The 2006 West Australian Tour Diaries
Chapter Six – Day 7 - Tuesday Margaret River to Pemberton
This chapter is so big that it has been broken into two for faster loading.
What a great night's sleep, it was a pleasure not having our mate Davo disturbing the peace and quiet of the neighbourhood with his sonic-boom snoring. We wanted to be out of the house by eight o'clock but woke up with sufficient time to go for a walk; and what a great place Prevelly Beach is to do it. This morning, the clouds were a dirty shade of polluted brown but that was just the colouring, not a reflection of the quality of the air.
After packing up and having a
quick shower, it was time for breakfast. There was only enough muesli and orange
juice for one serving, so being a magnanimous, caring individual, who had his
friend’s health and best interests at heart, I nobly sacrificed the opportunity
for a healthy breakfast by letting Brian eat it.
The drive to Pemberton can take
close to two hours, and we had allowed more than enough time so decided to stop
at Margaret River for coffee. We went to the same place as yesterday and as I
had so unselfishly sacrificed breakfast, I decided to grab a bite to eat here.
The bacon and eggs bagel that Davo had yesterday looked and smelled so good,
that I decided to order one this morning. The short black espresso coffee I had
yesterday morning did not impress me as the small cup was only half full, so
when I ordered I asked for one to be filled up with water, and the other one to
be made normally for Brian.
When it arrived, I was impressed.
The oxymoron bagel tasted as good as it smelled, and the coffee was just the way
I liked it.
Brian
was not impressed, because his coffee arrived full to the brim too; they had
made them both exactly the same. Brian muttered some four letter words and made
comments questioning my parentage whilst he drank his coffee.
All was forgiven when I bought him another cup and it was made the
way he liked it.
The drive to Pemberton is an easy
one; in the main the roads are straight and wide with plenty of areas to
overtake, although once you turn off the Bussell Highway, the traffic is
virtually non-existent. For anyone thinking about driving from Margaret River to
Pemberton, when you get to Forest Grove, turn off on the Warner Glen Road, it
will save you time and distance. My trusty navigator
missed that one. It was
a perfect summer's day for a drive, the sun was shining and it was going to be
hot.
By the time we arrived in
Pemberton, it was already very warm. As you drive into town, on the right-hand
side, there is an old weatherboard building that is painted in heritage green
and creamy yellow. The coffee shop is air-conditioned; the coffee there is
almost drinkable although it is a bit weak. Before we ordered our coffee, I
asked to see the size of the short black espresso cups and then asked for mine
to be filled completely and for Brian's to be filled halfway. When they arrived,
Brian was not impressed because they had both been filled to the brim.
Brian
is coming to the conclusion that getting a good cup of coffee with me around is
proving to be difficult. I must say, the home-made cakes in this coffee shop
looked exceptionally good but after my kosher bacon and egg butty, I certainly
didn't need one.
Pemberton is not well known for its wine tourism and it certainly does not have a long, rich history related to its wine production; it was originally a town that owed its existence to the timber industry and it is still heavily reliant on it today. This influence can be seen all over town in all sorts of different ways, from pictures on almost every wall through to the trucks that still deliver timber to the local mill. The timber mill is directly behind the coffee shop. Next to the coffee shop is a small park with an old railway line passing through it. In the park there are a couple of antique reminders showing how timber was transported in days gone by. There is a small railway engine, as well as a cart that would have been used to support the timber whilst it was being pulled by bullocks.
Three years ago there were only about twenty wineries in the Pemberton and Manjimup areas. They were regarded as two separate regions up until recently when they were combined into one GI region. As we travelled around the area, it became apparent there was still some vehement and outspoken opposition to the new combined region. Today, there are about thirty wineries in the region so it is both small and relatively new. Most of the wineries would fall into the boutique category, although a few are owned by large corporations and one of them could be classed in the industrial category.
Our first appointment was at Picardy. Pemberton may be a new viticultural area, but this winery already has a history. It is owned and operated by Bill and Sandra Pannell and their son Dan and daughter-in-law Jody. The Pannell family should need no introduction. Bill originally started the Margaret River icon, Moss Wood in 1969 and after he sold it, started Picardy in 1993.
