Vine Street Tasting-Ninth Street-Wed, Jan. 20

Event: Special wine tasting featuring wines from Vine Street Imports with special guest Ronnie Sanders, Founder and CEO of Vine Street.

Where: Ninth Street Wine Market
12 Ninth Street, Augusta, GA 30901
When: Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 5:30-7:30 pm
Cost: $10 per person

Having dinner at the right time and in the right place seems to be a blessing for Ronnie Sanders, Founder and CEO of Vine Street Imports. One dinner resulted in leaving the textile importing business behind and becoming a wine importer. Another produced a new friendship and his first Italian import. You might call him an “accidental importer”.

Sanders, dropped by Ninth Street Wine Market Tuesday to talk about his wines and meet with customers wanting to know more about Australian wines, many of which are different from what the American palate has become accustomed to. His wines are distributed in Georgia by Unique World Wines. All the wines presented were in the $12 to $22 range.

Sanders had been in the family textile importing business, a job that had him traveling in Southeast Asia and not one that he particularly enjoyed. One night when having dinner with Australian friend Michael Twelftree in Phliadelphia, Twelftree said they both hated their job, his being in construction, and they should do something different with their lives.
Twelftree’s family had a vineyard in Australia so he decided he would get into the wine business and Sanders could import his wines. That was the start of his careers in wines, with his importing of what would eventually becomeTwo Hand Wines.
Now Vine Street Importers is a two businesses in a sense. It is a wine and spirits distributor in the state of Pennsylvania that carried a vast line of products. It then is a importer of wines from Australia, New Zealand and now Italy, that then distributors those wines to local distributors across the country.
His first Italian wine was another “dinner of chance.” While visiting Siena, Italy, he met Riccardo Campinoti who was living in Atlanta but was from Siena. His family had a Tuscany vineyard, La Ragnaie. After getting drunk together that night they worked out an import deal and are now good friends.

Sanders says that the American palate for Australian wines is in transition. During the Australian wine import boom of the 90’s, critics like Robert Parker, rewarded many wineries with high scores for producing highly extracted wines that had more flavor, more body, more everything. The wines he sought to import, were more balanced, “good tannins, good acid” levels he said. “Our wines are never over-extracted. The don’t taste like a jelly jar.”

Plus a newer generation of winemakers are starting to shake things up (Some Young Punks has a very cool website). The Victoria region is an up and coming region that is producing some cool varietals including Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays and Rieslings. (Victoria is in the Southeast, far from the Western and South Australian regions that have been the source of many of the mass produced wines).

A drought starting in 2006 and running into 2008 challenged the winemakers to produce wines that Americans had been trained to expect. Winemakers who produced more balanced wines then started to be noticed as the extracted wines suffered from the drought. With that the American palate for Australian wines started to mature.

Sanders says 2009 was the best year in the past 3 years for grape production. The drought that started in 2006 has eased in some areas. The first of those vintages are starting to arrive.

I was able to try several of the wines. It was nice to compare the 2006 and 2006 Innocent Viognier. I found the 2006 to have more fruit at the start. The finish was well-balanced with by the light acid. The 2008 had a lighter mouthfeel to me. I think I prefer the 2006 but if I had not compared the two together I think I could enjoy it just the same. I think the acid was actually the same but without the slightly stronger fruit at the start it is more prominent. Sanders says the Viognier vintages can be much different because it is a more challenging fruit to pick. “The picking window can be as little as two days. Go away for the weekend and it might be gone by the time you get back. You have to keep tasting the grapes to know when the time is right.”

Two tasters told me they like the Raw Power Shiraz saying it was smooth yet complex. But they said they hated the label and might have passed it up until they heard the story behind it (Unfortunately I didn’t get to hear the story).

I have to admit that these wines were a bit different that I am used to (they do cost more than $10). I typically drink many wines that are good by themselves. The Guilty Shiraz (a very dark wine) and the Passion has Red Lips are wines I could enjoy by themselves. The Fools Bay Dirty Bliss was nicely balanced with a start and finish that wasn’t up and down but I suspect a good food pairing would bring out much more.

His line of wines have some interesting labels: Old Plains Raw Power, Box Head White, Fools Bay Dirty Bliss and Passion Has Red Lips. Sanders was surprised that Ninth Street had a bottle of Naked on Roller Skates NV, hidden away, a popular wine that is no longer made. It might be one of the few left. His philosophy “Vine Street Imports is dedicated to bringing the most exciting boutique and artisan wines from Australia and New Zealand into the US market. Our wines come from the hottest and most respected winemakers, and are sometimes funky, often geeky, and always delicious.”

