In The Picture

VIVID Lights up Sydney by Night

It’s that time of the year. Winter, short days, long cold nights and special effects at Circular Quay. The walkways around the Quay were thick with people, a mix of parents with kids and tourists. The dark is  popular time with small kids, and fancy lights have an almost hypnotic effect on them. It was good to see so many people here, and lots of kids of all ages. (Just click on any of the images to see a full-size file)

Major alterations to the architecture of the iconic Opera House, thankfully only a light projection

Looking the other way toward the Hyatt and the bridge

The fire eater who's always performing down here was here tonight as well.

Where does this chandelier come from? No idea.

Looking back toward the city. Very colourful. VIVID.

Allow me a modest boast, please: all these shots were taken handheld with my old Nikon D40x and the old 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens which isn't fast. I forgot to take my monopod as well, so all shots were handheld at between 1/5th and 1/20th second. The success ratio was a surprising 25%.

Kim

Wynnsday 2012 – Wynns Coonawarra Cabernet 2010

Here’s my advice: buy 2009 Cabernet instead. For $22

TWE is the giant of our wine industry. Treasury Wine Estates, as the silly name suggests, is one of those faceless, incompetent corporate creations, hived off from Fosters last year, that hasn’t the faintest idea what treasures it’s sitting on – with the exception of Penfolds. Read the full story here: http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/2011/09/how-fosters-and-southcorp-trashed-australias-greatest-wine-brands.html

Their marketing people are seriously challenged in this medium – perhaps they were flogging beer before. Today I got emails from Tyson Stelzer and Winefront telling me about Wynnsday, the annual rollout of Wynns’ Coonawarra wines. Hang on a second – Wynnsday is the first Wednesday of August, every year, and it’s only May. What on earth are they doing pushing samples out to reviewers three months early?

Reviewers write reviews, that’s what they do, and punters go looking for these things, that’s what they do, and poor shopkeepers will bear the brunt of their anger. When I read the reviews, I saw the blessing in disguise. As usual Tyson Stelzer gives us an impressive display of his verbal cutlery, which I’ll cut through on this occasion. The key sentence is: ‘2010 is the wine to drink while the tightly wound 2009 slowly uncoils in the cellar.’ 94 points, drink  2020 to 2025 is the bottom line. If this is an easy drinking red now, I wonder, how does he come up with those numbers?

Mattinson is far less generous, saying ‘... a nice enough wine. Medium weight blackcurrant and earth with a spicy, cigar-boxy edge. Varietal, pure, clean and cellarable. Gum leaf lift to the nose. Tannin that builds as it breathes. Reasonable length but a hole in the mid palate. I’m often one of the ra-ra boys for Wynns Black Label but this one didn’t move me. No doubt it will still do well in the cellar over time. 89+ Points.'

I’d looked forward to the 2010 Wynns black label, because the 2009 is a cracker and 2010 was a better year still. Life in the vineyard isn’t always that simple, clearly. Reading between the lines of both reviews, I couldn’t avoid the conclusion that I should buy more of the 2009 and forget about the 2010. I hopped on the web and looked for the best price – almost $30 at Dan M’s and Kemenys, a long way from the $20 Kemenys asked for the wine months ago. Same at Winestar. Must be running out, no need to shift volumes any more.

$25 at MyCellars was the best offer. I saw the Vintage Cellars entry on the search list, and almost gave it a miss since VC prices are generally ludicrous. 1^st Choice has the same wines, on average 20% cheaper. Anyhow, here was the Wynns black label 2009 for $22 in a mixed dozen, online and in store. I took my own advice and grabbed some more. Here’s a collection of the reviews for the 2009 http://www.winestar.com.au/prod3637.htm

Best

Kim

Captain Barossa – Red Wines With Body And Soul

Extraordinary wines from MacKenzie, Kalleske, Lehmann & deFazio

The Captain is an elusive character, not unlike a caped crusader from the comic books. An odd moniker for someone in the Barossa who makes wine. His frontman is James McKenzie who came from London and bought a farm with vineyard in the Barossa in 2009. A sea change for him - from finance to farming, a homecoming for his wife Islay who hails from these parts.

The mission

I asked James where the Captain idea came from but didn’t get a clear answer. I asked him who made the wines, and he said: the Captain. Who's the Captain? The answer is: the winemaker wants to give the growers top billing, and take a backseat. The Captain and James want to champion the independent growers who are the backbone of this wonderful region, by producing distinctive single vineyard wines under the Captain Barossa label.

 

James says it's about paying the growers a fair price for their fruit, and charging consumers a fair price for the wines. That means direct from vineyard to you at present. All the reds are $18, so the pricing is attractive. As we shall see, it’s more than attractive.

The growers and their wines

James MacKenzie's property has 35 acres of vines at Williamstown at an elevation of 300-360m. Soils range from rich alluvial soils to harsher rocky soils. The reds are mostly dry grown, the vines are hand-pruned and have a permanent pasture between the rows, where sheep safely graze during the winter months. 500 merino ewes help to keep down the weeds and provide plenty of natural fertiliser.

The MacKenzie Shiraz 2010 is a cracker – superbly concentrated sweet and spicy Shiraz fruit in the dark cherry spectrum packed into a tight envelope of fine acid and gentle tannins. It reminded me of Kym Teusner’s Riebke Shiraz 2010 - it’s just as focussed and tight and finely balanced. It made me wonder if Kym had a hand in the winemaking here. Let's just say that this wine is extremely well-made and will live for many years. It’s enjoyable now if you decant it and give it time to breathe. 14.5%.

Elytra Shiraz Cabernet 2009

Lehmann is a well-known name in the Barossa, and this wine is from Phil and Sarah’s vineyard high in the Eden Valley (450m). It takes its name from the protective forewings of an exotic species of winter-active dung beetle - Bubas bison -  which Phil uses to aerate the soil (3000 of them actually), mix soil horizons and deliver manure to the root zone of the vineyard. The beetle is the full stop on the pretty label.

