MUDGEE — ICONS AND HEROES

By David Cumming

The winemakers of Mudgee are banding together as part of the 2012 NSW Wine Festival Tour of the Regions dinners to showcase the history and characters that make the region unique.

On Friday March 23, Lowe Wines will host some of Mudgee’s most well recognised winemakers, including Huntington Estate’s founder Bob Roberts and Gil Wahlquist from Botobolar.

This is a dinner for both nostalgia and optimism, with some of Mudgee’s most famous wines being poured alongside the ‘new generation’ wines and varieties, by the men and women that made them.

There will be tall tales and good-natured rivalry interspersed with locally produced food and the region’s best wine.

“The Icons and Heroes dinner could possibly be the last chance to have these winemakers in the room together, with their wines alongside the newer generation of Mudgee winemakers,” explained David Lowe, NSW Wine Industry Association President.

“Mudgee, along with all NSW wine, is starting to gain momentum in the market, and this will be a fantastic opportunity to see the foundation wines that have got us here.”

“The wines that will be poured on the night are the pioneering styles that set the direction of many of the current winemakers.  These are from some of the most historic vineyards in the country and to be able to taste these old wines alongside the new wines, in the presence of the people that made them, is a very special opportunity.”

The wines to be enjoyed on the night include Riesling from Louee and Robert Stein, museum Semillon, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz from Mirimar, Huntington Estate and Botobolar alongside recent vintage wines from Logan and Burnbrae.

Back vintage Mudgee Chardonnay from Craigmoor will be tasted with the current Bunnamagoo wines and new red styles such as Durif, Tinta Cao, Sangiovese and Barbera will be presented from Di Lusso, Montrose and Mansfield.

Other Mudgee icons will be poured including Rosemount Mountain Blue, Lowe Zinfandel and the collaborative blend of Mudgee Gold.

Says David Lowe: “This is a true reflection of regionalism in Australia, with recognition and respect given to the pioneers, and equal time and new opportunity given to the innovators.”

Whilst the wines will be highlighted, the dinner accompanying them comprises eight courses prepared by Kim Currie, a vigorous proponent of regional food and wine, 2009 Rural Women of the Year and winner of the 2005 Maggie Beer Award for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Food.

The NSW Wine Festival Tour of the Regions forms part of the 2012 NSW Wine Festival, with a raft of dinners being held through the state with specially selected ‘hatted’ and winery restaurants offering degustation menus to match the state’s best wines.  2012 is the first year that these dinners have been held in the actual regions.

Other dinners being held throughout the month are at Racine in Orange, Vale Creek Wines in Bathurst as well as a number of Sydney restaurants including Buon Ricordo, Otto Ristorante, Marque and Sepia.

For further information about Lowe Wines visit www.lowewine.com.au.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE MAD – BUT IT HELPS
By David Cumming

Stuart Olsen is not your average winemaker. Without a formal education in oenology Stuart has no existing paradigm for his winemaking.

Stuart’s first release was a 2008 Mudgee red. He has recently released two more wines, the 2009 and 2010 Eloquesta wines.  The wines are blends of Mudgee shiraz and Petit Verdot, with a splash of Viognier.

A self-taught winemaker, Stuart has used a number of techniques and varieties learnt from working with various winemakers whilst travelling the world. “I have a love for deeply coloured, soft and perfumed wines,” he explained.  “This has led me to use an unorthodox blend of Shiraz and Petit Verdot.  These varieties work well together, with the Viognier helping to lift the floral essence of the wine.

“We don’t have too much equipment in the winery; a few barrels and tanks.  Most of the winemaking is very traditional, allowing the fruit to shine. With only one wine per vintage, there’s nowhere to hide.

“Unlike the larger wineries where there is flexibility to move parcels of wine around, if the fruit is no good, it shows up in my wine.”

Fermenting on stems and carbonic maceration for one week prior to gentle foot treading have helped to produce these highly perfumed, soft yet rich wines.  “Mudgee reds need longer, cooler ferments to bring out these characters,” said Stuart.

After foot treading for three days the ferments are hand plunged daily for a number of weeks before pressing.  The wine is then matured ‘sur-lie’ in a combination of French, Hungarian and Russian oak on healthy, champagne yeast in a refridgerated shipping container.

