On The Grapevine

with David Ellis

$10 wine with 68-year pedigree

When you've been making a particular wine for 68 years and it's just as popular - or probably more so - as were its first vintages, you know you are onto a good thing.

And that's the case with Houghton's White Burgundy, the latest vintage (the 2005) now hitting the bottle shop shelves.

This is a remarkable wine that over those near-seven decades has never failed to appeal, no matter how our tastes have changed in that time. It's made from a selection of premium varieties grown wholly within Western Australia, and has loads of fresh citrus, passionfruit and tropical fruit flavours.

Served well chilled it's an ideal accompaniment to seafood or Asian dishes; and while it will cellar for 5-6 years, at $10-$11 a bottle who'd really bother?

Houghton made their first commercial wine in the Swan Valley in 1859, selling a princely 25 gallons (114 litres) from that first vintage. In 1937 the legendary Jack Mann created the first White Burgundy, and was the driving force behind it and the company over the next 51 years.

White Burgundy is one of four of Houghton's 'Line Range' of easy-drinking whites that all sell for $10-$11 a bottle; the others just released are the 2005 Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay Verdelho and Chenin Blanc.

One for the cellar: Another West Australian, Palandri's 2003 Shiraz, is a wine worth investing in for a future special occasion tipple. Fruit came from Great Southern (68 per cent) and Margaret River (32 per cent) and the wine has pepper and blue fruit spice aromas with sweet vanillin American oak nuances; the palate is full-bodied with spicy berry fruit and hints of pepper and cherry characters. Well worth $24.95 for a quiet 4-6 years in the cellar.