Wine Australia – What’s in a Name?

The meaning of Wine Australia has morphed once again. When I was chairman of Wine Australia from 1998-2004 it referred to the biennial all-industry promotional event. Thereafter it became the name of the Australian Wine & Brandy Corporation overseas activities. Now it has been adopted as the name of the Corporation itself. A+ Australian Wine is to become the bi-line for the overseas and domestic promotional work by Wine Australia. The A+ business to one side, it makes life a whole lot simpler.

Is the rain ever going to stop?

I've been in Vietnam and Cambodia for the past two weeks, and emptied an incredible amount of water out of the rain gauge on my return, and in the two days since. But on the way to the airport for my departure I stopped to take three photographs from the right side of the Melba Highway leading towards Yering Station and Chateau Yering. Stringybark Creek is normally a tiny trickle at best, but not that day.

All grapegrowers across Southeast Australia are having to be extremely vigilant about the development of downy mildew (unsightly but not terminal) and powdery mildew (far more damaging as it actually attacks the grapes rather than the leaves). Nonetheless, hopes are high for a top quality vintage taking place in the usual March/April period.

NZ Riesling ChallengeNew Zealand has recently come up with an interesting competition for Riesling. Called the NZ Riesling Challenge, it involved 12

New Zealand has recently come up with an interesting competition for Riesling. Called the NZ Riesling Challenge, it involved 12 winemakers pre-selected to each make a riesling using grapes picked from the same vineyard at the same time in 2010. The initiative was that of Mud House Wines, which provided the four tonnes of hand-picked grapes to each winemaker. They were encouraged to use whatever method they considered most appropriate, and the winner was Matt Donaldson of the Pegasus Bay winery. He commented, ‘The fruit was in perfect condition but picked a little earlier than we do for our Pegasus Bay Riesling, so we thought we would have a little experimental fun and froze the bunches before gently pressing. This raised the degree Brix from 22 to 25. Fermentation was clean and cool and stopped according to taste to give a luscious classic style.’

The wines were judged by the participating winemakers under the direction of Chairman of Judges, Bob Campbell MW. All of the wines have now been bottled, and 2000 cases containing one bottle of each of the 12 wines made will be available for public purchase through the participating wineries, the Mud House Wine Group, and a dedicated NZ Riesling Challenge website. For more information on the background of Mud House Wine and its director, Neil Charles-Jones, contact Mark Devlin, mark@impactpr.co.nz.

For the record, second place went to Matt Dicey of Mt Difficulty Wines and third place to Mike Brown from Golden Hills Estates.

Orange

The Orange wine region has two advantages: it has consistently produced a series of very good wines in recent years, and has an active PR business supporting it (David Cumming of Define Wine, david@definewine.com.au).

In a recent release he points out that its 1500 hectares of vines represents less than 1% of the national total. Its two most successful varieties, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, respectively represent 0.7% and 1.6% of the national plantings. Taste Orange Executive Office Kim Currie is understandably very pleased with the track record of Orange in the 2010 calendar year (coming, as it did, on the back of prior years with similar success). Five wines were in the Top 40 of the 2010 New South Wales Wine Awards, two of those respectively winning trophies for Best Young Sauvignon Blanc and Best Young Red Blend (with a cabernet merlot).

Further trophies at the 2010 New South Wales Small Winemakers Wine Show followed for Best Sauvignon Blanc; trophy for Best Pinot Gris at the 2010 Cowra Wine Show; trophy for Other White Varieties (Pinot Gris) at the 2010 Winewise Small Vignerons Awards; trophies for Best Shiraz Award and Best Red Wine Award at the Shanghai International Wine Challenge 2010; two wines ranked equal fifth with gold medals at the 2010 Great Australian Shiraz Challenge; and a gold medal for a Pinot Noir at the 2010 New Zealand International Wine Show.

A region for all seasons, it would seem.