The wine is not the elegant red I expected from the high Eden ranges. The fruit is as big, soft and voluptuous as one of Rubens’ nudes, at the blackcurrent/cassis/chocolate end of the spectrum. Acid and tannin take a backseat here, so this wine is skirting the fine edge of admittedly high quality jam. The Elytra will appeal to those who like really big, soft, cuddly reds. I’d enjoy it over the next year or so.

Angelo de Fazio owns an 85 acre vineyard in the Greenock Hills in the North West Barossa, and tends it the old-fashioned way. He says some of the vine plantings date back to 1864.

The de Fazio Bush Vine Grenache is from 2007, and the colour has a lot of brown in it. There’s tar and leather on the nose, and varnish and charred steak on the palate mixed with some Kirsch and earthy notes. The wine reminded me of old Italian reds I’ve drunk, or maybe Spanish ones – they can be a great match for strong gamey food. I found myself wondering if this would’ve been better a year or two ago, or maybe I’m tasting too many young reds these days. A wine of character, no doubt about that.

The de Fazio Chardonnay 2011 is more of a round, full, easy-on-the gums drinking style. The vines apparently are among the oldest in the valley, but to me the wine lacked varietal expression. Then again, the price is modest at $13 so there are no complaints.

Kalleske is another famous name in these parts, and Andy is the AK on the curious labels of these exotic reds. The AK Petit Verdot 2009 comes from a family-owned vineyard at Ebenezer and the Durif from another at Koonunga. I wasn’t sure what to make of these wines from the outside, to be honest. The label doesn’t do it for me – James says it reflects the innovative thinking behind these wines – and Petit Verdot is not a variety you see bottled on its own very often.

Petit Verdot is one of the minor varieties in Bordeaux, even tougher-skinned and later-ripening than Cabernet Sauvignon – so late that it used not to get ripe most years. Now global warming seems to have given it a new lease of life over there. Petit Verdot clearly thrives in the sunny Barossa Valley (and makes monstrous wines at Rutherglen).

Andy Kalleske's version is a dense, black-purple wine that mixes violets and blueberries with assorted herbs and spices. The fruit is ripe and the flavour deep, the acid backbone adding perfect length and balance. The more we drank of this over a couple of days, the better it got. A fascinating food wine, and not too big at 14%.

The AK Durif 2009 is best described as an extravagant dessert in a bottle. There’s Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte mixed with plum compote, licorice allsorts and cherry-liqueur chocolates. All these aromas fairly leap out of the glass from the impenetrable liquid, and the wine makes an impact on the senses not unlike Wagner's Ring Cycle. My mates and I had this with a platter of creamy and blue cheeses with dried fruits and nuts in quince syrup on the side. A perfect match. A red dessert wine at last. Yes, it’s dry on the finish. It’s a riot everywhere else.

Summing up

This was a fascinating experience, tasting truly original and individual wines of this calibre. That they sell for $18 a bottle is ludicrous – if Parker found out about the Elytra Shiraz Cabernet and the AK Durif, he and his followers would go nuts, or apeshit as they used to say over there way back when. Let’s hope they never do find James or the Captain, and that we can keep buying these wines for a song.

I confess that my admiration for these young Turks in the Barossa keeps growing: they’re going back to the old farming ways, back to the land and the vines to make sure they grow the best fruit possible. Minimalist winemaking is then focused on giving the fruit and the place it comes from true expression, which is a long way from what happened in the 80s and nineties down under when the fruit hardly mattered because trick yeasts, fancy ferments, aromatic oak and other tricks shaped the wines.

The website has a lot more detail and background on the growers, and facilities for ordering the wines reviewed here.

http://www.captainbarossa.com.au/

Thanks for adding so much colour to our wine scene, Captain, whoever you are

Please note that the samples reviewed here were supplied by James McKenzie. My policy is to buy my own samples wherever possible because larger wine companies select their best samples from their best batches for reviewers. In this case, I didn't feel there was any danger of that.

Kim

Good Pinot Noir under $25 - Mission Impossible?

Part Two – after another 6 samples, there are glimpses of light

Fonty’s Pool Pinot Noir 2010

Pemberton lies south-east of Margaret River on the way to Albany. It makes some interesting wines but this isn’t one of them, sadly. The light, red-brown colour makes you wonder if there’s much to get excited about here. The nose confirms that there isn’t, unless you like simple, generic sweet fruit/light red concoctions. This one also fades on the palate long before taking its official leave. I expected more from this label.

Red Hill Pinot Noir 2009

$16 is a keen price for a Mornington Peninsula Pinot. Sadly, this wine isn’t worth it. It’s rusty water bearing no more than a faint resemblance to Pinot Noir. It’s a real lightweight with no flavour, no depth and no length. It’s a shocker and not worth bottling, and it beats me why they bothered. A year or two back, Red Hill was acquired by Cheviot Bridge, the owners of several brands including Long Flat Destinations. I’ve liked several wines under that label, so I don’t what went wrong here.

Wither Hills Pinot Noir 2009 Wairau Valley

This looks promising in the glass with deep red colour and good density, but the nose is wayward – not classic Pinot Noir, more like a light spicy Shiraz Grenache or Shiraz Viognier. There’s plenty of body and depth here but again the flavour is not in the Pinot groove, and green stalks seem to be arguing with hints of beetroot. The wine is off-target, and it’s not that attractive even if you forget the variety. Not for over $20. Campbell Mattinson at the Winefront likes it better and gives it 91. I’d give it a miss.

Spy Valley Pinot Noir 2010 (Marlborough)

Medium red, medium density. Typical Pinot Nose, leaning toward bright fruit spectrum rather than dark and leafy notes. Nice round, soft, mouth-filling fruit on mid-palate fading to a shortish finish of little consequence. This is pretty good Pinot Noir but pretty simple - I’d expected more weight and complexity from the reviews. At $22-25, this isn’t the best value around but at least it’s a pleasant experience.