Our appointment was with Dan, whom I have met on a couple of previous occasions. The man is no shrinking violet, he’s not afraid to speak his mind. With that sort of outspokenness, people who don't know him may well think he is a loudmouth, but nothing could be further from the truth, he is a smart cookie that knows exactly what he is saying. I for one, appreciate his forthright honesty.
Speaking about being honest, the wines from this winery in the late 90’s had a reputation, to quote Brian, for being like “slimy ham”. I first tried their wines three years ago and was impressed with their squeaky clean character. They cleaned up the winery, threw out all the old barrels and got rid of the rampant Brett in the process. A subsequent tasting of later vintages at Wine Australia in November 2004 confirmed the cleanliness and quality of the wines.
Although I haven't seen Dan since Wine Australia, when we walked into the winery it was like we had seen each other last week; that is the sort of friendly reception that everyone receives. Dan has an interesting philosophy; he believes that wine should be able to be drunk as soon as it is bottled. That does not mean that it won't improve with age, it just means that it is approachable upon release without rough tannins or searing acidity.
When I looked at the price list, unless my eyes were deceiving me, or I was having a “senior moment”, the prices looked lower than they were three years ago. Dan confirmed the prices had come down as some of the WET Tax rebate had been passed on to mailing list customers; good stuff.
We had completed our general chat
and headed into the barrel room to try numerous samples. Dan is one of these
rare people that refuses to take no for an answer, and just poured Chardonnay
into my glass.
The 2005 had beautiful aromatics and was more French in style
than Australian. It had an attractive sour back palate that finished with good
intensity. The oak was well controlled. According to Dan, “It was at a stage
where it was as ugly as you would ever see it;” pity all wine isn't this ugly.
The alcohol in their wines is all
around 13 to 14 percent. During our discussions, we discussed all the important
things in life, like the strain of yeast used, barrel toast, pH levels, clonal
varieties, pump-overs, acid pull, and of all things, the Orlando Steingarten
Riesling, and at that point I shut up.
Behind the scenes, there is an
enormous amount of attention to detail in this winery, the sort of detail that
would boggle the average wine-lovers mind.
Over the years I have met a lot of winemakers who are passionate about making wine, but Dan just assumes that everyone has the same passion for wine as he has, and that enthusiasm shines through, not only in his conversation but in the wines he is producing. Whilst he thoroughly enjoys making wine, and Pinot is his favourite variety, if he had his ultimate “what I would do if I didn't need to make a living” wish, it would be to make their Tête De Cuvée Pinot Noir and nothing more. Unfortunately for its price, it's a labour of love more than a means to derive an income.
Picardy 2003 Tête De Cuvée sells for $40 at cellar door. This is the
wine they make because they want to and the passion shows. A lovely, inviting
bouquet; its strawberry, earthy characteristic is more petulant than a
snooty-nosed three-year-old kid. Simply a lovely wine with an attractive mouth
feel, it's well backed by powdery tannins and pure fruit. Cherry, strawberry,
chocolate and gamey meaty characteristics finish with terrific length and
persistence. A firm, solid and tight wine that should improve well, it needs a
few more years in the bottle; rated as Highly
Recommended with *** for value. This is the wine they make to drink themselves
but as they made 130 dozen, they can't drink it all and it’s available for
purchase. No expense is spared in this wine; the carton alone costs $11.
Picardy 2003 Pinot sells for $25 at cellar door. Cropped at about 2 tonnes to the acre, this wine is not dissimilar to its predecessor but it is a lot simpler, but then it's just over half the price. Dusty tannins, unobtrusive acid and distinct fruit combine to form a lean wine with a firm consistency, solid structure and agreeable complexity. Rated as Recommended with **** for value.
Picardy 2003 Shiraz sells for $20 at cellar door. The wine has a one to two percent addition of Viognier, and the same of Malbec, although it's not on the label. The colour of this wine has lovely with a vibrant and bright intensity. The bouquet is closed and brooding but shows some subtle perfumed characters. A smartly made wine; it's clean and well balanced with pure, deeply-seated fruit that is well-framed by dusty tannins with unobtrusive acid in support. Off-sweet mulberry and black cherry spectrum fruit is contrasted by a lower layer of attractive fruit sweetness, with coffee and chocolate oak characters in support; all of which finish with formidable persistence. A medium-weight wine that is still tight, and whilst it’s drinkable now, it will improve as the back palate fleshes out; rated as Recommended with **** for value, the rating will improve as the wine matures around 2010 and beyond. This was one of the better 2003 Shiraz we found on our trip.
