uncorked No Comments October 25th, 2010 General

Moppity in the Hilltops NSW: Great area and great wines

Jason Brown from Moppity Vineyards in the Young area came by the other day. He has made a huge impression on the respect for this region by wine drinkers.

The family business has been wine retailing in Canberra but this was still a pioneer operation by Jason and Alicia. This couple’s main focus was to identify and establish a super-premium brand with the equivalent quality vineyard sited in a highly-regarded Australian region. He had the Eden Valley, Clare or Margaret River in mind.

It did not have to be a stones throw from Canberra.

Jason had been drawn to the hilltops region by McWilliams winemaker Martin Cooper who was obviously seeing the Barwang grapes and other regional fruit come through the company crushers. That excited Martin and his enthusiasm for the capability of high end red wine production was blowing off on other local Hilltops people.

The Brown’s original asset was a vineyard planted in 1973 by pioneer Pat Wickham; there was 4 hectares of shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, riesling and semillon plus more chardonnay and riesling planted in ’80s.

Moppity Park was the original property name, sited in the Parish of Moppity, with an address of Moppity Road. It sold in the mid-90s to a consortium with links to Hardys (then an Australian owned company), where it had grown to 70 hectares; the same varieties had been bulked up plus merlot planted.

“There was never enough water infrastructure and water was in short supply. an area short on rain, the 150 ML dam leaked, losing 2/3 rds of its water,” said Jason.

The property was in receivership and purchased as a distressed asset in 2002, eventually settled by the Browns in 2004.

So Moppity became a lifestyle in the making, though a tough one, as this branch of the Brown family was less interested in the retail of wine and set out to distribute their own brands throughout Australia. Hence my encounter in Brisbane.

“Here we had the potential to be over-extended; I wanted a great vineyard and I wanted great wines. Hilltops had the potential and this Moppity property was going to auction in 2002, yet it looked unaffordable even though we were familiar now with the region,” he said.

“It was past my initial intention of a hobby farm; there was a tender to make. I found out that Helm Wines had bought grapes from the old shiraz vines and had been very happy with the result.

“The best of the region had yet to come, so we were in on the ground floor, we had found a vineyard. My wife Alicia had grown up in Young, 12km away.

Well the recognition did come afterwards when grapes from this vineyard contributed to the 2009 Jimmy Watson trophy shiraz which was made in Canberra; a first for a long time that New South Wales-grown grapes had figured in this Melbourne award. Jason’s hunch was correct, and the focus on the Hilltops has stayed with many winedrinkers.

“We made a cheeky offer which took six months to negotiate, we then put a lot into the property to have it restored from the run down condition. We intended to make a small vintage and sell the rest.

“The Cooper Coffman business, Eden Road in Canberra, took all our fruit in 2007, with over-the-top pricing at $2500 per tonne when at the $800 mark normally, 2008 started a six year contract taking up to 3500 tonnes if available. When that business folded in 2008 I took over the bulk wines with a potential 30,000 cases a year, and I placed 25,000 dozen in the first year.”

He crushed 450 tonnes in 2009, then 500 in 2010, adding some pinot noir and chardonnay from Tumburumba.

The entry wine group is Lock and Key which has great sales as the escape route for Moppity. There is 2010 Chardonnay Pinot Noir (charmat), Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, 2008 Chardonnay, then 2009 Rose, Shiraz, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, all USD 14.

I tried the 2010 Riesling, 94, 11.5%, peachy; lemon, it develops early in the mouth, has citrus, long acidity, dry, 3.5 g. Then 2009 Shiraz 95, 14%, has a Winewise trophy and two golds, is nose rich and aromatic; has weighty smells, funky; yet low oak and warming flavours, contains a dab of viognier

There is an estate range of the same wine varieties, with sauvignon blanc from Orange and chardonnay from Tumburumba, Rose from shiraz, all USD 23.

Moppity Vineyards 2009 Estate Shiraz USD 23, 14%, has nose concentration, more age on nose than the Lock and Key Shiraz, it’s made mainly in puncheon (larger barrels), 25% is new barrel, the rest being 2,3 and 5 year-old barriques; it has up front fruit sweetness and tangy black fruit flavours, there have been four recent gold medals so the shiraz is doing well.

