Mark's Blog

05 April 2008

Dalwhinnie.

On a recent trip to Australia I was lucky enough to pay a visit to Dalwhinnie.  The Vineyard is located in the picturesque village of Moonambel  which is in the Pyrenees region of Western Victoria. Early morning rain made the prospect of a 3 hour drive not too appealing, however as is usual in Melbourne, within an hour the Sun shone and temperatures were heading into the thirties. The drive west took us through the town of Ballarat, famous for being the centre of Victoria’s gold mining past. It is also the home of the renowned  Beechworth bakery where we stopped for a coffee and a pie to help us on our way. After a further hour of driving we came in to the village of Moonambel and spotted a sign for Dalwhinnie. The vineyard is situated next door to the much larger Taltarni estate which also produces some fantastic wines.

As you turn into the drive of the vineyard you are greeted by a truly spectacular sight: set on top of a hill is the modern winery and cellar door and spread out underneath is probably Australia’s most beautiful vineyard. Set in 18 hectares, the vines undulate and roll out in to a natural amphitheatre. The thing that strikes you is that it is very European. It reminded me of vineyards of North-Eastern Italy or Spain. Planted at 595m above sea level it is also the highest vineyard in the region.

 The land was purchased in 1972 by local Ballarat architect Ewan Jones. Noticing the success of the neighbouring Taltarni estate wines, Ewan had the foresight to establish the vineyard in 1976. Ewan’s son David took over the management of the estate in 1983 and eventually bought the property off his father in 1994.

David Jones is terroir-ist. I don’t think he would mind me labelling him as this, I even think he would smile and agree. He is one of the truly great Australian winemakers, who are at one with and understand every inch of the land that they own. He also understands the relationship between the soil and all the different microclimates that occur on his property and how these affect the style of the wine that he makes. To start with, David is passionate about the Shiraz grape, he is a fan of the great wines of the Northern Rhone. The vines are not grafted, there has been no phylloxera in the region for about 100 years. The clones are meticulously selected. Some of the cuttings date back to the original vines from Best’s vineyards.

After some introductions, David takes Damina and I on a walk through the vineyard, we pick a juicy apple of a nearby tree and headed into the vines. The harvest is only about a week away and the fruit hangs heavy on the vines. The leaf canopy is slightly brown and this is more noticeable in certain parts of the vineyard; this is due to the severe drought that has affected the area for the last few years. To this end David does not irrigate his vines, another nod to a distinctly European leaning. A very strong breeze is blowing through the vines and with every twist and turn we go through rows that are sheltered and rows that are not. The one thing that lets you know that you are in an Australian vineyard is the smell of Eucalypt in the air from the nearby gum trees. Oh, and the kangaroo fence that circles the property.

After our walk, we went back to the cellar door to have taste of David’s wine. We started with the Moonambel 2005 Chardonnay.  This wine is a real delight; to understand David’s wine you have to know that he and his wife Jenny are both lovers of fine food and understand that the great wines of the world harmonise with truly great cuisine. David regularly seeks the opinion of sommeliers from Melbourne’s finest restaurants to see what they believe to be the direction winemakers should be taking. So, back to the wine… The Chardonnay had a bouquet of Melon and white peach with a hint of new French oak. The palate was fresh and crisp with a lick of minerality running through it. The use of oak was deft and added another layer of complexity to an already masterly crafted wine. The fruit was firm in the style of Grand Cru Chablis yet hung around in the mouth for what appeared an age. To be honest, this wine has made fall back in love with great Chardonnay.

On to the Shiraz. We tried three different expressions, Moonambel, South West Rocks and the legendary Eagle Shiraz. The Moonambel Shiraz has an attractive bouquet of blackberry and toasted oak, then you get the hint of Eucalypt that identify it as Australian. What I wasn’t expecting was the notes of bay leaf and Thyme. The palate continued in the same vein. The fruit was bright and not over extracted and the herby flavours literally danced on the palate. The South West Rocks is a new single vineyard expression that hopefully we will have at Vinology. The clue to the vines position is in the title, the rocks refer to the quartz that litters the region, a leftover from the past gold rush. The Rocks is like a big brother to the Moonambel. The flavours are similar yet a lot more intense with a denser core of fruit. I really thought this wine was exceptional. Finally we had the highly acclaimed Eagle Shiraz. This is truly one of the finest wines in Australia. The intensity of the fruit without a hint of extraction is purely down to David’s skill as a winemaker. This is a hard thing to achieve and is down to producing exceptional fruit and having the courage to pick it at exactly the right time, then investing in some of the finest French oak and using it both sparingly and wisely. These wines appeal to those who appreciate subtlety and finesse a probable reason as to why David has given up trying to sell his wines in the US. Thankfully they fall off the radar of Mr Parker.

After tasting the wines we all sat down to a great lunch of antipasti and a couple of well selected wines. I sometimes ridicule Australian food. However, the locally smoked ham that David’s farther had requested for his 80th birthday was some of the best I had ever eaten.  The conversation flowed and the topic of Pinot cropped up. The Moonambel Pinot is also a very good wine. David popped in to his cellar and came back with a bottle of Bass Phillip Pinot, made by Phil Jones in Gippsland and probably Australia’s finest Pinot producer. So as you can imagine lunch went on for quite some time.

We left with a feeling that we had been to a very special place indeed and that were privileged to have spent time with one of Australia’s most visionary winemakers. I truly believe that in the next few years Dalwhinnie wines will be the most sought after in Australia. The Eagle Shiraz is already high on the langtons list and surely the rest will follow. I look forward to visiting the vineyard again next year and to selling David’s wines. 

At a recent wine seminar in Australia the head of Tesco’s BWS, the rather pompous Dan Jago , told the great and the good of the Australian wine trade that they should change the style of the wine that they make  to a lighter style of wine with a little less alcohol to suit Tesco’s customers. Now you can imagine that was well received from the mouth of a Pome! Now I do not have the audacity to tell a whole country how to make their wine. However maybe if they kept up with the Jones’, it wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Cheers,
Mark.