The matching of regions with varieties

We don’t have any laws telling us what grapes we may plant in what places in Australia. They do in many parts of traditional Europe, but we don’t. The reason? We’re still learning what grows best where, still opening up new regions and still bringing in new grapes. Hell, we’re only two hundred years old, so what are we supposed to know?

But there’s little doubt that as the Australian wine industry matures it becomes more apparent every passing year that some regions do better with particular grape varieties than others. Not just a little better, but miles better. So much better, in fact, you’d swear something truly special was going on. Unique relationships between certain grapes and certain places have clearly begun to emerge.

As 2000 approaches it’s still far too early to guess which varieties will ultimately stand the test of time and become inseparably linked from the names of our premier regions. New varieties from Europe, such as the Bordeaux red grape of petit verdot, the Rhone white variety of viognier or the principal quality Italian red varieties of sangiovese, nebbiolo and barbera, may yet shape Australia’s winemaking destiny in generations to come. Don’t forget that it’s only just over a decade ago that their government was paying South Australian growers to pull out old shiraz vines and that twenty years ago chardonnay was virtually unheard of in Australia.

So, where do we stand in 1999? Are there any really serious matches ‘twixt grape and vignoble that do something out of the ordinary, something which sets them apart from the rest? Undoubtedly there are. Here, listed alphabetically, are a baker’s dozen of already existent combinations of Australian regions and grape varieties most likely to stand the test of time.

1. Adelaide Hills Chardonnay

Championed by Brian Croser, whose Petaluma Chardonnay is now 100 Adelaide Hills fruit, this cool-climate region owes its ability to develop clearly-defined chardonnay fruit to the lateness of its season and a fortuitous combination of altitude and varied topography. Its chardonnay is intense, piercingly ripe and tangy, with lingering mineral acids. The best have the ability to cellar for a decade.

Leading makers: Lenswood Vineyards, Petaluma, Shaw & Smith, Stafford Ridge.

2. Barossa Shiraz

This country’s favourite wine region, amply blessed with sunshine and gnarled old shiraz vineyards whose rich, dark wines and their deep flavours typify what many European and American wine opinion leaders find so attractive about Australian wine. Explosively concentrated with dark plums and cassis and usually buttressed with the smoky chocolate flavours and creamy textures of new American cooperage, this most traditional of Australian red wines has certainly learned some new tricks of late.

Leading makers: Grant Burge, Peter Lehmann, Rockford, Saltram, Seppelt, Yalumba.

3. Clare Valley Riesling

Perhaps the most picturesque of all Australian wine regions, with an aspect that alternates between vineyard, bushland and rolling paddocks, the Clare Valley grows our most concentrated, limey riesling. The best mature slowly in the classic ‘dry spatlese’ fashion, with fully-ripened fruit finishing as bone-dry as a crack on the desert floor. With time, the wines acquire their distinct toasty, honeyed bouquet, frequently complexed with the scents of dried flowers and beeswax.

Leading makers: Grosset, Knappstein, Petaluma, Skillogalee.

4. Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon

A marriage truly made in some oenological heaven, Coonawarra and cabernet form an ideal partnership. Coonawarra’s greatest ability is to deliver ripe, concentrated flavours in red grapes without creating a wine of outsized proportions. Just the ticket for the cabernet varieties, whose piercing flavours of small berries are best described against a fine, restrained backbone of tannins and extract. Elegance and fineness are the key hallmarks of classic Coonawarra cabernet, which can age for two decades and more.

Leading makers: Parker Coonawarra Estate, Petaluma, Rosemount Estate, Wynns.


5. Eden Valley Riesling

South Australia’s second classic riesling district, found high in the hills above the south and east of the Barossa Valley, is the unusually-named Eden Valley. Its wines are typically austere and steely while young, but develop minerally fragrance and toasty complexity with bottle age. Most of its wines are today made with similarly ripe fruit as the best from Clare, although the remarkable heritage of great riesling made by former Leo Buring maker John Vickery now with Richmond Grove were made in a true cellar style from leaner and slightly under-ripened fruit.

