by Brian Miller

WINESTATE magazine
2001

(Reproduced with Brian’s permission. I found this fascinating 13 years later, and so accurate – Kim)

Professional marketers should be immune to the tricks of their own trade, but the truth is we are damnedly easy to sell to. Scrawl ‘Best Laksa In Town’ in chalk on a blackboard and passing marketers will automatically swerve into your restaurant like Pavlov’s dogs. Similarly, we think we have built up resistance to the alluring prose of wine writers, but we never can resist a really good pitch. Max Allen recently reviewed a certain viognier in mouth-watering terms that induced me to seek out and buy a bottle immediately. He described the wine as being like Kylie Minogue – it has an attraction out of proportion to its size.

How did an unknown grape variety with an unpronounceable name grown in minuscule quantities become the next new thing in both Australia and America seemingly overnight? By morphic resonance? However it happened, and as with most things in life, if you want to know where trends are heading, follow the money. Viognier is now the highest priced white wine grape variety in California. Wine companies there are paying $US1300 a ton for viognier compared to $US1000 for chardonnay. Colombard, for comparison, barely manages $US185 a ton, but please don’t tell Joe Grilli. In Australia viognier grapes cost approximately $A1600 a tonne if you can find any. And you can’t. Not outside of a bottle at least.

Viognier is a tricky grape to grow; it is susceptible to mildew and tends to like drier climates. The best to date come from cooler climates but it responds well in warm areas and, like petit verdot, seems to love the Australian Riverland. Even in France, its traditional home, viognier plantings are small. It is unheralded as a variety on labels, hiding behind various Rhone appellations. Condrieu is the most famous, and deservedly so. The recent worldwide surge of interest in anything Rhonish inevitably led inquisitive winemakers and palates to viognier. Rare is beautiful.

In America viognier is being turned into some blockbuster whites. Four hundred years ago John Donne warned us not to overprocess fine wines:

“… if we o’erlick our love, and force it new strange shapes to take, we err, and of a lump a monster make…”

But did Californian winemakers listen? No sir. American viogniers tend to lean heavily on oak, alcohol and extraction. A nation raised on double martinis needs very assertive flavours for their singed tastebuds to even register a hit. They can still be magnificent wines, but they are not for the faint of heart.

Although experimental plantings have existed in Australia for more than 20 years – and that was a surprise – viognier has just emerged from the back paddock, and with a vengeance. More than 30 wines were presented for this tasting and we probably missed a few. So it is new, it is exotic, it is trendy and quite often expensive. What more do you want? How does it taste? Are you never satisfied?

The most murmured descriptor throughout the tasting was ‘apricots’, often ‘dried apricots’. This characteristic is so strong in viognier that we began to wonder what a botrytised version would be like. We soon found out. Yalumba, of course, had made one and it tasted like apricot concentrate squared. Other distinguishing varietal characteristics expressed were lychees, nectarines and honeysuckle. Yalumba winemaker Louisa Rose has had more experience with viognier than the rest of the room combined, so when she spoke we listened. Her descriptors were redolent of a Thai cooking class: “lemon grass … limes … ginger…” She also suggested that viognier is a great match for dishes made with coconut milk. So we know where to take her for dinner.

As to be expected the French wines in the line-up were crisp, steely, minerally, authoritative and vinous. They tasted more like … wine. Sounds obvious, I know, but true. And they cried out for a meal. The Australian wines were fruit-driven, a cliché but also true. Some less-expensive wines scored quite highly. This may be because they were finessed less. Consequently they were not as complex as their headier brethren but they clearly expressed the distinctive primary varietal summer stone-fruit characteristics of the grape. The medium-weight wines showed additional secondary flavours – honeysuckle, cashews, hazelnuts, oak complexity, and the contents of Louisa’s Thai spice jar. The definitive French and premium Australian wines in the tasting showed more tertiary characteristics – minerals and gunflint as well as impressive fruit, length and complexity.

