News

25 years young!

This year we are celebrating our 25th anniversary. The first Hollick release was a 1982 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, which was produced in modest quantities from a very fine vintage. The 1982 was a superb first effort, and only hinted at what was to come. At the time, Ian & Wendy only dreamt of developing the fledgling brand into a 5,000 case premium winery. Well today that dream has been well and truly eclipsed and production is around 40,000 cases annually, and as they say the rest is history.

Now that the next generation is entering the business, Ian and Wendy can reflect a little, and be very proud of what they have achieved in a relatively short period of time.

This year they will be hosting a number of events to celebrate the first 25 years.

Having completed functions in Brisbane (Siggi's at the Heritage/Stamford), Adelaide (The Apothecary), Melbourne (Vue de Monde) and Sydney (Quay Restaurant), the 25th Anniversary celebrations conclude for this year in November, with a formal dinner in Coonawarra at the Hollick "Upstairs" restaurant.

The Vintage Report

As we reported in the last edition of Expressions, extreme spring frosts experienced in Coonawarra caused widespread damage to the vines, severely diminishing potential crops.

Our initial assessment of the damage caused was reasonably accurate and we picked less than half our normal tonnage. As well as the unwelcome frosts, the region has been experiencing drought conditions that have prevailed over much of south-eastern Australia. Despite having detrimental effects on yields, we were fortunate to receive an unseasonal 80mm dump in mid-January which was very valuable to freshen the vines up and reduce stress. As has been the case for the last few years we received only negligible rains during vintage, so again, vintage has been a very unhurried and relaxed affair, as we waited for the optimum time to pick the fruit.

In total we have picked a little over 250 tonnes (approx 17,500 cases), which is well below our average of around 600 tonnes (c. 42,000 cases). Despite this gross shortage from the 2007 vintage, we expect that we will be able to manage our supplies of reds and do not expect to run out of any of them. The white wines will be in shorter supply, particularly the Sauvignon Blanc Semillon, so be warned when the 2007 is released, grab it while you can.

In general, colours and flavours have been good, with ripeness being achieved at slightly higher than normal alcohol levels, mainly as a consequence of the lower crop loads. The minute crop has enabled the winemaking team to throw everything, bar the kitchen sink at the wines. As there have been in the main, less than four batches in the winery at any one time, each fermentation has been micro managed to a greater degree than has ever been afforded in the past. As an example, we have made no less than 14 separate batches of Reserve Chardonnay, with a portion of the fruit being hand picked, and a couple of batches where we employed a natural “wild” fermentation. This will give us a wine with greater complexity and texture…so look out for the ’07 Reserve Chardonnay. Likewise with the red wines.

Our winemaker Matt Caldersmith has been practising small batch winemaking, with liberal use of small one and two tonne open fermenters, and lots of hand plunging and pigeage (an old French word, meaning treading on the grapes to plunge the cap).

Matt is very enthusiastic about this method, as he suggests that it is giving him better extraction of colour and flavour.

A recent tasting of the wines post fermentation was very encouraging, so look out for the 2007s, but blink and you will miss them.

The girls are back in town!

Ian and Wendy’s daughters Melanie and Kate have recently been lured into the family business, after each forging their own successful careers outside Coonawarra.

Kate has taken up the position of Administration Manager based at the winery. A Bachelor of Business (Tourism) graduate, Kate devoted herself to the hospitality and tourism industries in Melbourne after finishing her study, working at a number of leading venues including the busy Waterfront at Port Melbourne. The stamina that she developed in these roles is proving to be a valuable attribute for her time at Hollick.

Mel was enticed back into the family business in late 2006 after completing a successful two year stint as Brand Manager of Regional Wines for Fosters in the European market. A Commerce graduate, she quickly saw she was seeking more excitement than a career in accountancy was able to offer her and completed a Graduate Diploma in Wine Business. Prior to joining Fosters, Mel enjoyed a number of roles within the wine industry, giving her valuable exposure to the retail, wholesale and production channels.

Mel is based in Melbourne, where she is relishing the challenge of working closely with the trade, and when not working may be found on the hockey field. A keen skier, Mel has already managed to fit in a sales trip to Europe during the Northern Hemisphere’s ski season.

New Releases

2005 Barbera

The Italian block at Wilgha is planted with a gamut of varieties, including two rows of Barbera. Although the vineyard was planted in 1998, surprisingly and frustratingly, the 2005 vintage marks the first year that a meaningful volume of Barbera was able to be harvested.

A portion of the fruit was hand picked by some keen Hollick mailing list customers and the remainder machine harvested in early April. The grapes then underwent fermentation in small open fermenters where it was hand plunged twice daily, allowing for maximum extraction of colour and flavour. Maturation in older French oak followed to allow the fruit attributes to come to the fore.