 Tamar Ridge Kayena Vineyard Pinot Noir 2010

The TR website describes this as ‘another very sophisticated wine. In the bouquet there is the right sort of subdued dark fruit aroma coupled with spicy cigar box oak. The palate is nicely firm with poised acid/tannin combination and there is sufficient fruit sweetness to keep it balanced. The pristine condition of this wine, which is a hallmark of senior winemaker Tom Ravech’s wine handling, will ensure a good life for this wine and will handsomely repay five years cellaring.’

The truth is in the glass, and the glass tells a different tale. Andrew Pirie was in charge here until last year, when the business was sold to new owners. Andrew has made as much Tassie Pinot as anyone, so I had high hopes. The wine started badly with a hot nose not typical of Pinot Noir, and the colour is very much on the light side. The palate lean and mean with the acid holding sway over ungenerous fruit. There’s length but no depth to fill it in and most of all this wine lacks the soft, round, velvety characters we prize in good Pinot Noirs. And charm. And redeeming features, really. This was nearly $25!

42 degrees South Pinot Noir 2008 by Frogmore Creek

This is an impressive Tassie Pinot Noir, head and shoulders above the rest in the $25 class. The nose announces that this isn't the usual cocktail of cherries and berries, but much more interesting and savoury. The palate delivers on the promise with layers of subtle, well integrated flavours including some twigs and leaves, seamless integration with subtle oak. The has colour, body, flavour, depth, length and balance. It's Burgundian, and that’s not a term that comes to mind with a lot of Aussie Pinots. Enjoy now or over the next year or two. $21.50 at Kemenys. Terrific value.

42° South Pinot Noir 2009

Promising deep red colour, and classic Pinot nose. Plenty of flavour too, but the fruit in this vintage is a bit cleaner and less complex than the 2008. Less Burgundian, but similar in body, depth of flavour, length and balance. A good Pinot for the money, and big enough to stand up to tasty sausages. About $21.50 at Dan M’s.

Tasmania saves the day, thanks to Frogmore Creek, with New Zealand’s Spy Valley at least a competent contender. The rest of the wines are best forgotten.

Part One of the under $25 Pinot Noir Challenge is here http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/2012/04/good-pinot-noir-under-25-mission-impossible.html

 

Kim

 

 

Leica M Monochrom and x2 – the luxury collection

Leica milks its brand for all it's worth

I’ve long thought of Leica as the Penfolds Grange of the camera business: a brand with a cachet far exceeding its value, and a company hell-bent on squeezing every last dollar out of it. People with too much money tend to buy Leica cameras for much the same reason they buy Penfolds Grange or $10K watches. A Leica won’t make you a better photographer as I explained here http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/2009/12/why-a-leica-wont-improve-your-photography.html

Today I read this at Imaging Resource: ‘Leica’s fame was built on the work and celebrity of Henri Cartier-Bresson. However, I cannot imagine it would please HCB to see the "luxe" direction Leica is taking. Bresson believed in the power of photography. Before his death, he created a photographic center in Paris to encourage and exhibit the work of photographers, mostly Leica photographers. If he were alive today, I have to believe he would urge Leica to invest a little more in the future of cameras as "working tools" rather than in the future of cameras as "investments." Author Steve Melzer is a long time Leica loyalist – more here http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2012/05/16/the-leica-m-monochrom-is-leica-pricing-out-its-loyal-customers-with-an-8000

The standard Leica M9 costs a breathtaking $7000 for the body alone. That’s not exclusive enough for some playboys, so Leica has once again released a Hermès edition which will sell for between $25 and $50,000. Hermès is a Parisian fashion house specialising in wearable accessories with eye-watering price tags. The good news is that you get a lens or three with these special Leicas, and a few other fashion accessories.

The highlight of the Hermes M9 is the calf skin leather supplied by Hermes for the silver version of the Leica M9-P camera. This ultra-fine leather is also used for the shoulder strap included in the Hermes Leica set. In addition to a dedicated serial number, each camera is also given a limited-edition number. The base Hermes package includes a book and a bag and an anodised 50mm f/1.4 ASPH lens for $25,000. The more limited edition (100 sets instead of 300) is boxed with three silver-anodised lenses - the 28mm f/2 ASPH and 50mm f/0.95 and 90mm f/2 ASPH - priced at a trifling $50,000.

Leica M Monochrom

Now comes the interesting part: Steve Melzer’s comments weren’t aimed at the Hermes Leica but the new M9 Monochrom which captures only black and white images and has a sensor optimised for that genre. That little touch adds $1,000 to the camera’s price. What’s the market for such a tool? As Steve points out, the photographers who shoot serious black-and-white photos for exhibition prints still tend to use black-and-white film and medium or large format cameras. So this is just another blatant attempt to cash in on the fame of its most famous user: Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Full-size (35mb) Monochrom sample images are available for download here: http://www.photographyblog.com/previews/leica_m_monochrom_photos/

Theres’ a hands-on report here:

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/45676/leica-m9-hermes-pictures-and-hands-on

The poor man’s Leica

Yes, there is one, kind of: A couple of years ago, Leica produced a new entry-level camera in the x1. It looked like a Leica – much like the baby A160 looks like a Mercedes) and sold for a modest (by Leica standards) $2,000 including a prime lens that was fixed. The x1 used an APS-C size 12mp sensor, not a full frame sensor like the M series, but the image quality was widely praised.

Leica has just introduced the x2, which adds a little bulk and weight apart from a 16mp sensor and a faster AF system. Not much else is new, except that 2 grand buys a lot of good kit these days – and there’s a lot more competition in this area now. The Fuji X100 is as well made and as capable at half  the price. Here’s a hands-on for the Leica x2 http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/45688/leica-x2-pictures-and-hands-on-preview

Worse news for Leica is the Fuji Pro x1 (confused yet?), which is just as capable as the M9 at a quarter the price. And don’t underestimate the quality of Fuji’s lenses. That won’t matter to those who buy Leicas for the cachet and don’t care about the cash. Those of us who're looking for value may baulk at $2,000 for a basic camera, and opt for a Nikon D5100 instead. This is a shot taken casually with a D5000 and the 55-300mm lens, a sub $1000 combo.

