Over the past few weeks I have noticed an unprecedented number of new ranges of wine cross my desk. I’m talking about the appearance of entirely new collections of wine about which I know absolutely nothing. Nevertheless, out and onto the marketplace they go, sporting their new names, logos and labels. For many of their owners and makers, judging by the hyperbolae published on their back labels, this is clearly their first time around as far as wine is concerned. The wine market has never been more competitive than it is today. On one hand is this plethora of new brands, the number of which surely exceeds their ability to be distributed. On the other hand, the large makers are throwing huge resources into less-expensive brands, often doing their level best to convey the impression that their new labels actually come from small boutique makers. It is a tough time to be launching new brands onto the market, especially if the quantity of wine knocking around your warehouse means you need to distribute it nationally. So, as much of a service to myself as anyone else, I thought I’d find out about some of the new ranges and assess their wines. Alexandra Bridge Region: Margaret River Owners: Australian Wine Holdings (publicly listed company) Price range: $19-24 Located near Karridale in the southern reaches of the Margaret River region, the Alexandra Bridge label is part of an aggressive group with sufficient grasp of wine marketingspeak to claim it will release an ‘ultra-premium reserve’ brand in 2003, followed by an ‘icon’ wine in 2004. Pick of the whites is the Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2002 ($19, 17.0, drink 2002-2003+), which presents everything most drinkers would want from this blend from this region. Dusty and grassy, its nose is laden with intense tropical fruit, gooseberry and passionfruit aromas, while its palate is juicy, brightly flavoured and finishes with a zesty cut of acid. I’m less taken with the Sauvignon Blanc 2002 ($19, 15.0, drink 2002-2003), which is too sweaty and cabbagey, and lacks length of palate. There’s also a fast-developing Unwooded Chardonnay 2002 ($19, 14.8, drink 2002) that’s dull, buttery and green. No better is the Cabernet Merlot 2001 ($24, 14.8, drink 2002-2003+), a cooked, dull and meaty red permeated with minty menthol regional influences and varnishy oak. The Shiraz 2001 ($24, 16.8, drink 2003-2006) is a handsome improvement. Its spicy, peppery aromas of intense plum, mulberry and cassis fruit and tight-knit oak precede a lively palate of pleasing depth. I’d like it more if it didn’t finish lightly green and sappy. Edwards Region: Margaret River Owners: Edwards family Price range: $19-26 In 1993 the Edwards family began to plant what has since become more than 50 acres of vineyard on their Margaret River property. Their label only includes estate-grown fruit. Other than the Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 ($26, 15.2, drink 2002-2005) which is dull, vegetal, minty and meaty on the nose and simple and hollow to taste, the wines are competent, flavoursome and interesting. The Sauvignon Blanc 2002 ($19, 16.0, drink 2002-2003) is a typically regional grassy and vegetal expression of the grape, but packs enough juicy gooseberry and blackcurrant fruit to get away with it. The Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2002 ($19, 16.0, drink 2002-2003+) is more sweaty and pungent, but its underlying passionfruit, tropical fruit and lime flavours are sufficiently lively and its acids clean and fresh. Best of the range is the Shiraz 2001 (16.5, drink 2003-2006), a meaty, briary red whose earthy, peppery and licorice complexity and savoury finish nicely counterbalance its punchy plum and cassis flavours. Giant Steps Region: Yarra Valley Owners: Phil and Allison Sexton Price range: $20-23 Established in 1998 by experienced wine and beer industry entrepreneur Phil Sexton, Giant Steps is a substantial new vineyard in the Yarra Valley whose first releases have been made from third year vines. Allison Sexton oversees winemaking, which is taking place at the contract operation of Master Winemakers. Phil Sexton’s illustrious background includes the Devil’s Lair vineyard and the Matilda Bay Brewery. At around $20 the first three varietal releases from Giant Steps are competitively priced and competently made, exhibiting genuine varietal qualities. The Sextons are looking for strength and structure in these wines, and they’re already delivering. The vineyard is all of 78 acres, and as it matures special parcels will be set aside for releases under a Sexton label. The Chardonnay 2001 ($20, 16.6, drink 