According to Dan, the swampy earthy character on the bouquet is intentional and that's why they use Malbec. Dan also went on to say, “With the Viognier we don't want that sweet, botrytis, orange, apricot character; that absolutely wrecks a good Shiraz." I agree completely. Dan added, "The Viognier is used for a textural effect, it helps to silk out the tannins and sweeten the front palate a little bit.
Picardy 2003 Merlot Cabernet sells for $20 at cellar door and is a blend of 51% Merlot, 28% Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance mainly Cabernet Franc. Another brooding bouquet, but floral characteristics from the Cabernet Franc are starting to show as well as leafy notes, and tobacco. This was a bad case of vininfanticide; copious quantities of powdery tannins slowly build across the palate and bury the deeply seated fruit. A very earthy wine; there is a river of sweet underlying blackcurrant fruit with loads of off-sweet, leafy tobacco, chocolate and mocha that finishes with clean acid. Medium-weight, this is a firm solid wine that is rated as Recommended with **** for value but that rating does not tell the whole story; the wine has scads of potential for improvement and it should be terrific in time, about 2011 and beyond.
Picardy 2002 Merlimont sells for $30 at cellar door and is a blend of 45% Merlot, 28% Cabernet Sauvignon and 27% Cabernet Franc. The wine is exactly the same as the Merlot Cabernet of the same vintage but it spends an extra year in oak. During its first year, 25% of the oak was new but during the second, it was all well-seasoned, old oak. The bouquet shows a good combination of aromatics that are in the earthy spectrum, with supporting cigar box characters, that leads to a palate of red spectrum fruit including cherry, strawberry, cigar box and leafy notes. Abundant, drying tannins are well matched to pure, deeply-seated fruit and acid that provides a clean finish. Medium-weight with a firm consistency, solid structure and well-developed complexity; the wine can be drunk now but will improve over the next five years. Rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value.
Picardy 2002 Merlot Cabernet is sold out but was kindly opened by Dan for comparative purposes; remember, this is exactly the same as the previous wine except it has a year less in oak. The bouquet seemed lovely and showed floral characters, but it was tighter. A seriously structured, medium-weight wine with a rock solid structure that was as shut tighter than a Scotsman's wallet; it was backed by pure, deeply-seated fruit delivering earthy flavours, sour cherry, chocolate and mint that was driven by very long, dusty tannins. A lot more serious than the Merlimont which just shows that more time in oak is not necessarily better; it's rated as Highly Recommended and that rating should improve as the wine matures around 2012 and beyond.
I recently had a bottle of the 2000 vintage Merlot Cabernet and it is coming together really nicely but still has years to go to reach its maximum potential. The 2003 is certainly worth buying. In fact, when I tasted the wine, I took one look at Brian and nodded and he took one look at me after he had a taste of the wine and nodded too. That exchange of nods means no discussion needed, we will split a dozen.
Dan regaled us with stories of the difficulties and potential disasters of growing a grape like Shiraz in this region. “It gives us heart attacks but some of the best wines in the world come from regions where they are right on the border with marginal picking times.
Sorting out prospective customers in advance at Picardy
It is no accident that their Cabernet blends wines are Merlot dominant; according to Dan, Merlot and Cabernet Franc are the easiest grapes to ripen in this region. They always ripen before the rain, but not during the heat. Merlot from Pemberton is not a big fat wine; it has excellent structure even though it does have holes in it; and that's one reason why it's blended with its partners, the second is to add complexity.
Dan
freely admits that Cabernet is a hard sell in the current environment and
although their wines are Merlot based, because there is a high percentage of
Cabernet in them they are tarred with the same brush. He also thought that
because the labels were so traditional, they were a little intimidating, and
people would rather buy the bottle of wine with the label showing “a dog having
a pee on a lamp post”.
As an aside, if you ever wondered why some wineries are keen to move volume through cellar door, and via mail order, rather than through retailers, this could be the reason. Over the years, the wholesalers’ mark-up has gone from 25 percent to 43 percent and the winery still has to provide sample stock.
