Today’s Great Western - Seppelt, Best’s
Seppelt Vine Lodge Dinner - The spirit of Hans Irvine and the
legendary Colin Preece lives on at Vine Lodge.
On my recent visit to Great Western I dined in-house at the Federation Homestead Vine
Lodge at Seppelt where my hosts Seppelt wine makers Adam Carnaby and Mel Chester had
Kylie McMillan from the nearby Café Salinger make a scrumptious chicken pie replete with
mushrooms, lemon and orange zest, fresh rosemary, dried oregano, chicken stock and a
dash of champagne!
This was washed down with a flight of Seppelt vintage wines dating back to 1973 and some
French counterparts including a 2010 Paul Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet and a 2002 MazyChambertin burgundy. The 2011Drumborg Vineyard Chardonnay
drank beautifully, with its intense stone fruit balanced by a nutty malolactic fermentation
complexity giving the wine its textural component.
The local wines, including a Seppelt 2002 St Peters Grampians Shiraz; a Seppelt 2012
Drumborg Pinot Noir and a 2012 Great Western Riesling opened up beautifully.
The dinner wines included
Sparkling
Pol Roger Extra Cuvee Reserve (NV) & Seppelt 2010 Original Sparkling Shiraz
Whites
Paul Pillot 2010 Chassagne- Montrachet 1st Cru Clos Saint Jean
Seppelt 1984 Drumborg Rhine Riesling
Seppelt 2012 Great Western Riesling
Seppelt 2011Drumborg Vineyard Chardonnay
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Reds
Seppelt 2012 Drumborg Vineyard Pinot Noir
Seppelt 2002 St Peter’s Grampians Shiraz
Mazy – Chambertin Grand Cru 2002 Domaine Armand Rousseau Pere & Sons Burgundy
Seppelt 1973 (Great Western) Hermitage
The Aussie wines stood up well in comparison to their French cousins with
the Seppelt 1984 Drumborg Rhine Riesling fresh as a daisy and the Seppelt 2012 Drumborg
Vineyard Pinot Noir outstanding in every respect.
The Seppelt 1973 (Great Western) Hermitage was in surprisingly good nick with more than
enough fruit for a forty year old wine while the Seppelt 2002 St Peter’s Grampians Shiraz
exemplified Great Western’s reputation for quality Shiraz.
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Unfortunately, despite time in the glass the Mazy – Chambertin Grand Cru 2002 Burgundy
was not at its best however the finesse and delicacy of the Paul Pillot 2010 ChassagneMontrachet more than compensated for the disappointment.
Cellar Door & Tasting Room - Drumborg shines and Great Western on the rise
Of the other Seppelt wines tasted the 2013 Drumborg Riesling and the 2012 Drumborg
Vineyard Pinot Noir were outstanding. The Riesling was very together, textural and vibrant
with pronounced crunchy lemon sorbet and mandarin on the palate.
Seppelt Drumborg Riesling is up there among the best in modern, cutting edge Rieslings and
rightfully challenges the likes of Grosset's Polish Hill and many other Clare Valley
counterparts.
While the whole bunch 2012 Drumborg Vineyard Pinot Noir was beautifully balanced and
intriguing in that tasted somewhere between a barnyard and forest floor style pinot,
exquisite, delicate, cool climate fruit with finesse and a fine finish.
Disgorged 1994 Salinger sparkling
Adam grabbed a couple of bottles of un- liquored Seppelt 1994 Salinger sparkling, froze the
bottle necks and disgorged the plugs – the result being a refreshing and very palatable, unliquored bubbly in extremely good condition. This reminded me of an outstanding, unliquored Seppelt sparkling I had in the mid 1980s at a Wine & Food Society of Victoria dinner
down in the Seppelt Great Western drives.
Tasting Room treats – The Art of Blending
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Adam also took me through tastings of various 2013 vintage clones including sample
batches of Seppelt chardonnay, pinot noir and shiraz – these form the base for blending to
produce the ideal wines from the various Great Western, Heathcote, Bendigo and Drumborg
(in Henty in the South Western tip of Victoria near the South Australia – the southern-most
vineyard in Victoria acquired by Seppelt way back in 1964.
The art of assessing and blending was especially apparent in looking at batches of Pinot Noir
from the same vintage and same block which gave off three distinctly different taste
variations.
It was evident on both the nose and palate that the batch from low on the block was
different than the one from the middle of the slope and likewise in regard to the sample
from the upper slope. That’s where the art of blending comes in!
The Modernity of Tradition
I was left with little doubt that Adam Carnaby and Mel Chester are set to redefine Seppelt
Great Western to contemporary wine drinkers with spectacular new-age Drumborg Riesling,
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and quality Heathcote and Bendigo Shiraz. Drumborg also comes
to the fore in the consistently stylish Seppelt Salinger Vintage Cuvee, of which the 2009
vintage is exceptional and very good drinking at $29.95 RRP
And importantly local Great Western Shiraz from the very best blocks and vineyards such as
St Peters and Imperial – given the quality of the 2013 Great Western Single Vineyard
Imperial Block Shiraz (RRP $37).
