Sangiovese at the 2011 AAVWS #1

Class 15A of the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show (AAVWS) covered 2010 and 2011 sangiovese. In much of the country, 2011 was not a good vintage for sangiovese, with fruit suffering under the disease pressures of cool and wet. But 2010 was a different story, many regions having a break from heatwave, drought, frost and other difficult conditions.

This was a small class of 14 entries. Some wines definitely needed more time to come up (like the 2010 Vigna Cantina), but my general impression of the class was poor. From what I saw under show conditions, the wines I would buy were:
- 2010 Chalk Hill sangiovese (McLaren Vale, stainless steel, then large-format old oak), which took a bronze from the judges
- 2010 Coriole sangiovese (McLaren Vale, strong showing, well worth a gold medal, which it received)
- 2010 Watershed Premium Wines 'Senses' sangiovese (Margaret River, the other gold medal awarded).

It is useful to look at the prices as well as the regions here. The Coriole has a $25 rrp but will often retail at about $20 a bottle if you look. The Chalk Hill is a $22 rrp. $25 for the Watershed. These wines can hit a good balance of quality and price point - something I still think is a fundamental problem with quite a bit of Australian sangiovese. Of the three, the Chalk Hill could afford to dial the 15.5% alcohol back, but did not really show distorting heat that much. The Watershed made me think I need to have a closer look at Italian varieties coming out of WA (the Juniper Estate Tempranillo extending that case into Spain).

Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show 2011

For three days last week I was a steward at the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show, held each year at the beginning of November in Mildura. It was a good thing to do, giving me an insight into how a (good) wine show runs that you don't get as an exhibitor, punter or observer.

I'll do a few posts focusing on different aspects of the show and the results, but to start off, here are a couple of general comments:

1. The quality of the alternative whites, including the 2011 vintage, surprised me. The 'other whites' class (Class 10 - other white varieties or blends) had 11 of 19 entries take a medal (including a bronze for the 2011 Quarry Hill North Block savagnin sav blanc blend). It was the strongest of the classes I tasted through from the steward's table.
   
2. The judges liked the sangiovese classes a lot more than I did. Not much there I would be prepared to pay full tote for. But a couple of good wines that I'll write about later.
   
3. The quality of organisation for the show is evident in the excellent presentation of the results, including the capacity to drill back into wine-specific information. See here for an example. One step further would be to publish the summary judges' comments for each wine, along with the summary of entry.
4. Having tasted all 24 of the straight savagnin wines in Class 5 (a class awarded a solitary bronze medal), I think the judges might have missed some decent wines (such as the 2011 Tscharke 'Girl Talk') that have done well with other reviewers and in other shows. This class and the white rhones really needed to be served with some chill on them, rather than at a Mildura room temperature. Room to do better here, I think, as tricky as the logistics can be.
5. The 2011 Scott Fiano from the Adelaide Hills is excellent - well-deserving of the gongs it collected, including Best White Italian Varietal and Best White Wine. I reviewed the 2010 of this back in January here and mentioned this was a producer to watch, something this show's results confirm.
6. The 'Steward's Choice Award' (a packing room prize), clearly the best nod to get from the whole show, went to the 2010 Greenstone Colorino. My pick for the prize, it was, looking even better than my earlier quick look at the Bibendum roadshow. It will get a proper review, with food, sharpish.

All in all, a great wine show experience. Well-organised and well-run, with a good mix of judges from different backgrounds and viewpoints. Knocked the edges off some of my wine show cynicism too, which is good.

Australian sagrantino at the 2010 Alternative Varieties Wine Show, Mildura

The results, though not yet judging comments on classes, are out from the 2010 Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show held in Mildura last week. My main memory of Mildura from my last visit is a very large speeding fine copped while running late for a dinner at Stefano De Pieri's restaurant. I didn't make it to the show or the seminars and other events that coincide with it this year, but the results provide plenty to chew over about where Italian varieties, blends and styles are at in Australia.

This is the first year sagrantino and sagrantino blends had a class of their own. It is also the year pinot grigio/gris 'graduated' to mainstream status and out of the show. But that's another story.

The sagrantino inaugural class had nine entries, from a spread of regions. Five bronze and one silver medal were awarded across those nine wines, making for a pretty high hit-rate by my books. Five bronzes and two silvers were awarded across 26 presented wines in the 2009/2010 sangiovese class, by way of comparison.

The show would be better served if the results identified wines using actual wine regions, rather than place names many people will not know. That aside the sagrantino roll call, in scoring order (points the last number in each entry, out of 60) is:

Terra Felix (Port Melbourne), Terra Felix Sagrantino 2009, 52.5, Silver.
Oliver's Taranga Vineyards (McLaren Vale), Oliver's Taranga Sagrantino 2009, 49.5, Bronze.
Amadio Wines (Felixstow), Amadio Sagrantino 2009, 48.5, Bronze.
Chalmers Wines (Colbinabbin), Sagrantino 2009, 46.5, Bronze.
Coriole Vineyards (Mclaren Vale), Coriole Sagrantino 2007, 46.5, Bronze.
Preston Peak Wines (Preston), Sagrantino 2008, 46.5, Bronze.
Chalmers Wines (Colbinabbin), Sagrantino 2008 45.0.
Andrew Peace Wines (Piangil), Australia Felix Sagrantino 2007, 40.5.
Gracebrook Vineyards (King Valley), Sagrantino 2008, 40.0.

For the results, see www.aavws.com/media/file/PDFs/2010 Results.pdf

I'll have to go to the AAVWS next year. In the meantime, I'll pull together as many of these wines as I can and have a good look. I like the looks of how the list covers NSW, Victorian and South Australian regions, across a mix of climates.