Day 7 – Heathcote & Macedon Ranges;

We travelled up to Yabby lake (who produce wines from Mornington – but also have ‘Heathcote Estate’ in Heathcote ),  winemaker Tom Carson was supberb in showing us a range of wines they have in the UK including their ‘Red Claw’ range (the pinot is remarkably good for its price point) their Yabby lake range was also most remarkable – with top end wines in a selection of single block wines – which were stunning.

Again as seems the norm now we completed some barrel tasting – fantastic seeing the different clones and noting how they differed from the same clones grown elsewhere.

We also tried the Heathcote Estate Shiraz; heathcote being one of the most talked about regions for Shiraz of the past few years.

We then travelled for a few hours to Bindi in the Macadon ranges – this small producer, very much famed for excellent wines, but nothing could ever, and I mean ever prepare you for a visit here – you can really hear the ground has almost its own heart beat and Mike is very much listening to, understanding the lye of his land perfectly from the ancient volcanic flows shown in the this picture:

To the quartz based soils … which are here:

Followed by an amazing tasting; the pinots were stunning but the winner hear (which had the entire group wow’ing over it) which was the run away success was his Chardonnays – the Quartz being one of the finest chardonnays I have ever tried … think of Lobster salad – with Samphire salad & a lemon & lime mayonnaise – then think of a crisp white wine to match … forget my love of helping to guide people with reference to the traditional classics … forget the classics – this is a new classic – perfectly pristine – with fantastic poise on the palate – citrus & minerals in perfect harmony (are you getting the idea I liked this one?) ,…. This along with Mac Forbes & Ocean eight will make some fantastic seafood wines for us at Estbek!

We were kindly given a superb dinner of as Mike would describe as ‘Lamb and leaves’ which is the most understated way of putting this superb meal. I think this visit will live in all the groups mind for a very long time!

Day 6 - Rutherglen

Sorry the last few days have been as can be so have not had much chance to log on to say what we have all be up to … but here goes ….

Day 6 – Rutherglen;

The following day after our fantastic dinner at All Saints we arrived at Campbells for a vineyard tour with Colin – describing their history & current business – which made you realise how far this place is form everywhere! Colin’s fourth generation of the family, and one of the most well respected winemakers.

These guys use a Solara system for blending their Muscats and Tokay (Topaque) & Colin talked through how the solara was established and the amount of work which went into it, followed by what you can only describe as a ‘sticky wine lovers’ idea of heaven! AKA masterclass of Muscat’s and Tokay (sorry cant get use to the new name), tried through each classification; increasing in complexity and simple deliciousness, sorry tasting notes later! Although I must say the Rare of both were simply fantastic!

After a quick pit stop lunch (local Rutherglen pie shop – awesome!) we went back to All Saints; where we were shown around the old winery – seeing the old steam generator which use to operate a system of cogs and pulleys around the winery – which they are in the process of restoring; something I would love to see working – Matt???? Also showed us the concrete vats they use which are wax lined & to replace the wax each year they have to use a blow torch & scraper and go back to basics in what you can only immagen must be one of the most sole destroying jobs around!

We tasted their Muscats from barrels – tasting a range of years - unlike campbells they don’t use a solaria system instead using large vats and a blending regimen to achieve their blend. With final tasting of the completed blends of both Muscat and Tokay – Estbek wait till we get these over!! (Chocoloate pudding for the Muscat & cheese for the Tokay!)

Gazing evening … (UK terminology: Pub Crawl) … we met up with Luke Lambert, Mac Forbes, ??? and Bill Downie, all splitting up into small groups and going around a few good eateries for some amazing food and wine (although some of the staff were more akin to Catherine Tate’s Lauren character … am’I bovered?)  Ended up with the evening be a monumentally good one, although the hang over was equally as memorable – and heaven knows what we were all talking about with the winemakers, reminds me of some Estbek staff parties!!

Day 4: Yarra Valley & Over to Rutherglen

Today’s been quite an interesting day, first off we went to Giant Steps in Yarra Valley, where we learn about their winery (dam impressive inside), with a fantastic vertical tasting from 2005 – 2010 of their Taraford vineyard Chardonnay – very impressive silky tones with an increasing amount of depth and complexity with further age. The 2009 was also very interesting to hear how the grapes were picked – the day directly after the vineyard to burnt to minimise smoke taint.

Then went off to meet 3 small producers who have each taken the Australian wine industry by storm – Mac Forbes / Luke Lambert & Timo Mayer – I will come back to their tasting notes when I get back to the UK – but there reading along the lines of wow, wow, wow!

There guys are the type of first rate small wineries the Yarra seem to specialise in, Mac’s Chardonnays (2008 & 2005 of Woori Yallock) which were delicate, naturally quite pure, mineral, with a complexity which increased deliciously with age.

Timo’s Pinot Noir was also fantastic & Luke’s passion for Nebbiolo is infectious, will come back to that later.

Then drove up to Rutherglen – which was about 3 hours on the road, quite a journey! Quickly dropped our stuff off at the hotel then met up with All Saints winery team at the winery for dinner, locally caught Murry Cod – which was slightly more waxy than our UK cod – but very moreish! & Followed by many fantastic wines – the Marsanne & Durif being particular favourites.