“Many winemakers think I’m a touch mad ageing ‘sur-lie’ as it can create very reductive wines, however it’s the quality of the yeast that ensures my wines have matured well.

“The 2009 vintage in Mudgee was exceptional, with good winter rains and a long, sun drenched ripening period. It was ‘peaches’, as is the label of the 2009.

“The 2010 on the other hand was tougher; a ‘red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning’ type vintage, with sporadic rain challenging my patience.”  The hue of the 2010 label reflects this.

“In the vineyard I rely heavily on the taste of the berries to determine when to pick.  After I dropped and broke my refractometer in 2009, I went back to what I had learnt in my travels – the ripeness of the fruit is all about seed ripeness, along with soft tannins.

“This has since become the backbone to harvesting my fruit. I spend a lot of my time in the vineyards tasting the seeds, and even the stems, in the lead up to harvest.”

The Eloquesta wines are bottled with a minimum of sulphur, instead using gentle carbon dioxide to preserve the wine.  It is recommended that the bottles are decanted for at least an hour to allow the carbon dioxide to dissipate and the wine to really open up.

Further information on Stuart Olsen and his Eloquesta wines can be found at www.eloquesta.com.au. Both the 2010 Eloquesta Shiraz Petit Verdot (Mudgee) and 2009 Eloquesta Shiraz Petit Verdot (Mudgee)are priced at $28.00.

REGIONAL TREASURE TROVE UNCOVERED IN NEW CELLAR DOOR
By David Cumming

Coinciding with the opening of the new Swinging Bridge Cellar Door, the Ward family has released its inaugural vintage of reserve wines including the 2010 Swinging Bridge Reserve Shiraz ($45) and 2010 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ($45).

The new cellar door has proven to be a treasure trove of history for Tom Ward.  Not unlike Tom, his great, great grandfather T.J. Finn was a man on a mission.  Setting up the general store in Canowindra’s Gaskill Street in 1874, it grew to be one of the region’s most successful enterprises.  138 years later, Tom has discovered a history rich with regional significance.

“We have refurbished the old general store using the original shop benches and fixtures,” says Tom Ward.

“Since then we have uncovered T.J.’s original leather bound cashbooks, all painstakingly hand written in ink. These cashbooks are a fascinating social biography of the region. They are a great talking point when visitors are in the cellar door.”

The new reserves wines that have been released comprise the 2010 Swinging Bridge Reserve Shiraz and 2010 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2010 Reserve Shiraz is from grapes grown on the Ward’s home block, planted in 1994.

“The plan has always been to make some small parcels of reserve wine from this vineyard,” says Tom. “We have waited 16 years for the vineyard to have the maturity to produce this 2010 vintage.”

The new Reserve Shiraz, of which there are only 121 cases, was matured for 14 months in a combination of new (50 per cent) and one year old (50 per cent) Saint Martin and Saury French oak barriques.  This oak regime ensured the best integration, balance and complexity for the intense Canowindra fruit.

“We are continuing to experiment, particularly in the vineyard,” says Tom. “In 2009 we teamed up with Yalumba and planted a number of different clones in the vineyard which is quite a harsh and rocky site.  We’re looking forward to seeing how these develop and how they will add further complexity to our wines.”

The 2010 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (191 cases) comes from Swinging Bridge’s Orange vineyards that were planted in 1998 on the slopes of Mount Canobolas.  The vineyard sits at an elevation of 850 metres, and is managed under both organic and biodynamic regimes.

This practice has ensured a healthy microenvironment, producing very low yields.  “While the yields are lower than the Orange region’s average, there is fantastic purity of fruit, resulting in intensely flavoured wines,” Tom Ward explains.

The Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon was fermented over two weeks with twice daily gentle hand plunging to build the colour and extract tannins.  The blend was then matured for 15 months in a combination new, one and two-year-old Boutes and Saint Martin Barriques.

For further information on the Swinging Bridge Wines and cellar door, go to www.swingingbridge.com.au. Both the 2010 Swinging Bridge Reserve Shiraz (Canowindra) and 2010 Swinging Bridge Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Orange) are priced at  $45.00.

THE PRETENDER STAKES ITS CLAIM
By David Cumming

Ongoing innovation in the vineyard has continued to pay dividends for Angullong with the release of the 2011 Angullong “The Pretender” Savagnin ($25).

