A wine dinner was held at ‘The Grill’, hotel Lalit for the Delhi wine club in Delhi and at Saffron restaurant at JW Marriott hotel in Mumbai for the Mumbai chapter of the Delhi wine club.

We had really positive feedback on the wines with the Canonbah Bridge Drought Reserve Shiraz being picked as the “darling of the crowd” at the Delhi dinner.

More info here.

By Josh Reynolds

2006 John R. McLaughlin Family Shiraz Ram’s Leap Western Plains — 87
Medium red. Spicy red berries and cherry on the nose, with a kiss of cracked pepper. Dried redcurrant and cherry skin flavors are moderately concentrated and a bit tart on the back end, with a subtle spicy quality carrying into the finish. This is easy to drink but could use more sweetness and heft.

2003 John R. McLaughlin Family Shiraz Canonbah Bridge Drought Reserve Western Plains — 89
Deep, saturated red. Smoky, ripe, powerful bouquet of dark berry liqueur, cured meat, pungent herbs and cola. Fleshy cassis and cherry preserve flavors are a touch warm (actually 15% alcohol), with supple tannins adding grip. Distinctly ripe but not heavy, with good finishing persistence. Fans of the powerful school of shiraz will find my score low.

2005 John R. McLaughlin Family Ram’s Leap Semillon Sauvignon Blanc Western Plains NSW — 87
Green-gold. Peach, orange and fennel on the nose, with a minerally nuance. Crisp, nicely focused orchard and citrus flavors are lifted by snappy fresh herbs on the back. Juicy, pliant, nicely blanced wine, finishing with waxy, subtly honeyed qualities.

2004 John R. McLaughlin Family Ram’s Leap Shiraz Western Plains NSW — 88
Dark red. Jammy red berries and candied cherry on the nose, plus notes of mint and peppery watercress. Suave, silky and quite sweet, with a lushness of texture to the raspberry and strawberry preserve flavors. Lots of fruit here.

2002 John R. McLaughlin Family Canonbah Bridge Drought Reserve Shiraz Western Plains NSW — 90
Inky violet color. Deep, sweet aromas of crème de cassis, dark plum, vanilla, baking spices and cured tobacco. Fat and viscous, with outsized dark berry flavors and a lush, sexy sweetness that will appeal to fans of velvety, fruit-driven Shiraz. Finishes with a clinging, liquer-like impression of blackberry.

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“For those who like their Shiraz on the sticky side, this red and dark berry, coconut cream, spice infused wine will satisfy. Drink now – 8 years.”

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Tessa McLaughlin of Canonbah Bridge won a highly commended young exporter of the year award at the 2006 NSW export awards. The awards were announced at a gala dinner held at the Sydney town hall on October 19.

Canonbah Bridge exports 80% of its wine to 10 countries world wide. The vineyard is located in Warren, NSW and was planted by Shane McLaughlin just under 10 years ago on the family’s 4th generation sheep station. Shane and his wife Tessa run the wine company and have developed the export business from scratch over the last 5 years, with exports growing by 50 % on average each year.

The Premier’s NSW Export Awards is an annual program, to recognize excellence in the export of goods and service by NSW business. It also acknowledges the important contribution to the economy through job creation and increased prosperity for the community and for the state.

Contact: Tessa McLaughlin 0407 481080 tessa@canonbah.com.au

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General:
Vintage started with the Semillon hand pick at 6am on the 10th January and finished with the final Shiraz pick on the 3rd of February. Unlike the previous years there was a 17 day gap between the white and the red harvest. This was due to a slightly cooler weather front that occurred for a 7 day period following the Verdelho harvest – bringing a few days of drizzle (only enough to wash the dust of the vines) and relatively cooler temperatures that slowed down the reds ripening.

As per the last 3 years, we have remained in a state of drought, and the low yields again this year were indicative of this. Last vintage the Semillon suffered the most from the heat – so this winter we built up large soil banks over the Semillon roots, and covered the banks with mulch (organic mulch from our farm).

We were thrilled at harvest with the quality of the Semillon fruit – good sized bunches, with full closure and great flavour and colour. The mulching enabled the roots to retain moisture, and minimized the stress on the vines. We are now undertaking the rest of the vineyard.

The reds again displayed the small berry size that we’ve seen over the last few vintages. This year we achieved 30-40% raisoning rather than the usual 20% with the Shiraz – due to the extreme season.

