Come April our landscapes, the sparse, ever so gentle hills of WA’s central Wheatbelt send out its siren.

Like migratory birds, those that currently reside in the coastal areas of the South West (who were once involved more hands on in broad-acre farming) make their way East to help out. The siren echoes, not through ears but through their body as the season changes and the lure of the smell of turned earth and the promise of a new seasons riches are on offer. It’s time to plant the winter crop. The long, cruel summer has finally drawn to a close and with the changing of the season & the silent songs travel long distances to lure these men back to jump in a tractor and help out those who need them.

These are the Autumn Sirens.

So welcome then, to the Autumn edition to the Wine Accomplice. And hasn’t the world changed since I last put my fingertips to the laptop (todays version of putting pen to paper). Summer out here has indeed dragged on cruelly, bar some early March rain that brought about a tinge of green that was routinely and succinctly dealt with by fires and spray. Out here weed control (and preserving moisture) is King. And don’t ask about the Queen: she left a long time ago on account of the flies who have been cruelly persistent of late, and I’m well past admiring them for this quality. Anyone not bothered by them is either not spending enough time outside or instead is taking a strange form of solace in at least some relief from the social distancing rules.

Masculinity, Pinot Noir & Autumn

I feel for those going through tough times with this virus, and feel a bit guilty as truth be told life out here hasn’t changed all that much. Sure, I’m looking forward to a trip to Perth or down South but (fingers crossed) we’ll be busy till August anyway. And the considerable upside of this quiet period as we wait for an opening rain is plenty of time at home with my young family. My little boy is three and a tick years old & is the best company and entertainment one could hope for whilst my little girl a bit younger and is quickly finding her voice. This extra time at home, and a calendar devoid of commitments has been such a blessing from that perspective and for the most part has been rather special. I genuinely think I’ll look back very fondly on this period for this reason, plus a bit of extra time to work on music, cooking and drinking wine while watching the sunsets has been an added bonus.

Driving back from a parts run the other day I began listening to a podcast with Tim Winton as the guest. He delved rather deeply into what he saw was still fairly prevalent toxic and misguided masculinity in young boys transitioning to men. The analogy that he used was (along the lines of) how young boys start out as a pencil case with every single colour. As diverse people full of life and love for all different things & it breaks his heart to see them get to that stage of post adolescence and have only one or two colours. It seems as if they have had their full self beaten out of them by poor role models and simplistic ideas about what it is to be a man.

My thoughts quickly turned to our young boy. He is, at this stage without doubt the full pencil case: so creative and inquisitive with (in particular) a great love for music, dancing and language. I was so lucky in my childhood to have all those types of things encouraged and that continued through high school and beyond where it was perfectly normal to try and dominate a game of football & then take that same gusto into a debate or a creative persuit.

So what of masculinity then, by definition? My take on it is that becoming a man isn’t about brute strength or any other oversimplified stereotype. Instead, perhaps it is simply about developing the tools to react appropriately in different situations. When one needs to be strong & brave a man should be able to do that, yet should always be gentle, kind & giving when they can. Building character, and therefore those tools can only be done through (often tough) life experiences & so putting your children in those types of situations should be a major part of parenting, even if sometimes it may be counter intuitive. Having good people around you and going through different situations outside your comfort zone is how you build character. It’s an ongoing struggle.

Where does wine fit into all this? It probably a long bow, but I think appreciating beauty is essential in being a well rounded person & should never be shied away from. It’s part of the very fabric of a persons soul. And whether that is appreciating fine art or music, theatre or literature – or the smells and flavours of wine – it is all part of finding beauty in the signals that the senses send to our brains. And many would argue that the holy grail of all this is the siren like beauty of great Pinot Noir.

Autumn weather (out here at least) is a fine pairing for Pinot Noir: it’s a seasonal match up that works. In terms of the yearly cycle, the landscape is at its most bleak: the lush green fields last sighted in September a long forgotten memory. The dams are empty & the wind blows: picking up dust from overgrazed paddocks & distributing it elsewhere, only for the wind to change direction and blow back the very next day. To sit and watch is to drift off into thought & ponder ones existence; surely a large part of romanticising the country lifestyle. One can marvel at that rhythmic, mesmerising patterns through the fields made by the large machinery, or the spectacular slowly evolving sunsets at the end of the day that provide that fleeting moment of beauty, much like when you first put your nose into a special glass of wine.

Finding Pinot Noir that resonates on a personal level is an ongoing journey. In Australia you have those regions in close proximity to Melbourne where it’s more than possible to make credible examples of the variety. I’ve always preferred the Victorian stuff to anything Tasmania or New Zealand has to offer and with that in mind, on the mainland I find that its more about producer than region. I love the wines of Mooorooduc Estate or Gembrook Hill for example, but struggle with their near neighbours such as (for example) Yabby Lake & Macforbes. The only way to find your ‘style’ of pinot is to keep drinking and tasting until you find what clicks.

It’s worth keeping in mind that an average pinot is a reasonably pleasant, fruity drink & a good pinot is a delight & easy match to most cuisine. But a great one stops you in your tracks & stays with you. I’ll never forget the taste and texture of my first Grand Cru Burgundy, nor my first Bass Phillip. The tales of people who uprooted their entire lives after one special bottle, to find a piece of dirt somewhere and begin a lifetime pursuit of making a wine of similar quality resonate strongly. It’s powerful stuff. And I hope I can teach my boy as he grows up that appreciating beauty, whatever form that it takes, is a perfectly noble display of masculinity, surpassed only by the pursuit of creating it.

Changing topics now to the obvious one

I guess it would be remiss of me not to touch on the virus currently wreaking havoc across many industries including the wine game, for many a double-whammy after the devastating fires during Summer. From a consumers perspective I think it’s as simple as supporting the people and family businesses that you care about by buying wine directly from them as much as possible.

On the flipside of the gloom, I can see some positives emerging from all of this. For a long time I’ve pondered the cellar door trade and been bewildered by very small wineries making a smorgasbord of different styles and varieties, no doubt to cater to every taste that walks through the door. Perhaps it makes business sense but the quality overall is generally (and with very few exceptions) disappointing. And more often than not if that energy could have been put into doing a couple of things well and with passion I’m sure a much better result in the glass would be achieved. We don’t expect the person that wins the decathlon at the Olympics to get a start in the 100m sprint final & making wine should perhaps be viewed no differently. So whilst I feel very much for those struggling, perhaps this tough period will help some producers work out where best to focus their energy & emerge stronger.

Wine Notes

Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2018 (Canberra). 97 / 100

Wow, what a wine! This was almost too wonderful to enjoy properly: you’re in a conversation with the most beautiful person you’ve ever met but you’re too tongue-tied to relax, and trying to hard to savour it instead of just enjoying the moment. Seductively perfumed, graceful & long: the 13/18 side by side will be a fascinating comparison for years to come.

By Farr ‘Sangreal’ Pinot Noir 2017 (Geelong) 96/100

Multifaceted waves of complex textures and flavours: this is a beautiful, convincing wine characterized by its length and attractive savoury and ‘stemmy’ characteristics. I preferred this slightly to the ‘Farrside’. This is top of the tree type stuff, but fun enough to enjoy: you’re enjoying the view from the peak of an old Redwood, only to discover there’s a flying fox to take you down. Enjoy the ride & keep an eye out for the 2018’s.

ATR ‘Grower Series’ Shiraz. 2017 (Grampians) 95/100

Adam Richardson has been chipping away at his Grampians vineyard for some time now & from all reports there has been a lift in quality since he’s returned from the States to focus on it full time. I’ve not tasted earlier releases but these grower series wines – sourced from different vineyard sources in the Grampians region – have been sensational so far. We’ve drunk bottles of the ‘Leeke’ and ‘Ludwigson’ & both were compelling & very much a value buy at around that $30 mark. Different wines, but I enjoyed them both equally. Expect a medium to full bodied wine full of all that lovely Grampians spice and complexity. Admittedly these wines are well in my realms of personal taste/bias but I’m convinced that the ATR bottlings are great showcases for the region, displaying the best characteristics of warm and cool climate shiraz all in one bottle. More info here.

