Back to the Stone Corral

DIRT DINNER. Part Three.

I feel like Wyatt Earp on a wander back through old stomping grounds.

Been there. Done that. At this corral, anyway. The Stone Corral.

But for those of you lacking eiditic memory, a quick review.

In 2001, Brian Talley converted a 27-acre plot of grazing land into a vineyard planted with Pinot Noir. Two other winemakers, from Kynsi and Stephen Ross, shared the development costs in exchange for long-term access to the grapes grown. The 5 blocks of the resulting Stone Corral vineyard were each divided into thirds, each to be shared by the three participants.

And at our farewell dinner, we drank all three side by side.

The Talley and the Kynsi wines were quite similar (not surprisingly). The Talley perhaps had a slightly defter touch wood-wise. You felt like you had better access to the fruit. But the Kynsi was energetic and slightly more complex with hints of sandalwood and cola. It's tough to know with any precision where the varietal profile stops and the specific vineyard starts, but both of these wines seemed to provide great transparency to the Dirt of the Stone Corral.

The Stephen Ross entry was an altogether different wine. It was bigger and concentrated. The dense cherry fruit mixed with plum and dark fruits, heaps of dry extract and too much mocha on the finish.

As with the New Zealand wines, the exercise was not about subjective judgements, but -- very subjectively -- I can't help but think the hyper-extraced wine makes a poorer window to the vineyard.

Look What the (Siamese) Cat Dragged In

Is it more racially insensitive that I find it fun to make puns with colonial-era Asian place names? Or that I use them interchangeably, as if Thailand and China were just one big "Asialand"?

While you form your views on that, I'm happy to report that even before we've officially opened the doors of the Lab's new Ghaungzhou facility, we have welcomed our first visitor.

In town for Altaya Wines "Passion for Pinot 2010" event, Pyramid Valley Winery's Mike Weersing dropped by the Lab's HK executive suites carrying a bottle of the current release of his Earthsmoke Vineyard Pinot Noir, 2008.

The wine is unfiltered, unfined and only modestly sulphured, and so is a light, cherry red and a little, dare I say... murky. The nose is a delicate mix of chalky soil, orange -- blossoms and oil -- a late rush of red fruits and a green note that I would have previously associated with stems.

Mike mentioned that he gets that comment often about this wine, but the truth is they do not press whole cluster, but fastidiously de-stem all the fruit by hand and so press whole fruit. He thinks the aroma may have something to do with the fermentation that starts inside the berry before being crushed.

The wine tastes much like it smells, with sour cherry and currant layered in. It is distinctly linear, taut, and pulsing with a tensile energy.

When I tasted the first vintage from this vineyard, 2006, it reminded me much of the Burgundy made by Michel Lafarge in Volnay. But the more experience I gain with this wine, the more it tastes like itself. I still think the flavor profile and structure is reminiscent of the French counterpart. But the profoundly earthy note that forged the link on my original impression seems, in this bottle, to be less like Lafarge's newly turned soil and more chalky and dry. Perhaps more like Canterbury dirt?

A final note for the big geeks out there (you know who you are): This wine is very high pH. Something like 4.2 (with 3.6-3.8 being "normal"). As part of his evolving non-interventionist philosophy, Mike eschews acidifying his wines now. Preferring to take them as they come, as it were. In spite of the high pH, this wine was fresh, youthful and lively. It offered more than sense of acidity than actual acidity.

Curious to see what this drinks like in five years time.

Chinskirin Boktani

More April.

As we sat contemplating the prevailing winds, there was a quick knock at the door, a mere instant before it was thrown open rather violently and without additional ceremony. Our guide, Chinskirin Boktani, was thus arrived. In native shoes and animal skins, Boktani cut a jolly figure, and one made all the more appealing by the unusual Pinot Noir he clutched tightly in his fist.

Without preamble, he told us he had booked passage on the next morning's flight to Launceston and then twisted the Stelvin closure off his odd elixir with a wry smirk.

The wine was a 2006, Punch, Close Planted Lance's Vineyard Pinot Noir. I'd never heard of the producer and leaned in expectantly.

Tell me about this, I said.

Speaks for itself, was his reply, as he poured me an ample glass.

The wine was immediately and obviously special, bright, pure and fragrant, a complex mix of cherry, red currant, and wild strawberry. The fruit laced with linear subtleties that twirled hypnotically across the palate. A lattice of alkaline minerality buttressed the wine in more than one direction. The finish was endless.

I demanded to know the source and insisted we must immediately procure further bottles. Boktani told me the vineyards had not entirely escaped the horrifying fires of the recent summer. He couldn't say if there would be more.

We fell quiet then. Not in disappointment. It was the memory of those terrible blazes that left us all silent.

From Our Aerie

Still April.

We remain at Eagle's Landing (ed. corr.), awaiting the arrival of our guide. We've been told he left Melbourne days ago, and so we are anxious, hoping he might appear at any moment. Hopefully, he's not lost; this would bode ill for our journey.

In the meantime, the notes, as promised:

2006 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir, Martinborough. This wine has a big, full and expressive nose of dark, sugared plum and cherry fruits with some beguiling barrel effects (something like caramelized vanilla). This is young, and the tannins are quite sharp, but it is beautifully structured with bright fruit and an intense granitic minerality.

2004 Pegasus Bay Pinot Noir. This has a sensual, (middle?) earthy nose accompanied by plums and blueberries. Very approachable after the tannins get some air. This is rich and full of extracted fruit, but not at the expense of a voluptuous precision.

The Heart of Sparkling

April 2009

After our long Pacific crossing, we arrived in the antipodes only slightly bruised. We began at once making our final preparations for our search for sparkling wines in the wilds of Tasmania.

Already we'd heard whispers of a great wine to be found on the banks of the Coal River and were anxious to make our way South.

But we quickly discovered there was little to do but wait for the arrival of our guide and the turn of the tide.

In the meanwhile, safely ensconced at Eagle's Landing, our amiable and generous hosts there provided welcome sustenance in the form of two distinctive Pinots from nearby New Zealand. A 2006 Ata Rangi and a Pegasus Bay from 2004.

Notes after I've finished stitching my mosquito netting.