Along with the continuing pinot grigio craze, the buzz around Italian varietals is extending to some rather serious reds, and it is Victoria, with its rich heritage of Italian migrants, that is leading the field on the Australo-Italian front.

Victoria is climatically and altitudinally diverse

Victoria may be smallest mainland state in Australia but it has the most different regions. Victoria is climatically and altitudinally diverse, with vineyards at almost sea level and heading up towards 1,000m above sea level.

Vineyard plantings are predictably dominated by the usual suspects: pinot noir, shiraz, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and merlot. These big five take up more than three-quarters of the Victorian vineyard, which, in fact leaves plenty of room for manoeuvre for other grape varieties.

Many of these other grape varieties were planted by the numerous Italian post-war migrants who had moved to Victoria initially to work in the tobacco industry. But as this work declined, vineyards grew up from the 1970s. And the diverse King Valley, home to many of these families, is the heart and soul of Victoria’s production of Italian varieties.

Which means some King Valley vineyards have a goodly amount of vine age, some up to 30 years old. Michael Dal Zotto, winemaker at Dal Zotto Estate said: “My father, Otto is from Veneto, my mother Elena from Trento. After meeting over here, they planted vines from their home area in 1987 – sangiovese, barbera, pinot grigio, arneis.”

Sangiovese and barbera are among the main Italian varieties worthy of note, alongside nebbiolo and pinot grigio. More esoteric varieties include arneis, brachetto, marzemino, prosecco and verduzzo.

Australia’s 2025 strategy for the promotion of the country’s wines should be good news for Victoria. The Victorian Wine Industry Association’s chief executive, Joanne Butterworth-Gray, set a priority to promote Victoria as a “regional hero” (one of the threads of the strategy), as well as the individual regions within Victoria as regional heroes. She said, “for example Beechworth has six or seven wineries with an artisan sense of self, yet Giaconda is there. Bendigo is playing on its gold history, and producing rich, ripe reds. Mornington is pinot noir”, and not forgetting pinot grigio in the Italian varietal theme.

Pinot grigio: Mornington and beyond

Though pinot gris/grigio is grown pretty much throughout Victoria, the Mornington Peninsula has a quarter of all the state’s plantings, though this sum accounts for fewer than 10% of the peninsula’s total plantings.

Mornington Peninsula

The taxonomy is currently ad hoc, with some producers labelling pinot gris and others pinot grigio, and not always according to the styles anticipated in a European context. Generally, though, whole bunch pressing, solids and oak are often used during vinification in the ‘gris’ camp. For example, the 10X pinot gris from Ten Minutes by Tractor uses eight year old oak, wild yeast “for complexity and texture” said owner Martin Spedding, and has a hint of residual sugar on the spicy back palate.

The Kooyong pinot gris is whole bunch pressed to oak for a natural fermentation. Winemaker Sandro Mosele said: “there’s no battonage, but we ferment with solids. There’s no malolactic fermentation – whites need to be driven by acidity. “

King Valley Core

It is in the King Valley though, where Brown Brothers was one of the pioneers for Italian varieties, in the 1970s, working with growers, many of whom had moved from northern Italy. Ross Brown their CEO said: “There’s been a progressive shift. People want to try something different. Italian varietals offer such a different flavour profile than cabernet sauvignon and shiraz” adding, “there’s good demand, and we’re more likely be planting Italian varieties.”

The also family-owned, but larger company, De Bortoli has made significant investment in Italian, and other, varietals. Export director Victor De Bortoli said: “my father, Deen, planted some different things. You’ve got to try these things.” Five to ten years ago the company was planting the likes of pinot noir and pinot grigio.

Given their size, the company’s portfolio is geographically segmented. Steve Webber, their manager and winemaker, said: “The common brand is De Bortoli, with sub-brands, from the Yarra Valley, from King Valley, from the Hunter Valley.  People are interested in knowing where wines come from regionally.” Their Victorian-origin Windy Peak range has for several years had a sangiovese, and a pinot grigio is a recent addition to the UK portfolio, taking advantage of the seemingly infinite phenomenon that is pinot grigio.

But it is the Sero range, launched into the UK in 2006, which comes from King Valley. Webber said: “We liked the King Valley. It has excellent potential for Italian varietals, and we made a large commitment, of 500 acres (202 hectares). We’ve developed interesting wines around it [under the Sero label], which are medium bodied, with savoury rather than sweet oak. They might even go well with pizza!”

Among mainstream wine consumers there are not thought to be too many who realise sangiovese is the backbone of Chianti, or nebbiolo of Barolo, so De Bortoli is easing Italian varietals into consumers’ consciousness, by blending with more well-known varieties: syrah/dolcetto, chardonnay/pinot grigio; merlot/sangiovese. Webber said the Sero wines are “to quaff and enjoy. Don’t think about it. Drinkability and deliciousness.”

