New twists on Australian wine classics
Decanter editorial and tasting team members recommend some of the latest takes on classic Australian varietal wines, plus a couple of examples of more unusual projects in well-known producer regions.
Australia still makes plenty of bold, oak-driven Chardonnay and super-ripe, jammy Shiraz, but it’s no secret that the country is becoming known for a greater breadth of regions and styles.
That doesn’t mean, though, that everything is entirely new.
Below, you’ll find some new twists on familiar varietals wines, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Semillon and Chardonnay.
Plus, there are a couple of more unusual wines from well-known producer regions, such as Roussanne from McLaren Vale and a white ‘field blend’ from Riverland, an area historically known for large-scale production or value wine but now also home to a growing number of small-batch labels.
All the reviews below are hot off the press from recent tastings, including last week’s ‘Australia Day’ annual tasting hosted by Wine Australia.
Some are so new that they aren’t even available yet, but keep your eyes peeled as you won’t want to miss out.
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The new face of Australian Chardonnay
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Ashton Hills Vineyard, Estate Pinot Noir, Sacramento Valley, Clarksburg, South Australia, Australia, 2016
94
Stephen George is one of Australia's most detail-driven winemakers, who also makes wines for cult winery Wendouree in the Clare Valley. His three hectare dry-farmed Ashton Hills 'garden' vineyard lies at a height of 570m in the Piccadilly Valley, and is home to Australia's oldest Pinot Noir vines, planted in 1982. Ashton Hills was bought by McLaren Vale's Wirra Wirra in 2015, but George still has a hand in both viticulture and winemaking. Not for nothing are his Pinots known as the 'Burgundies of the Adelaide Hills': this wine, from four clones, is basket pressed and wild-yeast fermented before spending time in 20% new oak barrels and neutral hogsheads. It has amazing purity of rich fruit, showing aromas and flavours of ripe cherry and strawberry, exotic spices and autumn leaves. It's savoury and silky with firm structure and bright acidity. Superb!
2016
Ashton Hills VineyardSacramento Valley
The Story, R Lane Vintners Westgate Vineyard Shiraz, Grampians, Victoria, Australia, 2015
95
Grampians Shiraz dances differently here than anywhere else in Australia. Sultry, mineral, tart, spicy, plummy and stemmy; this is very accomplished.
2015
The StoryGrampians
d'Arenberg, Money Spider Roussanne, McLaren Vale, South Australia, Australia, 2017
91
Juicy, textural cantaloupe, papaya and apricot fruit on the nose and palate with vibrant, lingering lime acidity. Perfect match for sea bass ceviche with mango salsa. The Roussanne grapes see light skin contact and only free-run juice is used, with no oak or malolactic fermentation to preserve the fruit purity. Winemaker Chester Osborn describes it as 'Hunter Valley Semillon with more flavour' and recommends cellaring it up to a decade. The first vintage from South Australia's first Roussanne vines was in 2000, and the small 1.5 tonne crop of grapes had several hundred money spiders on them. Osborn was told they were a good luck charm and not to kill them by making the wine, but he did. Was it a coincidence that the wine was ruined by accidental over acidification? In 2001 the spiders had moved out of the vineyard and Osborn named the new wine after them.
2017
d'ArenbergMcLaren Vale
Payten & Jones, Major Kong Syrah, Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia, 2015
93
Troy Jones will give you a long story about Panamanian howler monkeys and their ability to select only the perfectly ripe grapes from a vineyard as the inspiration for this wine's name. He and old school mate Behn Payten (and Behn's dad Peter) are the P&Js of this wine operation, and their wines are as irreverent as they seem to be. This is a 50% whole-bunch, 50% whole-berry, cool climate Syrah that the guys describe as 'raw, real and intense', made in a lighter, more quaffable style than many Aussie Shirazes, but still with that peppery spice and savoury black fruit varietal character. Bottled unfined and unfiltered, it is pure, vital and original.
2015
Payten & JonesYarra Valley
David Franz, Long Gully Road Ancient Vine Semillon, Barossa Valley, South Australia, Australia, 2015
92
For David Franz (son of iconic winemaker Peter Lehmann), a summer evening without a cool glass of Semillon is as bad as breakfast without Vegemite. When it’s this good, it makes sense. Ancient vines and shrewd winemaking give a subtle, brooding style that unfurls on the palate with vibrant, spicy, limey intensity. Tremendous.
2015
David FranzBarossa Valley
Ministry Of Clouds, Chardonnay, Tasmania, Australia, 2016
90
Lightly toasted with spice and delicate flowers notes on the nose. Lovely ripeness, an expansive texture and gentle acidity combine well on the palate to give a robust yet balanced mouthfeel. Stone fruit carries impressively long into the finish.
2016
Ministry Of Clouds
Antiquarian, Rare Field White, Riverland, South Australia, Australia, 2015
92
The Riverland is not normally a place you'd expect such quality, but this is a real find and worth seeking out – though just 200 cases were made. Matthew Jukes has compared it to a white blend from Swartland in South Africa, or a Jurançon Sec, and it's easy to see why. It has a weighty, structured palate of creamy tropical and stone fruit, toasty spices and warm meadow herbs. From old vines of 40 to 60 years old, each variety was picked on the same day and then co-fermented with wild yeasts and aged in seasoned French oak. This has a lovely texture, with concentration and fresh acidity. A complex, unique and delicious blend of Muscadelle, Chenin Blanc, Colombard and Semillon.
2015
AntiquarianRiverland
Teusner, The Gentleman Cabernet Sauvignon, Eden Valley, South Australia, Australia, 2015
91
The fruit for this wine is grown at around 400m in High Eden - one of the highest points in Barossa, where lean soils keep the yields low and the fruit concentrated. This is a cracker of a wine; it's smooth, dark and velvety with perfumed crushed blackberry and blackcurrant fruit, full of fruit but not at all tiring. It's a lithe, cool climate incarnation of Barossa Shiraz.
2015
TeusnerEden Valley