Bests Bin 0 Shiraz 2017 (Grampians) 95/100

Have written about this before and have little to add. The best Bin 0 I’ve tasted with the poise and balance to age for several decades.

Curly Flat Pinot Noir 2015 (Macedon) 94/100

A fine, poised Curly Flat that’s a few years off its peak. Plenty of Asian spice and an attractive, every so slightly grainy texture. Length.

Voyager Cabernet Merlot 2010 (Margaret River) 94/100

Misleadingly, given it’s a ‘cab/merlot’ this is (or was) the leading wine from this vast Margaret River Estate, founded by a billionaire mining magnate who didn’t drink. Hardly the kind of stuff that warms the heart of course, but its hard to argue with what is in the glass here, a really lovely Margaret River Cabernet blend that has evolved into a balanced wine showcasing some beautiful (ever so lightly leafy) fruit and a hint of some early tertiary notes. It’s bloody good.

Woodlands ‘Margaret’ Cabernet blend 2016 (Margaret River) 93/100

I’ve long been guilty, (generally after a few too many glasses) of over the top statements along the lines of ‘ each vintage the rest of the Margaret River fights to see who can make the third best wine of the vintage (under the assumption that this, and the family series from Woodlands are locks to take out first and second place). The first time I had this wine it was a bit closed (just after release), the second time it was almost perfect and a clear wine of the night against far greater competition. Bottle number three showed very nicely but I think more than anything it promises more with time. Plenty left in the cellar.

Balnaves of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 (Coonawarra) 93/100

So I managed to get my hands on two-dozen back vintage cabernets from Balnaves & am slowly working through them (mainly in an effort to avoid drinking the rest of my cabernet too young). So far I’ve most enjoyed the 2004, from a cooler vintage. This was very well balanced and with seductive Coonawarra Cabernet typicity. More than ready now but will hold till about 2024.

Castle Rock Pinot Noir 2018 (Porongurups) 92/100

I’ve long been a fan of Castle Rock & this remains a very reasonably priced, high quality offering. It needs some years to show its best & the MV6 clone (or at least what I think is MV6 – lets not get too carried away) is fairly prominent. But all in all this is a very complete wine, dense and enjoyable.

Chateau Carbonnieux 2016 (Pessac Leognan) 92/100

This is a wine that got some impressive reviews both en primeur and since. It’s nothing monumental but is it a good steady claret nonetheless. I picked up a lot of different flavours on the first bottle I tried, but here it seemed a bit more straight forward. It should mellow out nicely and drink well from about 2024 onwards.

Fletcher Barbaresco ‘Recta-Pete’ 2014 (Piedmonte) 92/100

I’m a big fan of the Fletcher wines: the 2013 Barolo was a recent highlight. This is a good effort from a less than perfect vintage and much like the Carbonneiux should drink well from about 2024.

Turkey Flat Shiraz 2017 (Barossa Valley) 91/100

Turkey Flat has been my go to Barossa Shiraz for as long as I’ve been drinking the stuff. Old vines, French oak & careful picking dates is a pretty solid formula in a region I don’t always enjoy. That said, the 17 is a little bit lean this year, but still a very balanced and enjoyable medium bodied Barrossan Shiraz that will improve in bottle for a decade or so. I also had a 2010 recently & that was loveliness personified.

Pegasus Bay Pinot Noir 2016 (Waipara) 90/100

New Zealand Pinot is something I try and admire objectively but the truth is it has brought me only small patches of joy over the years. So often at the end of a long lunch the votes for wine of the day will come in for a pretty simple, plump NZ pinot and I’ll sit there genuinely bewildered. Each to their own of course. One thing I’m learning though is that they do age quite well & 5-7 years is definitely a go-zone. On top of that I have a soft spot for Pegasus Bay, and I remember very fondly one that we had at West End Deli one night. This, the 2016 is in that mold though not quite as seductively perfume nor as silky/breezy through the palette. I think this will be great from about 2022 onwards where it will sneak up the ratings & I’d still jump into bed with this over the vast majority of Otago stuff.

Hay Shed Hill ‘Block 2’ Cabernet 2010 (Margaret River) 89/100

Still a little young, this had yet to evolve out of its tight phase, it also just seemed a bit disjointed and astringent. I’m not confident it will blossom. Perhaps picked fractionally ripe. It drank quite similar to an 09 which was opened when it was about 8 years of age. Whether the Block 2 emerges as a credible example of premium Wilyabrup Cabernet with further ageing I’m not sure, but it is hard to make a case for its place in the cellar at the moment.

Redman Shiraz 2014 (Coonawarra) 89/100

A bit of warmth and perhaps a tiny bit simple but as a solid midweeker this is a no brainer. Very good for the price and no rush to drink either.

Herve Souhat ‘Syrah’ 2018 (Rhone) 85/100

A natural wine and one adored by the wine trade, but this was quite a confronting style for someone that’s not use to it. Whilst I can appreciate the purity of the fruit and it improved with a fair bit of air it just reminded me too much of unfinished wine. My wife thought it was undrinkable, and I definitely struggled through it but I think for those who like the style, or in smaller doses this would and does deliver. Just not for me.

The bits and the bobs

I’ve trawled the wide web repeatedly for decent wine podcasts and the best one I’ve discovered so far is ‘The Vincast’ with James Scarcebrook. On this podcast he has long, interesting chats with various people from the wonderful world of wine. It’s a bit like ABC conversations & comes reccomended.  Check it out [here]

I’m still enjoying the writing of Joss Fowler & his Vinolent blog, especially his recent takes on 2016 & 2010 Bordeaux. Geoff Kelly is also a new one I’ve found & if you enjoy your NZ pinot he is well worth checking out – here.

Lastly, if isolation has got you down there is a little game we play occasionally called the ‘sock game’ in order to still do a bit of blind tasting at home. Line up 4 or 5 (or however many) bottles and place them each in a sock. Get one of you to grab one and pour a couple of glasses (without looking if possible) and have fun guessing what it. Mix up the themes as much as possible. Generally I try and eliminate the ones I don’t think it is & am left picking between a few possibilities. It’s good fun and a pretty simply way to practice blind tasting.

If you’ve got this far you’ve done extremely well. Will be back in Winter for a no doubt Cote-du-Rhone heavy edition of the Wine Accomplice.

Cheers – Ambrose.

Something about opportunistic crime really tickles me & I’m not too sure why but it could be something about the inner monologue that I imagine would accompany it. Something along the lines of;

“I wouldn’t normally steal a car, but since this one is running and parked outside my house I guess I might as well take it”

It could just be me but I find that thought process pretty amusing, at least until that very thing happened a few hundred metres from my Perth house, scared a few people & possibly dropped our house prices. Now obviously most of us aren’t criminals regardless of the situation, but that small section of society that would jump on this kind of opportunity seems very much in tune with the Aussie ‘yeh me ancestors were sent here as convicts for stealing a loaf of bread’ type spirit. I’m guessing that when one is committing to an opportunistic crime you’ve have a split second to remember if you’ve been in this situation before, weigh up the risks and make a quick judgement call on it.

You won’t go to jail for it, but picking what I wine is at a blind tasting wine is somewhat similar. You analyze the situation around you & hope it feels familiar enough, with enough memory triggers to make a judgement call. If enough is in your favour, you’ll make a decent fist of it, if not it can be quite embarrassing.  And the only way to get better is practice, something that’s quite easy to do at home.

If you’re on board, start by putting at least three wines aside in a different room. If you’re a beginner start with a cabernet, a shiraz and pinot. Get a friend or significance other to crack one of the bottles and bring you a glass from a wine chosen at random. Think about whats in your glass and talk your way through what you think it might be and why.

