Wine Australia 2006 - Overview

As much as I hate producing 100+ tasting notes in one document, because reading it is about as exciting as reading the Yellow Pages, the full report on Plonk Oz 2006 in many ways will resemble that format. The tasting notes, together with some brief comments about some of the wineries will be posted in a few weeks, but in the meantime, here are my overall impressions of the event.

Although Foster's elected not to attend, there were many small players there; in all approximately 350 exhibitors and the event was well attended by both trade and paying guests. This time (excluding the preview) it was a two-day event for the general public and one-day for trade; in previous years it has been three days for the public and one-day for trade.

On Saturday, by mid afternoon the event was very busy and getting to the stands in many cases was not easy.  The Coonawarra stand was almost impossible to get to from the time the event opened until the time we left. There were always queues three or four deep at the counter waiting to be served. So much for Cabernet being out of fashion!

It was amazing how many new, small players were there that neither Brian nor I have ever heard of.  This event is ideally suited to emerging and small wineries, as it is supported by wine-lovers looking for something new and exciting. 

The food concession still left a lot to be desired (understatement) but at least the coffee from the central stand was drinkable.  The availability of water didn’t seem to be as prolific as at the previous event and although most stands had water jugs, for some reason it just did not seem to be adequate. The provision of wheelie bins were far superior to the plastic-lined cardboard boxes that were used as spittoons at the previous event, but unfortunately very few stands had small counter-top spittoons, so patrons got loads of exercise walking to the bins with a gob full of wine.   

Walking around the event it was blindingly obvious by the number of people wearing tags that the event was incredibly well supported by the trade.  This is very positive as the more trade people attending, the greater the wine sales, because let's face it restaurants, bottle shops and overseas importers are large buyers of wine. 

In terms of exhibitors, there were some surprises; for example the regional McLaren Vale stand looked substantially smaller than the last event, the NSW area also looked a lot smaller and Queensland, which had a big presence last time, was conspicuous with its small numbers; blink and you missed it. The Coonawarra regional stand was about the same size as last time as was the Tasmanian stand.  The only region that looked like it had an increased presence was Victoria.  The WA wineries at the last event they were jam-packed into a tiny area, making getting to the stands a bunfight, this time they were well spaced, which made accessing the stands of a lot easier.

On Saturday and Sunday quite a number of the wineries did not have their top wines available for tasting, however there were some smart operators who saw that if you were genuinely interested in their wines, they would sometimes pull out a bottle from below the counter.  At an event like this, in many ways wineries not showing their top wines is a pity, as the people attending are definitely the sort of buyers that would be potential candidates for these top wines.

It was also extremely interesting to note that I saw little evidence of the "get pissed cheaply brigade" at this event; the majority of people were spitting and looking like they were taking things seriously.

That night Brian, Andrea, Marion and I went to the famous Claudes Restaurant for dinner, and as expected, it was full.  On Saturday night there is a degustation menu with no option of à la carte.  The price is $165 for nine courses.  The service was a seamless and unobtrusive; our water glasses were never empty; the timing of the breaks between courses perfect, and the staff team worked like a well-oiled, precision machine. As expected, the food was terrific and befitting a Sydney Morning Herald three hat rating, and the wine was professionally decanted.

The $165 a head charge makes this one of the most expensive restaurants in Sydney; with the reasonable $15 per bottle corkage charge, many patrons bring their own wine and in many cases it is “special wine.” In our case, and the quality of the wine we took would not be unusual, let alone unique with a restaurant of this calibre; we had a bottle of Dom Perignon 1998 Champagne, Tahbilk 1860’s Vines 1986 Shiraz, Penfolds 1983 Grange, and a bottle of Bullers Calliope Tokay.

The champagne flutes were flutes, but not exactly great quality; the glasses were fairly thick and heavy. When the first bottle of red arrived, new glasses arrived with it. The only way I can describe these monstrosities is to say they looked like oversized, “A-cup boob holders” – the worst sort of wine glasses used in cheap bistros and pubs. They were Burgundy shape, thick, heavy-rimmed and made swirling the wine difficult. The white wine glasses were not much better and the shape of the glass did not lend itself to wine appreciation of any sort. In short, the glasses in this restaurant are an absolute disgrace. 

Why a restaurant of this calibre uses such glassware is beyond me and frankly the restaurant should be ashamed of itself; they are letting themselves down as well as detracting from their customers’ enjoyment. The type of people who eat at a restaurant like Claudes, besides spending a lot of money for the privilege, are the sort of people who appreciate good wine, not just fine food.

On Monday Brian sent them a polite email about their glasses but they did not bother to acknowledge his original correspondence, so on Thursday he sent them another one which specifically solicited a response and this is what they had to say.

"Thank you for your comments regarding the wine glasses. The particular styles of glasses mentioned have been in use at Claude’s for a number of years, since Damien and Josephine Pignolet’s time and throughout Tim Pak Poy’s ownership of the restaurant. I am glad that you have taken the time to forward your comments and will take them into consideration when restocking the glasses.

Yours sincerely
Chui Lee Luk Chef/Owner"

If these have been the only glasses available for all those years, one can only wonder how they got three hats and more importantly, why they have not progressed with the times. There are a number of very fine touches that showed terrific attention to detail, for example the fish knives that can also be used as sauce spoons, so why do they let themselves down with such bloody awful glasses?

