The monthly wine tasting for Master of Wine aspirants was Spanish varietals, and a good few were tempranillos.

This is becoming increasingly popular down under with the spread of jamon, tapas serves, Iberian plates, El Bulli, manchengo and the wonderful wines of Spain (all varieties).

Australians have to be content with drinking Spanish-made Rias Baixas from albarino because the grape was wrongly introduced; now we have to sit it out until 2014 when quarantine has been completed, propagation done and the true vines start to flower.

Wines are reported in order of enjoyment and it was no chance that a wine from Roda in Haro figured highest.

Roda Reserva Rioja 2005; 14% (USD 140); ++++1/2; still dense, a little of the violets are wearing off, yet it remains so full and alluring; substance, just smells of fruit intensity, then oak-fruit complexity which gives you a nose full, power on, the taste was just starting to settle the fruit above the oak, a matured flavour which shows up the crunch and angular nature of tempranillo.

Overall a savoury endpoint which emphasises the enjoyment of this as you eat. Is 85% tempranillo, 9% graciano and 6% garnacha.

M2 de Matallana Ribera del Duero 2006; 14.5% (USD 95); ++++; dense purple colour, magnificent and startling to see, really meaning a serious drop here, the nose is a little reductive from aggressive use of barrel fermentation, lots of salami by-products which are non-grape, lots of oak char (to charm Robert Parker), very heavily oaked and for a prolonged period, powdery texture meaning more time to settle here, big shaped wine, final flavour finishes with savoury notes. A plus.

M2 de Matallana 2006 Ribero del Duero

This is a Telmo Rodriguez wine; all tempranillo showing the big end of Spain.

Camins del Priorat 2008 (Alvaro Palacios) ; 14%; (USD 50); ++++; is the style alternate to the hefty oak-aged reds, this has the purples of youth but none of the tempranillo density of Roda and Rodriguez; it is tight showing more is yet to unravel to smell, what there is very rural, scents of the forest, hints of cowyard, then a sweet entry, delightful softness and supple tannins, little dryness and more plush sensations, long flavoured.

Camins del Priorat 2008-entry level Alvaro Palacios

This is 60% carinena, 30% garnacha touched up with cabernet sauvignon and shiraz, a big blend at 50,000 cases, it sees very little new oak, and that bears out both on nose and palate, the structure being these traditional Spanish two remaining emphatic.

Tar and Roses Tempranillo Alpine Valleys/ Heathcote 2010; 14.5% (USD 20); ++++; inky but also very young, bright in the glass, huge fruit, huge oak influence, burlesque, fruit is on the sweet side, cake like, lots of tannin from oak, to the extent of creating a powder dryness in the mouth, excellent, can see the cold soak and maceration performed here, long ager, now a baby.

Good Aussie-Tar & Roses Tempranillo 2010

Made by Victorians Don Lewis and Natalie King. This is terrific value, and the 2010 vintage is a screamer.

Hercula Monastrell (Bodegas Castano) Yecla 2001; 14% (USD 25); +++; was super, now an aged russet colour with the edges browned yet the aroma was heaving with black fruits character, the unmistakable genes of mourvedre/mataro, palate deep, sweet fruited and stern. A great mature example.

Peter Scudamore-Smith is a Brisbane-based Master of Wine, winemaker and educator www.uncorkedandcultivated.com.au

Bar Barossa Brisbane-shiraz haven

Recently Brisbane’s modern wine bar scene suffered a member celebrating its first birthday.

The Barossa-centric Purple Palate functions business housed inside Bar Barossa achieved its milestone – and for the occasion Barossa shiraz producer Langmeilattended.

There was lunch for the big red crowd. Barossa’s artisanal smallgoods with a hefty hint of Barossa Deutsch traits started the scene with an unusual aperitif wine.

This was low alcohol (10.5%), residual sugar riesling (22 g/L) from the Eden Valley (Live Wire RieslingUSD 20), light, appley, crisp, easily destroyed with Linke’s smoked meats, but cleansing.

I enjoyed Langmeil’s Hanging Snakes Shiraz2009 14% (USD 20) just because it was modern; today’s drink with a dash of white viognier to lighten the taste, freshen and make the wine accessible to more people not seeking “blokey” shiraz.

Purple Palate List

However, as half of the lunch audience were female, I got the feeling they were attending to drink the “blocky wines” such as Langmeil Valley Floor Shiraz 2009, 14.5% (USD 30), a huge wine with oak char and sweetness, cleverly added from American oak barrels.Langmeil’s Orphan Block Shiraz2008 14.5% (USD 50) always enthuses me as it contains some 100 y-o vine fruit from a block that was about to be consumed by local housing in 2000. The vines were transplanted: 500 were taken and 380 survived, and history preserved.

