AceHighWine

Ask most West Australians to name a good West Australian chardonnay and Leeuwin Art Series (LEAS - such is the wine’s reputation that the ‘Estate’ in its name has become superfluous) is likely to be at the front of most people’s tongues. Perhaps a better sign of its reputation, it’s one of the few local chardies that West Australians will drink and lend their support to: that’s high praise coming from a collective renowned for constantly looking overseas or over east for drinking inspiration. But you can understand why the unpatriotic would make prodigal sons: if there are any (not many, if any…) producers overseas or east who can consistently produce a wine of LEAS chardonnay’s intensity, power, length and focus, vintage in vintage out - I haven’t heard of them. Maybe I need to taste (or read) more.

Before my visit to Leeuwin, I was under the impression that LEAS was the sum of just one part: the verging-on-mythical Block 20. Last week I learned of the existence of a lower-profiled family that played just as important a role in the construction of LEAS: the good grapes of Block 22 - more-or-less across the oft-traversed driveway and up and under a few fences. The chardonnay that comes off the vines residing on blocks 20 and 22 all fit the description of “full of flavour”, it’s just the way they deliver this flavour that differs. On one hand you have the elegance of Block 20 - blessed with fine acidity and tremendous length. Meanwhile, the grapes off Block 22 (harder, hungrier soil that really make the vines work) reflect their tough neighbourhood and upbringing: focussed, serious, intense and ready to let fly with powerful yet controlled uppercuts of musky banana and tropical fruit. The 2007 (an exo vintage in Margaret River) barrel samples we tasted of each of these two blocks reflected the two differing terroirs while my hasty blending job (ie tip out all but a splash of each wine and then pour one glass into another) made for a crude but effective demonstration of the duo’s synergistic relationship. Guess I can add mixing LEAS chardonnay to my CV as well as dirty, dry martinis.

Although not on the market yet, bottles of the 2005 and 2006 LEAS chardies were on hand to taste. Although a little whiles from release, both wines exhibited that Art Series texture and length - but only time will reveal their true potential and position in the Leeuwin Estate scheme of things. Unlike plenty of other Margaret River chardonnays from the vintage, the LEAS ‘06 still looks a little closed with the acidity sticking out a tad from the nashi pear palate. Swirls of cashew start to reveal themselves on the finish and the oak will likely find its rhythm as the rest of the middle palate comes out of hiding. Not even the greatest wineries are able to escape the vagaries of vintage (16.5+ and expected to improve with time). On the other hand, the ‘05 - a child of an excellent growing season - is looking far more varietal and chardonnay-like. Intense and powerful with excellent balance between creamy nutty oak characters and tightly focussed tropical fruit flavours. A very controlled wine, in the driver’s seat, no need for a map, completely certain of where it’s going. (17.5+ with room to improve and dazzle. A wine which will wow when it’s released.)

Comparing these two in-the-wings releases to the bottles of ‘01, ‘95 and ‘87 dug out of the Leeuwin cellars, the shift from the toasty and charry shorter Burgundian barrels to longer Bordeaux barrels is telling. And that’s not an underhanded swipe at the earlier works (far from it, I loved the complexity of the oak on the ever-changing and long finish of the ‘95), just an observation on the wine’s change in tack. Another tidbit winos may not be aware of: sick of opening bottles to find a seductive aroma of wet cardboard, the team at Leeuwin have toiled through the museum stock of LEAS chardonnay and converted every good bottle over from cork to screwcap. All at the tedious rate of 72 bottles per day. Sadly, much of the wine didn’t make the grade (which begs the question - what happens to this not-up-to-scratch Art Series chardonnay?) but barring a massive screwcap failure or some heavy-handed sulphur treatment, all can look forward to all future museum stock of LEAS at Leeuwin pouring well. www.leeuwinestate.com.au

Finally, my impressions on how previous vintages of LEAS chardonnay are drinking right now.

Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2001:
Intriguing bouquet of pear and spiced custard. Initially, the taste is predominantly lemon, but spread richly across the palate and helped along by the gentle fizz of acidity. Further citrus complexity in the way of oranges and spice flesh out the succulent palate before nutty oak flavours take over on the finish. For many, this wine’s appeal will be a question of style. 17.

Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 1995:
Still surprisingly fresh on the nose with aromas of orange and other citrus fruit abounding. Similarly, also remarkably fresh in the mouth: rounded, seamless, great almondy oak characters and stylish and integrated fruit. It’s on the finish where this wine really shines where a magnificently complex and dazzling array of nut, toast and cashew weave in and out of one another. A finish best measured in half-lifes. 18.5

Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 1987:
Kind of like a I-haven’t-been-to-the-toilet-since-yesterday shade of urine. The faint fizz of acidity hints at a tiny stretch of life left in the wine, but not much, you’d want to drink this now. Developed citrus chardonnay flavours reminiscent of cooked lemon. Similar to the ‘95 in terms of nutty oak and texture. Complex finish and good length round off the wine. 17.5

An unnamed wine writer’s response to the Tomlinson family’s invite to the Lenton Brae tasting: “What? 21 vintages of white wines? They’ll be stuffed!”

…not quite verbatim, but you get the gist.

I’ll be honest - before the tasting I had preconceived notions of the ageability of Margaret River white blends, but as I’m a sucker for a vertical tasting and had been impressed with the quality of Lenton Brae wines since my introduction to the family-owned Wilyabrup winery, not attending never crossed my mind.

But first, the abridged Lenton Brae story: Lentone Brae began as part of a 160 acre lot on Caves Road in Margaret River’s Wilyabrup sub-region and had been partially planted by Moss Wood owner Bill Pannell. The initial lot was then sub-divided into three sub-divisions with town planner and architect Bruce Tomlinson (the man who had performed the sub-division) and his wife Jeanette deciding to buy one of the sub-divisions after Pannell’s glowing praise of the land’s soil. While the dream was to replicate Burgundy in Margaret River, initial plantings of pinot and chardonnay fared badly and were ravaged by Rutherglen Bug, leading to a call being made to ex-chief government viticulturalist Bill Jamieson to appraise the carnage.

“You Wilyabrup people are going to make some of Australia’s best dry red wine one day, but not from pinot,” he said. “I think you should face up to starting Lenton Brae again on the basis of no pinot noir at all. Pull them all out, dead or alive. I believe you should restructure the red and white varieties using Bordeaux as the example because of climatic and maritime similarity.”

Based on positive signs shown by Semillon at Xanadu, the variety was then planted at Lenton Brae together with several hectares of sauvignon blanc and the decision made to focus on a dry version of the now-perennial Margaret River semillon sauvignon blanc blend. In 1987, the grapes were picked for the first bottle of Lenton Brae sem-sav and even though the maiden release was “cowardly” labelled as semillon only, the winery’s vision has always been to produce one wine from the two varieties. In the early days, Bruce Tomlinson and Bill Jamieson even blended the two varieties pre-fermentation to further the integration and synergy of the wine.

During the 21 vintages between ‘87 and now, many events have helped write the Lenton Brae story. Perhaps most important was the chapter titled 1995: the year that “prodigal” son Edward returned to the family winery after spending three years as a flying winemaker having experienced vintages in South Africa, New Zealand and California. As if having to quickly adapt to life on the land after leaving a dream New York job in wine retail wasn’t hard enough, the ‘95 vintage was hot and early ensuring that year’s tiny crop ripened early. Semillon was sourced at a premium price and blended with the estate fruit to produce a stunning wine that still looks fresh to this day. Edward’s first “home” vintage was certainly a memorable one.

