When one wine region just isn’t enough!

WIn the face of a world whose attention is becoming more and more focused on single vineyard wines and the differences and qualities they represent, should Australian winemakers continue to pursue the notion of the multi-regional blend? If so, why?

This is a dilemma owned almost entirely by Australia. No other wine-producing country has used such a combination of regional diversity, blending creativity, marketing opportunism and a lack of preventative legislation to build such a pillar as Australia has with its multi-regional blends. While much of the less-expensive Californian wine is also assembled this way, Australia’s multi-regional blends extend all the way from Yellow Tail to Grange. The very notion of such a wine is contrary to the philosophies and rules of European Union countries, and frankly, few other wine-producing nations really have the need for them.

At the present time, most of Australia’s multi-regional blends exist because some of our non regional-specific brands, several of which count amongst the most successful in the world, require so much wine at the input end that there is no single Australian region large enough to be able to meet their demand. Furthermore, makers of brands like the basic Jacob’s Creek would argue effectively that by spreading their grape sourcing across a number of widespread regions that they are minimising any potential climatic loss that is more likely to affect single regions and that the very inclusion of more than a single regional source contributes to the complexity and character of their wines.

All of which is entirely true. In fact, it’s also possible to argue that the inability of countries like France to compete against Australia’s multi-regional blends with multi-regional blends of their own represents a significant competitive advantage for Australia.

The point with which I began this article, however, was not so much directed towards the cheaper end of the wine market as the middle and upper segments.

The concept of blending grapes from different regions is an established part of Australian winemaking tradition. The legendary winemakers Maurice O’Shea and Colin Preece were making multi-regional blends of exceptional quality in the 1940s. The classic Mildara Yellow Label Series reds of the 1950s and 1960s were inspirational blends by Ron Haselgrove of fruit as diverse as shiraz from Coonawarra, the Hunter Valley, Eden Valley and McLaren Vale, cabernet from Coonawarra and McLaren Vale and even mataro from McLaren Vale.

Through the 1950s and 1960s Hardys assembled blends of shiraz from a number of different regions, especially the Hunter Valley and McLaren Vale. One such example was the Hardys Private Bin Burgundy, the pick of the make of St Thomas Burgundy, which the company aged further for later release.

After he and fellow winemaker John Davoren had constructed blends using fruit from the Adelaide environs, McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley, Max Schubert of Penfolds followed suit with the still remarkable 1962 Bin 60A, a blend of Coonawarra cabernet sauvignon with Barossa shiraz. This led to a period of evolution within Penfolds that resulted in the famous Bin series red wines whose numbers include 28, 389, 407 and 707, not to mention Grange and St Henri themselves, each of which are proud members of the multi-regional set.

Led by successful examples such as these, other Australian wineries followed suit, creating in the process wines such as Tyrrell’s Vat 8 Shiraz Cabernet and Hardys Eileen Hardy Chardonnay. Wolf Blass used a number of regions to augment his early regional identity of Langhorne Creek and a number of the wines made under his label today are still multi-regional in origin. When the Barossa Valley experienced its life-threatening downturn of the early 1980s it actually became quite difficult to buy a 100 Barossa Valley table wine, since most included substantial components from the then more-fashionable cooler regions such as Eden Valley, Langhorne Creek and Coonawarra.

So, to the average educated Australian wine drinker, the concept of the multi-regional blend is as much a part of daily drinking as the notion of the classified individual vineyard is to the average Francophile. But today, now that Australia is seeking to legitimise much of its wine on the world market by illustrating that the empiricals that underpin the greatest European wines also operate perfectly happily Downunder, its wineries face not inconsiderable pressure to focus on estate-based wines ahead of the very wines previously mentioned.

It would be a crying shame if the wineries were to buckle entirely. For a start, wine fashion is cyclical, and it’s indeed likely that at some future date Australia will again be celebrated for such wines. More importantly, these wines should be retained because they taste good – and when the subject matter is something you drink, that’s a pretty powerful argument.

To add weight to this cause comes a newly-released multi-regional series from Hardys and a flagship from Brokenwood, each of which claims to have been inspired by this aspect of Australia’s winemaking traditions. The new HRB Heritage Reserve Bin wines from Hardys comprise a vibrant, spicy and tangy D639 Riesling 2008 from Clare and Tasmania, a luscious and seamless D638 Chardonnay 2007 from Margaret River, the Adelaide Hills and Pemberton, a firm and drying D636 Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 from Coonawarra and Margaret River and a sumptuous and savoury D637 Shiraz 2006 from Clare Valley and the Adelaide Hills.

They’re all good wines, and from an intellectual perspective, attempt to marry the better aspects that certain leading regions deliver with these varieties. Priced in the $25-$40 range, they should do well in Australia, although you might have to practice often to remember their names/numbers with any regularity.

The Brokenwood HBA Shiraz 1998, which sells for $200 at the cellar door, is a wonderfully alluring and maturing wine with plenty of time ahead. Suggestive of polished old furniture and dark chocolate, it’s plush, smooth and fine-grained, ably marrying the dark, sour-edged fruity and silky tannins of McLaren Vale with the earthy, leathery qualities of Hunter shiraz.

Should Australian winemakers continue to try and make premium examples of multi-regional wines? Of course they should! But should they expect them to take over the world? Not in this lifetime! Please login to post comment