News and Events

WINTER / SPRING 2016 E- NEWSLETTER

NEWS

A RECORD RESULT IN
JAMES HALLIDAY’S 2017 WINE COMPANION
 

The recent release of James Halliday’s hotly anticipated 2017 edition of the Wine Companion was certainly cause for celebration at Gundog Estate. In our most successful showing yet, eight of our wines scored 95 points or higher, with a further four wines rating 94 points!

Individual highlights included 95 points for our 2015 Indomitus Albus, accompanied by this (somewhat provocative) tasting note, “…Natural wine addicts, get back in your hutch. This isn’t yellow or orange, it is pale straw-green, it has no phenolics, and is as fresh as a daisy. There’s a hint of spice on the bouquet, which may or may not be due to the gewürztraminer; other than this, it’s lemon/lemongrass/citrusy acidity all the way to the bank.”

96 points is also the highest rating any of our Estate Shiraz’ have achieved, and the glory is with the 2014 vintage. This wine has looked great from day one, with the warmer Canberra season delivering flavour and intensity in spades, which was eagerly praised by Halliday, “…Glorious colour sets the scene for a wine of great elegance and (yet) intensity.”

However, the greatest acknowledgment must fall to the 2014 Rare Game Shiraz, which landed our highest ever rating, with an incredible 97 points! This limited release was borne from one of the best vintages the Hunter Valley has ever seen, and is a tribute to the unique “Hunter Burgundy” style of medium bodied Shiraz first made famous by the region many years ago.

The combined success of our wines cements our prestigious FIVE RED STAR winery rating for another year. Well done team!

Enjoy!

THE GUNDOG ESTATE CORK ST. CELLAR IS COMING

In what may well be a first for a boutique Australian wine producer, Gundog Estate is delighted to announce that we will be opening a second cellar door, over 400km’s away from our base of operations, in the Hunter Valley!

In what will be known as the Gundog Estate Cork St. Cellar, we are moving into the historic stone stables, located in a prime position behind the hugely popular GRAZING restaurant, in Gundaroo village. The evocative space is perfect for a cellar door, and up until recently was the home of Capital Wines. The owners of GRAZING and the stables, Mark and Jennie Mooney, sold Capital Wines in July, and the cellar door was closed, making this beautiful space available for a new winery tenant. 

"With their vineyards just out of the village, the high quality wine that they produce, and their experience operating an award winning cellar door in the Hunter Valley, Gundog Estate is the perfect winery to take over this beautiful space. Gundog complements GRAZING really well and will offer visitors to Gundaroo another first class tourism experience," says Jennie Mooney. 

With Mark and Jennie having already achieved so much success with Capital Wines in the location, and with so much hard work already put into making the location an iconic destination for tourists and locals alike, we are determined to deliver a similarly unique, and high quality, cellar door experience. In addition to being able to sample and purchase our range of Gundog Estate, Burton McMahon, and Indomitus wines, visitors to the cellar door will also be able to enjoy locally sourced cheeses and charcuterie, along with fine tea and coffee.  

Since the inception of the Gundog Estate brand in 2008, Canberra Shiraz (under our Estate, Marksman’s, and Indomitus labels) along with our Gundaroo-grown Rosé, have been high quality staples of the range. We’ve certainly talked about opening a cellar door in the Canberra District for long enough, so it’s hugely exciting to finally see this concept come to fruition, and it will be great to have a local base in which to present our wines. We are also looking to expand our range of whites to include one or more incarnations of Canberra District Riesling, with a continued eye to innovation, to sit alongside our current range of five Hunter Valley Semillons. 

We are working towards opening just prior to Christmas this year, following a minor refurbishment.

Calendar of Events

We’re already well into our 2016 events schedule, with fantastic lunches held at Pony Dining and Chiswick in Sydney. I've reproduced the list of venues and dates for the remainder of this year’s Member's & Friends functions below.

If you are interested in attending any of these events, I suggest you email  winemaker@gundogestate.com.au an expression of interest so I can hold a spot for you.

Generally, these events sell out within an hour or two of the official invitation being sent out. Invitations are usually sent 3-4 weeks prior to the event. I look forward to seeing you at one of these locations!

PONY DINING SYDNEY - Saturday and Sunday lunches, 7th and 8th of May

 
CHISWICK SYDNEY - Saturday and Sunday lunches, 23rd and 24th of July
 
PONY DINING BRISBANE - Saturday lunch, 22nd of October
 
AUBERGINE CANBERRA - Saturday lunch, 12th of November
 
OTTO SYDNEY - Thursday dinner, 24th of November

Wine profiles

Our Wild Semillon was our first wine to bottle from the 2016 vintage. The concept for this wine came into being in 2011 when I sought to produce a Vouvray-esque interpretation of Hunter Semillon; textural and flavoursome, still carrying hallmark Semillon acidity (hopefully with the promise to deliver a long life in bottle), all in check with carefully judged residual sweetness. 

