Modern farming techniques and big business are sapping the Australian region’s potential, but there is hope, writes Curtis Marsh.
In comparing the similarities of climate and geology (terroir) shared by Australia’s Coonawarra region and Bordeaux in France, there was a period when Coonawarra genuinely challenged the world’s most renowned wine region for quality. However, the Bordelaise have fought back against the new world competition and are clearly reigning at the premium level.
A Californian vineyard is a deserving bearer of the torch of old-world winemaking, writes Curtis Marsh.
In the world of fine wine, what was old is now new. This is not a past fashion reinventing itself, nor a renaissance of a specific variety, style or region. It is the acceptance of an age-old reality: that truly great wines are made in the vineyard.
There are distinct vineyard sites and soils emblematic of this around the world, begetting truly distinguished wines that are expressive of their unique terroir, endowed with an encompassing spirit of place and indisputable authenticity.
These wines are the standouts of the 2009 lunar drinking year.
Notwithstanding I reside in Asia, the nucleus of my ideologies revolve around a back to nature approach with wine, food and the environment – sustainable, organic and biodynamic principles that have evolved through Pagan farming to Chinese gardeners over the eons yet pivotal today. So not only do I care about the planet, I have gone lunar!
Directly following the New Zealand Pinot Noir Celebration 2010 in February this year, I attended the Nelson Aromatics Symposium, staying with the Finns at Neudorf Vineyard.
I was met at the airport by Richard Flatman, who had just left Two Paddocks in Central Otago to join the Neudorf team. Flatman is one of the most passionate organic and biodynamic viticulture practitioners in the country and clearly the Finns are not resting on their laurels in bringing him onboard, forever striving to improve in the vineyards with a no compromise approach to every facet of making wine.
Savouring my glass of 2007 Seresin Sauvignon Blanc, actually I am guzzling and already on to my third glass, so good is this wine; concentrated, complex, invigorating and comparable to any top Sancerre or Pouilly Fume. It is the quintessential New Zealand wine, an exemplar and nexus to the geography and fast-evolving wine culture of New Zealand.
The Adelaide Hills vigneron Shaw & Smith celebrate their 20th vintage this year, a significant milestone in the relativity of establishing a vineyard and winery in the new world. This may seem a mere blip to some of the venerable generations-old wineries of Europe.
However, the wine-world is a very different place now and the pioneering spirit and determination to succeed in the extremely competitive and demanding wine industry, establishing a brand from scratch and attaining an enviable international reputation shows both extraordinary creative talent and business acumen. I applaud this family-run partnership between Brothers Mathew and Michael Hill-Smith (M.W.) and Cousin Martin Shaw. Bravo!
Discovering a special vineyard during a recent trip to Italy still has an excited Curtis Marsh salivating.
Having just returned from Tuscany, the current issue of Wine Spectator caught my immediate attention. Its front cover – emblazoned with the words “Brunello di Montalcino, best wines, restaurants, hotels” – had an evocative picture of the medieval hill-top village that brought back a spontaneous flood of experiences and gastronomic elation.
Within the steep slopes and valleys of Sancerre, Sauvignon Blanc reflects the individual soils and microclimates of its terroirs, and is a world apart from the popular New Zealand wines of the Marlborough region.
The entire world seems to be producing Sauvignon Blanc and the whole world willingly drink it. But wine consumers tend to identify Sauvignon Blanc with the New World rather than the time-honored names of Sancerre or Pouilly Fume in France.
Congratulations to Tim and Judy Finn and their team in reaching this significant milestone.
Thirty years is a lifetimes work and when you have started a vineyard from scratch in a region that has had no viticultural history, realizing the vision takes an unyielding resolve to overcome the many challenges of nature and human-nature in an uncharted path of discovery and evolution. Tim Finn says it was about 1991 that they started to realise the full potential of the Neudorf vineyard which in some ways you could attribute to vine age and selection (that is the right grapes for the site) although I suspect considerable hands-on experience was starting to really show results.