Here are the wines that were presented:

Box Head White Blend 2008
What: Like all good dry whites, this wine displays great complexity of aromatics, moving from the citrus aromatic spectrum through to the tropics, with specifics of lemon, grapefruit, passion fruit and melon. The palate achieves great mouthfeel intensity and balance of acidity, with the lingering flavors of lychee and lime.
Boxhead winemakers is a collaboration between world renowned winery Hentley Farms and their American Importer Vine Street Imports. Their aim is to produce a range of wines from South Australia that display all of the flavors that South Australia can deliver at a price that won’t break the bank. These are hand crafted wines made at Hentley Farm from some of the best vineyard sites across South Australia.
From: Barossa Valley, Australia
Winery: Hentley Farms
Year: 2008

Shinas Estate Innocent Viognier 2006 and 2008
What: The Shinas Estate 2008 tasting notes said “Our winemaking is minimal. We prefer to spend the majority of our effort in the vineyard. It is our belief that great wine is made in the vineyard.

Tasters had an opportunity to compare the 2006 and 2008 vintages from this Southeastern vineyard. Each were distinctive, showing how different the harvests can be. 2006 was hot and experienced a severe drought. 2008 was better, not as hot, but still under drought conditions.

The tasting notes for the vintages:
2006: “There is richness yet delicacy, that you will only taste in the finest Viogniers, beautifully balanced and long on the finish. The color is Pale Gold, the bouquet is Intense beautiful aromas of honey suckle, apricot and peach blossom. The palate is luscious opulent flavors of ripe apricot, peach, honeycomb and spices.”

2008: “Soft on the palate with gentle flavors of yellow flowers like honeysuckle mixed with stone fruits. The Color is Pale Golden with a exotic bouquet of white peach, nectarine and lychee with sensual floral aromatics. The palate is soft and creamy with enough acid to give it lift. Cellaring: 3-5 years.
From: Mildura, Austrailia
Winery: Shinas Estate
Year: 2006 and 2008

Yard Dog Red Blend 2006
What: Very fresh, with a silky texture and no rough edges to the sweet red berry flavors. Finishes with notes of spicy cherry and sweet mocha. The color is deep ruby. The bouquet is vibrant, high-pitched raspberry, redcurrant and rhubarb on the nose, with a hint of bitter chocolate. On the palate it is very fresh with excitable aromas of currants lifted violet and notes of cherry, and leather heel the exuberant berry aromas. Finishes with notes of spicy cherry and sweet mocha.
From: McLaren Vale, Australia
Winery: Red Heads Wine Studios
Year: 2006
Grapes: Petit Verdot 55%, Cabernet 30%, Merlot 15%

Old Plains Raw Power Shiraz 2008
What: Mostly black fruits like plum and blackberrys intermixed with exotic spices such as cardamon and alspice. The color is deep dark purple. Long and rich on the palate.

The Vine Street Website says “The label textulates about some old geezer punk screamer with the name of Rawley Power, but this wine’s a sheila mate and a lived-in one at that. Still takes care of herself, mindja. Lives in a ricketty wood gypsy caravan that hasn’t moved from the wild oats since her dude fell in love with Bearded Lady, took the old Buick and vamoosed years ago when the circus come through. Sweet and homely, like, but sweetly mysterious. She musta loved him. All those old woody plum jam tweaks, a goat stew simmering on the Kookaburra. Pipe tobacco – she has a quiet puff while she listens to Phillip (sic) Adams on the bakelite wireless. (Why doesn’t he put an extra d in Adams?) Perfectly aged in big ol puncheons (think St. Henri, Campbell’s Bobbie Burns, Wynn’s Oven’s Valley Burgundy, Kanmantoo St George’s Claret ca 1890, anything made by Edmund Mazure) this wine shows that screw caps can protect aged wine as well as they keep baby ones juicy and fresh. Incredible value. Tim Freeland and Dominic Torzi did it.”
From: Adelaide Plains, Austraiia
Winery: Old Plains
Year: 2008

Guilty Shiraz 2006
What: This estate bottled Shiraz is from a single vineyard that’s first plantings date back to 1898 and it has the concentration and power to prove it. Massive black fruit flavors as well as peppery spice, chocolate, black cherry and tobacco notes. It spends 20 months in 100% old French barrels.
From: Mildura, Austrailia
Winery: Shinas Estate
Year: 2006

Fools Bay Dirty Bliss 2007
What: Smells like a good old Pinot with ripe cherry and spice supported by a touch of earthiness. Plenty of ripe fruit and bing cherry flavors. Very juicy with Shiraz adding a warm spiciness to the palate. A touch of earthiness brings complexity to the finish.
From: Barossa Valley, Australia
Winery: Hentley Farms
Year: 2007
Grapes: 51% Grenache/49% Shiraz

Some Young Punks Passion Has Red Lips 2008
What: The label looks like the cover to a bodice-ripper paperback book. The back label continues the them but is reminiscent of suggestive drawings little kids used to oogle at 40 years ago. The back label says The whiff and the swill did us in and all that was left to do was to make more. This is Passion, a monster bigger than the three of us that leads us to the soapbox, grandstand, and sometimes sleep on the couch.

As for the wine this cab-shiraz blended aged in new and used French oak barrells. Rich berry flavor combined with a chocolate finish.
From: Clare Valley, Australia
Winery: Some Young Punks
Year: 2008

(Thanks to Amber Chaflin, of Unique World Wines.)
–Dan Doughtie