Grape Varieties & Wine Styles
Ask a McLaren Vale winemaker to nominate the region’s most emblematic variety and you’ll often hear the word grenache. Which is odd really. Following the overwhelming national average, shiraz is comfortably the Vale’s leading grape, but there’s something about grenache from McLaren Vale that is undoubtedly special. In volume, it languishes a little above chardonnay (not exactly a regional specialty) on 7 per cent of the crush to chardonnay’s 4 per cent, but when handled well, it has that dimension that see the t-word (terroir) dropped with seeming wantonness. For some time, it was a second-string variety to shiraz (and on numbers still is), and was made without priority given to its distinct needs and personality. Much has changed, and a more lithe, more elegant and far more detailed side had been given voice. With an extraordinary resource of old vines from a variety of soil types, and a dizzying array of macroclimates, grenache from McLaren Vale has world-beating potential.
For the winemakers that didn’t answer grenache to the earlier question, and they would still be in the ascendancy, yes, shiraz is the stalwart of the Vale, occupying over half of the total harvest each year. Cabernet sauvignon comes second at 21 per cent, and though it sits in the shadow of both the aforementioned varieties and more celebrated regions for the grape, like Coonawarra, McLaren Vale makes some exceptional pinnacle bottlings, as well as some everyday wines that represent exceptional value.
McLaren Vale growers have been reasonably early adopters of varietal diversifications, with the Italian grapes sangiovese and barbera long-term residents. They have also taken the lead with climatically and geographically apt varieties, like nero d’avola, montepulciano, tempranillo, vermentino and fiano, and to a lesser, but somewhat interesting degree, the Sicilian white grape grillo (the experimentation with white grapes is eagerly watched, especially when you consider that only 9 per cent of the annual crush is white) and Portugal’s bastardo (trousseau).
McLaren Vale in numbers*
- Elevation: 0–417 metres above sea level
- Annual rainfall: 606 mm
- Mean temperature (Jan): 23.1°C
- Area under vine: 6,209 hectares
- White grapes: 9%
- Red grapes: 91%
- Average yield: 6.8 t/ha
Top five varieties crushed (2018)
- Shiraz 57%
- Cabernet sauvignon 19%
- Grenache 7%
- Chardonnay 5%
- Merlot 4%
*Statistics courtesy of Wine Australia