In summary, the V grape is here to stay. It offers unique characters, a generosity of flavour and a welcome occasional alternative to established varieties. When to drink it? I suspect viognier should be drunk young, but time will tell.

What to drink it with? After the tasting, the dedicated panel retried the wines with a sensory-expanding meal designed specifically for viognier at Adelaide’s ‘Melting Pot’ restaurant. The more complex styles then showed up better with food than they did without. Perhaps the accompanying menu will inspire you.

Or just try it with the best laksa in town.

– Brian Miller
Winestate Magazine
2001

A once-in-a-lifetime experience

Once sherry was the most popular wine in Australia, though it was sweet and simple most of the time. The wines we were treated to last night were nothing like that. For one, they were Spanish. For another, they were mostly dry. They were also wonderful wines of breathtaking quality.

I’ve hinted a few times before that I belong to a group of old wine lovers who meet every few months for dinner with a few special bottles. The sherry dinner was Ray’s idea. Ray is a man of great charm, enormous generosity and a cellar full of the most interesting wines. He accumulated a lot of old sherries over the years, hand wanted to share some of them with the rest of us. That’s how this idea came about. It was a first for me, and will probably be a last as well.

Sherry Styles

Ray arranged a degustation dinner for us at Fix St James, a wine bar and restaurant in downtown Sydney. The boys in the kitchen did a great job matching the courses to the sherries Ray had selected. I resent reading other wine lovers detailed accounts of special wine dinners, so I’m not going to bore the socks off you with a blow-by-blow account of this one. Instead, we’ll talk a little bit about Sherry and then pick out a few of these wines to talk about.

From left to right: Fino, Amontillado and Oloroso

Fino and Manzanilla sherries tend to be light in colour and bone-dry. Their savoury, yeasty taste comes from the blanket of flor yeast that grows on the surface of the wines during barrel aging. The yeast occurs naturally in the wineries around Jerez and protects this style of sherry from oxidizing. When the flor yeast dies off because it’s consumed all available nutrients, the sherry is either bottled as a Fino or left in cask and allowed to age and gently oxidize. Wines in this transitory state are known as Palo Cortado.

Amontillado sherries are darker and older and have more flavour than Finos, often showing a nutty character. Oloroso is the next stage, and the wines are darker and richer again. They’re often dry but sometimes sweetened by the addition of some Pedro Ximines or Moscatel (most sherries are made from the Palomino variety), which brings the style closer to our Muscats and Tokays down under. The really old sweet Olorosos are also called black sherries.

Some of the Wines

The Osborne Palo Cortado ‘Capuchino’ above is a VORS, which means at least 30 years old. This would be the average age since most sherries are blends of older and newer material in the traditional ‘solera’ system of stacking the butts or barrels. The solera this wine came from dates back to 1790, when George Washington was president of the United States of America.

The Bodegas Tradicion Amontillado is a relatively new label, but its creators bought old parcels of sherries to create this beauty with an average age of 40 years. The Hidalgo Amontillado Viejo VORS comes from a house that once supplied the French army when Napoleon was Emperor. These sherries are wonderful examples of the VORS Amontillado style, rich, savoury and nutty but bone dry. We had these with an interesting dish of bone marrow, beets and molasses.

The Oloroso sherries just added more weight, flavour and gently oxidised complexity. Oloroso means fragrant, perfumed. Wonderful with the duck breast, ginger and grains.

And finally, the richest Olorosos to go with the cheeses and dessert. The Lusteau was made entirely from Pedro Ximines, which is pretty rare, and it was pretty sweet and almost treacle-like. The old Morris Old Premium Rare Rutherglen Liqueur Tokay was a touch sweeter but not as complex as the the Lusteau.

I suspect that most of these sherries cannot be bought anywhere except perhaps the auction market overseas. However, we’ve long made some brilliant sherries down under and a few of these are still around.

