12th March 2008: The Wine Republic at Café Europa
An inaugural tasting event celebrating the founding of Beijing’s newest wine company, The Wine Republic, hosted by Managing Director Campbell Thompson.
Guests assembled at Café Europa to sample the wines of Victorian estate Mount Langi Ghiran, part of what looks to be an inspiring range, set to include other Australian producers such as Yering Station, Yarrabank, a joint venture between Yering Station and Champagne Veuve A. Devaux, Parker Coonawarra Estate, Xanadu Wines and Hewitson.
Thompson explained how it was not just important for him to import genuinely good wines into China, but that the logistics-side was a pressing concern: how wine is shipped, how it is stored and transported within mainland China; and, of course, how it finally reaches the consumer.
Those of us who have had clearly heat-damaged bottles know only too well the problems with storage and transportation that routinely occur here.
We were certainly impressed by the quality of Mount Langi Ghiran’s wines (see full tasting notes below) and welcome the appearance of The Wine Republic on the Beijing and Shanghai scenes.
Despite recent shipping, the wines seemed to be in fine fettle. The Wine Republic joins a handful of companies including Globus Wines and Ruby Red Fine Wines (both in Shanghai) that takes issues of transportation and storage seriously.
Each wine was paired by a particular dish and the food-and-wine matching was generally very well-done. Here are our notes:
2004 Mount Langi Ghiran Riesling
Appearance: medium yellow green.
Nose: instantly appealing developed Riesling nose featuring lime and grapefruit aromas with marked kerosene notes. Savoury and subtle.
Palate: mellowed ripe lime fruit with lovely acidity and excellent concentration. Good length too.
Conclusion: impressive Australian Riesling from at least 20 year-old vines. South Australia’s Clare and Eden Valleys usually get the limelight for this grape, but it’s lovely to have such a good Victorian example. Very good and capable of some further ageing in bottle if you like your Rieslings a bit older (up to 2010). Went very well with a tuna carpaccio with mango salsa. Note: The Wine Republic will carry the 2007 vintage for those who like a younger expression. Retail approx. 220RMB.
Rating: 18.5/20
2003 Mount Langi Billi Billi Shiraz
Appearance: medium purple-red, orange rim.
Nose: attractive cool-climate Shiraz nose showing black cherry and blueberry fruit with distinctive peppery notes (that pepper is lost in hotter climates, even if Shiraz retains other spicy aromas). Non-intrusive oak, if any here.
Palate: lovely fruit, medium chewy tannins and good acidity here. Pleasant length too.
Conclusion: well put-together and drinking well now. 2003 was not the greatest vintage anywhere in Australia really and a number of reds are looking tired already (certainly in comparison with 2002 and 2005). But this wine is ready and a lovely expression of cool-climate Shiraz. Paired extremely well with a grilled duck breast and rocket and parmesan salad. Retail approx. 180RMB.
Rating: 17/20
2001 Mount Langi Cliff Edge Shiraz
Appearance: dark purple-red, orange rim.
Nose: crushed red and black fruits of various descriptions (everything from red and black cherry to Shiraz’s slight blueberry character), lovely oak (largely French oak here), mature, slightly leathery notes.
Palate: medium-high chewy tannins, although mellowed, backed up by lovely fruit and nice acidity. Alcohol is balanced as it was on the Billi Billi Shiraz above.
Conclusion: lovely cool-climate Shiraz already benefiting from modest ageing. A pretty good accompaniment to the pepper-crusted beef fillet, but I think the pepper in the dish was too much for the wine in this case. A quibble. Retail approx. 260RMB.
Rating: 18/20
2000 Mount Langi Cabernet-Merlot
Appearance: dark purple-red to black, orange rim.
Nose: dark blackcurrant fruit with some plummy notes, nice oak again here. Still quite young on the nose.
Palate: very good palate with integrated medium-high tannins, good fruit, good acidity and impressive length.
Conclusion: this wine still has some time to go really, although it’s clearly drinkable now. Very well-made; but the Cliff Edge Shiraz might be the best of the reds here in terms of quality-price ratio. A pretty good match with the gratinated field mushroom. Retail approx. 420RMB.
Rating: 17.5/20
An inaugural tasting event celebrating the founding of Beijing’s newest wine company, The Wine Republic, hosted by Managing Director Campbell Thompson.
