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From our Spring 2011 newsletter The Tin Shed:

I was at a second hand book store last week and bought some old lifestyle magazines. Why? Because I like to see how we saw ourselves in the past and how we have changed, or not as the case may be.

These magazines were about 10 to 12 years old, and I have to say food wise we haven’t changed much at all. Baby fennel, goats cheese, chorizo, bags of mixed lettuce are just as fashionable now as they were then.

One tag line on a front cover made me scoff – “Why Pre-mixed Drinks Have Had Their Day” What a bold statement. Pity it hasn’t come to pass.  I’ll put that up there with “Child Poverty will be a Thing of the Past”.

What I did find interesting was the changes in wine. In an article on the top wines under $20 (even better value now) headings included Riesling, Chardonnay and Miscellaneous Whites and Reds. And guess what was under Miscellaneous Whites – Sauvignon Blanc! Not miscellaneous anymore as last year it became the top selling white in Australia, making up 30% of white wine sales. Pinot Noir was a Miscellaneous Red – again a surprise for only 10-12 years ago.

FW

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The Tin Shed

From the Archives

2011

Food and Wine

From our 2014 Newsletter The Tin Shed.  We held several sourdough demonstrations, and I like to think there’s a few still at it out there!

While on a road trip in the US last year, we visited the Russian River wine region of California and while browsing a bookshop in Healdsburg (as you do) picked up a CD copy of Michael Pollan’s “Cooked – A Natural History of Transformation”.  It was great listening on long car trips - an exhaustive history on why we cook our food the way we do.  We were, of course, immediately attracted to his section on fermentation in all its various guises.

The discussion on bread, and sourdough bread in particular, caught our attention.  We’ve been making our own bread for ages but we had not taken the next step of “wild fermentation” breads, as we have with our red wines.  Michael introduced us to Chad Robertson and his life’s mission to make bread with soul - the perfect country loaf.  I love the painting (opposite) by Emile Friant (1888) that inspired Chad’s mission.

Similarly inspired, I’ve been mucking around with Chad’s instructions for making a basic country loaf in his book “Tartine Bread”.  After many tasty but somewhat dense test loaves, we’ve hit on an approach that works well with our local flours, and even includes a secret ingredient!  A few other important points:

steam is critical to baking good bread

managing the fermentation well is the most important skill to develop

sourdough doesn’t have to be that sour (in fact “sourdough” is a bit of a misnomer)

sourdough starters are simple to manage

small changes in approach can make a big difference to the results

you need to develop a feel for your dough and be flexible

It’s been fun, and we’d love to share some of our bread recipes with you – Fiona makes a great ciabatta too.  Learn how to make basic sourdough bread (or bring along your own bread and share your secrets!) at our winter solstice celebration – bookings required!

NM

From our newsletter The Tin Shed of 2014, the beginning of our “Mr Natural” range of wines…

For some time now we’ve been fermenting our reds using “natural ferments” – no added yeast.  We wanted to see if we’d left anything behind taking this step so we divided our first pick of Shiraz into three batches.  The first batch dubbed ‘Mr Natural’ was allowed to start fermenting naturally and although it took longer to get going, it completed fermentation close to the other two. The second had some nutrient added – still a natural ferment.  The third had nutrient and yeast added.  All the ferments progressed well, though at times the aromas and activity did vary.  The batches were pressed separately and put into separate barrels.  All have excellent colour  (very important for tannin development) but have quite different flavour profiles.  The natural ferments tend to be more savoury while the added yeast tends to create more fruity notes.  The wines are still very young and not complete so it’s a bit too early to have a firm opinion on what might be best, but we will continue to explore and contemplate more natural, low input winemaking.

For the first time this year we also made a sparkling Rosé.  It was inspired by a wine dinner we attend in January, hosted by wine judge and writer Mike Bennie.  The wine dinner was titled “Wines you need to know about.” and started with sparkling wines made using the technique “methode ancestrale”.  The wine is bottled before fermentation is complete, so bubbles are created in the bottle.  These wines are often a Rosé made with no added yeast, no sulphur dioxide, unfined and drunk fresh, either during the vintage or in the following spring. 

Our sparkling Rosé was made from a small batch of Tumbarumba Pinot Noir.  Fermentation started like clockwork, but then at what point do you bottle the wine?  It turns out we bottled a little too early – it’s rather (very) fizzy but it tastes very pleasant, fresh, fruity and refreshing. It is a little cloudy as the yeast lees have not been removed (as you would with “méthode champenoise” ) but I think this adds to its charm and character – as Neil points out its very much like a Coopers Sparkling Ale.  It was available for tasting at the recent Wine Harvest Festival and

was very well received.  So the challenge for next year is to tone down the bubbles and make it just as pleasant to drink.