The Estate 2010 riesling is more serious than the Lock and Key wine; bone dry, has length as a small part was aged on solids in old barrel to impart textural complexity. “For us, thank goodness riesling sells, we have 6 ha of it,” said Jason

The final tier is Reserve 2008; USD 55; 14.5%, quite a hefty wine. It has 2.5% viognier, 10% whole bunches in the ferment; cold soaked for two weeks before ferment, cool ferment at production, all that saying a lot of work was done on the wine to extract the best character.

This wine lifts the profile of the Hilltops region. It’s had a trophy at the Sydney International as best medium bodied red; the winemaking has given it more texture than normal, diversity of flavour, length, and a jubey, cool flavour which persists. It’s blended from 10 different wines, part being the 37-year-old vines.

The follow-on wine, 2009, has four golds in New Zealand and the Sydney International, made the NSW Top 40 in 2010 and made best in class Winewise 2010. There is much to look forward to drink.

To Moppity Vineyards www.moppity.com.au

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uncorked No Comments October 20th, 2010 Wine Review

Gaja: at the peak of Barbaresco, nebbiolo, greatest Langhe reds, chardonnay too

There was a feeling of anticipation visiting Angelo Gaja in his home hill town of Barbaresco. Having admired his wines for over 30 years meant the final day. After all he is known as Mr Piedmont and Mr Barbaresco or this is how I would imagine it to be.

The company had also celebrated 150 years of establishment last year, yet the past three decades have really pasted the word GAJA on the foreheads of Italian wine lovers.

Harvest had just finished; no more nebbiolo for 2010, just long days of skin contact on the fermenting grapes and skins, malo-lactics and transfer to barrels underground (where it is now warmer) for the 2-3 year process to bottle.

Reflections of the 2010 vintage are positive. Except for the 30 percent loss of grapes from hail in June in Serrulunga vineyards, the crops have weathered the season well.

Some rains certainly fell during the ripening stages, but good grapes have resulted and the overall general result today is one of very good wine but not as concentrated as the highly pointed vintages of recent years. That was the impression Angelo Gaja gave me.

It seemed a bit surreal to talk about 2010 after 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 all so good, 2008 also outstanding, and 2009 not far behind. A stellar run for Piemonte, in part attributed to climate fluctuation.

During my drives around vineyards in the Barbaresco area most vineyards had harvested by the end of the first week of October; some vineyards were still exposing their fruit, but some light rain, the usual fog and lowering day temperatures curtailed any further delays.

“We first started to get an inkling about climate change with the 1997 harvest. There were four or five very hot days. By 2003 we had 10 very hot days during the harvest. Now by 2010 this confirms that we have to deal with this permanent change and understand what leads to concentration in our grapes. Vines dry grown can be both hungry and angry in these conditions,” Angelo explains.

He continues by describing the nebbiolo vine growing in Piemonte and the comparisons made with New World vineyards where applied irrigation becomes automatic.

“Water can have its problems, it’s important to be available. In 2010 we had good harmony, with grape colour well-formed, wines not highly concentrated but in balance. For over 200 years we have had the clay maintain the water supply in our soils, usual rain is 650-800 mm per year. In 2003 that fell to under 400 mm. With the slope of the hills the excess water runs off.” One by-product of global warming is a change in Gaja blends of nebbiolo to now include barbera, the grape carrying higher acidity than “neb”. The three single vineyard wines in Barbaresco now carry five percent barbera. In the La Morra, in the low part of the hill, in the Conteisa vineyard eight percent is used, and at Sperss high on the hill, six percent is blended.

I tasted three wines; one an international chardonnay, one Barbaresco, one Barolo.

Gaja Rossj Bass 2009 Langhe DOC is Chardonnay (90), USD 70, 14.5%, a monster chardonnay to smell from the charry oak intensity, though pale coloured, yet on palate great minerality and slatey acidity, a wine style to stand up to some time in bottle.

Gaja Barbaresco 2007, DOCG is Nebbiolo (93), USD 160,14%, really fine wine, usual cherry, brick colour, some flowers though not much, more an expression of aromatic nebbiolo, a background of oak cedar, then to the important part, the palate. This wine has great palate freshness for drinking now, long, fine tannins, fine acid and flavour sweetness. Drink now until 2012 as a young wine.

Gaja Sperss 1999, Langhe Nebbiolo DOC (96), USD 238, 14%, showing the tell-tale clear-orange edge of nebbiolo, brick and black at the depth; nose shows progressing maturity in the herbs, truffle, sweaty, still with aromatics and signs from barrel aging, palate superb, powdery and silky tannins, lovely maturity (drink 2015-2020 no trouble), yet very fresh, long final flavours, six per cent barbera.

