[wine] Australia at Bobino

Greetings, This week, wines from Australia at Bobino 6:30 on Thursday. Sparkling/white/ringer/dessert wines always welcome. Bobino 222 E. Henne 612-623-3301 Note that the street meters are no longer "Free after 6:00". Rates vary. The lot off the street allows for 4 hr parking vs just 2 on the street. Enter on University just S(SE?) of Hennepin. Who: (mostly guesses) Wine Pro Bob Wine Pro Lori Bill Jim Nicolai Karin Brian Other events. Next week, 7/14, Syrah at Auriga 7/21. Zin and Ribs at Bob's place. Make or buy something interesting and bring it to Bob's party room. Cheers, Jim July 23, 2003 A Rhone Grape Finds Glory in Australia By FRANK J. PRIAL THEY make good chardonnay in Australia, and the cabernet can be outstanding, as well. There is excellent grenache to be found, and some attractive sauvignon blanc. But when shiraz is mentioned, all the others fade away. Shiraz is Australia's most popular wine, with 50,000 acres of it planted from the Hunter Valley in the east to the Margaret River in the west. So popular was the grape in Australia that it was taken for granted. And when cabernet and merlot began to succeed there, some experts predicted its eventual demise. Then, in the late 1980's, thanks in part to Californian winemakers, the world was turned on to rich, beefy, Rhone-style wines. Overnight, it seemed, Australia was back in the shiraz business. All syrah and syrah-based wines are inevitably compared with the great red wines of the northern Rhone Valley in France where, since time immemorial, the syrah grape has been king. And the best Rhone wine made from syrah has long been Hermitage. Intense, muscular, deeply colored and long lived, it brooks no contenders for first place in its region. Only a few C�te R�ties even dare to compete. Australia's greatest wine, too, is a syrah, or as the Australians prefer to call it, shiraz. For me, shiraz, when it is good, is all about richness, power and harmony. For another Australian wine lover, Will Ford, who is the owner of Eight Mile Creek, an Australian restaurant in NoLIta, shiraz "is all about big, bold fruit." Late one recent morning, Mr. Ford joined the Dining section's tasting panel, Eric Asimov, Amanda Hesser and me, for a sampling of 25 Australian shirazes. And we all developed a soft spot for these hearty reds. Except for Ms. Hesser. She said she already had one. "It's easy to see why they're so appealing," Mr. Asimov said. "Most of them are well made, fruity and straightforward, with lots of oak." Ms. Hesser pointed out "that the woods work well here with the fresh fruit, unlike what you find with many California wines." Mr. Ford called them "nice drinking wines, with good range." I was impressed that there were very few poor wines in the tasting; even the lighter ones were nicely balanced. A great syrah comes from Penfolds, one of the country's oldest wineries, in the suburbs of Adelaide in South Australia. It is known simply as Grange. Syrah first came to Australia in 1832 but Grange was created in the 1950's by the country's first star winemaker, Max Schubert, at Penfolds. The wine was originally known as Grange Hermitage. Selected fruit, small oak barrels and three or four year's aging before bottling, all of it new to Australia, achieved what had been achieved in France: a great red wine. Even so, it took Australians almost 10 years to recognize what they had. From around 1960, Grange was recognized internationally as Australia's finest wine, and the public reacted predictably . the wine has been a prized rarity ever since. Recent vintages have sold new for more than $200 a bottle. Classic shiraz smells of spices, smoke, eucalyptus and tar; experienced tasters like to find in it flavors of spices, dark fruit, dried fruits, cassis and the vanilla flavors of new oak. The best Australian shiraz is a dense, intense, mouth-filling wine that can be difficult to drink when young but will ably repay extra years of cellaring. So it was with a certain degree of humility, along with curiosity, that we approached a modest collection of Australian shirazes to see what we could find . and learn. Most were from recent vintages. The oldest was a 1995. Prices ranged from $6 to $60; about 10 were $20 or less. with the average price about $27.50. One of the two $60 wines, a 1999 Trevor Jones Wild Witch Reserve, and the $6 wine, a Yellow Tail Shiraz that sells very well in the United States, both narrowly failed to make our top 10. The other $60 bottle, a Katnook Estate Prodigy, from Coonawarra, tied