Being one of our most unique and innovative products, we have always been eager to keep the style moving, and encouraged by the response to our Indomitus Albus releases (from media and consumers alike), I was prepared to take bigger risks with the 2016 Wild. We upped the percentage of naturally fermented cloudy free-run and pressing juices to around 56%, with another 13% fermented on skins (our ripest component), and 6% in old barriques. The balance of the blend consisting of settled juice ferments, some arrested early. All portions spent four months on light yeast lees. Most significantly, residual sugar drops over 20% from the 2015 vintage - down from 10.5g/L to 8.3g/L. The reduced sweetness, increased phenolic content, and higher acidity are driving the most significant evolution in style that we’ve seen across the Wild Semillon’s six vintages of production. I believe there is definitely a “sweet spot” in assembling the blend; a point where each component of the wine seems to weave together to form an almost seamless, compelling tapestry of aromas, flavours and textures. In some vintages we have been more successful in finding this magical point than others, but none more so than the 2016…. or at least I think so!

“Wild fermentation took place on skins and some residual sugar has also been retained. This is Semillon like you've never known it. Clever stuff. Pretty aromas - delicate florals, a hint of pineapple husk and green apple. Its textural but not dense. It's thought provoking but so easy to slurp. There's plenty of width and breadth and a damn heap of pleasure. That residual sugar looms late and cleanses nicely. I'd buy a bottle for sure (and do my best not to share it).”
– 93 POINTS QWINE
 

Our Estate Shiraz continues to tell a single vineyard story, with fruit sourced exclusively from the Dahlberg Vineyard in Murrumbateman. Here, we have the luxury of working with three different clones of Shiraz, each delivering very distinct wines year to year. The 2015 Estate Shiraz is a blend of Bests (33%), SA1654 (26%), and BRVC12 (36%) clones, with 5% Viognier included in each of the batches. Fermentation was allowed to commence naturally in open top tanks after a 3-day cold soak period, and then over-seeded with M2 yeast. Maturation was carried out over 12 months in 30% new French oak puncheons. The 2015 season certainly looks like going down as one of the greats from the Canberra District, with wines already showing amazing poise and balance, particularly when compared to the much warmer bookend vintages of 2014 and 2016. There is also lovely tension and drive across the palate with this release, ultimately delivering unprecedented length of flavour, relative to the other wines we have produced from the region thus far.

“Mellifluous wine of soft, supple fruit, dark fruits, gentle spice, well integrated everything and an ease to drinking that will have mass appeal. What sets it apart is its lift of fragrance, silky tannins, length of flavour. It’s got charisma and drinkability in spades. The lingering thought is ‘white pepper’ too. So likeable.” – 92 POINTS MIKE BENNIE
 

 As the name implies, the 2015 Hilltops Shiraz No.2 is our second release of Shiraz from this exciting region. Like the preceding Hilltops Shiraz No.1, released earlier this year (which just picked up a gold medal at the Australian Boutique Wine Awards), this wine is produced from fruit grown at the Freeman Vineyard near Prunevale. Contrasting winemaking approaches have, however, delivered very distinct wines. Where the Hilltops Shiraz No.1 was about highlighting the generosity of pure fruit flavour from the region, No.2 looks at how that intensity of fruit might be tempered, and more complex layers added, through the use of oak and maturation time. As such, the Hilltops Shiraz No.2 spends an additional 3 months (12 in total) in 25% new French oak puncheons (versus 20%). This release is also a little warmer to bottle at 14.4%, which the wine seems to take it in its stride quite comfortably.

This is definitely a generous style of Shiraz; layered and complex, with sweet fruit giving way to spice and more savoury notes across the palate. Such intensity, delivered with signature cool climate poise, is definitely the thing that gets me most excited about working with Shiraz from this region. 

GOLD MEDAL – 2016 NSW Small Winemakers Show
 

THE BURTON McMAHON RANGE MULTIPLIES

 The 2015 vintage in the Yarra Valley was an excellent one which managed to produce outstanding wines across all varieties, and in good quantities. The combination of great quality and healthy yields has not been seen in the Yarra Valley for some years, and was gladly welcomed by the industry. 

It was a mild start to the growing season with October and November producing some beautifully warm spring days coupled with good rainfall. This laid the foundation for a great start to the season and kicked off growth in the vineyard. Mild conditions, with no heavy winds, followed through flowering which meant that a high percentage of fruit set was achieved. 

Summer was also mild with average temperatures and below average rainfall. This produced significant growth in the vineyard and management of canopies became vital. Some high disease risk days, over the Christmas and New Year period, put pressure on our growers to stay alert and spray when needed. This paid off for us as there were many reports of powdery mildew outbreaks around the valley at this time. Reasonable disease pressure persisted through mid-January and then during February warmer, drier, conditions set us up for a great harvest.