Day 3: Tahbilk & De Bortoli

Tahbilk:

Arrived on Monday night and were taken for a boat trip around the wetlands on the Tahbilk which they are most proud of restoring (rightly so), headed back to the wetlands café and had an amazing dinner.

Today took a look around the winery – simply fantastic, full of history & style – the essence of the place was more than just in the building – parts of the vines themselves were planted in 1860 and still carefully tended today, making the most fantastic wines.

Tried loads of fantastic wines – to many to write about at the moment, but the highlights were:

Marsanne; 2008 & 1999 – the 2008 was incredibly fresh with a rich complexity and tropical fruits, lemon sherbet and clean spritz – ideal for Estbek; would work with Hot smoked salmon & samphire salad! – The 1999 was more intense with a honeyed character – will come back to this one later!

2001 Vintage Marsanne from the 1927 vines – a buttery complexity with a fruit acidity well defined and some mild tannic structures, deep, structures and very complex.

Shiraz: 1860’s vines & we tried wines made from this fruit back to 1971 – simply out of this world, there is such an intensity of style and as you let the wine open its as if your peeling layer after layer off the wine to see what’s inside!

Then had a great lunch (accompanied by a great Marsanne vintage 2010) – of great pasta & a sort of omelette (pumpkin / egg / frittata).

De-Bortoli:

Arrived at 4.30pm – tour around this amazing winery; Steve Webbers approach is well documented so I wont ramble on about that … but I will say his wines are simply stunning – I hope the pinots are in the UK – will be checking that out when I get back!

Right off to get some sleep.

Day 2: Mornington Peninsula (Kooyong / Ocean Eight)

Sorry been a busy day today so will keep blog quite short – I think the jet lags catching up!

Kooyong:

Visited Kooyong; one of the Mornington Peninsual’s most respected wineries – full of elegance and style – tried across the range from an impressive Pinot Gris (Beurrot) to some fantastic chardonnay’s Farggo being a personal favourite, in the reds there was a range of pinot noirs to which this region is famous for (more later), again difficult to decide but a favourite would be the Ferrous (2005).

Sandro Mosele (winemaker) showed us the full process and impressive barrel storage, again will come back to that.

Ocean Eight:

Ok this was one of the wineries I most wanted to see; lets just say Estbek will be ensuring we list this wines as soon as they are bottled and shipped. Owned by the Aylward family and run by Mike Aylward (his parents set up Kooyong), who is an impressive character – before I arrived I had read up on his wines & style in good detail – I can say all the good words said are from my visit today quite honest!

We tried a sparkling which he makes as a curio & is sold in a few Melbourne restaurants (who have their individual bottling & dosage added!), impressive but sorry completely overshadowed by the next wine – the Verve Chardonnay – vintage 2008; this wine has taken the Australian wine world by storm & it will take our wine list by storm too! We all agreed if you were given this blind you would be hard pressed to even think it was ‘traditional’ Australian style as it is incredibly ‘chablis’ in style – very good acidity & salinity with that oyster shell note & impressive restrained character. Made in much the same methods. Also trying the 2009; which was impressive but not as polished as the 08, with the 2010 tank sample being very much back on track (2009 was a very hot summer here which made the vintage incredibly challenging)

We also tried a range of Pinot Noirs including a set of clonal (so the individual grape types) samples, very interesting, and again as with the chardonnay very much made in a food friendly style & a personal favourite out of the pinot noirs we have tried.

After Ocean Eight we headed a hundred or so Kilometres to the Nagambie Lakes & Tahbilk where we enjoyed a river cruise & dinner … more on that tomorrow!

Day 1: Gippsland (William Downie)

Travelled for about 90 mins from Melbourne CBD to Gippsland an area west of Melbourne, not yet sub-divided into regions yet; however in essence it has three distinct areas. (I will come back to that in a later blog).

William Downie (http://www.williamdownie.com.au/)

This is regarded by many to be one of the ‘hot’ wineries to watch, Bill’s passion for Pinot Noir is astounding, the philosophy is to produce a wine which has the quality levels you would expect from a leading burgundy producer but which shows the essence of the site & wine making in Australia – something he is very much achieving, but which will grow with his winery, making the future interesting for us all!

We arrived on a cool-ish spring day, a little mist and rain in the air – but Bill has a big log fire going with a delicious lunch (which matched the wines very well – everyone at Estbek when we have Lamb on the menu next spring; these really are the wines to have!)

Will also post some pictures later on of his vineyard which has been planted to NV6 & Pommard clones, with planting of the entire vineyard equalling 11 thousand plants per hectare.

We tasted across the range from a Pinot Noir (Gippsland) from 2010 which has not been treated with SO2 which was an interesting curio to try also a Petit Mangseng 2009 from King Valley made following the fires of that year which affected the Yarra & Gippsland fruit so with his free time Bill decided to give this a go (having long been a lover of its wines in France).

Followed by three Pinots from Yarra (which was lighter in style), Gippsland (tighter, more for keeping) & Mornington (lighter & more structured). The mornington was most peoples favourite – mine was the Gippsland.

Bill also pulled out some magnums of 2005 & 2004 from Yarra.

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