Wine writer RICHARD CALVER shares memories of the 2010 vintage, an outstanding year for Australian wine and Julia Gillard.

Who can forget 2010? Labor was at internal war, a factor that affected all Australians. 

In June of that year Julia Gillard became the first woman to be Prime Minister of Australia, removing Kevin Rudd from the top job. Then the 2010 Australian federal election was held on August 21 which Gillard won in her own right. 

As for wine, Huon Hooke writing in 2011 said this of the 2010 vintage: “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards, said the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. He might have been talking about wine vintages. 

“It’s easy to know which are the great vintages in hindsight, but harder to accurately identify them as they happen. The 2010 vintage is one that observers and buyers of Australian wine will look back on with great fondness in the distant future. It’s an outstanding vintage in many regions, few missing out on its bounty.”

It was this bounty that I shared with friends at a recent Sunday lunch. The lunch was at a mate’s place in Tuggeranong, the house with a view across to the Brindabellas, a glorious outlook. I had extracted from my wine fridge a 2010 Brown Brothers Patricia Extended Lees sparkling. Before I took the Uber, I snuck a look online to see the price of this wine. $160 a bottle! But I pressed on, the wine in a flashy black presentation box celebrating the matriarch Patricia Brown. 

On arrival, despite the struggle with opening the box, we had the sparkling as an aperitif, sipping it slowly and admiring the view. The bead was small and sufficient, the colour more yellow than I’d anticipated. The bouquet was yeasty, with a hint of citrus. 

On taste there was no big bold brioche flavour that you’d expect from a French vintage champagne. Instead, the palate was complex, cashew nuts and a subtle citrus flavour that became more discernible as the wine warmed. 

It was a good start to the lunch, a clean drink that lifted the mood. This range of sparkling wine was recently given the title of the best sparkling wine in Australia with the 2018 Patricia Pinot Noir & Chardonnay Brut awarded the top honour for Best Sparkling Wine in Australia at the recently held 2025 Halliday Awards.

After a warming soup, my hosts served beef with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and some well-cooked vegetables. It was a delight to have improved English cooking, a traditional Sunday lunch. At this point, I should make a food joke but I’m afraid it wouldn’t pan out. 

One of the reds served courtesy of my hosts was a 2010 Kurtz Family Vineyards Boundary Row Shiraz. This is a big Barossa wine, lots of fruit and tannin and big in alcohol. The aroma of aniseed was in evidence with cherry predominant. 

On first taste it was not as “big” as was expected, head not knocked off, but was flavoursome with a good balance between fruit and alcohol, with a finish of plum. It matched the beef perfectly, flavours of wine and food enhanced mutually. It didn’t last long with enthusiasm expressed by all at the table. 

There is no evidence that the 2010 Boundary Row is available for purchase but a 2021 equivalent is selling for $30 a bottle, a wine to put away and opened after 10-14 years. 

“I deeply believe that if the Australia Labor Party is to have the best future for our nation, then it must change fundamentally its culture and to end the power of faceless men.” –Kevin Rudd, 2012.