Past Articles - 2004
Sydney Time
Copyright © Ric Einstein 2008
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Plonk Oz 2004 Summary Open to the public for three days, plus a
trade only day, there were over 4,000 wines to sample from an almost
endless number of producers. Hardly a challenge, being a red bigot eliminated 2,142 c-throughs (official
government statistic) and then there were 1,122 from NSW that could be happily
ignored so that only left 1020 and of those, I had previously tried 819 so that
left 201 to try. But I failed miserably as I was only able to make notes on
just over 120 of them and they will be posted over the next month or so. The show was enormous; it took up the best
part of three halls of the Darling Harbour Exhibition Centre. Before I go any
further, both the organisers and
participants should be congratulated for putting on a first class event. Most of the stands were staffed by winemakers or owners which made
it interesting and questions were easily answered. The cost of running a stand goes far beyond
the thousands for the space rental; there is the hire of the stand, the cost of
the airfares, accommodation, and wine that was being poured. In short, the cost
for a small winery is substantial and a big commitment in time and money. So,
on behalf of the many wine-lovers who attended a
big thank you and well done! The large companies have
both a moral and ethical responsibility to attend these events and support the
industry as a whole. Congratulations to the Hardy Wine Company which was there in a myriad of
places, Houghton in the WA area, Leasingham, Banrock Station and Moondah Brook
to name just a few of their brands there. Southcorp
was represented by a very attractive and well-presented Seppelt stand, Devils
Lair in the WA section and a tiny stand for Wynns but noticeable
by its absence was Penfold, Lindemans and Rosemount. The largest brands
in the Southcorp portfolio had no representation, is it because the brands are
so good they don’t need it or are there other reasons? Whatever the reason, it
did not look good to have the biggest names conspicuous by their
non-attendance. As far as the other biggie is concerned, Beringer Blass, the only wines from their portfolio I
noticed were Annie’s Lane and Jamiesons Run. Overall, many top names were represented
and in a number of cases wineries that did not need the business were there anyway.
Good on them, it is a pity some of the big boys did not feel the same way. The
industry needs to be supported and it is not good when the big players only
think about themselves rather than the bigger picture. The most surprising element of the show to
me was the incredible popularity and crush at the Tasmanian
stand. The section was not exactly small and there was a non-stop, continual
throng of people in front of every single supplier. Who says you can’t give
away cool climate wines and that c-thoughs are not selling? This place was
jumping, a hive of interest and activity. The West
Australian area was well represented with a goodly number of
producers but it looked like the state had got together and hired an area and
then tried to shoehorn as many companies in as humanly possible. The result was
a crowded shoving contest much of the time. It looked like the area was popular
but it was not comfortable for many of the participants. In my case, when it
got too crowded I just left and went to visit the Victoria area knowing I had
trade day available when it would be quiet but most people with limited time
did not have that option. Coonawarra had a reasonable area and although they did not waste space and it
was “close” at the counters, it was not as congested as WA. The Barossa stand
was disappointing with only a very limited number of producers. The Adelaide Hills stand was about ten times the size
of the Barossa, but in fairness, there were the odd few Barossa producers
scattered throughout the exhibition. McLaren Vale
had a united presence and a good number of producers, both large and small,
which was good to see. NSW was well represented with loads of wineries but once again, it was
a little like WA with everyone pushed into a small space with narrow isles. Victoria did well with almost all their producers in very large, open and
spacious area which, by in large, was broken up into logical regions. The state
was well presented and had a coordinated approach. It is not necessarily Wine Australia’s
fault but the food available at the show was a bloody disgrace. The bread roll
sandwiches had been refrigerated and the bread was stale. The sushi pack was as
ordinary as it was possible to make them. On the subject of food, it was pity
there were not more stands offering bread and cheese “sample tastes” but those
that were there were well patronised (and very much
appreciated) and I will be supporting these exhibitors and buying their
products. Queensland had a reasonable sized area which I managed, quite successfully to
avoid but it did seem to attract a level of crowd interest. The Riverland
had a big exhibition with the catch phrase “Australia’s Premium Wine Region” or some such phrase, but I managed to force
myself to resist the temptation to try their wines. Overall attendances were possibly not as
great as expected. Friday was constant but not busy. The feeling was that it
would get busy after 5 when the office emptied out and the “suits arrived” but
that failed to eventuate. Saturday was quiet to start off but just after 2 pm, the crowd seemed to double in the space of
about ten minutes and remained constant all afternoon. By all reports, Sunday
