NobleRottersSydney - Two Hands wines with Matt Wenk

At Gordon’s instigation, we had the pleasure of the company of Matthew Wenk, chief winemaker for Two Hands in the Barossa Valley, generously bringing with him a case of mostly new releases. Founded by Michael Twelftree and Richard Mintz and now ten years old, Two Hands has ridden an early wave of success (chiefly in the US) out of all proportion to its size on the back of glowing reviews from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. For instance, the US-centric Cellartracker.com website, repository of 18 million tracked bottles and 1.4 million user-generated tasting notes has Two Hands ranked fith by volume of bottles held (and tasting notes) among all Australian wineries. An impressive achievement for such a new operation. They’re diversifying their markets a bit, and evidently are having no trouble getting rid of their 750 tonne/50,000 case annual production (2010 figures). They’ve broken all the rules for making money out of wine by owning some 20ha of their own vineyards (shiraz and cabernet): the rest of their fruit comes from a large range of contract growers. Ten single varieties and blends make up their entry-level ‘Picture’ series of wines, plus three fortifieds; all with quirky names and quaint label photographs. Beyond is the ‘Garden’ series of Shiraz, then the top reds, and a few rogue wines from California (some of which have since fallen casualty to the GFC). Winery and Cellar Door is in Greenock in the Barossa. We started the night with a lonely riesling:

• 2009 Two Hands Riesling The Wolf

  Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley

  [11.4%, screwcap, A$25] Made from free-run juice only, and at the miserly rate of 300 cases a year; this is Two Hands’ only dry white. Nearly colourless in appearance, it has an intense and youthful nose of musk, lime and minerals. The palate is bone-dry, and the lime fruits are joined by a mineral quartz flavour that manages to give the palate a steely texture. There’s plenty of spritzy acid (minor acid adjustment only, although the texture did prompt me to ask the question). Being light bodied doesn’t preclude a quite persistent finish, which stretches quite impressively along the length of the palate. Ought to age for a few years quite happily.

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• 2008 Two Hands Brave Faces

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  [15.3%, screwcap, A$27] For the first time grenache-dominant at 55%, with shiraz at 35% and mourvedre making the balance. The hot, dry 2008 vintage roasted the shiraz, and created something of a surplus of suitable grenache. And don’t you taste it. Ruby-coloured; a youthful, candied nose of strawberry jams and jubey fruits, with touch of meatiness beneath. The palate is dry, with surprisingly soft chalky tannins; there’s an element of elegance that I wasn’t expecting, despite it being at least medium-bodied. Objectively it’s still pretty jammy, but enticingly so. There are some grenache bubble-gum flavours, and decent weight on the mid-palate. But it’s hardly a taut wine, and will probably drink best fairly early before its intrinsic warmth – you can taste the vintage heat in the wine – takes over.

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On to the Garden series wines. These are barrel selections of estate and contract fruit, with varying oak (cooper) treatments intending to showcase the different faces of shiraz, which are named after the founders’ various family members. The 2007 ‘Samantha’s Garden’ (Clare) is missing tonight; already sold out. All wines under cork for the rest of tonight; not from any technical reservation, but for purely marketing-related reasons.

• 2007 Two Hands Shiraz Max's Garden

  Australia, Victoria, Central Victoria, Heathcote

  [14.9%, cork, A$60] Contract fruit for Max comes from a 120-ha vineyard sitting amid the ancient Cambrian soils of Heathcote. These grapes escaped the 2007 vintage frosts to produce a dense ruby-coloured wine, with youthful aromas of red earth, iron, rust and dark chocolate. The palate follows the prediction of the nose, with earthy, ochre, and dark chocolate flavours. Powdery tannins build to medium strength on the palate; the finish is warm (not too much) and rests strongly on the front and mid-palates. Very youthful, needs some time to settle down a bit.

