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The Coal Valley podcast

Coal valley_pinot_flight.mp3 (17.1 mb,  18:42 minutes)

The tasting began with Gill explaining the difference between the 08 straight pinot and it's old block sibling. She also pours the new 09 pinot which is a blend of fruit from the old and younger vines. Along the way we find out why a 19 year old block is 'old' and what Gill was like at 19. Todd gives Gill 'the look' and we find out what a woman means when she says "its nothing!" in response to the age old question "what's the matter?". We hear a great no share story as well as a cautionary tale about taking wine to the houses of people from another culture.

Gill Christian and Todd Goebel from the Coal Valley to India and back again .....

The Coal Valley vineyard has, over recent times, been one of the most popular stops along the Richmond Rd section of the Coal River Valley wine region. It's always been known for the quality of it's wines but also has a history of serving good food. Gill Christian and Todd Goebel recently gave us the opportunity to try a couple of their pinots. Of course we accepted with almost embarrassing speed ....

Coal valley entrance

On offer was the 2008 Coal Valley pinot, the 2008 Coal Valley "Old Block" pinot and the soon to be released 09 Coal Valley Pinot. Gill served the pinots as a flight. She wanted to see if we could taste the difference between the vintages and the location of the source fruit. Honest people would probably have pointed out that their palates may not be sufficiently developed for such a task. But we were frightened that she would take the wine away if we had admitted that so we just nodded and mumbled "thanks very much".

In case you're interested the 'old block' comprised vines planted by the previous owners Margaret and Gradon Johnston. They are now 19 years old but don't always provide enough fruit or at least enough fruit that meet Gill and Todd's high standards. This makes a bottle of the 'old block' pinot even more special. In fact if you want a bottle you probably need to hurry. Todd mentioned that there are only 15 or so dozen of the 08 left.

If you do buy a bottle what can you expect? Compared to the 08 standard pinot, Gill believes it's "more mellow ... more full bodied with less up front fruit but with savoury characters and more tannins which will allow it to age better". We appreciated the subtle but excellent mouth feel, depth of flavour and double barrel finish. 

The view

The 2009 pinot is a blend. This came about because while the old block provided sufficient fruit it was so good that Gill and Todd decided to pick a couple of tonnes for sparkling. What was left was put through a blending trial, the upshot of which was that a 60% young vine fruit was matched by 40% from the old block. The result was absolutely amazing. 

At the time we tried it the 09 had only been in bottle for a month and Todd appeared to be very cautious at it's progress. When Todd told us he thought it was too early to tell we were in some ways relieved. There is little to no chance of a fall off in the quality of a Coal Valley pinot given the standards that Gill and Todd apply to their wines.

Frankly we would buy the 09 now. If the wine is going to improve as much as Gill and Todd hope with 12 months of bottle age then it is going to be an absolute belter. In the past sales have been such that Coal Valley pinots have had to be released with less than the desired bottle age. "Selling wine with 12 months in the bottle is a much more enjoyable job" Gill commented. The beauty with the 09 is that if they have to sell it early it won't disappoint.

The sparkling

One of the tests we apply to a wine is whether or not it's a 'share' bottle. 'No share' bottles are those that you either want to keep to yourself or only share it with people who you know will appreciate it. The 08 old block is a no share bottle and the 09 will become one once it's released.

Part of the range

Explaining this distinction to Gill and Todd sparked a couple of stories. Gill recounted a time during the two years that Todd managed a Canadian oil and gas company in India. They were living in a 'dry' province so getting wine was quite involved. Returning from a trip to Tasmania Gill had brought with her a bottle of their 2000 Cabernet Merlot. This wine made it on to James Halliday's best of the best list so it was with some excitement Gill went to share this wine with her 'nice neighbours'. "I poured a glass and she put a teaspoon of sugar into it .... we didn't do a lot of sharing after that!".

Todd laughed and mentioned that they have lots of stories like that. Around the same time as the 'sugar incident' they went to have dinner with some other friends "from another country that will remain nameless". They took with them one of their pinots and "we were so looking forward to drinking it but they put it straight in the cupboard and bought out an Indian bottle".

We have two problems with this approach. One, people of the sub continent are fabulous and will, along with the Chinese, probably replace the US economically and politically in the near future, but wine makers they are not. Second, this putting the guest's wine in the cupboard and serving what ever the host wants is just plain wrong. But it appears to be a trait shared by a number of European countries so don't say you weren't warned.

Nice barrel

We've already written about the 07 Coal Valley cabernet merlot and having tried their pinots there is no doubt that Coal Valley is going to be another favourite of ours. Go out and try them for yourselves, we would be gobsmacked if you weren't impressed. If you want a feed as well you need to go there on the weekends at lunch time. We did that recently and enjoyed the food as well as the wine.  The restaurant is run by Smolt so be prepared to pay restaurant prices, but you will also get restaurant quality.

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