Five years after our inaugural Deep Dive into Gamay, it’s an apt time to again cast our eyes across the landscape. We gathered every Australian gamay that we could find and set our expert panel the task of finding the wines that compelled the most.
With Australia’s warm regions not looking like cooling down anytime soon, growers around the country are turning to varieties that don’t just tolerate the heat, but genuinely relish it. Sicily’s nero d’avola has been leading the pack for sun-loving varieties, rapidly inserting itself into the thinking of growers, winemakers and drinkers alike, with the number of plantings and bottled expressions expanding exponentially. When you think that the first Australian example was only made around 15 years ago, it’s an extraordinary rise. We gathered every Australian Nero d’Avola we could find and set our expert panel the task of finding the wines that compelled the most. All wines were tasted blind, and each panellist named their top six wines.
McLaren Vale – arguably the finest Australian territory for the grape – now leading the charge for making grenache in a considered way, with many of the wines of the past – which were often dry and rustic or were dominated by confected raspberry notes – being replaced with wines that can be fragrantly pretty. These expressions broke new ground in Australia, and are fast building a global reputation for this variety, from this region. We gathered every McLaren Vale Grenache we could find and set our expert panel the task of finding the wines that compelled the most. All wines were tasted blind, and each panellist named their top six wines.
Four years after our inaugural Deep Dive into Grüner Veltliner, it’s an apt time to again cast our eyes across the Australian Grüner landscape. We gathered every Australian wine labelled Grüner Veltliner we could find and set our expert panel the task of finding the wines that compelled the most. All wines were tasted blind, and each panellist named their top six wines.
Three years after our inaugural Deep Dive into Syrah, it’s an apt time to again cast our eyes across the Australian Syrah landscape. Shiraz is inarguably Australia’s key red variety, with a style built on fruit depth and concentration. The ‘brand shiraz’ monolith sparked a counter movement in the early 2000s that favoured elegance and perfume, and one that branded itself with the French name for the grape: syrah. Today, Australian syrah is a category in its own right, and an exciting one at that.
Three years after our inaugural Deep Dive into chenin blanc, it’s an apt time to again cast our eyes across the Australian chenin blanc landscape. With a new wave of Australian producers dedicated to elevating the grape, a Deep Dive was called for, so we gathered as many bottlings as we could find and enlisted the help of eight of this country’s finest palates to check in to see just where Australian chenin blanc is at.
Pét-nats burst onto the local scene not that long ago, captivating the imagination of many, while causing an equal level of disdain from those wedded to the status quo. Today, pét-nats are made to fit any occasion, from their park wine pigeonholing to food matching at a serious dining table. But just how far have we really come? Well, that’s where a Deep Dive comes in. We gathered every Australian pét-nat that we could find – with no strict rules about disgorging or not, simply that they were wines that finished fermenting in bottle – and set our expert panel of some of the best tasters in the business the task of finding the wines that compelled the most.
Cabernet lovers may scoff, but chardonnay and pinot noir are undoubtedly the hero varieties of the Yarra Valley. It is the latter, though, that leads the plantings, and substantially so. Sheer representation aside, the roster of high-quality wines from makers both large and small make a compelling case for the region being Australia’s prime producer of the grape. So much so that a Deep Dive was called for.
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