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Hidden Gems

Visiting the cellar door has long been part of Australia’s wine culture. Few wineries have their doors closed to the public and some will even open up if they think a visitor is genuinely interested to see their operation.

One of the joys of visiting a cellar door is to seek out those vinous gems that cannot be sourced anywhere else. These might be wines created specifically for sale on site, aged releases that have been held back, experimental styles that are made available so that a winery can gauge customer response, small batches that would not be economical to sell any other way, museum releases and more.

There are some small wineries that sell their entire production through the cellar door, while others might have a batch of one vintage available one week and something completely different the next. Or there are those who pick up a special trophy for one of their wines and choose to make it available through the cellar door only. It is always worth quizzing winery staff about what they have stashed away. More than likely you’ll pick up some fascinating wines.

BAROSSA
The Barossa provides a perfect example in Torbreck, Dave Powell’s extremely successful and highly regarded winery. Despite high prices, wine lovers and restaurants clamour for the wines, yet the cellar door is the only place you’ll find The Celts, a 100 per cent shiraz that Powell makes with his sons, Callum and Owen. They use six specific rows of vines to produce 100 cases, and at $75 a bottle they are not giving it away. What is it like? You’ll have to go to the winery to find out.

Anyone visiting the Barossa and keen to catch up with as many of the small producers as possible should head for Château Tanunda and the Barossa Small Winemakers Centre. It’s worth visiting just for the heritage-listed architecture and beautiful grounds, which include a private cricket pitch and croquet green. The Centre allows many of the region’s producers, who can’t afford to operate cellar doors to exhibit their wines. Château Tanunda’s website provides information about the small producers involved and what wines are available. Included are wines from Balthazar, Gumpara, Jamabro, Liebich, Hahn, Heidereich, Kurtz Family, Red Nectar, Linke, Old Kapunda, Milhinch and Murrayvale, to name a handful, but there are many more wines worth trying. 

Another small producer, though perhaps better known than most through its larger-than-life founder Bob McLean, is McLean’s Farmgate. His riesling and cab sav, both from Eden Valley, and Kalimna shiraz are available only at the cellar door, which opens Saturday or by appointment. If you time your visit to coincide with lunch, there is every chance that Big Bob will have something special available. Another Barossa star, Kaesler Wines, offers its Patel and Alte Reben Shiraz and White Port only at the cellar door.

COONAWARRA
Coonawarra holds a Cellar Dwellers month each July during which time there are public tastings and many older wines are available for sale. Bowen Estate offers a six pack of different vintages of shiraz beginning in 1999. Rymill also has a range of 1999s available at the cellar door and focuses on larger format bottles. Zema Estate keeps a good supply of magnums, museum and limited-release wines. It also has special collections of some of their top wines, including a Cellar Selection Pack containing a 1998 and a 2000 Zema Cabernet Sauvignon, 2002 Zema Shiraz, 1999 Family Selection Cabernet Sauvignon, 2001 Family Selection Shiraz and 2004 Cluny. There is also the chance to pick up a bottle or two of Mrs Zema’s olive oil, pastes and sauces; they alone are worth the trip.

ADELAIDE HILLS
In the Adelaide Hills, Bird in Hand has its Honeysuckle Riesling from the Clare Valley, in which fermentation is stopped early leaving some residual sweetness and moderate acidity, available only at the cellar door. Nepenthe uses its cellar door to trial wines and release experiments. It also offers wines under a separate label called Bugga, which includes cancelled export orders or interesting blends the winemakers have crafted at the end of vintage. The Hahndorf Hill Winery is the only place in Australia that you will find a rosé made from the German varieties trollinger and lemberger.

MCLAREN VALE
McLaren Vale has much to offer including d’Arenberg’s limited on-premise release of their Love Grass Shiraz for $25, currently 2004, which incorporates a little cabernet sauvignon, merlot, grenache, pinot noir and petit verdot. The winery has also taken its Vintage Fortified Shiraz Chambourcin and used it to make the filling for chocolate truffles, available only at the cellar door. Other locals, including Dowie Doole and Gemtree in the Vale, find it easier to share a cellar door. Among the wines found here are Dowie Doole’s  2006 Tintookie Chenin Blanc, its first reserve chenin, and Gemtree’s 2008 Moonstone Albariño and 2005 Obsidian Shiraz. Chapel Hill only sells its 18-year-old tawny port, chardonnay and Bush Vine Grenache through its cellar door.

CLARE VALLEY
Over in the Clare, Pikes has a good range of cellar door-only wines, including its Gills Farm Viognier, The Hill Block Cabernet, The Assemblage Shiraz Mourvedre Grenache and more. Mitchell’s use the opportunity that cellar door visits provide to support its view of the longevity of local wines by ensuring that a riesling with four or five years of age and a shiraz with eight years (currently the 2000 McNicol Shiraz) are available. Mt Horrocks also have very good museum releases available when stocks permit. Grosset only opens for a few weeks every year, during which time it offers two museum releases that vary daily.