2002-2003+) is generous and uncomplicated, with fresh peach, pineapple and melon fruit of good ripeness and a creamy, juicy presence in the mouth. The honest and assertive Pinot Noir 2001 ($20, 16.1, drink 2002-2003+) is rather firm and slightly cooked, but its spicy floral notes, maraschino cherry fruit and slight sappiness present attractive varietal qualities. Best of the first releases is the Merlot 2001 ($23, 16.7, drink 2003-2006), packed with plum and cranberry fruit matched, framed by firm, powdery tannins and offset by sweet chocolate and vanilla oak. It should flesh out well with time. Hesperos Region: Margaret River Owners: Jurg and Sandra Muggli Price range: $17-24 Viticultural consultant Jurg Muggli and his wife Sandra founded Hesperos in 1993 specifically to explore possibilities with a more savoury expression of shiraz in Margaret River. Sauvignon Blanc joined the list two years ago. To date the fruit is sourced from various growers using Muggli’s services and a 6.5 ha vineyard was planted in Witchcliffe last year for this label. The Sauvignon Blanc ($17, 15.0, drink 2002-2003) is made in a very oaky expression of the Californian fume style, with varnishy, dusty vanilla aromas over delicate grassy and gooseberry fruit. It lacks length and could perhaps use a shot of semillon to give punctuation to the finish. The Shiraz 2000 ($24, 14.8, drink 2001-2002) is a fast-developing, browning, oaky and rather stale red whose simple, hollow palate of plums and cooked berries lacks texture and vitality. Neagles Rock Region: Clare Valely Owners: Steve Wiblin and Jane Willson Price range: $18 Neagles Rock began in 1997 when Steve Wiblin and Jane Willson combined and extended two separate vineyards in the heart of the Clare Valley to their present size of 40 acres. The label focuses on the traditional regional varieties of cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, riesing, semillon and grenache, with the recent addition of sangiovese. Like many others in Clare, this brand has produced a delightful Riesling 2002 ($18, 17.0, drink 2004-2007+). Its perfumed aromas of rose petals, lime juice and pear precede a juicy, almost crunchy palate whose pristine fruit and juicy texture are finished by lemony acids. The Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2002 ($18, 15.2, drink 2002-2003) is herbal and dusty, offers light gooseberry, passionfruit and melon flavours, but is hidden beneath some assertive toasty vanilla oak. It might surprise with time in the bottle. The Grenache Shiraz 2001 ($18, 16.6, drink 2002-2003+) is an easy-drinking, smooth and supple short-term prospect whose sweet raspberry, cherry and plum fruit is matched in intensity by meaty, earthy, smoky and licorice-like musky complexity. Pettavel Region: Geelong Owners: Mike and Sandi Fitzpatrick Price range $14-40 Pettavel is a hugely ambitious and expensive development that has seen a 1,000-tonne winery developed to handle production from the Fitzpatricks’ 135 acres of vines at Sutherlands Creek and 30 acres at Pettavel. The Fitzpatrick family has a long history of growing wine at Mildura and until recently sold their Geelong-grown fruit to Scotchman’s Hill. At first release Pettavel has already developed a three-tiered structure, although to begin with the labels are a little difficult to discern between. The wines being introduced to the market were made at Mount Langi Ghiran. The cheapest Pettavel wines are labelled ‘Evening Star’, of which the Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2001 ($14, 14.5, drink 2002) is stressed, citrusy, cooked and short, and the Chardonnay 2000 ($16, 14.0, drink 2001) is flat and stale, thoroughly dried out with orange rind flavours. Next level is ‘Platina’, which comprises a restrained, citrusy and melon-like Chardonnay 2000 ($20, 16.4, drink 2002-2003) with some toasty development, a very rustic and complex, firm and rather hard-edged Pinot Noir 2000 ($25, 15.7, drink 2002-2005) whose dark plum and cherry fruit is compromised by a significant brettanomyces influence, a Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 ($25, 15.2, drink 2002-2005+) with meaty under-ripe and over-ripe characters and a Merlot Petit Verdot 2000 ($25, 14.8, drink 2002-2005) that is already browning in colour and tasting far too green. The top-level ‘Emigre’ label has just a single wine: the Shiraz 2000 ($40, 16.7, drink 2002-2005+), which presents some attractive musky, earthy and peppery small dark berry flavours, a hint or two of briar and a tight, fine-grained tannic spine. Punt Road Region: Yarra Valley Owner: The Yarrahill Winery Price range: $17-22 Drawing on