HOUGHTON BOTTLES-UP 175 YEARS – WHAT A CLASSIC

WHAT’s in a name: many still think of White Classic as Houghton’s White  Burgundy.

Wc12Sep11

David Ellis

HOUGHTON’S White Classic is a virtual chapter in itself in the book of the Australian wine industry.

Originally created as Houghton’s White Burgundy by the legendary Jack Mann in 1937, it was made by him for an amazing fifty-one consecutive vintages, can lay claim to being both one of our most popular white wines and Australia’s oldest consecutive-vintage white, and this year the Houghton company celebrates its 175th Anniversary having been founded in Western Australia’s Swan Valley way back in 1836.

The White Burgundy label had to be changed to White Classic in 2006 to comply with international wine regulations, and is today made under the guiding hand of Ross Pamment who has spent thirteen of his twenty-two winemaking years at Houghton’s, and is now it’s Chief Winemaker.

INTERESTING partner with country-style rabbit casserole.

The 2011 is traditional White Classic – fresh and fruity with tropical grapefruit, passionfruit, lime and rockmelon flavours, and a nice hint of green apples; pay $13.99 and enjoy with roast chicken stuffed with green olives and prunes. (And we don’t care if you DO, like us, still think of it as White Burgundy.)

ONE FOR LUNCH: WITH apple prices in free-fall in the early 1990s, long-time orchardist Borry Gartrell and his wife Gaye Stuart-Nairne decided something had to be done – and that something was to rip out their apple trees at Orange in NSW’s Central West and replace them with wine grapes.

It was a good move: today there are just 40 of the once-400 apple orchardists left in the Orange region, and Borry and Gaye now enjoy the successes of a flourishing vineyard, a restaurant and tourist accommodation facilities, with their wines made under contract by local maker Christophe Derrez; their 2006 Borrodell Pinot Noir has beautiful cherry, raspberry and forest-floor flavours. Enjoy at $38 with a country-style rabbit casserole.

(NEED A FOOD/DRINK IDEA? Check out  http://www.vintnews.com )