Seppeltsfield DP116 Aged Flor 500mL – $25 at Dan M’s.
Seppeltsfield Oloroso DP38 NV 500ml – $30 at MyCellars
Grab either of these old treasures while the winter lasts. They may look expensive but they’re serious bargains.

Kim

We take a quick look at the new releases from Penfolds, and offer an alternative shortlist of wines of the same quality at half the price.

Treasury Wine Estates has decided to move the annual Bin Red and Icon releases to mid October, and to merge the two events into one release labelled The Penfolds Collection.

The verdict from the Adelaide Advertiser: 2010 Penfolds Grange is a classic, but Bin 389 trumps it for a fraction of the cost. Sadly, the red once known as the poor man’s Grange is priced way out of reach of poor men and women. $60 is the best price we can find for the Bin 389 at Kemenys. However, we’ve come up with some more affordable alternatives.

A Strong Release for Penfolds?

So says Tyson Stelzer, and adds: ‘2012 is no 2010, but, goodness, if it weren’t for 2010, this would be heralded as the greatest vintage in at least six years, and perhaps ten. Shiraz is outstanding, but cabernet is the true star of the season. 389 is brilliant. 707 is monumental. Yattarna is probably the best ever. Reserve Bin A [Chardonnay] is undoubtedly the best buy of them all. And 2010 Grange is the finest young Australian wine I have ever tasted.’

I thought we’d make up a six-pack, choosing the best of the new Pennies releases, and see what it adds up to. We won’t worry about The $700 Grange or the Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, which is $330 at Dan M’s. ‘It’s a perverse freak of history, the notion of putting your best Cabernet in 100% new American Quercus alba hogsheads for fourteen months,’ says Philip White about the 707. ‘I still find it tricky to regard this sort of Quercus alba as a food.’ Philip’s reviews are a work in progress.

Penfolds against the Real Wold

There was a time when Bin 28 Kalimna was a terrific, affordable Barossa red. These days it is none of those three. Penfolds has treated it badly and diminished it, but still wants over $30 a bottle for it. To get to the good reds, you have to reach a bit higher these days – $60 – 65 for the 389, 407 and $75 for the St. Henri.

If we wanted to check this release, this might be a representative Penfolds list:

• Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2012 – $60
• Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 – $60
• St Henri 2011 – $75
• Penfolds RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz 2012 – $130
• Bin 13A Chardonnay 2013 – $80
• Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling – $30

Total for 6-pack of Penfolds $435

Our real World Alternative List

• Yalumba FDR 1A Cabernet Shiraz 2010 – $38 at Kemenys
• Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 – $30 at Winestar
• Woodlands Margaret Cabernet Merlot 2011 – $37 at Winestar
• Shaw and Smith Shiraz 2012 – $37 at Winestar
• Coldstream Hills Reserve Chardonnay 2011 – $50 at Kemenys
• Pewsey Vale Museum Reserve Contours Eden Valley Riesling 2009 – $27 at WLA

Total for BWU$20 Alternative list: $219

When you click on the links behind our list, you’ll realize that these wines are at least as good as the Penfolds offerings. The FDR 1A is a cracker, the Xanadu won 3 trophies at the National show late last year, the Woodlands is a giant-killer, The Shaw & Smith won the trophy for the best Australian red at Decanter’s International comp. The Coldstream Hill Chardy has won 3 trophies and 12 golds, and the Pewsey Vale Contours is in another league compared to the Bin 51.

A bonus with the reds on our list is that they have more elegance and finesse than the Penfolds reds, which are over-ripe, alcoholic (14.5) and overworked IMHO.  So if you’re tempted by the new Penfolds releases, do yourselves a favour and check out the alternatives.

Kim

A lot of history behind a simple label

John made his name in the fifties and sixties, with the many fine Rieslings he made for Leo Buring and Lindemans from vineyards in the Clare and Eden Valleys. By the time the corporate raiders had finished their wholesale destruction of Lindemans in the eighties – for details see Lindemans, Death by a Thousand Cuts – Australia’s greatest Riesling maker found himself making wine for Richmond Grove.