a link with the inner Melbourne carriageway of Punt Road that is tenuous at best (although the road was once home to several vineyards last century), Punt Road is an affordable but slightly under-achieving range of wines that replaces the Yarrahill brand. The rather short and dull Sauvignon Blanc 2001 ($17, 14.0, drink 2002) is tropical, sweaty and citrusy, and seems to have been made from very stressed fruit. There’s some fruit sweetness and life about the oaky Pinot Gris 2001 ($17, 15.7, drink 2002-2003), but it’s rather stale and oxidative, with brown apple aromas and a flat, toasty toffee quality. The Chardonnay 2001 ($18, 15.1, drink 2002) has a dull and developed honeyed bouquet, but is forward and soapy, lacking length and freshness. Meaty, earthy and savoury, the Pinot Noir 2001 ($22, 15.1, drink 2002-2003+) is a little too wild to carry its slightly cooked yet herbal berry and plum fruit. Oaky and varnishy, the simple, greenish red berry fruit of the Merlot 2000 ($22, 14.7, drink 2001-2002) lacks depth and structure. Handsomely the best of the crowd is the Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 ($22, 16.7, drink 2002-2005+), a fine, silky cool climate cabernet whose intense small black and red berry flavours find harmony with sweet cedar/vanilla oak and fine tannins. Shelmerdine Regions: Yarra Valley, Heathcote Owner: Shelmerdine family Price range: $19-24 The Shelmerdine family has been involved in grape growing in Victoria since Ross Shelmerdine founded the Mitchelton vineyards in 1969. The family has since purchased the Lusatia Park vineyard in the Upper Yarra Valley and has developed plantings in Tooboorac and Colbinabbin, both of which have now been admitted into the expanded Heathcote region. The wines are priced competitively, but lack attitude. The best is the Heathcote shiraz, although it contains a grassy component from the Toobroorac site that it would have been better off without. The Yarra Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($19, 15.7, drink 2002-2003) is rather herby and sweaty, but does present some clean, if rather simple gooseberry and cassis flavour, with a hint of passionfruit. Rather clinical. The Yarra Valley Pinot Noir ($23, 14.9, drink 2002-2003) exhibits greenish aromas of raspberries and cherries with some bound sulphide characters. Beginning forward and jammy, it quickly becomes green and thin on the palate, depending excessively on some expensive vanilla oak for texture. The Heathcote Shiraz 2001 ($23, 16.6, drink 2003-2006) matches plummy, pruney ripe fruit with capsicum and bell pepper aromas, before a rather meaty, herbal palate of raspberries, mulberries and cassis, supported by lightly toasty and vanilla French oak. Stella Bella Region: Margaret River Owner: A syndicate including founders Janice McDonald and Stuart Pym Price range: $17-27 Stella Bella is the second or region label for Suckfizzle, whose wines are made by the very capable Janice McDonald. Without being spectacular, the wines are competent and quite fun. The reds are clearly given every chance to acquire plenty of complexity in their youth, while the whites are fresh and racy. The lightly effervescent Pink Muscat ($17 for 375 ml, 16.8, drink 2002-2003) is a refreshing, sweet and fruity excuse not to take a decent drink too seriously. It’s an alfresco beverage whose spicy, tropical flavours and uncomplicated charm will win it many a friend. In a bygone age, I’d have added that it isn’t a drink for blokes. Best of the whites is the concentrated, slippery Sauvignon Blanc 2002 ($22, 17.0, drink 2002-2003+). Pungent passionfruit, herbaceous and mineral aromas precede an almost oily palate of freshness and flavour. Made in a restrained, oak-matured style, the Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2002 ($20, 16.7, drink 2004-2007) is a leaner and more delicate wine with fresh nutty and melon flavours bound by lemony acids. It will improve. Least impressive of the first release is the Shiraz 2001 ($23, 15.9, drink 2003-2006), whose rather herbal flavours and savoury finish lack sufficient cherry and plum fruit to be really convincing. The Cabernet Merlot 2000 ($26, 16.7, drink 2002-2005) flirts with farmyard and brettanomyces influences, but otherwise offers some attractive small berry flavours and a rather polished palate wrapped in medium weight tannins. The unusual marriage comprising the Sangiovese Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 ($27, 16.5, drink 2003-2006) makes a lively, sappy and fruity wine of vibrant small berry, red cherry and herbal flavours without excessive influence from either oak or sangiovese.