Continuing with our explorations of the last couple of years, we again noted the biodynamic calendar for key events in the vineyard (pruning; harvest, mulching etc). The biodynamic philosophy is that a combination of the constellation of the moon, position of the sun, the elements etc has a favourable influence on the 4 parts of the plant – root, leaf, fruit, flower. In terms of harvest the fruit characteristics are influenced by the characteristic of the day that the fruit is picked.

Our key wines were picked on the following days:

Semillon:
Root day – Mineral characteristics (Ram’s Leap Sem/Sauv and Bottle Tree Sem/Chard)

Verdelho:
Root day -
Suggesting mineral characteristics (Canonbah Bridge Verdelho)

Merlot:
Flower and Leaf day – Suggesting aromatic and herbal characters (Ram’s Leap Merlot)

B1 Shiraz:
Fruit and Root day – Suggesting bolder fruit notes and earthy characters (Ram’s Leap Shiraz & Ram’s Leap Rose)

B2 Shiraz:
Fruit and Leaf day – Bold fruit notes & herbaceous characters (Canonbah Bridge Drought Reserve Shiraz)

B3 Shiraz:
Leaf day – Suggesting herbal and herbaceous characters (Canonbah Bridge Shiraz/Grenache/Mourvedre)

When the wines are released – these suggested characteristics can be put to the test!

Varietal reports are as follows: Shiraz, Merlot, Semillon, Verdelho, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Grenache, Mourvedre.

VARIETY – SHIRAZ
Trellis system: Australian Sprawl
Harvest date: 29th January, 2nd February, 3rd February
Yield/acre: 2.2 tonnes.
Picking method: machine
Baume: 14.5
pH: 3.65

VARIETY – MERLOT
Trellis System: Vertical Shoot Positioning
Harvest date: 1st February
Yield/acre: 1.9 tonnes
Picking method: machine
Baume: 15
pH: 3.76

VARIETY – SEMILLON
Trellis System: High Wire Vertical Shoot Positioning
Harvest date: 10th and 11th January
Yield/acre: 2.9 tonnes
Picking method: hand picked
Baume: 11.7
pH: 3.4

VARIETY – VERDELHO
Trellis system: Vertical Shoot Positioning
Harvest date: 11th January
Yield/acre: 3.2 tonnes.
Picking method: machine picked
Baume: 11.65
pH: 3.72

VARIETY – SAUVIGNON BLANC
Trellis System: Smart-Dyson
Harvest date: 2nd April
Yield/acre: 3 tonnes
Picking method: Night machine picking
Baume: 12.5
pH: 3.4

VARIETY – CHARDONNAY
Trellis System: Vertical Shoot Positioning
Harvest date: 28th January
Yield/acre: 3 tonnes
Picking method: Night machine picked
Baume: 12.8
pH: 3.4

VARIETY – GRENACHE
Trellis System: Bush vine
Harvest date: 28th January
Yield/acre: 2.7 tonnes
Picking method: Night machine picked
Baume: 12.7
pH: 3.7

VARIETY – MOURVEDRE
Trellis System: Australian Sprawl
Harvest date: 28th January
Yield/acre: 3 tonnes
Picking method: Night machine picked
Baume: 13
pH: 3.7

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General:

Vintage occurred between the 16th January and 26th January – starting a couple of weeks earlier than 2004 – and beginning just a week later than 2003’s vintage. During 2004, the NSW drought status was “broken” in a number of areas of the state with some welcome rainfall. However the Nyngan/Warren area remained mostly in drought – with some sporadic and minimal rains during the year – none of which occurred during the vines’ growth season. The January 2005 harvest again resulted in tiny yields – in fact less than we were expecting, with characteristic small berries. The Shiraz and Merlot did not seem to suffer as a result of the conditions – however the Semillon particularly struggled; with a poor canopy and the fruit suffered as a result.

The Canonbah Bridge Drought Reserve Shiraz was nominated for the George Mackey trophy – as one of the top 1% of wines to be exported out of Australia. The award is to be announced at the end of 2005.

In keeping with our commitment to maintaining an organic approach to vineyard management – we have begun to research some biodynamic aspects to grape growing. As such we noted the Biodynamic calendar information for the days we undertook key activities in the vineyard such as pruning and harvest. The suggestion is that a combination of the constellation of the moon, position of the sun; the elements etc has a favourable influence on the 4 parts of the plant – root, leaf, seed/fruit, and flower. At this stage – we are just noting our finds with interest.We looked at the Biodynamic calendar to see what plant part was influenced on the particular harvest day for each varietal (the suggestion is that flavour profile is influenced as a result).