Adam’s approach is to help escort the fruit from the vine to the bottle with as little
interference and manipulation as possible. This is predicated on selecting optimum quality
fruit that best expresses the sense of place of the vineyard and region of origin.
Seppelt Sparkling Shiraz
Great Western and Seppelt have long been synonymous with quality sparkling Shiraz and
the Seppelt 2010 Original Sparkling Shiraz and the Show Sparkling Shiraz are testament to
this. This style is at its best in the 2004 Show Sparkling Shiraz due for release in September
at RRP $100.
I have long been a sparkling red fan, it’s a versatile fun wine and I often serve it as an aperitif
during winter and with barbecued meats in spring and summer. As for those boiling hot
Christmas lunches or dinners when a red will not be at its best – a sparkling red is ideal.
Local Produce
When I’m away I always try and source as much local produce as I can get my hands on and
sampled some delicious Mount Zero olives, some MZ Quince paste and their yummy
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Organic Beetroot & Orange Relish. Also I tucked into some Savvy spiced Shiraz jelly from the
GW Production kitchens accompanied by some local cheese.
Adam Carnaby, Senior Winemaker - Seppelt Great Western
Good Better Best’s – More of that Modernity of Tradition
I was chuffed to reacquaint myself with Best’s Winery, a hop skip and jump down the road
from Seppelt at Great Western. Winemaker Justin Purser was flat chat bottling however
Joyce Clery looked after us with aplomb at the cellar door and we caught up with Justin at
the end of the day over a memorable 2011 Best’s White Gravel Shiraz (RRP $35) with a nose
redolent with capsicum, Jalapeno and asparagus, a ripper wine.
In this age of screw caps there was a scramble to find a cork screw opener required to
sample a sublime 1998 Best’s Pinot Noir which opened well. Justin also took us through
some barrel tastings and we wandered through the historic cellars that unearthing old
vintages along the way.
Externally in many respects Best’s remains unchanged. In 1866, Henry Best purchased 73
acres of land in Great Western in 1886 and a property named Concongella in 1886 and the
first vines were planted a year later in 1867.
Best’s became a functioning winery by 1869 and the old tin roofed shed and wooden cellar
door evokes that 19th century ambience – even if the wines styles have changed to suite 21st
century tastes.
For many years Best’s viniculture was rooted in the past however it’s now embracing more
contemporary wine styles whilst acknowledging its past – I call it the Modernity of Tradition.
The Thomson legacy is in good hands with winemaker Justin Purser.
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Best’s has long been home to a bewilderingly quirky assortment of grape varieties, many of
which still remain unidentified. This varietal mélange is apparent in its 2011 Concongella
Blanc (RRP $22) and 2011 Nursery Block Dry Red.
The 2011 Concongella Blanc’s blend contains Chasselas, Dourado, Furmint, Fer, Gordo,
Gouais, Ondenc and Troyen grape varieties while the 2011 Nursery Block Dry Red contains
Auburn, Cinsault, Dolchetto, Gamy, Mataro and Moroccan Noir, among others.
Such rare and exotic varieties that had me reaching for Jancis Robinson’s recently published
definitive, reference book Wine Grapes that identifies some 1368 Vine Varieties that make
wine commercially.
However the 2012 EVT 51 Riesling caught my attention as did the intensity and complexity
of the 2010 Best’s Great Western Bin No. O Shiraz.
I have an affinity with both Best’s and Seppelt and admire the passion, professionalism,
verve and collective vision of both Justin Purser at Best’s and Adam Carnaby and Mel
Chester at Seppelt, who no doubt swap notes from time to time to the betterment of the
region - Great Western is in good hands with this trio.
Great Western’s renaissance is well under way and its new age, contemporary wine styles
should appeal to younger, adventurous drinkers – many of whom will enjoy discovering the
inherent qualities of its Shiraz and the fun and exuberance of its Sparkling Shiraz.
At Great Western you get the best of both worlds –the charm and tradition of the old and
the energy and excitement of the new – what more can be said.
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Effervescence red reigns supreme at Mount Langi Ghiran
Finally, I called in for a quick visit to the spectacularly situated Mount Langi Ghiran, nestled
beneath the imposing Mount Langi Ghiran itself. Gone was the humble, unassuming winery
of old and in its place was an ultra-modern winery and cellar door that would look more at
home in the Yarra Valley, on the Mornington Peninsula – or for that matter in the Napa
Valley in California.
Unlike its near neighbours at Great Western, Mount Langi Ghiran does not straddle the
highway; it’s a bit more off the beaten track. The short detour proved fruitful as I discovered
a seductive Mount Langi Ghiran Cliff’s Edge NV Sparkling Shiraz – which simply blew me
away with its elegance, finesse and structure.
What better way to say farewell to the gateway to the Grampians than in the form of a
Sparkling Shiraz – entirely appropriate – I can’t wait to return!
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