When you’re getting better, incrementally make it more difficult. Maybe you could line up five different shiraz and have a go at guessing region and producer. Or sod it all and just go carjacking – what do I care?

On to the wines then & here are some highlights of two very good drinking months.

Fletcher Barolo 2013 Alta Pete . $70 odd, mailing list.

As impressive as a full moon is, I think the moon is at its prettiest when it’s just a slither. I’ve always found something romantic or mystical about that shape, it brings back childhood memories from stories and the like. Perhaps watching Alice and Wonderland and expecting a Chesire Cat to fall out of the sky plays a part as well? Romantic or not, the lovely thing about that slither is you know there is more there but the moon is only revealing part of what it wants to show you that night.

For those that don’t know, Dave Fletcher is an Australian who fell under the spell of Nebbiolo and now makes wine over there in Piedmont. His story is interesting, the wines are always fantastic and it is well worth jumping on the mailing list to access them if you can.

My wife and I drank this over a few hours one night out on the deck and found a generous, strong wine with plenty of perfume and a bit more depth than the equally fine Barbaresco of this vintage. A beautiful wine, and much like the moon that night, this is a wine which is only showing what it wants at this age & has plenty more to reveal.

Spinifex ‘Esprit’ Barossa Grenache Mataro 2015 $35

Spinifex are one of those reliable Barossa operations which every now and then I’ll grab three or six of something to tide me over, whether that’s the Indigene, La Maline, Moppa Shiraz or this reliable drop: the Esprit. When you buy wine from Spinifex you are buying a bottle made by one of Australia’s great wine making talents, from grapes he’s carefully sourced by dedicated growers from vineyards often with particularly old vines. With that kind of formula not a lot can go wrong, and the results are more often than not rather superlative.

Onto this, and present are the super furry tannins that I often find in young GSM wines, 30 minutes of air and they are no longer, leaving behind a very pure, drinkable Grenache blend. I think you could serve this wine at a lunch next to a pinot and it wouldn’t be a ridiculous comparison given the very attractive fruit flavours and silky length. Nice wine this & in a good place as a four year old.

Collector ‘Marked Tree Red’ Canberra Shiraz 2016 $28

Like Spinifex, Collector wines owe much to the talent of their winemaker who sources this gem of a wine from various vineyards around the Collector region which North East of Canberra. I got a bit tired of waiting for the 2015 reserve to come out, so picked up a half dozen of this to tide me over for a while. The obvious comparison is Clonakilla but the wines to me seem quite different, super fragrant (this is Canberra after all), but ‘bunchy/stemmy’ and more light & silky in structure. This is not a shiraz for steak, but rather one for some thinly sliced carpaccio. On tasting a day after opening we found it had picked up some nice weight & I don’t think five or ten years in the cellar would do it too much harm.

On top of that it’s good value to boot: forget ‘good for the price’. This is just plain good.

Castle Rock ‘Diletti’. Great Southern Chardonnay 2014 $25

Some neighbours came round one Saturday afternoon and exchange for me offering up on them some good food and wine I had the pleasure of good company and plentiful liquor in my backyard without having to plan a ride home. Usually when you have these kind of afternoons one or two wines in particular stand out but on this occasion this wasn’t the case as everything drank reasonable well & on the day this was my personal highlight.

The Porongorups are a pretty special part of WA and Castle Rock have done what not many Great Southern producers have managed: to make a Chardonnay approaching the quality of their fantastic Rieslings. A wine very much to my style in that it was very savoury and gave the impression much of the complexity coming from the lees or some barrel work. Very smart buying at under $30.

Woodlands ‘Clementine’. Margaret River cabernet blend 2016 $39 retail, $33 members.

We were lucky enough to have Andrew Watson host us last time we stumbled into the Woodlands cellar door. In a region where ‘easy going’ is the norm he radiated a wonderful intensity and strikes me as the kind of guy that lies awake at night wondering how he can improve their wines by 0.02%. Woodlands is that kind of operation, quality driven right down to fruit sorting their entry levels in the winery. And it translates into the glass.

The Clementine (cabernet sauvignon 55%, malbec 16%, merlot 15%, petit verdot 14%) comes from the Woodlands brook vineyard was planted in 2001, with vine spacings at double the intensity of their original vineyard. In an era where virtually every vineyard has a pricey reserve wine whether vine age or quality merits it or not, on paper $40 odd seems pretty reasonable for the top wine from a vineyard like this. Then when you take into account what is actually in the glass is it seems doubly reasonable.

So on to the wine which is very Woodlands in style & reminsent of the ‘Margarets’ of old both in terms of flavour and ambition. Rich and generous with earthy dark fruits & classic, old world oak: savoury and proper. This is a wine that could compete with the big boys of the region & will age effortlessly for two decades.

Thompson Estate Cabernet. Margaret River 2016

I’m starting to think you can buy 2016 Margaret River with your eyes closed, but even in that context this is particularly splendid indeed. This is the best I’ve tried from this reliable producer: this is proper Wilyabrup gear.

Ravensworth Shiraz Viognier. Canberra 2017

Ravensworth S/V is just one of those classic ‘go to’ wines that usually ticks all the boxes without costing an arm and a leg. Even in the context of Canberra Shiraz it has the most seductive fragrance; the kind of perfumes you don’t forget, they might even remind you of your first kiss (if it’s one you look back on fondly).

My benchmark for this label is still the 2015 & I quote that bottle directly ‘smells like a Turkish bazaar; roses and violets along with exotic spice, pomegranate, red fruit and dried herbs, there’s even, I swear, a touch of shisha smoke’. When the winemaker can write like this it does make you wonder why you’d bother with your own descriptors, and indeed I’ve got little more to add (despite the different vintage).

On top of said perfume, this year the colour seems a little duller than usual which is irrelevant quality wise but still a point of interest. Taste wise this release also seems a bit more ‘bunchy’ as well. Impressive Length.

All in all the 17 is a fine offering, even if it’s not quite at the heights of the 15 that won me over. My hunch is that this label still has a few more heights to scale, the journey over the next ten years or so will be exciting. And if they were offering the 18 en primeur I’d have locked in a case already: you could gamble your local member on it being a belter. Special kudos for the Blackadder reference on this years label. Getting this wine on your radar is a plan so cunning you could brush your teeth it.

By Farr ‘Farrside’. Geelong Pinot Noir 2017. $180 on the wine list, $80 odd in retail land.

Having two young kids and living rural means trips to the finest restaurants in Perth are few and far between. Still, my wife and I managed to get to Balthazar the other night and ate rather well indeed whilst indulging in this beauty, taking the recommendation from our waiter. When you’re not use to markups like this they can be a little confronting, but I can definitely handle it once or twice a year.

Proper new world Pinot this: nothing sweet and with an impressive mid palette weight. Earthy, with plenty of cherry, Asian spices & nice complexity on the finish. Acid was a little overdone perhaps though it is something which will resolve itself in time & I can see this lasting long term. I really enjoyed this & might even buy some 18’s.

That’s it for the good stuff but I should also should mention that whilst I didn’t take notes, a 12 Clerc Milon, NV Krug, Felton Road ‘Calvert’, Dukes Reserve Rielsing & even a modest Woodlands Cab Merlot from 2005 were all sensational.

Back to the barley harvest for me then. Adios!

In my experience the best father of the groom speeches inevitably come from farmers who work with their son. And the reason for this is simple, because of the close nature of the relationship the speeches are consistently full of one defining element: substance.