Pizzini Family

Fred Pizzini, director of Pizzini Wines, is one of those King Valley pioneers who used to provide fruit to Brown Brothers. He said “we started with a passion for sangiovese and nebbiolo, going back about 20 years. When we planted there was only us in Victoria. We set out from day one to let the variety express itself in King Valley.

On nebbiolo, Pizzini said: “the King Valley gives the ability for nebbiolo to be left on the vine into early April, for slow maturation. We get pure conditions from the Snowy Mountains directly behind us which allow the development of those fantastic aromatics that nebbiolo has to have. 1991 was our first vintage of nebbiolo; it’s only just starting for us in Australia.”

On sangiovese, Pizzini said “the [climatic] diversity of King Valley means we’ve selected warmer sites for it within our 200 acre (81 ha) site. We learnt from growing shiraz which looks for similar conditions. Both do very well.” About half their vineyard is now planted to Italian varietals, with more going into the ground.

The Aussies seem to favour barbera with some oak, especially old oak, as Pizzini explained: “The bugger’s too acidic, it needs a bit of oak to balance out the angles.” Mosele added their “Barbera is made with old oak. We wanted the extra level of complexity and suppleness in wine to soften the effect of the acidity.”

The Italian heritage has also spurred on Sam Miranda of King Valley. The King Valley winery was already in the Miranda family, before they sold the company to Simeon McGuigan [now Australian Vintage] in 2003, with the vineyard planted in the early 1980s. Miranda said: “The vineyard has different soils, heavier clay, red soils. You can match varieties to blocks. With 20 years history now we’re beginning to match variety with site. Sangiovese is one of the original varieties in the area; I’m looking to plant some next year.”

Esoterica

There’s also a lot of experimentation with (even) less well-known Italian varieties such as arneis, cortese, verduzzo and some bubblies. Pizzini said: “there’s lots of opportunity for white varieties, they work well in Australia. Aussies are looking for new things other cabernet and chardonnay, and for more food friendly styles of wine.”

It was Pizzini who made Australia’s first bracchetto, in the traditional style. With nearly 3 hectares of the Piemontese deliciously sweet, frothy, red wine style, the Pizzinis are happy it sells well, especially once people have tasted it. And dal Zotto said “we were the first in Australia to release a prosecco, in 2004, which has proven so popular we’re increasing plantings. We try to keep it true to style with a fine perlage, and fresh, crisp apple palate, and just a short time on lees.”

Why now?

The long, slow drip of education and trial seems to be reaching a critical mass. Pizzini said: “sommeliers played a big part in making things change – getting product into peoples’ mouths. Most people didn’t know that sangiovese is the basis of Chianti. So education, getting people to understand the styles are for food rather that everyday drinking, it’s a lot of little things that make up the picture of change.”

Miranda added “there’s a definite swing to wines with finesse, cool climate wines. There’s an undercurrent of people wanting to drink a bottle of wine and still be upright. Imports from Spain and Italy are really growing now. Up to 50% of some wine lists are European wines; people are a bit bored of Aussie fruit bombs.”

Further evidence for these winds of change was provided by the big boys in South Australia, when Jacob’s Creek dipped its toe in the Italian water with the inaugural 2006 vintage of Three-Vines rosé, which contains a little sangiovese.  Similarly Yalumba have a limited release sangiovese rosé, under the ‘Y’ series. That Italian niche looks like it might just grow quite fast.

Victorian wine industry at a glance

• Wine story started n 1838 in Yarra Valley
• 2800 growers
• 21 wine regions
• Over 600 wineries (30% of Australia’s total)
• Over 200 wineries produce Italian varieties, with half of them producing more than just pinot grigio.
• 80% of wineries crush fewer than 100 tonnes (~6,000 to 7,000 cases)
• 36,579 hectares, plus 2400 planted, not yet bearing.
• Has 23% of the total Australia vineyard
• Has more than 30% of Australia’s pinot gris/grigio plantings
• 354,796 tonne crush in 2006 (-10% on 2005)
• Has 22% of total Australia crush
• Climatically and mesoclimatically diverse

Sources:  www.winetitles.com.au; www.winesofvictoria.com.au

Victoria regions making a (small) impact with Italian varietals

Barbera:  Heathcote, King Valley, Pyrenees
Nebbiolo: Goulburn Valley, King Valley, Yarra Valley
Pinot gris/grigio:  Alpine Valley, Geelong, Heathcote, Henty, King Valley, Mornington, Strathbogie, Yarra Valley
Sangiovese: Alpine Valley, Goulburn Valley, King Valley, Pyrenees, Sunbury, Yarra Valley

• Excluding the pinot grigio phenomenon, red Italian grape varieties account for 1.2% of total Victoria plantings, a more than 70% increase since 2000-2001.
• In absolute terms the number of hectares dedicated to red Italian varieties has nearly doubled in five years.

