Tasting Notes

A MYSTICAL BENT

Amphora wines – like the ones being created at Bent Road – have a charm and depth of flavour that defies their simple beginnings.

WORDS TONY HARPER

ROBERT RICHTER AND GLEN ROBERT make a compelling partnership.

Not solely because of the duality of Robert (that’s just a bit of fun), but because they are so different, and yet so perfectly suited.

Robert Richter is quiet … almost taciturn, but generous with his time; reserved, owlishly-wise, an old-style professor who is not yet old.

Glen Robert is unstoppable, gregarious, filled with boundless energy, a wine-making-labrador in man’s clothing.

They are both wonders and together they have created Bent Road Wines and a brethren label called La Petit Mort.

Robert farms the land; Glen heads the winemaking.

Their vineyard lies on Bent Road in Ballandean, Queensland, south of Stanthorpe, and not far shy of the New South Wales border.

The Severn River runs through their property; it is home to cod, a watering hole for deer, wallabies and countless other fauna, and breathtakingly beautiful.

The vineyard seems almost too organised, too civilised to belong.

Yet it does, and it sits comfortably, almost seamlessly, amid the rocks, trees, watercourse and scrubby wilderness.

Recently an old wooden church has been added to the house and winery sheds, to act as a tasting room.

Due east of the house, by 30 or so steps, is the amphora garden.

Round, ceremonial, almost religious.

More so, perhaps, than the old church.

It’s kind of like a miniaturised Stonehenge, inverted and buried.

But instead of giant, vaguely rectangular boulders, we have large, Romanesque ceramic pots.

Underground. Full of fermenting wine.

And I reckon when it comes to wines made in amphora, there is a mystical element.

A dimension we don’t yet have our heads around.

It’s a process borrowed from ancient Georgian winemaking – before refrigeration, oak barrels, stainless steel, pumps, pipes, presses; six centuries before Jesus did his trick with water.

And it is the simplest form of winemaking: put the grapes in the amphora, close the lid, and dig it up a year or so later.

Bingo … grapes into wine.

The earth acts as insulation, slowing the fermentation and the curves of the amphora encourage convection – no cold pockets and constant mixing of skins, seeds and liquid.

There is science that explains much of the mysticism … just not fully.

An amphora wine has an individuality, a peculiarity to it that can’t be gained from barrel, tank or bin.

Compared to conventionally made wines it is the whites that are most disparate … but you can lay much of the blame for that on the skins; we are conditioned to know whites as bright, fresh, fruity, little or no tannin, almost clear.

If you ferment white grapes as you would red – skins, pips, maybe even stalks included – you end up with an entirely different beast.

The colour is deeper, they have tannin, and there’s an added dimension to the flavour … sometimes good, but often not.

La Petite Mort does two amphora whites – Gentil (a blend of Muscat and Gewurztraminer) and V.M.R. (Viognier, Marsanne Roussanne), and they both sit emphatically on the good side of the flavour fence.

Gentil is pretty; smelling kind of like ripe green grapes, but overlaid with the potpourri aromas of Gewurz.

What could be too much, too perfumed (like car air freshener) is beautifully reined in by the production method.

The skins have given the wine plenty of tension, and some raspy notes – not quite bitter, but heading that way – and that makes a perfect counterbalance to the inherently overt nature of the two varieties.

In short, it works.

V.M.R. is less gregarious, more structural and I reckon more serious. I love it.

It’s the texture that reels me in; multi-layered, silky but also a little spiky; dense like a South Australian red, but imbued with the brightness and lightness of white wine.

It’s complex, in a soft, encompassing way.

Of the amphora-fermented reds it the Saperavi that holds pride of place.

And that’s quite poetic in a way, given that Saperavi is a Georgian variety and it’s nice to think that perhaps, two and a half thousand years ago, there was Saperavi being painstakingly crafted into wine in the Georgian soils.

It is a bold variety, with deep – sometimes impenetrable – colour, voluminous tannins and rich fruit.

It shouts rather than whispers.

Fermenting in amphora seems to quell its loud nature a little, giving it a layer of fat over the sinew, adding savoury elements to its very punchy fruit.

When Robert and Glen get this right, which they seem to do most years, it is probably the best Saperavi in the country.

And while you might think that’s a hollow accolade because it’s such a scarce variety, I reckon there are more than 50 people producing it in Australia and that number keeps on growing.

The other amphora red is made from Shiraz with a dollop of Viognier.

In some vintages this has had a little funk on the side: I don’t like funk but so many people do … which is simply a matter of preference.

When it shoots straight – funkless – it is a very compelling red with an almost velour/satin texture and a wonderful melange of purple fruits, a hint of perfume, and an interplay between savoury and succulent.

There is so much more being produced at Bent Road, but space and time don’t allow me to explore them all.

Some are far more conventional – Chardonnay, Shiraz, an always brilliant Tempranillo – and others stray from convention; Marsanne made both conventionally and under flor (like Vin Jaune or Fino sherry), Verdelho made like Madeira.

It is a property and a team of people that continue to experiment, push boundaries and dabble, at times, in the most extreme, interesting styles of wine.

For me, however, it is the stuff from the amphora garden that defines these wonderful people and their beautiful property.

fl:) PROTECT

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