The baron of Barossa

Peter Lehmann founded one of the biggest wineries in Barossa but it is not because of the size that he is called the baron of Barossa, but because of how he founded the winery.

Back in late 1970, Peter Lehmann was working at Saltram where they bought grapes from some 150 independent grapegrowers. When Saltram decided not to do so anymore because of surplus, Peter realised that most of these growers’ livelihood was at stake. Therefore, instead of breaking the bad news to them, he resigned from Saltram, bought the grapes from the growers and made the wine with the breakaway team. In doing so, he saved the vineyards which would have otherwise been bulldozed. After 30 years, Peter Lehmann Wines is still working with these growers, most now in their third generations, and making everyday drinking to premium wine using their grapes. Peter, therefore, is highly regarded in Barossa and Australia for being the saviour of the Barossa vineyards.

Ian Hongell is the third generation chief winemaker at Peter Lehmann Wines, who has been with the winery since 1998 and was under the mentorship of Andrew Wigan, then second generation chief winemaker and one of the breakaway team members back in the 70s. Prior to joining Peter Lehmann, Ian has worked at Penfolds, California and France. During his first visit to Hong Kong recently, we discussed his winemaking philosophy and tasted a few of his gems over a delicious lunch.

Ian’s biggest frustration is generalisation. A lot of people think all Barossa wines are heavy, jammy and rounded but there are in fact many different styles depending on the winemakers and where the fruits come from. For him, he believes oak gives structure to wine but it should only be in the background, not in the wine as it will mask the sense of place. Therefore, he has cut down the use of new oak and oak ageing time. This is certainly reflected in the wine we tasted. 

Portrait Eden Valley Dry Riesling 2015:
A fresh, crisp wine with intense lime and apple aromas, the wine was made in tank with no malolactic fermentation to highlight its freshness. Ian called this his cocktail wine they he enjoys in any hot afternoon. Portrait is Peter Lehmann mid-price range that showcases the true characters of the Barossa.

Masters Wigan Eden Valley Riesling 2011:
One of the Masters Collection series named after Andrew Wigan, the wine was made from grapes at the best and cool sites at Eden Valley, and only released after five years of bottle ageing. It is multi-layered with a hint of honey but none of the petrol note that is too often found in young Riesling from warm climate.

Masters Mentor Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon 2012:
Another wine from the Masters Collection with structure and finesse; The cool 2012 allowed the wine to develop elegant blackcurrant fragrance with a savoury notes on palate. Apparently, Barossa is actually considered as a relatively cool climate region in Australia. Hard to believe but then everything is relative.

Stonewell Shiraz 2012 and 1988:
This is the best Shiraz of the vintage and the best possible expression of the Barossa. Ian presented two vintages, 24 years apart, to show the longevity of the wine. The 2012 was still tight but has a great depth while the 1988 was generous and opulent.

Ian is proud of the evolution of the wines over the years even under the challenge of climate change. By tackling the issue through vineyard management, picking grapes earlier and adjusting winemaking techniques, he is able to make wines with bright fruits and freshness rather than heavy jammy monsters.

Peter Lehmann Wines is available from ASC Fine Wines.

Penfolds RWT vertical tasting

Peter Gago, chief winemaker of Penfolds, was in town again, this time to conduct the first ever full vertical tasting of Penfolds RWT from the first vintage 1997 to the latest 2012, a total of 16 years.

RWT stands for ‘Red Winemaking Trial’, the code name given to the wine when it was developed in 1995 by then winemaker John Duval to complement Grange, or in Peter’s words, to protect Grange. Penfolds’ belief is that as time goes, customers’ tastes and preferences change but instead of changing the style of wine, Penfolds develop a new style for the customers’ changing palate: Grange is Shiraz made from grapes sourced from multiple vineyards and aged in 100% American oak; St Henri is also from various vineyards but aged only in old French oak while RWT is a single vineyard wine aged in partial new French oak.

