The Next Shiraz Wine
Varietals for Australia
Shiraz is the dominant red wine grape variety in Australia.
It is the key component of Grange, the flagship Australian
wine label. At the other end of the scale it makes up the
bulk of the cheap and cheerful red wines in the everyday
bottled brands such as Jacobs Creek, Oxford Landing and
yellowtail.
But Shiraz has not always held such a hold over the market.
Until the mid nineties Cabernet Sauvignon was regarded as
the superior variety and this was reflected in the prices
paid at the cellar door. But the demand for exports has been
mainly for Australian Shiraz and Cabernet has lost ground in
the battle for consumer preference in Australia as well.
Shiraz's reign at the top of the tree really started in the
middle of the 1950s when it replaced Grenache as the most
popular red wine grape variety. In those days a much larger
proportion of the wine market was devoted to fortified wine,
what we used to call Port.
Looking into the future the role of Shiraz seems
unassailable, but there are a few challengers on the
horizon. The wine consumer is a fickle creature and fashions
can change fairly quickly.
Merlot is the third most popular red wine grape variety in
Australia. Much of the production goes into blends with
Cabernet Sauvignon, reflecting its major role in Bordeaux.
There are quite a few varietal merlots also produced. There
are two reasons for thinking that Merlot won't displace
Shiraz as our major tipple. Firstly there are viticultural
problems relating to poor clones and it performs poorly in
cooler regions. Secondly at the consumer end the wine often
lacks a distinctive varietal character. There seems to be no
consensus among winemakers about what a good merlot should
be like. Meanwhile consumers think of Merlot as meaning
mellow. It is hard to find any passion, for or against, this
variety.
Another contender is Grenache. This variety is widely
planted in South Australia, particularly in the Barossa and
McLaren Vale regions. In the 1980s it was subject to
government sponsored vine pull schemes in the belief that
its days were over. Its star is on the rise again both as a
varietal and as the key to blends with Shiraz and Morvedre.
Notwithstanding this recent return to favour, Grenache will
not seriously challenge Shiraz because of its need for a
relatively warm climate.
Sangiovese is a variety with a large and growing fan club.
There are now over a hundred winemakers using this variety.
One factor which has held the variety back in the past has
been clonal variation, this has been overcome by careful
selection by vine nurseries. Over the past few years a
significant number of producers have been able to show just
what the variety is capable of. The wines show plum and
cherry flavours and to my mind these flavours as well as the
Italian wine textures will mean that the bandwagon for this
variety will keep rolling for quite a while. The number of
winemakers and consumers in Australia with an Italian
background continues to provide plenty of champions for the
variety.
Spain's answer to Sangiovese is Tempranillo. It is growing
in popularity in many Australian wine regions. To a large
extent the jury is still as many of the plantings are still
quite new. Among the champions of the variety are James
Halliday and Mark Walpole of Brown Brothers. Tempranillo
matures a little earlier than Shiraz or Sangiovese so it can
be grown in slightly cooler regions, Indeed Manton Creek
Vineyard in the Mornington Peninsula is one of the more
highly regarded producers.
The Durif variety is regarded as a warm climate variety,
indeed it seemed as though Rutherglen held a monopoly on the
variety. But in fact is relatively early ripening, as
demonstrated by John Vale at Balnarring on the Mornington
Peninsula. The outstanding feature of Durif is the high
level of tannins, but if these can be mastered then
There are a few other varieties attracting attention which
will figure in the mix over the next decade or so. Petit
verdot is becoming much more popular in the warmer areas. It
was pioneered in Australia by Pirramirra in McLaren Vale but
it is now grown extensively in the Murray Darling and
Riverina.
Barbera and Nebbiolo are the two other Italian varieties
which are highly regarded in Australia. Lagrein is a little
known Italian variety, in fact it is from the North East of
Italy. It is an early ripening variety and as such can be
grown in the cooler climates. Cobaw Ridge in the Macedon
Ranges region has a wonderful Lagrein.
So what is the verdict? Which red wine grape variety will be
the next Shiraz? It seems to be a contest between Sangiovese
and Tempranillo, with both camps having some firm adherents.
My money at this stage goes with Sangiovese, it has the runs
on the boardAbout the Author
Darby Higgs is an expert on varietal wines made from less
common grape varieties. He is founder and editor of
vinodiversity, an information resource. See
http://www.vinodiversity.com |