If you really have to have a camera with that famous red dot on it, and you don't have a lot of dollars to spend, there’s a more reasonbly-priced Leica for you: the V-Lux 40 for about $700.

You wouldn’t expect a company with Leica's cachet to rebadge another company’s product, let alone a Panasonic product, but that’s what the V-Lux 40 is: a Panasonic Lumix TZ30. The saving grace is that the Panny uses a Leica lens. You pay another $300 for the red dot, mind you, and all Leica throws in is a copy of Photoshop Elements 10, Premiere Elements and a 2-year warranty.

In summing up, I agree with Steve Melzer at Imaging Resource: Leica ought to invest a little more in the future of cameras as working tools instead of playing the fashion and luxury goods markets. If you’re looking for the best photo tools at sensible prices, look elsewhere. Then again, maybe I'm missing something - maybe a Leica attracts classier birds than a Nikon. Maybe Lorelei drapes herself over a rock near you if you have a Leica in your hands ...

Kim

May Bargains – Seresin Sauvignon Blanc, Thorne Clark Quartage, Amberley Secret Lane Cab Merlot, Mitchell’s Peppertree Shiraz

Reds to keep you warm at prices that make you smile

Kemenys never have a sale but always have a bunch of good prices. Here are a few:

Amberley Secret Lane Cabernet Merlot - $13 – this is the bargain of the year

Taltarni 3 monks GSM - $10 - a lovely soft wine, ready to enjoy, super price

Darenberg The Footbolt Shiraz 2009 - $14 – haven’t tried it but JH gives this 94

Mitchell’s Peppertree Shiraz 2008 - $20 – a genuine cracker

If you need some Sauvignon Blanc for your seafood, Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2011 is still 9.99. This is the best of the cheapies, but Clifford Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2011 is in a different class for just $3 more.

A different class again is Seresin Sauvigon Blanc 2010 – it’s sheer class, and it’s down to $21.60 at 1^st Choice. The lovely Thorne Clarke Shotfire Quartage Bordeaux Blend 2009 is around $15, and many other wines are discounted – not that you’d ever know from the website. When will these guys get their act together?

Happy drinking

Kim

Teusner Cabernet, Mitchells Peppertree Shiraz, Penfolds Koonunga Hill 76, Wallflower Ad Hoc and Dopff au Moulin Rieslings

Many super whites and reds, and no real duds

GOOD BUYS

Dopff au Moulin Pinot Blanc

I’ve had mixed success with these wines, which Dan Murphy has imported directly for a while now. The Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer are too sweet for my taste. The 2010 Pinot Blanc is bone dry, though, and there are more minerals than fruit here. A hint of pears maybe, a faint touch of lychees, all very muted and elegant. This is a pleasant wine to drink on its own, with good mouth-feel and length, and a nice change from the usual. Will improve for a year or so. Good value at $12.

Dopff au Moulin Riesling 2010

This is the Riesling from the same stable, and it’s austere and long, with subdued lime fruit and minerals wrapped in a very tight acid backbone. Not ready to open up for a while, but it’s so well balanced that it should last and improve for a very long time. Another $12 bargain if you’re looking for something a little different.

Woodlands Chardonnay 2011

The nose suggests classy new-style Aussie Chardonnay: fruit that isn’t over-ripe, and oak that’s happy to play a supporting role. There’s an almost Riesling-like intensity of fruit on the mid palate that suggests sweetness, however, followed by a fairly abrupt change to a pretty acid finish. All the elements here suggest class so I think they’re still coming together, and will work nicely in another year or three.

Ad Hoc Wallflower Riesling

A good friend gave me this, which must qualify for the shortlist of any dumb label competition. It turns out to be the creation of WA Wine Wunderkind Larry Cherubino, and it’s better than it looks. It’s a long, lean wine with subdued lime fruit in the steely Riesling style. Ripeness is a bit marginal just now (12.5%), but the searing fine acid backbone should mellow with time. Needs a few years to show its best.

D’Arenberg Hermit Crab Viognier Marsanne 2010         

Not sure of the exact blend here, but the lively Viognier is the dominant partner - hints of rock melon on the nose. Some of the wine was matured in old oak, and it was bottled 12 months after harvest. Some nectarine and orange blossom on the palate, fresh and clean but not big on flavour. The wine is more round than long, but makes for a very pleasant change - easy summer wine with cold meats and salad. Would go with spicy Asian dishes too. 13%. Might improve with a year or two. $11.70 at 1^st Choice.

Brookland Valley Verse 1 Chardonnay 2011

A round, soft commercial Chardonnay that has enough flavour and varietal character at the ripe end of the spectrum. Very easy on the gums and the pocket at $11.70 at 1^st Choice or $13 at Kemenys.

Lawson Dry Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2010

A wonderful foil to all those sweet and sour lemon juice concoctions from Marlborough. Real gooseberry nose, the gooseberry/wet grass/wet stone flavours follow through on the palate. All of this is balanced on the fine edge of a searing acid backbone – this wine makes me think of conviction, a nice change from concoction. Give it 2-3 years and you’ll be in for a treat.

Kingston Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

From a Riverland winemaker, fruit sourced from Coonawarra and Wrattonbully. The quality of this $11 wine was a real surprise. The first impression wasn’t so positive, but the wine really opened up over the next hour. There were some developed notes in the leather/licorice spectrum but they faded with time to reveal lovely ripe Coonawarra fruit with that Limestone coast softness. There’s good length and complexity, and the wine just blossomed over 3 days in the open bottle. Drinking superbly now (given time) and will improve for a couple of years. $11 at Dan M's.

