Reviews (March 2009)

Wine Review

By Helen Savage

Australian wine producers have had a hard time recently. Some of Victoria’s best vineyards lie in the region devastated by the bush fires. The loss of so many lives was a terrible tragedy, but property was destroyed on a huge scale too – and with it livelihood. All this followed a period of searingly hot weather, the hottest on record. In such heat the vines shut down and will not ripen properly. Drought has been another huge headache.

Although such extreme weather events cannot in themselves be shown to be the direct result of global warming and climate change, its effects are undeniable. Australian wine growers are beginning to wonder if they should change the way they train their vines to cope with higher temperatures, and they are looking for new, cooler sites.

One possible area is Tasmania, which consistently makes delicate, elegant wines, now impossible to craft in many areas of the Australian mainland. Tasmanian sparkling wines can be superb (try Jansz Rosé - £11.99 from Oddbins) as can Pinot Noir. I strongly recommend Marks and Spencer’s own Tasmania Pinot Noir 2007 (£7.99) made by leading grower Andrew Pirie. It’s packed with vividly delicious, fresh cherry and red fruit flavours.

Such wines are very different from the archetypal Aussie red, which is Shiraz – big, bold and beefy. One of the most remarkable such wines to come my way recently is, believe it or not, ‘The Vicar’ – a 2006 Shiraz – Cabernet Sauvignon blend, made by Chapel Hill Winery in Mclaren Vale, South Australia. It is not for the faint-hearted. It’s makers say that it combines ‘complexity and richness in almost biblical proportions’, but as such statements might prove contentious in these pages, I’ll just say that it is an incredibly deep colour, with a huge smell of black, peppery fruit and has a massive, earthy, licorice-like flavour. If you want to try it, it costs a cool £24.99 (a sturdy member of the clergy is always worth a bob or two) from www.liquidpleasure.co.uk.

I met The Vicar just before I had then privilege of interviewing Philip Laffer, one of Australia’s most experienced, gifted and thoughtful winemakers, and the brains behind the best selling wine brand in the UK - Jacob’s Creek. It’s number one, he insists, because it’s good (and it’s marketed very effectively). But, he told me, ‘the bigger you are, the better you have to be. We can’t just slide along in the middle; we have to deliver above people’s expectations. He is also very well aware that Australia’s reputation for quality and value for money can’t be taken for granted. There are, he says, too many cheap Aussie wines that have been dumped on our supermarket shelves at the moment that do the Australian industry no favours at all.

The Jacob’s Creek range is surprisingly large. As well as the ‘traditional’ range of single variety wines, classic blends (like Shiraz/Cabernet), sparkling wines and ‘three vines’ which ‘seek to ameliorate the fruity flavours of Australian wine with the savoury flavours of Southern Europe’, there’s a rather more special ‘reserve range’ and then the very fine ’Heritage Collection’, which you’ll only find in top restaurants and small, independent wine merchants. As we talked, we sipped a glass of Jacob’s Creek Reeves Point Chardonnay 2005, a ‘heritage’ wine. It was delightful, with subtle oaking, lovely crisp acidity and real complexity. ‘But any winemaker worth his salt can make something like Reeves Point,’ Philip argued, ‘for me the challenge is to make high quality fruity, food-friendly wine, in quantity.’

The best selling lines in the UK (Jacob’s Creek’s biggest market by far) are Chardonnay, Sparkling Rosé and Shiraz/Cabernet – one of the wines of which Philip is most proud. The other is Jacob Creek’s Riesling (see below). He believes that it’s a great example of successfully meeting the challenge of making quality wine in quantity. ‘For the Riesling we’ve been very lucky,’ he explained, ‘we’ve inherited some very good vineyards’.

Philip typifies for me the best of Australia – optimistic even when faced with huge problems, resourceful and always willing to learn. ‘If I ever I think that I can’t do better next year,’ he said, ‘then it’ll be time to hang up my secateurs.’ With men like him around the industry will adapt and recover even from the tragedy of the last month’s fires.

Wine of the Month
Jacob’s Creek Riesling 2007 Tesco £6.79 (and available in many other shops)
Wonderfully tangy dry white, with an invitingly zesty, lemon, mineral and gently honeyed smell. Super value for money and great with white meat, fish or cheese.