AsiaLIFE

Since the dawn of the new Millennium, New World wines have stormed up the sales charts, gaining worldwide recognition and taking large chunks of market share from European producers along the way. So – in the tradition of out with the old and in with the new – Darren Gall looks at some of the best this brave New World of wine has to offer in Cambodia for 2009.

The Coonawarra wine region is a small strip of ancient terra rossa soil over limestone, (only 15 kilometers long and 1.5 kilometers wide) and the single stretch of road that runs its length is home to the biggest names in the Australian wine industry. The Majella Estate vineyard has been producing some of the region’s very best Shiraz grapes since the late 1960s, selling them to the big companies, where they ended up in some of Australia’s most famous wines. At the beginning of the 1990s Majella co-owner, Brian ‘Proff’ Lynn decided to keep a little back to produce a family label. Majella Estate Shiraz is now hailed as one of the great red wines of Australia. A cool-climate Shiraz, this wine is pepper and spice and all things nice over a massive dollop of sweet, dark plum and fresh raspberry juice, with enough charry oak and fine tannin to tame the rarest of steaks.

Vina Maipo, Central Valley, Carmenere (Chile)

Carmenere is a rare grape variety once believed lost to the world – the pestilence pylloxera saw it all but wiped in France out by the early 1900s. The variety was exported to Chile for cultivation over a century ago but was mistakenly classified as Merlot! The ongoing riddle was why Chilean Merlot seemed to be richer, deeper and more flavoursome that Merlot in other parts of the world until a team of ampelographers tested the vineyards and discovered two distinctly different varieties existed, one Merlot and one the long-forgotten Carmenere. Today Chile claims the variety for itself, nicknaming it the Jurassic Park variety – the grapes that returned from extinction. The Vina Maipo Winery is now owned by Concha y Toro the largest producer in Chile and since the takeover this reliable and affordable label has become widely exported throughout the world. Carmenere is a soft, silky, medium-bodied red wine with concentrated flavours of mulberry, tobacco leaf and cinnamon spice given further complexity by notes of mocha and smoky oak. Match with chicken, pork or rabbit.

Mulderbosch, Stellenbosch, Sauvignon Blanc (South Africa)

Mulderbosch winemaker Mike Dobrovic, is widely regarded as one of the most talented winemakers in all South Africa. The wine shows lively, green apple hues. A tropical bouquet is packed with guava, green fig, passion fruit, gooseberry and a hint of green capsicum, the palate has a tropical/passion fruit mid-palate wrapped in a sleeve of complex herb and freshly cut grass characters. The mouth-filling, ripe fruit is supported by good, crisp acidity. A very refreshing wine perfect with shellfish, goat’s cheese or battered squid.

Trentham Estate, Murray Darling, Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot (Australia)

The Murphy Brothers are on a roll at the moment – their Trentham Estate winery was recently awarded five stars (the highest rating possible) by renowned wine writer James Halliday in his Australian Wine Companion 2009. Winemaker Anthony Murphy recently traveled to London to collect the International Wine & Spirit Competition Trophy for Top Shiraz and both Anthony and his viticulturist brother, Pat were jointly nominated for the Gourmet Traveler ‘Winemaker of the Year’ awards. The Trentham Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (70 percent), Merlot (30 percent), is a classic Bordeaux blend that is eminently drinkable and outrageously affordable for a wine of such quality and appeal. Perfumed aromas of forest berries are given further complexity by notes of dark chocolate and coffee grinds from maturation in French and American oak. On the palate the wine is bursting with ripe fruit, the Merlot component giving a fleshy, juicy mid palate, the Cabernet component adding firmness and length to the wine with the fine grained tannins holding it all together. Perfect with roast lamb or duck.

Cloudy Bay, Marlborough, Pinot Noir (New Zealand)

Probably the most famous Sauvignon Blanc producer in the world, Cloudy Bay first made Pinot in 1989 and the winemaking team has been obsessed with the variety ever since. Their purpose-built Pinot Noir cellar allows the winemakers to handle as many as 40 unique parcels of wine from 25 different sites. This wine has an enticing fragrance of dusky dark fruits – black cherries, plums and berries intermingled with rich earthy aromas, mocha and exotic spices. The palate of ripe red and black fruit has charry oak flavours and plush velvety tannins. Great length and depth of flavour here. Drink it with pork belly, duck or mushroom risotto.