was similar to Saturday. Monday, which was restricted to the trade, was
“restrained” and no stands seemed to be crowded or overly busy. This had the
advantage of allowing the serious attendee time to talk to the people behind
the counter. Day One Friday
– Brian and I arrived at midday
and started off in the Coonawarra area and we concentrated on this area as well
as a few from McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek. There were very few Coonawarra
Cabernets that were anything other than good or even better, so we were off to
a great start. At 2 pm, we attended a workshop that was very professionally run by Huon Hooke. It compared the stylistic differences
between Coonawarra and Margaret River Cabernets which turned out to be
fortuitous, as without any conscious planning, during this event we tasted more
than our normal share of Cabernet. The master class was very interesting but no
real conclusion could be drawn from this event except that both areas make very
fine Cabernets. One point that was noticeable with the wines in the master
class line up, Margaret River tended to have “green bean’
characteristics whilst Coonawarra displayed more mint or tomato leaf
characters. In reality, over the whole event, there was
not a bad Cabernet in all the Coonawarra wines we tried and in many cases
Coonawarra offered much better value than Margaret River. Coonawarra
is an impressive region that is much under-rated and is going from strength to
strength. At the conclusion of the show, I had a long list of wine I would like
to purchase (see below) and many of them were from Coonawarra. On Friday night six of us, Brian and
Andrea, The White Bigots (Wal and Betty,) and Marion and I went to Fuel Bistro for dinner. The restaurant is licensed
but BYO is permissible at a reasonable cost. Food was faultless, well presented
and reasonably priced. The service was attentive and professional without being
overbearing. This is the second time I have been there and would be happy to
return. Day Two Saturday
– Brian and I arrived at noon
again and today we mainly concentrated on two areas. The first was Victoria with a mix of (mainly) Cabernet and Shiraz with the odd Pinot and Sangiovese thrown in. We cherry-picked the
better-known Victorian wineries and also tried some new ones. The wines, whilst
good, generally were not as consistent as the previous days Coonawarra
experience. However, there were a few stunning drops found. The second region explored was WA. Most
of the wines tried were very credible (with a few exceptions) and the quality
was generally reasonably consistent. One very noticeable feature of the WA
Cabernets seemed to be huge tannins, more noticeable than Coonawarra for some
reason. After a fairly short period of time, my tongue felt like it needed to
be shaved to remove the tannin buildup. Many of these have been designed for
the long term, and as they age, the tannins will soften and drop out. Many new WA wineries that I was not
familiar with were represented and as you would expect, some had good product
and some were very ordinary. It did seem that a number of Margaret River wines
had hefty price tags and the wineries seemed to have the philosophy that
because they are from Margaret River they can charge a premium, whether the
wines are worth it or not. In the longer term, it will be interesting to see if
this is sustainable, especially for the newer wineries trying to break into the
market. Brian and I also attended a workshop which
was designed to showcase old world Shiraz versus the new of wave of Shiraz Viognier. The workshop was run by Peter Bourne. This event was a bloody shambles and
initially very confusing. It was meant to run for forty-five minutes but as it
started fifteen minutes late, it was shortened to thirty minutes which was
nowhere near enough time. When the session opened, Peter ripped through the
list of wines so quickly I could not get all the names written down. When we
started the guided tasting, we were told to start on wine number five! It was
very disjointed and seemed to go all over the place. However in the end, it seemed
to came together and we could see what it was all about, but it was hard work
keeping up and we left there feeling dissatisfied. We did not have time to
properly appreciate the wines and to do them justice. I have not been a great fan of Shiraz
Viognier blends (with a few exceptions) but one great thing came from this
session. I now know why I feel the way I do. Shiraz tends to be more linear and clearly defined. Many of the Shiraz
Viognier blends seem to have broader complexity, but just because there is more
complexity, it does not mean that increased complexity necessarily makes a more
harmonious wine. Like oak treatment, more does not necessarily mean better and generally,
I prefer the more linear (and tighter) controlled complexity. The highlight of Day Two was a dinner at Marque Resturant. Once again, it was the six of
us (who had dinner the previous night) and we had decided to pull out some of
the best wines in our cellar for the event. And what a night it turned out to
be! With the lineup of wines we had brought, we decided to go for the degustation
menu. The others arrived early and got stuck into
a bottle of Lanson NV Champagne. I passed on it but Brian said “It was fair average value for the
lower-priced NV.” The “white
bigots” then got stuck into a Petaluma 1991 Adelaide Hills Chardonnay which had been passive cellared. Brian thought, “It was surprisingly
fresh and youthful, with nice buttery / creamy notes over peaches and quince.”
