New wines for Summer 2008

The focus on new wines for the summer of 2008 is the Willamette valley in Oregon, where I visited for the third time last September after my annual knees up at Burning Man in the Nevada desert. This really is special country and I recommend anyone involved with the idea of a holiday to the West coast of the USA to venture to the rolling hills and relaxed atmosphere and informality that the farmland in this quiet, dreamy corner of America evokes.

The theme of cool climate, subtle wines will take a new meaning with some wonderful Alsace and Burgundy influenced varietals: these wines will zest up your palate this summer and emphasise yet again the importance of careful and attentive sourcing! I am particularly excited about my new relationship with Bethel Heights just down the road from Amity vineyards in the Willamette valley. When I visited the vineyard last September I was astonished by the quality of their wines and I managed to secure some small parcels of Pinot Gris 2006 and Chardonnay 2005. I also spent a great deal of time at Amity vineyards and again was able to acquire small parcels of their Pinot Noir 2006 ( this wine is now sold out in the USA) and some of their 2006 Gewürztraminer as well as a little more stock of their 2002 Late Harvest Gewürztraminer, which is quite simply a pudding wine for now ( and by that I mean it suits summer fruit acidic puddings) so please look into this wine for your cellar now and don’t wait until the end of the year since it will all be sold.

Wines that arrived in Spring 2008

The focus on wines for Spring 2008 will be the Willamette valley in Oregon and Ballarat in Victoria. The theme of cool climate, subtle wines will take a new meaning with some wonderful Alsace and Burgundy influenced varietals. Arrival: April 2008.

Wines that arrived in Autumn 2007 

The focus for wines in Autumn 2007 was predominantly cool climate wines, except possibly for our first entry into the world of Barossa Valley, South Australia. It is also my first venture into Tasmania, so different in its landscape and climate from mainland Australia. Stefano Lubiano, of Italian heritage, is a wee bit of legend when it comes to winemaking. I visited and tasted all his wines in his vineyard high above the Derwent River just north of Hobart in February 2006 and the quality of all wines was extreme! I have kicked off with his NV Brut and 2005 Pinot Noir. 

I visited Kabminye in Barossa on my last day in South Australia in February 2006 and loved their subtle yet robust reds. I fell in love with their “Irma Adeline” 2002, a blend of Southern Rhone varietals including a touch of Marsanne and Roussanne, making it a pretty funky wine! 

The new 2006 vintage of Sauvignon Blanc from Barratt will after the applause that the 2005 received, definitely continue that theme of excellence. James Halliday voted this the second best Sauvignon in Australia in his wine companion in 2007. 

At last I return to Mendocino in Northern California with two reds from Greg Graziano, another man of Italian heritage who has been making wines here in Northern California for the last 30 years. His 2004 Petite Sirah and Zinfandel will I hope open peoples minds to quality wines being available from California at a sensible price.

Whirly wine bases the very careful sourcing of its wines by spending time in the vineyard.

In January and February 2006 I experienced the most exciting “Whirlwind tour of Australia” and the thought of Australia being one large very hot oven of a climate with over alcoholic and fruit filled wines simply is not the case. I believe however that the cooler climate areas such as Tasmania, the Adelaide Hills, The Macedon ranges, Margaret River and Orange, to name a few, will ultimately produce some wines with greater layers and subtlety and this is where my focus on sourcing wines shall be focused on in the years ahead. However, there is I believe, a marked turn  in the warmer wine regions, like Barossa for example, to make wines that follow the rules above which is an exciting prospect for the future. 

In September 2006 I travelled to Mendocino in Northern California after a wonderful week in the Nevada desert at the Burning man festival. I only spent two days in this wilderness vineyard area but that was all I needed. I had been trying to track down Greg Graziano, the pioneer of Italian varietals in the USA and Zac Robinson of Husch Vineyards in the cooler Anderson valley for a while and both appointments were a great success. The Whirly wines tour page will continue this adventure at the end of 2007 after my next sourcing trip to the USA in September 2007. By this time I should have some new wines from Husch and Graziano here in the UK.

With each wine I have suggested a few food accompaniments. This is by no means a fixed rule but just a little guidance so please feel free to express yourself by experimenting with other food and let me know your discoveries.  

Please spend some time on my adventure page “Whirly wine tours” for a more in depth insight into my travels around the vineyards of Australia and Northern California.

Simon Charles Newson
Director, Whirly wine

Please select a vineyard from below to see the wines:

Australia