Meet Roussanne, she's intense but full of fruit flavour and acid backbone.
By David Ellis from vintnews
Roussanne is not a widely grown variety in Australia, but if other makers take a leaf out of Campbell’s of Rutherglen’s book and follow suit with one that they’ve just released, we could 
hopefully see a lot more on bottle-shop shelves in years to come.
An almost exotic wine with a nice depth of flavour that’s not unlike Chardonnay, Roussane’s home is France’s Rhone Valley, but it’s also grown widely in Italy as well, and to a much lesser degree in California.
Campbell’s 2013 Roussanne is an elegant drop with lots of finesse; on the nose it’s got nice lime peel, pear and herbal tea aromas, while on the palate it’s all about characters of pears, dried herbs, white pepper and even a little spice.
Colin Campbell says this wine is the result of an excellent vintage that gave it its intense varietal fruit flavour and firm acid backbone, but notes that Roussanne is one of those wines that requires a sensitive hand in both the vineyard and winery to capture the best of its subtlety and finesse.
Also he says that while this is a great one to enjoy now, it will improve in bottle over the coming 3-4 years… Colin suggests enjoying it with cured kingfish sashimi. Priced at $25 a bottle it’s available only through the cellar door or www.campbellswines.com.au
One to note: Rymill Coonawarra winemaker, Sandrine Gimon has produced a cracker Shiraz from the outstanding vintage enjoyed in the region in 2012, this one being full of sweet red berry and dark fruit flavours, spicy overtones and beautifully savoury notes.
And while great to enjoy now, at $30 a bottle consider doing yourself a favour and buying a few for enjoyment once a year or so until well into the early to mid-2020s. Sandrine recommends this as a wine that will make an ideal partner with rich wintry foods like roasted lamb with spices, crispy pork belly (oh, yeah!!!) wild duck, or goat’s cheese with figs on fruit bread.