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• 2007 Two Hands Shiraz Harry & Edward's Garden

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, Langhorne Creek

  [15.4%, cork, A$60] Langhorne Creek is the least prominent of the regions covered by the ‘Garden’ wines which highlight Two Hands’ view of the best Australian shiraz regions. (Matt makes the “standard South Australian winemaker’s face” when I query the absence of the Hunter in the range…). There’s no 2008 of this, and in the quest for better fruit and lower yields (and the dance around rising salinity problems in the region), the grape suppliers (contract growers) for this wine will change from the 2010 vintage. This 2007 wine is quite voluptuous on the nose, with generous red fruit aromas and maybe just a touch of regional mint to the nose. It’s dry, with soft acids, medium chalky tannins, full-bodied in weight, and something of a fruit-bomb, although the tannins keep up with the spearmint-tinged flavours. Despite my rather mean-reading notes on this , I tended to prefer it on the night to the reticence of the Heathcote wine, and the less subtle wines from the more northerly South Australian regions. A warm finish, with the expected richness on the mid-palate, but it carries the alcohol quite well. Understandably youthful, but perfectly drinkable now.

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• 2007 Two Hands Shiraz Lily's Garden

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  [15.7%, cork, A$60] Twenty five blocks of fruit from 7 different growers the length of McLaren Vale go into this wine. It’s a full throttle effort from the coconut/vanilla aromas on the nose, to the supercharged chocolate/raspberry fruit on the palate. Massive body and extract, with medium powdery tannins, terrific intensity and full-bodied weight. Despite the alcohol, it’s not coarse or raisined, but rather voluptuous with a softly sweet mouthfeel. Very seductive if you like the style – a real crowdpleaser. Youthful, but I rather imagine it’ll be at its best in its youth.

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• 2007 Two Hands Shiraz Sophie's Garden

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Padthaway

  [16.4%, cork, A$60] This was the most polarising of the Garden reds for me. The nose is a plush chocolatey black-fruited affair, with a drenching of vanillan oak. It’s a little less overt than the McLaren Vale wine, but there’s a raisiny aspect to the aromas here. I was half expecting it to taste like chocolate-coated sultanas… There is a little Padthaway mint on the palate, amongst pure red fruits and lashings of vanilla, but overall I find it just too hot. There are medium chalky tannins; it’s dry, full-bodied (surprise!) and deposits most of its considerable heft right on the mid-palate, but despite the size I find the finish only a medium length one, and too warm to be properly balanced for me. It’s far from grotesque though, so it comes down to personal taste I guess…

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• 2003 Two Hands Shiraz Bella's Garden

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  [15%, cork] This was the ringer of the night, being the only older release. Still ruby-coloured, but with a kind of patina compared to the current release wines. Pleasant and aged nose of stewed casserole meats, and composty, decaying vegetable notes; rather like a garden, in fact. The full-bodied palate is rich and ripe, with that browning fruit-cake flavour of older Barossa shiraz, seductively low in acid, and carried along by medium chalky tannins. It’s unmistakeably warm-climate in origin, pretty lavish in texture, with decent coverage right along the tongue, and a medium length finish. At worst, you’d say it’s a bit one-dimensional for flavour and complexity. Maybe that’s a bit picky, but it’s difficult to see that it’s going to truly evolve as opposed to just gently age further.

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• 2007 Two Hands Shiraz Bella's Garden

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  [15.8%, cork, A$60] Purple. Essence of blackberry and inky iodine aromas. Intense, full-bodied wine. Masses of powdery tannins. Lavish sweet fruit-cake /christmas pudding flavours, shot through with stewed red berries. Ripe fruit saturates the mid-palate, alcoholic warmth dominates (for me) the finish, which is medium length. It’s clearly a more pleasant drink at seven years than three; and there is a kind of brethren qaulity across the two Bella’s wines. Even with the heat here, there’s not the raisiny aspect to the flavours I find in the Padthaway wine. Impressive, if a bit intimidating…

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At the top of Two Hands range are some single vineyard wines, and the premium varietal flagships; again barrel selections, and made in limited quantities and packed into hefty, thick-glassed 1kg bottles. The alcohol is what it is; Matt claims to pick on flavour not purely by technical measurement; if it works it works. That’s an honest approach – all you could want.

