DIMITRI SPATHIS & MICHELE MILLER / GETTY IMAGES
What a summer of wine it has been. In between reconnaissance missions to cellar doors, I’ve tasted and shared some exciting wines with a large number of family and friends. Even better, there’s still a month of summer to go.
The wines that linger in my memory aren’t the bubbles consumed in the lead-up to Christmas, the Champagne popped on New Year’s Eve or the myriad whites I’ve shared catching up with friends.
Unexpectedly for a hot summer, the wines I’ve been most fond of have been reds.
They haven’t been boozy Barossas (although we did get into a few on Christmas Day) or elegant pinot noirs, but vibrant, fruit-driven reds that are low in tannin, full of life and can be enjoyed with a little chill – just the thing for a summer’s evening. I’ve reviewed a few of them below.
These wines are deliberately made to drink young, with moderate alcohol and a high drinkability factor. My tasting notes are peppered with such words as alive, vivid, vibrant and vitality – exactly what these wines are all about.
These fresh wines are made with a big nod towards similar styles in Europe and are made to drink immediately after bottling. Due to this, they often have lower-than-average levels of the sulphur dioxide preservative.
This vitality and energy makes the wines popular at cellar doors, too, with one winemaker telling me he and his wife had taken their wine off tasting as it was selling too quickly and they wanted to hold on to stock until the end of summer.
This trend towards lighter reds is one I think we’ll see growing over the next couple of years, as more people are introduced to the wines and more winemakers experiment with the style.
In east-central France, just south of the famous Burgundy region, the beaujolais makers use a method called carbonic maceration that creates an oxygen-free environment to produce wines of great freshness and vitality from the gamay grape.
Carbonic maceration keeps oxygen out of the fermentation process and gives the wine a real lift. It’s a technique that’s used in Australia, often with pinot noir and shiraz.
You may not have ever tried the wine, but there’s a good chance you’ve heard of beaujolais nouveau, which is released on the third Thursday in November, a matter of months after the grapes are picked and fermented.
The Spanish get in on the act, producing a red known as joven (meaning young), a tempranillo-based wine that’s released early and is generally unoaked, which makes for more fruit-forward, less ageworthy wines.
With the odd exception, they too are made for drinking within a year of release, and there’s every chance that it’s a joven you’ve been served if you’ve ever plonked yourself down in a Spanish plaça and ordered a glass of red.
This summer was supposed see the rosé revolution in full swing, as well as the turning point for a chardonnay resurgance as everyone switched over from sauvignon blanc.
I’ve been enjoying rosé and chardonnay with gusto, but it’s the reds I keep thinking about.
Taste this
Battle of Bosworth Puritan Shiraz 2011
(McLaren Vale) $20; 13.5%
4/5
This stood out in a very good line-up of certified organic wines at the Bosworth cellar door late last year. It sees no oak or preservatives. Vibrant, fresh aromas feature squashed cherries, summer berries, spice, violets, fennel and a nice bit of meaty goodness. It’s packed with fruit flavour – cherries, chocolate, violets and a touch of minerality, while on the palate you’ll find good tannin and structure with bright, youthful acid. There’s a delicious finish of cherries and summer berries – this didn’t last long.
Food match \ Grilled quail
Eldridge Estate PTG 2011
(Mornington Peninsula) $25; 13%
4.5/5
One of the most drinkable wines I’ve had in ages. While it’s a lovely wine to sniff, sip and ponder its various, delightful elements, it’s even better drinking. It’s a mix of gamay and pinot, and the name PTG is a tribute to the Burgundian wine Passetoutgrains made from these two grapes. Aromas and flavours of cherry, strawberry, raspberry, minerality and spice have a real vitality to them. A smooth, slinky texture with fine tannins and perfectly balanced acid leads to a moreish, savoury finish.
Food match \ Duck hotpot
Medhurst Wines What Ever 2011
(Yarra Valley) $21.50; 12.5%
4/5
A blend of shiraz and cabernet that sees some carbonic maceration during fermentation. Vivid lifted aromas of cherry, raspberry, blueberry, blackcurrant, blackberry and violets fill the air as the wine is poured. Juicy flavours build and build on the palate and include raspberry, redcurrant, cherry, citrus and slightly sour rhubarb that adds real character. It’s light on its feet and high on drinkability with fine powdery tannins, fresh acid and good length with a savoury mixed-berry finish.
Food match \ Tapas
Stefano Lubiana Alfresco Riesling 2010
(Tasmania) $24; 8.5%
4/5
Slightly frizzante and highly drinkable, this is loaded with floral aromas including roses, ginger, lychee, tropical fruit and citrus. Intense flavours of granny smith apples, lime cordial, citrus zest and passionfruit. Balance is the key to this wine, its bright acidity and residual sugar in great harmony, and there’s a zesty, chalky grip in the mouth. Lemon, lime and pear flavours provide for a delicious finish. The low alcohol is a bonus.
Food match \ Morcilla with caramelised apple
Love a bargain?
Margan Rosé 2011
(Hunter Valley) $17; 13.5%
4/5
From 40-year-old shiraz vines, this rosé is made using the saignee technique, where the juice is bled from red grapes as they soak and gains colour from their skins. This wine has aromas and flavours of earth, spice, cherry, strawberry, raspberry. There’s a savoury note and sour citrus that adds depth and complexity to the juicy, lip-smacking flavours. It’s textural, juicy and has a nice acid balance, with good intensity to the cherry and spice finish.
Food match \ Paella