Our key wines were picked on the following days:

Semillon:
Leaf day – suggesting herbaceous characteristics (Ram’s Leap Sem/Sauv and Bottle Tree Sem/Chard)

Verdelho:
Leaf and fruit day – suggesting herbaceous and fruit high notes (Canonbah Bridge Verdelho)

Merlot:
Root day – Suggesting earthy characters. (Ram’s Leap Merlot)

B3 Shiraz:
Root day – Suggesting earthy characters (Canonbah Bridge Shiraz/Grenache/Mourvedre)

B1 Shiraz:
Flower day – suggesting floral characters (Ram’s Leap Shiraz)

B2 Shiraz:
Fruit day – Suggesting bolder fruit high notes (Canonbah Bridge Drought Reserve Shiraz)

When the wines are released – these suggested characteristics can be put to the test!

Varietal reports are as follows: Shiraz, Merlot, Semillon, Verdelho, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Grenache, Mourvedre.

VARIETY – SHIRAZ
Trellis system: Australian Sprawl
Harvest date: 21st, 22nd and 26th January
Yield/acre: 1.8 tonnes.
Picking method: machine
Baume: 14.5
pH: 3.45

VARIETY – MERLOT
Trellis System: Vertical Shoot Positioning
Harvest date: 20th January
Yield/acre: 2 tonnes
Picking method: machine
Baume: 14.5
pH: 3.5

VARIETY – SEMILLON
Trellis System: High Wire Vertical Shoot Positioning
Harvest date: 16th January
Yield/acre: 2.1 tonnes
Picking method: hand picked
Baume: 13
pH: 3.3

VARIETY – VERDELHO
Trellis system: Vertical Shoot Positioning
Harvest date: 17th January
Yield/acre: 3.1 tonnes.
Picking method: machine picked
Baume: 13.5
pH: 3.55

VARIETY – SAUVIGNON BLANC
Trellis System: Smart-Dyson
Harvest date:14th February
Yield/acre: 3 tonnes
Picking method: Night machine picking
Baume: 12
pH: 3.5

VARIETY – CHARDONNAY
Trellis System: Vertical Shoot Positioning
Harvest date: 19th February
Yield/acre: 3 tonnes
Picking method: Night machine picked
Baume: 13
pH: 3.4

VARIETY – GRENACHE
Trellis System: Bush vine
Harvest date: 23rd January
Yield/acre: 2.8 tonnes
Picking method: Night machine picked
Baume: 13
pH: 3.5

VARIETY – MOURVEDRE
Trellis System: Australian Sprawl
Harvest date: 23rd January
Yield/acre: 3 tonnes
Picking method: Night machine picked
Baume: 13.5
pH: 3.7

Canonbah Bridge Shiraz/
Grenache/Mourvedre 2002 – Rating 91 pts

Ram’s Leap Semillon/ Sauvignon
Blanc 2004 – rating 89 pts

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Bottle Tree 2003 Shiraz – Cabernet Sauvignon
South Eastern Australia.

Fun screwcap red from New South Wales with tobacco, black cherry, blueberry aromas mixed with savoury, saddle leather, gamey notes. Soft, round, easy style but dry with light tannins. Peppery, tobacco, black cherry, chocolate, meaty flavours. Solid, somewhat rustic style for the barbecue.

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Definitely the most interesting wine identities in town for some time are Tessa and Shane McLaughlin (pictured) of Canonbah Bridge Wines, which is situated just north of Dubbo. Shane is a 34-year-old former champion rower whose family have been on the land for yonks, while Tessa is a stunning 28-year-old Pom and they met each other at the posh Henley Regatta.

What’s more their vineyard is totally free of chemicals and their wines are fast winning awards.

Do not be surprised if this photogenic couple are snapped up for their own reality television series.

After all, if Glenn, the shearer, is one of the most popular personalities in the latest series of Big Brother, the country is certainly the way to go.

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New to the market is the Ram’s Leap Shiraz 2002 from the Western Plains Zone of New South Wales. Kudos to the leanish structure mixed with a white pepper and a briary, bramble fruit character — that allows it to work seamlessly with food. More southern France than Oz in texture and flavour, this drier, spicy shiraz is a pleasure to sip.

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