Richmond Grove began life as a Hunter Valley winery that was swallowed by Orlando Wyndham and ended up in Pernod Ricard Australia’s big arms, with its cellar door miraculously reappearing in the Barossa Valley. John made another fine line of Rieslings under the RG label before he retired in 2005. He won some 50 trophies and 400 gold medals for his employers in over 50 years of wine making.

John Vickery is making Riesling once more under yet another label: his own. He is 82 now, the same age another Barossa Great was when he died last year – Peter Lehmann. As it happens, Peter’s youngest son Phil is helping John with the making of these new Rieslings. Phil Lehmann is the chief winemaker at WD Wines, which is owned by the Hesketh family in Adelaide.

This is the same family that financed Peter Lehmann decades ago after Saltram fell into the hands of Dalgetty. The new owners told Peter to cut Saltram’s growers loose, but he told Dalgetty to jump and started Masterson Wines which later became Peter Lehmann Wines.

The Masterson label came about because Peter was a great fan of Damon Runyon’s Guys and Dolls stories from the 1920s and 30s. They featured gangsters, gamblers and other characters of the New York underworld, and Sky Masterson was one of these: a gambler willing to bet on anything.

The final twist in this nostalgia piece is that my Dad was a mad keen fan of Damon Runyon’s stories. I loved them too, despite reading them in their German translation (I grew up in Germany). It boggles the mind how a writer can capture New York slang in a German translation but this one had succeeded. I’d love to find a copy of the book somewhere.

Kim

Is the wine industry telling us the truth?

‘When we read wine recommendations and reviews, there’s an implicit trust that the points awarded, the glowing terms used, and the research that’s been done is all for us, the consumer, so we can make an informed choice.’ Michael McKenzie, ABC Radio National

‘I don’t think the consumer or the reader understands the co-dependent relationship that now exists between wine producer and wine media.’ Angie Bradbury, Wine Communicators of Australia

Looks like we had the right idea: this is what we said when we launched Best Wines Under $20: ‘We don’t go to the fancy lunches, dinners and launch events the wine industry puts on. It’s much easier to shoot straight when you’re not partying on the gravy train with the people who wine and dine you.’

A friend alerted me to a discussion led by Michael McKenzie on ABC Radio National, on the subject of Ethics in Wine Journalism, under the title Lifting The Veil On Wine Journalism. The panel included Max Allen and Mike Bennie, the publisher of James Halliday’s Wine Companion Simon McKeown, media ethicist and journalist Dr Denis Muller, and the chair of Wine Communicators of Australia, Angie Bradbury.

‘Wineries can’t buy their way in’

More >>

Exciting time or waste of time? 

These are the days of miracle and wonder … (Paul Simon)

Exciting new grape varieties have been making waves across our lakes of surplus wine, led by the Italians: Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Barbera, Fiano, Arneis and Vermentino. Then we’re seeing more Tempranillo from Spain, Lagrein & Gruner Veltliner from Austria, Tannat from South Western France and Saparavi from Georgia.

The question I can hear some of you are asking is this: are these just new fad varieties for sommeliers to amuse themselves with and confound their clientele, or do they actually have some merit? Before we answer that question, a little history will help shed some perspective on this subject.

More >>

The best and worst ways to buy wine

We did a lot of thinking before we set up this site, about what it should be and what it shouldn’t be. We had already figured out the best way to buy wine: online, when the right wine comes up at the right price. The worst way to buy wine is to grab a bottle on the way home at the LaLaLand store attached to a Coles supermarket, or at a bottle shop on the way to a BYO restaurant.

The next worst way to buy wine is to wander through a Dan Murphy’s store, as we’ve observed people doing, see an interesting wine and get on your mobile to check the reviews. Sure, the Wine Companion and now the Winefront have smartphone apps to make this process easier, but it’s still the second worst way to buy wine. Why? Because most of the time you‘ll find mixed reviews, then you look for a different wine and repeat the process, and eventually you end up making a rushed decision because you’ve run out of time.

