TN Beechworth Tasting Melbourne 29/08

[mychurch]

Dont know if anyone else made it to tonights Beechworth tasting in Melbourne. Nice venue and not too many people.

No detailed notes, just some observations,

First in the door at 5:30 I started on the whites, which primarily meant chardonnay. A lovely selection, they were all well made and seemed to show a general richness as well as good use of oak. The top 3 for me were the 16 from Indigo, which was quite restrained and layered, the 18 Baarmutha, which was more intense and had a stroke of pineapple on the finish, and the 17 Fighting Gully Road, which had the best structure and reminded me a lot of Curley Flat.

The best wines for me of the day though were the Rhone whites from Warner. New name to me and I was impressed by them all from the odd '15 Chardonnay Marsanne to the sublime '15 The Rest, Rousanne, which really was the wine of the night. The bottle age had integrated all the oak and the slightly spicey aniseed fruit was layered, harmonious and long. Bargain for $33 and I took 3 home with me.

I'm not really a red drinker any more, but I enjoyed the 2 Syrah wines from Madmans Gully and the "lighter" styled Shiraz from Baarmutha. 3 of the producers had a Pinot Noir and I cant say that they were up to much. The 17' Stanley Pinot from Ninth Mile was warm and savoury and reminded me of a young Flor de Pingus - not exactly what they were intending , while the same producers 17 Mayday Hills Pinot was a mess, with licorice, violets and coconut.

Venue was the Revel HQ on Sackville Street in Collingwood and it worked well. Good glasses, plenty of water and lots of bread and cheese to keep everyone going. They have a few other events over the next month and I will go back and try them.

Never been to this sort of tasting in Melbourne and really found it odd to have security on the door. I suppose Melbourne wine drinkers are a bit roudier than the Dutch drinkers I am used to.

[winetastic]

Never been to this sort of tasting in Melbourne and really found it odd to have security on the door. I suppose Melbourne wine drinkers are a bit roudier than the Dutch drinkers I am used to.

Probably a law stating that if you have over a certain number of "drinkers" in a venue, you need to have x number of security staff.

Australia is strangely puritanical about this kind of thing.

[Wizz]

I notice no mention of Giaconda, Savaterre or Castagna - were they represented?

[mychurch]

No, no big names.

Around half of the producers from Beechworth were there and they were all small.

I'm a bit out of practice for these tastings, so I did not get around everyone. Producers I have notes for were
Piano Piano
Traviarti
Indigo
Beechworth Wine Estates
Warner
William Kurt
Castagna
A Rodda
The Nineth Mile
Fighting Gully Road
Madmans Gully

From that list I had only previously drank Piano Piano, A Rodda and Beechworth Wine Estates.

[paulf]

I was a little bit tempted to go along, but it is a bit out of the way from work and home so I'd need a compelling argument for me to go.
I'm also up in Beechworth at the end of September.

I think Rodda makes the Warner wines. He sources fruit from the vineyards for some of his own too. Giaconda is the most famous name associated with the vineyard, as they do a well regarded shiraz that is source from the Warner vineyard. Domenica, who also weren't there are right next door. I guess the other bigger name that was missing that hasn't been mentioned would be Sorrenberg

I've heard good things about the Fighting Gully Road wines so I'll try to find a couple of their wines while I am up there.

[maybs]

Giaconda don’t do the Warner Shiraz anymore, I believe the owners of the vineyard didn’t renew the contract to supply the fruit and now put out their own label from the vineyard which is about 2/3 the price of what the giaconda was and still a lovely wine. I agree with Mychurch that their Rhône blends are good and so too is their Chardonnay. A definite under the radar winner

[conformistpete]

Jamsheed also made a Beechworth Syrah and a Roussanne from the Warner vineyard. Not sure if it's still in the portfolio.

[I Love Shiraz]

Giaconda don’t do the Warner Shiraz anymore, I believe the owners of the vineyard didn’t renew the contract to supply the fruit and now put out their own label from the vineyard which is about 2/3 the price of what the giaconda was and still a lovely wine. I agree with Mychurch that their Rhône blends are good and so too is their Chardonnay. A definite under the radar winner

I get really annoyed when you see some wineries that have a certain reputation just charge what they like. The example here is Giaconda.

[ticklenow1]

I've heard good things about the Fighting Gully Road wines so I'll try to find a couple of their wines while I am up there.

I haven't tried the Shiraz yet, but the Chardonnay is excellent. Good value too.

Cheers
Ian

[via collins]

That's a really fine list of wine-makers, even without a few of my favourites.

William Kurt's chardonnay is great, Castagna's portfolio is great, actually, I'll give up listing now - most of them are very good. My appreciation for Beechworth wines increases year on year.

And the spend per year too. Ripper place to visit as well. Set up an appointment with Pete at Domenica if possible Paul.

cheers,