In Search of the Definitive Australian Wine

Bordeaux has its claret and its incomparable Sauternes. The Rhine and Mosel Valleys of Germany have their elegant, complex rieslings; California its mindblowing Zinfandel. For better or for worse Greece has its Retsina; Champagne proudly has its bubbles. But what, after two centuries of perseverance, is the definitive Australian wine?

It is important that Australia finds something unique, special and without peer. Without this ours is forever doomed to endless comparison with someone else’s, like French cabernet or sparkling wine, New Zealand sauvignon blanc or Californian chardonnay.

Several faithful old possibilities come to mind. There’s that incredible Rutherglen tokay, the earthy Australian shiraz as exemplified by the Barossa, the sparkling burgundy and the Hunter semillon.

From these I’d regretfully cull the tokay, for although they’re unexpectedly brilliant, luscious and individual, hardly anyone seems to drink them any more.

The traditional Australian red is worth admitting to the next round. Fabulous wines like the various Henschke reds, St Hallet Old Block Shiraz, Peter Lehmann Shiraz, Rockford Black Shiraz and Saltram’s Mamre Brook cabernet blend are faithful to style, very consistent and rightly sought-after.

What of the sparkling burgundy, that incredible full-bodied, slightly sweet, bottle-fermented red wine you never see outside Australia? Four years ago they might have been extinct. The best were all released by Seppelt, and old any crusty old cellared bottles were usually jealously guarded, seen as the ultimate winemakers’ indulgence with a cult following all of their own.

Now they’re back in town, with excellent releases from Seaview, Morris, Yalumba, Jolimont, Brands Coonawarra, Rockford, Fareham Estate and many others. In the West, Dorham Mann makes a special one from straight cabernet sauvignon.

They’re fun, they’re good, they’re different – in many ways how Australians picture ourselves. But are sparkling burgundies our definitive national wine? I’m not certain.

What about those unforgettable Hunter semillons, which after ten years cellaring move into wine’s fourth dimension? They assume an operatic presence worthy of a Dame Joan encore. Open an old Tyrrells, Sutherland, Petersons, Mount Pleasant or Lindemans and see what I mean.

I’ll never forget the first time I ever tasted a line-up of old Lindemans Hunter River semillons. They were in such good shape that my first few attempts to guess their age were embarassingly short. I ended up having to double what I really thought they were just to get close.

The Hunter occasionally produces years of real greatness, and wines which taste younger and fresher the older they get. The trouble is, it doesn’t happen often enough. Despite the regular pre-vintage, mid-vintage and post-vintage cries of “Vintage of the Decade, Century, Millenium or Epoch”, nobody listens seriously any more. They’ve cried ‘wolf’ too often.

What about the snazzy yuppie wines, showy wines like the chardonnays, fume blancs, cabernet merlots and pinot noirs. But the sad truth is that while Australia makes all these wines particularly well, and can sell them overseas for a competitive price, we’ve yet to make any of them our own.

Everyone seems to make good wine out of chardonnay, especially the French, whom we are yet to rival seriously in all but the rarest of cases. Chardonnays from California, New Zealand, Australia and even the modern Italian versions suffer from similar problems to our own – most of them taste the same. They lack individuality and something special, the very things we would expect of the definitive Australian wine.

Fume blancs and sauvignon blancs can be fresh, enjoyable and extremely pleasant, but don’t fall for the trap of taking them too seriously. The French, and even possibly the New Zealanders, still do them better than us.

The fashionable modern Australian cabernet blends are frequently good wines, but suffer from an identity crisis. What are they supposed to taste like? Does merlot make the wine heavier or lighter? Are they ready to drink now or cellar for decades? It’s all too unclear, for we still make a broad range. More time is needed to sort them out, good from bad, style from style.

If it’s early days with cabernet blends, then pinot noir is still back in the cradle. While we’ve made some good Australian pinot noirs, too many are frankly indistinguishable from non-denominational light dry reds. They could come from anywhere, could be made from anything and taste of nothing in particular. Their day is yet to come.

What’s left? Forget sherry and port, like most of you have done already. Sparkling wines are out – our definitive national wine could never compete with Champagne. We’ll also do our image a favour and ignore casks, flagons and coolers. So where does that leave us?

With our shiraz, rhine riesling and those old Barossa-style reds, many of which are made from shiraz anyway. For one reason or other Australian and foreign palates are already turning to these wines.

Australian rhines are elegant, full-flavoured and dry. They’re complex wines made to go with food. German rieslings are still generally too sweet for the drier western palate, and good Californian rieslings are still much of a rarity.

How a classic wine like rhine riesling ever fell from favour in the first place is a mystery to many. Ask for an old Leo Buring Eden Valley or Clare rhine riesling and you’ll take a glimpse at Australia’s definitive white wine.

The only wines made anywhere to have the richness, spice, pepper and enduring character of Australian shiraz are the Hermitage and Cote Rotie reds of the Rhone Valley, France. They’re comparatively rare and expensive, but are gaining in popularity around the world.

Our shirazes are individual, flavoursome, enduring and distinctive. They are still the hallmark Australian red, definitive Australian wine.

So, what are my definitive Australian wines? Here is a selection of the best of our rhine rieslings and shiraz-based reds.

White:

Leo Buring Eden Valley
Jeffrey Grossett
Pikes
Capel Vale
Petaluma
Delatite
Moorilla Estate
Orlando St Helga
Heggies Vineyard
Pewsey Vale
Mitchelton
Mount Chalambar
Tim Knappstein

Red:

Baileys Classic Hermitage
Mount Langi Ghiran Hermitage
Knights Shiraz
St Hallet Old Block Shiraz
Henschke Mount Edelstone
Henschke Hill of Grace
Bannockburn Shiraz
Brands Original Vineyard Shiraz
Capel Vale Shiraz
Cape Mentelle Shiraz
Lindemans Hunter River Burgundy
Mount Pleasant Philip Hermitage
Peel Estate Shiraz
Peter Lehmann Shiraz
Plantaganet Shiraz
Seville Estate Shiraz
Wynns Coonawarra
Lindemans Limestone Ridge Please login to post comment