Riposte By Tim Knappstein 2014 "The Dagger" Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir

"En garde!"

I can't fence, (either with a blade, or repairing that piece of timber between my house and my neighbours).  However I do like it when people refuse to be bound by expectations and respond with a sharp wit. No pun intended....(actually there is!)

Tim Knappstein created the label Riposte, (meaning among other things, a counterstroke in fencing), in response to selling his wine brand to the giant international beverage company Lion Nathan. No doubt there were some restrictions on him trading in the w

ine industry afterwards, especially when it came to how he used his name on a wine label. Such are the ways of big business, and Tim has replied with a sense of mirth and style.

The fruit for this wine is all Adelaide hills, which produces some lovely cool climate Pinot Noir characters, but usually for a lot more money than the Knappsteins are asking. The oak is restrained, which helps keep the wine fruit-driven, with minimal tannins, whilst also keeping the cost down. This is why its so affordable to those of us who can't fence. Clever stuff Mr Knappstein.

Without a fencing mask upon your face, it's easy to stick your nose in the glass and smell all those lovely mixture of dried fruits and spice notes. This is a soft Pinot Noir with juicy Raspberry, Bloodplum, and Cherry flavours. There are some herb and vegetal characters with a touch of nutmeg. It has some nice soft tannins due to time spent in older French oak, and it finishes with some gentle acidity. The fruit has not been whole-bunch pressed which has minimised the stalky characters present in some Pinot Noir. You either love or hate that character. I enjoyed them not being present in this wine.  Overall, this is a wine to truly saber, sorry, I meant savour.

For 2014 vintage, I recommend drink while young and vibrant, (till 2018), with some ripe Brie. I paid $20 and thought it was a bargain.

Time to go fix the fence!

Cave De Lugny 2012 Macon-Villages Chardonnay

"Bargain Basement Burgundy Blanc"

Burgundy offers some of the greatest examples of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on the planet, and the prices often asked reflects that, and keeps many of their wines firmly out of the grasp of Monsieur and Madame Average.

This wine is a simple but honest example of a Chardonnay from Macon-Villages, a sub region of Burgundy, (Bourgogne), in France. The price tag is below the radar of the Bourgousie - thankfully.

A blend of Chardonnay from different vineyards throughout Macon, it smacks of typical French minerality.  The colour was pale yellow, indicating subtle use of French oak.  The nose was restrained with suggestions of delicate orange blossom and citrus notes.  There were nice crisp fruit flavours of mandarin, grapefruit, honeysuckle and orange peel that lingered on the palate. Due to the subtle use of French oak, I recommend keeping the dish simple to match the subtle flavours of the wine. We chose to pair it with steamed fish and asparagus, which worked well.

If you have any of this vintage, drink now or keep up to three years. If you don't, then you could probably be picking up a later vintage which, as far as I am aware, is only available from Vintage Cellars, across Australia. I paid $14 for my 2012 vintage.   

Leconfield 2009 Coonawarra Cabernet Merlot vs Richard Hamilton 2006 McLaren Vale Grenache Shiraz

"The Lamb Challenge"

Leconfield 2009 Coonawarra Cabernet Merlot vs Richard Hamilton 2006 McLaren Vale Grenache Shiraz

Cruising the local supermarket on a Saturday afternoon we saw that lamb cutlets were on special. Lamb is my weakness and the George Foreman should never come near a lamb cutlet, no matter what the notches on my belt may say.

Two wines were debated on, and in the end it was like Thunder dome. Two may enter, only one can leave. Oddly enough both wines were made by the same stable, Leconfield. One wine comes from their Coonawarra Vineyard, and the Other from their McLaren Vale vineyards. Both wines were decanted and awaited their face off in the Thunder dome.

The Richard Hamilton wine comes from dry grown vines planted in 1947. It is an 80/20 blend.

The colour was Brick Red. The nose was cherries, redcurrants, briar and cinnamon and made me think of Christmas pudding.

The palate had cherries, smoked meat, redcurrants, raspberry, licorice, allspice and menthol. The length was good, with great development. Drink for another 5 years.

