In praise of Brown Brothers – the old and the new

Brown Brothers is one of Australia’s oldest, still flourishing and most successful family wine companies, along with Yalumba and Henschke. The company is rightly known for the consistently high standard and value for money of its wines, for its innovations and also for its extensive range of grape varieties. So when an invitation came to attend a tasting of some of their latest releases I accepted with alacrity. I was among several writers who were to experience an inspiring and agreeable half hour in the company of Chief Executive Officer Ross Brown, Joel Tilbrook (in his fourth vintage with Brown Brothers and his first as Senior Winemaker) and Public Relations Manager, Scott Darkin.

Brown Brothers has been around since John Francis Brown made his first wines at Milawa in 1889, having planted his first vines four years earlier. Proudly Victorian, the company continues to source its fruit entirely from Victoria. Top of the range are the ‘Patricia’ wines, named in honour of Patricia Brown, family matriarch, who died aged 89 in 2004. “Wines with the Patricia name must ring bells, or they are not released,” says Ross. The current Patricia Shiraz (2004, about $54) I found spicy, concentrated yet elegant, and worth putting down for a few years if you can resist its current allure. It comes in equal proportions from Heathcote, Pyrenees and King Valley, and makes a fascinating comparison with our usually heavier Barossa and McLaren Vale versions.

Brown Brothers is famous for its Kindergarten Winery, a mini winery where small trial batches are made using new grape varieties and different winemaking techniques. Among less familiar varieties grown by Brown brothers are whites roussanne, Vermentino, crouchen (previously and wrongly known as clare riesling), flora (blended with orange muscat to produce dainty fruit-salady sweet white), and reds tarrango, tempranillo, dolcetto, graciano, barbera, and carmenere. Not all of these wines are yet released, and some are only available through cellar door or by mail order. Another is Cienna, a cross between the Spanish grape sumoll and cabernet sauvignon, developed by the CSIRO. “Cienna grew out of what customers ask for: a fruitier style with low alcohol,” said Ross. The current Cienna, 2007 (about $14) is blended a little with cabernet sauvignon to make a five per cent alcohol wine with some sweetness, very moreish and interesting to puzzle your friends at a blind tasting. For years Brown Brothers added another rare variety, Mondeuse, to a shiraz-cabernet blend. This unique Brown Brothers blend will be celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year when the 2004 vintage is released in June.

There are currently three sparklings. At the top is the very reasonably priced Brown Brothers Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier NV (about $20), from the high altitude Whitlands vineyard. Last year this was awarded top trophy for Best Bottle Fermented Sparkling Wine at the International Wine and Spirits Competition in London. I’ve enjoyed its citrussy creaminess with smoked salmon and avocado. The musically-named grape zibibbo (pronounced zibeebo), also known as lexia, muscat gordo blanco and muscat of Alexandria, is the base of two sparklings, one white (about $16), a moscato-style zippy six per cent alcohol charmer, and the very popular recently-released Brown Brothers Zibibbo Rosa (about $16, eight per cent alcohol), prettily attired in a pink ribbon, but with the addition of a little shiraz from Heathcote to give it more complexity.

And, while you can still get them, do not forget the classic muscats, tokays and ports for which Brown Brothers has been know for decades. At present I’m sampling Brown Brothers Very Old Tokay (about $25 for 375ml), 18 per cent alcohol, a toffee-treacly treat with a lingering finish.