The blend also contains some Eden Valley shiraz grapes of equivalent age and origin.

Shiraz lovers’ fare-eye fillet, Barossa flavour, ingredients

Langmeil’s great claim to fame is a vineyard thought to be the oldest shiraz vineyard in the world -1843. Let others try to claim the mantle. Any older?

Langmeil 1843 Freedom Shiraz2008 14.5% (USD 105) is true to its bones; big, syrupy-ripe grapes though departing from its younger shiraz brothers with more drying tannin; suffered from aging a long time in new French barrels which cause this drying sensation.

Box of Freedom-shiraz from 140-150 yo vines

If it gets you down, just eat, and the savoury effects of this wine then consume your palate instead, and that’s just the residual flavour hanging around. A wine with intrigue and interest.

Langmeil in Deutsch means Long Mile.

Peter Scudamore-Smith is a Brisbane-based Master of Wine, winemaker and educator www.uncorkedandcultivated.com.au

The recent Boireann Bunch Winemaker’s Dinner held at a suburban western district of Brisbane (Graceville) restaurant did not raise mention of any five star status.

Stars: what are they to the Boireann winemakers Peter and Therese Stark who sell their wares annually during a short period of time when subscribers take up allocations. So the 2010 vintage was safely sold and banked!

The star meaning was Boireann now has five five-star winery ratings on end: afforded by the grand writer of them all in this country, James Halliday, in his Australian Wine Companion 2012 released in July.

The bunch attending this dinner were the converted: many enthusiastic baby boomer level collectors who take up their vintage allocation then give their bottles cellar resting time.

You see Boireann are great agers but only a small portion of people realise or know this because their ultra-high quality production, red only, is miniscule. There is a dash of white in the vineyard, viognier, grown to co-ferment with shiraz.

And the wines at this dinner were assorted vintages; meaning that Peter and Therese are sharing some older wines they considered to be looking pretty crash hot or failing that, simply their terroir examples, and the eager palates were having time like old friends do.

I went along to see what this no-fuss event was about finding there were no other scribes. Nor did I have to jot a note or two but it rapidly became obvious these wines could not be missed.

Boireann Grenache 2004 13% (no longer sold); under cork, +++; russet/brown colour, very much the wine with terroir and maturity, rustic, damp grass and wet earth, all the funky tones that the grape picks up on its way to maturity, now there, palate very tight and soft, drying. Absolutely perfect with steak tartare-pairing raw meat and earth bombs.

This variety has since been pulled out due to bunch collapse in later years, and replaced with such interesting reds as tannat and brunello clones of sangiovese. A straight tannat has been made for the first time in 2011.

Boireann Merlot 2007 13% (no longer sold); also under cork, +++1/2; cherry/purple, great colour, has nose complexity and strength, tight and powerful tannins which have not loosened much yet, Pete says 2016-2019 is its drinking window, and I have no reason to think otherwise. Merlot with backbone, drunk alongside oxtail to prove its might.

Winter fare: oxtail pudding, pea mousse

Boireann Vigne Juveniles Shiraz Viognier 2008 14% (USD 26 ); ++++1/2; has perfume, has spice and attitude, lifted funk and nose crunch, alluring, makes you want more, big flavour entry and backbone of a wine just slowing moving along, but in no rush, powdery tannins now, one day these will close over. Young vine wine served with beef and stood up.

Boireann Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 13.2% (USD 29); ++++; good but not great colour, this brand often does amazing things with wine colour, smells tight, tastes tight, really layered and coiled up tannins + acidity+ flavour core bind it up to be a keeper-as you do with this brand. Don’t rush; also paired with rare eye and loved it, goats cheese and mushroom adding to the forest flavours. Pete says drink 2020.

Boireann Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

Boireann Shiraz Mourvedre 2010 14.5% (USD 31); ++++; deep and pippy, currants and black fruits, struck match barrel ferment characters there now, potential to go funkier yet, enormous power in the mouth, backbone plus, drink in ten years, no earlier, made the triple cream brie running beside it look short flavoured.

Boireann Shiraz Mourvedre 2010

Dinner venue: Boucher (old converted butchery, bistro) restaurant run by ex-South Bank city chef Peter Carter.

Eye fillet, onion tarte, goat, mushroom

Peter Scudamore-Smith is a Brisbane-based Master of Wine, winemaker and educator www.uncorkedandcultivated.com.au