Returning to the 1997 vintage, the first to herald that climate change was occurring, Angelo had some curt words for the scribes making predictions of vintages, 1997 in particular.

“1997 had concentration, from the hot and dry year, it was a small crop. The US writers were in conflict with the Europeans. The US scribes welcomed Sori San Lorenzo, the wine was bigger but approachable being the high points while the Europeans said it would not last. It was unusual but it did age well, and is looking very good now. The beauty of such a wine is that it is not aging quickly, unlike some Montalcino wine.”

Gaja has marvellous cellars; mainly under the Barbaresco town, and significant production from 100 hectares. The name was originally Spanish, from past conquistadores, and a slice of that bloodline has been retained in branding.

In 1977 Gaja established their own distribution in Italy, a very smart move. www.teraltowines.com/wines/italy/gaja

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uncorked No Comments October 18th, 2010 Wine Region Review

Pieropan in Soave: extraordinary maker, garganega, Veneto, non DOCG, single vineyard growers

The October morning air was still very crisp as I pulled up in front of the ancient walls of the Chateau de Soave, and somewhere inside were the winemakers Pieropan (Societa Agricola-Agricultural Company).

You see the GPS had taken me around in circles three times and failed to find via Camuzzoni number three which must have been inside the city pre-1890 when Pierpoan was established as a producer.

So I chose to take local directions by hoofing it across the street to the local bar where 10am coffee drinking and large tumblers of white wine were being taken with gusto – a sort of Soave tradition by the male locals.

I mustered my limited Italian to order “caffe lungo” and ask directions to cantina Pierpoan inside.

That done, and with the enthusiastic advice of a friend of the winery, I struck out up the cobblestone street looking closely at the numbers.

You see it is un-Italian to be too flashy; you have to search these places out with micro-itinerary planning or run the risk of feeling quite lost.

In an understated entrance I came across the Pieropan plaque. This opened to a small piazza: one side the office and home, other side accepting grapes to be crushed and gurgling juice pumped inside to awaiting fermenters.

Soave occupies 1000 hectares of geographically defined ground (DOCG) in a region between Verona and Vincenza, most north of the highway between these two important industrial and agricultural towns.

And as I was about to discover, described ridiculously on its labels when the cultures of conservative regional bureaucracy and innovative internationally-focussed wine minds clash.

In this case Pieropan versus the Soave DOCG (supposedly says guaranteed quality yet is meaningless to a consumer, and confusing). Winemaking and packaging determine quality, not old-fashioned wine organisations.

The vinescape is mainly emerging south-facing chalky hills almost totally planted to vines on terraces due to steepness, at elevations and slopes of 250-300 metres, then there is a gentle drop to the plains below, and 100km further on the extraordinary sea-city of Venezia (Venice).

I met Doctor Andrea Pieropan who manages the company’s vineyards and grape supply. He has wine skills from studies at a college in Trento in the Adige followed by doctoral work at Padova (Padua) Agricultural School focussing on viticulture (seen below in front of garganega harvested that day).

With his younger brother Dario who manages winemaking, they constitute the fourth generation of the business.

“Our main grape is garganega; it’s a late ripener, and before global warming we found often we would be harvesting late into October, but not so since the late ’90s. Now every year differs; we have to be very active managing the direct effects of the sun,” says Andreas.

“Around June we consider leaf removal: in 2003 though we needed protection so no removal occurred but in 2005 we took off north-facing leaves to allow the vine humidity to drop.” Management is no longer prescriptive as the elements of DOCG expect.

Pieropan own 40 hectares of vines; separated into 24 different terroirs and plots. Two, Calvarino and La Rocca, are sufficiently different to be bottled separately as individual vineyards (tested each year for elevated quality before bottling one). La Rocca achieves sufficient alcohol and flavour weight to be aged longer in barrel before bottling.

Harvesting commenced on September 6-7 this year with Trebbiano di Soave; this grape being allowed as a 30% blend in basic Soave, giving it the nervousness due to higher malic acid (racy acidity).

As I visited in mid-October, a significant quantity of grapes were yet to be harvested. By comparison there were few vineyards around with grapes hanging: it sort of supports the Pieropan suggestion that too much Soave is harvested under-ripe.

Pieropan are noted for high quality Soave. That is because Andreas is pushing the envelope (as in Aussie thinking) by taking the garganega grapes to full ripeness when fruit flavour starts to appear; around mid, late 11s Baume (over 12% alcohol finished wine) and more.

