Medicus April 2016

W I N E

wines WITH

T imo Mayer is originally from a winemaking family near Stuttgart, which has been making wine for around 400 years. He came to Australia in 1990 and studied Oenology at Charles Sturt University in Wagga. He is the owner and winemaker of Mayer Family Vineyards in the Yarra Valley. He is also head winemaker at the renowned producer Gembrook. Timo makes his own wines from a beautiful 2.6-hectare plot of steeply sloped vineyard land about 8km south of Healesville at the base of Mount Toolebewoong. He is a strong believer that wines are made in the vineyard and does as little as possible to interfere in the growing and winemaking process. His wines are unfiltered and unfined and are always expressive and reflective of the site and the vintage. Timo is renowned for his whole bunch fermentation as can be seen in his Dr Mayer Pinot Noir. He was first to use to use this method in the Yarra, a method that is now commonly used amongst cool climate producers around Australia. Mayer’s hands-off approach in the winery produces some wonderfully expressive wines. The following are some good examples. The 2015 Timo Mayer Bloody Hill Pinot Noir is best described by The Wine Front as a pure feeling wine, berries and cherry with a pleasing sour-sweet juiciness

on the palate and crisp feeling tannins. The finish is cool and fresh.

sure.” As Mayer would say, wines with funk!

The Wine Front says the 2015 Timo Mayer Close Planted Pinot Noir displays “intense spice, dried herbs, dried cranberry, sour cherry – attractive scents. It is concentrated and powerful on the palate, has ripe herbal-stalkiness, with firm slatey tannins. The tannins are a big part of the wine. Its depth and structure make it a very interesting and drinkable wine.” The other Mayer Pinot, the 2015 Timo Mayer Dr Mayer Pinot Noir , The Wine Front effusively describes as a “huge spice hit, very savoury scented, twigs and briar, sniff of undergrowth, red cherry, just ripe strawberry. Beautiful perfume. So lifted. Fine, tight palate, drives very long, pure, energetic, firms up and finds big trim of dusty tannins. Has a sweetness, though that segues to amaro-like pleasing bitterness, then a little of a sherbet tang to close. All class, all personality. A brilliant wine.” Mayer also make a very serious if unusual Cabernet as the 2015 Timo Mayer Cabernet Sauvignon shows. The Wine Front again describes it beautifully as follows: “Violet, spicy, bunchy, aniseed perfumed, black curranty, juicy, delicious slippery, stalky raspberry wine. Medium bodied and long in flavour. Alarmingly easy to drink and full of personality. Not your usual Cabernet, that’s for

A sad note to finish this month’s column. Those who love their French tipple, particularly their Bordeaux, will be sad to hear that Paul Pontallier, managing director of first growth Château Margaux in Bordeaux since 1990, died on 28 March aged just 59 years old. He first joined the estate in 1983 aged 27, two years after graduating as an agricultural engineer with a doctorate at Oenology. He was hired by owner Corinne Mentzelopoulos – following a recommendation from his mentor Emile Peynaud. Together they worked to ensure that the transformation of Château Margaux that had begun under Corrine’s father, André Mentzelopoulos, continued until it reached the exalted position it holds today. Born in the Bordeaux region, Pontallier spent his early life on his parents’ wine estate, Château La Loge Saint-Léger in AOC Bordeaux Supérieur. His first seven years at Château Margaux were spent alongside Philippe Barré, and he took over as managing director when Barré retired in 1990. Under his direction, Château Margaux delivered consistently magnificent vintages and confirmed its position as one of the world’s truly great châteaux. The 2015 vintage was his 33 rd in Margaux. ■

A P R I L 2 0 1 6 M E D I C U S 65