Christmas Gift Suggestions

Collecting great wine labels
There are two frustrations that can beset those who want to keep the label of a particularly memorable wine they have tasted. If it’s self-adhesive, it is likely to defy all attempts to detach it from the glass bottle. If you are in a restaurant, you may not wish to take the bottle or bottles home with you, arousing amused glances from other diners. The L’Ivre d’Or is a system that I have seen used with total success in various Asian countries, and it is now being distributed on the Australian market for the first time. It involves a special plastic film which is applied to the label, and which detaches either the entire label or the printed surface of the label paper (particularly in the case of self-adhesives) and which is then transferred to a dedicated page in the smart mini album. There are 30 plastic films, and 30 double pages for the labels, with the labels on the right hand side of the open album, and a page for all sorts of notes that you might wish to make about the wine, who you drank it with, etc, etc on the facing page. It may sound complicated, but it is in fact easy, with very clear instructions on the method of use coming with the book. RRP $29.95; available through Primary Edge Promotions; email enquiries@primaryedgepromotions.com.au


Durand Corkscrew
The Durand Corkscrew is one of those inventions that make you wonder why no one thought of it before. Shortly put, it is a combined corkscrew and ah-so, and is amazingly effective at removing older and fragile corks. I had a firsthand demonstration with vintage port corks in bottles from 1963, ‘66 and ‘70, corks that would normally defeat the most skilled sommelier. It is a two-stage process, the first involving the insertion of a conventional corkscrew, the second bring the ah-so into play at the same time and on the same cork. Once the two components are locked in position, the cork is extracted using a simple twist and pull technique akin to that used where the only insertion is via the ah-so.


Clear ‘how-to-use’ instructions are included with the corkscrew pack.

The Australian distributor of the corkscrew is:

Grand Millesime Pty Ltd
Unit 6/40 Batman Street
West Melbourne VIC 3003
Ph (03) 9326 5737
Fax (03) 9326 6744

The retail prices is $149, post free for pre-Christmas orders, and MasterCard and Visa cards are accepted.

More information available here on their website: http://thedurand.com/


The future makers: Australian wines of the 21st century
There is a delightful ambiguity in the name of Max Allen’s new book, The future makers. Are they the makers in the future, or the makers of the future? You should expect no less from someone who is a writer first and foremost, his inspiration coming form his mind; wine is more important in the abstract, the nuts and bolts of its physical creation in the winery of less interest.

He shares with Campbell Mattinson the ability to capture the reader with a few words, and hold it for page after page, chapter after chapter. The originality of his thought means even the most knowledgeable oenophile will find much to enjoy; at the other end of the spectrum, the occasional or social quaffer will never find themselves lost in technicalities.

It is a great Christmas gift for someone close to you, simply because you will be around to make off with it immediately after your friend has finished reading it.

This handsomely designed, colourful 440 pp hardback book is published by Hardie Grant with an RRP of $59.95. Available here and at all good bookstores.

Once in a lifetime trip

Somewhere in the middle of extensive PR blurb I came across this jewel:

‘At the moment, Brancott Estate is running a fantastic competition, giving one lucky winner the chance to win an exciting once-in-a-lifetime trip to New Zealand for two which will included a visit to the Brancott Vineyard, the chance to experience a dolphin encounter and a visit to the beautiful Marlborough Sounds. As part of the competition there are also 100 cases of the very first Brancott Estate to give out.’

Yes, I know, second prize is two weeks.

Rose Revolution

The momentum of the Rose Revolution is, it seems, gaining strength. Over 70 wineries are on board, with 700 followers on twitter and 700 on facebook.

The Revolution architects are inviting all and sundry to “Join Miss Pearls @ Madame Brussels on the terrace on Rose Day 30 November, from 6pm with the official tweet up beginning at 7pm. Flights of delicious savoury rose available all night. Official tweet flight $25 for 6 sexy savoury dry roses or 2 flights for $45. Madame Brussels / Level 3, 59-63 Bourke St, Melbourne, Victoria (03) 9662 2775. To book you and your friends a table phone Jill on 0418 590 196.”