Teusner The Gentleman Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

Kym Teusner says the vineyard sits up high in the Eden Valley at around 500m, ‘on fairly bony, lean soils ... that produce low yields, small tight berries and a level of quality that brings a smile to our faces when it arrives at the winery.’ The wine brought a smile to my face as I tried to carve my way through layers of dark berry fruit, pepper and cloves and hints of coffee and chocolate. Not obviously Cabernet, but a great red with more muscle than other Teusner reds, and less softness. Kym says drink in the next five years but I reckon this will go on improving for a long time. Get some while you can still find the superb 2010 as the 2011 is already showing up at Dan M’s (for $20). 14%. The 2010 is still listed at the winery for $19. http://www.teusner.com.au/sales.php?crn=205&rn=416&action=show_detail A real steal.

Mitchell Sevenhill Cabernet 2005

A different style of Cabernet from the Teusner. This is the current release, a medium-bodied wine which proves that 13.5% alcohol is perfectly adequate for a serious red. This is classic cool climate Cabernet with mint on the nose and a slight doughnut palate, dark berries and subdued oak balanced by long fine acid and tannins. Still pretty young, showing only small signs of age. Elegant yet immensely satisfying, and so well balanced that it will live for many years. $23 at 1st Choice.

I have long believed that Mitchell Wines is one of the best-kept secrets in Australian wine. They’ve been making great reds and whites since the late seventies, working quietly on improving the quality of their wines from one of our classic wine areas: The Clare Valley. The wines are dry-grown, hand-picked, hand-made, and estate-bottled. The vineyards enjoy careful soil management combined with old-style farm and biodynamic practices.

Mitchell Peppertree Shiraz 2008

A much bigger red than the the Cabernet. JH calls it the best Peppertree to date and gives it 96 points. I’m not far behind him on this occasion. Even though it’s a 2008, the colour is a dense full-on purple, and the nose is young. It promises beguiling exotic goodies and delivers an explosion of sweet fruit and spice, tightly coiled around an fine tannin backbone. And James is right: the mouth-feel is classy. It has many years ahead of it but is enjoyable with a steak now. 14.5%. $20 at Kemenys.

St Hallets Gamekeepers Shiraz Cabernet 2010

The Gamekeeper range is clearly targeting wine drinkers who want well-made wines at fair prices. The winemakers here have consistently delivered a smooth, well-rounded experience for them, in a medium bodied, easy on the gums form (better than the whites under this label, IMO). The 2008 and 2009 were impressive in a polished, elegant, easy drinking style, but the 2010 has a bit more to it: it just kept opening up more goodies over several days in the bottle. $10.80 at 1st Choice.

 

NOT CONVINCED

Penfolds Koonunga Hill Seventy Six Shiraz Cabernet 2010

This is a big chunky wine of no great distinction. So big that you can smell the heat of the 14.5% alcohol. The fruit is typical chunky Penfolds SA Shiraz Cabernet without the polish of Bin 389-seasoned oak barrels. Lots of ripe plum and licorice, not that well focused and not all that well integrated. The wine opened up some over a couple of days, with the fruit becoming more attractive. Still not a convincing red though, and suggesting that Penfolds is more interested in squeezing dollars out of its brand than making every wine a winner.

Koonunga Hill Seventy Six Shiraz Cabernet was released from the 2006 vintage, thirty years after the original saw the light of day. Penfolds product marketing types seem to spend their days looking for gaps to fill with special bottlings. Bert Werden has the whole story here if you’re interested: http://www.winestar.com.au/prod3320.htm . Lots of expectations heaped on the shoulders of a $17 bottle (Winestar, MyCellars), which struggles under the weight.

Yalumba The Strapper Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2010

Yalumba's branding is a disaster. I'd perfer to say Patchwork since that's one of the company's many labels, but its a lot worse than that: none of the labels bears the slightest resemblance to any other - the Signature, the Menzies, the Sribbler and the Cigar, and now the Strapper. And the Patchwork, of course. Yalumba, please give us a call - we can help.

I've been a fan of this still family-owned company for a long time, but most of the wines tend to just fall shy of the mark. This wine is no exception: it's well-made and clean with good sweet and spicy Grenache fruit – raspberries and pepper - but it’s pretty simple on the whole, and a bit short on depth and length. On special for $16 at Chambers, $18 at Winelist Australia. Turkey Flat's Butcher's Block GSM is a better wine for the same money.

Tar & Roses Heathcote Shiraz 2009

The first two bottles of this, trued over the last few months, had serious volatile acidity that wouldn’t budge no matter how long you left the wine to breathe. You could get a sense of the lovely fruit hiding under that veil, and the linear structure of the wine, but you couldn’t get near it. Third time was lucky, revealing an appealing red, not profound in any sense but easy-drinking with vibrant fruit. Made by Don Lewis who made the wines at Mitchelton for 3 decades, and wife Narelle King. A bit of a gamble for $16 (Dan M’s).

Majella The Musician Cabernet Shiraz 2010

Came across this wine again, this time in a blind line-up. Once again, I found it big and chunky, a touch clumsy and lacking charm. Not my idea of a bargain Coonawarra red, no matter how much the experts rave about it. See for yourself. About $18 and widely available.

Kim

 

Open Letter to Julia Gillard - on being a leader

Please fire your advisors and start to show some courage

Dear Julia,

For some time now we’ve watched on in horror as you’ve stumbled around the political forest, crashing into trees at every turn. My partner and I work in marketing and PR, and we wonder who your strategists and advisors are. In fact, we wonder if they’re undercover agents for Tony Abbott and his lot. That’s how shocking your blunders have been. Here’s our advice: Fire your advisers, minders and PR people.

Good government is about leadership and vision, and about taking the people with you. Good government is about setting the agenda and never letting go. That’s where you’ve gone wrong. Time and time again, you’ve let Abbott set the agenda with his bumper sticker slogans. In response, you should’ve taken the high ground. Instead, you got down into the gutter with Tony for a god old-fashioned brawl. And you lost, every time.

Gay marriage

You had a chance to lead on this issue and your squandered it. Even Barack Obama in the arch-conservative US of A has come out in its support. The majority of Australians have supported gay marriage for some time now – why on earth did you take the Tony Abbott position here, instead of seizing the day and leaving him squawking in the gutter?