This is a wine that delivers immediate drinking pleasure, with unctuous black fruits coating the palate, and acidity on the back end leaving the palate refreshed. Tannins are not a feature of the variety, which ensures a plush and juicy mouth feel. The wine slips down all too easily and its texture means that it’s a great food wine. Perfect with a roast loin of pork.

2005 Sparkling Merlot

We have discovered over the years that our Sparkling Merlot is a very versatile wine. It’s bright Merlot fruit flavours and relatively soft and generous palate means that it can easily be paired with a variety of foods. We often espouse our preference for serving the wine at breakfast with our version of Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon (Oeufs Hollick), but we recognise for many of us, most of the time this is not a practical pairing.

The wine is often served as an aperitif before a meal, especially at a celebration. It goes very well with canapes, such as seared tuna on crostini or duck liver parfait.

Another option is to serve the wine with dessert. It can be successfully paired with desserts based on summer berries and dark chocolate, with the chill of the wine and tannins offsetting the cloying nature of dishes of this ilk. The 2005 vintage is quite a rich and broad shouldered wine, showing lots of ripe Merlot fruit characters, a reflection of the excellent fruit harvested that year. It’s certainly a vintage that will age very well for those who like a bit of fruit cake and leather complexity.

2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot

There is already a fairly loud buzz in the market place about the high quality of the 2004 vintage in Coonawarra for Cabernet Sauvignon….and we’re not going to disagree! This wine has already come under the gaze of the press. Here is Nick Stock’s review from the Adelaide Review, where he bestowed 91 points on the wine.

“Hollick’s strength rests in this wine, a classically elegant, balanced Coonawarra blend with approachability and fine tannin structure. They’ve added just enough Merlot to colour Cabernet’s more restrained mood, plenty of cassis indicates nicely ripened fruit on the nose, some leaf, mint and gentle toasty oak below. The palate is finely honed, not a hair out of place, the fruit flavour glides across a bed of fine furry tannins, all in perfect balance. It’s a terrific drink right now, perfect at lunch or dinner and will age comfortably for up to a decade”

Reviews

2001 Ravenswood Cabernet Sauvignon

Decanter Buying Guide: Margaret River & Coonawarra Bordeaux varietals

The UKs leading wine magazine has recently conducted a comparative tasting of Cabernet Sauvignons from Australia’s two regional specialists. The results make interesting reading with seven of the top eight wines hailing from Coonawarra. A couple of comments from the judges include:

“Overall the elegance was with Coonawarra” and “The wines had a more classical structure, the balance was finer and the alcohol didn’t stand out at all”.

For the record the 2001 Ravenswood was ranked in the top 10 of the tasting. The judges noted:-

“Subtle, yet fine nose, ageing gracefully. Deep fruit profile, well balanced with tannins, and long. No rush to drink. Up to 5 yrs.”

2005 Reserve Chardonnay

Huon Hooke Gourmet Traveller Wine, Dec/Jan ’07 - 92 POINTS

“Coonawarra is red wine territory, but this is a very handy chardonnay. Yeasty, toasty and charred oak complexities over melon-like fruit in a lean-ish, intense and tightly structured dry white. Lively acidity and good length”.

Coonawarra Cellar Dwellers

The entire month of July is Cellar Dwellers in Coonawarra, when all the Cellar Doors feature some aged treasures from their cellars. Check out www.coonawarra.org for all the details, following the links to “Events”.

We will be cracking some of our 99 vintage wines from our cellars, and making them available for sale for the entire month. We will also be tasting our icon Ravenswood Cabernet Sauvignon for the entire month as part of a collaborative tasting programme with our southern neighbours. This is a unique opportunity to try these rarely tasted Icons. Balnaves “The Tally”, Yalumba Menzies, Majella Malleea, Punters Corner Spartacus and Parker Estate First Growth will all be available to taste at their respective Cellar Doors. July is a great time to visit Coonawarra and winter is the perfect time to be sampling our rich reds. Put on your overcoat and enjoy the warm hospitality at Cellar Door and warming open fires in the evening.

Coonawarra Dessert Challenge

On Friday 13th April during Coonawarra’s “After Dark” Festival, we held the inaugural “Great Coonawarra Dessert Challenge” at the winery. To our surprise and delight we received 25 entries from talented local cooks offering up desserts to match the 2005 ‘The Nectar’.

It was an arduous task for the judges, Ian and Wendy Hollick, chef Ian Perry and guest judge Nick Stock from the Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine to reach a consensus on the winning entries. The standard of entries was very high, and included an imaginative ‘chocolate frog swimming in green jelly’ entry submitted by four year-old Eli Caldersmith. The $200 first prize was taken out by local Sherie Courdes with her “Turkish Almond and Orange Cake with Citrus Cream” that drew a bevvy of oohs and aahs from all judges, who remarked on its suitability to the wine, excellent presentation and above all great taste.

We are planning for this to be an annual event, so start practising for next year!