QHA November 2017

WINE with John Rozentals
COONAWARRA
FAMILY
HISTORIC REDS
The first time that I met Peter Douglas, one of the
genuine doyens of Coonawarra winemakers, was in
Hobart many, many years ago. He was thoroughly
enjoying the meal in one of the best seafood
restaurants in a seafood capital, but the food didn’t
really go with the great reds he was there to show off.
I met him again a few years later, in his then home
base of Wynns Coonawarra Estate, where the food
was much more up the alley of the superb red wines
he was producing. Yet he was still a bit twitchy.
It was harvest time. And he confessed he was only
in the dining room talking to scribblers because he’d
been ordered to, because that was the way of the
world for the modern corporate winemaker.
So we alighted to the winery, where he was much
happier. And we watched and tasted premium
cabernet grapes as they were crushed, and he told me
of his great love for the Coonawarra district and the
fabulous red wines it produced.
One of the companies he has made wine for since
departing Wynns is DiGiorgo Family Wines, which
was eventually established in Coonawarra by Stefano
Peter Douglas … making wines for DiGiorgo
Family Wines, which has wrested a historic niche
of Coonawarra.
DiGiorgo, who migrated from Italy in 1952 and settled
on South Australia’s Limestone Coast.
In 2002 the DiGiorgio family purchased the fabled
Rouge Homme winery, the second oldest in
Coonawarra and a truly iconic cog in the history of the
Australian wine industry.
Somewhat ironically, the Rouge Homme winery and
its surrounding aged vines had at one stage been
the property of Southcorp, which had owned Wynns
during some of Peter Douglas’s tenure there as
chief winemaker.
If he had a wry smile as he entered the DiGeorgio
operation, I’ll certainly forgive Peter, whose familiarity
with the district and his passion for its dry reds
certainly comes through in the latest batch of wines
I have tasted.
The wines are, quite simply, outstanding and exhibit
true varietal character and genuine regionality.
TOP SHELF with John Rozentals
DI GIORGIO FAMILY 2015
Coonawarra
Cabernet Sauvignon
DI GIORGIO FAMILY 2015
Coonawarra
Emporio
SANDALFORD 2017
Margaret
River Classic
QHA REVIEW | 60
I really like the typically
elegant intensity of
this cabernet, and its
particularly fine structure,
something that
typifies Coonawarra.
($26 Bottle)
An elegant dry red
blended from merlot,
cabernet sauvignon
and cabernet franc.
Few Australian regions
can deliver a Bordeaux
blend of this quality, but
Coonawarra can.
($26 Bottle)
This blend of semillon
and sauvignon blanc
is indeed a Western
Australian classic: a
crisp, flinty dry white that
you can comfortably
drink on its own or with
something like a plate of
oysters. ($15 Bottle)