30 Years On – a reflection on what defines Giaconda
15 March 2016
Who says you cannot teach an old dog new tricks? 30 years on I am still learning in the vineyard and winery; the last six being the most prolific, more so than the previous twenty-four.
From the outset I determined to follow my intuition: to craft wines that reflect this tiny and unique site near Beechworth and show my passion for wine styles that are cutting edge in an international context. Giaconda was never going to be a trend follower nor an imitation of others who have come before. Giaconda is the style. It has not always been a comfortable ride. My perseverance and determination to stay true to my vision, and not become seduced by the glamour and noise of “wine entertainment” has ensured Giaconda remains innovative, at the cutting edge of premium wine production, and above all, relevant to our ultimate critics, the consumers. I have always preferred to let my wines do the talking!
Embracing change is essential to any business if it wishes to grow and flourish. This is also true for premium wine production. Here the challenges come in the form of: climate issues, shifts in consumer preference, economic issues abroad and at home and the rise of new, equally determined producers with a vision and a story to tell.
Giaconda is its own style; it has relevance because it resonates with people who understand and appreciate a commitment to maintaining a style that is consistent. The integrity of Giaconda is based on a steadfast determination to fine tune, to improve but never to jump ship and follow the latest fashion thought bubble that has for example beleaguered Chardonnay of late.
My guiding principle has been to question everything we do: vineyard practices, replanting and removing vines (saying farewell to the Estate Cabernet), updating wine production and processing equipment and of course, where and how we mature the wines. Our cave has been central to our wine ethos that maturing wine slowly and gracefully in an all year round cool environment will only enhance quality.
It has taken me 30 years to arrive at a point where I can confidently say we are now well placed to handle the vagaries that nature throws at us. There is no denying that climatic conditions have been extremely challenging since 2000 with many earlier vintages. The change and innovation I have referred to has enabled me to cope with these climate hurdles and in many cases turn them to an advantage.
Let me explain. We seem to experience of late much warmer springs but little, or no more, intensity of heat during mid-summer. Warmer springs advance the growing season but the actual length of growing time remains much the same. Not picking the fruit too ripe, or too late, has ensured the grapes are in beautiful condition with perfect acidity. This has enabled me to produce an unheralded run of powerful, complex Chardonnays from 2010 all at slightly reduced baumes.
This dog might be older, but I am still barking and there are more tricks to earn.
So to the wines. There is no 2014 Pinot Noir nor 2014 Warner Shiraz this release. Both fell victim to the spring frosts. Subsequently the fruit we picked did not reach a standard that befits Giaconda single vineyard wines. Smaller amounts were made of both these wines and will be released under our Nantua Les Deux label at a later stage. Watch this space for details!
On the point above, our Chardonnay quantity (but not quality) was also reduced due to frost on the lower parts of the vineyard. However this wine has been the real surprise of the 2014 vintage – at the pinnacle in terms of quality – amongst our very best with stunning power and complexity. This wine will sell out very quickly due to the reduced yields so don't miss out.
The 2014 Estate Shiraz avoided the frosts, perched near the top of the slope. It was an ideal season for the Shiraz and resulted in a wine of startling quality, possibly the best to date. Here the tweaking of vinification methods with a slight adjustment in the origin of the forests that we use from our Sirugue barrels has added further stature to this wine. What I am finding now is the inherent beauty that can be achieved with Shiraz. No longer is it just the domain of Pinot Noir to be ethereal.
The first vintage of our Red Hill Nebbiolo vineyard is in barrel. This wine from the 2015 vintage shows extraordinary varietal character – good colour, a perfume of spice, rose petal, emerging notes of tar and beautiful interplay between tannin, fruit and acid. There was not enough to fill our 1600 litre Italian Botti, so it rests in older 228 litre barrels in the cave. Nebbiolo is renowned for being shy and reserved in its youth. Patience is essential. My feeling is that Red Hill will be a natural home for the production of quintessential Nebbiolo. It will be fascinating to follow its development.
Finally, I would like to thank you all for your encouragement and support for Giaconda over the past 30 years. I am truly grateful to all of you who have deemed my wines worthy of your patronage.
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Sincerely,
Richard Kinzbrunner
Cork or screwcap wine? Even age cannot settle this debate
30 March 2017Australian Financial Review
Life and Leisure Mar 30 2017
by Max Allen
There are two glasses of 2006 Giaconda chardonnay in front of me (lucky me...). One is very youthful, a pale straw colour, lean and powdery, with a hint of reductive, sulphidey struck-match scent, and a refreshing, lemony acidity. The other is a touch more golden, a little more developed and rounder in flavour, with slightly richer, toasty, spice and button mushroom aromas.
What's going on? Are these wines from different parts of the Giaconda vineyard? Made in different ways? Matured in different barrels?
Nope. They're both exactly the same wine, bottled at the same time, cellared in the same place (underground at Giaconda, in a tunnel dug into the stone of the hill). And yet these wines undeniably taste different. So what sets them apart?
The first comes from a bottle that was sealed with a screwcap, the second from a bottle under cork.
It's been almost two decades since the Australian wine industry started using screwcaps en masse. Today, almost all wines out there in bottle shop land are sealed this way. And yet there is still ongoing debate about the suitability of a screwcap for fine wines destined for long-term cellaring: yes, we know the seal works perfectly well at keeping the liquid in the bottle and keeping it fresh, but we just don't have enough experience comparing the same wine under cork and cap over many years to be sure we like how the wines age the new way.
Which is why, when Rick Kinzbrunner and his winemaker son Nathan, of legendary Beechworth, Victoria producer Giaconda, held a recent tasting comparing their chardonnay, pinot and shirazes from 2004 to 2010 bottled under both seals, I was keen to attend.
So many factors
The results? Inconclusive, I'm afraid. For a start, there are so many variables at play, it's almost impossible to be definitive. In the case of the 2005 chardonnay, for example, the screwcap unequivocally outshone the cork – but Rick told me all the corks he bought that year were far from perfect.
In some cases the peculiar nature of the vintage overrode any differences between the seals: both the 2008 Warner vineyard shirazes, for example, showed the softer tannins and globby fruit of the reds from that warm vintage more than they showed anything else.
And while I tended to prefer the cork-sealed chardonnays, particularly the 2006 mentioned above and the outstanding 2008 and 2010 wines, I tended to prefer the screwcapped reds (the 2006 Warner shiraz sealed this way was utterly entrancing, an intense and spicy shiraz at a lovely stage of its maturity). That said, the magnificent 2010 Estate shiraz, under cork, was my pick of the reds: the best shiraz Giaconda had produced up to that point.
This aspect – personal preference – is possibly the most important factor of all. Rick Kinzbrunner tended to prefer the screwcaps for his chardonnays. He liked the way the seal retains the youthful, reductive aspects of the wines; whereas I'd liked the way the corks led to the slightly rounder, more developed flavours I would traditionally associate with bottle-aged chardonnay. And he's not so much of a fan of screwcaps for reds. He doesn't like the way they mature. Indeed, he's decided to bottle his shiraz only under cork.
After the tasting comparison of Giaconda's chardonnay, pinot and shiraz, the Kinzbrunners also opened a magnum of their 2008 nebbiolo – under cork, of course. And it turned out to be my favourite wine of the day: deep wells of entrancing perfume for the nostrils to explore and beautiful poise on the palate, with skeins of brick-dusty tannin falling like a lattice across the tongue.
If you're a fan of this great Italian grape and the wines it produces, and you like the character of those wines after a few years in the cellar, you really need to put Giaconda high up on your nebbiolo shopping list.