I actually tried a sip of this wine as I had bought a case of it years ago and
was interested to see how it had aged. Bloody well! Although it showed
youthful, vibrant fruit, it also displayed excellent aged complexity too. Whilst all this
c-through activity was going on, I got stuck into a glass of Rockford Black Shiraz 2000 Disgorgement. Brian said “A little shy initially, it opened up to nice spice and
cherry-spectrum fruit, nicely weighted without being huge, lovely palate with
more spice and cherry fruit rather than much plum, young fresh and intense,
good oak treatment, just enough fruit sweetness, many years ahead of it yet.” Course 1 – Marque signature starter: egg with salted grissini. Sugar with cinnamon
in the egg which had been gently whipped and frothed. A wonderful contrasting
explosion of flavours. If all the dishes were going to
be this good we were to be in for a top night. Course 2 - Beetroot snow – a slurry of beetroot ice which was perfect to
refresh and cleanse the palate. 'We then opened
the Penfold 1983 Grange. Brian said “Great colour for a 21 year old,
slightly tarry and a touch of formic on first sniff, then the dark brambly
fruit with still noticeable oak background, palate is only really just starting
to go secondary, there is so much great fruit, classic Penfold style, firm
tannins, long finish, come back in 10 years, it may be nearing its peak.” From my
perspective, I took a sniff and it was unmistakable Grange with formic acid
being the dominant aroma which was jumping out of the glass. This has to be one
of the greatest Australian wines produced. It is still amazingly fresh and a
veritable baby. Complexity is wonderful, it is already approaching seamless and
the finish went on longer than the last election campaign. Judging by the ooh’s
and arr’s as we were sniffing it, it must have been a damn fine wine as most
sex orgies would not have had this much groaning. Even the “White Bigots” (Wal
and Betty) had a glass - bastards! Course 3 - blue swimmer Crab, avruga caviar, incredible almond gazpacho,
almond jelly. This dish was amazing. Presentation was very pleasing to the eye
but the complimentary flavours were the highlight. Each
morsel was tastier than the last, and the sum of the whole was far greater than
any of the individual components. A culinary work of art. Time to open
another bottle, Wynns 1986John
Riddoch Cabernet. Brian commented, "A superb wine, best JR I remember since
the 82. Still definitive Coonawarra on the nose, but mellowed,
fruit nicely integrated with the now subtle oak, mellow, seamless and about
ready to drink for my palate.” From my perspective, it was just about as good
as Coonawarra Cabernet can get and an impressive wine that should hold for many
years. Course 4 - Foie gras crème caramel with liquorice (star anise, olive),
grated radish. I thought the last course was something but this was a table
lifter. This dish not only had a unique combination of flavours but the texture of the crème was seamless. Seventh heaven stuff. Course 5 - dhu fish, mashed potato, caramelised shallot. Crispy, pan fried
fish done to perfection. The synergy of flavours
between the sweet caramelised shallots and the fish was
outstanding. It was getting
to be a dry old argument so we opened a Henschke 1994 Hill
of Grace. Brian said, “I checked the Jeremy Oliver drinking window, can't
believe it based on this wine, it seemed too young and firm. I still had some
Grange left and didn't give this one enough attention, powerful yet elegant, I
can only imagine how great it would be in 10 years.” Whilst I didn’t
have any Grange left, I was not concentrating on the finer details of this wine
as I was too busy enjoying it before the “white bigots” asked for another glass
of it! As Brian said, this wine is a veritable baby and whilst it was very
enjoyable, it was a decade off its peak. Hill of Grace deserves it platinum
reputation for producing a wine of this caliber. Course 6 - roast baby quail, belgian endive, emulsion of stuff (foie gras
and truffle oil.) Boy, I think even my mate The Meat Pie King would have
preferred this dish to a Vilis Pie. The quail were tiny and the flavor of the
emulsion simply lip-smacking. Mine was cooked to perfection but Marion’s was a touch under cooked, but I
was happy to have seconds. Course 7 - roast rare venison, with sweet and sour veggies. Melt in the
mouth stuff with a wonderfully rich reduction sauce. Almost desert
time so it was time for a sticky. (The last time I was in Sydney at a BYO, my special Tokay was
corked so I took a back up.) The sommelier opened the Buller’s
Rare Muscat. Being greedy little piggies, the Muscat quickly disappeared so we opened the backup Tokay too. Brian said “Definitive styles,
the Muscat showing classic
aromatics, rancio with a touch of freshness overlaid, silky, intense, clean
acid finish. The Tokay more mellow and viscous, possibly with a little more
aged component, finished softer, but lingering. For a change I actually think I
preferred the Muscat slightly
on the night, it may just have been the food combo.” Course 8 – un-sweetened milk ice-cream with shaved reggiano. This was the
one dish that none of us seemed to particularly enjoy. Whilst it was
adventuresome in its combination, it didn’t seem to work particularly well and
certainly did not excite. Course 9 - apricot sorbet, apricot mush covered with a chocolate coat. This
dish alone would have made a visit to the restaurant worthwhile. It was a
stunning combination. Service was perfectly professional in a
very dignified manner. It happens with precision Swiss-like clockwork and is as
good as you will find in Australia. The bill was $150 a head including corkage and a tip. As we were leaving,
we had a chat to Mark Best (who spent some time out chatting to regulars late
