Original Vineyard retrospective

In the past two weeks I have conducted tastings in Melbourne and Sydney for wine trade customers featuring Bindi Original Vineyard Pinot Noir showcasing ten vintages from 1992 to 2008. The aim of these tastings was to show the ageing capacity of the wines, how vintage variation plays a role and how vine age has given the wines increasing depth. Four bottles were used for these tastings and these notes are compiled from both tastings to give a rounded overview.

1992
Our first Pinot Noir. This wine is surprisingly delicious considering it was made from four year old vines. There were under 50 dozen made. The nose is sweet with some spice and is deliciously fragrant. The palate is still fleshy with some tannin grip and shows good balance. It is past its peak but remains a delicious wine to enjoy. At 17 years of age it is quite a revelation.

1994
Four barrels, just under 100 dozen made. This wine has always been a standout for its depth of flavour and back palate richness. The nose is spicy and earthy with excellent fruit depth and complexity. The palate is strong and powerful and the finish is intense and long. It is quite a sublime wine to enjoy now.

1997
Soon after release this wine received widespread support but closed in somewhat and became quite restrained. It has slowly opened over the years and now is deeply spicy and has delicious sweet fruit. The palate is very intense, fresh and smooth and drives long. It has always been a favourite and the best bottles are still vigorous and will hold and maybe improve.

1999
From one of our most difficult vintages (frost and an erratic summer) at ten years of age it is drinking remarkably well and is not diminished. The nose is spicy and savoury with some herbal notes. The palate juicy in fruit, fresh and long. The tannins are tight and grainy and there are delicious creamy nuances. It is fully mature now.

2000
Whilst a restrained wine in its youth the 2000 has long been a favourite for its classical intensity, balance and purity. The downside is the corks were incredibly variable and bottle variation is high. When you strike one exactly as it should be there is pretty much no better Bindi Pinot Noir. It is deep in spice, earth and red and dark small berries. The palate is very intense and tight and long and is very complex. The best bottles are still young.

2004
All wines under Diam closure from this point. From an even summer with higher yields the 2004 is enjoying a beautiful moment. The nose is spicy and creamy with earth and sweet red fruits. The palate is seamless and seductive, delicious in its smooth texture and length. It will hold this form for another five years I expect.

2005
This is one of the more profound wines for its deep, dark flavours and restraint. It will take several more years to unfold. The palate is very intense, rich and powerful and the tannin carries the sweetness for a long finish. This wine has a decade in front of it.

2006
From a warmer vintage but not forward. This wine is very fragrant and pure with delicious sweet fruit and spice complexity. The palate is very fresh, supple and harmonious and carries long on the palate. It will improve for at least five years though it is such a gorgeous drink now!

2007
From the hottest, driest year it is a revelation to see a wine of bright red and dark fruits. It is in no way sweet nor loose knit. The nose has a remarkable depth of spice/ginger. The palate is voluminous and fleshy and is carried by supple tannin that builds and drives long. For the vines to produce such pure fruit in such tough conditions was incredibly pleasing and the wines has many years of improvement.

2008 barrel sample
This is a wine that presently shows characteristics between 2006 and 2007 but ultimately seems to have links more to 2004 and 2005. That’s a complex equation! It is pure and expressive of cherries and strawberries with some deeper notes of earth and spice. I expect the nose to tighten and close up a bit more still. The palate is full and fresh with beautiful balance and flourish. It will drink extremely well young but as proven by this tasting, there will be no need to rush to consume it.

One of the overriding conclusions from the tasting was that even in more difficult, less classical years, the wines age well for a decade and deliver increased complexity and harmony. It is a folly to believe that because the wines are delicious and so accessible when young that they will not age extremely well.

The Daim closure. Apart from several Diam corks from a compromised batch (a factory packing error in a single batch that is unable to again occur) in 2004 (Block 5, Quartz and Original, not Compositions) we have been very impressed with our wines maturation from 2004. The wines are very consistent and there is no taint. Perhaps the only observation is that for the first minute or so the wines may appear closed on the nose and then open up. Last July I presented 48 bottles to 900 high end tasters at a sit down event in Oregon, USA, and the wines were all consistent and absolutely fine.