RWT is not trying to be French, but rather, it is a modern wine that combines the power of Barossa Shiraz with Penfolds’ winemaking philosophy and the old style European structure. The vines are old with average age around 70 years (the oldest ones are over 100 years). The fruits are therefore concentrated thus the wine does not require too much extraction. Like Grange, the wine finishes fermentation barrel, meaning than it is pressed off skin and transferred to barrels when there is still some sugar, and does not have any post-fermentation maceration to extract more tannins. This makes the wine accessible even in youth but also has the  potential to age a long period because of its concentration.

Vertical tasting of single vineyard wine is compelling because not only can one taste the evolution of wine over time, one can also taste the weather. It is true that Barossa’s weather is much more consistent than wine regions in Europe so vintage variation is not as marked. Still, a couple of wines did stand out: 2008 has more sweet fruits and caramel aromas suggesting it was a warmer vintage; while 2011 has the pronounced violet and perfume that reflects the cooler weather. For me, I was most impressed by the ageability of the wine. The 18 year old 1997 vintage has a long length and is drinking well now with a mix of sweet berries and savoury notes.

In the case of RWT, you may also taste the winemakers’ fingerprint. The first six vintages from 1997 to 2002 were overseen by John Duval while Peter Gago took over since 2003. Annette Lee, fellow wine writer, insisted there was a stylistic difference between 2002 and 2003, that the former was elegant but in a sad way whereas the latter was more vibrant. Hmmm, perhaps the young Peter did inject some energy to the wine?

Penfolds is available from Jebsen.

An interview with Peter Gago

All wine lovers will have heard of Penfolds, one of the most popular brands in Australia, and its Penfolds Grange is among the iconic wines of the world. I had the opportunity to meet Peter Gago, the fourth Chief Winemaker of Penfolds since 2002 and with Penfolds for 25 years, to learn what lies behind the brand and its wines.

2014 has been a significant year for Penfolds. It is its 170th anniversary, the 60th year of consecutive releases of Grange, and the inaugural year of the Penfolds Collection. Founded in 1884, Penfolds is only a few months younger than Krug, Peter’s favourite Champagne house. Therefore it is with some justification that Peter argues Penfolds is not New World.

Max Schubert

Grange was developed in 1951 by Max Schubert, the first Chief Winemaker, after he visited Bordeaux and was inspired to create a red wine to rival the finest Bordeaux. Unfortunately Penfolds management order him to stop producing Grange in 1957 because of poor reviews. Max, however, continued to make it secretly and in 1960 the management realised its potential and instructed him to restart production. It is thanks to Max’s commitment that we are able to enjoy the 60th release of Grange today.

The grapes for Grange are sourced from a number of vineyards. Peter considers that in this way he can have the best fruit every year rather than being at the mercy of mother nature, although he admits that 2010 was a particularly difficult year with only one quarter of the normal production—about 9,000 12-bottles cases, were made. He further points out that champagnes and ports are all made from grapes from multi-vineyard sites so as to maintain the house style and consistency, and he sees Grange as no different.

Grange has always been Shiraz dominated and aged in 100% new American oak. It is full-bodied and rich with maximum extraction. Nevertheless, consumers’ palates change as time goes by. Asked if there was a pressure to change the Grange style, Peter said there are always wine lovers in the world who can’t get enough of Grange, but at the same time he acknowledges the diverse palates of consumers and that is why Penfolds makes different styles of Syrah,notably St Henri and RWT. St Henri is a 100% Syrah aged in old oak cases resurrected by John Davoren in the early 50s, after Penfolds bought the defunct Auldana Vineyard that first made the wine. Then, in 1997, Penfolds developed RWT (Red Winemaking Trials), a 100% Shiraz from a single region aged in 100% new French oak. According to Peter, St Henri is the classic style that came to be viewed as old-fashioned in the 70s, while RWT can be seen as the contemporary version of Grange.

