Feature Winery Review Lake George (Aug 18)

 

In the past, most cool climate wineries haven't particularly excited me, and for good reason; many of them had planted the wrong varieties; for example there is no point in trying to ripen Shiraz in the Southern Highlands of NSW. Over the last 20 years Tasmania has improved out of sight and their c-throughs (which hold no interest for me) have improved dramatically and whilst Pinot is notoriously difficult to grow, they are definitely getting better at it.

 

The Canberra district is also starting to garner a reputation for well-made wine, primarily thanks to the effort of Clonakilla who are leading the charge, but they are starting to be supported by a number of small wineries who are also gaining a reputation in their own right. Just prior to going on my trip to South Australia in May, I received the case of wine from Lake George Winery and although I have driven past on numerous occasions, have never tried their wine, so had no idea what to expect, especially when four of the bottles were Pinot Noir.

 

After opening and trying the first bottle, my interest was piqued as they could obviously do something right. I tried the four Pinot Noir samples in one flight and the rest of the bottles in the second.

 

According to their web site, the (close to) 10 acre winery was established in 1971, so they are not exactly new kids on the block and have well established vines. The winery was started by Doctor Edgar Riek who didn't use any scientific methods in the vineyard; it was all done by taste and experience. The good doctor is not a spring chicken, in fact he is in his 80s and although very fit, couldn't keep keep producing wine forever. In 1999, Sam Karelas made a trip to the winery and instead of purchasing a case or two of wine, like most other normal people, he bought the joint. Sounds like the Remington Electric Shaver advert, but like Sam, I would prefer to drink (or make) wine than shave.

 

Sam did not have any winemaking background, but he had spent four years working in a liquor store, and after purchasing the winery spent a few years being taught by the good doctor. Sam completed his first vintage by himself in 2001, although in reality, he doesn't do it all by himself. Every year, during vintage, he brings in a French student for a three-month internship which also brings in a fresh approach and new ideas.

 

Considering they only crush about 15 tonnes, they are cropping at a low level and certainly qualify as a boutique producer, as production equates to about a thousand cases.

 

When they say they believe in a hands on approach, they are not kidding it's not only hands-on, its feet on too! Hand pruning, hand leaf plucking, hand bottling and labelling; I certainly hope they have a large family that are able to “lend a hand.”

 

After the grapes are hand-picked, once they get back to the winery they are placed in 1 tonne open fermenters and that's when the fancy footwork comes in, they go for a quick wade around the tank to stir things up and get things started. They figure once their feet are stained, they may as well keep them that way and so the process is repeated daily until the beaume drops to three degrees. The theory is this is the gentlest way to treat the fruit and wind up with the soft as possible tannins. Malolactic fermentation is then completed in French oak, where the wine gently sleeps for two years.

 

Sam follows Dr Riek’s philosophy believing that the less intervention in the winemaking process and the less it is disturbed the better. Wild yeasts are used to start the ferment, and unless the ferment gets stuck, no other yeast is added. Although the wine is tasted weekly and the barrels topped up, the wine isn't racked or stirred until it is ready to come out of the barrel, at which time it is fined but not filtered. Normally, the only thing that is added is SO2! In very occasional situations, if a wine is reductive, it is cleaned up with copper. Blending is completed just prior to bottling.

 

For a small producer, they have an extensive range of wines available; Chardonnay, Semillon, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and a Barrel Select range as well as a Botrytis Semillon. Rather than being all things to all men, it looks like they are just trying to produce the best wines they can from the available grapes in any particular vintage and that dictates the range.

 

The winery is not open to visitors; however their wines can be purchased via their web site and are available in some of Sydney Melbourne and Brisbane's top restaurants eg. Level 41, RockPool, Wildfire, Catalina and Tetsuya’s.

 

Lake George 2001 Pinot Noir Aug 05

 

The bouquet shows lifted alcohol; it was sweetly varietal with cherry, some pleasant barnyard characteristics, milk chocolate and a faint touch of mint. The components are well balanced and well judged; unobtrusive tannins combine with refreshing acid and delicate fruit to form a lean-weight wine with a firm consistency, solid, elegant structure, and harmonious complexity. Real pepper runs the right through the palate and complements the sweet red cherry fruit, blueberry; the sweet and savoury flavours finish to milk chocolate and mushroom. The biggest attribute of this wine is its structure and it’s excellent finish. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value. Good stuff!

 

Lake George 2002 Pinot Noir Aug 05

 

On opening, the bouquet on this wine was dumb; dead as a dodo and although I though I caught the faintest whiff of TCA, I had great deal of difficulty determining if it was mildly tainted or not. After 3 hours in the glass the mild taint became obvious but just as equally as obvious was that this still seemed to be a very good wine, the only question was how good.

 

Another bottle was procured and upon opening revealed a fair wack of VA: I thought it may have been oxidised; it had typical Pinot like characters but after a couple of hours in the glass, the bouquet was a real surprise; it was dominated by white pepper, sweet light-spectrum berry fruit, earthy notes and a touch of EA. The palate was revolting; unbalanced with spiky acid and I couldn’t spit it out fast enough.

 

The third, back up bottle that was kindly delivered with the second was then opened. The bouquet on this one seemed to be the way it should be, tight, a little earthy gaminess, touch of white pepper and chocolate. Flavour complexity is interesting; dark sour cherry, rich chocolate, a little gaminess and spice; the fruit sweetness kicks in at the end but the youthful acid cuts a swathe through it and supports the fine tannins; as expected it’s a lighter weight wine but well balanced and has reasonable persistence. Drink over the next few years, I doubt it will improve much, but it’s different and interesting. Rated as Recommended with ** for value, I prefer it to the 2003.

