Sketch me a lost road then. Made of gravel, and flanked by giant Karri trees. Weaving seamlessly through a hundred year forest and then over a single lane bridge crossing a water course. Open it up to a landscape showing quaint paddocks on rolling hillsides. Through to a modest house overlooking a tiny, picturesque vineyard of lyre-trellised vines. Animate it now, to see the knowledgeable and dedicated grower tending to his grapes in the mornings and sculpting wines in the evenings. This is John Brocksopp, and Lillian wines.
The opportunity came up to taste nine different vintages of this wine, spanning back to 2009, up to the soon to be released 2023. It gave us a rare opportunity to look at this wine in context with other vintages and see how it evolves as it ages. John, the winemaker and vigneron who generously invited us to share in the experience was able to talk us through each wine and took great interest in having a critical look at his own creations.
For those unfamiliar, John has been making wine from his Lillian vineyard, situated South East of the Pemberton township for a few decades, reaching back to when he was still the viticulturist at Leeuwin Estate and one of the architects in the creation of their famous Art Series Chardonnay. One day I asked him what were the reasons he planted (generally heat loving) Southern Rhone white varieties on what is by West Australian standards a fairly cool location for a vineyard. The main reason he mentioned was that he could finish vintage at Leeuwin and then return to Pemberton in time to pick his own crop which ripened slightly later. Lillian also make a Viognier, a sweet wine (also made from Viognier) – and from the Lefroy Brook vineyard across the road a Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. All are made in very small quantities, in a hands-off manner, and are all predictably excellent.
Back to the wine then, which is always a blend of Marsanne and Rousanne, and despite being under the radar, to those in the know is regarded as one of Australia’s finest. My reference points for this style are predominantly Australian single varietal Marsanne, and they tend to show two things. Firstly a dominant honeyed / honeysuckle character that becomes exaggerated as it ages, and secondly a lack of structure or acidity to hold the wine together. ‘All icing and no cake’ is how you might describe them. The Lillian wines we tasted had little in common in this regard. Often the tannin would provide the backbone, or the Rousanne component would bring a lift to hold the wine together. As the wines aged, they held their structure, with the 2009 and 2010 holding together almost as well as the new releases. As for the honeysuckle flavour we had all anticipated, it was definitely there, particularly when the Marsanne was up in the blend but overall it tended to be very subtle. Indeed, more often it was the third or fourth thing you’d notice rather than any sort of dominant feature. It was interesting that John mentioned about halfway through the tasting that he was specifically trying to avoid this characteristic, and the crucial role of the Rousanne in achieving this. By avoiding this as the dominant flavour so many other aspects and complexities of the wines were on show, and the wines tended to be more savoury and textural with sweetness very much held in check.
One other interesting thing to come out of this tasting was to see us all really struggle to find the words to describe the flavours we were all tasting. Between the six of us we all came up with quite different ways of describing the wines, and I suspect another six unique people may have identified an entirely different set of flavours altogether. It was hard work for the brain / palate memory – akin to trying to find that familiar face you are searching for on a crowded railway platform. There was a lot going on, and though you could see plenty, moments of clarity were rare. So that in itself was rather interesting, and I think rather than contradicting each other, this focused dissection helped build and describe the layers of complexity in the wines. Sometimes ‘Riesling-like’, or ‘Chardonnay-like’ worked as a useful reference point or starting point and then added to from there. So in my notes, I’ve used the tasters initials where they have contributed a specific thought, and many of the other notes were thoughts and words flying around the room whilst I feverishly scribbled things down. Onto the wines then.
2023. A cooler vintage with the fruit picked between 10.5 and 11.5 baume. This was made with some fermentation on skins and pressed at 8 baume. Botrytis was a slight issue this vintage, and tasting the wine John had a slight concern about the amount of tannin. The wine itself presented ok, a bit of a blank slate perhaps, with space to build some character from here. The acidity pickled up with time in the glass, and entwined nicely with some tropical fruit / melon notes and a slight hint of honey. All in all, a slightly neutral wine with an almost nonchalance about it. I thought this was the weakest of the flight by some margin, so it will be interesting to see how it develops.
2022. “Terrific year” said John, pre-empting a big step in excitement in comparison to the 23. I found It had an attractive, slightly oily character, was a a bit sweeter than the 23 and had some firm acidity to it. There was a melange of characteristics others found in the wine: floral notes, almonds, stone fruit, white peach and some preserved fruit. It was also slightly grassy and slightly tangy. This vintage combined a really graceful, elegant palate with a lot of complexity to the flavours. Upon tasting this John remarked that this is the kind of wine he is trying to make. Delicious, and drinking fantastically already, and a wine that will no doubt improve further.
