Australia wines are getting a new image
By John Schreiner
January 27, 2009
A recent report in the British newspaper, The Telegraph, noted that Australian wine exports “collapsed” last year – the first drop in 15 years.
Collapse was not too far off the mark. By volume, Australian wine exports in 2008 were down 11 percent. By value, they were down a shocking 18 percent.
This is seriously bad news for an industry that is the world’s sixth largest wine exporter and, even if Australians are enthusiastic consumers, has a small domestic market.
Some of the largest declines in Australian wine sales occurred last year in its two biggest markets, Britain and the United States. The Telegraph put this down to the “global economic crisis” as well as to the increasing challenge that the wines of Chile, Argentina and perhaps South Africa are posing to Australia.
These are good explanations. There is also another one: the critter wines that created the export boom may now be losing steam.
During the last two years, I have heard it said more than once that “Australian wines are boring.” That perception likely came from the dominance of the critter brands. Their flavour profiles are so consistent that consumers grew tired of the perceived sameness. To some, they may as well have been drinking cola.
It is not that the critter wines were bad. In fact, they were (and are) well-made wines in an easy-drinking style that brought a great many new consumers to wine. Now, some of those consumers are moving on.
The Australian wine industry’s strategy is to educate us about Australian wine regions and then move us up to include quality regional wines in our selections. Recently, a group of Australian winemakers hosted a series of tastings across North America to show off the regional wines. Unlike the critter wines, which may be country-wide blends, the regional wines show off the characteristics that make each region’s wines unique.
There is a dramatic difference between a Cabernet Sauvignon from Coonawarra and one from McLaren Vale. At the Vancouver tastings, this distinction was made by serving a Katnook 2003 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon ($35), followed by a Shingleback 2004 McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon ($32.95).
Coonawarra has a cool maritime climate and distinctive soils. The Cabernets from this region invariably have a lively touch of mint in the aroma and flavour. McLaren Vale is warmer and drier with variable soils. Not surprisingly, the Shingleback wine seems fuller on the palate, with deeper red plums flavours and no significant minty notes. More like California, perhaps, while the Katnook is more Bordeaux in style. Both are very good.
The tastings showed off wines from 13 different regions, demonstrating how the flavour profiles vary. One would expect that. Australia is a country as large as continental United States. The same classic vinifera are grown from one side of the country (Hunter Valley in the east) to the other (Margaret River in the west). Obviously, there are exciting differences of taste among the far-flung regions when the wineries are not trying to make volume blends.
The challenge for Australia is to communicate the excitement to a market that has come to think of the wines as homogenized.
Here are a few of the good wines that were being shown:
* Pikes Traditionale Riesling 2007 ($24.99). This wine is from the Clare Valley, renowned for its Rieslings. It might be harder to pick up the regional Riesling styles because there is also a predominant Australian Riesling style – bone dry and wonderful with food. This is a good example. The flavours show lemon and lime notes. The texture is almost rich, with good mineral notes. The finish is crisp.
* Petaluma Chardonnay 2007 ($35.98). A wine from the cool Adelaide Hills, this is an example of how Australians have backed off oak in order to make more fruit-driven Chardonnays that show finesse. The aroma here is complex – limes, grapefruit, corn flakes. On the palate, there are peach as well as citrus flavours. A very elegant wine.
* d’Arenberg The Custodian Grenache 2005 ($24.99). This wine shows the satisfying flavours of earthiness and plums and the full, soft texture of a Grenache from old bush vines grown in McLaren Vale.
* Gemtree Obsidian Shiraz 2005 ($55). This is another McLaren Vale red; yes, I am partial to the rich McLaren Vale style. This wine is also on the list because Gemtree is a leader in converting its vineyards to biodynamic viticulture. That means restoring the ecosystem in the vineyard to the variety of plants, insects and wild life that once thrived there; and nourishing the vines with natural fertilizers. Perhaps as a result, this is a Shiraz with huge, mouth-filling fruit flavours of plums and black cherries. The grapes delivered such concentrated flavours that the wine spent 30 months in new French oak without ever getting oaky.
.
goodgrog@shaw.ca
Visit PlanitBC's weekly Spotlight on Wine feature.
|