Vintage was again early with our Syme on Yarra Pinot Noir picked first, on the 22^nd of February, at 12.8 Baume. The fruit looked great; small bunch weights and good concentration coming from the small, thick skinned, berries. 

The two Chardonnay blocks (A. George and J. D’Aloisio) were picked close together, on the 1^st and 3^rd of March respectively, with very similar ripeness levels of 12.0 Baume. The juices looked amazing, showing bright citrus acidity with pure melon fruits. Post-ferment both wines were focused and edgy, and it was a great pleasure to see them unwind and fill out in barrel.

In 2015, we were once again able to source Gippsland Pinot Noir from the awesome Lightfoot vineyard. This vineyard has become highly sought after so we were extremely happy to secure 2.5 tons. It was also an early vintage in Gippsland, with harvesting taking place on the 9^th March, at 12.5 Baume. The wine is delicate and fine, and those who enjoyed the 2012 will be very happy with this edition.

Enjoy!

Dylan McMahon

CHARDONNAY

The winemaking for both Chardonnays is very similar. First the fruit is hand-picked to insure only clean, healthy bunches are selected. The grapes are whole bunch pressed, and the juice is settled overnight in tank. This is followed by a light racking, directly to barrel (approx. 95% solids), where natural fermentation then takes place. MLF is not encouraged, and wines are sulphured directly after primary ferment. The wines are then matured for 10 months in 30% new (225 – 500L) French oak barrels. 

PINOT NOIR

Fruit is handpicked and de-stemmed into 3t open fermentation tanks, where 30% whole bunches are added. The must is cold soaked for four days prior to wild yeast fermentation, with no temperature control used. Open ferments are hand plunged daily. The wine is gently pressed off skins and ran straight to French oak for maturation on lees. Approximately 30% new oak is used, in larger format, 300 & 500 litre, barrels. Following maturation (10 months), the wine is carefully racked and bottled, with no filtration or fining.

CELLARING GUIDE

I’ve updated a table I originally prepared for a newsletter in 2015 showing every vintage of each wine (except the fortified products) that we’ve produced since 2009. There is a column showing maximum cellaring potential, and another column indicating a drinking window that I feel would suit the majority of people.  Please keep in mind that this table is just a guide, and that for some of our more innovative wines we’ve been more conservative with maximum cellaring as there really hasn’t been a precedent to compare with. 

Whites and Rosé

Reds

Letter from thE GUNDAROO vineyard August 2016

A chill wind on this sunny winter day is blowing through the vineyard where the recently pruned vines look particularly exposed and vulnerable. Hardly a bird can be seen and the resident kangaroo family, now numbering around thirty, huddle on the lee side of large rocks and clumps of native bush shrubs. It seems to have been a particularly cold winter here in the Yass Valley, but the stats indicate the mean temperatures have been fairly average, with the occasional spike of sub-zero cold throughs, as fronts from the west roll in to remind us that it is precisely these conditions that brought us here in search of the ideal cool climate terroir in which to grow our GUNDOG ESTATE Shiraz grapes.

Like most of the eastern seaboard we have also experienced our share of extreme rain events this winter but the total rainfall this year so far at 440mm is still on average. Testing the soil in the vineyard indicates an ideal amount of sub-soil moisture to ensure an even and healthy bud burst when the temperature rises in a month or so leading, hopefully, to a spectacular growing season and another great GUNDOG vintage.

One of the truly great winter delights of living in the Canberra Region is that the three months of June to August coincide with the harvesting of Tuber melanosporum, the fabulous Perigord black truffle, that local growers are quickly defining as an excellent example of this exotic, elusive, and delicious, culinary ingredient.

For visitors and locals alike, one of the best ways to experience the truffle over this period is by visiting the 25 or so restaurants and food outlets in the region that are presenting menus featuring fresh truffles, extending from simple single dishes to full-on truffle degustation dinners.

Local produce markets, and gourmet food outlets, also sell freshly harvested truffles by weight, allowing one to experiment in your own kitchen with the fascinating aromas and tastes of this complex little fungus. Although one can find various truffle products throughout the year such as truffle oil, truffle salsa, truffle rice etc., it is not possible to successfully preserve the truffle and enjoying it fresh, in season, is immeasurably the best way to consume this delicacy. 

Like most people I was somewhat daunted by the prospect of cooking with fresh truffle for the first time, intimidated by its price (which has been consistently at $2000 per kilo for the past few years), but as one needs so little in most recipes, I found that it is generally no more expensive than any other ingredient in the dish.