Whilst
we tasted the wine, we discussed many and varied different aspects of winemaking
including microoxygenation and once again, Dan was not backward in coming
forward with his thoughts. “I think you can use it if you have bad sulphides; in
Shiraz especially. A wine that is put into a tank with wood (staves or chips)
and then moxed does not come close to a well-made wine that is barrel fermented.
If you leave the moxed wine in bottle for longer than 12 months, it winds up
being an absolutely crap wine. That's my personal opinion; I have a palate and
it’s ‘an opinionated one’.”
During our conversation, Dan said that he was trying to achieve wines that showed earthy characters, finesse and real complexity; based on what I tasted, he is certainly achieving his objective.
What a wonderful way to start our time in Pemberton;
it's just such a damn shame that the majority of the rest of our time here was
so disappointing. As it is pie o'clock, Dan suggested we adjourn to the Hidden
Valley winery for lunch, and after confirming that there were no pies on the
menu, I agreed it was a good idea.
It's not called Hidden Valley for nothing. Although it is not far from Pemberton, it's tucked away and out of sight in a beautifully tranquil setting. The winery has a small cellar door facility and two dining areas; we had the choice of an open a balcony or an air-conditioned tram, and as it was a very hot day we headed for the tram. It was not exactly over-run with customers, there was only one other table occupied but the service was efficient. The food was okay without being exceptional. I had a mixed platter of interesting bits and pieces including a soft cheese, a hard cheese, some theoretical saté chicken that was more like a chicken skewer with a little bit of flavouring, and some pickles that were reasonably sweet; the best part of the meal was the three pieces of salami. However it was nice to sit back and enjoy a relaxing meal with Dan, Brian and John (who works with Dan and had also joined us.)
We got lost so often we needed plenty of this stuff
...................Pemberton's Modern Bowser
The next appointment was with
Bob Peruch at 1.30 p.m. at
Batista. We had a map, we had an address,
and Brian was driving whilst I was theoretically doing the navigating.
Unfortunately the map we had was big on colour, small in size and short on
detail which made finding the winery not the easiest task. To help us, Bob's
wife had given as directions, but they were not exactly explicit and were about
as useful as Brian's navigational skills. That's my story and I'm sticking to
it. 
Needless to say, we got lost.
This place is in the middle of nowhere, and it makes Hidden Valley look like it's nestled in the main street of Pemberton. Once we'd worked out that we were somewhere between a rock and a hard place, we pulled into a local property to ask for directions. The guy we spoke to had never heard of Batista winery, but luckily he did know where Bob Peruch lived, even if he didn't realise the guy grew grapes and made wine. The directions we received were pretty good, and we only managed to get lost once more. About the point were we figured Batista should be, we saw a property up on a hill with rows of vines and drove in there thinking we had finally found the place. We spoke to a workman who had never heard of Batista, so we drove out and continued our search. It turned out that Batista was right next door.
So why is Batista so hard to find? Firstly, once again we had zero mobile phone reception. Secondly, not only is there a total deficiency of road signs, the property itself is not even signposted.
We drove up the driveway and passed the house, parking the car when we could go no further and walked over to the winery. It looked closed so we banged on the door and hey presto it opened; or should that be hey pesto. A fairly tall dude opened the door and the stench of garlic hit us immediately. It turns out he was not Bob, he was Bob's mate and was there to make pesto (using basil and garlic from the large vegetable patch nearby); which he did in copious quantities.
We introduced ourselves to Bob and very early on in the conversation Bob told us he considered himself to be a farmer, rather than a winemaker. This visit was very unusual and the conversation even more unusual. Bob has very strong feelings on a number of subjects, and he didn't mince words, telling us all about his opinions in excruciating detail. The subjects ranged from a vehement opposition towards the power of one of Australia's most eminent wine critics, through to his hatred for the new combined GI region, and his very strong dislike of what investment companies and other people that have recently started growing grapes are doing to the wine business. The following comments are virtually a verbatim transcript of segments of our recorded conversation. We covered many and various different subjects, so to indicate where topics have changed a ---------- has been inserted.
“I am a farmer, I try to make my income out of farming and it's sad, because now we are struggling because of these outside influences. The investors don't think about things, they are driven by accountants. We work with the climate and with the soil; they work with their pockets and calculators. Many of these wine investment properties are losing money, and they say they can afford it; but they can't. Nobody can afford to keep making losses indefinitely. It's sad, because it will degenerate society and farming. I'm a second-generation farmer but the knowledge is now going off the land.
