The fourth release of this variety from the biodynamic Yangarra, the surprisingly savoury, salty depth of this wine shows how quickly they have mastered this recent arrival.
Aromatically, this is all about freshness: a relatively reticent nose of snow pea tendril, lemon zest, farmhouse cider, and sea spray, with a herbal hint of fennel seed, soft dill fronds and river mint. The palate is bright, light, and crisp – ultra-light in body, with rippling, salivating acidity and a long finish framed by salty minerality. There’s also an appealing phenolic note of Granny Smith apple skin on the finish to add complexity, and some judicious lees work adds just enough creamy texture to keep the wine from becoming too lean. While many piquepouls from both France and Australia are simple quaffers built to wash down seafood, this wine offers surprising depth and length – proof that Yangarra have quickly mastered how to grow and make this promising climate-apt variety.
Meaning something like “lip stinger” in southern French dialect, piquepoul (sometimes spelled ‘picpoul’ here) produces very zippy, light dry whites, principally from the Languedoc and most famously from the shores of the Étang de Thau lagoon near the village of Pinet. It’s a wine that is ideally suited to the seafood from both the Étang de Thau and the Mediterranean coast just beyond that. In Australia, plantings are fledgling, with both Yangarra and Coriole making notable expressions and interest in the variety building in the Barossa Valley. Flavours generally sit in the apple and yellow-skinned citrus zone, with low alcohols and elevated acidity being hallmark characteristics.
While it couldn’t feel any more removed from city life, the McLaren Vale wine region is inside Adelaide’s metropolitan area. And although the township itself is only forty minutes by car from central Adelaide and vineyards brush up against ever-encroaching housing, McLaren Vale remains unaffected by the urban sprawl. With deeply etched history, the Vale has a slow-paced sense of calm and an extraordinary wealth of untrammelled beauty. It is home to some of this country’s most beautifully pristine beaches, as well as some of the world’s most forward-thinking grape-growers and winemakers. And with over eighty cellar doors, it is an essential destination for wine lovers – and anyone else, for that matter.
An organic farming method created by Rudolph Steiner in the 1920s, biodynamics is a slightly mystical approach, employing elaborate organic ‘preparations’ to restore the natural balance of the soil and encourage microorganisms. It also observes the lunar cycle to prescribe actions in the vineyard and winery. Why some of it works is not clearly understood, but it is used by some of the world’s greatest producers.
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