Our lists of Best Wines Under $10, $15, $20 and $25 are a better bet, because we’ve sorted through oceans of wine to select the best in each price group. You can go into a bottle shop and look for wines on these lists, but it’s easier to do it from the comfort of your PC at home or at work. The lists include direct links to the retailer with the best price, so you can order online and have the wine delivered.

Chance favours the prepared mind

Smart shoppers don’t buy stuff when they need it. They buy stuff they know they’ll need or want in the near future, when the price is right. I buy my favourite olive oil or coffee or chocolate when they’re on special, not when I’ve run out. I buy wine the same way: when the right wine comes up at the right price. Some recent examples:

• Late last year, McGuires in Brisbane had Yealands Land Made Sauvignon Blanc 2012 on sale for $9 a bottle. Don’t ask why. We already knew and loved the wine so we jumped on 2 dozen. Normal best price is about $15.
• A few months ago, Dan M’s decided to clear their stocks of Leconfield Cabernet Merlot 2012 at $79 a six-pack delivered. A trophy-winning $22 Coonawarra red from a top maker for $13 delivered to your front door.
• We bought a case of Heirloom Riesling for $14 a bottle (usually $20+) when Winedirect had a 30% off sale. We also grabbed Tim Adams Cabernet Malbec 2007 for the same silly money.
• A few weeks ago, I bought cases of my favourite German beer – König Pilsener at 1^st Choice when they were selling it for $25 (24 bottles)

There are many more examples I could give. Chance favours the prepared mind, they say. Most of you will have some wine in the house, in a cellar or under the stairs or under a bed. Make sure you have enough to last a few weeks, and then you can jump on the good deals when they come along.

That’s where the BWU$20 weekly mailer and the billboard are a real help: you’ll know about the best deals going, and you can choose the ones that suit you. And remember, you have more time to check wines out at work or at home, and it’s quicker on a real PC.

The smart way to buy online

You don’t have to buy dozens any more to get the best price either. With the big guys – Dan Murphys, VC and 1^st Choice – it’s six-packs these days, and some of the smaller guys are following suit: Bayfields in Sydney, McGuires in Brisbane, and Different Drop (online). MyCellars in Adelaide has an even better offer for BWU$20 subscribers: they’ll ship any quantity – even a couple of bottles – for nothing at the maximum discount if you use promo code BWU20 at the checkout.

Different Drop ships orders over $150 for free. Winesellersdirect and Winestar ship dozens for free to almost anywhere in Australia. You’ll find details for the rest in our post Buying Wine Online – the smart way to shop. And we’ve listed the online merchants we trust in this post Online Wine merchants – the Good, Bad & Ugly.

Kim

I received an email from a new subscriber this week asking that question, and it’s not the first time subscribers and people in the industry have asked it, so maybe it’s time for an answer.

I just came across your website on Google. I like it, but it’s a very slick site and you have no ads or subscription charges, so how is it funded?

• Click-throughs to vendors?
• Selling your subscriber list?
• Freebies from wine makers?

Then came the big question: What’s the catch?

I guess it’s a sign of the times that we’ve come to expect a catch. We all know the saying: If something is too good to be true, it usually is, and there are lots of websites and businesses out there that make big promises which turn out to have endless strings attached, or pages of fine print that turn the promise into a very limited offer with a dozen dependencies.

An example of this is Dan Murphy’s promise to match any competitor’s prices, which has a lot of limitations in very fine print – see our post Nobody Beats Dan Murphy’s?. On the other side of the fence, we have independent wine merchants like John Cox of Bond’s Corner Fine Wines putting a sign outside his shop saying he’ll match any price at Dan Murphy’s. There’s no fineprint and no catch here except that John doesn’t sell any of the wines Dan Murphy’s sells.

Our Business Model?