The gambling problem

Leadership is about seizing every opportunity to shine. Here was another opportunity to lead, to show courage, to show the resolve to tackle a serious problem in our society. You could at least have backed the simple option the Greens put up: the one dollar limit. Instead you decided it was all too hard, which put at risk the support of the Greens, Andrew Wilkie and Nick Xenophon. A foolish move that forced you to make more foolish moves with sleazy Peter Slipper and sleazier Craig Thompson.

The Mining Tax

A colossal marketing disaster – if you can’t garner broad popular support for taxing big polluters and hugely profitable miners, then you and your PR and marketing people are incompetent. Period. Paul Keating would have had the opposition on toast for their stance here, every day the subject came up in parliament. ‘Now we see who their real friends are: Gina Rhinehart, Clive Palmer, Twiggy Forrest … these poor, hard-working entrepreneurs need a tax break  – how many more billions do you want your friends to screw out of this country, Tony? The champion of working families? Why don’t you put your money where you mouth is instead of into wealthy miners’ pockets?’ You get the idea …

 

The Carbon Tax

The carbon tax was a big win, and a chance for you to take the high ground. What did you do? The very next day you jumped into the gutter with Tony Abbott once more, flogging the long-dead horse of offshore refugee processing. Why, oh why do you keep painting yourselves into deadly corners, and behave like a stubborn teenager who won’t be told, won’t listen, won’t take advice. Hell-bent on making your own mistakes. All of them.

Your selling of the carbon tax was a marketing disaster. Did you sell this as a tax on big polluters? No. Now consider this: carbon means nothing to most people – pollution does. Pollution is toxic to the health of our children, to their brain development. Pollution is linked with leukemia and other cancers – did you talk about the toxic effects parents deeply care about? No. Instead, you let the opposition get away with calling the tax toxic. How on earth did you let this happen?

Did you take the high ground and remind Australians that we are innovators? That we are born leaders forging ahead instead of waiting for everyone else to move first? That’s our history, from Howard Florey to Ian Frazer. From Bradman to Freeman. Did you talk about investing in clean and renewable energy technologies? And creating whole new industries with thousands of jobs? If you did, no one heard you.

Choose your battles and lead

Here’s another thing your minders and PR should’ve told you, Julia: don’t dig in on the wrong issues. Pick your battles wisely. Thompson was always going to blow up in your face, and a smart leader would’ve known that this was inevitable. And when something is inevitable, smart leaders take the initiative and head it off at the pass, before the enemy can make mileage out it. Instead, you let Abbott and his men beat you with this stick week after week. Until you had to do the inevitable. Same with Slipper.

Leadership isn’t just knowing what to do, but the right time to do it. Had you acted early and decisively, the people would’ve seen strength. Because you didn’t, people saw weakness. You are a Labour Prime Minister, and Australians expect more from you than rampant opportunism. You lost the light on the hill because you’ve spent too much time in the gutter trying to win over the populists who will never vote for you in a thousand years. Meanwhile, you’ve lost your real supporters. 

People won’t vote for you if you don’t know who you are, if you can’t tell them what you stand for, if you can’t be true to your principles, if you can’t be counted on.

Kim

Spiegel im Spiegel by Avo Pärt

Not all modern music is an attack on your senses

This music sounds like it's come straight from heaven

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8ZScAdV8qE&feature=fvwrel

Autumn in the Southern Highlands - wonderful lunch at Eschalot restaurant with a stunning Tertini Pinot Noir

Not long after the hottest May day in 70 years, autumn arrived. Mothers’ Day was bleak and windy, but we took mother out to lunch the day before as we always do to avoid the crowds. And Saturday was a cool but pleasant day in the Southern Highlands. At historic Berrima, not far from the old jail and just up the road from the historic pub, stands a lovely old homestead that is the Eschalot Restaurant.

This is one of those rare gems that gets everything right, from the quality of the food sourced from selected producers in the region to the well-trained, helpful staff to the space and ambience. The prices are fair for a one hat restaurant – the only one between Sydney and Canberra: about $20 for entrees and $35-40 for mains. http://www.eschalot.com.au/ 

Chef David Learmonth and his team prepare wonderful dishes from quality produce, without the fuss and artifice that is so often the norm in good eateries these days. Real food with wonderful flavours that aren’t contrived, presented simply, that’s what Eschalot is about. Thirlmere duck, Southern Highlands lamb and pork and beef. Owner Richard Kemp says, ‘we source the best produce and do the minimum of processing.’

Richard is proud of his immense wine list, a tome that is daunting even for one who thinks he knows about wines. These wines are carefully chosen and intelligently priced from $35 a bottle up, and many are available by the glass. I asked Richard for his help in selecting a Pinot Noir to go with our lamb, pork and duck dishes and he suggested a local:

This is a well-coloured, full-bodied Pinot that delivers authentic flavours with a hint of gaminess in a rich, seductive package. Perhaps a touch short on the finish, but I’m quibbling with perfection - this is serious Pinot Noir. At $60 on the wine list, I assumed the wine sold for $25 – 30 at the winery. I was wrong: the website reveals that this Pinot has won 8 Trophies at 3 Wine Shows and sells for $55. The winemakers are listed as Jonathan Holgate and Nick Bullied who was one of Peter Bourne’s old front bench line-up (see recent post). Great stuff, Nick! http://www.tertiniwines.com.au/aboutus.html

Thanks to the team at Eschalot for providing such as wonderful oasis with such consistency – it was just as good last year. And while you’re in Berrima, a visit to the old pub is in order along with a brief spell at the Alpaca centre at the other end of the village.

The goodies here are gorgeous to stroke, and this time they had some real Alpacas in a tiny corral. They look a lot like sheep with long necks and round faces.

Yes, they’re seriously cute creatures.

The light faded just as we were leaving, and presented a chance for a nice autumn photo or two

This magnificent tree is Mother’s Nyssa Sylvatica in Kangaroo Valley.