Guests assembled at Café Europa to sample the wines of Victorian estate Mount Langi Ghiran, part of what looks to be an inspiring range, set to include other Australian producers such as Yering Station, Yarrabank, a joint venture between Yering Station and Champagne Veuve A. Devaux, Parker Coonawarra Estate, Xanadu Wines and Hewitson.
Thompson explained how it was not just important for him to import genuinely good wines into China, but that the logistics-side was a pressing concern: how wine is shipped, how it is stored and transported within mainland China; and, of course, how it finally reaches the consumer.
Those of us who have had clearly heat-damaged bottles know only too well the problems with storage and transportation that routinely occur here.
We were certainly impressed by the quality of Mount Langi Ghiran’s wines (see full tasting notes below) and welcome the appearance of The Wine Republic on the Beijing and Shanghai scenes.
Despite recent shipping, the wines seemed to be in fine fettle. The Wine Republic joins a handful of companies including Globus Wines and Ruby Red Fine Wines (both in Shanghai) that takes issues of transportation and storage seriously.
Each wine was paired by a particular dish and the food-and-wine matching was generally very well-done. Here are our notes:
2004 Mount Langi Ghiran Riesling
Appearance: medium yellow green.
Nose: instantly appealing developed Riesling nose featuring lime and grapefruit aromas with marked kerosene notes. Savoury and subtle.
Palate: mellowed ripe lime fruit with lovely acidity and excellent concentration. Good length too.
Conclusion: impressive Australian Riesling from at least 20 year-old vines. South Australia’s Clare and Eden Valleys usually get the limelight for this grape, but it’s lovely to have such a good Victorian example. Very good and capable of some further ageing in bottle if you like your Rieslings a bit older (up to 2010). Went very well with a tuna carpaccio with mango salsa. Note: The Wine Republic will carry the 2007 vintage for those who like a younger expression. Retail approx. 220RMB.
Rating: 18.5/20
2003 Mount Langi Billi Billi Shiraz
Appearance: medium purple-red, orange rim.
Nose: attractive cool-climate Shiraz nose showing black cherry and blueberry fruit with distinctive peppery notes (that pepper is lost in hotter climates, even if Shiraz retains other spicy aromas). Non-intrusive oak, if any here.
Palate: lovely fruit, medium chewy tannins and good acidity here. Pleasant length too.
Conclusion: well put-together and drinking well now. 2003 was not the greatest vintage anywhere in Australia really and a number of reds are looking tired already (certainly in comparison with 2002 and 2005). But this wine is ready and a lovely expression of cool-climate Shiraz. Paired extremely well with a grilled duck breast and rocket and parmesan salad. Retail approx. 180RMB.
Rating: 17/20
2001 Mount Langi Cliff Edge Shiraz
Appearance: dark purple-red, orange rim.
Nose: crushed red and black fruits of various descriptions (everything from red and black cherry to Shiraz’s slight blueberry character), lovely oak (largely French oak here), mature, slightly leathery notes.
Palate: medium-high chewy tannins, although mellowed, backed up by lovely fruit and nice acidity. Alcohol is balanced as it was on the Billi Billi Shiraz above.
Conclusion: lovely cool-climate Shiraz already benefiting from modest ageing. A pretty good accompaniment to the pepper-crusted beef fillet, but I think the pepper in the dish was too much for the wine in this case. A quibble. Retail approx. 260RMB.
Rating: 18/20
2000 Mount Langi Cabernet-Merlot
Appearance: dark purple-red to black, orange rim.
Nose: dark blackcurrant fruit with some plummy notes, nice oak again here. Still quite young on the nose.
Palate: very good palate with integrated medium-high tannins, good fruit, good acidity and impressive length.
Conclusion: this wine still has some time to go really, although it’s clearly drinkable now. Very well-made; but the Cliff Edge Shiraz might be the best of the reds here in terms of quality-price ratio. A pretty good match with the gratinated field mushroom. Retail approx. 420RMB.
Rating: 17.5/20
Labels: 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, Australia, Cabernet Sauvignon, Featured Tastings, Merlot, Mount Langi Ghiran, red, Riesling, Shiraz, The Wine Republic, white
posted by Wine Dragon
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