Sunday’s Observations

The day started off reasonably quietly, this enabled us to get to Coonawarra and some of the other more popular stands that were difficult to access the previous day.  As the day progressed the number of visitors climbed steadily and peaked between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. When I spoke to many exhibitors, they were extremely happy with the crowd attendance.

Like the last event, the Tasmanian stand was extremely popular.

In reality whilst some people may have noticed the absence of Foster's and their brands, there was still so much to see and taste I don’t think many visitors actually missed them being there. Foster's logic of not attending was because they didn't think it would be a commercially viable as they are now a global company chasing the large brand market.  It was interesting to note Yellowtail thought the direct opposite, and they have a fairly large stand that seemed to have a good number of visitors, although it may have been people checking out the novelty value rather than anything else.

Whilst many attendees may not have missed Foster’s presence, I lost count of the number of winery staff and owners, who without any prompting, commented on what they perceived to be the poor form of Foster’s in not supporting the event.

In the late afternoon Brian and I attended a workshop which compared a number of Australian Cabernets to two French samples.  The event was well run; and unlike a similar event at the previous Wine Australia, it ran to time, but I have one criticism of this event, indeed I had the same criticism last time; they don't really devote enough time to do the whole thing justice. In addition, if the event went into more detail, it would be more use to the paying attendees.

It was interesting to see how many red wines were sealed under screwcaps.  Likewise there appear to be a sizable increase in the use of alternative closures (especially Diam.) One of the things found, which will surprise many people, were some incidence of bottle variation when we tried different samples from different bottles that had been sealed under screwcaps. More importantly, and this is not a criticism of screwcaps but rather winemaking practices, we did notice a number of red wines with reductive characters that had been sealed with screwcaps. This fault should not have been there if the wines have been cleaned up properly prior to bottling, and whilst these alternative closures, in many instances, are a welcome change over traditional corks, it proves that there is no one universal seal that will be a panacea for sealing all wine. I might add that some of these reductive characters were from wines that were made by well-respected and experienced winemakers.

On Sunday night, the four of us had dinner at Marion’s place. Brian brought a bottle of Pol Roger 1996 which was most enjoyable (but seemed a little advanced) and went well with the starter, avocado and prawns. Whilst Marion has a reasonable cellar, despite my best efforts, she does not have a single bottle of Sparkling Shiraz and as I knew we were having roast turkey with roast vegies, I had to go looking for one. There is an excellent bottle shop (Castlecrag Cellars) just up the road from her place and they had some Barossa Valley Estate 1996 Black Pepper Sparkling Shiraz ($60) on the shelf, so I grabbed a bottle and a bag of ice. By the time the Champagne was finished, the FRS was cold; it went really well with the turkey, and the still red, a Saltram 1996 Mamre Brook Cabernet (from Marion’s cellar) was also drinking magnificently well. For dessert the girls had Portuguese tarts and Brian and I had a half a small plum pudding (each) with brandy custard and Brian being a little piggy, had ice cream too. (Talk about being full to the point of not being able to move!) Naturally we had a (half) bottle of Seppelts DP 63 Muscat with dessert and although this wine is not as fresh as it was upon release, its still a damn fine wine with excellent rancio characters.

Mondays Observations

As one would expect, as it was trade day, the show was a lot quieter today. It was easy to get to the stands and chat to the winemakers. Mark Boulton of d’Arenberg told me that they had to bring in emergency stock on Sunday, as they poured their entire expected requirements for the whole show on Saturday. This winery was not the only one to have found they needed a significant delivery of extra stock.

When I look back at the quality of wines I tried at this event and compare them to previous events, the average quality of the wine looks to be improving. Many of the 2004’s are looking smart; the over-ripe blackberry spectrum wines and coffee laden oak wines were conspicuous by their absence, which is a good thing. Vanillin oak characters, a significant number of which were from French oak influence, are more attractive, and the cool vintage induced a spicy nature of many of the wines seemed to give the wines attractive complexity.

As we walked around the Exhibition Halls, the number of new names that were completely unfamiliar was mind-boggling.  The event was a great opportunity for these new players to showcase their wines: some of these stands appeared to be busy whilst some appeared to be quiet, and in many ways at first glance there was no apparent reason for the differentiation.  The only thing that I can put it down to was that the exhibitor has a split-second to gain the attention of the potential client, and if the look of the stand does not appeal to them, the visitor will move on; therefore the aesthetics and set out of the stand, including pictures and background information as well as the wine tasting area, is of critical importance.

I tasted a fair number of wines from producers I knew very little/nothing about to see if I could discover some great new “finds”. Unfortunately they were very few and far between. Most of the wines from these new players were sound, although a few need to “work” on their product. In today’s crowded market place, producing “just another sound wine” in many cases will not be enough to ensure survival. And as for the value aspect of these wines are concerned, some producers are clearly deluded! Not many people will pay $45 for a bottle of wine from an unknown producer when there are better quality wines around for about half the price.  

Unfortunately it is clearly evident that in five years time a significant percentage of these wine brands and wineries will not be in existence, but when you consider that over 90% of new businesses in Australia don’t last five years, there is no real reason why the wine industry should be exempt from this business reality.

Given the success of Wine Australia 2006, it’s a fair bet that Wine Australia 2008 will be a reality and I am already looking forward to it.

Copyright © Ric Einstein 2006