With disturbing news of devastating fires in Australia taking their toll of wineries in Victoria, Maggie Beale looks at wines in another region; South Australia.

A recent visit to Hong Kong by Andrew Hardy winemaker of Petaluma in Coonawarra prompted a review of the latest releases from this high standard winery. With the winery since 1982, studying hard and working his way up through the ranks from cellar hand and trainee winemaker, Hardy is now the Lead Winemaker, a position of great responsibility.

Along with practical work in the vineyard, Hardy continued his university studies until he completed his Bachelor of Applied Sciences at the University of Adelaide in 1990. Awarded several accolades for his untiring work in wine studies and methods; he was a finalist in the Winemaker of the Year 1999.

Since day one at Petaluma, Hardy's philosophy has remained unchanged; "We are the custodians of the vineyard, and I believe that if the vineyards are great, and the winemaking responsive, the wines will be outstanding."

"My goal is to craft wines of charm and longevity that are true to the attributes of the region."

Founder of Petaluma wines, Brian Crozier, made his second major purchase in mid-1980, it was a defunct flour mill at Bridgewater, and is now an elegant building which houses a cellar for maturation, a tasting and sales centre, an art gallery and the award-winning restaurant Bridgewater Mill.

A defining moment for any winemaker is the happy outcome of a selected vineyard site and a noble grape variety. Crozier has a reputation for choosing his sites with extreme meticulousness. For Petaluma he selected four distinguished vineyard sites in South Australia - and the average age of vines at Petaluma's Evans and Sharefarmers Vineyards is in excess of 30 years and these hand pruned, close spaced, vertical canopy vines are naturally balanced at modest crop levels of 5 tons per hectare of hand picked fruit.

Chardonnay is produced at Piccadilly Valley, while Viognier and Shiraz are grown at Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills. Riesling is planted at Clare Valley while Coonawarra is reserved for Cabernet and Merlot, all producing world class wines.

The Petaluma Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay, 2006 has delicate flower aromas and tastes reveal high natural acidity, with satisfying notes of grapefruit along with toast and grilled nuts. Fine touches of elegant, fine acid and red apple flavors give a long lingering finish.

The Petaluma Bridgewater Mill Sauvignon Blanc 2008; grown in the cool climate and the soil of the Adelaide Hills bring out the best of the aromatic and cut grass characters of this premium wine, while the Hanlin Hill Riesling 2008 from Clare Valley is satisfyingly rich in true lime flavours with a good, natural acidity.

Conferring with Robert Temple, Manager of ASC Fine Wines importers of Petaluma and other outstanding wines into Hong Kong and throughout China, revealed the Bridgewater Mill Shiraz 2005 was full of ripe raspberry flavours, boiled sweets, with spicy nuances and the delicious rose notes of Turkish Delight.

While the Coonawara Cabernet-Merlot blend 2006, has a neat, tight structure, with nutty notes and some warm chocolate and subtle mint nuances as well as lush brambles and purple berry fruits. Smooth and elegant with layers of characteristics revealed at every sip, it is a most stylish wine.

The 2005 Petaluma Coonawarra is comprised of 60 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 30 percent Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 5 percent Malbec. Aged in new Alliers and Nevers oak barriques for 22 months, this velvety 2005 Petaluma Coonawarra was bottled in March 2007 without filtration.

It has the ripe fruit aromas and flavours of a warmer vintage wine yet it still has the backbone of an acid and tannin structure typical of cooler years, usually seen as a reflection of a cool summer and hot autumn harvest.

This lovely wine has a medium colour density and an intriguingly sparkling translucence that epitomizes the refined Coonawarra style established by Petaluma since it was first grown, and that can age successfully for at least 30 years.

The Coonawara Cabernet-Merlot 1990 is at its best now and the 2004 Petaluma Coonawarra Merlot shows all the signs of being a long lived wine - the kind you want to put down in enough quantity to allow annual tasting for decades to come.

(HK Edition 02/28/2009 page7)