Down Under with O’Brien’s. Advice: Watch those sales!

Down Under with O’Brien’s

Advice: Watch those sales!

I always try and keep an eye out for the regular sales at O’Brien’s Wines. Some are quite short-lived. That was the case with their Australian & New Zealand one. But I did make that and bought these two, the Penfolds at 16.76, the D’Arenberg at 15.96. A decent saving and very decent wines indeed. I should follow my own advice more often!

Penfolds Koonunga Hill Seventy Six Shiraz Cabernet 2014, South Australia, 14.5%, €20.95 O’Briens

The name Seventy Six is a tribute to the “original and now legendary 1976” Shiraz Cabernet. This multi-regional blend is Shiraz (c.80%) and Cabernet Sauvignon and is regularly billed as a “retro” wine.

It is a deep red to purple with a lighter rim and the legs are slow to clear (you know why!). There are intense dark fruit aromas and pretty intense on the palate too. Dark fruits, some spice (it has spent 15 months in a mix of old and new (15%) oak, silky tannins and impressive length. Highly Recommended.

Penfolds are master blenders, “able to craft wines of distinction without ever compromising on quality”. Andrew Baldwin is one of their winemakers and, last November, I met him here in Cork and asked for a few tips on starting to explore Penfolds.

Without hesitation, he recommended this very wine because of “its drinkability, lots of fruit”. By the way, he also told me that the Koonunga Hill Chardonnay is “really approachable”. So there’s another tip for you!

D’Arenberg The Footbolt Shiraz 2012, McLaren Vale (Australia), 14.6%, €19.45 O’Brien’s Wine

Tasted this early in the year at the Australia Day tasting in Dublin, so I knew I was on to a little beauty.

It is one hundred per cent Shiraz, harvested in small batches, gently crushed and then transferred to open fermenters. Foot treading is undertaken two thirds of the way through fermentation. The wine is basket pressed and then aged in a mixture of new and used French and American oak for 12-18 months.

The Footbolt names comes not from the treading but from a favourite racehorse of the Osbourne family. In 1912, Joseph Osbourne made the hard decision to sell his horses to buy d’Arenberg.

Colour is a clean and bright purple. No need to nose the glass here as the aromas - attractive dark berries and plums mainly - come up to meet you. Terrific fruit too on the palate with great balance, tannins are fine, lovely sophie too and a lingering dry finish. Ootbolt is a favourite here and Very Highly Recommended.

Superb Cono Sur & Penfolds Tasting in Cork (Part 2)

Superb Cono Sur & Penfolds Tasting in Cork

Two of the world’s leading winemakers were in Cork last week for an unusual double tasting. Adolfo Hurtado came from Cono Sur in Chile to link up with Andrew Baldwin of Australia’s Penfolds. The event, in the Blue Angel Bar at the Opera House, was organised by Findlater Wines and was more a masterclass than your basic tasting. Lots of notes and photos were taken and it’s been a job to edit it all down to two posts, the first here features Adolfo and Cono Sur, the second (below) sees Penfolds in the spotlight with Andrew going solo!

Part Two

Andrew explains the Penfolds range

Andrew Baldwin is a leading winemaker at Penfolds of South Australia. But, as a young man, he started there as a distiller! He was making neutral and brandy spirits. He has been there for thirty years now - the company do seem to have many loyal long-term employees - and he has been making wine since the 90s, “everything from Bin 28 to Grange”.

Grange, of course, is “an icon” and has been described as “an institution”. It was first made in the 1950’s by Max Schubert and was soon “the subject of controversy” according to Andrew. Schubert was told by the board that it was like a dry Tawny Port and “who, in their right mind, was going to drink a dry Tawny Port”.

Back at base, Max continued to work on the Grange. But in secret. Just like winemakers in France during the WW2 occupation, he constructed fake walls and made three vintages behind closed doors in the tunnels of Magill Estate. At that point, the board's interest was revived and Max was able to reveal his secret, even if stocks were limited. Its fame soon grew and the standard has never dropped.

During the 50th anniversary (2001) of Max Schubert’s creation of Grange, to recognize its consistent quality and renown, the national Trust of South Australia listed Penfolds Grange as an official heritage icon. To see Russell Crowe’s 3 minute video of Grange, please click here.

Before the joint event in the Opera House

Following many years of continued growth, in both the production and the reputation of the wines from The Grange Vineyard, Penfolds (once owned by Guinness) now accounts for 50 percent of all of the annual wine sales across the whole of Australia.

The company is also a huge exporter and much of the credit for that goes to Dr Ray Beckwith. Andrew says Ray, a contemporary of Max Schubert, “put science behind wine in Australia”. “He helped give stability to the wines and that led to exports”.

All ready to go in the Blue Angel

Up to the 1950s, as you'll see in the Crowe video, much of Australia was drinking Port and Sherry type wines. And indeed that was how Penfolds started, back in 1844! Englishman Dr Christopher Rawson Penfold and his wife Mary arrived with cuttings from the South of France and proceeded to make fortified wine “for medicinal purposes”.

And Andrew acknowledged that “Tawny style wines were our foundation” and told me that the Port (not necessarily for medicinal purposes anymore) is still a vital part of the production with three being made from ten year old to 35 year old. He describes the older one “as the great grand-father, a wine of exceptional complexity”.

