Wines Struggling to Find Themselves: Australia and New Zealand at Boston University
Posted 04/29/2008 at 10:32 PM by Cathy
Margaret River is on the "bump" that juts out from southwestern Australia; its land mass sits somewhere in between the Indian and Southern Oceans. It's hours away from any major city either by car or by plane. Locate it on a map (if you can!) and you'll immediately start to feel sorry for it. Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane are a continent away (literally); even Perth is a good three hours' drive.
Margaret River can claim more than its share of wineries, but samples I've tried have seemed as uncertain as the appellation's away-from-things geography. Margaret River isn't sure it's in the Indian Ocean or the Southern Ocean, and a Margaret River wine I tried tonight wasn't sure it was a white wine or a rosé. The label for the 2005 Cape Mentelle said Chardonnay, but the color looked to me like a fairly vibrant pink. It smelled oakey (like a Chardonnay) but it tasted almost sour. It seemed like a wine in the middle of an identity crisis.
The region of McLaren Vale in southern Australia, while only 30 minutes from Adelaide, seems plagued by similar troubles. The 2006 Hugh Hamilton Shiraz/Viognier blend had huge alcohol (15.5%) yet tasted surprisingly fresh anyway. On the nose it smelled lively in a nervous, jumpy kind of way, like a hybrid of two dissimilar species still trying to find its place in the world.
Poor Oz.
Its next-door neighbor, though, showed up to the party with all kinds of assurance and certainty. For example, the 2006 Catalina Sound Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand smelled richer and earthier and more here-I-am than most other Sauvignon Blancs I know at first sniff. In the mouth the sensation was one of completeness: the taste was self-contained and its finish, though noticeable, was mild enough to quietly slip out the back door.
E-Mail
| 
Digg this!
| 
del.icio.us
365 Days RSS
| Comments RSS for this post