We’ve had affiliate offers – commissions on sales made by subscribers clicking through to wine merchants’ sites, and offers for advertising. We’ve rejected both to safeguard our independence, which is one of BWU$20’s distinguishing features. Another subscriber commented on the fact that we sometimes put the advice AVOID in our reviews, saying he’d never seen that before.

We want to retain our ability to say: AVOID this wine, it’s poison. We do accept samples from wineries and retailers, but we choose most of the samples, and we still buy many samples of wines we want to review because we want to have some control over the wines we review. Otherwise we’re just like other reviewers who review all the samples that land on their doorsteps.

Yes, there is a catch but not for now

Those of you in marketing will be familiar with the saying: the money is in the list. We’re building a strong list of subscribers, that is true, but we have no intention of selling it to anyone. We love what we’re doing here, and the terrific feedback we get from so many of you. Instead, our plan is to ask you for a small contribution down the track – around $20 – $25 a year – to continue receiving the weekly mailer, and to have access to our BEST lists and Billboard.

This site is a lot of work, and we have big plans which need solid funding long term. In the meantime, please continue to enjoy everything we offer for free.

Kim

By guest contributor and industry veteran Brian Miller

‘It’s a turn-around jump shot, 

It’s everybody jump start, 

It’s every generation throws 

A hero up the pop chart … ‘

Paul Simon, The Boy In The Bubble

A leading sommelier wrote: ‘[This] might be seen as self-indulgent – and probably quite rightly – however, I’m trying to convey that these producers are not trendy in my eyes – simply, they are my friends and they are making fantastic wines that I’m proud to stock and serve.’

The wine world has not changed all that much – only some of the names, labels, closures and beards. It’s not only big wine companies that sommeliers spurn, it’s any established, familiar brands, styles or companies, however venerable.

A generation or so ago, renowned restaurants wanted the then new radicals on their wine lists – Cloudy Bay, Cullen, Petaluma, Rockford. A Penfolds restaurant rep at that time complained that she couldn’t get any wines from her premium portfolio on to restaurant wine lists except for Grange.

To circumvent this trend, big companies bought out small ones – Coldstream, St Hallett, Yarra Burn – or invented their own discrete “boutique” labels – Annie’s Lane, Robertson’s Well, Pepperjack.

In another generation today’s funky, feral breed of wines will be gone, forgotten, bought out or successful, mainstream and old news. Future wine bars will disdain them for the latest new thing – ultra-clinical Rkatsiteli from Ningxia self-served from dispensing machines and paid for via a surgically implanted silicon chip.

Meanwhile it may prove worthwhile for traditional wine companies to allow their winemakers to experiment with some ‘natural’ styles. Small quantities, unconventional labels, sold young at cellar-door, with sommelier-friendly potential. Fermentation eggs and amphorae are already appearing at some most conservative companies.

The hyphenated CEO of a large-ish family wine company recently wryly commented, ‘Natural wine will die a natural death.’ He may be right, and I share his apprehension about quality challenges emerging in that segment, but in the meantime a generation is a long time to wait for exoneration.

I suggested to a winemaker in transition that he not rip out his newly acquired chardonnay wines just yet but consider making something different from them, perhaps with skin-contact, not orange (please) but at least “textured”.

He replied, ‘I’m already working on it.’

More on this subject in our post The Retail and Restaurant Disconnect

It’s a strange business, the wine business. On one hand, we have Treasury Wine Estates, a giant teetering under the enormous weight of his plundered treasure. On the other, we have small wineries started by people with little more than faith and vision making great wines and flourishing.

The point was driven home once again when we attended a trade tasting at NSW-based fine wine distributor Young and Rashleigh. In our piece on The Retail and Restaurant Disconnect, we made the point that fine wine distributors tend to source wines that you won’t find at Woolworths or Coles. That’s what made this tasting interesting.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Australia is the lucky country because we can buy virtually hand-made wines from dry-grown fruit off single vineyards for around $20 a bottle. In Europe, wines like these are at the top of the hierarchy and generally unaffordable.

More >>