‘I am with Billy Connolly on Scotland: it’s great to be Scottish provided you don’t have to live here."
I could tell as soon as I met Lord Tedder, a Scots-born Australian winegrower, that it wasn’t going to be a dull evening. There have been a spate of Scottish winemakers returning here to show us their wares, all professing to love the country they ch
ose to leave, but Robin Tedder is certainly not one of them.
The eccentric Third Baron of Glenguin is probably more patriotic about Australia than your average Aussie. Within two minutes of meeting him in his old hometown of St Andrews, he’d chewed my ear off for complaining about Australia’s lack of culture. Tedder is immensely sparky, extremely fit (still mountain climbing and marathon running at 50) and very intelligent.
He grew up in an academic family, his father was chemistry professor at St Andrews. His grandfather, Arthur Tedder, was a military man - deputy supreme commander of the Allied Forces under Eisenhower in 1944-45 and took the name Baron of Glenguin (he was born at Glengoyne distillery near Glasgow) - and later became a successful businessman, as chairman of British Leyland.
Robin, his mother confided to me across the table at St Andrews’ new Seafood Restaurant, was always going to be an entrepreneur. His varied career began straight out of school, working as a mobile disc jockey (working at Edinburgh’s old Clouds nightclub and Saturday nights on Radio Forth). "It was a useful training, I certainly learned about timing," he says.
After a brief interlude as band manager and a secretive assignment in Germany ("where I first got a taste for fine wine") in 1976, he headed for Auckland, then Sydney, becoming a highly successful merchant banker. He sold his own banking business to Kleinwort in 1987 ("good timing") and teamed up with the partners of South Africa’s First Rand. He still works as chairman of Funds Business in Sydney with numerous consultancy jobs, but spends "far too much time" perfecting his other hobby.
When Tedder entered the wine business in 1993, he was rich enough to pay for his hobby. But, he admits, he knew nothing much about wine, so decided to work for his Master of Wine, now one of only 14 Australians to have passed this exam - and sent his younger brother off to learn winemaking technology at Roseworthy (he now works for Robin).
Inevitably, as Tedder’s base was Sydney, he bought vineyards in nearby Hunter Valley in New South Wales, 20km west of Cessnock.
"People now treat the Hunter Valley like an old maiden aunt," he says.
It’s true that the bulk of Aussie’s winemakers have moved away from Hunter, to the west to South Australia and south to Victoria. Hunter Valley’s high humidity levels, lack of diurnal (day/night) temperature variation and often persistent cloud cover makes it an awkward place to make fine wine. Tedder is very defensive. "Burgundy has a tricky climate, doesn’t it?" he says. "Hunter is where Australia’s first vines, Semillon and Shiraz, were planted and that’s what I specialise in."
His wines are not quite what you’d expect of Australia. "Wine is not all about primary fruit character, but a sense of place; my wines have a distinctive regional stamp," he says. I certainly applaud his ideals moving towards lowish alcohol, restrained fruit and secondary flavours, rather than the popular "pure fruit essence" or "dry port".
But I was a little disappointed with some of his wines.
"Some fruit is dead when it’s picked it’s allowed to hang so long on the vine," says Tedder. He picks early to retain acidity and keep alcohol levels low. He served up a youthful Old Broke Block Semillon. It wasn’t the kind of battery acid Hunter Semillon I have experienced in the past, but it was still quite austere.
"Sauvignon is for teenagers, Semillon is for grown ups," he assured me as he saw my face wince. Later in the meal, we tried a more mature version of the same wine with a delicious twice-baked goats cheese, leek soufflé and oyster sauce. Hunter Semillon is traditionally unoaked and can age very gracefully, but maturing it seems to be a bit hit and miss.
After opening three bottles of Christina Semillon 1997 ("all oxidised") - we hit a good one, which was deliciously vibrant and toasty.
We moved on to his Hunter Chardonnay, quite restrained but lacking any wow factor compared to Western Victoria’s poised beauties. It was a great deal better than his Merlot, oh dear. "Better served in the risotto than drunk on its own," agreed one of his guests. Tedder’s real star attraction was to come.
"You have to be very brave or a complete fool to name a wine after your wife," he says. His top wine, a peppery savoury fleshy ripe Shiraz, was named Aristea after his Greek wife. Served with peppered beef fillet and shallot puree, it matched deliciously well. Marriage to a Greek has left him pining for the Mediterranean lifestyle, but he’s not complimentary of Greek wines, he prefers Italy. So much so that he’s planning to launch two Italian grapes, New South Wales-grown Sangiovese and Adelaide Hills-grown Pinot Grigio, under a new "Maestro" label.
Tedder clearly hates doing anything by the book. As a finale, he brought out his sweet and stickie: a "botrytis-affected" dessert wine.
"Can’t stand rich cloying sweet wines," he told me. In true Tedder style, he invented his own way of doing things, although his winemaker Rhys Eather reckons he has committed heresy.
He created a special "solera" (continual ageing system) of old Semillon and adds a drop or two of this to his sweetie, to give it acidic cut and lift aromas. His botrytis Semillon is by no means rich honeyed and overpowering, but it has very interesting ginger and lime flavours. Quite intriguing served alongside a large dollop of lavender jelly.
Taste testOLD BROKE SEMILLON 2002 (£7.49) Not quite the battery acid you’d expect from young Hunter Semillon, but with enough acid to send tastebuds into overdrive; underlying butterscotch and citrus beg for extra time in the bottle.
RIVER TERRACE CHARDONNAY 2002 (£7.49) Part barrel-fermented with good creamy lees palate, but not an exciting Aussie Chardonnay.
ORANGE VINEYARD MERLOT 2001 (£11.99) Made from fruit bought from Tedder’s growers in Orange; fierce tannins swamping fruits. Stick to Shiraz!
STONYBROKE SHIRAZ 2001 (£8.99) Tedder’s not a blowsy kind of guy, so this is nicely restrained, savoury with fleshy black fruit undertones.
ARISTEA SHIRAZ 2000 (£29.99) This is what Glenguin does best. Peppery, savoury and rich layers of blackberry fruits. This is a very good wine (as it should be at the price).
CHRISTINA SEMILLON 1997 (£9.99) Vibrant citrussy with that classic old Hunter breakfast toast, which tastes like it has been in oak for years, but hasn’t seen a stick of it.
BOTRYTIS SEMILLON 2001 (£8.99 half bottle) Very unusual and again very restrained. Lime, ginger and honeysuckle notes with gentle sweetness - an unusual dessert wine.
• Glenguin wines are available from House of Menzies (Aberfeldy); Luvians (Cupar/St Andrews); The Bottle Stop (Edinburgh); Grand Cru Classe (East Lothian); Delizique delicatessen (Glasgow).