Penfolds are known for their blending prowess, grapes bought in from near and far, but they also celebrate terroir and the Holy Ground in this regard is Block 42. Andrew says that this 10-acre block was planted only 30 years after the great 1855 Bordeaux Classification and comprises the oldest plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon continuously produced in the world.

It’s been all red wine in this piece so far but Andrew pointed out that “the white wine portfolio compares well. Two years ago, our Chardonnay was ‘best in world’”.

Yours Truly with Carmel from Ardkeen Superstore

We asked Andrew for a few tips for someone wishing to start exploring Penfolds wine and, without hesitation, he recommended the Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet because of its “drinkability and lots of fruit” and he also said the Koonunga Hill Chardonnay is “really approachable”.

Penfolds Tasting

Bin 51 Eden Valley Riesling 2014

Andrew  told us that the Eden Valley produces white wines “more floral, more aromatic” than the Clare. “It has good balance, great with seafood or as an aperitif. There are lime lemony characters and, with sugar under 2 grams, it is very very dry.”

Bin 2 Shiraz Mourvedre 2012

The first red and our first example of blending, the fruit for this coming from the Barossa, McLaren Vale and Padthaway. The Mourvedre, better known as Mataro (the Aussies prefer the easier pronunciation!), “adds spiciness and evenness to the palate”. It has spent 10 months in a mixture of oak. This is a relatively new blend and popularity continues to grow, especially in the Asian market.

Bin 8 Cabernet Shiraz 2012

This is one of their newer wines and dates from the early 90s. It has a lovely sweetness and Andrew was quick to point out that the sweetness is natural” “It comes from the fruit, not from sugar!” This particular year the blend was 57% Cabernet and 43% Shiraz and that is close to the usual proportions. It has been matured, for 12 months, in seasoned and American oak, with 13% in new French oak, and has “a lovely whole mouth sensation. The two varieties complement each other.”

Adolfo and Cono Sur featured in yesterday's post.

Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon 2013

Five vineyards contributed to the previous wine and the same number to this, emphasising the multi-region focus of Penfolds and again it has been in a mixture of oak for 12 months. It is a serious wine. “Nose is dark, palate also, ...quite complex… and can be laid down for a long period.” Notes indicate peak drinking between 2017 and 2030. Not bad though in 2015!

Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2013

I assume some of us were hoping that Andrew would pull a bottle of Grange out at the last minute! But he did come up with this beauty, also known as Baby Grange or Poor Man's Grange, in part because ”components of the wine are matured in the same barrels that held the previous vintage of Grange”.

Like Grange, it is a “judicious balance of fruit and oak". The fruit mix is Cabernet (51%) and Shiraz. It is quite complex both on the nose and on the palate (where the winery rating is expansive, explosive, exotic). It is made in the Penfolds style, richer, more tannic “and the time on lees gives more flavour.” Over time, the colours change, the wine softens out, the tannins too. Worth keeping by the sound of it! Indeed, peak drinking time is indicated as 2018-2035.

After the tasting, we had time for more chat and time too to enjoy some tasty nibbles from Victor and his team in the House Cafe.

The Week in Wine

THE WEEK IN WINE

Straccali Chianti Classico DOCG 2007, 13.5%, €13.95, Karwig

 

Colour: Ruby Red

Nose: Intense, of red fruit.

On the palate, it is fresh and fruity, slight spice, tannins relatively prominent. It is well balanced, medium bodied, lively and with a persistent finish. Unfortunately, I started this off on the cool side, can happen on the colder days here, and it took a while to win me over but it certainly grew on me as it warmed up! Recommended.

It turned out to be a good week on the wine front. On a visit to the L’Atitude Wine Cafe on Union Quay, I came across two outstanding reds on their extensive list. Both come under the Fruity with Attitude heading.

First up was the 2008 Cat Amongst the Pigeons, Cabernet Sauvignon, from Australia’s McLaren Vale and then I enjoyed the 2008 Massaya Classic (Cinsault, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah) from the Lebanon.

Not too bad on the home front either where I continued to work my way through the reds of Provence. The first, La Citadelle’s Les Artemes 2007 from the Luberon, is available in this country from the Wine Store.

I don’t think the second is; I bought it in the small town of Vauvert on the edge of the Camargue. It is Noble Gress 2005, Costieres de Nimes. I think there is value for Irish importers in the region.

It was a good week too for Enniskeane born Brother Kevin Crowley, founder of the Capuchin Day Centre in Bow Street in Dublin, who has been named the Santa Rita 120 Local Hero 2012  for his phenomenal work in helping homeless people.

The Santa Rita 120 Local Hero Award competition is run by the premium Chilean winemakers to find local heroes who make a real difference in their local community, such as hard working volunteers, individuals who work tirelessly to make their community a safer place and inspirational heroes who always seem to put others before themselves. 

As the Santa Rita 120 Local Hero 2012, Brother Kevin wins €10,000 for The Capuchin Day Centre as well as the trip of a lifetime for two to Chile, the home of Santa Rita wine.


And John McDonnell, the face of Australian wine in Ireland, also enjoyed a great week at Pro-Wein where Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago was given the Winemakers’ Winemaker Award by the Institute of Masters of Wine and the drinks business.