Grape Varieties
In establishing the vineyard, grape variety, positioning and location are of paramount importance. The Ballandean Valley, first planted in 1859, and surrounding hills grow wonderful Shiraz, as does the well established Rhône Valley region of Southern France. Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne, Mourvèdre and Grenache are other major varieties grown in this French region. In establishing her vineyard Mary sourced these varieties for planting.
Other varieties grow in this cool climate region, however, if the aim is to produce a premium quality wine then the grape variety best suited to the region should be grown.
This philosophy is sometimes not consistent with market expectations, but, in the long run superior regional varietal quality to satisfy both the wine tourism market as well as the wine connoisseur will be achieved.
The Oxford Companion to Wine edited by Jancis Robinson makes the following observations:
Shiraz
Shiraz, the Australian name for the SYRAH grape, is a name arguably better known
by consumers than its Rhone original. Shiraz appears on possibly the majority of
Australian red wine labels, either in lone varietal splendour or in conjunction
with, most often, Cabernet Sauvignon – typically labelled simply Cabernet Shiraz
or Shiraz Cabernet, depending on which is the dominant variety. Viticulturally,
Shiraz is identical with Syrah but the resulting wines taste very different with
Australian versions tasting much sweeter and riper, more suggestive of chocolate
than the pepper and spices often associated with Syrah in the Rhone. Shiraz is the
most widely planted red wine grape in Australia. It has had particular success in
the Barossa Valley in South Australia. The Shiraz from the Ballandean region, that
has a cooler climate than the Barossa Valley, is more reminiscent of the French styles.
Grenache
Grenache, the world's second most widely planted grape variety, sprawls, in several
hues, all over Spain and southern France. It has been widely accepted that, as Garnacha.
It originated in Spain then spread notably to Roussillon. From here, it is assumed,
Grenache made its way east and was certainly well established in the southern Rhône by
the 19th century.
Grenache
Grenache, the world's second most widely planted grape variety, sprawls, in several
hues, all over Spain and southern France. It has been widely accepted that, as Garnacha.
It originated in Spain then spread notably to Roussillon. From here, it is assumed,
Grenache made its way east and was certainly well established in the southern Rhône by
the 19th century.
Whatever its origins, Grenache covers more vine-dedicated ground than any grape variety other than Airén. For a variety that covers so much terrain, it is remarkably rarely encountered by name by the wine drinker, much of it being blended with other varieties higher in colour and tannin.
With its strong wood and upright growth, Grenache is well suited to traditional bush-like viticulture. The wine produced is, typically, paler than most reds (although low yields tend to concentrate the pigments), a certain rusticity, and more than a hint of sweetness. If the vine is irrigated, as it has tended to be in the New World, it may loose even these taste characteristics. If, however, as by the most punctilious Châteauneuf-du-Pape producers, it is pruned severely on the poorest of soils and allowed to reach full maturity of both vine and grape, it can produce excitingly dense reds that demand several decades' cellaring.
Mary Byrnes Wine on the Granite Belt has adopted this philosophy and our bush vines are currently progressing well.
Mourvèdre
Mourvèdre is Spain’s second most important black grape variety after Granacha
(Grenache) and was once Provence’s most important vine. The Spaniards call it Monastrell.
Mourvèdre is enjoying a resurgence of popularity, especially in southern France and, to
a more limited extent, in California. In the New world it is often called Mataro.
The origins of the variety are almost certainly Spanish. The wine produced from Mourvèdre’s small, sweet, thick-skinned berries tend to be heady stuff, high in alcohol, tannins, and a somewhat game flavour when young and well capable of ageing.
Mourvèdre is now regarded as an extremely modish and desirable ‘improving variety’ throughout the Languedoc-Roussillon. In southern France Mourvèdre produces wines considered useful for their structure, intense fruit, and, in good years, perfume often redolent of blackberries. The structure in particular can be a useful foil for Grenache. It usually plays a useful supporting role, being fleshier than Syrah and tauter than Grenache.
Encounters with unblended Australian Mourvèdre are rare. The Barossa Valley location of most varietal Mourvèdre suggests that the wine resembles the Spanish rather than the French version. However, as with Shiraz, the Mourvèdre of the Granite Belt more closely resembles the French style.
Although grown at least since the 1870s, California's unfashionable Mataro was fast disappearing until the RHÔNE RANGERS made the connection with Mourvèdre and pushed up demand for wine.
Viognier
Viognier most famously from Condrieu and Chateau Grillet with limited production
became a fashionable white wine in the early 1990’s. These French wines are
distinctive and scarce. There are now larger plantings in the Languedoc-Roussillon
region.
The grapes are a deep yellow and very sweet hence wine with high colour and alcohol and heady fragrance of apricots and blossom. This is a wine that should be drunk young.
In the Côte-Rôtie in the Valley Viognier ip to 20% is used as a perfuming agent in mainly Syrah blended wines.
Marsanne
Marsanne with origins in the Northern Rhône is increasing in popularity. Its
traditional blending partner is Roussanne and to a lesser extent Viognier. The
wine produced from Marsanne grapes is deep coloured and hefty with aromas of
almonds. Again, California's RHÔNE RANGERS are generating significant interest
in this variety. Victorian vineyards in Australia have some of the oldest
Marsanne vines in the world.
The finest examples of Marsanne come from the Rhône and the colour and richness deepens over time and several decades later are honeyed and nutty. Young Marsanne has flinty citrus overtones.
Roussanne
Roussanne, which doubtless owes its name to the russet or roux colour of its
grapes, is one of only two vine varieties allowed into the white versions of the
northern Rhône’s red wine appellations Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, and St-Joseph
and into the exclusively white but often sparkling St-Peray. In each of these
appellations Marsanne, its traditional blending partner, is far more widely grown.
Roussanne’s chief attribute is its haunting aroma, something akin to a particularly refreshing herb tea, together with acidity that allows it to age much more gracefully than Marsanne, which, in blends, can lend useful body. In the southern Rhône Ch de Beaucastel has demonstrated that carefully grown Roussanne can respond well to oak ageing. The variety is also grown in Provence and, increasingly, in the Languedoc-Roussillon. The variety is also beguilingly fine and aromatic at Chingnin in Savoie, where it is known as Bergeron.
Muscat
Muscat is one of the world's great and historic names, of both grapes and wines.
Indeed Muscat grapes - and there are at least four principal varieties of Muscat,
in several hues of berry - are some of the very few which produce wines that
actually taste of grapes. Muscat Hamburg and Muscat of Alexandria are raised
as both wine grapes and table grapes. Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains is the
oldest and finest, producing wines of the greatest intensity.
Muscat grapes were probably the first to be distinguished and identified and have grown around the Mediterranean for many centuries. Muscat wines, carrying many different labels including Moscata (in Italy) and Moscatel (in Iberia), can vary from the refreshingly low alcohol, sweet and frothy ASTI SPUMANTE, through Muscat d'ALSACE and its fashionable bone dry mimics, to sweet wines with alcohol levels between 15 and 20 per cent. Since a high proportion of the world's Muscat is dark-berried, and since a wide variety of wood ageing techniques are used, such wines can vary in colour from palest gold to deepest brown (as in some of Australia's LIQUEUR MUSCATS).