Western Australia

After landing in Perth (and recovering for a few days from jetlag), I repeatedly listened to Nick Cave's song "More News from Nowhere." That's no concidence, as Perth is one of the most isolated cities in the world, two thousand kilometres from its nearest major Australian city, Adelaide. Adding to that tangible sense of isolation, the main wine region, Margaret River, is another three hours south of Perth, and the other quality area, Great Southern, is five hours away. Despite its far-away location, not only is some great wine made, there are some very good microbreweries and Margaret River is the centre of a vibrant tourist industry.

Margaret River 

In 1965, Australia’s leading agronomist Dr. John Gladstones published a report commissioned by Western Australia's government into which areas of the state might be best suited to grape-growing. He pinpointed Margaret River, due to its Mediterranean climate (very wet winters and dry, hot summers) and its gravelly soils, which he rightly felt made it ideal for Cabernet Sauvignon. Two years later, another doctor, Tom Cullity of Perth, planted vines, laying the foundation for Vasse Felix, still one of Margaret River's premier wineries. Others followed: Cullen planted vines in 1972 and Leeuwin Estate in 1974. The elegant wines, quite different from the bold, fruity wines often made elsewhere in Australia, caught the attention of the industry on the other side of the vast island, and now there are over 150 wineries in Margaret River, receiving acclaim around the world.

wine and surf rule in Margaret River

Margaret River’s location is certainly ideal. The best vineyards are located not far from the Indian Ocean, which moderates the climate. The proximity to the ocean means that there are lots of trees planted around the vineyards, to protect the vines from strong winds. The ocean also bring in lots of rain - Margaret River receives nearly 1,200mm of rain a year, 1,000 of which fall in the winter. These heavy rains provide the vineyards with water for the growing season; some wineries irrigate rarely and there’s plenty of water in reserve if it’s needed. Despite the summer heat, Margaret River has a long growing season, ideal for Cabernet Sauvignon while also adding complexity to the white grapes.

styles of wine 

tasting room pours are excessively small

Margaret River, particularly in the northern part, is textbook Cabernet country. It's usually blended with a bit of Merlot, but the latter grape is falling out of favour. It's being replaced by Malbec, which was originally planted by Tom Cullity in 1967 when the grape was much less fashionable than now and which adds a spicy, tannic structure to the wines. The Cabernet blends are full-bodied but not too tannic or fruity or overripe.

Shiraz, despite the best efforts of local winemakers, doesn't really work here, being too thin and dilute. Instead, it was the white grapes I found most interesting. The Bordeaux influence is again important, as Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon work together very well. Semillon is too unfashionable these days to make it commercially on its own, but its waxy, full-bodied texture complements perfectly the herbaceousness and acidity of Sauvignon Blanc. These blends are fresh and lively; those without any oak ageing are quite fruity, while those with oak ageing have complex, engaging aromas of vanilla, spices, and nuts. The latter are particularly ageworthy, with enough body and acidity to last five to ten years, if not more.

Some of the greatest wines being made in Margaret River, however, have nothing to do with Bordeaux. Chardonnay here is simply superb. Clones planted in the area take a long time to ripen, gradually building up aromatic complexity (I also heard that the grapes are susceptible to leaf roll, which slows the ripening). At the same time, acidity is preserved from the cooling breezes coming in from the ocean. Just as importantly, what I most liked about Margaret River in general is that winemakers don't interfere with the wines too much. The Chardonnays are by no means overoaked: oak is used to give the wines a spicy texture and body but the fruits and acidity are still very pure.

wines 

Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay 2015 (A$115; $90) 

Named after the founder of one of Margaret River’s first and still most distinctive wineries (they are certified biodynamic), this is an expensive Chardonnay but as good as it gets. This a smoothy, subtly textured wine: smoke, cream, and vanilla come from the oak, and there’s a dry, stone, mineral mouthfeel, given weight from the oak and aromas of stone fruits and cinnamon and all-spice. This is a white wine I would love to taste in another ten years, or even more. ✪✪✪✪✪✪✪