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The proper way of setting up a
vineyard is without irrigation, having dry grown vines. You don't need
irrigation, when the vines are young, like in their first year, you can use a
hoe to dig a well around them and water them that way, that is the way it should
be done, but people are afraid of work today.
People say I'm a bit of a different person; bloody oath - I am a different person and it annoys me to hear people saying, and Frank Tate is one of them, that raves on about the advantages of irrigation and the increased yields, claiming it does not reduce quality. If you ask a winemaker what he wants when setting up a vineyard, he will tell you root stocks, unirrigated, and two tonnes to the acre.
I am sick of the wine industry lying to the public about these sorts of things.
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They have got to stop pumping the industry up. John Kosivich once said to me, ‘Mechanical harvesting has stuffed the industry because if everybody had to pick by hand, they wouldn't plant a hundred acres. They would plant 10 or 15 acres and they would do it properly. ’
If that happened, we would have a lot of small growers, producing high-quality product, we would try and help each other because we would be working at the same issues, rather than trying to cut each other's throats.
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I make wine that I want to drink. On one occasion, I had bird damage on the grapes, I thinned them out and kept only the best grapes, brought them up to the winery, made the wine; it was a bit volatile so it went straight down the drain. I didn't make Pinot in 2001, 2003 or 2004 and in 2003 there was no Merlot Cabernet made. If people don’t want to buy my wine, I am happy to drink it all myself!
Winemaking can become a bit of an egotistical exercise as to how much you can charge. One day I might make a Pinot and put 100 bucks a bottle on it, just for a laugh. I don't care if it sits there and never sells; it's a bit like when Dick Smith made those matches called “Dick Heads” - he was only doing it to prove a point, the point that consumers were being ripped off. It's the same with the wine industry. I don't feel like cheating the public like that; I don't feel that I need to go out and crank my ego up and get a gold medal and do all those sorts of things.
I really believe that wines are made by the seasons and by your vineyard site. I am not going to question anybody, but I sometimes wonder how much some judges and critics understand, and that's a problem when somebody can affect your livelihood with negative comments.
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The whole GIC process is flawed. This area should not be called Pemberton; it should be Warren Valley, Middlesex or Manjimup. This is the Warren district but “The WA Inc” element down in Pemberton wanted the whole region to be called Pemberton. Some time ago, they set up a new Geographical Indication Committee and they decided to draw a line on a map which included Middlesex and half of Manjimup as well as Pemberton. It would cost $100,000 to fight the case and they know I don't have the money.
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With the traditional wines like mine, if you actually sit down and have a meal with them, they are enjoyable. The further you go into the night, the more they compliment food. I am quite critical of the new age because the wines smell clinical, like you are in a dental clinic; wine shouldn't be like that.
Some time ago I had a bloke working with me in the vineyard. It was getting close to harvest and I asked him to taste the Shiraz grapes. He said it was looking pretty good and I said, no, no, have a serious look at it; get the grape and really taste it; chew on the skin and bite hard, you will get all these tannins, you will get the acid, you get everything in your mouth and you really keep chewing it and when you swallow the grapes, after about half an hour, you get the lingering sensation of the fruit, the tannins and everything. When we made the wine, he said, gees - that's exactly what I remember in the paddock. And that's what I want to do, get fruit and transform it to a bottle; not to make it smell like a dental surgery.
I want something that will smell like a natural product; I am only just learning and hopefully will keep learning, otherwise you may as well just be dead. People make mistakes, and I will make mistakes; I am not worried about people talking about my wine having Brett; it is just the way it is done and the way it affects your livelihood, by the media out there that concerns me”
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We tasted our way through a fairly broad range of barrel samples and what we tried was pretty good. Bob was kind enough to give me some bottles to take home and taste at my leisure; the tasting notes for these are below. After tasting the barrel samples, Bob drove us around the vines. This really is a micro, boutique winery and like a good dairy farmer would know the individual characteristics of each of his cows, Bob appears to know the individual characteristics of each of his vines.
Its a worry! ............................
