1. What would you like to do if you weren’t working in the wine industry?

Photography – well, even more photography than I currently do.

2. What do you love most about your job and why?

The range of jobs I have with such a small business, from the vineyard and winery through to marketing, accounting and label design.

3. What is the most memorable wine/s you have tried?

So many, but probably my first Super Tuscan (Sangiovese) in Florence with a Bistecca alla Fiorentina (a massive T-Bone) or my first Albarino in a tapas bar in Bilbao. For me it’s all about the experience with the wine.

4. What grape variety or wine style most interests you at the moment?

Tempranillo and Albarino.

5. What are you listening too at the moment?

Nick Cave’s new album.

6. What are you reading at the moment?

I’ve nearly finished The Passage by Justin Cronin.  I always like to have my next book lined up which at the moment is Hunter S Thompson’s Ancient Gonzo Wisdom.

7. What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Friends & family, wine, food and music.

8. When you’re not working what do you like to do?

Create art.

9. What is your greatest extravagance?

Holidays.

10. What is your favourite country/city to visit and why?

New York.  I love the architecture, culture and creativity.  I feel a lot of inspiration there.

11. What is your favourite dish to cook?

Something Thai and hot.

12. Which living person do you most admire?

Professor Brian Cox.

13. Who are your heroes in real life?

My family…I don’t know.  I don’t really have any heroes, but they put up with me so they must be pretty heroic.

14. Which historical or living figure do you most identify with?

Sally Mann (photographer).  She is passionate, if not obsessive about what she does.  She’s self-motivated and sometimes pushes the boundaries of what’s deemed to be acceptable.

15. If you could be anyone for a day who would it be and why?

A world champion extreme sports person, so I can experience what it is like to be physically daring.  I generally keep my feet firmly planted on the ground.

16. If you could meet anyone in the world dead or alive who would it be and what would you say to them?

Bob Dylan.  I’d say “can you please sing The Hurricane for me?”

17. If you died and came back as a person or thing, what would it be?

Someone a bit taller.

18. If you were stranded on a desert island, what three items would you take with you?

The biggest bottle of wine under screw cap I could carry, a book and a camera.

19. What makes the Barossa special to you?

It’s beauty and the wonderful people.  It’s a world class wine region we can be so proud of.

20. What is your motto?

Go hard or go home!

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1. What would you like to do if you weren’t working in the wine industry?

Replace Steve Gorman as the drummer in The Black Crowes.

2. What do you love most about your job and why?

Being given the opportunity to create characterful wines with a sense of place by harnessing our growers’ skills in the vineyard and our winemakers’ talents in the winery and then getting paid to travel the world to tell the story. Why? As Mark Twain said “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness” That and the frequent flyer miles!

3. What is the most memorable wine/s you have tried?

Domaine Bourillon-Dorléans Vouvray Moelleux 1947

Gérard Bertrand Rivesaltes 1959

Penfolds St Henri Claret 1976

Château Margaux 1989

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Noir 1990

Sean Thackrey Orion 1996

Familia Zuccardi Q Tempranillo 1997

Ken Forrester’s The FMC 2005.

4. What grape variety or wine style most interests you at the moment?

All things Italian: Aglianico, Negroamaro, Nero d’Avola and Primitivo for the reds and Falanghina, Fiano, Greco, Pecorino, Verdicchio and Vermentino for the whites.

5. What are you listening too at the moment?

Pinnick Gales Pridgen’s eponymous album, 180 by Palma Violets and Opposites by Scotland’s best band Biffy Clyro.

6. What are you reading at the moment?
Q Magazine February 2013, Le Temps Des Secrets & Le Temps Des Amours by Marcel Pagnol and John Bonham: A Thunder of Drums by Chris Welch and Geoff Nicholls.

7. What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Having friends and family over for a big feed with great wines to fuel the telling of tall tales. Alternatively it’s being able to play the drum pattern from Fool in the Rain without missing a beat!

8. When you’re not working what do you like to do?

Spend time at home with my wife and kids. Play the drums. Potter around the property with the dogs.

9. What is your greatest extravagance?

Either Jermyn Street shirts, Noble & Cooley drums or Sabian Hand Hammered cymbals.

10. What is your favourite country/city to visit and why?

France, Marseille. To relive my youth and eat France’s best bouillabaisse at Le Pescadou with an ice cold bottle of Clos Sainte Magdeleine Blanc from Cassis.

