Deviation Road
Loftia Adelaide Hills Vintage Brut 2013
$45; 12.5% alcohol;
cork; 70% Chardonnay 30% Pinot noir; two years on lees; 94 points
While Kate Laurie may have made this beautiful wine,
indeed she most obviously did -- it has her determined stamp upon it -- it
makes me think of another Kate -- the youthful actress: Hepburn -- coming
through a field of ripening wheat after a sprinkle of rain, tucking her
starched blue and white gingham shirt into her jodhpurs, the juice of a white
peach dribbling down her freckled chin.
"How can I help you?" she says, wiping her
mouth with the back of her free hand.
What's she been doing there? Is she alone? Not your
business. There's just enough mystery here to give depth to one's pondering,
but this fragrant, pretty, transporting wine is entertainment enough if one
puts the curiosity away and simply simply sticks to marvelling at that
remarkable aroma.
The sternness of Hepburn -- and the determination of
Laurie -- is even more prominent when you take a good draught. It's creamy and
again peachy, but built upon a footing of staunch, brittle acidity and just the
right dash of chalky tannin.
It is at once stimulating and perfectly satisfying, a
to-and-fro balance which teases you to take an even bigger gulp second time
round. If you're a true fizz perve, think of the flavours of the Chardonnay
from the slopes around Mesnil.
I've never been much of a one for sipping, I should
admit, but it takes a very fine sparkler indeed to make me wish I'd poured
myself a tumbler, which is how I'll be finishing this bottle once I abandon this
keyboard and this prissy damn tulip.
This is an accomplished, lovely wine, and a much finer
drink than many of the discount French they'll be tempting you with this
summer.
Would one of you Kates please pass the strawberries?
Deviation Road
Altair Adelaide Hills Brut Rosé NV
$32; 12.5% alcohol;
cork; 90 points
Okay, here come the strawberries. Indeed this is a bit
along the lines of the Loftia with strawberries, the higher dose of Pinot
replacing some of that sweet-smelling wheatfield with a husky waft of hessian.
This hempy/burlap character continues straight through
the palate, making a bone dry, lipsmacking sensation with little of the deeper
mystery of the Loftia.
Oh, sorry: this is slightly sweeter, but mainly to add
flesh, not a sensation of sugar or
dessert.
Now you have the strawberries, you'll be reaching for the
chèvre and an olive.
The secret here? If you have a roomful of guests,
standing around shooting the breeze before something bigger happens, pour this.
They'll be perfectly happy.
When you're seated, pour the Loftia.
Or keep that all for yourself: half a bottle once they've
gone; the other half for breakfast.
O'Leary Walker
Winemakers Hurtle Pinot Noir Chardonnay Adelaide Hills 2010
$28; 12% alcohol;
cork; 94++ points
Having started life Pinot-dominant, and therefore more
complex, five years on yeast lees has seen this wine build even more complexity
and prescence to a point of austere authority.
Which is not to say it's anything like a police officer,
or a judge. Rather, this masterful sparkler simply has little more to prove. It
just sits there. Take it or leave it.
But we're in the business of taking, so let's get in
here. This is that wheatfield in the rain, but about six weeks earlier: it has
less of that huskiness, and a touch more lush pasture. If you must go fruits,
think the flesh of the cherimoya and the carambola star fruit, wrapped in the
dry skin of the canteloupe.
But it's the drinking business that hikes the authority here.
Without losing its celebratory spangle, this is a solid, big fizz that tends to
quieten the drinker, setting one pondering, nudging the snifter in a more
withdrawing way. It's perfect for listening to great music.
You don't need a tumbler here.
The wine begs food: complex chowders, even bouillabaisse,
but a stack of buttery prawns, scallops and octopus with wild black rice,
plenty of lemon juice, black pepper and some chilli would seriously rock it.
I never quite believed we'd ever produce sparklers of the
quality of this lovely trio. It's taken a long time to get here, but very
seriously: if it's sheer quality you desire, drink these. If you're showing
off, go buy your discount French and pour it with the label prominent. The odds
are against that being as good as these.
And pricing? I'm never gonna argue about $28! Ka-chink!
Third generation sparkling winemaker Nick Walker, left, with David O'Leary in the O'Leary family's fizz vineyards at Oakbank in the Adelaide Hills ... photos Philip White
When he's in the Big Smoke, George Grainger Aldridge spends more time than most pondering life from the front bar of that hallowed emporium of thirst, The Exeter Hotel, at 246 Rundle Street, East End, Adelaide, South Australia. 
