French techniques in Australian wine

It’s quite paradoxical that the cutting edge in the advancement of Australia’s best chardonnay lies in technology several hundred years old. As winemakers adopt such measures as barrel fermentation, malo-lactic fermentation and extended lees contract in addition to simply allowing their wines extensive time after fermentation in new and small oak, the improvements steadily emerge.

The inquisitive, technical nature of the Australian winemaker has generally led to an educated adoption of such so-called ‘traditional’ practices with some startling results. Our winemakers, it appears, are not content so much simply to incorporate old ideas that work, but they are forever seeking the reasons why they do. Undoubtedly, the best in Australian chardonnay is yet to come.

Some winemakers have stumbled by striving for too much complexity too quickly. Each of the traditional techniques has its own potential to throw the balance of a wine by dominating its flavour or texture to the exclusion of other attributes. Most common in Australia is the over-use of oak, while far too frequently wines from cool climates display an over-domination by secondary fermentation and lees contact characters, creating wines seemingly with more in common with Callard and Bowser toffee than a Corton Charlemagne.

An over-enthusiastic implementation of traditional French techniques can also lead to excessive hardness and extract, through oxidation and the over-extraction of oak phenolics. The risk is the more that winemakers seek complexity in their wine, the less might be their balance and softness. Time and experience, the two factors still missing from many segments of our young industry, will undoubtedly raise the standard.

Another paradox is found in the siting of the vineyards ultimately destined to make these premium wines. Much of the Australian plantings of chardonnay have focused on cooler southern or high-altitude regions with cooler climates and later ripening seasons, such as Mount Barker, the Yarra Valley, Geelong, the Mornington Peninsula, Piper’s Brook and the Adelaide Hills, where growers aim to create grapes with fresh, intense flavours and high levels of natural acidity.

Without ignoring some great wines from the Hunter and other warmer climes, the grapes from these cooler regions, with the possibly surprising inclusion of the warmer Margaret River area, are those most suited into the development of complex, structured wines from chardonnay. The concession is of course that the fruit must first be fully ripen to achieve the necessary high levels of alcohol, richness and soft texture demanded in premium chardonnay.

Having selected from the cooler areas, the grower then attempts to achieve full ripeness as quickly as possible; itself an easier task to manage in the warmer northern or riverland climates of Mildura, the Barossa Valley and Griffith. Herein lies the paradox. The best cool-climate chardonnays are indeed those produced from the warmest sites in these areas and from the warmer vintages. These conditions enable grapes to accumulate more quickly their sugar and flavour and simultaneously to reduce their acidity in the ripening process.

Cool-year-cool-climate chardonnays are frequently thin, green and bordering on the unpalatable, with the sort of acidity that threatens the long-term viability of tooth enamel.

A champion of cool climate viticulture for chardonnay, Brian Croser agrees with this principle. He contrasts the ‘big, blousy, unsubtle, commercial wines of the hot regions’ with the ‘intense, more refined and winemaking complexed wines of cooler regions’ from their warmer seasons. Croser points to the ‘sunburnt’ taste of hot area chardonnay, with their flavours of honey, tobacco and ripe fruit. Cooler-region chardonnay, he says, tastes of melon, fig, peach and cashew. Please login to post comment