The three wines are definitely different. Using the analogy of sport, I would say Grange is a rugby player, sturdy but not clumsy, while RWT is a tennis player, graceful yet full of strength and St Henri is a marathon runner, elegant and enduring. Well, Penfolds is blessed with both the resources and the vision to make different wine styles to suit most people’s palate.

Block 42 vines

Not all wines from Penfolds are from multi-vinevards though. Peter explained there are three categories of wine at Penfolds, First there are single vineyard wines that reflect the sense of place, such as Magill Estate Shiraz with only 5.2ha of vines and Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet Sauvignon from pre-phylloxera vines planted in the mid 1800s, the world’s oldest continuously producing vines. The second category is single region wines that showcase the region’s typicity, such as RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz, Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz and Reserve Bin A Chardonnay whose grapes are sourced exclusively from the Adelaide Hills. The final category is the house style where grapes come from different regions every year. The iconic Grange, St Henri and Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon all fall into this category.

Probably some wine lovers, like myself, are confused with Penfolds’ Bin numbers. Peter clarified that the bin numbers originally simply identified where the wines were stored in the cellars. It was an internal reference that somehow made it to the label. He reckons naming the wine after bin numbers is not a bad thing in Penfolds’ case as there are so many wines in the portfolio. It is easy to name one’s first or second child but it gets harder after the third of fourth. Anyway, alongside each bin number is always the region (if the wine is a single-region wine) and grape variety so it is not as confusing as it seems.

Peter Gago was a mathematics and chemistry high school teacher before passion brought him to study winemaking. He thinks his training as a teacher helps in his role at Penfolds, especially the communications skills that help him to build the team. Probably that’s why Peter is truly an ambassador of the brand. Apart from January to May, which is harvest time and a no-fly period, he is on the road most of the year, conveying the Penfolds message to wine lovers the world over. Peter welcomes everyone to visit him in Adelaide—just make sure you go when he’s not travelling!

Penfolds is available from Jebsen.

Tahbilk: Something out of the ordinary

Not too many wine lovers are overly excited about tasting Australian wine (including myself), but how wrong this attitude can be! I had the opportunity to taste some very fine wine from Tahbilk, one of the members of Australia’s First Families of Wine, and it was just mind-blowing.

Alister Purbrick, the fourth generation and chief winemaker of Tahbilk was in town and shared some of these very rare wines with members of the Hong Kong Wine Society. They were:

Tahbilk Marsanne: 2013, 2011, 2007, 2002, and 1999
Tahbilk 1927 Vines Marsanne: 2005, 2003 and 2000
Tahbilk 1860 Vines Shiraz: 2008, 2003 and 1999

Most people regard Marsanne as the lesser partner of Roussane. I had tried a few 100% Marsannes before and didn’t really think much of them. I had heard of Tahbilk, and that it has the largest planting of Marsanne in the world, but had never tried the wine, so I was really looking forward to the tasting.

By the way, Tahbilk also has some of the oldest vines in the world. The 1927 in Tahbilk 1927 Vines Marsanne is the year when the vines were planted (87 years ago). The vines for the Tahbilk 1860 Vines Shiraz are 154 years old.

As usual with Hong Kong Wine Society tastings we didn’t know the order of the wines, and Alister wanted us not only to identify which three Marsannes were made from the older vines, but also the vintage of all of them. His hint to us: the entry level one was made at low temperature in stainless steel tanks to retain the flavour, while the 1927 Vines was picked early to retain the acidity, fermented with no temperature control and relied on bottle age to develop into a complex, textural and mineral-rich wine somewhat similar to a Hunter Valley semillon.

Both Tahbilk’s Marsannes were indeed full of surprises. Instead of being alcoholic, fat and bland, they were light, refreshing and delicious. The younger ones were more on the floral and citrus part of the spectrum, gradually evolving into a spices, honeysuckle and dried fruits bouquet as the wine aged. The 1927 Vines Marsannes were crisp, mineral and delicate. If I have to use one word to describe them, it would be 'elegant'.

The 1860 Vines Shiraz is even rarer. Tahbilk used to produce about 200 dozen back in 2007 but the vines never really recovered from a frost attack and now the production is only about 100 dozen. After maturing in oak for 18 months, the wine is further aged for four yeas in bottle before release. Again, it is elegant and complex. The 2008 is too young to drink and the 2003 still has a long life ahead.

Apart from the wine, Alister is equally proud of his conservation efforts. Through re-vegetation and investing in carbon reduction schemes, Tahbilk first achieved carbon neutral status in 2012. Alister’s aim is for the operation to be naturally carbon neutral (ie, no offsetting of carbon emissions) by 2020.

Tahbilk is located in the Nagambike Lakes wine region about 90 minutes drive from Melbourne. It is the only wine region in Australia (and one of only six in the world) where the meso-climate is influenced by an inland water mass. The soil is also unique because of its high iron oxide content. Wine is an expression of place, and Tahbilk wine certainly reflects its terroir—an interaction between climate, soil, vines and the dedication of the people.

Tahbilk is available from Armit Wines, limited stock only.

Thanks to Chris Robinson for introducing Tahbilk.

Another judgement

This time it was Viña Seña from Chile against Bordeaux first growth, led by Eduardo Chadwick, president of Viña Seña, and Jeannie Cho Lee MW. The main purpose was actually a vertical tasting of six Viña Seña from 1995 to 2008, but Jeannie decided to put in a few Bordeaux first growths to make the tasting more fun. The results, based on the votes of some 40 wine professionals and journalists invited to the tasting, saw Seña snatching the top five places out of ten, beating all the first growths. This demonstrated yet again how much Chilean wine has evolved and, perhaps more interestingly, how much wine professionals’ palates have changed.

Some critics argue that blind tastings like this are a waste of time because tasters ignore the track record, breeding and ageing potential of the wine. Therefore, New World wine almost always tastes better than Bordeaux because of its fruit concentration and higher alcohol. Also the line up is a giveaway: tasted between two big fruity wines, the more elegant Margaux in the middle seems thin and dilute.

While all of the above may be right, one shouldn’t dismiss all these tastings as pointless. In this Seña tasting, most of us (I was one of the tasters) knew which was Seña and which was Bordeaux, so if all we cared about was the name rather than the quality, we could easily have tweaked our scores to favour Bordeaux. But I presume most didn’t, hence the results. The exercise suggests that these tasters, most of whom were from the trade and the F&B industry, are open minded. This is important as these people are the gatekeepers—consumers rely on their recommendations when choosing wines, so hopefully they won’t be only promoting Bordeaux wine after this tasting. I am not saying Bordeaux is not good, but there are just so many wonderful and different styles outside Bordeaux that it seems a pity to pass them by. After all, we don’t want to eat abalone or wagyu beef every day!

To be honest, all the wines were of very good quality and our rankings were really down to personal preference. The one I really liked was the 1995 Seña. It has aged gracefully with such a complex bouquet and long length that most of us thought it was Old World, and it certainly fared better than the Mouton Rothschild of the same vintage. This busted another myth that New World wine can’t age.

Eduardo was surprised but definitely very pleased with the result. Hong Kong was the first stop on his Asian tour, and he was to repeat the tasting in Taipei and Seoul. No doubt he will take the tour to other major cities in the near future, just like his famous Judgement of Berlin back in 2004. It will be interesting to see how the results compare with Hong Kong's.

The rankings were:
1st: 2008 Seña
2nd: 2001 Seña
3rd: 1995 Seña
4th: 2007 Seña
5th: 1997 Seña
6th: 2007 Château Lafite Rothschild
7th: 2001 Château Margaux
8th: 2005 Seña
9th: 2005 Château Latour
10th: 1995 Château Mouton Rothschild

Seña is available from Maxxium Hong Kong.

Flagship wine: ambassador or juggernaut?

What is the wine or grape that first springs to mind when someone mentions France, Spain, Argentina or New Zealand? Bordeaux, Tempranillo, Malbec, Sauvignon Blanc? These are considered the flagship wines of those countries, the ambassadors. But do they really bring value to their motherland's wine industry? Or do they shine so bright that they stultify it?

You can argue it either way.

Start with Italy. It has over 350 indigenous grapes, but the one variety that is its claim to fame is Sangiovese, used in so many great wines from Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino to the Super Tuscans. Sangiovese brought the world’s drinkers to Italy and introduced them to its many siblings—Nebbiolo, Aglianico, Pinot Grigio and more. Today, consumers everywhere appreciate the diversity of Italian wines, but they still pay respect to Sangiovese.

Like Italy, Portugal has over 300 native grapes, but it does not promote any particular variety in the international arena. The fact that one grape often has different names depending on where it is grown (north, centre or south) doesn’t help. As a result, perhaps, Portuguese wine has little recognition outside Portugal even today (except Port and Mateus Rosé). A few years ago, ViniPortugal decided to start marketing Touriga Nacional as the national grape, hoping it would achieve similar status to Sangiovese and bring the world to its many other wines. We are still waiting to see the results.

Most will agree that Tempranillo is Spain’s flagship grape. But what about Grenache (Garnacha)? It is an important variety in Rioja where Tempranillo gained its fame, and produces the expressive and concentrated wines of Priorat and the south. In fact, Grenache has more characters than Tempranillo as a varietal, yet it always seems a few steps behind.

Sauvignon Blanc, specifically from Marlborough, put New Zealand on the world wine map. Now every wine region outside New Zealand wants to produce a similar style of Sauvignon Blanc. However, this flagship grape has been so successful that all other great New Zealand wines are living under its shadow. The average consumer—and I am referring to the average, not those in the wine circle—is not even aware of Otago Pinot Noir, let alone the wines of other regions.

Chile is known for offering the best value in several international grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay. Yet it struggles to establish an identity. Conversely, its neighbour Argentina is, in a sense, better positioned in the world wine market because of its flagship grape, Malbec.

So, is having a flagship wine or varietal a good or a bad thing?

An interview with James Halliday

A graceful gentleman, James Halliday was in town recently with an entourage of seven equally outstanding winemakers to promote the 2012 edition of his Australian Wine Companion. The book, 4.5cm thick with over 700 pages and some 3,400 tasting notes, represents only half of what James has tasted during the year. The rest can be found on his website.

James is a prolific taster. He has written over 69,000 tasting notes, spanning some 10 years of tasting—6,900 per year or nearly 600 a month! No wonder he is proud of his iPhone app. The book can only hold 3,400 tasting notes, otherwise it would become impractical to publish and carry around, but with the iPhone app one can carry his entire collection on the move in the nifty device. I admire James not only because he embraces technology but also because, until recently, he wrote all the notes himself. Unlike most wine critics who have a team of reviewers behind them, James tasted and wrote his notes single-handed until three years ago when he engaged a part time reviewer as part of his succession plan. After all, this gentleman is over 70 years old.

While he thinks it is important for Australia's wine industry to defend its UK and US markets, James is truly ‘gung ho’ about China. Although China does not have an established wine culture, its people, especially the young, are learning fast. He reckons China will be the biggest market for all New World wines in less than a generation. So it was no surprise that his entourage’s next stop after Hong Kong was China, fully supported by Wine Australia.

I believe the only way for Australian wines to secure market share in China (and indeed Asia) is to shake off once and for all the ‘cheap and cheerful’ image that still dogs it. Take Hong Kong for example: Australian wine has long been the wine of choice for novice drinkers who do not want to spend too much on a bottle, but as these consumers become more confident many tend to trade up to Old World or even New Zealand wines, leaving the Aussies behind.