The Leconfield is all Coonawarra fruit, also an 80/20 blend from vines planted in 1974.

The Colour was blood red. The nose was loaded with mint, eucalyptus, camphor, capsicum, cedar, roses and Lantana. Dare I say, it smells like winter, the warmth of a crackling fire near dark stained furniture.

The Palate was oozing mint,eucalyptus, green pepper, capsicum, orange peel, Turkish delight, menthol Irish moss, and fennel. This is a medium bodied elegant wine with good length. Drink for another 3-5 years.

Interestingly, both wines had flavours of mint or menthol which just screams "give me Lamb".

The wife chose The Richard Hamilton. I chose The Leconfield. However, as I drank most of her Richard Hamilton, I guess any choice is kind of a moot point.

At any rate, points were awarded and tallied, and the  winner is.....let's just leave it as a draw, after all... happy wife, happy life.

How was the lamb, you asked?  Well, the cutlets were marinated in olive oil with paprika, oregano, basil, and parsley. They were pan fried and served with some mashed potato and julienned carrots.  It was great!  Made even greater by two delicious wines as its travelling companions.

The current vintages;

The Richard Hamilton 2013 McLaren Vale is now 100% Grenache and sells for $45 at Cellar Door

The Leconfield 2012 Coonawarra Cabernet Merlot is $25 from Cellar Door

2010 WayWood Years 98 Nebbiolo

"The only Way is up..."

This funky label commemorates a significant point in the life of winemaker Andrew Wood rather than the vintage, which is 2010. 

Andrew, once a sommelier now a trained winemaker, marks years of significance with the "WayWood Years range". '98 marks the year he completed his Sommelier studies before deciding to study winemaking and move from Britain to his adopted home in Australia.

Andrew and his lovely wife Lisa operate a boutique McLaren Vale winemaking outfit concentrating on Italian styled wines that have tonnes of flavour without massive tannins. These are definitely food-friendly wines that will go with everything from pasta to a massive Angus fillet.

This wine style has its traditional home in the Piedmont region of Italy, but the fruit Andrew uses is from Blewitt Springs within the greater McLaren Vale region.

The WayWood philosophy is all about nurturing individual parcels of fruit to produce wines that truly express site, vintage and variety.  In order to produce wines reflecting their passion, this often means throwing the rulebook out the window in order to follow flavour.  This approach definitely works.    

The fruit for this wine spends 18 months in fine-grained new French oak, with a medium toast providing a subtle charred cedar character with a fine tannin structure. It then slumbered in bottle for a further twelve months before its release in the Spring of 2013.

The colour is inky, suggesting a heavier wine than this lovely medium bodied drop, that is full of flavour without being overwhelming. Aromas of fruitcake, raspberry and nutmeg.

The flavours are layered with aniseed, fruitcake, bramble, acetate, tar, roses, and nutmeg. There is big acid and big length and at 14.3% its fairly big alcohol for a Nebbiolo, especially while retaining balance. Drink this wine way into the next decade.

Enjoy with a nice spicy dish such as Fettuccinne Putanesca!

They only produced 100 dozen of this wine so if you want one, best get yourself into their cellar door. Whilst there, enjoy some of the fantastic food that Lisa puts together. This is a little bit of Italy in McLaren Vale. Delizioso!

$50 per bottle from Cellar Door or $250 for a 6 Pack.

Jim Barry 1998 Watervale Clare Valley Riesling

Old is Gold!

OK so the label is sort of yellow and gold. The wine colour is yellow-gold. However, what I'm really talking about is how it drinks...To paraphrase Bania from Seinfeld; "That's gold Jerry, gold!"

The 1998 vintage produced some of the best Riesling of the 90's, especially in Clare where Riesling is King.

Still under cork, and aged superbly. I'd like to take some credit for my patient and skillful maturing of this wine. After all, I bought it, I stored it, which means I basically did nothing. To quote Seinfeld again; "Its a show about nothing Jerry!" So obviously the Barry family did a lot more work on this than I did.