Batista 2002 Pinot sells for $35 at cellar door. Initially the bouquet was completely closed but after five hours a touch of VA, abundant earthy characters, sweet fruit showing strawberry, chocolate, a hint of mint and cedar emerged. A well-balanced, fruit driven wine that has all the components in the right proportions; it is well backed by silky tannins. Medium-weight with a supple consistency, solid structure and harmonious complexity, it’s bigger than many other Pinots but is far from being over the top. Earthy, with chocolate and a hint of herbaceousness on the mid-palate, as well as some floral attributes, it also has good “Pinosity” and the wine finishes with good length. With its harmonious nature it is very drinkable now but incredibly tight; damn: why don't I have any duck? Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value; I thoroughly enjoyed it and the wine is worth buying.
Batista 2001 Shiraz sells for $25 at cellar door. The bouquet was initially slightly stinky, but certainly not offensive with meaty attributes, coffee, and five spices like characters. Very-smooth tannins combine with distinct, obvious fruit to form an ample-weight wine with a solid structure and well-developed, harmonious complexity. The balance is excellent and the wine should become seamless in time. Flavours of spice, earthy dark chocolate and (fruit derived) coffee linger nicely; there is a slight green edge that is not offensive and the wine seems ripe, but over time this dissipated completely. It's okay now, and rated as Recommended with *** for value, but the rating should go up as the wine matures.
Batista 2001 Merlot Cabernet sells for $25 at cellar door. After four hours, the bouquet was still closed and only showed dusty notes and dry forest floor characters. The palate was just as unyielding; a very solid and well structured wine with pure, deep fruit that is solidly supported by ultra-fine, tightly-grained tannins. An earthy flavour profile with plum, chocolate, coffee and a hint of herbaceousness on the mid-palate; it has some class and elegance, and it will improve as it matures over the next five years. Rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value.
During our conversation with Bob he told us his objective was to grow fruit that was an expression of his site; transform it to the bottle with as little intervention as possible, and produce wines that complimented food. Based on the three wines I tried, he has certainly done exactly that; the three wines showed consistent winemaking and certain characteristics, like the coffee flavour that comes from the site rather than oak.
The visit to this winery was
unique experience because Bob is certainly an unusual character. The wines are
all good value and well made. After the trip, I had to ring Bob to get the
prices of the wine from him and left a message on his answering machine. He rang
me back at 8.30 pm which is reasonable time to return a call, but unfortunately
Bob didn't realise it was 11.30 pm in the Eastern States. I really like getting
out of bed at 11.30 pm to talk about wine.
One has to forgive Bob because he is just a farmer at heart, and farmers
think about the weather, crops and other such things; not about time in other
places.
The closest winery was Smithbrook, so that is where we headed next and this selection had an added advantage, as we had just been past it, we knew we would not get lost. The winery was first planted in the late 1980’s by Bill Pannell and a group of French investors. Since that time, it has had a number of owners, with Petaluma becoming its main shareholder in 1998 (now part of Lion Nathan.) At that time, it was an irrigated vineyard that produced high cropping levels and the fruit quality was questionable.
Unfortunately the wines served in this winery were far too hot to do the wines any justice at all.
Smithbrook 2003 Naked Grape is a blend of 55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet
Sauvignon and it sells for $15 a bottle; less 10% by the dozen. The bouquet
showed VA, varnished oak and fragrant fruit, leading to a fruit-driven palate
showing blackberry and plum with chocolate, and a sharp acid finish. Minimal
smooth tannins produced a wine with a supple consistency that was basically very
ordinary; rated as Acceptable with ** for value.
Smithbrook 2002 Merlot sells for $23 by the bottle or $20 by the dozen. More varnished oak over dark fruit; the palate shows good fruit intensity but fierce acid on the finish. Silky tannins are attractive and back a medium-weight wine with a simple complexity; it's rated as Agreeable with ** for value.
Smithbrook 2001 Yilgarn is their premium label and is a blend of 86% Merlot, and the balance made up of various Bordeaux varieties; the wine sells for $35 by the bottle, or $30 by the dozen. A touch of varnished oak, with coffee and plum; there is loads of oak influence dominating the bouquet. A clean wine that is better balanced than the previous two; smooth tannins combine with fresh, crisp acid and pure fruit to form an ample-weight wine with a firm consistency, an agreeable complexity, and there is some elegance to the structure. Coffee, plum, mulberry, chocolate, and mocha flavours finish clean with noticeable acidity. Rated as Agreeable with ** for value
The visit to this winery was "an experience" and not a particularly exciting one. The wines are aimed squarely at the restaurant market and all of them had noticeable acidity, some to the point of being searing. They openly admit that they have had to do whole lot of work in the vineyard which is continuing. Grafting is still taking place and they are trying to reduce their use of fertiliser, in an attempt to produce better grapes. Based on what we saw, there's still work to do.