The night before we headed for our annual trip down to Margaret River we had the wedding of a neighbour, someone I know pretty well and am particularly fond of. It was a splendid (ie rollicking) evening all round but it included one particular highlight, the father of the groom speech which hit me like a jackhammer. You’ll see time and time again the easy path taken here, which is to alternate between speaking about oneself, listing the sons achievements and then praising the new member of their family and welcoming her family to theirs. Serviceable sure, but an opportunity gone begging. Tonight the speaker on this occasion was able to go at least one better as amongst managing the usual formalities well he was able to give a brilliant summation of the complexities that make up the wonderful character of the Groom. It was fantastic to see him take advantage of such an intimate relationship and then being able to express such a deep understanding of what makes his son such a great person in front of a large, receptive crowd. Bravo.

It was still in my mind as we drove down to Metricup the next day where we stayed with friends (as we do most years) in the heart of the Margaret River wine region. When you consider the weather, the scenery, the beaches & in particular the wine you can understand why this is a pretty special place in the hearts of West Australians. It’s a place to indulge, but can often feel like the graveyard of WA’s excess wealth: the final resting place of much of Western Australia’s spare cash.

Now of course there is nothing wrong with that & actually the whole thing functions rather well indeed. The tourists flock down for beachside holidays or yoga retreats to cleanse their souls, mingling with the free spirited locals & perhaps mumbling the phrase ‘we really should move down here’ enough times to truly believe it. Alternatively one might indulge in the finest wine and food WA has to offer, on breathtaking properties with enough encounters with words like ‘sustainable’, ‘biodynamic’ & ‘carbon neutral’ to really feel like you’re doing the planet a favour by indulging in a long lunch then loading another case of Sem/Sav in the boot for the trip back to Perth. It’s easy to be cynical of course, but when you think about where the majority of the money has come from in setting up these Estates whether thats from directly or indirectly from pillaging our natural resources further North or not, its quite easy to view the region as lacking a bit of soul, or even a bit of substance.

This was all on my mind as we made our way to a Wednesday morning appointment with Stuart Pym from Flowstone Wines, who was kind enough to host us at his winery in the Forest Grove region, far from the hustle and bustle of further North. If you’re not familiar with Stuart’s previous work it is worth noting that he’s had thirty years in the industry; his parents started Hay Shed Hill and after working in various places he went on to start Stella Bella and now Flowstone.

After some introductions and some light exploration we tasted through the wines & what struck me the most was that every piece of gear, each little winemaking idea & each grape source had been accumulated gradually over a journey. It was impossible not to get the impression that this was not only someone who had the means but far more importantly had the intimate knowledge through years of experimentation to know how to make those small little jumps in quality. After all, this is a region where well resourced vineyards and reasonably consistent weather give high quality wines across the board & can subsequently make it hard to stand out.

These wines had no such trouble & indeed it all translated very well into the glass beginning with the entry-level whites were rather nice indeed with plenty of aromatics & drinkability/charm. Such was the attractive character of the Sauvignon Blanc that it was hard to believe it was indeed said grape variety; this wine is the complete antithesis of every cheap savvy you’ve ever tasted. I liked it so much I bought some which is the wine equivalent of going to watch your team play football and coming home with a wardrobe full of merch from the opposition team. Elsewhere, both the chardonnays you feel would sit comfortably amongst the benchmarks of the region, in particular the top offering ‘the Queen of the Earth Chardonnay’ which needed another two years to be any near its peak but showed a remarkably combination of finesse, flavour & complexity.  

The reds had their measure beginning with a perfectly drinkable entry-level blend (blending varieties is something I whole heartedly agree with for entry level wines) of Shiraz and Grenache. The Cabernet Touriga had the most vibrant, impressive tannins; the winner down at Bathurst would have been impressed by the raciness of these, whilst the QOTE cabernet 2015 was off the charts sublime. I can still taste that cigar box finish. 2015 isn’t my favourite Margaret River vintage but I feel it was one that sorted out the men from the boys & the gems, including this one, are certainly there for those that seek them.

It was an absolute pleasure to taste through these wines. Stuart instantly struck me as one of my favourite types of people; someone who takes what they do very seriously but yet avoids taking themselves seriously at all. And that always comes from a genuine confidence in what they’re doing, which lends itself to being relaxed in nature – a pretty simple formula when you think about it. It was fantastic to (however briefly) listen to him talk of his own unique journey in wine & to share and explain his philosophies. Much like the father of the groom on Sunday night there was something behind it all, obliterating any need for the kind of off-putting pontification that can miss the mark on a crowd hoping for more. Without question, these are great wines & full of substance.

We loaded up the car boot.

flowstonewines.com

One Saturday afternoon in late July about 25 of us got together and ripped the tops off nine different cabernet based wines from the 2016 vintage, with the wines identities known, but not the order in which they came out. 2016 was a great vintage both here in Margaret River and also in Bordeaux so this had the makings of a great tasting. Included in the line up were three of Margaret Rivers best wines, plus the Jimmy Watson winning Xanadu, some mid priced Bordeaux (to test the theory that you can buy down the ‘ladder’ in great vintages) plus two Aussie classics in the Mt Mary ‘Quintet’ and Coonawarra’s Bowen Estate. All these wines would have tasted pretty superb if they were on your table accompanying Wednesday nights lasagna but here the finite details & imperfections have nowhere to hide when one of their peers is appearing 12 minutes later. So the context makes it a great way to pick a few producers that you like best, find out your own personal preferences and subsequently make the decision on which wines (if any) to cellar. Surprisingly enough the last three times we’d done a tasting like this the Bordeaux wines had more or less come out top, thought often (not always) they were priced well above their MR counterparts.

So, big ideas aside and on to this tasting, I pulled the nine wines order out of a hat & had enough decanters on hand to give each bottle a 60 minute decant. Lalande Borie, the third wine from Ducru Beaucaillou in St Julien was the first wine poured and it received the least amount of votes. Someone remarked it was a bit over-oaked & that seemed fair though I suspect it will integrate nicely in time. Adding to that, it was reasonably light weight and lacked fruit but interestingly enough both myself and my wife enjoyed it, perhaps more use to that particular style. This wine was followed by the Moss Wood, a wine I tasted from barrel and thought was borderline spectacular at the time. I was quite busy hosting and only snuck a quick mouthful, seduced by the fruit but a bit surprised by the lack of weight and tannin. Perhaps my expectation clouded things as this polled quite well but all things considered (and I’m probably wrong though) I suspect it might drink well a bit younger than both the 14 and 15. Following this was the new big gun from Woodlands, who frustratingly change the name of their top wine each year and I’m not too sure about using the name ‘Clementine Eloise’ when the ‘Clementine’ is already quite a new stand alone wine in the Woodlands range. Nevertheless, when it came to what was in the glass this was wine of the night, absolutely brained them in the votes and got the full three from me as well. This is a superbly proportioned wine that had so much cabernet perfume and classic claret flavours. I’ve long held on to a personal preference, for mine this is the pinnacle of Wilyabrup with more weight than Cullen, a bit more precision and detail than Vasse & more expressive and full of far more raw beauty & ethereal flavours than Moss Wood. The best wines of the world are opulent, resplendent in their combination of elegance and power; a hair out of line in any direction and you can begin to find faults of course but I’m a true believer that you can say more if what it is you have to say is worth listening to (or tasting in this case) & this wine fits that bill. All that considered, I’ve often questioned my own Woodlands bias but on the night the quality was quite clear & the admiration of this wine was well and truly widespread.