Michael Dhillon

The crop has been harvested and picking has been finished

The crop has been harvested and picking finished on the 29th of March. The ferments are nearly complete as I write this and we begin pressing the Pinot Noir ferments tomorrow. The yield is below what we ideally aim for but not significantly. In the context of the myriad of trials experienced across the state during the 2009 growing season we are thrilled with the result. In 2009 the grapes developed their flavours and overall balance at lower sugar levels than in the past four years and the wines are showing a lot of intensity and drive. I believe they will be less textural as young wines than the pleasure laden 2008s but will develop very well over the medium term. It is very, very early days but it seems 2009 will yield wines of brightness and verve. The Chardonnays are displaying wonderful, vibrant, mouthwatering grapefruit and nectarine characters and the Pinots have racy red fruit and bright spice with fine, firm tannin drive (the skins were very thick and the berries small). It will be a great feeling when they are in barrel and resting over the winter.

Looking back over the summer the most immediate thought is that it was an extremely hot season due to the incredible maximum temperatures reached. However the vintage was actually twelve days later than 2008. And later than 2007 and 2006. We almost got back to picking in April! The cool December and January we mainly responsible and the even, mild weather in the second half of March saw a slow finish to the grape’s flavour development.

Bindi News

The week of sub 30 degree weather and 15mm of rain has settled our nerves and gifted the vines some respite from the debilitating heat of February. The fruit is fully veraised and the flavours and sugars are accumulating at a modest pace. The crop is not large and the canopy has held exceptionally well in the face of a heat and wind combination we’ve not experienced. My best guess at this point is that the harvest will begin in the last few days of March and progress into April.

In the past week or so two significant stages of the year have been reached. Last weekend we bottled the Bindi 2008 Composition Chardonnay and Composition Pinot Noir as well as the 2008 Pyrette Heathcote Shiraz. As done in the previous three vintages, we also bottled a special cuvee of Bindi 2008 Pinot Noir for restaurant Vue de Monde. All the wine was packaged straight off the bottling line and in the next few months we commence sales doth domestically and internationally. I am currently writing up tasting notes on these wines as well as barrel samples of the Quartz, Original Vineyard and Block 5 and the unfolding impression of the 2008 vintage is very exciting. In short, there are similarities to 2004 (fragrant and silken) with elements of 2005 (spice and intensity).

The other significant point reached it was the arrival and crushing of the 2009 Heathcote Shiraz last Monday. The vats have taken four days for the ambient yeasts to get working and as of this morning the winery is filled with yeast and fruit aromas. I am conscious of focusing on enjoying this intense period of the year for it is the exclamation mark at the end of a season’s worth of hard work in the vineyard and mind. The life of a ferment and the sensory thrill they offer is relatively short lasting and the workload is unremitting so it can be understandably easy to just focus on coping rather than appreciating this exciting time. And the fruit? Colin Neate and his team in Heathcote have done a brilliant job in a significantly difficult season and quality of the balance, purity and length of the fruit flavour is very high. The canopy was healthy, as was the fruit at a modest yield (six tonnes per hectare). My initial impression is of depth with elegance and persistence. More, obviously, will be known in a couple of weeks after fermentation.

Last week I had the fabulous opportunity of be part of a panel with Ben Edwards from the Australian Sommeliers Association and Randall Pollard of Heart and Soil Imports presenting a masterclass of fine red Burgundy. The focus was principally on 2006 wines with a few 2005s thrown in to add perspective. As was the case at the Victorian Pinot Noir Workshop last November the wines from Etienne Grivot, Vosne Romanee, were absolutely outstanding. The previous week I had the good fortune to participate in a masterclass presented by Frederic Mugnier from Chambolle Musigny and this too was a stunning tasting for the expression of purity, balance and intensity on display. And 2006? A stunning vintage. For sure, 2005s are monumental but 2006 is more beautiful, at least for now and the next half dozen years.

It seemed, at least for a few days, that everywhere Frederic Mugnier went our paths crossed; at the Mornington Pinot Celebration, at the Musigny masterclass, at an enthusiasts private dinner and perhaps most interestingly for me, at Bindi. It was great to get Frederic’s thoughts on our vines and wines and some important issues of vines and wine styles were discussed. The bunch and berry size and cropping level of MV6 Pinot Clone were discussed as Frederic is keen to take this clone to Burgundy. Why? He explained that studies he has been involved with looked at each vine in 40 hectares (400,000 vines) in an endeavour to find small bunch and berry size without excessive bunch tightness. The outcome was about 700 vines they were happy with and, in Frederic’s words, none showed the outstanding qualities of MV6. I was stunned. We find MV6 to be an outstanding clone which naturally sets a very low yield and has exceptionally small bunch and berry size. It varies from block to block pointing to a high sensitivity to specific site; a good thing. In regard to wine matters, the quality known as tension is observable in very fine Burgundy and it is something that the wines from Mugnier are renowned for. When tasting several of our wines from barrel he gave a wry smile and acknowledged the tension in the wine. For me that notion is about life, vibrancy, intensity and the like. It is not about richness, flesh and juicy fruitiness. Tension and length. Mouthfeel and complexity. These are the things that make wine extra exciting to me.

