvedre (Barossa Valley) $AU24 Grant Burge 1998 The Holy Trinity (Barossa Valley) $AU33 Even more masked wines, already After Grant's tasting I went on to a regular lunch where we tried - masked - a magnum of Leeuwin Estate Cabernet 1985 - 11.9% alcohol, lean and mean. Morris Shiraz 1996 - biggish with very soft tannins and warming alcohol - enjoyable style but nobody thought it was typically northeastern Victoria. Chambers Cabernet 1993 - youthful, full of fruit with an astringent backbone - years ahead of it. Deakin Estate Shiraz 1998 - very well made wine, nobody dreamed it came from hot climate fruit. Seppelt Show Sauternes 1978 - "Sauternes" indeed! Still a lovely blend of half-and-half semillon and sauvignon blanc, 10.5% alcohol and probably not botrytised. Bright gold, honeyed bouquet, sweet and light and retaining tangy acid. I thought it was an old Lindemans Hunter Valley semillon. Can't recall what we drank with dinner. Top 10 drinking songs One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer - John Lee Hooker Life of wine and roses - Merle Haggard Watermelon wine - Tom T Hall Warm beer and cold women - Tom Waits If drinking don’t kill me - George Jones Red red wine - Neil Diamond There's a tear in my beer - Hank Williams Two more bottles of wine - Emmy Lou Harris I spent my last ten dollars on birth control and beer - Two Nice Girls Kisses sweeter than wine - The Weavers Thoughts of Chairman Wolf Had lunch with Wolf Blass last week - at the football. Wolf was his usual forthright self (think Ronnie Corbett with a slight middle-European accent) and shared his wisdom with Beringer Blass guests over lunch, (even sharing a tip for one of his racehorses, which paid $22 the win - but I didn't bet on it). (But, ahem, I won the magnum of WB red in the masked options game). A few snippets: On Old World vs New world, "[In Australia] We have an absence of restrictive legislation. In Europe, winemaking is like operating in a straitjacket!! Authorities control the process." On the smallest sector, "What is a boutique winery? The public perception is that they are beautiful, they are nice, the wines are handcrafted and they have a unique taste sensation and special production methods. "My interpretation is that they lack expertise, do not represent value for money, are expensive and lack consistency. However they must be seen as part of the unique fascination of our industry and they add charisma… Big warning signs are now on the horizon… [Boutique wineries] will become vulnerable in an adverse economic climate or with a surplus of grapes." On consumption, "The domestic market carries 12,000 brands and, with over 70 wine regions represented, will become a nightmare to the wine consumer in the future. Home consumption, in the present domestic market, is stagnant, only 3.5% increase from last year. Consumption per capita is 19.5 litres." On free trade, "The risks for the national wine grape industry would be to allow table grapes to be imported to this country, in particular from California… God save us from our crazy bureaucracy who adopt free trading to risk our present status of a biologically and chemically clean environment." "Hear, hear!" I spluttered, "Waiter! Another flute of bubbly, if you please." Tasted recently A Mano Primitivo 1999 K K K 1/2 Region: Puglia, Italy. Appellation: IGT. Deep brick red. According to the back label: "…This wine is a handcrafted jewel, made with the best grapes but also with care, with love. Winemaker Mark S. Shannon." And then they go and put one of those 'orrible non-recyclable plastic corks in it. Nearly ruptured meself extracting the damn thing. Nose of dark chocolate and licorice - remember those chocolate bullets we used to get as kids? Strong palate of café latté with vanilla undertones, grippy finish. Primitivo - also known as zinfandel. Cellar to 2004. $AU18.00. Surfing the vintnernet The dirty secret of Canadian wine: Ottawa Citizen Wine Spectator reviews 700 Australian wines Bertie the Sugar Beet - will he end up in a chaptalised French wine? - The Times For ageing, wine-drinking hippies (like me) - Is burning incense as bad as smoking? - New Scientist Channon vs Chandon - Winery faces legal action over family name - ABC Links Wines Beers and Spirits of the Net: Dean Tudor's comprehensive list of world booze links Bookfinder: Book meta-searcher - especially good for rare and out of print wine and food books Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation: List of Australian Wine Regulations The Planet: World music for netsurfing and wine drinking - 10 programs on-line anytime from ABC Radio National Feedback "Dear Martin, Just a brief note to congratulate you on "e-vine". It's a snappy piece of info that deserves to be widely circulated. And refreshingly written by someone with no inappropriate connections. All the best, Ralph Kyte-Powell" "G'day Martin, Just a quick note to say I am loving e-vine and all its typically Martin-style humour. Keep up the good work! Michael Harvey" "Dear Martin, Thanks for the e-vine. Looks good. Your humour as usual is abundant. Regards, Peter Forrester" "Hi Martin, Thanks for your great newsletters - they inevitably arrive when I need a boost and I quietly bless you! Cheers! Roberta Horne" "Dear Martin, Thank you for another fine edition, below is a statement on hangovers. Question: Do you know what is good for a nasty hangover? Answer: Yes, a shitload to drink the night before! Ben Green" ___________________________________________________________________ An occasional commentary on the world of trivia, wine and alcohol distributed free of charge to wine enthusiasts, wine media and the food and drinks industry. Letters and input welcome - no payment entered into. Freelancer Martin Field has written about wine since 1978. See past Articles in the Alsop Review. Permission to quote is freely given as long as acknowledgment is made. No responsibility is taken for the content of linked sites. Copyright ©Martin Field 2001. Melbourne, Australia. ____________________________________________________________________
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