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Big red 2008: Best of the rest

Devil’s advocate is a role most wine critics like to play, particularly when a winemaker rolls out a new wine. For although unveiling the latest and greatest in, say, the art world is welcome, the world of wine has a vastly longer and more costly lead time. Mistakes can’t be glossed over; they need to be grafted or replanted and then remade.

In Australia, wine producers have almost unlimited scope to experiment and innovate with previously untried grape varieties, but there is another side to this wealth of opportunity. New grape varieties, new clones and new wines need considerable planning to succeed. In fact, it’s much easier to stay within the proven pool of shiraz, cabernet and chardonnay than to forge a new path with something untried.

But to have a go is as Australian as footy, beer and pies. We love a challenge and we’re not afraid of failing. This is where these emerging varieties get really interesting. Forget the cleanskin dozens crowding cellar doors, there is a growing number of exciting, new wines we need to have. And therein lies another important consideration. Even if a winemaker can produce, say, a sangiovese of merit, do we really need it? Is there already enough brilliant Chianti on our shelves and at lower prices? Given the global context of these varieties, should Australian winemakers stick to making the wines they do best?

It’s a difficult question, but whatever wines in which our winemakers do choose to invest their time and money, they need to be of the highest quality. This doesn’t mean they need to be extraordinarily expensive, rather that they need to be well researched, considered, tested and, finally, proven.

There are superior examples in many varieties, and support often comes in blending, letting the vines and those tending them find their way, giving the winemaker time to get to know the fruit and meeting the market halfway. Joe Grilli is one of Australia’s greatest advocates of this approach. His Il Briccone shiraz sangiovese blend cleverly fuses home and away grape varieties, and his Zamberlan brings together cabernet and sangiovese using traditional Italian winemaking techniques. Both are worth a look if you haven’t had the pleasure of an introduction.

Seek out the following wines if you’re interested in some benchmarks. There are other worthy examples, with numbers growing all the time. The laws of natural selection sort out the curious from the committed and ensure that the cream of our most innovative winemakers is rising to the top of the brave new world.

NEBBIOLO
Full disclosure: I’m obsessed with nebbiolo, drink a lot of it and even make a hatful. It’s that kind of grape. It has the same obsessive potential as pinot, perhaps even more. It harks from Piedmont in Italy, where it makes commanding wines, classically described as tar and roses. It is romantic and demanding with beguiling aromatics: rose petal, dried cherry and spices, none of which give any clue to the rippling tannins driving it through the mouth. Twisted tight with acidity, it is capable of delivering some of the most complex and enduring wines in the world. Australian makers tend to be the very committed enthusiasts, as this grape is neither easy to grow nor to make. King Valley and Adelaide Hills are the two regions of note, and if the quality can be maintained, the future for nebbiolo in Australia looks very rosy indeed. In addition to the wines below, nebbiolos from Pizzini and Arrivo are well worth checking out.

2005 SC Pannell Nebbiolo, A$55
Like all of Stephen Pannell’s wines, this is an understated style, honing in on the fruit’s capabilities rather than imposing a wish list of characters. It offers subtle herbs and dried cherry fruit and is earthy, balanced and gently complex, with smooth, refined tannins.

2006 Joseph Nebbiolo, A$75
This shows more classic oak impact and is still very young. There are musky lifted-fruit aromas, oak spice and some savoury depth. The tannins are commanding yet run inside a creamy outer shell. Superb, and with its best years ahead.

SANGIOVESE
More emerged than emerging, sangiovese is the workhorse behind those delectable Chianti wines. It grows well in several Australian regions, making medium-bodied wines with juicy cherry fruit in an easy-drinking style. Taking it to the next level is where the going gets tough; achieving concentration and complexity has been a challenge for most producers. There’s been a clonal handicap, which is being addressed with some new selections, and warmer regions such as Heathcote appear well suited to the future task. Julian Castagna of Beechworth has plunged into sangiovese with gusto: “I’ve shown the Italians and they’re scared!” Knowing the Italians, they’d actually be delighted.

2007 Ravensworth Sangiovese, A$19
One of Australia’s greatest pizza wines has fragrant charm and fresh red cherry fruit – simple and honest sangiovese characters. The palate is supple and packs just enough savoury grip to suit the genre perfectly. And it’s cheap!

2006 Pizzini Sangiovese, A$28
King Valley’s committed Italophiles make a richer style with darker spiced cherry fruit and a decent serve of oak. The palate has chewy, concentrated fruit and sinewy tannins with balanced, bright acidity.

