Fires, floods, pestilence and Pinot Noir

D

David Lloyd

David Lloyd
Last weekend we were privileged to have Allen Meadows aka Burghound as the keynote speaker at the Mornington Peninsula International Pinot Noir Celebration. This was the fifth time that the biennial event has been run and with a new venue and tweaked format it was a great success. People came from UK, France, Switzerland, Germany,New Zealand, Hong Kong, USA and of course Australia. The last event closed with horrible fires burning vineyards an hour away and nearly 200 fatalities. This event opened after a locust plague had hit Victorian Vineyards and floods devastated North East Australia and a few days later the nation awaits a cyclone that is about the size of USA to hit North East Queensland. The event saw cool climate Australian Pinot Noir come of age as the first flight contained Pinots from as far apart as WA and Tasmania. The flight showed great fruit, harmony and charm as all present loved the purity of fruit and especially the Pinosity. As the event and the assembled 200 people moved through 964 bottles of wine a lot of very stimulating discussion ensued. The closure debate was just below the surface and a cork taint rate amongst some wines reached as high as 4 out of 19 bottles and was usually between 2 and 3 per 16 bottles. Guest sommelier (from France) , Christian Maier expressed concern that maybe he had been in the New World too long as he couldn't believe that some burgundians could not see the impact of low level cork taint on terroir. A famous Australian wine writer then commented that he was more worried about early oxidation under cork rather than taint. Etienne de Montille and Pascal Marchand presented some excellent wine as well as a vigorous defence of tree bark closures. Brett reared its ugly head in a wine that many knew well and Burghound had previously scored well demonstrating that maybe the old adage about great bottles are the key not great wine. Highlights were the awareness of great Pinot Noir from both Germany and Switzerland and of course the quality wines presented by Christian Serafin and Etienne de Montille. The 2008 Mornington Peninsula Pinots looked bright and sweet fruited but the power behind a superb flight of 2007s stole the day with Burghound suggesting that Paradigm Hill 2007 in particular seemed well structured for aging. I will be spending time in Germany, France and London in September as we hunt out worthy wines for the 2013 event and invite people to nominate producers for me to seek out.
 
It's greg dal piaz!

Has anyone had Serafin recently? David, it seemed that complaints of excess wood on those wines were much more common in the US than in Europe, and some of us hypothesized that the US importer might have had something to do with the difference.
 
David, screw Germany, France and London, what about Austria? Achs, Reinisch, Heinrich, Umathum, Loimer, Preisinger, et al are producing great Pinot Noir that would be worth having a look at during the 2013 event.

-Eden (be careful though- it might result in people being inspired to plant St Laurent or Blaufränkisch on the Mornington Penninsula)
 
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
David, screw Germany, France and London, what about Austria? Achs, Reinisch, Heinrich, Umathum, Loimer, Preisinger, et al are producing great Pinot Noir that would be worth having a look at during the 2013 event.
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if any of those are as good as the 07 from michlits, I am with you
 
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
David, screw Germany, France and London, what about Austria? Achs, Reinisch, Heinrich, Umathum, Loimer, Preisinger, et al are producing great Pinot Noir that would be worth having a look at during the 2013 event.

-Eden (be careful though- it might result in people being inspired to plant St Laurent or Blaufränkisch on the Mornington Penninsula)
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any thoughts on the 2002 Weingut Familie Prieler Pinot Noir??
 
I haven't tasted Prieler back further than 2004, but 2002 was a pretty good vintage in the Burgenland and Sylvie Prieler had a couple of vintages behind her at that point so the wine should be good.

-Eden (I think Blaufränkisch would actually do quite well in Victoria but I'm not sure they'd be able to sell much of it. Then again, Moric sells out at around $100/btl in Melbourne and it's not even the Alte Reben)
 
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
I haven't tasted Prieler back further than 2004, but 2002 was a pretty good vintage in the Burgenland and Sylvie Prieler had a couple of vintages behind her at that point so the wine should be good.

-Eden (I think Blaufränkisch would actually do quite well in Victoria but I'm not sure they'd be able to sell much of it. Then again, Moric sells out at around $100/btl in Melbourne and it's not even the Alte Reben)
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I'd have to say that Austria was a real problem. I searched and emailed but got very little response. Many Austrians took part in an event in Singapore so I chased down the people who hosted the event but they too couldn't get any wine. I had a contact/writer on the ground in Vienna and despite their intervention could not get any wine. We were happy to pay for a bottle including postage to Australia yet got no response. The one Austrian wine here was OK but the Swiss and German looked much better so we gave up. Who is Moric?
 
Given the way Austrian Pinot Noirs sell out in country, and the pain inducing prices most command outside of Austria, I am not sure why it's worth bothering.
 
originally posted by David Lloyd:
Germany
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-Engelsberg, Reinhold & Cornelia Schneider
-Oberrotweiler Kirchberg GG, Salwey
-Centgrafenberg R, Rudolf Fürst
-R Wildenstein, Bernhard Huber
-R Bombacher Sommerhalde, Bernhard Huber
-Assmannshauser Höllenberg cabinet naturrein 1959, Staatsweingut Eltville

And if you also are searching for cheaper wines this is a real QPR winner:
-Spätburgunder, Weingut Stefan Steinmetz
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
It's greg dal piaz!

Has anyone had Serafin recently? David, it seemed that complaints of excess wood on those wines were much more common in the US than in Europe, and some of us hypothesized that the US importer might have had something to do with the difference.
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Thankyou all for great suggestions. I was rather stunned by the amount of new oak that Christian uses BUT it didn't leap out like it does in many US PN. The wines looked very good although I am not a Gevrey kinda guy, preferring Volnay and Chambolle. The wines by Etienne de Montille were more my kind of palate.