FW

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Winemaking

From the Archives

2014

A

An excerpt from our 2016 newsletter.  After some further local research, we selected Fiano, partly because we can see it suiting our climate, partly because it’s a beautiful wine, and partly because it’s an anagram of Fiona!  Looking forward to a small crop in 2020:

A warmer 2016 vintage reminded us that we need to think of the future, and perhaps the wines of southern Italy might be worth a closer look.  Abruzzo, Campagna and Sicily were our targets – well south but the better wines are grown in the cooler, higher regions on the mainland, and with coastal influence in areas of Sicily.

Wine highlights of the trip:

• Fiano – a lovely soft, rounded wine white, highly fragrant, beautifully textured, could make a good addition to the stable.
• Greco di Tufo – a wine makers wine, restrained, high acidity, citrus, highly reminiscent of a nice, dry Riesling.
• Aglianico – we’ve tried a few good Australian examples, and it didn’t disappoint, quite tannic when young, tarry, liquorice, a big wine, often blended with something a bit softer. Memorable due to the lady who made our lunch being born in Canberra and returning to Taurasi (Campagna) when she was 13.  Best antipasti!
• Montelpuciano – widely planted, and made young and fresh through to dark and brooding. Cherry, plum, drying tannins, lean and structured.
• Nero d’Avola – gaining momentum in Australia, makes Sicily’s only DOCG wine – Cerasuolo di Vittoria – when blended with Frappato.  Full bodied, smooth, ages well, a bit like shiraz.  We visited COS in Vittoria where they are fermenting and aging some wines in buried amphora.

Of course, the wine is only half the story.  The local cheeses, breads, pastas, salamis, prosciutto, seafood (it was tuna season!), and game meats were superb.  And the coffee – addictive short blacks for about $1.50.  Absolute standouts – fresh cheeses of Abruzzo, aged cheeses of Sicily, the original buffalo mozzarella from around Naples, chestnut pasta in Abruzzo, Bisteccia Florentina in a Tuscan restaurant in Rome, fresh anchovies stuffed with mozzarella in Sicily, boned (!) rabbit wrapped in prosciutto and poached in wine.  Also great – all this was reasonably priced (OK except for the Bisteccia).

NM

From our 2012 Newsletter The Tin Shed.  We'd now add "lean", "savoury" and "varietal" to our house style.  The new label has stood the test of time, too:

Things take time in the country.  It takes time to master your craft, know what’s special about your piece of land and where it fits in the local environment. It takes time to know your vines and your vineyard, and how they react to each unique season.  It takes time to listen, learn from others, read and taste extensively and it takes time to develop your own philosophy.

After 15 years, we think we have identified the unique Yarrh style.  A move towards sustainable and organic farming practices combined with winemaking technique refinements including the use of natural fermentation has been fundamental to the Yarrh evolution – the wines are now edgy and elegantly structured.

To match this evolution of style, we re-engaged the original designer of our label, George Macintosh of Some Cowboy. George’s task - refresh the look of Yarrh wines, evolving the brand to reflect the handcrafted, natural, premium products in the Yarrh range.   We think he’s done a great job and we really feel our new brand and label look are worthy replacements.

Each of this Spring 2012 club wine packs contains some wines with the new label.  What do you think?  So far reaction from customer and the broader market has been very positive.

NM

From our 2012 Newsletter:

I had the opportunity to be part of the 2012 Canberra International Riesling challenge in October as an associate judge. Just judging one grape and a noble one at that would give great insight into its diversity of style from around the world. Riesling is a grape that, more than any other variety expresses the place where it is grown. As a winemaker my task is to capture that and preserve its purity and intensity of flavour.

I was part of one judging panel of three judges and two associate judges. Knowing only the year of the wines, we individually assessed each wine in silence and then conferred.  Only the judges’ score is counted for the medals, though any wine that was given a gold medal score by a judge or associate was brought back to be discussed and reassessed. Judges came from Germany, Singapore (they are serious about wine there) , New Zealand and Australia.

So how do you judge a wine? In a wine show a wine is assessed on its merits against an ideal wine and not each other. It’s how the wine tastes today, not how it might develop in the future that is important.  The attributes of the ideal wine vary from judge to judge and this is why there is a panel to provide a forum for discussion and consensus. Scores can vary a lot. One judge may give a gold for a wine where another gives it no medal. In the end this wine may get a bronze. At other times the wine gets gold from all the judges.  So what do you look for in a Riesling.

1. No faults – like oxidation or volatile acidity (VA), mouldy characters,
2. Balance between fruit intensity, acidity, phenolics (small amounts add texture and interest to wine) and sweetness (if any) so they combine to give a harmonious, pleasing sensation. with no one attribute dominating the wine.
3. Persistence or length of finish is important. The longer the better.

Some of the judges used descriptors such as  energy, focus, purity, nerve, and line.

And how did my scoring compare to the judges?  There was good agreement, with one or two outliners where on a fresh pour the result was more favourable.