Wine number four was another from Margaret River (the hat had its own ideas about mixing up the order), the Jimmy Watson winning Xanadu cabernet. This was impeccable for the price ($35 ish), and had a bit more fruit than the quite tight but equally impressive & age-worthy 2015. You know, I didn’t mind the 15’s in general  – I didn’t buy a lot mind you, but they were a bit like 2014 Bordeaux (or even 2009 Coonawarra) in that they were restrained, proper wines without the opulence and fruit of the bigger, riper vintages; hardly under ripe but just lacking a bit of power or oomph. Wines to come back to perhaps, rather than revel in now. Back to the Xanadu, this didn’t poll amazingly well & was a fraction off the pace of the other three from Margs – I thought the acidity was just slightly angular/off putting – but most people commented that they enjoyed it and I suspect it’ll evolve nicely from here. Following this was a very powerful Chateau Meyney, an unclassified but well situated estate in St Estephe which displayed a massive amount of tannin and firmness and probably could have done with another hour or two in the decanter. I had it as my second favourite (again, quite use to the style perhaps) but the majority of the crowd did not enjoy it, picked it as a French wine and scored it very poorly on their note sheets. Feedback noted(!), she won’t be in the lineup next year. Wine number six was the Bowen Estate from Coonawarra & peoples reaction to this was quite fascinating. There was a group outside that were convinced it was the Mt Mary, whilst inside a few thought it was pretty ripe and words like ‘redskins’ were thrown around. Either way, both groups loved the wine and the conclusion was reached that Coonawarra at this price point ($30 odd) really should be a go-to wine if you want to drink cabernet more often than not. The great thing about blind tasting is that the only thing that counts is what’s in the glass, and despite being the cheapest wine on the night and presenting to a room full of proud West Australians, it came second in the votes.

Leading the last three wines was the Mount Mary and this polled strongly, with roughly half the crowd sneaking it a singular vote. This was a wine of real character & finesse that was nowhere near as shy as I’ve sometimes encountered. Tastings like this hardly do it justice and it would have been lovely instead to sit down for a meal and share a whole bottle, watching it slowly evolve over time. While no-one absolutely adored the Le Parde Haut Bailly, (second wine of Haut Bailly in Pessac Leognan) it was probably the Bordeaux the crowd enjoyed the most. It was a bit more easy-going/early drinking than the first two, with less tannins and obvious oak but the fruit was similarly restrained & savoury.

The final wine, the 2016 Cape Mentelle cabernet was a wonderful example of the style & snuck plenty of votes even though many had probably already made up their mind and had to adjust their preferences. This is a wine I think continues to sneak under the radar as they make a great wine here for a more than reasonable price given what is in the bottle. Personally, I find it refreshing that their isn’t a stack of different top end Cape Mentelle Cabernets along the lines of what neighbours Voyager and Xanadu are doing with all these different plots and seemingly every year changing names and labels to cater to the short-attention-span crowd or sure up some more room in the Wine Companion. Instead, Cape Mentelle just make a bloody good wine year in year out for those in the know, which makes sense when you have a treasure trove of old vines and exemplary wine making history to draw on, leaving the flashy, erratic marketing to others.

The night of course descended after that as people voted (three votes to their favourite, two to their second favourite and one to their third) & we had the big reveal of the wines identities with some ooh’s (and possibly even some ahh’s). Following that we all got stuck into some Noble One and Chateau Coutet to go with the cheese (and later into some Gembrook Pinot, Grampians Shiraz & NZ merlot – as you do).

The votes on the night were:

Woodlands ‘Clementine Eloise’ 38 votes

Bowen Estate 29

Moss Wood and Mt Mary ‘Quintet’ 17

Cape Mentelle 14

Xanadu 8

Chateau Meyney 5

Le Parde Haut Bailly 3

Chateau Lalande Borie 2

Balnaves of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvingon 2014 ($40 ish)

There’s plenty of wine clubs popping up these days, giving you the chance to buy direct from the winery with a decent discount in exchange for a commitment to purchasing each year. Generally there seems to be reason they don’t quite work, whether its committing to too much wine from one producer, broad wine packs full of stuff you don’t really want or trying to send you wine in October (getting a bit warm here by then). Enter Balnaves, offering a dozen (or two with a slightly bigger discount) of what you want, when you want it every year plus what looks like being very handy access to some older releases from the museum from time to time.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Coonawarra and that remains, particularly when it comes to value. I’ve stopped buying Majella (likewise Craiglee) for their irritating bottle size, which is slightly longer than a normal Bordeaux bottle & makes storage a pain unless you plan to cellar straight cases of the same wine not in wine racks. So no more Majella means a lot more Balnaves, helping me take the plunge into ‘sign-up’ territory.

Before I get to the wine, it’s worth noting that the anti-cork brigade seems to have won the battle with Balnaves, Halliday in particular continually calls them out on it, which seems a shame to me as I was quite a fan of the pro-cork and what I was finding in older bottles of Balnaves with that particular seal. Perhaps James could do us all a favour and go and taste some back vintages with the seal to confirm if he’s been correct in shaving off points & drinking windows on account of a ‘slightly stained pro-cork’. Still, we know screwcaps can do the job and will do here on the 2014 Cabernet, released as a five year but still displaying a classically vivid bright purple colour & a brightly fruited bouquet with all the primary flavours that you’d expect in a younger wine. First and foremost it tastes like proper Coonawarra, significant tannins and acid to move this bottle slow and in one direction. As the Balnaves website will succinctly suggest, this is one to ‘drink/hold’.

Chateau Saint Pierre 2016, (St Julien) ($120+)

A well executed Saint Julien & bolder and riper than the classics of the region that I’m more familiar with such as the Bartons & Branaire Ducru. Curiosity got the better of me in that I couldn’t resist a look at this but still feel guilty about it. Such is the crime of vinocide, the regret never really goes away. Nevertheless the Chateau Saint Pierre 2016 is a proper wine with a bit of flair that may well be great in a decade or two. And the remaining bottles are now deep underground.

Turkey Flat Shiraz 2008 ($50)

2008 Turkey Flat Shiraz was one of the first wines I ever bought six of, this being my last bottle. 2008 wasn’t a universally great year in the Barossa, and as such it’s one that’s hard to generalize about, with a heat wave coming through at just the wrong time. Some vineyards & specific wines that blend from various vineyards made an effort to pick before the heat wave whilst some rolled the dice and (literally) got burnt. The fruit for the 2008 TF shiraz was picked before the heat wave but it doesn’t escape entirely from a bit of pruney characteristics, something I don’t usually see in Turkey Flat. Here though, they add to the flavour and generosity of the wine. This is a lovely, well executed Barossa Shiraz that could have gone another decade or so.

Chateau Siran 2016 (Margaux) ($65)

A well situated chateau in Margaux that by reputation would be on the brink of classification if 1855 was done today. Apparently back vintages such as 1928 & 1961 are still drinking pretty well. For some reason I didn’t write any detailed notes here beyond ‘no brainer’, perhaps because I was busy loading up on the 2018 en primeur. This is a go-to Margaux, where value and reliability can oft be quite scant.

Blue poles Allouran 2015 (Margaret River) ($30)

Picked this (and a reserve merlot 16) up from Gangemis in West Perth where I asked the attendant if an hour in the decanter for this wine was a good idea & he said no, looked at me funny and offered the suggestion that decanting was only for old wines. Before my filters kicked in I uttered, possibly quite rudely, ‘well I don’t agree with that’, thus ending the conversation & making the rest of the transaction rather awkward. (Note to self; work on your filters).

For those that don’t know, Blue Poles is a small, hands on vineyard inland and in the Southern Area of Margaret River out in the Rosabrook direction. The vineyard was founded by a geologist by the name of Mark Gifford who was chasing the right soils and climate to make an homage to the great merlot based wines from the right bank in Bordeaux. You won’t find these wines in the new Halliday Wine Companion, or in your local BWS, but where you do find these wines, either physically or written about you’ll find a Blue Poles enthusiast; these are very much wines for those ‘in the know’.

For the last week or two I’ve occasionally been reading through Giffords ‘monthly report’ on the Blue Poles website and his writing comes highly recommended. The detail on weather conditions and monthly updates how the vintage is shaping up are insightful and without spin. It brings to mind Gavin Quinney of Bordeaux, who writes in great detail from the perspective of someone who is on the land & genuinely knows what he or she are talking about. Gifford often takes this one step further, eloquently sidetracking into different issues that can be left alone by the Australian wine media, or providing spectacular clarity on issues that from a consumers perspective can be quite murky. This is compelling writing – more please!