With respect of peoples suggestions about Austrian, German and Swiss I have a few further requests. Firstly, the event is a celebration of Pinot Noir and we present a range of wines and styles. In 2007 we had Kosta Browne which caused great discussion as their wine style really polarized the audience. This time a local wine that used 100% whole bunch did that and its maker preaching from the pulpit with conviction was fantastic. The availability of wines to the Australian market is irrelevant. The reason I went to so much trouble for the Swiss/German/Austrian wines was because Jancis Robinson who was our previous keynote described their quality and strongly suggested we seek them out. My problem is to find a shop in UK or France where I can purchase them and get them sent by Royal Mail to Australia. We then place them alongside other candidates and I set it up so nobody was expecting them and as such no bias/anticipation occurs.
So if you can suggest shops/merchants and maybe a url for them I will continue the search when I am in London in September. My London agent actually went out and bought some at various places including Fortnums before posting them on. A few wineries sent them directly and one Swiss winery seems so exclusive they simply said none would be available as it is all sold in advance. Lucky people.I will not be chair of the next event but still on the organizing ctee. Our aim is to celebrate Pinot not just revisit the known and safe path and we do have until Feb 1, 2013 to get the next event ready.
 
To clarify, I am seeking wines in the first instance for the organizing committee to taste at a blind tasting to see if they fit in to a particular flight as well as using it as a way to quality control the suggested wine. At the event last weekend we had two problems. One was cork taint with some burgundies being as high as 4 out of 19. Our sommeliers picked them all up and any doubtful ones were double checked by Kate McIntyre MW and myself with the producer. The one wine that slipped past was a Faivelly 2004 Latricieres served in a flight of older wines ie all 2004 from NZ, Oregon,Aust and Burgundy. We had tried this several times and agreed with Burghounds notes. It didn't have the green character and was clean, rich with great length. The sommeliers found little cork taint and the wine was sent out. Much to my surprise this batch ie all 15 bottles used, showed Brettanomyces to a level that drew one media member present to question why we even served it. So next time a winemaker will also check wines as they are being served for Brett. However, to return to my general point, we try and quality control months before the event by trying all candidate wines blind. So please let me know of UK/Paris shops (URL would really help) where I can seek out German, Swiss and Austrian Pinot of quality. BTW, feel free to add Pinot Nero but as I was in Italy last Oct and found none suitable apart from those imported to Australia and seen regularly I have not added them to my list.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
You guys get good speakers. Thanks for the discussion.
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One of the best speakers was in 2003, Matt Kramer. But that said, I loved the way Jancis describes wines. I was also entranced by Burghounds encyclopaedic detail. When we had Aubert de Villaine and his wines, Matthew Jukes was the perfect MC/keynote along with Australias own James Halliday to work with Aubert. I am not sure whether it is OK to list the pics but for those interested see http://tinyurl.com/6fa3bnc and I will include some from previous events at the end as I have a beauty of Aubert, lovely person.
 
originally posted by David Lloyd:

So if you can suggest shops/merchants and maybe a url for them I will continue the search when I am in London in September.
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In Germany, buy them directly from the producer. Schneider with their very interesting Engelsberg do no export at all.
 
originally posted by Arnt Egil Nordlien:
originally posted by David Lloyd:

So if you can suggest shops/merchants and maybe a url for them I will continue the search when I am in London in September.
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In Germany, buy them directly from the producer. Schneider with their very interesting Engelsberg do no export at all.
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I found their website and they are only an hours drive from Strasbourg where we have 2 days before moving to a gite in Eguisheim which is only 54 minutes away according to Google maps. So I think I will have to spend a day away from Alsace in Kaiser Stuhl. September becomes more interesting. Any tips for a nice lunch venue in Kaser Stul? ie not a heavy duty place as I will be on a tight leash both from the PDG and time wise. Thanks Arnt.
 
How about speaking to retailers in Switzerland? Both Gerstl and Caduff (I think it's called wine loft) have extensive selections, get good allocations (including Gatenbein, if you want a big and interesting name), but the former is definitely expensive. Not every winemaker wants the hassle of sending a few bottles to Australia. If you get a few cases, you could get Swiss Cargo to airfreight it over.
 
Thankyou we used a retailer to supply the wines but Gatenbein was indeed the winery that did not respond to our enquiries and we could not get the required 07 or 08 vintage from the retailer. But with your suggestion we will look into Gatenbein.
 
originally posted by David Lloyd:

I found their website and they are only an hours drive from Strasbourg where we have 2 days before moving to a gite in Eguisheim which is only 54 minutes away according to Google maps. So I think I will have to spend a day away from Alsace in Kaiser Stuhl. September becomes more interesting. Any tips for a nice lunch venue in Kaser Stul? ie not a heavy duty place as I will be on a tight leash both from the PDG and time wise. Thanks Arnt.
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There are actually many good places to eat in Kaiserstuhl. Of course the Schwarzer adler in Oberbergen is the most well-known and probably best place. But expensive, michelin-star type. Good options for lunch:

http://www.gasthaus-zum-kaiserstuhl.de/ (Lunch 12-14. Closed mondays)
More creative type, lots of herbs from their own garden.

http://www.sonne-schelingen.de/ (Lunch 12-14. Closed tuesday/wednesday)
More traditional style, but great food. Very cheap for the quality.

Gantenbein
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Actually Franz Keller in Oberbergen, in the middle of Kaiserstuhl, sells the pinot noir from Gantenbein. There's a wine-shop there on the corner of Schwarzer adler. I suggest contacting them in advance if you would pick up here. http://www.franz-keller.de/kontakt/
 
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