Penfolds’s latest ‘ultra-premium’ chardonnay release, the 1995 Reserve Bin 95A Chardonnay, continues the spectacular run of show success related to the company’s ‘White Grange’ project, which culminated in the Yattarna white wines from 1995 and 1996. It collected three trophies at the Adelaide Show, including the Best White Table Wine and Most Outstanding Table Wine. Many people believe the 1995 Bin 95A should have been released as the first Yattarna. When I tasted both chardonnays in January 1998 I preferred the length and structure of the wine which ultimately became the 1995 Yattarna, but this wine was a serious contender for some time. My tasting notes are presented in Out Now on page 15. Incidentally, when I first tasted it, I scored it 17.4. Meantime, the Best Table Red wine in the Adelaide Show was named as Orlando’s 1996 Jacob’s Creek Limited Release Shiraz Cabernet, which also collected the Montgomery Trophy for the Best Full Bodied Wine at the show. This wine has also collected three trophies at Sydney. It will be released in mid-2000 for around $70 a bottle, so place your orders now. Sometimes they get on a roll. The 1998 Wolf Blass Eden Valley Chardonnay, which retails for a mere $16, collected four trophies at the Liquorland National Wine Show in Canberra, including the trophy for the Best Table Wine of the Show. It’s a big, disjointed and heavily worked wine which simply reeks of American oak. History tends to suggest that the judges in Canberra prefer their oak from the western shores of the Atlantic. I tasted this wine in May 1999 and rated it at 15.8. There are times, when I read results like these, when words simply cannot tell how unspeakably glad I am that I do not judge wine shows. One of my favourite Australian wines, Clonakilla’s Shiraz, was recently named Wine of the Year at the New South Wales Wine Awards. The successful wine was the 1998 vintage,which can be bought at the cellar door for $36 per bottle. It was rated 18.5 mid year in the OnWine Report, so don’t say you weren’t warned! The Best Wine in the Show at the Royal Hobart Wine Show was Lindemans Padthaway Pinot Noir 1998. The selection of this wine, which is very much a Chairman’s decision, marks the end of Dr Max Lake’s long stewardship at Hobart. I tasted it in June this year and marked it at 15.0 points. With eleven trophies, or 40% of those on offer, BRL Hardy had a fine time at Canberra. Seven of these trophies, plus another for sparkling shiraz, were won for red wines. Quite an amazing effort, really, and a very just reward to close a brilliant decade of red winemaking by this nimble-footed large wine company. It has taken some persuasion for Lindemans to save some of its best chardonnay from its extensive Padthaway development for release in Australia. A wine which won two trophies at the recent Adelaide Wine Show, its 1997 ‘Winemaker’s Reserve’ Padthaway Chardonnay is now available for around $26. The first release was sold overseas. See page 4. Wither Hills Pinot Noir 1998 was named Champion Wine of the Show at the 1999 Air New Zealand Wine Awards, the first time a pinot noir has achieved this distinction. The Reserve Wine of the Show was Villa Maria Reserve Chardonnay 1998. The best sauvignon blanc was awarded to Palliser Estate Sauvignon Blanc 1999, the best merlot to CJ Pask Merlot 1998 (which I have tasted ex barrel with great enthusiasm) and the best gewurztraminer to Te Wharera Duke of Marlborough Gewurztraminer 1999.