Welcome to our website

Welcome to our website.

Finally, after eight years of ‘this is the year to get a site up’, it has happened. Sure, there’s been a lot on. Children, new vineyard, winery extensions, demanding seasons and the like are not really valid excuses but they are fair reasons not to address what has always been seen as an add on, a side line, a non core aspect of our farm, vineyard, winery and business.

That explanation will perhaps rile the astute wine marketers, the ‘make every post a winner’ proponents, those that can offer us some consultative insights into how to make our business really tick but there is a certain ‘of the land and farm’ logic to it. The reason we have been lax about building a website is that after attending to the vines, the wines, the market, the business and nurturing some human balance with family and friends the few of us here at Bindi simply haven’t had the time to commit to what a good site demands.

My desire for our site is to have it as a relatively dynamic source of current news about Bindi activities and general wine industry news and views. Previously there has not been the time to attend to updating a site and keeping it fresh and relevant; it seems only too easy to find a website where the current news is from 2006.

At least every few weeks there are either exciting changes in the vineyard, activities in the winery, travels through the global industry, inspirational wines tasted and enjoyed. My aim is not to create a definitive or comprehensive blog to attract the wine masses (I would be kidding myself if I aspired to that) but to offer some vitality and interest around what goes on in our sphere of wine and life here at Bindi.

I welcome your comments.

The past ten days have smudged and bludgeoned a smear of grey and black across Victoria and the nation. Including the wine industry. The newspapers, radio, internet and television have profoundly shouted the tragedy across the world. It has been a deeply saddening time and one for contemplating ways of helping and acknowledging our own good luck in not having the fires’ fury reeked upon us as it so very nearly was in Ash Wednesday, 1983.

I was immersed in some of this and other nation’s most delicious pinot noirs at the Mornington Peninsula International Pinot Noir Celebration on February, Friday the 6 when I became aware of the Premier’s warnings about the forecast diabolical looming heat and wind. Our farm had been under ember attack in the 43 degree heat of Ash Wednesday when the fire roared just down the road and the warnings were for a day of potentially greater danger. In a move that seemed a bit melodramatic at the time I decided to not attend the Saturday tastings (featuring Le Musigny et al from J.F. Mugnier no less) but rather return home to be on the farm and prepared in case of a bushfire.

Leaving the Peninsula the temperature was just under 20 degrees. Arriving home a few hours later, up in the hills at over 500 meters above sea level, the mid morning temperature had rocketed to 40 degrees. And the eerie, menacing wind had accelerated alarmingly. This was not a day for me to be tasting wine.

Wendy, Ruby, Emma and I went across the paddocks to my father Bill’s house on the farm located next to the winery and we sought some respite in the pool. The plan is to be at the winery if possible in a fire event for a multitude of reasons; it’s clear of bush by several hundred meters, has a stand alone diesel pump to protect the vineyard, house and winery and the fire proof barrel room is cut in against the side of the hill on the eastern side of the winery.

We came back to our house in the bush for lunch but by two o’clock the foul, sinister burn and dry of the day was too threatening to disrespect. We packed the car and left for the security of the winery and, again, the comfort of the pool. Sitting watching the kids thrill in the revitalizing therapy of the cool water provided a bizarre contrast to the full, healthy green leaves that were being stripped and blown from the vines such was the force of the north wind. The temperature was over 45 degrees and Radio 774 was bringing news of fires.

Our vines are, amazingly, pretty much unaffected by the extreme heat and are just beginning to ripen their fruit. Due to the cold and windy conditions experienced in early December the fruit set is very poor and 2009 will produce a small crop (around two and a half tonnes per hectare). The incredibly dry weather from mid December to now further retarded the crop’s development. This reality is not really perturbing to us as we are still here to do what we love, where we love it, the vines are healthy and 2008 (some nearing release) was high in quality and quite abundant.

We’ll have more news in a week or so.