Onto the wine then, a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc from a Margaret River vintage that produced very good Merlot, if not spectacular Cabernet from Wilyabrup. Certainly this is a fruit driven wine & very ‘Margs’, but you can taste the attention to detail, the fine line it treads to achieve something often underrated in wine – balance. My wife initially suggested it was slightly under ripe & whilst I could see where she is coming from, halfway through the bottle we both doubted this was the case. I just think this is a wine laid completely bare with tannins, oak, sweetness & alcohol barely in the picture, which really speak for the superlative fruit. On day two the acidity and tannins seemed a bit more pronounced, the nose a bit more floral & there was more depth to the wine in general. 

If you pour a glass of the 2015 Allouran you’ll be tasting the nuances of the vineyard, the season, the canopy management, the gentle touch in the winery. And yet for all that, perhaps because apart from the purity of the fruit & balance of the wine nothing really stands out, and so one would imagine it might be quite easy to miss the quality of this wine easily if you were in a deep conversation. And there, perhaps lies the beauty.

Curly Flat Pinot Noir 2015 (Macedon Ranges) ($52)

I’m a convert/close follower of Curly Flat pinot & a great believer that this is one of Australia’s best Pinots to age. The fifteen is in line to do so as well & is just starting to lose a bit of its puppy fat. This may not be quite as good as the 14 (the 10 remains my benchmark at the moment) but it’s pretty damn fine. For those that own some, I’d give it another 2 – 3 years in the cellar first.

Best’s Bin 0 2017 (Grampians) ($85)

On Survivor they talk about food cravings, downing a big steak or burger or what not when they finally get voted out. Having never really starved like that, I’m not big on the food cravings but occasionally I get wine cravings; mainly for Bordeaux but the other variety/region I sometimes crave is Grampians Shiraz. It has its own unique peppery flavour of course, but if I was describing it to someone who wasn’t familiar I’d say its like a halfway point between those big Barossan wines & more of a Northern Rhone (or Canberra even) style of shiraz. The structure and presence of the former & the seductive perfumes of the latter; the best of both worlds if you will.

 Throw in the history and stature & know-how of Best’s Great Western, some seriously old vines and a terrific season like 2017 and you’d be justified in expecting some better than just a pretty decent wine. This is indeed the case for here we have a benchmark vintage of Bin 0 where every single element is exactly where you want it to be; exceptional purity of fruit, lightness on the palette & yet exceptional length.  This wine is the bottled equivalent of a group photo taken at the exact split second each individual is giving their best smile in that it captures the full potential of the moment, one that is now beautifully frozen in time.

SC Pannell Grenache 2012 (Mclaren Vale) ($50)

Making a single variety Grenache must be a tough task to take on, I can imagine it would keep more than a few winemakers up at night. For often, even when its approaching ‘benchmark’ in quality, a straight Grenache always feels to me like something is either missing or (even worse) something is overdone. I don’t get that though with the Pannell Grenache, which makes it all the more remarkable. I remember him warning us in an interview once, something along the lines of ‘not many people really like the taste of aged bottles of Grenache’, and I remember thinking I suspect I probably will like it. These haven’t really lasted long enough to find out, but to be honest I will confess I preferred this and the 2010 when they were new releases.

Nevertheless this is still an outstanding bottle full of summer fruits, ripe berries and the fruit flavours you get in exquisitely tart berries (minus the tart aspect if that makes sense). Throw in some Turkish delight, maybe even a few rose petals (who knows?) & what you have is a lovely bottle of wine. But what elevates this wine to the next tier of quality is something it has now and had on release, the most sublime tannins I’ve ever seen in a lighter bodied red. If there was such thing as a massage for your mouth then the textures in this wine would be a blueprint for how that might work. Tick.

As a complete novice writing about wine, in a complete cop-out I’ve decided to only review or write about bottles that I’ve really enjoyed – after all who am I to bag out someones hard work & what not. So strap yourself in for some dribble, for here is the first edition of ‘The Good Stuff’.

Chantacaille Clauzel – St Emilion. 2016 (merlot blend)

Interesting wine this, offered through Langtons at $45 but made off a tiny plot of well situated wines basically on the border of Pomerol & St Emilion with close proximity to the likes of Cheval Blanc and L’Evalgile, both of which will set you back ten or twenty times the price. I’ve never looked much into St Emilion on account of never reading too much positivity about the wines or their value; quite often the styles are described as ‘ripe’ or ‘extreme’ & the thought of spending a lot of money to get a bottle of wine shipped around the world only for it to taste like a bold, new world wine seems to lack a good dollop of common sense.

But in this case I think that logic has been pretty flawed, as this was not an ultra bold style but instead medium bodied, savoury and well put together. Indeed the fruit was modestly proportioned and particularly well balanced with those classic Bordeaux type flavours – pencil shavings and what not. This is a well balanced wine that ticks quite a few boxes.

Lillian Ladouys – St Estephe. 2016

Lillian Ladouys has a similar price point to the Clauzel, but in the glass it’s a completely different wine. LL is in the Southern part of St Estephe across the road (ish) from Lafon Rochet & is owned by the same mob who have successfully restored fifth growth Pedesclaux in Pauillac to some resemblance of its former glory. We gave this a long decant but (despite the high merlot content) it was still very firm, savoury and very St Estephe. The nose was restrained & the tannins well and truly coated your teeth. Sticking your nose into the decanter you got more a feel for the types of flavours, there was some biscuit and pencil lead. I enjoyed it on the first night but wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. The next day it truly blossomed, violets and lilac emerged reminiscent of a beautiful spring day, to go with the tight structure and strict tannins. I suspect that this is a wine that will drink very well at 8 – 10 years old and is very much to my own personal taste.

Chateau Carbonnieux – Pessac Leognan. 2016

Carbonnieux is a well situated chateau which makes fairly large quantities & is perhaps better known for it white wine.  Neal Martin loved this & I bought some on the back of his tasting note & score. It’s certainly different & very much in its own style; all the primary fruit flavours are tending towards very fine tertiary notes and the wine tastes about as old world as you can get. I struggled a bit with descriptors but if you said something along the lines of tea leaves, perhaps some aniseed, tobacco & almost a carnival type smell wouldn’t be too far off. Throw in the silky/Soft tannins & expansive finish and you’ve got a pretty decent Pessac Leognan here.

Chateau Montlandrie  – Castillion. 2016

For those that don’t know, Denis Durantou, the owner of L’eglise Clinet in Pomerol also makes a series of right bank wines including a benchmark Lalande de Pomerol as well as a keenly priced St Emilion. This wine, named Montlandrie comes from Castillion; not the most prestigious place to make wine but a vineyard in good hands. This is pretty reasonable ‘drink now’ style Bordeaux, friendly & fruit driven with some red fruits and a bit of sweetness that seems to come from the oak. Montlandrie this vintage is a wine that shows good generosity, a bit of warmth and some nice drying tannins to finish. Of the quintet of Bordeaux we dived into this month, I probably preferred this least but would still recommend it once value and early drinking is taken into account.

Roc de Cambes – Bourg. 2016

Roc de Cambes is a right bank wine from Bourg, not too far from Margaux but on the opposite side of the river. Here Francois Mjatville makes the undisputed benchmark of the appellation, and very much on his own terms at that. This wine became on my radar after a few mentions and a dedicated article on a blog called ‘Vinolent’, written by Joss Fowler who works in the English wine trade & writes particularly well. His note on the 2009 Roc de Cambes describes the energy of the wine and concludes with the line ‘you could light a torch with this wine’. My wife and myself drank the 2016 RDC over three days and it was fantastic on all three, very much peaking on the third. The fruit profile was mostly black/dark fruits, quite bold & punchy but becoming quite friendly with air. This bottle had so much to say; a genuinely exciting wine.