Angullong is situated on the southern border of the Orange wine region and over the past few years has added to its already diverse range of varieties by planting and grafting a range of new alternative varieties.

These trials include plantings of Savagnin, Tempranillo and more recently Vermentino, Sagrantino and some newer imported clones of Sangiovese.

“We are optimistic about trialling these new varieties,” explained Angullong‘s owner Ben Crossing. “We initially thought we were grafting Albarino, but it turned out to be Savagnin Blanc.

“Although it’s not the variety we thought we were growing, it has produced some lovely fruit and appears to be well suited to our cool climate.”

Ben Crossing says Angullong is one of around 40 producers of straight Savagnin in Australia, “and possibly the world.

“The awkward name and the issues relating to Albarino do not appear to have affected the market as these wines are selling very well, both direct from the cellar door and through our retail partners. There is a bit of a groundswell with many of the producers sharing ideas and coming together to explore future collaboration,” he says.

“This is our second vintage Savagnin. It has performed particularly well, even through the tough 2011 vintage. It has an early budburst and, with a moderate to low yield, ripens well with good acidity.”

The 2011 vintage was challenging, with cooler ripening temperatures and a wet summer. Harvest was subsequently later than usual.

Says Ben: “Given the trying circumstances we had to selectively hand pick the Savagnin to ensure the fruit was clean, as some bunches were affected by botrytis.

The free run Savagnin juice and pressings were fermented together in stainless steel fermenters at cool temperatures to maintain the fresh cool climate fruit flavours.

A small component of approximately 10 percent of the blend was allowed to undergo secondary malolactic fermentation in older oak, which was then added back to the final blend to give the wine an additional layer of complexity.

The 2011 Angullong “The Pretender” Savignin retails for $25, distributed in NSW and AC T by Cogito Wines and direct from the cellar door at Millthorpe and via their website at www.angullong.com.au.

BLOODWOOD’S COMPROMISE TO AVOID ECONOMIC DISASTER
By David Cumming

When Stephen and Rhonda Doyle planted the first Reisling vines in Orange in 1984 it was clearly a leap of faith.

Chardonnay was firmly established as the flavour of the decade in white varietals, and their counterparts in South Australia were busy attracting the subsidy that attended the destruction of too  many quality, low-yielding old vines there.

Because of the structure of payments under the vine-pull scheme, a hectare of meanly yielding ancient Reisling attracted as much subsidy as a fat paddock of, say, Chiraz. And as growers were generally paid by the tonne for their grapes, when the chainsaws fired up they were pointed at varieties like Reisling.

Not only that, the dry (Australian) style of true Reisling so respected today was then a rarity. The wine style Reisling was, for all its supposed nobility and breeding, often seen as a nondescript sweet wine style made from Muscat Gordo Blanco and surplus Sultana grapes best drunk quick and cold.

Rationally, planting a vineyard of classic Reisling in an unknown area with the aim of producing what was then an unpopular style of wine was a bound into the unknown.

Says Stephen Doyle, Bloodwood owner and winemaker:  “Rhonda sought a compromise to avoid what she firmly believed was a step toward economic disaster.

“She had been enjoying drinking Muscat be Beaumes de Venise with dessert at Peter Doyle’s (no relation) Reflections Palm Beach restaurant, and as Reisling could be made with varying levels of residual sweetness it was agreed that I could make my favoured classic dry wine style if I also had a crack at a (perceivably more saleable) super late harvest style as conditions allowed.

“Over 30 years the wine gods have seen fit to honour that original promise a mere eight vintages. The grapes have been picked as late as early July and as early as mid-May, depending on weather conditions in late autumn and early winter.

“The 2011 is our current attempt to keep my promise.”

Says Rhonda: “The circle is complete. You can enjoy our Silk Purse with Peter Doyle’s beautiful desserts now at est in Gorge Street Sydney.”

Partnering the recently released 2011 Bloodwood Silk Purse is the 2011 Bloodwood Chardonnay — made from grapes grown in the region’s oldest Chardonnay vineyard, planted in 1984 to much amusement from neighbouring farmers. The rest, as is often said, is history.

The Bloodwood range of wines is available via the cellar door, the website at www.bloodwood.biz, and select restaurants and retailers in NSW, Queensland and Victoria. The Silk Purse and Chardonnay are each priced at $27 locally.