Leading makers: Henschke, Leo Buring, Orlando, Pewsey Vale Yalumba

6. Hunter Valley Semillon

Perhaps Australia’s most idiosyncratic white wine of all, Hunter semillon simply astounds for the incredible intensity and complexity its best vintages acquire with extended maturation in the bottle. Made with the extensive use of refrigeration, modern semillons are more flavoursome and interesting to drink than their predecessors. The best of them certainly retain all the longevity of the great Lindemans classic by legendary Hunter maker Karl Stockhausen.

Leading makers: Briar Ridge, Brokenwood, McWilliams, Tyrrells.

7. Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon

The Margaret River is Australia’s second most important cabernet region. Its wines are typically firm and long-living, with extremes in style represented by the finely-crafted, elegant and restrained Moss Wood, the superbly plush, concentrated Cullen impression and the more powerfully-proportioned, grainy wines of Cape Mentelle and Pierro. Look out for new top-quality cabernets from relatively new names like Voyager Estate and Lenton Brae.

Leading makers: Cape Clairault, Cape Mentelle, Cullen, Moss Wood.

8. Margaret River Chardonnay

More of Australia’s top chardonnays come from Margaret River than from any other region. With their unique richness and concentration, helped to no small degree by the refusal of chardonnay to produce anything like an excessive crop in this windy area, Margaret River chardonnays typically present a flavour spectrum of ruby grapefruit, ripe melon and tangy tropical fruit flavours. Their sumptuous creamy texture and clean, savoury finish stand them apart from the occasionally lean picking from the country’s cooler eastern regions.

Leading makers: Cape Mentelle, Leeuwin Estate, Moss Wood, Pierro

9. McLaren Vale Shiraz

This long-established warm to hot region close to southern Adelaide’s beaches and rolling brown hills of is undergoing a revolution in profile that few would have imagined just five short years ago. A string of award winning wines from a multiplicity of makers has made McLaren Vale shiraz about the most sought-after red wine in Australia. Why? Improvements in viticulture now ensure that in all but the coolest and poorest of seasons, its shiraz is as full-bodied, spicy and sumptuous as the entire wine world is now learning to appreciate.

Leading makers: Brian Light, Chapel Hill, Rosemount Estate, Maglieri.

10. NE Victoria Muscat and Tokay

There are few more unctuous and self-indulgent wines made anywhere in the world than this pair, respectively made from late-harvested frontignan and muscadelle grapes in the charming, rustic northeast corner of Victoria. While young the sheer explosive intensity of their fruit commands respect from all but the most sweet-toothed palate, but once mature their luscious mouthfeel, incredible cask-matured complexity and chocolatey, spicy flavours become almost irresistible.

Leading makers: Baileys, Campbells, Morris, Stanton & Killeen.

11. Western Victorian Shiraz

It’s perhaps stretching things a bit to include the wines of the Pyrenees, Great Western and Ararat into a single category, but there’s no denying the size of the impact their fabulously spicy shiraz wines are having in local and overseas markets. From the more sumptuous wines of Ararat and the Pyrenees to the suppleness and restraint of the top shirazes from Great Western, these are the truly peppery shirazes of yore, often as sneezy as black pepper.

Leading makers: Bests, Dalwhinnie, Mount Langi Ghiran, Taltarni.

12. Yarra Valley Chardonnay

Although I’m the first to suggest the Yarra Valley has still to approach its undoubted potential, it has made enough small batches of superb and refined chardonnay to confirm that the grape and the place have something strong happening. Hampered by too many growers wanting too many tonnes per acre, the Valley’s chardonnay does at best reveal pure, pristine flavours of peach, melon and nectarine with fresh lemony acids. Sadly, too few of its makers are really striving for the top rungs of the ladder.

Leading makers: Coldstream Hills, Mount Mary, Shantell, Tarrawarra.

13. Yarra Valley Pinot Noir

Ditto the situation with Yarra chardonnay. The stellar wines of Mount Mary, with the occasional classic from the likes of Yeringberg, Coldstream Hills and Tarrawarra realise all the expectations of Yarra pinot, but nowhere near often enough. The Adelaide Hills are fast becoming a serious rival with this grape, but it’s hard to toss the feeling that if several Yarra makers made some hard decisions about cropping levels and new oak, its pinot noir would be even more sought after than today.

Leading makers: Coldstream Hills, Diamond Valley, Mount Mary, Yeringberg. Please login to post comment