Depth of talent on Show
A little-known local winery upstaged a number of big name estates to dominate the Margaret River Wine Show last month.
Cloudburst Wine took out the show’s Best Single Vineyard Estate Red Wine, Best Red Wine of the show and Best Cabernet Sauvignon.
MRWA president Nigel Gallop said the Caves Road winery’s triumph was representative of Margaret River’s winemaking depth.
“They’re a very small producer … but they produced an outstanding wine that won three trophies,” he said.
“It’s quite an outstanding result given it was up against some serious competition.
“To have such a small winery make wines that are world class is incredible.”
‘Who?’ ‘I think I have heard of them’ ‘Aren’t they the guys made at Woodlands?’ ‘Never seen the wines’. Unusual reactions for a wine that scooped the pool including best cabernet sauvignon, best red and best wine of show at Margaret River Wine Show. I’d heard of the unicorn wines of Cloudburst, tracked down their website, seen the $150 price tag and learned that the wines aren’t even sold in Australia. Almost mythical. Someone in the US when I last visited asked if I had tried the wines. I hadn’t. I hadn’t seen a bottle until I stumbled into one on a heck of a fancy wine list in New York City. Take a look at the website and the wine is listed at the who’s who of US high end dining establishments. Word in the US is that they are at about that enigmatic ‘cult wine’ status, and we don’t even get a run at them here. Intriguing!
Will Berliner is the winemaker/proprietor. Bespectacled, neatly cropped hair, neutral US accent, super nice to chat to and genuinely stoked to have returned to the stage for Margaret River awards gala night on the three occassions, ‘but even after all that amazing buzz, I still got up early and walked through the vineyard, plucked a few leaves, felt the serenity of the site. I do that most mornings’, he explains. Berliner graduated from a degree in Ecological Oriented Biology at Yale, settled in Margaret River with his wife and sought a place that combined many elements of nature that pleased him, then begun with grape growing as an experiment, having worked out he reckoned he had an ideal, nay, exceptional site. The vineyard is somewhere tucked behind Woodlands and around about Caves Road, was planted in 2005 and raised biodynamically from the get-go. The site is close-planted and no machinery is used in the vineyard, it’s all worked by hand. No additives or touch ups in the winery, fermented naturally.
There’s two chardonnays released too – a 2010 and 2012 wine so far. They didn’t get any awards at the show, but I went back and re-tasted them at the exhibitors’s tasting. They’re both full flavoured, powerful and carry a tight coil of acidity that drags flavour long. The 2010 is exceptional, but I can see how one would miss it in a wine show, or think it was over the top or something. A lot going on. The 2012 feels a bit unresolved.
I tasted this cabernet wine several times across the show from initial judging to call back to trophy next day, and various iterations from fresh pour to open-for-hours. I tasted the wine again the last day of the show. Drank a small glass. It’s exceptional – sleek, medium bodied, pure of fruit, tense in tannin, seamless. There’s a good energy about the wine – it feels bright but silky, yet concentration isn’t sacrificed and there’s a complex savouriness and dried herb leafiness in tow. So long in flavour. Just so. So very good.
As said earlier, none is sold in Australia. Yet. I think the groundswell has caught up with Berliner who initially didn’t have a producers licence to actually sell in Australia, or some technical trifle, and the wines are of course so very sought after overseas, but he told me this week that he has a licence now and he is thinking about shipping back some of the stock to Australia to sell here. The sum total of wine in Australia is three dozen of his own personal stash – the wine show took one dozen, bought a dozen, and he needed six or so bottles for sundry wine show stuff. Six precious bottles left, or so.
Time to scramble.