11. What is your favourite dish to cook?

Rustic Greek pie because I can cook it from memory and my crème brûlée ain’t half bad!

12. Which living person do you most admire?

Nelson Mandela.

13. Who are your heroes in real life?

Billy Connolly, Sean Connery and William Wallace.

14. Which historical or living figure do you most identify with?

David Lee Roth.

15. If you could be anyone for a day who would it be and why?

Leonardo da Vinci. Because he was perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived and it would be fascinating to see things through his eyes if only for a day.

16. If you could meet anyone in the world dead or alive who would it be and what would you say to them?

Chris Whitley. Stop smoking.

17. If you died and came back as a person or thing, what would it be?

Animal from the Muppet Show.

18. If you were stranded on a desert island, what three items would you take with you?

A solar powered battery charger, my iPod and a fully loaded Kindle.

19. What makes the Barossa special to you?

The big sky country and the Barossa Ranges in particular, the people (and their welcome), the sense of community, the Barossa Brewing Company’s Wheat Store Ale, Barossa Valley Cheese Company’s Geo, Maggie Beer’s Verjuice and Pheasant Farm pâté, Schulz’s bacon, Owen Andrews’ cooking, the Apex Bakery, the Clubhouse, Roaring 40s pizzas, Zimmy’s Barossa pickle and of course the wine!

20. What is your motto?

The family’s motto is “per mare per terras” (by sea and land) but mine is “Illegitimi non carborundum” (don’t let the bastards grind you down)!

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Supply and demand. It is not a new idea, but it is one that the wine world still struggles with.

Until the recent past, distribution would drive demand better than most influences, taking ‘brands’ to ever more far-flung markets, and in so doing, building a wider and ever-more expectant audience. The benefit of this expansion of brand footprint was the owners’ greater willingness to invest in yet greater distribution, and so the equation would become a self-fulfilling prophecy of ‘growing availability’ building ‘growing performance’.

But when it comes to ‘luxury’ – or perhaps just highly discretionary purchases – almost the inverse is now true. The ubiquity of global brand availability has now ushered in a new perspective for estate owners – demand through lack of supply, rather than because of it.

This has most recently been evident in the fine wine market, where prices for the most sought-after estates have been rising exponentially as the audience realizes that not only are great estate vintages a finite supply item, but if only available in small quantities in the first place, they are also all the more ‘collectable’. In this case, ‘collectable’ would have to be read as ‘likely-to-yield-a-significant-return-on-investment-at-resale’, as well as to reward handsomely on drinking.

The point of today’s tasting is not really to debate the ‘truth’ or otherwise of the Langton’s classification, but rather to demonstrate that it exists; that it is a pretty accurate take on the leading Barossa estates; and that it provides not just a critical view, but also a market view. All of the estates featured, from Barossa and beyond, have had to demonstrate a minimum of a decade of excellent vintages, and are accordingly ranked dependent on how the secondary market (auction houses) views them in terms of the ultimate index of demand: price.

It reads most convincingly as a comparative exercise, rather than a competitive one, and the point is not to be too gladiatorial in perspective – not, this is a more ‘expensive’ wine, therefore it must be a ‘better’ wine – but to see it as a narrative that reveals when, why and how these selected estates have come to prominence.

Obviously, the idea of an Australian fine wine narrative should not be owned by Langtons alone – or indeed by any business or critic – but rather it should belong to the wine community itself. It needs to rise above personal preferences and allegiances and recognize all bodies of work that convincingly demonstrate the following attributes: blind faith in a commitment to excellence; the courage to fail; a passionate belief in regional and site expression; and a frank acknowledgement that true greatness comes only through time and patient endeavour, not through points and sudden acclaim.