Source:  Victorian Wine Industry Association

Australia has been long derided on the international stage for the poor quality and varietal typicity of its pinot noir wines, and little wonder when Australian imagery has been vast, spectacular, beautiful, panoramic scenery, all of which is the antithesis of the capricious, site-specific, agoraphobic pinot noir. But the last decade has seen a step change in focus as passionate winemakers have been pandering to the variety’s prima donna needs, with some particularly sweet success.

East Coast Tasmania

It’s arguably not even as niche a product as pinot noir is in France. Perhaps it’s one of those weird statistical comparisons, but Australia, with 2.5% of its vineyard area dedicated to pinot noir, has nearly twice the proportion of pinot noir than Burgundy, which has a meagre 1.3% of France’s vineyard area. For the purists, the absolute hectarage is 4,400 hectares (ha) in Australia versus 10,700 ha in Burgundy.

A quick scan of auction house Langton’s latest classication reveals eight pinot noirs, up from two in the first edition. Langtons’ Andrew Caillard MW, said there had been “a genuine improvement of absolute quality over the last ten years … the top regions are really the Melbourne Dress Circle (e.g. Geelong, Macedon, Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula) and Tasmania.”  

Pinot noir plantings may be up only 6% since 2001, but it was also around this time that serious pinot noir producers were getting serious.  Noel Young, proprietor of Noel Young Wines, International Wine Challenge (IWC) Australia Specialist merchant of the year in 2008, which lists 23 Aussie pinot noirs said “progress has been rapid in the last four or five years with the right clones in the right locations, but it’s been happening in Tasmania and Mornington Peninsula since the mid-to-late 1990s as growers have done vintages in France” and experimented with different clones in different soils.

Cool Climate Chic

There’s no getting away from the fact that pinot noir performs to its most precise and perfumed best in cooler climates, and this factor oversees the recent themes of new clonal material, vines coming of age at about a decade old, the trend to site-specific and single vineyard plots, as well as the growing band of producers rocking and rolling with the pinot noir drum.  See table at the end for key areas.

Tasmania certainly has the edge here. “The major natural advantage for Tassie is the wonderful cool climate” said Claudio Radenti of Freycinet Vineyard, “Around the world all the great pinot noirs hail from cool climates. Pinot noirs from warmer climates can be a little heavy and jammy lacking finesse and the gorgeous velvety pinot noir texture.

“The quality potential in Tassie is enormous and exciting. Longer slower ripening conditions favours retention of delicate fruit aromas and flavours” and coolness of climate enables some of those classic, ethereal attributes to thrive.  According to the chief winemaker of Kreglinger Wine Estates (Pipers Brook, Ninth Island and Kreglinger sparkling) René Bezemer, “we retain more of our fruit-derivative components. I look for floral attributes, delicate perfume and distinctive fruit aromas – violets, darker berry fruit, dark cherry.  If I see blackcurrant it’s shrivelled fruit from too much sun. If see strawberry, it’s been picked too early.”    

Pinot Noir

Exploiting the trend to cool climate chic, Tasmania’s vineyard area has nearly trebled since the turn of the millennium, with in 2008, 45% of the yield coming from pinot noir.  In 2000, it accounted for less than one-third.   

Over on the ‘big island’, Mornington Peninsula is oft-cited as producing some really good pinot noir. And internally, Mornington Peninsula winemakers have been talking about sub-regions for some time already: three of them.  Pinot noirs from the north are bigger, more muscular, darker style.  The hill – Main Ridge – show delicate perfumes, floral, elegant notes. 

Ten Minutes by Tractor is one Mornington Peninsula producer doing very well, especially with their single vineyard wines, which can all be reached in ten minutes when travelling by tractor. Neil McAndrew, managing director of their UK importer H&H Bancroft, said: “For us Ten Minutes by Tractor have been the best pinot noirs we’ve ever found in Australia.  They are the bridge between Burgundy and Australia. They have some classic pinot noir characters, but they’re not trying to be Burgundy; they have a savoury character which I haven’t seen in the past from Australia. “The volumes are also Burgundian, and what Bancroft get flies out of the door, according to McAndrew, who also said Ten Minutes By Tractor is the sort of premium Australian wines the restaurant sector is looking for.  It sells in places such as The Square, Home House, Fortnum and Chez Bruce.

Kooyong is another highly respected producer in the Mornington Peninsula, planted as recently as 1996.. The managing director of their UK agent, Great Western Wines, said: “He’s producing great quality in terms of acceptance in the market.  The wines that really tell the story of Kooyong are the wines made from individual parcels, retailing at £25 to £30. But Kooyong also makes two other levels retailing at £15-£16 and about £11, and the acceptance for these has been very good, and remains so, with good success in the independent sector and in the on trade.”  The commercial groundswell is certainly beginning in the UK.