“Basically gargenega is a neutral grape and the wine light bodied with excising acidity; so the nose from early harvesting (typical DOCG expectations) is also neutral, and the wines consequently lack aroma, ripeness and flavour extension. As ripeness rises, the aroma appears, the grapes are not rich, but the pink/apricot colours appear (see picture below) and full flavour has resulted,“ says Andreas.

I cannot but reflect on a grape called semillon grown in Australia with some similar characteristics, and one which besets its owners with similar marketing dilemmas.

Pieropan Soave range 12-13%, with the single vineyard wines highest as you would expect as flavour intensity rises.

Pieropan Soave Classic 2009, 12%, (88), USD 14, has colour purity in the straw-pale green direction, enticing nose of fresh flowers following into an austere, lean, lime but lengthy acidity, and nuttiness from both fruit ripeness and yeast lees aging. Andreas suggests that optimal flavour/acid balance will come in 4-5 months, which is when the 2010 version should start to trickle into the market after February next year.

Pieropan Soave Classico Calvarino 2008, 12.5% (89) USD 19.50, shows a tough more straw and fuller colour, has nice honey on the nose from ripeness and time in bottle, then a fuller palate than the standard bottling, more richness and a lovely

fine tail of acidity which cements the style of the wine. From a vineyard purchased in 1900 though first made in 1971, it’s a boomer which likes slight bottle age-Andreas suggests 2-3 year plus is the optimum spread.

Pieropan Soave Classico La Rocca 2008, 13% (91) USD 30, (label designates single vineyard at a US request), has generous straw colours, again honeyed for this vintage, it’s the super-ripeness showing, much fatter in texture from oak aging and maturation, quite a rich, substantial wine. Wine is extended aged in older 500-2000 litre casks with lees to develop the enticing nose and textural palate effects.

This bottling bears the 30th anniversary badge of this wine first made in 1978. At lunch the 2006 smelt and tasted remarkably similar, emphatic with the honey but still very steely in palate acidity. A good thing.

The company ships wine to 34 countries and now eight receive their white wines under screw cap. Of course our famous DOCG friends outlaw such a closure; so the more enlightened markets are not being dealt a poor hand from the outdated choice.

Unfortunately these exciting Pieropan wines will not always present so well under cork in the traditional markets and for the rope followers in Asia. The real sting is that all 375 ml bottlings of all styles come in screw cap! There is some inside knowledge to exploit. www.pieropan.it

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uncorked No Comments October 13th, 2010 General

Antinori’s Tuscany: Solaia, Tignanello, burly reds, sangiovese, cabernet blends, Greve-in-Chianti

October time in Greve-in-Chianti appeared to be the end of the season for the folks in this part of Tuscany. Most of the grapes had been harvested by the first week of the month.

But not so at Antinori’s major 150 hectare vineyard and Tignanello winery at Santa Maria a Macerata, as only the early harvests of sangiovese had appeared.

“We are running 15-20 days late this autumn. This has been caused by the cool weather earlier in the season, some rain then and a little more now” says Veronica Mazzoni, Antinori’s learned publicist in Tuscany.

I cannot help but look at that Solaia hill on the property; first spied in 1989 when I first visited Tuscany, 55 hectares of cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc which was aged directly in barrique, and sold outside the region’s DOCG status (at higher prices too).

Well Solaia has continued on to greater things since then, and against more “international varietal Tuscan competition” of cabernet, franc, merlot, syrah and single vineyard merlot.

Antinori’s faith in Solaia was further galvanised in 2009 with the commissioning of a single, separate cellar . “There are 14 single batches/ vineyard blocks of cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc in this vineyard, and therefore there are 14 new open-fermenters to make it” Veronica explains.

Solaia making is all manual; green harvesting before veraison, hand harvesting, hand sorting of whole berries on sorting tables before whole berry fermentation. All with care.

The new wine has malo-lactic in third passage oak (an unusual practice) then maturation for 14-16 months in new barrels, French oak origin of course. I did not see the forests used but imagine the three providing coopers, Saury, Seguin Moreau and Nadalie are supplying mixes of oak types to Solaia’s style requirement.

Then there is a year in bottle before going into the release cycle. The 2007 IGT, USD 210, is about to be current, 75% cabernet, 20% sangiovese, 5% franc.

In fact the original winery was built in 1973 and Antinori wine staff were just commencing their second vintage in the renovated red cellar. And what a revolutionary collection of fermentation masterpieces.

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