Tasted : NOV13
Alcohol : 12.5%
Price : $150
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2013 - 2033
Written by Mike Bennie
Cloudburst, Margaret River (Australia) Cabernet Sauvignon 2010($150): Will Berliner is either a visionary or has beginner’s luck. An American married to an Australian and settled in Western Australia’s Margaret River area, Berliner has no formal education or real background in wine. Nonetheless, what he is producing is nothing short of amazing. I loved his 2011 Chardonnay (reviewed previously) and this 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, a blend of Cabernet (93%) and Malbec, is its equal. His first release, this red wine is gorgeously complex and refined. All the more surprising is that the vines are young, planted in 2005 and 2006. Of course, there’s a mixture of black and red fruit flavors, but it’s the non-fruit notes that are intriguing. The herbal nuances don’t indicate under ripeness; they just lend a seemingly never-ending excitement. I have no idea what the Malbec adds to the final blend, but it certainly doesn’t overwhelm and obliterate the wine’s finesse. This balanced mid-weight red conveys extraordinary flavor without resorting to over ripe grapes. The tannins are present, yet suave. You can enjoy it now, but it’s balance and structure suggests it will develop nicely.
95 Michael Apstein Nov 5, 2013
Cloudburst, Margaret River (Western Australia) Chardonnay 2011 ($150): Cloudburst is a new venture started by Will Berliner, an American who’s married to an Australian. He entered the wine business serendipitously after he and his wife purchased a beautiful tract of land and house in the Margaret River area. Intent on planting something to block a view of a nearby highway, he planned on avocado trees, but consulted an agronomist who, after considerable research, suggested that the land was ideal for grapes. Judging from this Chardonnay, the agronomist was correct. This, his second vintage, has all the finesse and power of a grand cru white Burgundy. Creamy, and toasty, yet restrained and not overblown, he attributes its complexity to using more wild yeast. A lovely delicacy and an extraordinary finish make it an exciting wine.
The idea was simple. An informal degustation dinner to recognise four organic wineries in the Hunter Valley, and showcase their wines alongside a simple fair of food and good company. I wanted to promote the idea of wine idealism – wines that recognise their sense of time and place (terroir) in an authentic and honest way – within the context and the history of the Hunter Valley.
What’s In Your Glass? is Newcastle’s first ‘real wine’ fair, and features over 30 different winegrowers from the Hunter Valley, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, the ACT, NSW, New Zealand, and Europe. It aims to promote natural, organic and biodynamic wines from around the world, with a focus on Australia and New Zealand.
And read the follow up to the event featuring Cloudburst's first australian poor, here!
I was recently contacted by a PR person who didn’t want to send me samples, but instead wanted to interview me about a wine.
That probably sounds odd (it certainly feels odd to type it). I suppose that it is kind of odd. But it’s not freakishly walk-away-and-phone-the-authorities-because-this-person-is-totally-psycho odd, when you consider what the PR person told me: “from what U can tell, you’re one of the only people in the Northern Hemisphere who have actually tasted this wine!”
The wine on her mind was the 2011 Cloudburst Chardonnay from Margaret River. It retails for about $150 USD, assuming you can find it. The PR person wanted to get my thoughts on the wine, and if/how it could be marketed in the States. There have only been a handful of vintages of the wine to date, so the pedigree isn’t their (yet – more on that in a few minutes), but it’s (obviously) the kind of wine that carries an exclusive price tag, which means that for maximum payoff, Cloudburst ought to be marketing the wine to… you.XCloudburst Chardonnay 2011 ($160): Completely unaware of the hefty price tag when I tasted the Cloudburst Chardonnay, I was immediately taken back by its distinctively rich and alluring aromas. Expressive, complex and elegant honeydew melon, pears and Granny Smith apples were highlighted by wet stone and fall spices. Solid acidity resembled a palate-pleasing zesty lime, and the finish was incredibly long. It’s extremely well balanced, smooth and silky in the mouth – quite a treat for the senses.
Cloudburst is located in Australia’s southwest corner, in the Margaret River region. Considered to be a biodiversity paradise, there’s a thriving diversity of plants and animals in an area of untouched ecosystems – many of the animals live and visit the Cloudburst farm – a farm that connects to the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. To enable delivery of the varietals purest expression and to allow nature to works its miracles naturally, the vineyards are farmed Biodynamically and are not irrigated. Much like in many of the Oregon wines I’m so familiar with, terroir is apparent in the wine, and the disciplined and regimented rules of farming Biodynamically most certainly has its benefits.