For this purpose, it may be useful to consider Australia’s development over the last five decades:

1. 1970s: the emergence of the great pioneering families and the establishment of some enduring regional benchmarks – Lehmanns in the Barossa; Cullens in Margaret River; the Doctors Middleton and Carrodus in the Yarra; Tyrrells in the Hunter
2. 1980s: a growing sense of self-belief and an emerging desire to export, as well as a vanguard of winemakers prepared to travel the world to tell their stories: Melton; Duval; Powell
3. 1990s: expansion and ambition beyond imagination by the corporates, as well as an Icarus-like dalliance with critical acclaim and points. It was both the best of times, and, in hindsight, the worst of times…
4. 2000: the corrective measures of drought, category fatigue and over-supply. A fall from grace mercifully balanced by the arrival of some genuinely exciting new blood: Spinifex; Standish; Teusner
5. 2010: renewed faith in a sense of place, and the recognition that culture – not structure or scale – should determine ambition. Australia – and perhaps the world – begins to believe again in the real truth of its story: the possibility to strive for greatness.

However, it would be unwise not to recognise the importance of the preceding two decades of development, where enormous strides were made in understanding the natural chemistry that lay behind the anatomy of great winemaking. Whereas perhaps Europe enjoyed a confident and historical faith in inherited practice, Australia had a precocious curiosity to ‘understand’ rather than just ‘believe’.

In this respect, one company alone, Penfolds, encouraged a sense of enquiry among its winemakers that left a legacy of ‘understanding’ for the rest of the world. It would be fair to say that their work around pH and wine stability has informed all of our understanding as to structure and what makes a ‘good’ wine potentially ‘great’…

And so back to the exercise at hand, and to the wines on tasting today.

All have an individuality that speaks of both place and winemaking practice. Fruit definition, weight, varietal character and some natural structural properties are hopefully all site derived – and therefore to some extent, unique to the Barossa – whereas oak, method, construction and maturation are artifact and therefore replicable.

Perhaps, what we should look for is that confluence of ‘what’ and ‘how’ a wine is made that ultimately defines ‘why’ a wine is made… In a sense, to ask the simplest of questions: ‘Could that wine be bettered by making it anywhere else and by someone else?’

What Langtons is telling us is where the pulse of the market is calibrated at any one time, but we should be careful how we interpret this. It is as much a read of brand recognition and renown as it is of pure wine style and quality, and it is as much fuelled by speculators and investors as it is by genuine wine amateurs or professionals. What should be beyond question however is that the wines listed have earned their place – by whatever mechanics – among the best expressions of Australia’s regional and fine wine story. The have all endured beyond any one critic’s preferences, and any market’s passing fashion connected to variety, style or country.

They are Australian Landmarks.

Paul Henry
winehero

The Barossa Rare & Distinguished Wine Dinner

The Barossa Grape & Wine Association presented The Barossa Rare & Distinguished Wine Dinner at Prowein Dusseldorf on March 24 2013. 24 Barossa wines from the Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine V were presented.

DISTINGUISHED
2006 Pewsey Vale, The Contours Riesling Museum Release, Eden Valley
2006 Charles Melton, Nine Popes Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre, Barossa Valley
2006 Yalumba, The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz, Barossa
2004 Wolf Blass, Platinum Label Shiraz, Barossa
2006 Turkey Flat, Turkey Flat Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2009 Rolf Binder, Hanisch Shiraz, Barossa Valley

EXCELLENT
2005 Henschke, Cyril Henschke Cabernet Sauvignon, Eden Valley
2005 Elderton, Command Single Vineyard Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2006 St Hallett, Old Block Shiraz, Barossa
2006 Peter Lehmann, Stonewell Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2009 Penfolds, RWT Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2004 Torbreck, The Descendant, Barossa Valley

OUTSTANDING
2006 Henschke, Mount Edelstone Shiraz, Eden Valley
2006 Barossa Valley Estate, E&E Black Pepper Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2006 Greenock Creek, Roennfeldt Road Cabernet Sauvignon, Barossa Valley
2006 Greenock Creek, Roennfeldt Road Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2006 Yalumba, The Octavius Old Vine Shiraz, Barossa
2007 Penfolds, St Henri Shiraz, South Australia
2009 Kaesler, Old Bastard Shiraz, Barossa Valley

EXCEPTIONAL
2006 Henschke, Hill of Grace Shiraz, Eden Valley
2002 Rockford, Basket Press Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2004 Torbreck, RunRig, Barossa Valley
2005 Chris Ringland, Barossa Ranges Shiraz, Barossa
2005 Penfolds, Grange Shiraz, South Australia

Download  The Barossa Rare & Distinguished Wine Dinner booklet pdf

1. What would you like to do if you weren’t working in the wine industry?
Perhaps a PE Teacher? I have always loved sport and was involved in swimming, tennis, footy etc (in my younger days)
Or running bachelor parties for the rich and famous…

2. What do you love most about your job and why?
Great people that you meet and creating something new each season in a primitive way.