in the evening) and the sommelier. On the day we were there, it was announced
that Marque restaurant had won wine list of the year for NSW in the
'Tuckers Seabrook' 'Wine list of the Year Competition. As we were discussing
our “finds” from plonk Oz, we kept being told, “Yes, we have that one on the
wine list.” A top night, in fact I don’t think I have had a better meal
(of this style) in Australia. Day 3 Monday, Trade Day and Summary - Today the event
opened at 10 am and the attendance was much lower, in fact when I think back on
it, the attendance throughout the event seemed lower then the last two Wine
Australia events in 2002 and 2000. On the plus side, the attendees seemed to
have a high interest in wine and be serious about trying them and there were
very few of the “lets get nuked cheap” brigade. Today afforded me the opportunity to get to a few wineries
that had very busy stands that were hard to get too previously, a few that
would have their top wines out which were not available during the public
showings and the chance to try a few unknowns. Some of these unknowns will remain
that way as they are making ordinary, indeed in a couple of cases, borderline
faulty wine. The highlight of this day was the tasting
of new Torbreck releases and special mention
should be made of the 2002 Run Rig which was for my way of thinking, the wine
of the show. There were some fascinating comments and
experiences at the show. The funniest I heard was one winery talking about
medals and points. After stating the wine that was being tasted by a patron won
a bronze medal in a small regional wine show, they proudly proclaimed "Nick's
is one of the hardest markers around and this wine got 98 points." Anyone
want to buy a used harbour bridge? Then there was the very telling comment
from Mike Brown, winemaker of
Gemtree on the Zork alternative closure. Mike said "These Zorks
are a heap of $hit. They often have acetic acid crystals due to ungassed head
space and I have seen it in a number of wines other than ours." I asked him if
he minded if I quoted him, "Not all all" was the answer. So even some winemakers
are not convinced about alternative closures they are using. Nothing like
honesty. One thing that gets up my nose at these
tasting is when wineries try and give me the heavy sell.
Brian and I walked up to the Houghton stand and we
asked to try the Gladstone. The person behind the stand said "Try this" holding
up a bottle of different wine." Brian responded "No thanks, I have already tried
it." We were then forcefully told, "I think this one of the best value
wines in the market, you are the ones missing out!" The Gladstone was poured but
they guy was trying to lay a guilt trip on us despite the fact Brian had said he
had already tried the wine. Either the staff member did not believe Brian or
didn't have respect for the potential customer. Despite that, the Gladstone was
a very good wine but that attitude is off putting and does nothing to promote
the wineries cause. Over the course of the three-day event, we
tried a number of Hardy Wine Company South Australian
products; and all I can say is generally I was under-whelmed by most of them.
There appears to be a distinct quantum shift in direction in a number of them.
No longer are they built to improve and gain complexity. Some have lost their
soul and have been stripped of their regional characteristics. The 2000 Tintara
is a good example. I got Brian to taste it blind, firstly he was not impressed with
it (neither was I) and when I told him what it was, his reaction was, “That
doesn’t taste like a McLaren Vale Shiraz.” The Leasingham Classic Clare Shiraz
was also disappointing in comparison to older vintages. There is nothing wrong
with the Bin 61 Shiraz but it is now just an easy drinking, crowd-pleasing wine
that will not get any better. The tasting notes will tell the complete story. Orlando Wyndham had a huge stand featuring many of their Jacobs Creek products. The
1997 Centenary Hill was on show but the recently released 2001 St Hugo was not
there. For the life of me, I cannot understand the logic of this move. But then
I have never been able to fathom the marketing of the “up-market” Orlando wines. One technical wine aspect was very noticeable,
and whilst it has been sneaking up slowly over the last couple of years, when
you see such a huge cross-section of wines and styles at one event, it sticks
out like bulls testacies. There is a stylistic change
to many wines that are taking two forms that are related. The first is, many
wines are now being designed to be consumed on release
and have a much softer and more supple structure. The second is in the mouth feel. It seems that many wineries are producing
wine with much tighter, finer, tannins and the resulting wines have a
much-improved mouth feel. That is not to say the wines are soft and lack
tannins, far from it. It simply means the coarse wood grain of the past has
been replaced with fine, tightly grained French oak or even matured in older
oak barrels where the oak influence is not as apparent. Better handling of the
grapes also helps. The resulting mouth feel is very much more attractive. My list of the best
wines falls into two categories. The first list is the
top wines irrespective of price which I would happily consider purchasing. They
are, in no particular order:- Renschke 1998 Empyren (Eleven of these are either in my
cellar or are on order. At least another two or three will be ordered when funds
permit. My bank manager will either ban me from going to the next one, or
hopefully give me a bigger credit limit.) Wine Australia is a top class event and
let’s just hope that it is on again in 2006. The 120 plus tasting notes will go
up over the next couple of months. Copyright © Ric
Einstein 2004 |