Stella Bella Suckfizzle Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon 2012 (A$45; $35) 

Stella Bella have some great labels and some great names: Suckfizzle is their vineyard to the south of Margaret River named after a character from Rabelais. This is a terrific example of a Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blend with a little bit of maturity: a creamy vanilla texture from the oak, waxy, green, herbaceous aromas from the grapes, refreshing acidity, and a rich, round mouthfeel. Such wines are particularly food friendly - with white fish or white meat, and spicy dishes that are popular here given the proximity to south-east Asia. ✪✪✪✪✪

Leeuwin Estate Art Series Sauvignon Blanc 2015 (A$31; $24) 

Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc on its own has a crisp, refreshing acidity one would expect from the grape, but there’s also a richer texture to it than from, say, Marlborough in New Zealand. This Sauvignon Blanc is part of Leeuwin Estate’s “Art Series,” the labels of which feature a different work of art by an Australian artist each year. The most famous of the series is the Chardonnay (A$99; $75; ✪✪✪✪✪✪), one of the first wines back in the 1970s to show the potential for Chardonnay in Margaret River. The series also features Riesling, Shiraz, and Cabernet Sauvignon. I particularly liked this distinctive Sauvignon Blanc for its rich, dry, mineral texture, its stone and tropical fruits, and its interesting, spiky aromas of lemongrass and nettle. ✪✪✪✪✪

McHenry Hohnen Amigos White 2012 (A$28; $22) 

Due to the warm Mediterranean climate of Margaret River, there is some interest in planting Rhône and Spanish grape varieties. In theory, this should work but the old-fashioned winemaking techniques of the Rhône and Spain don’t always translate well to the New World - I tasted a few Tempranillos which were simply too clean and straightforwardly fruity. White blends are more successful, perhaps because they don’t need the long ageing. The Amigos, from the founder of New Zealand’s Cloudy Bay, is a blend of Marsanne, Chardonnay, and Roussanne and despite the presence of Chardonnay is a characteristic white Rhône blend: stone and tropical fruits, nuts, white pepper, and ginger aromas in a rich but balanced wine. ✪✪✪✪

Margaret River's first modern winery

Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 (A$37; $28) 

The original Margaret River winery produces a range of three Cabernet Sauvignons, including the high-end Heytesbury ($A90; $74; ✪✪✪✪✪). I also liked the mid-tier Cabernet (with 7% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot in the blend), a range which the winery introduced in 2013 as part of an expansion programme. This has a smoky texture, with intense, concentrated black fruit aromas and chocolate, coffee beans, and a spicy peppercorn finish. A very good example of the full yet balanced Cabernet blends of the region. ✪✪✪✪✪

Si Halcyon Merlot 2015 (A$40; $31) 

Si (named after owners and winemakers Sarah and Iwo) are an eclectic winery: they are based in the south part of Margaret River, away from the renowned vineyards of the north. They make wine from their small vineyard from vines planted in 1978 and also own 5ha of land in north-east Spain, making wine from Garnacha grapes (I can’t imagine the amount of travel that must involve). They’ve also got Shiraz in Great Southern, showing the good sense to ignore the Shiraz planted in Margaret River and concentrate on the best area in Western Australia for the grape. The philosophy is minimal intervention, with little sulphur added, and lots of experimentation. This makes their wines quite distinctive, and making a quality Merlot in a region where others feel it’s too green and astringent demonstrates the couple’s obstinate but quality-orientated temperament. This is a tight, wound, tannic wine, with red plums and black cherries giving it a juicy texture, with a dry, herbal, spicy finish. ✪✪✪✪✪

Established producers such as Vasse Felix show the long-term quality of Margaret River; more experimental producers such as Si point to the potential for the region to go in different directions. It’s quite a conservative region (as is Perth itself), so don’t expect much change just yet: just be assured of consistent quality.