3. What is the most memorable wine/s you have tried?
Pound for pound favourite would be a brilliant 1976 Wendouree pressings.

4. What grape variety or wine style most interests you at the moment?
Tempranillo. I’m currently growing it with plans to release next year through Tomfoolery.

5. What are you listening too at the moment?
The Muscadettes. Saw them live in Montreal – plus they’re cute!.

6. What are you reading at the moment?
History of the Derwent Valley/Clarence Plains – We have family connections to the area.

7. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
A world shortage of wine, where growers get paid more, wineries get paid more. Everyone would have a smile on their dial.

8. When you’re not working what do you like to do?
Fishing – love game fishing in Tasmania. Eating out with the wife.

9. What is your greatest extravagance?
A 7 week Honeymoon in Europe.

10. What is your favourite country/city to visit and why?
Spain, Barcelona for obvious reasons… the original party town.

11. What is your favourite dish to cook?
Chilli con Carne.

12. Which living person do you most admire?
My Uncle Craig, who is the nicest bloke I’ve ever met. Can’t fault him, an absolute stellar bloke.

13. Who are your heroes in real life?
Steve Waugh and Andrew McLeod.

14. Which historical or living figure do you most identify with?
Sir Winston Churchill – brilliant with an appreciation for cigars!

15. If you could be anyone for a day who would it be and why?
Kelly Slater, he’s the best surfer ever, travels the world and spends his life in board shorts.

16. If you could meet anyone in the world dead or alive who would it be and what would you say to them?
Winston Churchill – “lets knock the cork out of that one”.  Am sure it would spark a good conversation.

17. If you died and came back as a person or thing, what would it be?
Richard Branson, such a great business mind.

18. If you were stranded on a desert island, what three items would you take with you?
Wife, Fishing Rod, Wine collection – in that order…

19. What makes the Barossa special to you?
Culture, the way history has been preserved and the morals of the community.

20. What is your motto?
Work hard, play harder.

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1. What would you like to do if you weren’t working in the wine industry?
In fantasyland I would love to be a F1 pilot, but I can’t drive and I am too big for a F1 cockpit..

2. What do you love most about your job and why?
I love the diversity of my role at Elderton as well as seeing the finished wine being made from all the hard work in the vineyard and winery that I don’t typically do.

3. What is the most memorable wine/s you have tried?
I am currently massively on the Australian bandwagon, but even despite this without doubt Campbells’ Merchant Prince NV, however with a vested interest…..

4. What grape variety or wine style most interests you at the moment?
Whatever is put in front of me, however as we are in the middle of summer it is toss-up between Riesling and Chardonnay..

5. What are you listening too at the moment?
Empire of the Sun’s ‘Walking on a Dream’.

6. What are you reading at the moment?
Decanter.

7. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Family, friends, food, travel, biking, snowboarding and wine.

8. When you’re not working what do you like to do?
Family, friends, food, travel, biking, snowboarding and wine.

9. What is your greatest extravagance?
Wine in all of its forms.

10. What is your favourite country/city to visit and why?
I love Sydney for its energy, food, beaches and people.

11. What is your favourite dish to cook?
Moules Marinieres so easy and tasty.

12. Which living person do you most admire?
My darling wife, Jules. She is a champion: smart, funny and hot and sometimes angry.

13. Who are your heroes in real life?
Adam Goodes.

14. Which historical or living figure do you most identify with?
I think there are too many to mention.

15. If you could be anyone for a day who would it be and why?
Again fantasyland, but Cadel Evans when he won the Tour – amazing!

16. If you could meet anyone in the world dead or alive who would it be and what would you say to them?
I would like to have dinner with the London Mayor, Boris Johnson – he seems incredibly entertaining.

17. If you died and came back as a person or thing, what would it be?
A red Kelpie cross.

18. If you were stranded on a desert island, what three items would you take with you?
Jules, my boys and FOX Sports.

19. What makes the Barossa special to you?
I love how it is still small town and real, but offers big city sophistication. The landscape also is so unspoilt and stunning..

20. What is your motto?
Live every day to the fullest, but in moderation. Although this scarily is also Lindsay Lohan’s motto.

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