> my
> favourite Australian red wine..The Black Stump.
> Regards
> John Duggan,
Didn't ring a bell with me, I think it might be an export only label
(Casella Wines, Riverina ?). Anyway, anything with Shiraz & Durif in it
can't be bad !
Try looking for some wines from the Rutherglen region (e.g. Warrabilla, "The
Warrabilla wines are difficult to compare to anything else on the world
market. Think of 'big' reds you've tasted in the past then get your
Thesaurus out. Similes like "A Hippopotamus in a Tutu", and
"Frankenstein-like" can be illuminating when you're at a loss for words to
describe the wines of Warrabilla (the former is a favourite of ours and one
which sums up the balancing act these wines so perfectly achieve).
Winemaker and proprietor, Andrew Sutherland Smith is unquestionably a tall
poppy with both followers and detractors. Critics have described his reds as
'...impossible to judge by conventional standards'. He remains unfazed by
the controversy. "Comments along the lines of big is bad or high alcohols
are so wrong, are just ridiculous..." He adds "The only thing worse than a
mean, green wine is a mean, green wine writer. It's not just about alcohol,
it's about the black phase fruits that develop late in the season. It's a
different profile." We admit that in over thirty years of researching and
bringing to the public the most weird and wonderful wines from around the
world, these are not the sort of reds that will ever rank amongst our most
popular. But that's never being our raison d'être.
The purpose of this website is to keep you informed and to expand your wine
drinking horizons in every direction. Keep an open mind. No doubt for some
wine lovers, tasting the 2009 Warrabilla's will be an achingly intense, over
the top, high octane experience they may never repeat. To others these wines
will be a revelation - a compelling combination of impenetrable colour,
heady aromas, super-ripe fruit, heavy cream texture and a tannic structure
like liquefied velvet, all with the unimaginable poise of a hippo traversing
a tightrope. From one point of view these wines are destroyers of
complacency, even 'dangerous' - but then, life is like that.
The Warrabilla Tightrope - Getting the Hippo to the other side.
Few producers in the world have the guts and know-how to make reds like
Warrabilla. How does Andrew Sutherland Smith get across the viticultural
tightrope without the wines falling into a porty, jammy mess? There are
several key factors that make him the "Master of Massive". It all starts in
the vineyard. "Our soils are deep red clay loams. The rows are 4 metres wide
(standard Australian width is 3 metres) and this gives us plenty of light
and air to colour, ripen fully and give us the favour profiles we?re after.
Crops are pretty light at around 1.5 tonnes per acre.? The rate of fruit
ripening is very dependent upon temperature, therefore, the more uniform the
fruit zone environment, the more uniform the maturation of the fruit, with
75% of the quality coming from delivering uniformly ripe fruit to the
winery. Andrew maintains ?It?s all about light. The vertically, shoot
positioned trellis maximizes it, while giving a bit of protection from
excessive heat and sunburn. We taste berries as vintage progresses, looking
for black/red fruit characters whilst avoiding excess shrivel and the
dreaded dead fruit characters.? His final words of wisdom ?Frankly, so long
as the wine is in balance, we don?t care whether it?s 14% or 18% - it?s just
got to have balance.?
Like a three course meal with cigar included
Each year has slightly different climatic features that suit some varieties
more than others. 2009 was another hot Rutherglen vintage, and according to
Andrew Sutherland Smith, it was the year for Durif. (The fact that he has
not produced a Parola's Durif since 2006 demonstrates his commitment to
maintaining the integrity of this estate's house style. He simply won't
release wines unless they're 100% true to form). Durif is best harvested
very ripe, else there's a hardness and meanness inherent in the varietal.
Warrabilla's 2009's are instant classics, possessing tannins that while firm
and soft, have all the structure to be exceptionally long lived.
There are winemakers who attempt to mimic a style, others who reduce wine to
a commodity', then there are those whose creativity and energy take wine
somewhere entirely unique. This is Warrabilla.
Tasting Note:
Andrew Sutherland Smith has weaved his wine making magic to produce a
classic Warrabilla ?Hippo in a Tutu?. Unusual from start to finish, the oak
regime for this year's Parola?s Durif is worth noting: 100% new AP Johns
Puncheons, the Rolls Royce of American oak, and the benchmark for top fight
South Australian Shiraz styles. Why all new oak? "Because big wines just eat
up oak" explains Andrew, "in fact, you hardly know it's there, even though
they've had so much that in a lesser bodied red you'd be complaining about
spitting splinters". Second is this Durif's impenetrable colour - probably
the deepest and darkest we've ever poured. It is a totally opaque, inky
black with a black heart and black purple hue displaying a super saturated
paint like cling that stains the sides of the glass and has to be seen to be
believed.
The nose offers perfumed aromas of morello cherry, dark chocolate,
liquorice, vanilla and spice ? a wonderful sniff of terrifc intensity.
Monumental in concentration, power and structure, the palate is liquid
dynamite. No doubt it will be too much for some wine lovers to handle.
Morello cherry, liquorice, dark chocolate and blackberry favours completely
swamp the mouth and are followed by vanilla and black plum. Firm dry tannin
structure. Impeccable balance. Exceptionally long aftertaste of liquorice,
black morello cherry, black plum, vanilla and spice. We suggest cellaring
this amazing wine 5-8 years, however Andrew informs us of an experience with
a fifty year old Durif from Burgoynes in Rutherglen that tasted like it was
fve years old. It was an epiphany that turned him into a Durifphile.
Cellar 5-8 years (2015-2018)
Alc 18.0%").
...Wayne
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|