Gembrook Hill 2017

I tried the 2015 of this towards the end of a long lunch one day and whilst fairly under the influence & though i was in no state to make an accurate call on it, I was quite taken with it & thought it was on track to drink fantastically in five years time. So as you do, I went and bought six of the current release – the 2017, which struck me as very much a different wine. Firstly, this is very new world & obviously Victorian at that (not a bad thing). Rose petals and (for want of a better descriptor) fancy soaps or even fairly floss come to mind – not in terms of sweetness but in terms of bright attractive flavours. Countering this though is the shape of the wine; it glides through with a breezy sense of weightlessness that seemed particularly well calculated to delivering several waves of flavour. This is top notch new world Pinot Noir indeed.

Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

The 2016 Cape Mentelle is a fantastic wine with an exquisite attention to detail, combing wonderfully focused Margaret River fruit purity & the structure of a good Pauillac. An oversimplification of course, but this wine combines the classic & refined poise of the 2015 with the downright specular lashings of goodness in the 2014. At sub $100 the quality and value of modern Cape Mentelle cabernet is indisputable. Quite simply, this is a no brainer.

Suburban Perth has its own peculiar nuances. My current base in the big smoke is what I call (ironically) ‘the Upper East Side’ – better known as East Victoria Park. The houses, especially through the weatherboard district are modest & the block sizes are small. Drive down any street within the parameters of Berwick, Albany Hwy, Kent St & Hill View Terrace and you’ll see how each house blends into one – they are of a style, an era. These are cute, well-maintained single storey homes weatherboard homes, with white picket fences & attention to detail; all in all it’s an exercise of modest charm over extravagance.

Eyesores are hard to find, but what those streets in the Upper East Side don’t scream is dream home. I’m talking lotto win, or mining squillionaire type dream home. The world of tennis courts & river views, of swimming pools and multi stories exists elsewhere in Perth, closer to the beach & along the river. This is where you are more likely to see your idyllic property but also (and this is the key point) where you are just as likely to spot something you might consider an eyesore.

In a strange way I think wine follows the same principles. East Victoria Park’s wine equivalent is a lovely bottle of Gamay. It doesn’t set you back too much & it serves a purpose; petite and lovely and functional but hardly transcendent. And the truth is that the best wines in the world find their architectural equivalent in the not so modest homes along The Strand. Or Jutland. Or Saunders. Here you’ll find homes that are complete and realised versions of a style in its full expression, much like the great wines of the world speak loudly & confidently in their own particular way. Build it small & modest and there’s less to love but less to loathe. Load it up with Greek pillars or make it look like a giant glasshouse & some people may find love, whilst others may feel more comfortable staring directly into the sun…

Whilst its been toned down a fraction in recent years, Pierro still build their Chardonnays big & of a style; this is prime real estate and a no expenses spared build. Malolactic fermentation, sunlight drenched ripe fruit, lees stirred, Gin Gin clone; a style some will love & some will loathe. But it never seems overdone to me perhaps because its my type of architecture, my kind of wine. The 2014, drinking fantastically as a five year old, starts with this beautiful stone fruit that sits right on the wavelength of perfection – theres nothing bitter or extracted or noticeably overripe – instead its completely pure & (as crudely put as it may be) delicious. And then comes this wave of creaminess; impressive in size sure, but to me I notice its length far more than its width. Yes the dimensions are significant, but like other fine expressions of Wilyabrup Chardonnay this has exquisite precision & attention to detail. It might not be for everyone, but this is my kind of Chardonnay. This is my kind of dream home.

A few of us gathered on a Saturday early afternoon to celebrate the birthday of the Right Honourable member for Canarvon who had flown in for the long weekend to indulge in a multiple course lunch & far too many delicious bottles of wine. We have though, grown up just a fraction and long gone are the days when we would have marked the occasion by sneaking down to a pub and sticking a goon bag up a gum tree, subsequently taking turns to sneak off from whatever pub we were at to ‘top up’ at the ‘Coolabah tree’. Indeed, the food was absolutely sensational & our hosts went above and beyond & I thank them very much.

In terms of the format of the day, each person was asked to bring a secret wine to match the dish they had been allocated with two people going head to head for each course. Once we’d got a feel for the wines specific people were asked to do their best to identify year, variety, region & if possible producer, and were subsequently gently pressed by those who thought their guess may be more accurate. Generally on these days the guessing is a complete train wreck but today was an ok one for the speculators without any wildly embarrassing misses, though the same could not for said for those supposedly mastered in the art of hooking rings.

Tomato consume was matched with what turned out to be a Forest Hill 2014 block Riesling & a schmancy bottle of Australian Fiano (forget producer – my apologies). A few of us (myself included) suspected young-ish Clare for the Riesling but once it was revealed it was apparent that we should have picked it – you could have cut a diamond with this wine (tell tale sign its Great Southern). It was bloody fantastic & will live for years but for me about two years away from ‘the zone’. The Fiano was pretty delicious but overshadowed by how confused we all were by it – the sign of a job well done AB.

The fish (groper?) packed a lot of flavour along with a similarly flavoursome Hunter Valley Chardonnay from Scarborough that had people generally impressed (I very much enjoyed it), even leading to the words ‘Art Series’ being thrown around although one our hosts had a better grasp on it than us & picked the warmer climate notes. My wife had brought a Crawford River 2012 Riesling, a wine I thought presented very well, showing none of the petrol notes that I’d seen in an 2005 a few years ago.

A black glass came out, with a double blind wine to taste – eventually a few people nailed it but it took quite an embarrassing amount of time to even decide if it was white or red. My guess was a cheap-ish Margaret River Sem/Sav but it turned out it was a Te Koko from Cloudy Bay (sauvignon blanc) – this was quite genuinely scary & a lot of fun.

I’d been asked to bring a bottle to match the Pork and went for what I thought might be something a bit different which was a 2010 SC Pannell Grenache; one of my all time favourite wines. It was pretty closed to start with, but eventually showed a fair bit of elegance unfortunately without the incredible vibrancy and array of spring fruits and flowers that had made me fall in love – as always I should have brought a pinot! Anyways, as co-incidence would have it, my ‘opponent’ had brought also brought a Mclaren Vale Grenache (an 09) but the presented quite differently; my guess on this was a younger GSM. It exploded out of the blocks, packing a lot of primary fruit flavour for its age though showed its alcohol a bit and tired a bit in the glass & I think preference between the two was a question of style rather than quality.

The Tomahawk was accompanied by a Thomas (Hunter) Shiraz & a Vasse Felix Tom Cullity 2013 which was supremely good, familiar & I’d say most likely wine of the day – my wife guessed 2014, Wilyabrup & Cabernet which was a fine effort from someone who has barely had a drink for three years. The Thomas had quite a few admirers & was very good for what it was, albeit a bit outside my general comfort zone. The TC however was sensational & everything it should be; I’d love to go to bed with it more often, but reality is that it’s a wine I’m more than happy to drink when its presented to me, rather than forking out the $.

The member for Canarvon was up next, bringing a Claredon Hills Grenache (3 Grenache in one day is unheard of!) & it was definitely the best of those three though I was more focused on the other wine as it was my turn to guess. Here I managed to fluke it a bit in a narrow field as it was a sparkling Shiraz. I had a strong hunch that it was from the Grampians, which has a pretty unique taste and luckily I only knew one Grampians producer who made that style (being Seppelt), though I was roughly 7 years out with my guess on vintage.

Our Freo friends had bought a (rather delicious) cake of which I could just a fit a slice in, paired with a reasonable Sauternes & a very special 1986 Pedro Ximinez. Missions to our poor hosts unlocked cellar continued unabated, most notably nabbing a 2015 Gembrook Pinot. I think I was the one most taken with this; it had fine restraint of fruit instead of the abundance that generally turns me off Yarra Pinot, instead it was all about balance & structure and had just the tiniest schmidge of sour cherry more reminiscent of something that you might get in Mornington. It will be a great wine in 2-3 years time & I’ll certainly be chasing the new release.