Great Southern 

A region with more surprises, however, is Great Southern, which unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to visit. While in Perth I got to taste a few wines from the region. Its climate is more varied than Margaret River's, becoming gradually more continental as it goes inland. Shiraz has a rich, voluptuous elegance to the wines, characteristically Australian but with a spicy, game undertone. The subregion of Mt. Barker, which has a combination of Mediterranean and continental climates, is especially good for Shiraz. Another subregion, Frankland River, inland and more continental, specialises in Riesling, the cool nights keeping the acidity high. The wines I tasted had some sweetness to them, unusual for Australia - more of a German style, but still with a lime fruitiness. Great Southern is definitely a region to keep an eye out for.

Diploma Week Three - Australia

A month after enduring the spirits and sparkling wine exams, we reconvened for three days of tasting New World wine and, thankfully, no exams. I'm a little suspicious of the term "New World"; after all, some of the oldest vines in the world are in Australia and California. However, as the first day tasting Australian wine demonstrated, the development of serious, quality wine, as well as popular, affordable wine, in non-European countries is a relatively recent phenomenon. Our tutor for the day, Michael Buriak, recalled working in the wine trade in the 1980s and stocking his shop's first ever bottle of Australian wine, seen as a novelty item. It sold out instantly, and Australian wine has never looked back - it's now consistently the number one selling wine by country in the UK. (Only the US drinks more Australian wine than the UK, and that's because of the ubiquitous Yellow Tail brand.)

The popularity of Australian wine makes it an interesting category. It's best known for producing inexpensive, high-volume, drinkable wines which unfortunately means that consumers are likely to stick to the inexpensive wines and ignore the high-quality, premium alternatives. This is a perception Australian wine is trying to shift, but when big brands like Jacob's Creek and Hardy's dominate the market it's hard.

Despite having 120-year-old vines, Australian winemakers are still learning their trade, moving on from big, oaky Chardonnay and fruit-bomb Shiraz to produce wines of elegance and subtlety. As I've learnt from working at hangingditch over the last eighteen months, and as this day's tasting further proved, premium Australian wine can be sensational and is getting better and better.

what we tasted

This was a stellar line-up, showcasing Australian wine at its best and most varied. Much of the wine was not the inexpensive stuff that makes Australian wine so popular, but it meant that we gained a real understanding of Australian terroir.

Australia is divided into areas of geographical indication. Although some of these areas are particularly associated with a grape variety or style of wine (e.g. Coonawarra and Cabernet Sauvignon), there are no real rules to them beyond geography. They can be very small or enormous, and there's probably no larger wine region in the world than South Eastern Australia, not that different in size from the EU. If you see the term South Eastern Australia on the label, then it's likely to be an inexpensive wine produced in the bulk regions of Riverland, Murray Valley, and Riverina.

Our first wine was an example of what makes Australian wine so popular. Hardy's Nottage Hill Chardonnay 2013 (c.£8) is a high-volume wine from South Eastern Australia, which basically means absolutely anywhere. It's been given oak qualities through the use of oak chips to give it a semblance of complexity. It's a decent wine that will make a sunny weekend perfectly pleasant. We saved this wine to taste alongside other Chardonnays later in the day, which did not do it any favours.

After that, our tasting was all about quality and varietal/regional typicity. Shaw + Smith are an excellent winery based in Adelaide Hills. Australia is a huge country dominated by arid, inhospitable desert. As with the population centres, quality wine is focused on the cooler coastal regions, which are cooled further by altitude. Thus, there's a concentration of quality wine regions around the city of Adelaide, such as Barossa Valley, Eden Valley, Clare Valley, and Adelaide Hills. We tasted two of Shaw + Smith's wines, both of which were very good. The 2013 Sauvignon Blanc (c£16) was as good a Sauvignon Blanc as I've tasted in a while, while the 2012 Chardonnay (c£25), perhaps still a little too young, had an engaging delicate oakiness - a real indication of how Australian winemakers have discovered the attraction of restraint.