To start with, the fruit comes from the famous limestone soils of Watervale's Florita vineyard, which John Vickery used to make the famous award winning Leo Buring Rieslings of the 1970's. The Barry's set a record when they purchased this vineyard. It was the most expensive block in Clare to date, but the Barry's had to have it.

Hand picked fruit, cold soaked before crushing, in order to produce a delicate Riesling of great flavour, good acid and low alcohol at only 12.5%

Aromas: honey, kumquat, and quince.

Flavours: kumquat, persimmon, and apricot. Massively developed characters of preserved lemon, baked apple, and kerosene. There were obviously madierized characters from oxidation which added to the complexity of this ethereal wine. The length of this wine could be measure in light years, and it would easily age for another five years as well.

Had it with chicken and mushroom risotto and was in heaven.

Getting back to the price paid for the Florita Vineyard, you have to commend the good people at Jim Barry for their very generous pricing for this particular wine. They're in the Riesling game for the long haul, and are quite passionate about making this the iconic white wine variety it should be. James (Jim) Brazill Barry was the first qualified winemaker to work in the Clare valley. Unfortunately Jim has since passed away, leaving son Peter to run things, and his Brother Mark made the wine until he left to set up his own venture at Mad Bastard Wines, also in Clare Valley.

There is also a new generation of Barry boys making wine now, and I look forward to enjoying their wines long into the future. They also have their own label, Clos Clare, where they make small batches of very nice wines as well.

I paid $16 for it in 1999 when it was called the "Watervale Riesling from the Florita Vineyard". The Watervale Riesling has long since outgrown this single vineyard, and now comes from several of the Barry family vineyards across the district and is damn fine drinking at only $19.00.

"The Florita Vineyard" now is dedicated to the best Riesling the Barry's make, and the current 2013 vintage sells for a bargain at only $45.00. You can also purchase the 2007 directly from the Winery for only $50.00

"That's gold Jerry, Gold!"

Henschke 1992 Eden and Barossa Valley Keyneton Estate Shiraz Cabernet Malbec

"From The Garden of Eden"

It was Sunday afternoon and we decided to crank up some retro vinyl we had just purchased while the wife made her signature T-Bone steak with balsamic vegetables.  As everything was going retro, I decided we needed a wine to suit and went rummaging through the rack back to 1992.  Right there next to the DeLorean time machine, I found this little gem.    

This wine was made long before the good folks at Henschke bothered with putting much emphasis into the marketing aspects of bottle shape, design and weight.   However, as the saying goes, you should never judge a book by its cover.  The bottle may not be heavyweight premium glass, but what’s inside is hot stuff!

This is a premium blend consisting of 70% Shiraz, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Malbec, all from low-yielding, ungrafted dry grown vines in The Eden and Barossa Valleys.

At first glance, this wine was really showing its age. The colour was edging towards brown due to some twenty three years since vintage. 

And then.... Welcome to the Nose! This is incredibly developed, with layer upon layer, as Sara Lee used to say. It has loads of fruit; starting with raisins and currants, fruit compote, leading into forest floor, rhubarb, crushed leaves, and ginger snaps.

The palate is deep. There is a whole bowl-full of dried fruit, raisins, currants, licorice, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, white pepper, cardamom, and fennel.

It has a very developed soft palate, with soft tannins, but with persistent length, and it had thrown a very fine, but obvious crust.

Ultimately it is fleshy like a Central Otago Pinot Noir. In other words, it still tastes young and vibrant yet with massive flavours.

Henschke had already won three gold medals with this wine when purchased in 1994, showing some strength at a young age and ready for a long journey ahead.

The wine was at its peak and only just starting decline. If I had more of them, I would drink one every month until they were all gone, and be a very happy man. 

Price when purchased - $22. Current release sells for $50. These days it’s called the “Keyneton Euphonium”, (in tribute to a large brass wind instrument, which featured in the family band founded in 1888).

Current vintage has replaced the Malbec with Merlot and Cabernet Franc and the Henschkes say drink for 20 plus years. I have to say that the price of this wine has only increased by less than $1.50 per year to the current vintage price. There are many big name wines that have increased by more than twice this amount for wines of a similar class.

This is a great example of pricing restraint from one of Australia’s oldest winemaking families.