Climbing, Climbing

Both Mornington Peninsula, and Geelong, noted for the likes of Bannockburn and By Farr – on the other side of Port Philip are low-lying coastal zones which garner cooling winds from the Bass Strait. Yet planting at cooler, higher altitudes is also beginning to reap rewards in places such as the Adelaide Hills, though the Macedon Ranges are arguably more successful.  It was in the Macedon Ranges, at 560m elevation, that Phillip Moraghan of Curly Flat settled, having eliminated both Geelong and Mornington Peninsula.  He explained his search was “all about pinot ‘grief’, looking for soil, cool climate, water” all issues for this fastidious grape variety.

But is arguably Bindi, 500m up at the southern end of Macedon that leads the field. The vines, which require straw buttressing in winter, have some age, having been planted in 1988, with 1991 the first vintage.  Owner Michael Dhillon said: “We see about 7-9 years as a real turning point for complexity and structure.”  

Yarra Valley

Steve Webber, winemaker at De Bortoli in the Yarra Valley, also cites vine age, as well as continuously improving quality practices, saying : “I think that with more care and attention to the manual practices [hand picking, hand sorting, whole berry fermenting], we have seen a huge shift in our own quality … I think pinot noir is a vine age thing. Generally our quality is improving with vine age. But poor quality old vine material is not good. I am just starting to make a single vineyard wine from a property that has pinot noir planted in 1990 and 1997″, adding that single vineyard is an important way forward for pinot noir.

A criticism of the Yarra Valley, making as it does, everything from sparkling to fortified, is that its pinot noirs don’t do so well in the warmer years, or indeed the warmer areas, so you need to be in the higher altitude, more southerly, reaches of the valley. But not everyone thinks like that. Rob Hall, winemaker at Mount Mary, just about 30m above the valley floor said: “you can still make very good pinot noir in warmer years, but may not be in the style you’d choose.  Normally we’d like a more delicate style of pinot noir, we’re not keen on tannin or wood. So you might get more tannin in a warmer year. But you can do something with the canopy to keep the fruit cooler.” He added “we’re purchasing south facing slopes for pinot noir and chardonnay to counter some of the warmer years. ”

Champion Clones

Along with site and vine age, newer, trendier clones such as 667, 777, 114 and 115 have been in Australia, also for about a decade. Pirie said there had been a “big impact of new clones and new sites leading to more refined pinot noir expression. At Tamar Ridge, up to 2006, wines were dominated by ‘old’ clones, plus MV6, an old introduction into Australia. These are robust clones but are lacking some of the high notes of true Burgundy.  In the last few years the Pommard clone and the ‘Bernard’ clones from Morey St Denis were introduced. A blend of Pommard and MV6 will be one of the Tamar Ridge reserve wines in 2008.  The Dijon clones, grown on the right soils, have the classic perfume of cherries and summer pudding berries.”

Creature Champions

But above all, human champions are at the vanguard of Aussie pinot noir’s lifting reputation.  Dhillon said: “15 years ago it was young vines, often in poor locations, little experience in the vineyard and winery.  Most [winemakers] did not have a philosophy based on understanding the international benchmarks.  Today, the vines are older, vine management better, yields lower, winemaking more appropriate and the best sites are proving themselves capable of expressing unique qualities.”

“We have inspired growers and winemakers who have a passion and a thorough understanding of benchmarking, using the correct clones and the right sites to grow this unique and challenging grape variety” said Dalwhinnie Wines’ winemaker David Jones, adding “the Mornington Penisnsula Pinot Noir Celebration [a bi-annual pinot noir fest with international flavour, which started in 2003] has been an iconic event and a great inspiration to reach even higher quality levels.”

Another such event is the Victorian Pinot noir workshop, a winemaker-only event, now in its 6th year, where more than 60 winemakers come together to discuss the grape and how to get better and more from it.  Having witnessed “a growing ‘collegiality’ amongst Victorian winemakers who venture down the love-struck path of growing and making pinot noir, more so in this state than I have observed elsewhere” the Victorian Wine Industry Association’s chief executive Joanne Butterworth-Gray thinks this co-operation has been “critical to the success of Victorian pinot noir on the world stage.”

The scale may necessarily be small for the best results, as indeed it is in Burgundy, and as Radenti said, “there are considerably more serious producers of pinot noir in the current decade than in the previous one. There is better understanding by these young professionals of what it takes viticulturally and in the winery to come up with the goods.”

Pinot noir plantings in Australia

A lot of areas are experimenting but a few core regions dominate higher quality production

Adelaide Hills                       391 ha

Geelong                                   170

Macedon Ranges                    58

Mornington Peninsula       252

Tasmania                                 625

Yarra Valley                          706

Sub total                              2,202   50% of total pinot noir plantings