Archive for October, 2009

Andrew Catchpole, Harpers Wine & Spirit supplement editor, travelled to Australia earlier this year and reports on the discoveries he made:

Songlines - Australia is at a turning point as it seeks to move on from its easy-going image of yesterday and celebrate its maturing legacy of fine and regionally distinct wines.

Australia is at a turning point as it seeks to move on from its easy-going image of yesterday and celebrate its maturing legacy of fine and regionally disctinct wines.

Like so many songlines coming together, this supplement aims to present a fresh insight into Australia, while conveying the excitement, passion and quality being delivered in the wines.

After a break of almost four years from touring Australia’s vineyards it was refreshing to return Down Under recently to catch up with the good and the great in Victoria. Refreshing not just because winter in Victoria’s high country is as chilly as any London winter’s day, but also because there is a palpable sense of a reinvigorated and renewed direction in the Australian wine industry. And, in many ways, the wines of Victoria perfectly encapsulate the messages that are coming out of Australia today.

The cool of winter is a great time to taste,with wines poised and palate fresh. At cellar door after cellar door, I was met by elegant, fresh Chardonnays, perfumed, sensual Pinot Noirs, spicier, intense, yet finely structured, Shirazes, and finally, warmed by the raisiny rich fortified wines of Rutherglen. Across regions and within, the wines spoke eloquently of climate, people and a sense of place, of terroir.

All this helped impress that Australia has been fine-tuning the way in which it presents itself to the world. Within this renewed focus, much emphasis is being placed on the highest quality wines, on Australia’s still evolving, but already Australia is at a turning point as it seeks to move on from its easy-going image of yesterday and celebrate its maturing legacy of fine and regionally distinct wines well defined, sense of regionality, with this year’s Landmark Australia Tutorial and Regional Heroes campaign as highlights of this move. It is precisely these themes that are examined in this supplement. Taking Victoria as a microcosm for Australia as a whole, we look at the quality of the fine wine offering, exploring both this and the maturity of Australia’s regionality through blind tasting, round-table debate and interviews with leading winemakers from Victoria and across the diverse states.

Elsewhere, we canvass opinion-formers in both the UK on and off-trades and invite feedback from those involved in the Regional Heroes promotion, also assessing how our retail and restaurant environments compare with the innovative wine scene in Victoria. This is topped off by interviews with wine critic James Halliday and Wine Australia’s Lisa McGovern for good measure.