KIM

Super Laptop Deal – Lenovo 14” E420 i5 for $599

i5 2400ghz processor, turbo boost, 4gb RAM, 320gb HD

2NDS WORLD has this on offer and I had a look which confirmed that this was an outstanding deal. It’s the right size and weight (about 2kgs), has a good, sharp screen and the best keyboard I’ve ever struck on a laptop. Lenovo throws in a DVD drive, WiFi-n, Bluetooth, webcam, a 6-cell battery and Windows 7 Home Premium.

the touchpad on mine is closer to the middle

The E420 is made of plastic, but it’s good quality matt plastic. The machine looks well-built enough. And it works: the i5 gets a Passmark score around 3500 and a Windows Performance score of 4.8 due mainly to the moderate graphics capabilities.
This may not be a great gaming machine but I’m no gamer so it doesn’t matter. The other scores on the Win index sit between 5 and 7 = pretty bloody good. It's a pretty fast machine in real use, which includes processing large RAW image files in my case. More specs here:

www.techbuy.com.au/p/179811/Lenovo/E420%281141C3M%29.asp

It’s fast, it’s comfortable, battery life is a realistic 4-5 hours, and the price is right.

http://www.2ndsworld.com.au/product/lenovo-14-intel-i5-thinkpad-edge-e420-notebook-black-edgee420

If you miss out at this source, Lenovo has a laptop sale on as well -

http://shopap.lenovo.com/au/en/deals-and-coupons/quickship-deals/

Good luck

Kim

 

Front Bench Tasting at Peter Bourne’s – Sheer Bliss

Crusty old characters and crustier ports unite

We used to gather around the big table in Peter’s tasting room in Cleveland Street Redfern. Now we have the occasional dinner in Peter’s tasting room in Pyrmont. Ray Choy brought a wonderful 1990 Pol Roger to help us get into the mood.

I hadn’t seen Huon Hooke for years, and it was good to catch up. We talked about the liberty of the blogging medium compared to writing for the Herald where a harsh editor trims Huon’s drafts with sharp sheers. Then we just enjoyed the eclectic selection of wines the boys had brought along, and the food Peter’s caterer provided.

This old Tyrrells proved to me once again that 10.5% alcohol is a handicap – this wine is lean and acid and little else, and I’m not sure it will improve in another 10 -15 years. The Chablis was a lovely mouthful but riper and less flinty than Chablis BGW (before global warming). The Meursault had riper fruit again dressed up in aromatic oak of the classiest kind, almost a meal in a glass with flavours ranging from apricot kernels to peaches and cashews. A tough wine to spit out.

Philip Shaw joined us on his way back from Townsville, making up for Reg Mercer going to Orange instead of joining us as he should’ve. We missed Reg and his jokes. I offered to tell a few of them for him, but I was persuaded not to.

Doug Bailey is enjoying the last of a 1969 Wolf Blass that was just hanging in there and surprising us with its tenacity. There were some interesting reds, with the group below the strongest in my view. The Barolo was the standout, but the Rioja and the Cornas went better with the pork belly.

The reds included an interesting red made by Peter Snowball, one of our Front Benchers who has planted a vineyard near Orange. The label reflects Peter's refined sense of humour, and the wine is a lovely light red made from sangiovese.

The dessert wines were a lovely surprise. With Peter Mouser the surgeon away, the job of sorting the brackets and teasing the crumbling corks out of the old bottles fell to me, along with tracking the wines on the whiteboard and taking photographs. The cork on the 79 Rieussec dropped into the bottle as soon as I touched it.

Despite the poor showing of cork and label, the wine was nectar for the Gods, nothing less. The Gould Campbell, ‘not a shipper of the first rank’ as Chris Anstee made clear, surprised us with its youthful vitality. The 1976 Hardy’s, like all these old Hardy’s, was a mere pup but a different kind of wine – a big fruit bomb wrapped in fine brandy spirit.

Here’s the full line-up, and here’s the whiteboard with the details:

You can see the writing deteriorating as the wines pile up. :-)

I’m going to the gym now. Only kidding, I think I'll have a good lie-down instead.

Kim

Webroot Secure Anywhere – the mouse that roars

Breakthrough internet security: 100% protection, 0% system load

Most internet security suites behave like bullies, riding roughshod over you, strangling your system while they go through endless signature updates, running scans whenever they feel like it, taking up hundreds of megabytes. It’s painful on older PCs, laptops and mobile devices. You know the story.

Webroot installs a tiny piece of code, less than 1mb in size, and leaves the bulk of its considerable intelligence in the cloud. And the code on your machine is written in C, a very efficient language. It’s not a breakthrough, strictly speaking: the best-kept secret in internet security in recent years was a program called PREVX-3, which worked much the same way. The company did no marketing, and the lazy IT journos who should shout about these great products from the rooftops were too busy going to junkets arranged by Norton and McAfee.

Anyhow, we’ve been running PREVX-3 in our business for years, and have been utterly delighted with the product. Last year, the guys who run Webroot saw how smart this software was and bought the company. Then they did a courageous thing: they threw out their own software and worked on a new version of the PREVX-3 code, plus some additions. That’s how Webroot Secure Anywhere (WSA) came about.

Easy As
It takes literally seconds to install, and it’s off running a scan. A deep scan that is, which is finished minutes later. It takes a few minutes longer on a system that's infested with nasties. WSA is also good at removing these bad critters. After that, the system runs silently in the background as you enjoy the improved performance of your computing device. This is the new way, the smart way to keep your stuff secure. FREE AT LAST!

You can play with the settings if you want to, or just leave the whole business to Wevbroot. It comes with real-time shields and a firewall, and optional cloud storage. It has extensive heuristic capabilities. There's no spam filter or parental controls.

When it comes to PC security, Neil Rubenking at PCMagazine has been the top dog for many years. And Neil is mighty impressed: ‘Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus is tiny beyond belief,’ Neil says, ‘yet it achieved perfect scores across the board in my malware-blocking tests. It also did a very good job cleaning up malware-infested systems. This impressive product shares our Editor's Choice honor with Norton AntiVirus 2012.’