 

Lake George 2003 Pinot Noir Aug 05

 

The brooding bouquet showed varnished oak, mint, dark chocolate a touch EA; the longer it was opened, the broodier it became. Light and lean with touch of green, spicy dark chocolate, blueberry and milk chocolate finish with good persistency and length. A well-made, youthful, finely balanced, lean wine that needs time to gain complexity; it is still very tight and whilst it is harmonious, and can be drunk now, it doesn't have a huge amount of character at this stage. The lightest wine in the line up; smooth, completely unobtrusive tannins provide a good supporting structure; it is rated as Recommended with ** for value. (Cost $45 but Pinot is never cheap and rarely “good value.”)

 

Lake George 2003 Barrels Select Pinot Noir Aug 05

 

The picture is becoming clear, this wine is broody, tight and closed too; there were signs of subtle milk chocolate, hints of pine tinged oak and as it opened, it revealed some subtle spicy nuances, but in general, it was broodier than an old chook. A bigger, darker and denser wine than its little brother, this one certainly caught my attention. A baby; terrific structure and balance is provided by the smooth, ample, unobtrusive tannins and fresh crisp acid that supports a very savoury profile of excellent intensity showing pepper on the mid-palate and all sorts of interesting flavours to complement, including cherry, blueberry and milk chocolate. Building very slowly on the palate the wine finishes with fantastic persistence, excellent length and power. A tight, elegant wine that is already showing signs of harmony, the complexity is agreeable but should improve as the wine matures. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, the rating may improve as the wine matures. Only a very limited quantity of this wine has been made, and it will all be sold to mail order customers. (Cost about $60 and well worth it!)

 

Journeyman 2001 Shiraz Viognier Aug 05

 

The wine is made from a blend of Cowra Shiraz and the addition of 5% Viognier from Canberra which was added at the time of bottling. The bouquet showed good complexity with sweet and savoury nuances; it was dusty with plum but as it opened up, the Viognier dominated the bouquet. A well-balanced fruit forward wine that is cleverly backed by unobtrusive tannins; the fresh, crisp acid helps cut through and reduce the sweetness. Medium-weight with a supple consistency, a harmonious and developed complexity this unpretentious wine will have mass appeal and holds more interest than many other Shiraz Viognier blends. The flavour profile is sweet and savoury but there is a slight green tinge to the tannins. Rated as Recommended with *** for value. (Cost $25)

 

Lake George 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Aug 05

 

A brooding nose; obviously a light style, with a reasonable amount of oak influence, with coffee, smoky walnut and vanillin characters. A reasonably lean, elegant, tight wine and that is well backed by dusty tannins. The complexity is acceptable, showing dark fruit with pepper, plums and rhubarb but there is a distinct green flush to the flavour profile. Not my favourite sort of wine, it is rated as Recommended with ** for value. (Cost $38.95)

 

Lake George 2003 Merlot Aug 05

 

The bouquet is basically closed but showed plum, chocolate, aniseed, some youthful perfumed fruit with noticeable French oak influence. Loads; and I mean loads of drying tannins currently bury the deeply seated fruit that needs time to surface but the wine has good persistence so it should eventually be able to kick through. Not a wimpy Merlot by any stretch of imagination, it is ample-weight, with a very solid structure and consistency; and already showing signs of an agreeable complexity. This should certainly be a lot better in a few years and it demands time in the cellar. Rated as Recommended with *** for value, the rating should improve as the wine matures around 2009. (Cost $30)

 

 

Lake George 2001 Botrytis Semillon Aug 05

 

The bouquet had an attractive lightly toasted nutty fragrance with an aldehyde like character with honeyed fruit. Beautifully balanced and poised on the palate, its mid weight, sweet but not overly so, the acid is judged to perfection and it is harmonious. Sweet candied orange is pleasantly contrasted by a lemon flavoured nuttiness, it also has a kerosene like apricot character to add interest and it is dangerously slurpable. A more refined elegant style than many others the only downside is that it will need food to show its best, mild blue cheese would be sensational with it. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value. (Cost $29.95)

 

Summary

 

The 2001 Journeyman will be the last vintage of this wine. Some additional rows of Viognier have been planted in the winery with the idea of producing a limited quantity of the straight varietal wine. In addition, a small amount of Shiraz has been planted and one day they will produce a Shiraz Viognier blend based on their own estate fruit.

 

During our conversation, especially in light of the vagaries of my cork experience with their 2002 Pinot, Sam admitted that from 2005 they will probably move to Stelvins. As much as he dislikes the idea, from an aesthetic viewpoint, of bottling Pinot with Stelvin, he feels that the current rate of cork failure is unacceptable.

 

The winery shows it’s true to its cool climate and although most of the Pinots are 14%, the wines all seem true to their origins and none of them show heat. Although the Lake George area is a few degrees cooler than the most famous winery in the Canberra district, Clonakilla, Sam believes the key to achieving ripeness is to keep yields down. Certainly the most of the wines I tasted were definitely ripe. Some of the Pinots, especially the Barrel Select, certainly are punching at the top of their weight class, but they are not suffering because of it.

 

Based on the samples I tried, it appears this winery's strength is actually in its Pinot, although the Merlot was certainly a fairly serious wine. I actually wound up drinking the entire bottle of the Barrel Selection Pinot which is a recommendation in itself. Generally speaking, these are not wimpy wines. It looks like 2001, although a very hot year in many parts of Australia was not a great year for this winery yet 2003, which was a fairly difficult in most areas produced at least two good wines. This is certainly a cool climate winery worth further exploration. This winery certainly make some good wine and they are a pleasant change to the big Barossa reds.