Fresh truffle is also one of the easiest ingredients to use; the less you do with it, the more effective it is and will provide an entirely new taste enjoyment level to many existing favourite dishes, both savoury and sweet.  Cooking the fresh truffle itself is to be avoided – incorporating it into other ingredients, in finely chopped or thinly sliced pieces, is the best approach in my opinion. Truffle loves fats, creams, eggs and other carbs – stirring finely chopped truffle into freshly scrambled eggs, combining truffles with melted butter and stirred through your favourite pasta or dolloped onto a hot steak. Try truffles folded into mashed potato, or truffle shavings layered with ripe creamy cheese.  These are only some of the simplest ways to enjoy this luxury taste. Investing in a quality truffle hand slicer is a great idea and ensures you don’t get too generous with the slice thickness.

Truffle shaved on ripe, creamy cheese is one of the easiest and best ways to enjoy this luxurious ingredient.

Truffle cultivation, and its increasing adoption into Australian cuisine, may be a relatively new thing, but the nobbly black, and white, varieties of the fungus have been around for a very long time, reportedly as early as 1600BC. The Greeks and Romans ate and enjoyed around 20 species of truffle, the most prized being Caesar’s mushroom (Amanita Caesarea). During the centuries of the Dark Ages interest in the pleasures of the truffle disappeared along with the general extinction of culture and learning. The truffle became known as the devil’s handiwork, grown from the spit of witches.

The golden age of truffles really began in Italy and France during the 15^th century, as the rare delicacy came to be fancied by the powerful and rich. Francois Pierre de La Varenne, chef to Louis XIV (the Sun King), recorded in his recipe book, Le cuisinier Francois (1651), more than 60 recipes featuring truffles; including his famous pairing of foie gras and truffles.

Throughout its history, the mysterious truffle has been thought to possess magical powers and medicinal virtues, none of which has ever been proven. It does not appear to have any nutritional value or qualities as a food, other than as a gloriously aromatic flavour and pleasure enhancer. Inevitably since earliest times it has been considered an aphrodisiac; Aristotle called it “a fruit consecrated to Aphrodite”. The writer, Prunier de Longchamps, warned priests and nuns that the consumption of truffles was inconsistent with a vow of chastity. In the 1820s the great French savant of haute cuisine, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, who regarded the truffle as “the jewel of cookery”, took it upon himself to explore the erotic pleasures of the fungus and concluded “the truffle is not a true aphrodisiac but in certain circumstances it can make women more affectionate and men more attentive”. Not an unusual expectation when convivial companions enjoy a fine truffled meal, with similarly fine and appropriately matching GUNDOG ESTATE wines, one would think.

The CANBERRA TRUFFLE FESTIVAL runs through June to August each year and is the best guide to hunting, buying, cooking and eating truffle. Check out: www.trufflefestival.com.au

Recipe

Madeleines

A childhood spent in rural NSW holds many, often fragmented, memories of winter tastes and sensations. Morning visits to a neighbouring farm, sitting next to the fuel stove in the kitchen, munching on a warm scone, just cooked, with lashings of butter, is one I recall with great pleasure. Sometimes these days you come across similar scones at CWA cake stalls on country town streets, but the context is all wrong.

Marcel Proust famously wrote about the fragmentary nature of memory in his ‘In Search of Lost Time’. In this case, his first-person character has a bite of a petit Madeleine cake which prompts memory of an, otherwise forgotten, childhood experience, when on Sundays, before Mass, his Aunt always gave him a fresh Madeleine dunked into a Tissane tea.

Frankly, I think the Madeleine beats the Scone hands down as a morning coffee/tea cake and it’s great to see it becoming much more widely on offer in local coffee shops. For those who like to dunk, as is common in France, the Madeleine is of course the perfect vehicle.  It can even be deliciously dunked in a sweet wine, or a Muscat, or an early morning Eau de Vie, as one often sees at French truckie stops.

The following MADELEINE RECIPE comes from Matt Moran. Madeleines are easy to make and cook quickly. The only real necessity is a tin Madeleine mould which are readily available in kitchen accoutrement shops.

INGREDIENTS

100g unsalted butter
35g honey
100g icing sugar
40g almond meal
40g plain flour
4 egg whites
olive oil spray or butter for greasing
a little caster sugar (optional)

METHOD

1. Melt the butter and honey in a small saucepan.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

2. Combine the icing sugar, almond meal and flour in an electric mixer.
With the motor at slow speed, slowly add the egg whites.
Once incorporated gradually add the butter and honey mixture and combine well.
Cover with plastic film and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 180C.

4. Lightly spray the madeleine tray with olive oil or grease with butter and sprinkle with caster sugar for a nice crunch. Half fill the moulds with the batter and bake for 8 minutes, or until golden and well risen.  Immediately turn out the madeleines onto a cooling rack. Serve while still warm. Yum.

Bon appétit.

See you at the next GUNDOG ESTATE event.

Geoff Burton

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