Neil tested the first version of WSA last year; some enhancements have been added since then. Here’s AV Test Org’s score from earlier this year: http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/test-reports/test-reports/?tx_avtestreports_pi1[report_no]=120525 . More reviews and awards here: http://www.webroot.com/En_US/about-press-room-reviews-and-awards.html

Here’s a comparison chart for the 3 different versions, and a 50% off deal that reduces the price for WSA Complete for 3 PCs to $40 a year: http://www.webroot.com/En_US/sites/land-3product-25-40-50-percent-offer/  The offer is open until the end of May 2012. More information about Webroot here at the main site http://www.webroot.com/En_US/ .

As I said already, it doesn't get any better than this.

Kim

If you missed out on Grange 2007, read this

There are better options, including 2006 Grange

Grange 2006 is a better wine from a better vintage that Kemenys sell for $500. Here’s JH’s take: ‘Still deep crimson; its bouquet sets the scene for the strikingly complex array of black characters that run all the way through the wine from the first whiff to the finish and aftertaste: anise, licorice, tar, bitter chocolate, blackberry, prune and peppercorns. The tannins are prominent, and play their part in the steadily building impact on the very long palate with each successive sip, but they are in balance with the fruit and oak of an extremely powerful Grange. Great future. 14.5%. 98 points.'

Robert Parker gives it 98 as well. So does Nick Stock. Tyson Stelzer gives it 99, Huon Hooke 97.

Grange 2007 isn’t in the same league: 

'Full crimson, with a purple rim; a blend of 98% shiraz, 2% cabernet sauvignon that exudes power and authority; the bouquet is already complex, the American oak making an impact in its youth, the palate with multiple layers of mainly black fruits; the tannins, like the oak, need to soften and will do so well before the fruit starts to fade. Follows the Grange pattern with 21 months in the 100% new American oak in which it finished its fermentation. 14.5%; 95 points; drink to 2030.' James Halliday

St Henri 2008 rates higher 

Andrew Caillard from Langtons rates this wine ahead of Grange 2007 (94) and Bin 707 2009 (93). ‘Deep colour. Lovely fresh blackberry, dark cherry, herb aromas with some liquorice, paneforte notes. Well-concentrated blackberry, dark cherry, praline flavours, fine-grained touch chalky-al-dente tannins. Finishes firm and tight. Beautiful richness and volume. Gentle tannin plume at the finish. 95 points.' $70 at Dan M's.

Teusner The Riebke Shiraz 2010 rates higher than both, for $17

Here's a Shiraz JH rates higher than Grange 2007: 'Crimson-purple; the fragrant bouquet exudes plum and blackberry fruit, promptly picked up by the stylish medium-bodied palate; here those flavours are joined by perfect tannins, oak purring along in the background. So great is the balance that the wine will live forever, however enjoyable it is now. 14.5%; 96 points; drink to 2030 RR $19.'

Sorry, I didn't have a Riebke handy, so here’s the label of the equally good Cabernet (same money)

Mitchell Peppertree Vineyard Shiraz 2008 – same story

And here's another: 'Bright purple-crimson hue; dry-grown, hand-picked estate grapes have produced a lovely wine, supple and smooth in the mouth, with vibrant cherry and plum fruit, good oak and sweet tannins. The best Peppertree Vineyard Shiraz to date. 14.5%; 96 points; drink to 2030 RR $25.' JH ($20 from Kemenys)

I’m drinking this as I write this post. Even though it’s a 2008, the colour is a dense full-on purple, and the nose is young. It promises beguiling exotic goodies and it delivers an explosion of sweet fruit and spice, tightly coiled around an fine tannin backbone. And yes, the mouth-feel is classy. Many years ahead of it. 

Yering Station Shiraz Viognier 2008 – another 96 pointer

'Bright, clear crimson; a supremely fragrant bouquet with red and black cherry fruit interwoven with allspice, the immaculately constructed and balanced palate, with fine, faintly savoury, tannins and a blessing of French oak, once again proves Yering Station’s mastery of the style. with Braised ox tail; 14.5%; 96 points; Drink 2013-2023.' JH. $20 at Winestar.

Mount Langhi Shiraz 2009 gets 97

'Outstanding vivid crimson-purple; the perfumed bouquet is exquisite, with red and black fruits in a swathe of violets and rose petals, then a supremely elegant and intense palate, the finish exceptionally long. Clearly should have won the Jimmy Watson trophy '10. Due for release towards the end of '11.650 dozen made. Drink by: 2030. Price: $95.00. Date tasted: 21 Dec 2010. Alcohol: 14%. Rating: 97.' JH ($80 at Kemenys).

Yes, this is the lucky country! Just to keep it all inperspective, here's a footnote courtesy of Philip White (our most revered and irreverent wine scribe):

These wines are a key part of Australia’s most lethal and revered gastronomic arsenal: our pointiest end. Yet it is a marvel that they can survive and thrive as they do, given the chaos and bilious swilling of the last decades of roller coaster business thanks to whoever owned Penfolds at the time. Or whoever wanted to own it.  Shake it out, rationalise it, gut it. 

On that matter, I’ve watched the inner machinations of Penfolds and its managers with both bemusement and concern since before the days when its MD, John Spalvins, sold its major vineyard around The Grange cottage so his developer mate John Roche could replace it with a twee ghetto for the dying rich, with streets called Shiraz and Hermitage.  But more than any other Grange custodian – there have been only four since 1951: Max Schubert, Don Ditter, John Duval and Peter Gago – Gago, like dear Max, seems to have spent an awful lot of energy protecting Penfolds from its owners. The thought of Grange coming from the same outfit that invented the execrable Fosters lager is perverse in the extreme, and finally coming to an end.  Whew.

More here, including Philip's tasting notes:

http://drankster.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/penfolds-grange-2007-reviewed.html

and more on the plundering of great Australian wine companies here:

http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/2011/09/how-fosters-and-southcorp-trashed-australias-greatest-wine-brands.html

Kim

With gloom and doom all around, this made me laugh