This first foray into wine judging though challenging and at times very intense was not to be missed.

FW

It’s easy to fall into a narrow view of the world of wine, particularly as a producer.  You get so wrapped up in what you do and how you do it on a daily/weekly/monthly horizon that you sometimes miss the broader context.  With this in mind, I recently completed a WSET Level 2 Wine and Spirit course to broaden my wine knowledge.  You could also say I was trying keep up with my wife, who recently excelled at the AWRI’s Advanced Wine Assessment Course in Adelaide (it doesn’t come much more advanced than this in Australia – training for wine judges) and was invited to be an associate judge at the International Riesling Challenge.

The Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) was founded in 1969 to provide high quality education and training in wine and spirits, and is based in the UK.  If you’re in the trade, for example a sommelier or wine merchant, then these are the sought of qualifications that really help you out.  WSET courses are run locally by the Sydney Wine Academy (www.sydneywineacademy.com.au), and I was lucky enough to have the Director of the Academy, Clive Hartley, as our course tutor.  I was also lucky enough to attend the course at the beautifully located Podfood in Pialligo (now closed, but try John's food at The Boathouse).  Thanks to John Leverink and his team for REAL coffees made to order on arrival and catering that was well beyond the usual fare for a training course.

Level 2 is challenging enough for the average wine buff, but not so challenging as to lose sleep over.  There’s three days of workshops over five weeks, and an expectation that you will study for a further maybe 10+ hours, then sit a closed book exam.  No blind tastings in the assessment – that (big) step comes in at Level 3 and just gets more challenging as you head to the Diploma level.  To give you an idea, here’s a Level 2 practice exam question:

“Pale lemon colour, with citrus and tropical fruit aromas; off dry, with high acidity and medium body” best describes…  pick one of four multiple choices [answer = South African Chenin Blanc].

I found the course interesting, educational and fun – what more could you ask for?  Challenging to start the first tasting at around 10 in the morning (with a predictable joke as to whether this was or was not your first drink of the day) but we tasted many wines that I would only occasionally encounter in everyday life.  Some interesting examples:

• 2007 Poderi Colla Barollo “Bussia” – 100% Nebbiolo grapes, grown in the Dardi di Bussia area of Piedmonte, north western Italy.  Still a young wine for this style, my tasting notes (a combination of what I tasted and what was agreed by the class, led by Clive) say “clear, medium garnet colour, nose of medium intensity with earthy, leather, vegetal, cedar notes and a palate displaying mid-high acidity, high tannins, medium bodied with a long finish.  Overall conclusion: rated good to very good.”  My informal conclusion – Nebbiolo is an intriguing variety and hard to understand when you’re accustomed to much fruitier wines, but I’d like to know more.  Very tannic but alluring all the same.  [Note to self - can I grow some in Murrumbateman?]
• 2010 Roland Tissier Sancerre – 100% Sauvignon Blanc grapes, from the upper Loire (formally Central Vineyards of the Loire region) “Light lemon in colour, nose of medium intensity with an apple/citrus nose, palate of high acidity, mineral characters, green apple and some herbaceousness, medium length.  Overall conclusion – acceptable.  Plenty of time left in the bottle, an ideal accompaniment to salad items and plain white fish or oysters.”

There were lots more – Vouvray (Chenin Blanc), Melon/Muscadet from Loire, Soave from Veneto in northern Italy, Spanish Mencia, Barossa Shiraz, Sonoma Zinfandel, Premier Cru Chablis, Chilean Chardonnay from their central valley, Cabernet blends from Medoc (Bordeaux) and Western Australia, sherries, ports, etc, etc.  Overall we tasted 22 wines from 22 regions of France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Hungary, South Africa, Chile and of course Australia - does tend to put things into perspective.  Did you know that while there are over 1,500 wine producers in Australia, there are about 22,000 wine producers in Bordeaux, making about 50% of Australia’s total production, and that’s just one region of France?!  This fact alone either intrigues you to learn more, or prompts you to put the genie back in the bottle and quietly walk away.  I think I fall into the former category….

As well as the tastings, you spend plenty of time working through the theory – wine regions (lots of macro and micro geography and geology here), grape varieties, viticulture (I should have nailed that part of the exam!), winemaking, as well as some discussion on spirits and their making.  Oh, did I mention we tasted some whiskey, brandy and tequila too?

All in all, the course has broadened my wine horizons and, importantly for someone in the industry, provided a great opportunity to educate and benchmark my palate beyond the national context, at least at a basic level.  It also gives you a formal framework to assess wines, another important tool to have in your toolbox.  Overall conclusion - highly recommended.

NM

A quote from 2011 – says it all, really:

"If you've never tried wines from Canberra District, Hilltops and/or Tumbarumba, all in the southern part of NSW around the city of Canberra, you are truly missing out on some of the most exciting new wines coming out of Australia today." 

Lisa Perrotti-Brown, MW, Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate