To begin with a sweeping generalisation, Australian wines are bigger and bolder than ours – higher in extract, which makes them full in the mouth, and full of super-ripe fruit flavours. They are often also flagrantly alcoholic. On all these counts, our wines are beginning to make serious inroads, though we used to be seen as a “middle ground” between the austere and leaner wines of Europe and the brawny Aussie wines.
Alex Dale of The Winery recently led a tasting of three shirazes from three continents, and it served as a reminder that you generalise about wine at your peril. When it comes to wine, rules are not meant to be broken, they arrive in pieces. The wines were: Radford Dale Shiraz/Viognier 2005 (from Stellenbosch); Radford Dale Shiraz 2004 (from Eden Valley, South Australia) and the Labeye Septombres Shiraz/Viognier 2003 (Languedoc, France).
In a sense there were two broad styles of wines on show, those with and the one without that hussy, viognier. The Stellenbosch wine was drenched in the cloying fragrance of this tarted-up “white lady” that’s currently fashionable, added in large quantities to shiraz. The wine was the worse for it. The Labeye, with far less viognier, could showcase the minerality and general character of the shiraz far better.
But to the other point of general categories across countries, I was surprised to find that the Australian shiraz was by far my favourite. And this is not only surprise at escaping the snobbism that suggests that wine from France is always better. The Aussie wine was balanced (even for its 14,5% alcohol) – it had all the red fruit you would want, allied to good tannins and a long finish. At around R140, it’s a worthwhile look at Antipodean quality.
To my palate, it is a relief that the local 2004 vintage (which is making its way onto the shelves) was one of a longer and more gradual ripening curve, resulting in more elegant and less alcoholic wines. A newcomer that promises much if its first vintage is representative is De Toren’s “Z”. This is a blend of the classic five red varieties of Bordeaux and the 2004 is a balanced and sophisticated drink, less bold than their Fusion V.
De Toren are suggesting that this is made as a “right bank” Bordeaux-style wine, while their Fusion V is “left bank” – which is all quite high-brow, but traditionally meant wines with more merlot and cabernet franc rather than cabernet sauvignon. This wine is (just) led by merlot at 34%, and then cabernet sauvignon comes in at 27%, so you decide on the stylistic veracity. The more interesting difference is that it costs around R100, as opposed to R200-plus for Fusion V.
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