There’s interesting news for those stuck with the view that Australia’s finest wines are the exclusive product of shiraz grown at the South Australian regions of the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale: you’re out of date.While these regions continue to create wines of their typical depth and strength, and in styles as diverse and as valid as those made from Peter Lehmann to Torbreck, they represent but two sources of Australia’s finest wines. With over sixty fully identified wine regions Ð plus a number still awaiting recognition Ð Australian wine today extends from its classic expressions of dry, austere rieslings and semillons to silky, fragrant pinot noirs, to spicy, savoury sangioveses and classically elegant and stylish expressions of the cabernet family. Plus much more, including the shirazes it’s famous for! Perhaps it’s worth dwelling for a moment on the modern Australian shiraz story. Finding a natural home in cooler regions like the Great Southern (WA), Great Western (Victoria), Yarra Valley (Victoria) and Canberra (ACT), shiraz effortlessly produces finer-grained, more spicy, peppery and savoury wines with more in common to the styles of the northern RhÌ«ne Valley than traditional warmer Australia. Many such wines are today even labeled ‘Syrah’, while a number also feature a tightly interwoven splash of viognier, ÌÊ la CÌ«te-RÌ«tie. The result is a broad and fascinating spectrum of wines, reflective of their site and climate.The Australian wines I am featuring here are the top ten Australian wines of the last twelve months, headed by my current Wine of the Year in the 2011 edition of my book, The Australian Wine Annual.Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2009 (98)This wine, already known as Australia’s finest expression of the traditional CÌ«te-RÌ«tie, has just ramped up another notch. The 2009 season has produced a Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier with more texture, structure and layers of depth than any previous vintage. The viognier, occasionally rather flirty and evident in young Clonakilla, is enveloped by the remainder of the wine, which simply builds in perfume and depth the more aeration it receives. In fact, quite by accident, I left a sealed but half-full bottle of this wine on my tasting bench for three days Ð after I had already left it open for two. It was sublime on day five, with deep, alluring layers of aroma, flavour and texture, and without even a hint of deterioration.So, with the same measure of confidence with which I have enthused over Clonakilla since I first reviewed the winery in August 1996, I am happy to say that this is the best vintage yet made by this signature producer, and one that will certainly continue to develop in the bottle over the long haul. Initially developed in 1971 by John Kirk, a plant scientist for the Australian Government’s research organisation, the CSIRO, Clonakilla began to shift its emphasis towards shiraz in 1990, when it was kept apart from the cabernet sauvignon with which it had hitherto been blended. The reaction was immediate and positive, especially once John’s son Tim returned from a visit to the northern RhÌ«ne Valley in 1991 with a head full of ideas and a conviction that the vineyard in Murrumbateman Ð within what has since become the Canberra region Ð was best suited to producing a finer, more savoury and tightly crafted shiraz along RhÌ«ne-ish lines.Early blends of shiraz and viognier also included a small portion of pinot noir, but since the mid 1990s, Tim Kirk has fine-tuned his use of viognier as the sole partner with shiraz, with which it is co-fermented. Having left a teaching career behind, Tim has managed the winemaking and business at Clonakilla since 1996. With his wife, Lara, he developed an adjoining vineyard to the original plantings, bringing the total area under vine at Clonakilla to its present level of around 9 ha.Tim Kirk agrees with me that 2009 was a special vintage for his flagship, but from a winemaking perspective, says he has done nothing especially different with the wine. It’s my guess, then, that something has happened in the vineyard, perhaps within the significant portion of the vineyard that remains relatively young. Have the vine roots penetrated a new, rich layer of subsoil structure? I’d love to know. Meantime, I very much doubt that this exceptional wine is a once off. Giaconda Chardonnay 2008 (96)Another substantial, complex and richly textured chardonnay from this remarkable vineyard. It’s very assertive in its youth, and will certainly benefit from at least two to three years of cellaring as a starting point, to smooth out into a typically long, unctuous and savoury example of what this unique site can produce. This vintage is perhaps even more textured and mineral than its predecessors.Giaconda Estate Vineyard Shiraz 2008 (97)The first release of a shiraz sourced 100% from the amphitheatre-like estate vineyard at Giaconda is remarkably powerful, dense and long-living Ð a classical, full orchestra impression of what shiraz can deliver when site, vintage and maker are each of sufficient quality and cooperation. This wine takes the modern, savoury expression of Australian shiraz into unchartered, but incredibly exciting territory.Grosset Springvale Riesling 2009 (97)Jeff Grosset’s ‘second’ riesling really deserves this title no more. Perhaps strangely Ð since this vintage very closely resembles its more famous stablemate of Polish Hill Ð it actually surpasses it. With exemplary perfume and brightness, length and minerality, this benchmark wine should develop superbly in the bottle for at least one decade. It’s a perfect reflection of a terroir strongly influenced by grey slate and limestone. Hardys Eileen Hardy Chardonnay 2008 (97)The finest wine yet to appear under this classic but under-recognised label perfectly captures the brightness and intensity of fruit, tightly integrated oak, measured funky and meaty complexity, fine-grained texture and minerality so sought after in contemporary chardonnay. Sourced 56% from the Yarra Valley and 44% from Tasmania, its elegance, restraint and wonderful acid balance will help it mature gracefully over the longer term.Leasingham Classic Clare Sparkling Shiraz 2004 (97)From one of the greatest of all Australian vintages and arguably the nation’s finest sparking wine maker in Ed Carr comes a superb modern impression of Australia’s idiosyncratic contribution to wine diversity. Combining exceptional purity of shiraz fruit with a tightly managed evolution of smoky, leathery and meaty complexity, this wine has the texture, length and balance to improve for many years.Paradise IV Chardonnay 2009 (96)Since its first vintage in 2007, this wine has pushed the boundaries of Australian chardonnay. Under a new viticultural regime the 30-plus year old vines are producing low crops of Montrachet-like intensity and richness at relatively low levels of alcohol, to which Doug Neal then imparts edgy, but deftly balanced complexity. This is the finest example yet, and while it’s a more powerful, unctuous style, it should age slowly and gracefully.Seppelt Drumborg Vineyard Riesling 2009 (98)Another stellar, near-perfect riesling from this exceptional, mature cool climate vineyard. The leading wine in an comprehensive tasting of Australian riesling going back to an exemplary 1977 Leo Buring Leonay I staged for Georg Riedel, this wine reveals as pure a line of fruit, minerality and acidity as you can imagine, with a perfume that becomes more enticing and floral as it breathes. Voyager Estate Chardonnay 2008 (97)The finest wine yet released by the steadily improving Voyager Estate, and a more restrained and elegant release than the sumptuous 2007 release. It marries Margaret River unctuousness and concentration with a gentle, fluffy smoothness, finishing with exceptional length and softness. I’d expect its faint minerality to become more evident with time.Yarra Yering Dry Red No. 2 2008 (97)A remarkable wine, which with others of the excellent 2008 vintage for Yarra Yering, re-establishes its presence amongst the elite. Made from a typically eccentric cepage of 95% shiraz, 2% viognier, 2% mourv̬dre and 1% marsanne, it’s a luscious, deeply and seamlessly presented red underpinned by the finest of backbones. Expect it to build in the bottle with time.
