The Friar Swaps its Sandals for Reeboks

For ages, it seems, people have said that somebody really ought to do something about McWilliams, Australia’s fifth largest large wine company and the largest family-owned wine company in the land. It’s finally happening.

Although McWilliams accounts for around 25 of Australia’s fortifieds, its revolution has occurred with table wine. Phillip Ryan is the winemaker responsible for my rediscovered interest in McWilliams. He’s only the third ever winemaker at Mount Pleasant, after the legendary Maurice O’Shea who founded the Mount Pleasant winery in 1921 and Brian Walsh now at Yalumba.

Everyone knows about the Mount Pleasant Elizabeth. At its price there is no finer white wine in Australia. Released with a minimum of six years of age, it is a rich, approachable and deliciously flavoursome version of the classic Hunter Valley semillon.

Recently labelled as ‘Elizabeth Riesling’, which led many people to believe it was made from the riesling grape, the wine is now known simply as ‘Elizabeth’. Furthermore, since 1988 it has been given a burgundy bottle which is certainly more reflective of its to white burgundy-like style.

Loath to tamper with a winning formula, Phillip Ryan continues to pick the Elizabeth fruit lean and green around 10o Baume to maximise its crisp melon and citrus characters. Un-wooded, the wine is quickly put into bottle, whereafter its long maturation prior to release gives the semillon the time it needs to deliver on its early promises.

Under similarly-designed traditional labels, McWilliams also presents mid-priced old faithfuls under the names of Philip Hermitage and Sauternes. Neither wine has changed much over the years and that’s the way they like it.

The Philip is a spicy, tarry, leathery red given distinct oak maturation qualities reflective of older, rather than newer wood. The Sauternes is a genuine hark back to the pre-botrytis era. Like the honeyed, toasty Lindemans four-figure bin number Porphyrys, it needs about a decade before you should look at it, by which time the wait will usually pay handsomely.

The 1987 vintage, currently available, is scented with nectarine, quince and vanilla. Elegant and long to taste, its palate shows the caramel and honey expected of the style, with a hint of old cumquat brandy.

Moving upwards through Mount Pleasant’s labelling hierarchy, one next strikes a brace of individual vineyards wines, each made with the Hunter’s signature red variety, shiraz.

The OP & OH Old Paddock and Old Hill Hermitage is taken from vineyards which form part of the original Mount Pleasant plantings, dating back to 1880. Although McWilliams have redeveloped nearly all of their Hunter vineyards, these vineyards are destined to be kept just as O’Shea knew them.

Planted on deep, dark volcanic soils, their ancient and gnarled vines produce low, concentrated yields of complex, gamey shiraz with suggestions of chocolate and spice. Sensibly, Ryan doesn’t seek to marry these flavours with new oak, although it was kept for some time in old wood. The 1989 vintage has five to eight years ahead of it. Rich, soft and smooth, it accentuates the ripe cherry/berry flavours of shiraz, with hints of tar and fresh acids. A typical good, old Hunter wine.

A more modern variant its is cousin, the Rosehill Hermitage. Located on the same hill as Lake’s Folly, its red clays and heavier texture enunciate the raspberry and redcurrant expressions of shiraz. Ryan has given the 1987 vintage a lift of fresh, new American oak and French oak complexity, creating what I consider to be a delightful match between old and new. Already soft and alluring, this wine has at least another eight years to go.

Appropriately, the very best of Mount Pleasant’s shiraz crop finds its way under a label devoted to O’Shea himself. The 1987 Maurice O’Shea Hermitage is the best McWilliams red I have ever tried – a faultless expression of Hunter shiraz. Ryan has given this wine more new oak than normal, yet its complex cedar, vanillin and chocolate characters have linked beautifully with its brambly berry fruits and spicy, leathery regional flavours. The mouthfeel is fleshy and sappy, the astringency tight and finely-tuned. A terrific wine worthy of another eight years in the cellar.

Rather than semillon, McWilliams have matched the O’Shea Hermitage with a Chardonnay, again the pick of their Hunter crop. Most of the Mount Pleasant chardonnay winds up in their ‘Mountain Range’, with a straight cabernet sauvignon, of which the 1987 vintage will appeal to those who enjoy older-style Hunter reds.

Ryan finishes the fermentation of all his chardonnay in oak, which takes around two weeks, keeping as separate as practically possible the wines from his own Mount Pleasant vineyards and the six chardonnay growers contracted to McWilliams. Using a variety of French forests to enhance complexity of which he prefers the tightness of Vosges and Alliers, the wines remain on yeast lees for seven to eight months at 10oC. Ryan then puts up dozens of different wines for selection for the O’Shea label, after which the next best is bottled as a ‘Limited Release’ Chardonnay, the remainder as the Mountain Range.

The 1989 Mountain Range Chardonnay is a brassy, drinkable wine in the peaches and cream style. Up-front, nutty and honeyed, it’s soft and luxuriant. Despite finishing a fraction short, it has fresh acids and two or three years ahead.

I didn’t like the 1989 Limited Release Chardonnay as much, finding its phenolic extract, slight sulphide and charry oak a little much for its fruit to handle. Nevertheless, it shows that Ryan is prepared to work his fruit hard to achieve a wine that maintains interest and stands out from the crowd. Its complex scents of roasted nuts and figs show just how much different uses of oak can influence a batch of chardonnay.

The currently available O’Shea Chardonnay is the 1990 wine. An austere, chablis-like wine, its good length of peachy/nectarine fruit is accentuated with very crisp acidity. Clearly made for the longer term and grown in a more difficult season – the true benchmark for the professional winemaker – it amply illustrates just how far Philip Ryan has been able to take the revitalised Mount Pleasant brand.

More than ever, there is more, much more to McWilliams, than Cream Sherry. Please login to post comment