Tuesday Night Tasting Events: June 28^th
Regional Tour Of Australia

The vast island/continent that is the land down under has been churning out exceptional wines for decades and they are truly at the forefront of establishing their identity in style and flavor, as well as embracing the traditions of the past with the technology of the future. Our tour of the night was a regional venture centered in and around the wine-centric South-Australia State, from Victoria to Adelaide and into the hot Barossa Valley.

On a tangent that always gains attention, all but a handful of the wines we opened were enclosed via the Stelvin screwtop, an aspect that has individuals on both sides of the wine bar ready to provide input and perspective. Most of us are aware that the use of traditional corks has its ups and downs, with one of the most negative aspects being the infection of the cork, subsequently the wine, with a mold known as TCA (2,4,6 Trichloroanisole), that musty-cardboard gross stuff. With the onset of screwtopped wines that factor is greatly reduced (wineries can still be infected, rare) but we gain an ease of opening the wine and some proponents of this closure method note that the wines, if worthy of aging, can last just as long as with traditional cork. The verdict is still out, but I’m not afraid to be selected as part of the jury.

Our best of show was a typical breeze through the best white and red wines of the evening, which for many was a difficult choice given the grandeur of each and every wine tasted. In the end the best white wine of the evening was a spectacular blend of 70% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Semillon and 10% Chardonnay, the 2003 Carlei Estate Tre Bianchi Cardinia Ranges ($12.50) from Victoria—paired perfectly with our in-house chef’s tomato curry on crustini. The creaminess of the aioli and the spice of the curry were instantly cooled on the palate by the citrus, grass and vibrant acidity of the wine.

In the red world of things our audience chose one of the signature grapes of Australia from gnarly old vines that thankfully have been saved from the shorter term trends of wines that are en vogue and those that become passé. The 2003 Tir Na N’og Grenache Old Vines ($25) from the McLaren Vale in South Australia arose as the champ and we paired it with duck margret with gingered carrots. Tir Na N’og is Gaelic for ‘land of the youth’ and despite the old vine nature of the grapes involved this is certainly a wine that will pep you up (if hovers around 16% alcohol by volume), yet many New World wines share a similar distinction but often lack the character and finesse that this wine does.

Lastly, cheap (read: VALUE) wines made in massive quantities with cute animal pictures adorning the bottle have also come into play in a huge way for Australian exporters. You can find these wines just about anywhere now, very much akin to some of those classic jug wines that bear names like Rossi and the like.

Wine drinkers who have fallen in love with some of the Australian classics, like Grange and Henschke, have found it more and more difficult to come across similar wines that hit the export markets and meet the same level of quality, let alone the price points. Success can come in a multitude of ways and it will be up to the grape growers, winemakers and marketing specialist to remind people that Australian wine is multi-faceted and capable of the achievements that places like Burgundy, Napa Valley and Tuscany have enjoyed for so many decades, and also continue to make the grade.