Encouragingly, there are more and more quality conscious Australian producers who recognise this. Instead of churning out factory-produced oaked Chardonnay and big fruity Shiraz, they are releasing hand-crafted, small production, terroir-driven wines with individual style. Some of them were showcased at Mr Halliday’s media lunch and the masterclass that followed. Here are my favourites (Available from Maxxium):

By Farr Geelong Chardonnay 2009: creamy, mouth-filling but not fat, with multi-layered flavours.

McHenry Hohnen Rocky Road Vineyard Margaret River Chardonnay 2010: an elegant, barrel fermented Chardonnay; far superior to a lot of Burgundies.

O’Leary Walker Wines Polish Hill Riesling 2010: lime, honey, mineral and smoky; somewhere between a Mosel and a Rheingau.

Saltram No. 1 Barossa Shiraz 2006: High alcohol perfectly balanced by the rich fruit flavours and tannins. Went very well with the equally rich braised pork belly casserole with preserved vegetables.

Tyrell’s Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz 2009: Old World style; elegant with a balance between fruit and a soft tannin from 60-90 years old vines.

Long may this trend continue, because if it does the future for Australian wine in Asia should be bright.

South Africa - Variety is in our Nature

I have always had a soft spot for South Africa. My first time there was in 1996. After a few weeks on the road driving around the canyons, Kruger and the Garden Route, we finally arrived at Stellenbosch where we spent a week tasting wine every day, duly starting at 9:00am when the cellar doors opened. Since then, I have been back to the Stellenbosch area five times and have had the privilege of doing vintages at Ashanti and Thelema.


Therefore it was great news that Wines of South Africa (WOSA), was finally organising a long overdue South African wine tasting in Hong Kong recently. 29 wines from Cap Classique and Chenin Blanc to Bordeaux blends and Pinotage were presented to packed audiences in two sessions: the trade masterclass with tutored tasting in the afternoon and a consumer walk-around tasting in the evening.

Terroir or winemaker’ skills?

Terroir is the latest buzzword in the New World where most winemakers now claim they respect terroir and make their wine with the minimum interference. So it’s quite a surprise to come across the Chalk Hill Alpha Crucis Winemakers’ Series, a collection of six wines made by six different winemakers using the same block of Shiraz with all vines treated the same during the growing season. The objective is to isolate the winemaking from the viticulture so as clearly to demonstrate how much influence the winemaker can have on a wine. It also reveals whether the gender of the winemaker contributes to any stylistic difference.

The six winemakers employ different techniques, from destemmed, cold soaked fermentation with cultured and/or natural yeasts to ageing on lees, and they use various barrel sizes and combinations of old and new oak. I haven’t yet tried the wines myself, but Stuart Mosman. from Chalk Hill says the wines from the lady winemakers are generally more fragrant and soft while those from the macho winemakers are more at the firm end.

An interesting exercise, confirming that for sure winemakers are influential in the process of winemaking, whatever the terroir. When I was in college I fermented a single batch of Müller Thurgau with different strains of yeast, and even with this one variable there were noticeable differences in the resulting wines. In fact, artisan winemakers often batch-process their grapes in a number of ways and then blend the wines together to make the perfect end product. It would be interesting to blend the six Alpha Crucis wines together and see if an even better result could be achieved. Available from Leisure Wines.

Blind tasting game

Try this with your friends. Set a theme (eg. a specific grape from different countries) and each brings one bottle unknown to the others. Blind taste all the wine and establish the country, with reasons. The purpose is to prompt lots of serious thinking round the table. This is a good way for wine lovers to think about the difference of wines from different countries, and surprisingly, even amateurs could come up with some reasonings! This is definite a good exercise for those in the WSET courses!

I tired this recently (Cabernet Sauvignon from different countries) with a few friends and it was both entertaining and educational - because some forgot what wine they were supposed to bring. So we ended up having:
Australian Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon
Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon
South African Stellenbosch Shiraz (should be Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon)
Marks & Spencer South Africa Cabernet Sauvignon, HK$90. (should be xxx country Cabernet of about $200!). This was the wine that made the whole exercise fun (or put it upside down?)