In his review of the Bindi Block 5 Pinot Noir 2010 The Wine Front’s Mike Bennie sets the scene: “One of those holy grail sites in the Australian wine landscape – half of one hectare, quartz riddled, sits the right way for sun, angels sing, dogs howl, a single dove rests with the weight of a feather, precariously on a vine, as a rainbow arcs across the sky and a unicorn appears. That kind of thing.” (The Wine Front, 13 September 2011)
Bennie’s description of Bindi’s Block 5 vineyard in the Macedon ranges reminded me of that famous photo of Burgundy’s Romanée-Conti vineyard with the old stone Cross on the vineyard wall. The Romanée-Conti vineyard originally belonged to the Abbey of Saint Vivant, and the medieval monks approached their vineyard lands as almost hallowed ground, believing each individual vineyard site was a unique expression of God’s handiwork.
Oh, the romance and mystique of the single vineyard! Bindi’s Block 5 is up there with Henschke’s Hill of Grace as one of Australia’s most famous vineyard sites. And just as the wine from Romanée-Conti vineyard is different in character from its neighbour across the road, La Tâche, according to Bindi’s winemaker Michael Dhillon, the wine from Block 5 is “always darker in fruit expression and immediately more spicy and earthy than [Bindi's] Original Vineyard. It is less immediately perfumed and has more tannin and fruit power. The wines from this vineyard require more bottle ageing to develop the same suppleness and delicacy as the Original Vineyard but even in their youth these wines are more profound.” Yes, the analogy to Domaine de la Romanée-Conti does indeed seem apt.
In her review of the 2009 vintage of Bindi Block 5 Pinot Noir, Jancis Robinson remarked that “you’d be thrilled by this in Burgundy.” Indeed, Dhillon has a very Burgundian, terroir-driven approach to managing his vineyards. Labour intensive practices such as hand-pruning and hand harvesting are complemented with the use of biodynamic and organic principles. Everything is done with an eye to fully expressing magical qualities of the very special terroir.
The Bindi property was originally purchased in the 1950s. Only six hectares of the 170 hectare farm are planted to pinot noir and chardonnay. The sheltered, north-facing, shattered quartz over siltstone and clay Block 5 vineyard is only a half hectare. The wine spends 15-17 months in French barrels of which about 35% are new. In a typical vintage only 150-200 cases are made. The current vintage retails for around $100. A bargain if you can find it!
This week is so far shaping up to be all about Victorian wine. On Saturday night, we had friends for dinner and opened a magnum of the Wild Duck Creek Estate Shiraz Reserve 2003. It was absolutely sensational. Delicious ripe fruit flavours wrapped in a very balanced, medium body package with superbly integrated tannins, still firm but softened a bit from bottle age. I’m sure the wine could easily handle another five to ten years in the cellar.
Last night I enjoyed another Heathcote shiraz – a wine I wasn’t familiar with, the Syrahmi Climat 2009. Like 2003, 2009 was a dry, hot vintage in Heathcote. Adam Foster, who makes the Syrahmi range, sourced the grapes for the Climat from the Mt Camel Ranges, 45km north of the Heathcote township. It’s a wonderfully aromatic wine with well defined fruit flavours and fine tannins. Foster opted for a 60% whole bunch fermentation – a technique commonly used in France’s Rhone Valley to enhance the fragrance of their shiraz.
I was lucky to receive a sample of the Balgownie Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2009. I’ve always been a big fan of Balgownie’s wines, and the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 certainly didn’t disappoint.
Fruit for the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from the 33 hectare Bendigo vineyard, situated on a gentle slope overlooking Myer’s Creek at Maiden Gully. Here the alluvial clay soils and continental climate provide ideal conditions for low yields and a long ripening period, which helps to create wines of intense flavours and great ageing potential. Originally founded in 1969 by pioneer winemaker Stuart Anderson, since 1999 the estate has been owned by brothers Des and Rod Forrester, who have expanded the winery and added another vineyard in the Yarra Valley.