While stock levels at Lenton Brae meant it wasn’t possible to taste the fruit of all the winery’s 21 vintages, the 16 wines presented provided an intriguing snapshot in the mouth (and on the eye if you’re a design tragic like me) of the role played by Lenton Brae in establishing the popular Margaret River SSB style. Congratulations to the Tomlinsons of Wilyabrup and all those who have played a role in the last 21 years of Lenton Brae. May you continue to define and redefine the semillon-dominant SSB style for 21 more. www.lentonbrae.com

2007: Earliest vintage at Lenton Brae. Fresh, sauvignon blanc dominant nose of tropical fruit. Intense, vibrant, wine with lots of power. Grippy acidity adds to the “oomph” factor. Good length. Much more balanced on the finish. 17

2006: Latest vintage thus far at Lenton Brae. Flint, matchstick and grass aromas. Palate is still packed with vibrant, tropical fruit. Still looking very lively. Succulent, persistent. Good length. 17.5

2005: Outstanding vintage. Lots of green bean characters. Balanced wine. Great texture and power across the mid palate. Ticks all the boxes for a good SSB blend: succulent and juicy and striking perfect balance between poise and power. 18

2004: First vintage to feature barrel-fermented semillon. Shy nose. Fresh, lively acidity still flows freely through the wine. Chewy tropical fruit character. Juicy finish. Lots of “succulent” texture. Less fruit but more texture than last three wines. 16.5

2003: Good vintage: warm, dry with early ripening. Fresh, juicy, vibrant. Flavour profile leans more towards the apple and pear spectrum. Nice length. Shows softer acidity. 17

2002: An outstanding vintage. Also first year the Lenton Brae SSB blend was sealed under screw cap. Outstanding wine. Still showing incredible freshness. Semillon characters open up on the nose with time. Palate features juicy, chewy acidity wrapped around layers of citrus character with a distinct flash of lemon peel. Still so fresh, an amazing wine that could have been made closer to six months ago rather than six years. Huge persistence and length. 18.5

After the first bracket, bottle variation and the wonders of cork started to wreak havoc with the 2001 vintage onwards and I suspect there were many different sets of tasting notes leaving the tasting.

2001: Salty, tending on black bean character on the nose. Good texture. Wine shows some hotness. Semillon dominant flavours. Succulent. Nose started to get a little bit better with time. 15

1999: Very green, very capsicum characters. Pongy, sock-like nose. Very developed and rounded toasty flavours but nice texture. 15.5

1998: Very dark, almost bronzed colour. Hints of cork taint in our table’s bottle. Appealing honeyed characters in the mouth, almost looked like a botrytised wine style. Juicy, succulent, intriguing. 16-

1997: Sweet marmalade and apricot characters. Rich and ripe palate: again, almost a dessert style of wine. Good balance between the fruit richness and acidity. Good persistence. Very classy and an exciting career path for the sem-sav blend style. 17.5

1996: Semillon-dominant nose of honeyed lanolin. Still looking fresh and there’s a squirt of acidity in the palate keeping things interesting. Rounded semillon flavours in the mouth. Succulent and juicy. Remarkable freshness. 17.5

1995: Edward Tomlinson’s first vintage as winemaker at his family’s winery. The product of an outstanding hot and dry vintage that produced very low yields, this wine was supplemented with Great Southern semillon bought at a premium price, but the investment has paid dividends. Smells of dinner table greens drizzled with honey but to taste, still looks very youthful. Could easily be mistaken as a 2005 blend. Wonderfully balanced, gentle acidity, excellent fruit weight. Includes a delicious hint of nut on the succulent and subsiding finish. Terrific wine. 18

1993: Cinnamon aromas. Juicy, bright, still fresh. Starting to show its ages around the edges but the high natural acidity is still working like a vinous Oil of Ulan. Soft and gentle drink. 16+

1990: Fresh, breezy nose. Still showing signs of vibrancy. Some toastiness. Flavour profile still show sparse signs of tropical fruit. Enjoyable juicy and succulent texture, but a touch short on tangible fruit character. 16

1989: Candied orange and lemon peel on the nose. Honeyed. Vibrant. Traces of candied giner on the palate. Oranges reveal themselves on the finish. Juicy, interesting style. 16.5

1987: Orange peel nose. Developed. Some peanut characters. Rounded texture but sour palate. Looks like it’s getting close to “past it”, if not already there. Savoury, last hurrah burst of lemon and lime on finish. 14.5