for fourth with two and a half stars. Consensus was rare in this tasting but everyone agreed that a very young wine, a 2002 from Southeast Australia with the bizarre name Woop Woop, was our favorite. We gave it three stars. And at $12, it was also our choice for best value. We found it to be a classic shiraz with beautiful balance and great structure. Two other wines, both from McLaren Vale, garnered three stars: a 2001 Mitolo, at $40, and a 2001 Yangarra Park, at $10. We included one Penfolds in our tasting, the Bin 28, and it made our top 10; it was one of five shirazes with two and a half stars. The four other wines at two and a half stars, a signal achievement with this consistently stingy panel, were: a 2000 Heritage Road, Noble Road Vineyard, from Southeast Australia; a 2001 from Clarendon Hills's Liandra Vineyard; a 2001 Rosemount Estate Diamond, also from Southeast Australia; and the 1998 Katnook Estate. The Heritage Road and Rosemount Estate wines were exceptional bargains at $9 each; the Clarendon Hills wine was $46 and the Bin 28 $26. The Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale produce practically all of Australia's great shiraz, which doesn't stop growers in every wine region on the continent from trying their hands at making the wine. The result is a great sea of mediocre shiraz, little of which, fortunately, makes it way to this country. There is so much shiraz in Australia that some of it is used in blends with cabernet and occasionally merlot. Most of the wines we tasted were 100 percent shiraz. However, a few followed the practice in the C�te R�tie region of France of blending in some white viognier, rarely more than 7 or 8 percent, to the wine to soften its powerful attack. BEST VALUE: Woop Woop Southeast Australia 2002 $12 *** Consensus was rare in this tasting, but everybody liked this wine. Classic shiraz with beautiful balance and great structure, Frank J. Prial said. Eric Asimov called it big, clean and smooth with distinctive syrah flavors. Amanda Hesser found a lot of bandwidth, good tannins and lots going on. Will Ford liked the balance and powerful fruitiness. Mitolo McLaren Vale G.A.M. 2001 $40 *** Big and spicy, Ford said, with "nose up" fruit and soft tannins. Prial called it a big wine with good fruit. Brooding at first, Hesser said, then it turned mellow. Asimov called it balanced, but with little syrah character. Yangarra Park McLaren Vale 2001 $10 *** Great intensity, creamy and lush, Hesser said. Ford liked the smoothness and balance, and detected eucalyptus aromas. Prial called it long and powerful with good fruit and a tarry taste. But Asimov felt it was too oaky. Heritage Road Southeast Australia Noble Road Vineyard 2000 $9 ** 1/2 Vivid, Hesser said, with lots of spice, watermelon and licorice flavors. Prial liked the balance, the body and a tarry, smoky flavor. Ford found it musty but pleasant with a good finish. Asimov just found it musty. Clarendon Hills Syrah Liandra Vineyard 2001 $46 ** 1/2 Bright ripe fruit with herb and olive flavors and well-integrated oak, Asimov said. Ford detected soft fruit, chocolate flavors and a long finish. Prial called it rich and spicy. Hesser found it somewhat bitter. Rosemount Estate Diamond Southeast Australia 2001 $9 ** 1/2 Pleasant to drink, Hesser said, with dense berry and eucalyptus flavors. Ford called it a meaty wine, good for food and with a good finish. Simple but fresh, Asimov said. Prial found it nicely balanced with a smooth finish. Penfolds Bin 28 South Australia Kalimna Vineyard 2000 $26 ** 1/2 Typical shiraz, Ford said, with good balance, though very tannic. Asimov liked the syrah character, with spice and olive aromas. Hesser found it well made with a rustic quality that she liked. Prial called it balanced and dry. Katnook Estate Coonawarra Prodigy 1998 $60 ** 1/2 Plenty of fruit to stand up to the considerable oak, Asimov said. Ford found a nice bite to the wine. Prial and Hesser questioned whether the oak was too dominant. Prial liked the fruit, Hesser the finish. Lindemans Bin 50 Southeast Australia 2002 $7 ** Prial liked its freshness. Asimov found the fruit piercing. Full body but streamlined, Hesser said. Ford expressed uncertainty that it was shiraz. Torbreck Barossa Valley Woodcutters Red 2001 $20 ** Prial found it complex and unusual and predicted an interesting future. Fruity, straightforward, Asimov said. Funky but approachable, Ford said. Hesser smelled rotting apricots . which she liked. -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *