Westend Estate the big winner at Sydney

One of our customer’s favourites – Westend Estate – last weekend scored a remarkable achievement by winning the “The Wine Society Perpetual Trophy for Most Successful Winery” at the 2010 Sydney International Wine Show. This was awarded on top of a huge haul of nine medals at Australia’s most prolific wine show.

Westend Estate Wines Director, Bill Calabria, collected the award on the day and said the trophy and awards reflected the winery’s commitment and investment in the Riverina region. Enthused Calabria also described the win as a “fantastic note to start the year.” Westend Estate Wines was established in 1945 by Bill’s parents, Francesco and Elizabeth Calabria. The newly arrived young Italian migrants bought with them expertise of traditional Italian cooking and the love of making wines. These were the foundations laid out for what would become one Australia’s most interesting family winemakers.

Today the winery harvests 14,000 tonnes of grapes per annum, exports to over 30 countries around the world and employs over 40 people, including six members of the Calabria family.

 

Chateau de Mayragues

Back in Easter I visited the Tarn region (Gaillac to be precise) of France with my wife and two good friends – we rented a farmhouse among vineyards and spent most of our time eating, drinking and playing this awesome card game called Pit. That and making sure we took in some Pro D2 rugby – Albi v Racing Metro. I got to see the legend that is Andrew Mehrtens play which pretty much made my holiday.

Anyway Gaillac is a pretty traditional wine region (the first of the Gauls apparently), using primarily local grapes such as Loin de l’Oeil, Mauzac, Ondenc as well as Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadet for the whites; and Duras Fer Servadou, Braucol with Syrah, Cab Franc, Gamay and others for the reds. Taking into account the relatively large size of the appellation and the wide selection of permitted grapes there were many different styles, and many different qualities. What struck me though generally was the health – or lack of it – in the vineyards. With no leaves on the vines it was easy to see the problems with soil erosion due to heavy handed use of chemicals.

By complete accident one day we happened on Chateau de Mayragues, the only certified biodynamic producer in the region. Aside from being a stunning Chateau, the owner Alan Geddes is a scottish born astro-physicist who has become a huge supporter of biodynamics. He believed that a lot of Steiner’s principles of biodynamics could be explained through astrophysics and an understanding of the relationship between the earth and space. Heavy stuff but ultimately fascinating. His wines were superb! The show stopper for me was his white 2005 Clos des Mages Blanc. It had been open, with no vacuum seal, for four days and still tasted fresh. I didn’t, and still can’t, understand how that was.

To come full circle I brought a bottle of it home and had it with some Sea Bass, crushed caeser potatoes and rocket salad. Beautiful. I was so wrapped up in discussing biodynamics at the time however that I didn’t write any notes. I think it cost around €9 at the cellar?

2005 Chateau de Mayragues, Clos des Mages Blanc

Out of the frying pan, into my glass

 

Bousquet expands into Maipu

It’s been a pretty remarkable few years for Domaine Jean Bousuqet – from fairly humble beginnings in 1997 DJB have grown to be the number one Argentinian exporter of organic wines. Increasing demand for their wines worldwide have prompted the team to purchase a 72 hectare vineyard in Maipu, Mendoza which is planted with Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Maipu is a well regarded region for Malbec and work is already underway to acquire organic certification for the new vineyard.

 

Perlage

Perlage is a French term for the bubbles or bubbliness (?) of a sparkling wine. It’s also the name of an organic and biodynamic producer of Prosecco based in Valdobbiadene, the top region for production of same. I met with the charming Erika Gallon at VinItaly this year and had a chance to taste through the wines. They happen to be the first and only biodynamic producer of Prosecco, and have just gone one further with the release of their new cru Prosecco, Animae. This remarkable feat of winemaking is biodynamic but also produced without adding sulfites. I’m pretty much sure this is the only sparkling wine in production that has been succesfully vinified without the addition of sulfites. You can get more info here.

Perlage were certified organic in 1981, and biodynamic in 2005. All the wines are good, but most impressive is their ‘Tiziano’ white – which is made from an obscure grape called Incrocio Manzoni – and their Proseccos Col di Manza Extra Dry (pictured right) and Canah Brut.

Watch this space…