The Wine Spectator’s Harvey Steiman has commented that “even the most highly prized cabernets in Australia can show strong herbal or vegetal characteristics.” Due to cool conditions and spring rains, fruit for 2009 vintage of the White Label Cabernet Sauvignon was picked at optimum ripeness, so the wine shows no hint of herbal or vegetal characters referred to by Steiman. In fact, the ripe fruit flavours of this wine were matched with enough acidiy and tannins to make the vintage a great candidate for ageing. (Steiman was very impressed with the Balgownie Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 1998, which he tasted in 2008 after ten years of bottle age.) (Aging Australia’s Reds: A Decade in the Bottle: A blind tasting suggests how well the top Australian reds can age by Harvey Steiman, Wine Spectator 15 October 2008)
“Favourite” and “bargain” are two common descriptors critics use to describe the Balgownie Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. Campbell Mattinson of The Wine Front scored the 2008 vintage 94 points. Here’s his review:
Balgownie Estate cabernet is a personal favourite and this 2008 edition is a particularly good example.
It’s bold and ripe and tannic but it still manages to feel easy-going and mid-weight; it’s like drinking the best of a few different worlds. It tastes of blackcurrant, roasted cedarwood, chocolate and mint and it feels satiny and polished in your mouth. It’s a classy wine. It does carry quite a deal of chewy tannin but it’s a real cabernet; so it should. It will drink well both young and old. (The Wine Front, 24 January 2011)
Merrill Witt, Editor
Today Mount Langi Ghiran, Seppelt Wines and Best’s Wines released a “Greats of the Grampians” Trio Pack. The pack includes a bottle of Best’s Bin O Great Western Shiraz 2010 (rrp $75), a bottle of the Mount Langi Ghiraz Langi Shiraz 2009 (rrp $95) and a bottle of the Seppelt St Peters Shiraz 2008 (rrp $75). It is available online for $199 from Best’s Wines.
Showcasing the distinctive character of cool climate shiraz from Victoria’s Grampians region, the pack honours the late Trevor Mast – the winemaker responsible for creating the benchmark Mount Langi Ghiran Langi Shiraz, and, as Tyson Stelzer of the Wine Spectator observed, “a visionary decades before “cool-climate” became a buzzword in Australian wine.” (Before acquiring Mount Langi Ghiran in 1987, Mast worked for both Seppelt and Best’s) (Trevor Mast, Australian Wine Pioneer, Dies at 63 Winemaker at Mount Langi Ghiran showed how outstanding cool-climate Aussie Shiraz could be by Tyson Stelzer, Wine Spectator, 14 March 2012)
Mast’s defining vintage was the Mount Langi Ghiraz Langi Shiraz 1989. With its spicy, pepper infused and floral characters, crisp texture and fine boned tannins, the wine quickly attracted international attention. In 1996, with only eight vintages behind it, the 1994 Mount Langin Ghiran Langi Shiraz graced the front cover of the Wine Spectator, sharing the stage with the iconic Penfolds Grange and Henschke’s Mount Eldestone Shiraz! ( Innovative and infectious ‘whiz-kid’ of wine industry by Ineke Mast and Gordon Gebbie, The Age, 16 April 2012)
Apparently Mast went out on a limb with his 1989 vintage. In a very wet season, he kept his nerve and left the grapes on the vine during the rain. After the vineyard dried out, he was able to pick perfectly ripened shiraz, producing an exceptional wine in what was generally regarded as a poor vintage. (Of course, the trick with cool climate shiraz is to insure that the grapes ripen properly so the wine is not acidic or harsh.)
Mast’s meticulous attention to vineyard management continues today under the direction of general manager and viticulturist Damien Sheehan. Fruit is hand selected and hand picked from exceptional vines originally planted by the Italian Fratin brothers in 1963. Sustainable production practices, like the planting of nature corridors and the avoidance of synthetic chemicals, are used to protect the fragile eco-system and the integrity of the red loam and ancient granitic soils.
Dan Buckle, who is now in charge of wine-making at Mount Langi Ghiran, continues to win rave reviews for the flagship Langi Shiraz. The Wine Front Campbell Mattinson scored the 2008 vintage 96 points:
There’s no doubt that it’s a good wine. It’s cool climate and spicy but it announces itself in your mouth from the get-go. It’s the ropey burst of tannin that really got my heart going but only, of course, because it’s backed by licoricey, boysenberried, dark cherried fruit power. It’s succulent and structured, lengthy and – as a result – compelling. Cedary oak helps give it polish and class. This release furthers the notion that Mount Langi is at the top of its game at present. (The Wine Front, 6 June 2011)
Merrill Witt, Editor
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