The next winery on the agenda was
Woodsmoke Estate mainly because they are one of the few that are open
past four o'clock. It also has a restaurant and a microbrewery and the focus of
the establishment is clearly on these two rather than the wine. The business is
heavily geared towards tourism and the combined facility has been built on a
hill with stunning views. Sitting outside and watching the world go by in a
place like this would certainly be a very sensible thing to do; especially if
you are a beer drinker.
I tried the wine and Brian decided he was going for the beer. The first wine I tried was the worst case of oxidised wine I have ever seen. The owner was very obliging in terms of opening up another bottle but what impressed was the temperature of the freshly opened bottle; although it was a hot day, it had been kept in some form of refrigerated storage below the counter and was if anything, it was a little cool: good stuff!
Woodsmoke 2003 Merlot Cabernet sells for $24.50. VA with ripe fruit and hints of varnished oak over sweet red berry fruit on the bouquet, it translates to a bitter tasting red and blue berry fruits with chocolate flavours that finishes short on the back palate. A lean wine with a supple consistency, and an agreeable complexity it is an extremely ordinary wine that would probably be improved by food. Rated as Acceptable with * for value.
Brian decided to order a tasting
set of beer which comprised six small glasses of the available beers on tap,
presented in a nice wooden rack, for the princely sum of $10.
No doubt this
place is better known for its beer than its wine.
The second bottle of wine I tried, although it had just been checked by the owner, was almost as badly oxidised as the first, and yet he obviously thought it was sound as he was quite happy to pour it. He did offer to open another one, but I declined and went to join Brian on the open deck.
The owner is big on ‘selling’; when Brian paid with $100 bill, he asked Brian if he would like to buy anything else, and that was before he even had a chance to taste the beers.
Whilst we were sitting on the balcony and Brian was enjoying his beers, the waitress was kind enough to bring me a jug of iced water without being asked; that was a nice touch. The owner, not missing a trick opened up a fresh bottle of the other red wine and brought a sample for me to try.
Woodsmoke 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc sells for $22.50 a bottle (case price.) The bouquet shows varnished oak over floral fruit and cocoa. Minimal tannins combine with balanced acid and almost delicate fruit to form a lean wine with a supple consistency, an elegant structure and a plain complexity. Blackcurrant, tobacco leaf through to capsicum spectrum flavours, with cocoa and chocolate on the finish. The tannins seem green and the wine is rated as Agreeable with ** for value.
For a winery, they look like they make reasonable beer, but the service was friendly and good, and the ambience spectacular.
We still had some spare time so we headed over to Gloucester Ridge to see what they had on offer; we arrived there about 4.45 p.m.
Gloucester Ridge 2002 Cabernet Shiraz sells for $18 at cellar door. The hot and volatile coffee oaked nose made me wonder if this wine was sound. Plums, chocolate and leafy notes finished with sour, searing acidity. Medium-weight with a supple consistency, solid structure and simple complexity; the wine is rated as Barely Drinkable with * for value.
So if I'm not sure the wine is sound, why am I writing up? The answer is simply that if the winery has enough disregard for their customers to serve wine that is probably at 30 degrees (86F) then they deserve a poor review posted. When I very politely pointed out that the wine was “rather warm” the response was that on hot days they usually put them into an ice bucket, but they had been very busy today. The only thing I can read into that is that they couldn't be bothered as it must not have had a high priority.
We were told they would be happy to open a new bottle, but there was no point as it would have been hot too.
The winery does have the mandatory gift shop, but this one had some very interesting, and tempting food items.
Just down the road from Gloucester Ridge winery is
Gloucester National Park which is home to "the Gloucester tree". This is not
just an ordinary Karri tree; its 60 metres tall (200 feet) and has a tree house
in its canopy, that can be reached by climbing a set of giant steel rods that
have been driven into the trunk, in a spiral staircase formation. It looked like
some demented and deranged maniac had gone crazy with gigantic nails. As I'm not
completely insane, I had no desire to climb the tree, but Brian decided to
venture up a small part of the way. After his sanity had returned, and he was
back on terra firma, we headed to our hotel.
