[question] Question submitted by Andrew Connolly, Australia At some point recently you have downrated – at times significantly – many of the scores for Giaconda’s reds, notably the cabernet. What has happened to these wines? Only the ’02 shiraz seems to have bucked the trend. [/question] [answer] One of the best, and possibly most revealing tastings I conducted last year was a full review of Giaconda’s wines in February (2005), which Rick Kinzbrunner staged (in considerable heat) at the winery to mark its 25th Anniversary. This tasting, which was the first Giaconda vertical I had tasted for a number of years, confirmed a number of things, especially the status of Giaconda Chardonnay as arguably Australia’s finest. It was the first vertical of this winery’s Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz I had ever had the opportunity to taste, while it was the most extensive Pinot Noir tasting I had seen for ages. Usually I get the chance to taste these wines when they are released to the market, or just prior to this. I was as surprised as anyone by the performance of the Cabernet Sauvignon, and indeed by the (non) performance of the Pinot Noir. The good vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon (2002, 1999, 1998, 1991) stood their ground, but the mean standard was below expectation. I am sure that global warming has played a role in this, by contributing to an increasing number of hot seasons. Indeed Kinzbrunner has reacted by grafting over his original pinot noir vines and by planting more pinot on a significantly cooler site on his new (Warner) vineyard. The common issue with the Cabernet Sauvignon that I downgraded was a presence that had developed in the bottle of excessively herbal and greenish characters, while several Pinot Noirs shows baked and greenish qualities, with brettanomyces clearly evident (and occasionally dominant) in several vintages in the mid 1990s while Kinzbrunner was admittedly pushing the funky style rather hard. As a group, the Shirazes showed more than enough from a young vine vineyard to suggest that this variety is very likely to become Giaconda’s signature red wine. The full list of Giaconda wine ratings can be found here [/answer]