TEMPRANILLO
Although everything Spanish is flavour of the decade, this variety has not made great inroads into the Australian psyche. The best examples capture the fragrance and freshness of the variety and don’t push too hard. The trap seems to be that of running before walking – taking the tannins to lengths that the fruit just cannot support. McLaren Vale, the Barossa Valley, Central Victoria and Margaret River have all demonstrated the potential for success with the variety, delivering medium-bodied wines with a knockabout Mediterranean character. Some higher-grade examples are starting to emerge.

2006 Pondalowie MT Tempranillo, A$25
This is an Australian take on the unwooded primary style, although it seems to have been boosted by something somewhere along the line. Supple and sizzling with fresh intensity, purple fruit, brash aromas and plenty of lively character.

2006 Hewitson Private Cellar Tempranillo, A$70
This offers alluring varietal perfume and a good serve of ripe cherry fruit with well-managed oak. There’s a lovely measured palate, and the supple tannins have been expertly tailored. It’s balanced and certainly one of the best examples Australia has delivered to date.

MOURVEDRE
Aka mataro, this is the Barossa Valley’s secret weapon, lending support to many shiraz and grenache wines, often without recognition. It’s a conversation stopper among Barossa winemakers and has recently enjoyed renewed interest and visibility in solo bottlings. Old vines and the right soils, preferably both, deliver deeply concentrated, rich wines with a profound tannin structure, translating the clear voice of Barossa terroir. It makes regular appearances in terrific-value blends but is not without iconic potential and pricing.

2005 Torbreck The Pict Mataro, A$187.50 (sold out)
Unchallenged for the most highly priced straight mataro wine made in Australia, and worth every cent. This has the trademark peppery, dark berry fruit and dark chocolate oak, as well as impressive weight and structure – fruit first, oak in support. Awesome.

2006 Deisen Mataro, A$38
This tiny vineyard in Marananga has proved itself as first-class mataro country, offering regional and varietal tarry plum fruit, earthy, savoury complexity and finely balanced structure. It will age with grace.

BARBERA
Barbera shares its origins with nebbiolo in Italy’s Piedmont, where it’s the everyday all-rounder. It’s one of the world’s greatest food-friendly wines, offering plenty of berry flavour. It’s never too sweet or cloying, due to resilient natural acidity. Tannins are polite yet supportive, and it seems to be an adaptable variety, expressing itself handsomely in a range of terroirs, not unlike shiraz. Accordingly, it tends to need less winemaker input than many varieties and by default gives voice to regional and site characters. What more could you want?

2006 Chalk Hill Barbera, A$26
Barbera enjoys the Mediterranean lifestyle in McLaren Vale, where it ripens nicely with plenty of structure intact. Rich purple fruit and spice; really striking for its purity. It has a long, concentrated and intense palate and a fresh-acid finish.

2005 Pizzini Barbera, A$36
A great lunch wine from the King Valley. The nose blooms with attractive cherry, sweet spices and cassis-like berry fruit. There’s plenty of flavour, it’s easy on the tannins and has a crunchy acid-snap finish.

BLENDS
As already discussed, emerging and less common varieties tend to perform well in blended formation, and although blended reds often provide the most consistent and best value, they’re frequently overlooked. At the very least, they may allow an easier baptism for new plantings and unfamiliar varieties; at best, they capture essential and unique regionality. The popular GSM blend (grenache, shiraz, mourvèdre) works something like this: grenache provides the red perfume and charm, shiraz brings deeper dark fruit characters and builds palate weight, while mourvèdre is the lynch pin of soulful, earthy structure. Fruit-derived complexity and old-vine resources underpin these great wines.

2006 Marius Symposium Shiraz Mourvèdre, A$38
This youthful, modern beauty has terrific dark plum fruit with peppery, earthy aromas. There’s a meaty but fresh palate, smooth tannin glide and a meaningful, long, fine finish.

2006 Spinifex Esprit, A$28
A four-way affair: about equal parts mourvèdre, grenache and shiraz with a pinch of cinsault. This is a benchmark new-school Barossa. With ripe berry fruit, tar and peppery spice, the palate is richly fruited and confidently structured. Terrific on all fronts.

TEXT NICK STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY WILL HORNER

This article appeared in the June/July 2008 issue of Gourmet Traveller WINE.