GREG Horner has been an aerospace engineer, a Royal Australian Navy commander and a legal software company managing director - a career path that mirrors the diverse nature of the wines his family's Mount Bera brand produces.
The Adelaide Hills operation has such uncommon-to-Australia varieties as zweigelt, blaufrankisch and gruner veltliner, along with the more familiar pinot gris, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, shiraz and tempranillo.
I first encountered Mount Bera wines a year ago and I've just tasted my way through three new releases - the $30 Mount Bera 2019 Amphitheatre Shiraz-Blaufrankisch and 2020 Amphitheatre Zweigelt and the $60 2018 Boundless Horizons Gruner Veltliner, which are reviewed below.
The wines are at the Torrens Valley Road, Gumeracha, cellar door, mtberavineyards.com.au and singlevineyards.com.
Blaufrankisch, German for blue frankish, is widely grown in Austria, Hungary, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovakia and zweigelt is a blaufrankisch-saint laurent crossbreed developed in 1922 by Klosterneuberg scientist Dr Fritz Zweigelt.
It is now Austria's second most popular red grape and came to Mount Bera vineyard after being recommended to Greg Horner by a German friend.
Along with other Adelaide Hills growers, Mount Bera's gruner veltliner plantings have been inspired by the variety's trail-blazers Larry Jacobs and Marc Dobson of the neighbouring Hahndorf Hill vineyard and winery.
Former South African intensive care doctor Larry and ex-journalist-advertising copywriter Marc in 2002 overcame quarantine hurdles to import Austrian gruner veltliner cuttings, paving the way for a debut gruner vintage in 2010, which has led to Adelaide Hills attaining Australia's largest concentration of gruner veltliner vines.
Mount Bera is run by Greg and his wife Katrina along with their daughters Lily, Maya and Kali and son Luka.
Greg and Katrina were both raised on farms and Greg went from Victoria's Wonthaggi High School to a Bachelor of Engineering Aerospace degree, to seven years in the RAN, exiting as a commander in 1990 to work in aerospace engineering in the UK and Holland. Back in Australia in 1996, he took up his present post as managing director of a legal software company, adding ownership of Mount Bera in 2008.
Mount Bera's first vines were planted in 1997 by Louise Warner and her partner Peter Hall and they sold their fruit to Penfolds and since 2009 the Horners have switched to own-label production.
WINE REVIEWS
ZWEIGELT GOES ZING
REGISTERING 12.5% alcohol, the Mount Bera 2020 Amphitheatre Zweigelt is light-bodied, shines ruby red in the glass and with scents of violets. The front palate features zingy mulberry flavour, the middle palate raspberry, bramble jelly, spice and vanillin oak and a finish of savoury tannins.
PRICE: $30.
DRINK WITH: grilled turkey with warm pomegranate and lime dressing.
AGEING: seven years.
RATING: 4.5 STARS
GRUNER DELIGHT
LARRY Jacobs and Marc Dobson's Hahndorf Hill operation inspired Bera's blaufrankisch and this delightful Mount Bera 2018 Boundless Horizons Gruner Veltliner. It is brassy-tinted straw and has musk scents and ruby grapefruit front-palate flavour. The middle palate shows kiwifruit, nashi pear and mineral elements and slatey acid at the finish.
PRICE: $60.
DRINK WITH: tapas.
AGEING: six years.
RATING: 5 stars
BLAUFRANKISCH MIX
THIS Mount Bera 2018 Amphitheatre Shiraz-Blaufrankisch blend has 13.5% alcohol and is deep purple-hued. Potpourri aromas display on the nose and vibrant black cherry flavour on the front palate. The middle palate has plum, quince jelly, mint chocolate and coconutty oak and dusty tannins come through at the finish.
PRICE: $30.
DRINK WITH: rack of lamb in red wine glaze.
AGEING: seven years.
RATING: 4.5 stars