Interest in Riesling, the great and underappreciated German grape, has been revitalised by dry examples from Australia, particularly Eden and Clare Valley. Grosset Wines are a producer active since the early 1980s; winemaker Jeffrey Grosset considers 2013 to be the best Clare Valley vintage he's ever experienced, and the wine we tasted was from Polish Hill, one of the best sub-regions of Clare Valley (c£30). Therefore, the wine had a lot going for it, but its searingly high acidity meant that this wine possibly needs a few years before it drinks nearer its best. A more approachable Riesling came from a famous producer in Western Australia, Leeuwin, whose leading range of wines, "Art Series," features a work of art on the label each year from a local artist. The 2011 Riesling (c£20) was a complex, ageworthy wine, but still full of immediate citrus and sweet spice flavours.

In the same Art Series was the most expensive wine of the day, the 2010 Chardonnay (c£60), an outstanding wine that had everything you'd expect from a oaked Chardonnay: big, rich, toasty, with tropical fruits. Worth £60? If you've got the money, then yes. (The more affordable Leeuwin "Prelude" Chardonnay from the Wine Society gives an indication of what the premium version tastes like.)

Other than Riesling, the white grape that works best in Australia is Semillon. As Michael pointed out, this is one of the world's great grape varieties but is vastly underappreciated. It's there in Bordeaux in white blends and classic sweet wines like Sauternes, but other than it gets largely overlooked. We tasted a couple of Semillon wines, which showed how well it works in Australia. The first was my favourite wine of the day, a 2007 from Brokenwood in Hunter Valley (c£25). Hunter Valley is a region to the north of Sydney, its inhospitable climate as northern as quality wine gets in the country, but which is known for producing great Semillon. This was a fantastic wine: so complex and developed, yet its fruit fresh and young, a wine capable of lots of further ageing. The other Semillon was part of a blend with Sauvignon Blanc, as is common in Bordeaux whites. Produced biodynamically by Cullen in Margaret River, Western Australia, this was an unusual wine with 25% new oak to give it some depth and smoky flavours, as well as fragrant chamomile, thyme, and white chocolate aromas (c£20).

The grape that Australia is most famous for is, of course, Shiraz. The Eileen Hardy 2004 was a particularly interesting wine, as it demonstrated the difficulty Australia has in selling itself as a maker of premium, as well as inexpensive, wines. Produced by Hardy's, one of the country's leading brands, it retails at £40. For its quality, that's still quite a low price, but it struggles to sell. Why? Because who would pay that money for a wine by a brand? The wine was an outstanding example of a complex Australian Shiraz; identifiably McLaren Vale (to the south of Adelaide), with riper fruits than a French equivalent, it was a beautifully perfumed, elegant, mature Shiraz. Even maturer was the 1999 Jim Barry McRae Wood Museum Release. At £35-40 and fifteen years old, this represents incredibly good value. The wine is from Clare Valley; although known for Riesling, the area produces elegant, smooth Shiraz and this is a stunning example, with black fruits, leather and meat, coffee and floral flavours.

As all the great white wines we tasted showed, Australia isn't just about Shiraz. Cabernet Sauvignon is known for its association with Coonawarra (c£16), but it's in Margaret River, Western Australia, that the grape arguably reaches the heights of Bordeaux. The Vasse Felix Heytesbury (c£40), from the area's oldest producer (established 1967), was outstanding and a fitting climax to the day. As with many of the other wines, it demonstrated that the French concept of terroir is very much present in a New World country such as Australia, representing the qualities of the grape and the wine's specific area - and showing also that expensive Australian wine is very much worth it. 

The day's tasting was exhaustive (and exhausting) - and we had two days of other New World wine to follow. None quite matched the extensive, exceptional line-up of Australian wines, but I'm now on my way to California to explore fully the great wines of that region. Expect lots of blogs about sunshine and wine. I'll try not to gloat too much.