We stayed at the Comfort Inn Motel Karri Forest which is located at the top end of the village, not far from the National Park. The hotel is a bit tired and rundown, and needs refurbishing. In theory, according to the advertising is rated as four stars, but in my opinion it doesn't deserve them. A room for one was $100 a night, which to my way of thinking was exorbitant for rooms of this age and condition, but they did have a two-room Suite for $150 and that was just acceptable value. As we walked into our room, we noticed the floor had more dips and bumps than a rollercoaster. The springs on one side of my bed were completely shot and if two people had been required to sleep in it, we would have been going somewhere else. Unfortunately, accommodation in Pemberton is not cheap, even though it in the middle of nowhere.
Dan Pannell from Picardy had
suggested we stay here because it has the best restaurant in the district, and
after dinner it's a short stagger to bed. It was Valentine's Day so when we went
into the restaurant for dinner, I specifically requested an unromantic table for
two as I didn't want to gaze into Brian's eyes.
The theme and decor of the restaurant is very much 1970’s. Much of the music played quietly in the background was from that era and ranged from "A Whiter Shade of Pale” through to "Bridge Over Troubled Waters". The decor is off-white walls and ceilings with imposing Mission Brown beams and plenty of brown timber wood panelling.
The local specialty of the area is Marron and there is a big farm in Pemberton, so naturally I couldn't go past it when I saw it on the menu. On a number of occasions when I have eaten Marron I have not been particularly impressed because the dishes have been fairly boring. The Marron here was the highlight of the whole trip. The size of the crustaceans was bigger than in most other restaurants; they were split into two and grilled, and cooked to perfection. They were accompanied by lemon risotto which contrasted the slightly oily nature of the Marron beautifully; the spicy tomato salsa that had a hint of chilli that provided a wonderful complexity to the dish and perfectly balanced the sweet, sour, hot and spicy elements of the dish.
Brian had ginger and duck salad; the dish disappeared in record time. It was cooked with soya sauce and Thai spices with just enough salad to balance the dish, rather than create a sea of useless green.
Whilst we were having dinner,
people at the next table ordered a bottle of white wine. The waitress described
it as "quite a zesty wine”. Based on what we had tried over the last few days, I
think that is local code for “searing acidity”.
You can add that one to the
wine euphemism lexicon.
Our main course continued the
1970’s theme; fillet steak, Dutch carrots, mushrooms and a superb, seriously
good, reduction sauce. I'm a legendary fast eater, and these steaks must have
been good because Brian damn near kept pace with me mouthful for mouthful.
For dessert, I ordered a chocolate mud cake with chilli, and as the picture shows, it's a work of art. It was also incredibly rich and contained an excellent variety of different types of chocolate; it's probably the richest and best chocolate cake I have ever eaten. If you looked hard enough, you could probably find a few crumbs of cake amongst all the chocolate and it was served with cream and a raspberry coulis.
Brian ordered the cheese platter
which was meant to have a blue cheese and a washed rind. The blue was
exceptionally good; the washed rind was unlike any other washed rind I have ever
seen, and there was a very good reason for that, it wasn't washed rind. There
was no washed characteristic and it was more like a medium to hard yellow
cheese. The texture was wrong, the colour was wrong, and the flavour was wrong,
other than that it was all right.
Brian did query it, but according to the chef it was a washed rind. My only comment is “bovine manure!” Overall, the meal was superb and the best I've eaten on this trip by a long way. My starter was the most expensive on the menu at $16, the steaks were $28.50, and deserts were about $12.50.
Dan Pannell had been kind enough to give us some of the open bottles to take with us and enjoy with dinner. The extra airtime did the wines the power of good and confirmed my original assessment of them. It was a pity that the restaurant did not have any Rutherglen Stickies on the menu as I would have been happy to have purchased a bottle to have with the divine chocolate cake.
We staggered off to our two-bedroom suite feeling that the world was a wonderful place.
This chapter is so big that it has been broken into two for faster loading.
Chapter Six Part Two can be found here
Copyright © Ric Einstein 2006