LANGHORNE CREEK
Langhorne Creek doesn’t always receive the attention it deserves but those who do visit will find an array of cellar door-only wines at Bremerton, including special releases of shiraz, malbec and cabernet, the CHW Sparkling Shiraz and the BOV Shiraz Cabernet (BOV standing for Best of Vintage).

MARGARET RIVER
Heading West, Cape Mentelle has several interesting wines for cellar door-only sale, including its Marsanne Roussanne, Botrytis Viognier and Sangiovese. It also does aged releases such as its 2004 Shiraz. Howard Park’s junior label Madfish has several cellar door-only products, such as the Late Harvest, Cabernet Shiraz, Carnelian and the Gold Turtle Tempranillo. This last wine will soon find its way into the trade.
 
THE HUNTER VALLEY
Margan has a 2006 White Label Semillon and a 2007 White Label Shiraz only available at the tasting room and to their Barrel Room members. McWilliams Mount Pleasant is an award-winning cellar door and offers wines such as the Phil Ryan Signature Series and its Aged Liqueur Verdelho exclusively. The popular Signature Series includes semillon, chardonnay and shiraz. 

CANBERRA DISTRICT
Even the ACT gets in on the act. Helm in the Canberra District has several cellar door-only wines, including three rieslings from 2008, the variety with which the winery is strongly associated. They are the Classic Dry, Half Dry and Premium.

YARRA VALLEY
Domaine Chandon can usually find a little fortified wine for cellar door customers. It makes a Rutherglen Ruby vintage port to dose the Sparkling Pinot Shiraz but also bottles a little for sale. It also has samples of the viognier that is used for co-fermentation with shiraz and several different bubbles – vintage wines from the Yarra Valley and Strathbogie. There is also a ratafia made from pinot noir juice, fortified with spirit and aged for about 10 years.

RUTHERGLEN
The cellar door experience can also be found in the home of fortifieds, Rutherglen. Campbells run a back vintage program in which quantities of wines are stored until Colin Campbell decides they are at their optimum. There is also a Limited Release range, some with production as low as 50 cases but usually between 200 and 500. It includes roussanne, tempranillo, viognier, durif and a vintage port made from Portuguese varieties.

NAGAMBIE LAKES
In central Victoria, Tahbilk offers a range of older wines including a 2001 Marsanne for about $18 – terrific buying. It also features a range of reds such as tempranillo, grenache, sangiovese and others not available elsewhere.

GIPPSLAND
Some of the biggest cult wines in Australia can be difficult to access, but not in Gippsland at the famously casual Bass Phillip. As winemaker Phillip Jones says, he makes some hobby wines in small quantities: gewürztraminer; nebbiolo and cab franc/merlot (the Cheval Blanc block). These are only available from the cellar door. Jones always carries a small quantity of Premium and Reserve pinots for private sale, although back vintages are in short supply. He also bottles small quantities of magnums and half bottles of these two wines, and they are almost exclusively available at the cellar door. In particular, he still carries several back vintages of magnums: “I usually forget to tell the customers about them,” he says.

MILAWA
No-one does a cellar door like Brown Brothers at Milawa, which receives about 90,000 visitors each year. It has an enormous range of wines and many are cellar door only including nero d’avola, vermentino, dry muscat, graciano, durif and petit verdot. According to public relations manager Scott Darkin, the cellar door has been an incredible market research facility for the company. The large number of visitors has allowed Brown Brothers to talk to their customers and determine what they like. This information has been the inspiration for several wines that have been trialled in their Kindergarten Winery over the years, many of which have gone on to be very successful on a national scale, including cienna, dolcetto, tarrango, pinot grigio and tempranillo.

TASMANIA
Stefano Lubiana notes that cellars doors in Tasmania have not always found it easy, but the wine equalisation tax rebate has provided a new lease of life for many. In Lubiana’s case, it has allowed him to explore single-vineyard and small-batch wines so that visitors to the cellar door will be able to buy four variations on the Estate Pinot from the 2008 vintage.

GRANITE BELT
Finally, to Queensland where cellar doors are a way of life for wineries. Ballandean Estate has its Salvatore  20-year-old port (Salvatore was the great grand-father of owner Angelo) available only through its cellar door. It will shortly add the Josephine, an 18-year-old Muscat (Josephine is the daughter of Salvatore). The Queensland College of Wine Tourism’s Banca Ridge Winery and Bistro at Stanthorpe also has a large range of wines.  

TEXT KEN GARGETT PHOTOGRAPHY GEMTREE

This article appeared in the October/November 2008 issue of Gourmet Traveller WINE.