It is already six years ago since my last visit to Australia. So it was time again to satisfy my curiosity and find out how the wine industry developed in Australia.
We met Mr. Neil Mc Guigan and he told us that the winemakers had a vision: ‘We had wines like Riesling, we had wines like Burgundy and we had wines like Rhône wines.’ The vision about the option of making wines with the authenticity and origin of the grape and the wine area itself has changed.
At the 10th of August 2008 the first part of my journey started at the Hunter Valley, were it was very cold early in the morning. It was the end of the winter and the spring was starting in Australia. Here, vineyards are situated from the flat area to the light foothills. This means cooler winds and more rain with a result of fresh wines.
We brought our first visit to ‘The Brookenwood Winery'. At this winery we tasted Simillon's with a crispy caracter, citrus fruit and fresh nuances. We tasted a Simillon of 2005 in combination with marinated scallops and ginger. This was really a perfect combination.
 We also tasted a Tyrell's Vat 1 2002 Semillon. It had a light taste of ripe lime fruit and was intensive with mineral notes in the final part of the mouth. Next was a McWilliams Mount Pleasant Lovedale Semillon 1996 and showed us the potential of ripening; light honey, crispy, fine acidity style, intense and mineral nuances as a final touch.
When we discovered the Orange area I noticed that every block has its own territory. Under supervision of Philip Shaw and senior winemaker Debbie Lauritz we tasted the rolling and climbing assortment of Cumulus. It was impressive to taste the difference of the wines which were made from a block above and a block under 600 meter level. I am looking forward to see how those wines are going to develop themselves.
Restaurant Marque (Sidney) gave an impression of the new style cuisine and we were surprised that they served us NV Devaux Blanc de Noirs. The 1994 Crawford River Riesling, Condah, Victoria was a still, lively, complex wine which will do very well with the line caught Squid with Tuna and the black olive consummé.
The next visit to Penola brought us an interesting village with a beautiful restaurant called ‘Pipers'. Here, we met Mr. Hollick, Leconfield Wynn's and vineyard Manager Allen Jenkins. I tasted a medium-rare sirloin of Mayura Station Wagyu beef. This twice cooked beef cheek was served with garlic puree, truffle potato écrase with horseradish cream. It was nice and tender and served with the wine called Wulga Shiraz of Hollick 1999. It was a smooth, medium acidity, with ripe forest fruit (black berries), spicy and peppery notes in the final kind of wine which gave us a balanced combination of meaty and spiciness and ended in a tasteful feeling. The following Magnum Wynn's 1965 Cabernet Sauvignon was superb, with nuances of ripe fruit and well developed but still vinous in the mouth at the end.
During our visit to the Wynn's winery, Mr. Langworthy showed us how he also had influence on the vineyards management by producing more concentrated grapes by cutting his vine plants in the right way.
In Parker in Coonawarra we tasted a range of 2004, 2005 and 2006 vintages. The Cabernet's 2005 where ripe and concentrated wines. The Merlot of 2006 is given the highest rates. Their Third Grow's range were really tasteful CS wines with intensity, cassis, round, fruit potential, light dry tannins in the long end (2005 with a natural cork closing was outstanding).
Did we discover more after the 15th of September? Find out in the third part of ‘Down Under- Australia' and in the meanwhile let us drink a Chardonnay, Hungerford Hill, Tumbarumba; Vanilla, flowery bouquet with a fresh start, medium intense exotic fruit, almonds, soft and round, crispy during the dry taste afterwards..
On behalf of the entire Ciel Bleu team,
Noël Vanwittenbergh
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