They are beaut, bonza and fair dinkum, mate! Translation: They’re great! When I tasted today’s pair of Aussie wines last weekend, that’s what came to mind.
As an exchange teacher to Adelaide in South Australia in 1978, I spent a year teaching Down Under and dipped my toes and tongue into the vast ocean of quality wine that was merely doorsteps from my home and school.
Forty years ago, there was no Chardonnay planted anywhere in Australia. The best white wines were White Burgundy, which was really Semillon, and Rhine Riesling, which was Riesling. And one of today’s wines is a Riesling, the 2017 Pewsey Vale Riesling ($19.99) from the Eden Valley in my favourite state, South Australia.
The Eden Valley is next to the famous Barossa Valley, but is higher in elevation, which makes it ideal for the cool-climate Riesling. Pewsey Vale has made wine for the past 170 years so they should be good at it. The appearance is a typical Riesling, pale yellow. But the nose delivers much more than the colour; it’s a wonderful floral and peach aroma.
The Pewsey Vale’s flavour is even more complex. I tasted green apple and apple pie spices, citrus, with a lime finish, plus plenty of minerality, especially chalk. The minerals remind me of Chablis, which suggests this Riesling demands oysters! And with a generous amount of crisp acid this is definitely a wine to marry with food, like halibut.
The other team member of my Australian duo is the 2015 Yalumba Strapper GSM ($23.99) from the famous Barossa Valley in South Australia. The Barossa is Australia’s equivalent of California’s Napa Valley.
As it was only 20 minutes away from my Australian home, I quickly fell in love with this prestigious heart of Australian wine. Back in 1978, there was no Shiraz in our B.C. stores. My first tasting in the Barossa was a Shiraz and that luscious red blew me away.
Although I still love Aussie Shirazes, I have become fonder of what they call, GSM’s, a blend of Grenache, Shiraz, and Mataro
And the Yalumba 2015 The Strapper GSM from the Barossa Valley is a winner! It is the poster child of a wine with summer fruit and terroir, the earthiness of the place it is grown.
There is an exquisite bouquet of strawberry, savouriness and cracked black pepper. Sip it and enjoy more complexity with ripe but dried fruit earthiness, smooth tannins, and a fruit and licorice finish. An elegant cuvee, indeed!
Make sure you decant this red for an hour to let “the genie out of the bottle.” In other words, to let it reveal its complexity. Serve with black olive gnocchi with tomatoes and basil, perhaps ratatouille, maybe Thai beef salad, why not chicken tagine with prunes and olives.
Eric Hanson is a Richmond educator, a wine enthusiast, and a fan of anything Aussie.
Ehanson0705@gmail.com