2021. A lower crop this year according to John, with this blend being 50% Rousanne rather than the usual 30%. This higher percentage of Rousanne gives the wine a real lift, with freshness and balance coming from the Marsanne. The bouquet was quite different to the 2022, with a lot less honeyed / sweetened notes. In its place was described by JP as ‘citrus – though more citrus flowers than fruit’. BP found this also, and added resin and antique furniture notes whilst DP noted the tart / sharpness on the back palate. There was certainly a lot going on, and you could even add some herbal and light aniseed characters as well. This was the first wine where I noted some Chardonnay similarities that brought to mind stirred lees.
2020. John mentioned some challenges with rain during vintage, and also that he fined the wine ‘aggressively’ due to the wine having a darker colour than usual. The percentage of Rousanne was down in this vintage. Despite the challenges he noted, I found spectacular complexity in the bouquet. There was plenty of honeysuckle on the palate (likely due the higher Marsanne percentage) and of all the wines here it was the most noticeable feature. It was also drier and slightly tart. My gut feel is that this wine is developing a bit slower than the younger vintages we had just tried, and will likely become something special in 5-10 years time.
2019. John noted that this was picked a bit later than usual due to a lack of room in the winery, with the wine sitting well about the usual alcohol, and coming in at 14.8%. At this point John mentioned that ideally the two varieties are fermented together, though this is something that works best where the baume of each are close together. As for the wine, it was the first to show noticeable colour development. The bouquet was fairly restrained but the palate was generous and full. It pushed into some creaminess, with some attractive flecks of ginger spice. Others mentioned that the wine had the effect of ginger more so than the flavour. A savoury and spicy wine. Collectively we found it quite hard to pin down what this wine was reminiscent of: it was the first to remind me of a slightly aged Riesling or Chenin, but balancing that were those creamy notes. A lot happening here.
2017. “A terrific year for early varieties” said John surprisingly (It was quite a challenging vintage at Picardy), and true to his own outlook this was one of the highlights of the flight. BP noticed strong linseed oil and old furniture notes here, to which John added resin, and DP mentioned dry spices. When I stuck my nose in the glass here I uttered an accidentally out loud ‘wow’, enamoured by the effusive aromas. There is an incredible bouquet here, and the soft texture of the wine and the way it expanded on the back palate completed a very compelling picture. A special wine.
2016. John noted here that again there was a larger percentage of Rousanne this year, and indeed like the 2021 it had a slight Chardonnay resemblance. He found strong ‘straw’ notes, which (among many other things) I missed, though predictably it seemed obvious once it was pointed out. JP mentioned citrus notes, and between us we threw in citrus fruit, flower and pith. Adding to that were that same core theme of melon, ginger and honey, all of which were balanced and restrained – adding complexity and balance rather than dominating.
2010. This and the 2009 were both magnificent wines: a spectacular encore that will live in my memory for some time. The sizeable gap in age between this and the 2016 translated in very different bouquets. To my nose it was a pure and rather sincere carbon copy of shaved white truffle, though no one else agreed on that, which was interesting in itself. There were earthy notes as well, and ‘a good funkiness to it’ (JP), a good licking of ginger, and brought to mind ‘flowers soaked in honey’ (DP). All in all, an absolute belter, and in a tightly run race this was my wine of the day.
2009. Again I found that heavy truffle aroma here, and indeed this is one of the best smelling white wines I’ve ever put to my nose. Once again, others weren’t too sure about the truffle, but between them noted a mouldy / blue cheese / wet wood vibe – all in the best possible sense. John noted a slight greenness to it, and made a link towards an elegant Sauvignon Blanc. This wine was particularly unctuous, and incredible for its age, with DP suggesting a resemblance to an aged Riesling drinking at its peak. BP remarked that the tannin (rather than the acid) was holding this together – which was a very astute observation and in hindsight relevant to some of the other wines as well. I took this one home with me after the tasting, with no more than a third of a bottle left and looked at it over the following two nights. It was absolutely singing till the last drop disappeared: ‘old but not tired’ personified.
Last thoughts.
Whether or not we nailed the flavour descriptors is up for debate, but one thing that isn’t it the superb quality of these wines: some of the most fascinating and intriguing whites that I’ve tasted. In a quiet room with everyone’s concentration absolute, there was still the occasional gasp, and accidental ‘wow’ that escaped peoples lips as they moved through the glasses in front of them. The bouquet itself gradually got more and more interesting as we worked our way through the flight, especially from about 5-7 years onwards, and I would suggest this as a starting point for drinking, though of course you won’t be disappointed in having an earlier peek. Given the small production, the chances that many of the 2009 or 2010’s are still existence is pretty slim, which is a real shame based on what we saw. I would love to have a case or two to show people what we were lucky enough to taste. But I can count myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to taste a wine like this in the context of many different vintages, surrounded by great palates and talked through them by the winemaker himself. A great educational experience, and as you might have guessed, I’ve thrown a good number of the new vintages in the cellar in anticipation of some nice rewards in years to come.
The Wine Accomplice 