• 2008 Two Hands Shiraz Zippy's Block Roennfeldt Road Marananga

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  [16.4%, cork, A$100] This wine comes from a red-clay vineyard on the Roennfeldt Rd, adjacent to the vineyard that provides the bulk of fruit for Torbreck’s ‘Descendant’ wine. ‘Picking when they picked’ until 2006 proved less successful; now Two Hands harvest earlier and avoid the stewed fruit character than would otherwise occur. At only 100 cases, this is pretty select stuff. It’s immensely youthful, with a big dense blueberry nose packed full of ripeness. Extra raspberry fruits on the palate have a sharp edge; it’s an interesting mix of plush, almost liqueuered softness but still with an acid spine beneath. Runs the gauntlet at the edge of over-ripeness, but never quite tips over the line. Full-bodied, with medium chalky tannins and great intensity; the flavours run the length of the palate and culminate in a medium-long finish. The extract of fruit and flavour balances the alcohol better than some of the less alcoholic ‘Garden’ series wines. At this age it’s a bit of a loud, one-trick pony; like an enormous E flat chord that you want to modulate interestingly somewhere, but perhaps time will provide that extra dimension.

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• 2007 Two Hands Shiraz Ares

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  [15.5%, cork, A$165] Two thirds Barossa fruit, the rest from McLaren Vale; aged in all French oak (two-thirds new, the balance 1-year-old) for 24-26 months, so in bottle barely a year. And the bottle bears the Danish agent’s back-label which, thanks to the alcohol level and the EU’s laws, actually describes the wine as ‘late-harvest’! It’s a lavish nose of pure shiraz-essence fruit, but there’s a foreign note that has Matt a touch reserved; a kind of corky note. Pure woody cork smell – definitely not TCA, not obviously bacterial or otherwise volatile. But it is there, and evidently uncharacteristic. There is blackberry liqueur fruit on the palate, with an impressively supple texture – this is the extra dimension over the Garden wines from the same regions. The palate is ultra smooth (I try to avoid using that word describing wine, but it’s unavoidable here), almost syrupy, despite medium dusty tannins, full-bodied weight; although the impact on the palate is not so pronounced as some of the lesser wines, there’s greater depth to the texture. Very enjoyable, very good – but on this (possibly flawed) showing not worth the extra money over Zippy, never mind the rest. Who can tell with these things?

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• 2006 Two Hands Fly By Nighters

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  [500ml, 19%, screwcap, A$25] Named to commemorate a perjorative comment on Two Hands’ aspirations made by a well-known Australian wine writer, this blend of shiraz and tinta amarella has a youthful, restrained, somewhat nutty nose which precedes a pungently fruity yet oddly savoury palate. Doesn’t really taste sweet, but rather spirity; probably needs a harder cheese than I had to hand to make it sing. For me, just so-so (and especially after this much wine…)

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• 2007 Two Hands Sémillon For Love Or Money

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  [500ml, 12.5%, screwcap, A$50] A late-harvest style; there are those who think Barossa semillon is good for little else. Cheers, Matt. Made on a whim it seems, from fruit with no other use! Sweetly apricotty nose, with a sort of custard-apple note to the aromas. The palate is quite sweet, with dried fruit flavours, if that makes sense; and there’s a coppery tinge to the luscious flavours. It’s a bit one-dimensional; an attractive enough drink in its youth, although I doubt it has the acid (& possibly too much alcohol) to age with much glory. Pleasant, although ambitiously priced, to say the least…

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Impressive night of wines; thanks to Gordon for organising, Two Hands for the wines, and Matt for bringing them along and being so generous with his insights and opinions.