Highlights from Les Caves de Pyrene goes Down Under tasting

Les Caves de Pyrene shows no signs of changing its name though the portfolio has long since extended beyond France.  This tasting showed off its burgeoning New World Portfolio and I made a bee line for the Australia section which, as the labels pictured above suggest, has a distinctly artisanal/natural bent as you’d expect from Les Caves.

My highlights.  First and foremost the Bindi Chardonnays – a true beacon of excellence and I was doubly sorry not to have visited when in Macedon Ranges last year. Bindi Composition Chardonnay 2009 (Macedon Ranges) shows a wonderful intensity of ripe Sicilian lemons, super subtle creaminess and a wash of minerality.  Very finely wrought and fresh.  Just lovely, with great penetration and persistence.   Bindi Quartz Chardonnay 2009 (Macedon Ranges) from a higher vineyard parcel on, no surprises, quartz soils, has tons of palate presence and not just because of the oak.  Tightly coiled citrus and fresh cut apple fruit makes for muscularity and focus in the mouth.  Its minerality runs as deep as its waxy lily notes reach high.   I’d love to see this potent wine in five then ten years.  The pair have a wonderful crystalline purity about them…make that triply sorry not to have visited….

Though very different, Sorrenberg Chardonnay 2009 (Beechworth) also impressed.  The bottle put me in mind of Burgundy’s Château de la Maltroye and, funnily enough, so did the wine.  Compared with the Bindi, this is in a much more traditional Côte d’Or Burgundian style, less crystalline, more creamy, with broader ripe white peach as well as citrus fruit.  Notes of hazelnut and nougat give a savoury, nutty dimension.   Though forward in flavour spectrum and deliciously expressive now, its concentration of fruit, balancing acidity and mineral undertow bode well for several year’s ageing plus.

Perhaps the surname, Morey, is a give away, but Sorrenberg’s Barry and Jan Morey are plainly francophiles because they also make a Gamay, widely regarded as Australia’s best (Eldridge Estate make a cracker too, which is little more willowy of frame).  Belying its pale hue, Sorrenberg Gamay 2009 shows a heady concentration of sweet ripe morello/black cherry fruit and peony aromatics.  A hint of minerality too to its balanced acidity.  Seductive if pricey.

Also from Beechworth, Les Caves showed three vintages of Julian Castagna’s Genesis Syrah, all in great form.   Castagna Genesis Syrah 2008 showed great Pinosity on the nose with its floral scented fresh picked summer fruits which followed through in the mouth, together with notes of wet earth, black pepper, liquorice and dried spice.  A touch of tannic grip holds the flavours over a long finish.  Very good.  The ethereal Castagna Genesis Syrah 2005 showed wonderful white pepper lift to its concentrated, juicy, fleshy blood plum and wild berry fruit.  Gorgeous lift and freshness combined with ripe but present tannins make for a finely honed wine.  Really lovely.  Altogether more savoury Castagna Genesis Syrah 2004 showed a savoury edge to its sweet bramble and raspberry fruit, shot with liquorice and cedar.  Long, lingering and very well balanced it makes its own shape.  Another winner!  But my pick of the bunch was Castagna Un Segreto 2005.  Possessed from nose to tail of a gravelly minerality, this blend of 60% Sangiovese and 40% Syrah has a cool hand on its shoulder.  Which is not to say it lacks sensuality.  Far from it.  A firm backbone of tannin is fleshed out by opaque and juicy blood plum.  The whole is interwoven with lifted incense spice and earthier leather notes.  Fabulous.

A couple of quirky wines really tickled my taste buds.  Anton von Klopper’s Domaine Lucci Pinot Gris on Skin 2010 (Adelaide Hills) and James Erskine’s Jauma Alessa 2010 (Barossa Valley), pictured right, shared a wonderful immediacy, as if the fruit had just been picked. So much so that my hands felt sticky!  The inky, Jauma Alessa, a blend of Touriga Nacional and Monastrell, sported a fresh, vibrantly spicy palate of dark summery berry fruits.  Pale and cloudy but distinctly salmon pink, Domaine Lucci Pinot Gris on Skin 2010 was another Pinot impersonator whose summery strawberries and cream and more autumnal plums and dried spice captured the change of seasons in a glass.

Finally, a footnote.  For some reason, the Pinot Noirs on show just didn’t sit with me – I kept picking up the same dull coltsfoot/liquorice note on the finish – not pretty.  Given that I’d really enjoyed several of the producers’ wines before (Timo Mayer, Anton von Klopper), plus Bindi’s Pinots are so universally esteemed, I suspect my taste buds were in Pinot Noir revolt.  So I’m afraid no notes to share on these wines.