|
Strewth! More
Aussie Gems
2003
was a bumper year for our Australian range with huge critical
acclaim for our ranges from Suckfizzle,
Stella Bella and Two
Hands. Well, our roving wine buyer, Giles Cooke, has
just returned from said country bearing what he believes are
some of the best “finds” yet. He would say that
wouldn’t he…
|
|
|
Alliance’s
Aussie offer looks for regional diversity and a real
“sense of place” so where better to look than
Coonawarra. Justifiably, Coonawarra has a reputation
for some of the most refined and most terroir specific
wines in the country and our new agency, Majella
Estate is right in the heart of it. Having grown
grapes for some of the most high profile wineries in
the region, Brian Lynn (otherwise known as the Prof)
started bottling under his own label in the early nineties.
Critical
acclaim followed swiftly and Halliday now rates all
the wines as near perfect! Indeed, the 1998 Malleea
was, on Halliday’s reckoning, just about the finest
wine he had tried from that vintage. We are very excited
about working with Majella, a true thoroughbred estate
with much substance and quality. The 2001 Shiraz and
2001 Cabernet will be with us in a couple of months
with further releases later on in the year.
|
Truly
great wines are always made in marginal climates and there
can be no greater example of this in the New World than Domaine
A in Tasmania. Scepticism that such a cool climate
can ripen Cabernet Sauvignon is immediately blown away when
you try the Domaine A Cabernet from 1998 or 1999. Elegant,
dense, concentrated, intense and deeply sensuous, these are
remarkable wines. Matthew Jukes said of the range that it
was the most “gob-smacking range he had ever tasted”.
Halliday has also recently raved about the wines, describing
the ultra low production Lady A Fume Blanc as the finest wooded
Sauvignon in the world – praise indeed! We haven’t
even mentioned the pinot noirs yet. Stoney Vineyard is the
second label of Domaine A and is meant to be a more approachable,
fruit driven range but many top quality producers would be
happy to make wines of this level. Many of the wines are going
to be in short supply but do try to taste one of them –
you are sure to be blown away.
 |
|
Finally,
no wine tasting would be complete without an Aussie
beer at the end! Taking a huge leap into the relatively
unknown, Alliance has now taken on the fab beers of
Little
Creatures. Based in Fremantle, Perth, Little
Creatures is a micro brewery with attitude! Set up by
Phil Sexton (ex of Devils Lair winery), Howard Cearns
(he designs the labels for Stella Bella) and brewed
initially by Janice McDonald (she who makes Stella Bella
& Suckfizzle), Little Creatures is a cult brewery
with the accolade of Champion beer of Australia for
its Pale Ale.
It’s
a great brew, delightfully aromatic and almost gewurz
like on the nose. Clean refreshing and hoppy on the
palate. Available in about two months time, it’s
the ultimate end to an Aussie wine tasting.
|
|