My top three wines of the day were the 2013 Tom Cullity Cabernet, the 2015 Gembrook Hill Pinot & the 2012 Crawford River Riesling though you could throw a hankerchief over the next lot as there were very few disappointments. A fantastic day on the back of a sensational effort by our hosts and as far as I’m concerned that bag of Coolabah can stay up the tree forevermore.

Had my birthday fall on Friday this year (halfway to 70!) so decided to have a few friends round to drink some of my favourite wines & indulge out on the deck. We got lucky with the weather and many of the issues in the kitchen that could have gone either way kind of coincidently all went right – it was just one of those nights. In terms of hosting a wine night, it’s not the kind of thing we’ve done before out here but I thought I owed my poor Wheatbelt based friends who are always putting up me rabbiting on about wine to actually show them what it can be all about. And by what its all about I mean drinking good gear without much carry on & enjoying different flavours with great food & company. We had a great group who were good fun all night, embracing the theme and enjoying themselves & as you would expect stuck around for the many beers afterwards.

So first up was a fennel salad with bits and pieces, and a couple of Semillons which were a 2007 Meerea Park ‘Alexander Munro’ from the Hunter and a 2017 Moss Wood. The Meerea Park was interesting and lovely but definitely past its best for mine, 2 or 3 years ago I think this would have been particularly fine, the flavours were all there but it lacked a bit of zip. The Moss Wood had some fans, was a nice match for the dish and quite precise but perhaps limited by the variety itself.

Next up was some confit duck and spiced red cabbage with a couple of Australian Pinots, both of which I personally thought presented fantastically. The 2014 Picardy ‘tete du cuvee’ was classy and generous with these long wavy tannins carrying the flavour – surely (along with the 2011) one of the best ever from here but perhaps two years away from peaking. The 2014 Curly Flat (Macedon Ranges) was my pick for the night it had incredible finesse and will drink well & possibly even improve for another 5+ years. Both these wines exceeded my expectations.

I pulled out a mystery wine for a bit of fun asking our guests to guess Old World or New, variety & also year, with some clever clogs to my right impressively and without hesitation picking as an young Australian shiraz straight away. It was a 2016 Ravensworth shiraz/viognier (Canberra) and was in a good zone, super perfumed and pretty as always. I was surprised and impressed that my guests enjoyed it as much as they did as it can be quite a polarising style for those who prefer the South Australian stuff.

Speaking of South Australian stuff, we were then onto the lamb and Cabernets which were a 2009 Balnaves (Coonawarra) and a 2009 Heydon Estate WG Grace (Margaret River). I very much enjoyed both wines & the group was very strong on the Heydon and rightfully so. It’s a vineyard I always recommend to people visiting Margaret River, friendly, small and very ‘real’ and the wines are always fantastic. This bottle very much confirmed all that. The Balnaves tasted pretty young and very Coonawarra (which I quite like) but I would have liked to cellar it for another 5 years. We finished off with a Port, some brownie & a few dozen cold ones. I thank my guests for their company & for indulging me.

Wines of the night votes were 4 for the Heydon, 2 for the Picardy, 2 for the Curly Flat, 2 for the Ravensworth & 1 for the Meerea Park.

Writing this from memory so please forgive its slightly vague nature.

One afternoon in late January Daniel, Clementine & Myself headed down to the Lamonts wine store to taste some wines from Deep Woods and Cullen, partly out of curiosity but mainly because I was free.

We powered through the Sem-Savs (care factor quite low but for the record they were fine) & onto the Chardonnays. The Kevin John was absolutely stunning & wine of the tasting for me. This wine had a compelling, laser like precision/energy but with a volume of flavour that was genuinely exciting. The Deep Woods reserve was nice – a bit fatter and rounder but not quite in the same league. Memory is a touch scant but from memory both the entry and mid range reds from both vineyards were all reasonable, I’ve got a real soft spot for the wines from the Mangan vineyard & they showed very well on the day. Drink them with food and you will not be disappointed. The Deep Woods were fairly fruit driven but good for what they were.

At some point (owner of the store/all round legend) JJ gave quite a passionate speech about the success of Deep Woods winemaker Julian Langworthy & rattled off his resume and the story behind him getting the job (he nearly ended up at Howard Park). Long story short this guy knows how to make wine, across all price points and in particular wines that can do well in the wine shows & in the influential eyes of James Halliday.

Finally the big guns came out – The Diana Madeline & Deep Woods reserve as well as a ‘Grand Selection’ wine that was around the $120 mark I think. I’ve previously found the Deep Woods reserve cabernet a bit ripe, and a bit ‘made’ if that makes sense. I enjoyed it more on this particular day but still hold that view more or less. The big guns from Deep Woods are very much in the mould of the newest Hollywood blockbuster; quite genuinely impressive, if not quite my thing.

The Diana Madeline 2016 was a fascinating counter point; nuanced, subtle & in many ways almost perfect. Everything is neatly in its place, with precise lashings of pencil shavings and a serious restraint of fruit in a nod to the old world. Quite simply, in almost every way, this is Cabernet as it should be. Still one can’t help but wonder (if you’ll indulge me).

The Mona Lisa, despite its stature is quite literally a small painting; no less beautiful because of its size but small all the same. Change the dimensions and you’ll lose some of the charm but some (less sophisticated perhaps) people may want a bit more to look at. And I’m ever so slightly in that boat with the Diana Madeline, the dimensions & the detail may be perfect but (for the price at least) I’d prefer a bit more size and weight – a bit more of the same. Not more oak, or alcohol or ripe fruit but rather the exact same dimensions but fuller if that makes sense. But small nit-pickings aside this is a special wine and one I admired very much.

Going back to the Deep Woods, these wines had me pondering the role of a winemaker & what makes someone ‘the best’. One could make the argument I think, that the best winemakers are the ones that can turn not so special fruit into high quality wine. If you’ve got a plot in To-Kalon or Richebourg (for example) then no doubt most of the quality happens in the vineyard, getting the fruit to that level of perfection where you don’t need fancy tricks down the line. Basically get it in the winery, hold your nerve and don’t fuck with it too much – a skill in itself no doubt. But I feel like making high volumes of wine, from working class type vineyards and making seriously good wine regardless requires a high level of talent. Deep Woods is in this boat & I have genuine admiration for whats going on here even if theres not a spot in my cellar for the wines.

I’ve always been a bit torn on Cullen. I’d happily spend a day drinking their wines and some days I’ll tell anyone in earshot how good they are but at the same time this is a place that very much rubs me up the wrong way. The reason for this is that Cullen are very heavy handed in promoting how they run their operation & wrap it into a very holistic type of experience that seems very shallow, manipulative & to be honest, cringeworthy. Organics in the vineyard makes sense, and if you believe bio-dynamics helps you get the best out of your fruit then by all means bury those manure filled cow horns when the moon says you should. And for the record, I don’t believe that bio-dynamics is part of the dangerous elements of the ‘anti-science’ movement (think anti-vaxers) but at the same time when it becomes so intrinsically linked to the personality and profile of a vineyard instead of just being part of the many things they do quietly to achieve quality it can make you roll your eyes & wonder a bit about where its all headed. I guess the reality is that it’s good for business but at the same time regardless of bio-dynamics this is one of Margaret Rivers oldest & best-situated vineyards, hard work and sound judgement have contributed far more to the quality than anything to do with following the cycle of the moon & the wines, which are more than capable of speaking for themselves should be allowed to do so.

All that said, was an enjoyable tasting, and while I didn’t buy anything, I would have loved a few Kevin Johns if they were a bit less pricey.