Giant fans and other home-made gadgets help Australia's small producers tackle adversity 8 top bottles for 2008
These are grim days in Australia - for grape growers as well as rugby supporters. After years of plenty, the past two vintages, particularly the latest, have been blighted by drought in the Murray-Darling Basin, which normally provides two-thirds of the country's irrigation water, including supplies for vineyards, and by frost elsewhere, not least in Coonawarra. And so growers have gone from dealing with the low prices brought about by a glut of grapes to fearing the worst if the weather doesn't break their way before the harvest in the new year.
Fears are so great that Foster's Group, whose brands include Rosemount Estate, Lindemans and Wolf Blass, is preparing to source fruit from Chile and South Africa should the home harvest repeat last year's total of 1.3 million tonnes, compared with 1.85 million tonnes in 2006.
It is not the same for small producers. They prosper or fall on the strength of the grapes on their vines. Not that Brian Lynn of Majella Wines shows any sign of panic during his recent trip to Dublin. It would be wrong to say he is unconcerned, but the Lynns are seasoned farmers, first with sheep, then with grapes and now with both. They are used to capricious weather. It also helps that Majella's wines are considered among Coonawarra's most outstanding.
His family has farmed the Coonawarra's famed terra rossa, or red soil, for four generations. Initially it grew grapes for Wynns Coonawarra Estate; then, in 1991, it held back enough grapes to make its own Shiraz. The rest, as they say, is history. Today the family still raises sheep, both for wool and for slaughter, but Majella's main claim to fame is the range of wines produced from its 150 acres of vines.
As Lynn explains on Majella's website: "We entered some wines in the London International Wine Challenge . . . Both the '03 Malleea [ its hugely intense top wine] and the '05 Musician [ its entry-level red - see Bottles of the Week, right] were awarded gold medals, but The Musician then went on to win the trophy for the best Australian red wine . . . Not too bad for a small Aussie producer!"
Lynn has had to combat frost, as has Colin Best at Leabrook Estate, his lauded boutique winery in the Adelaide Hills. Best, a self-confessed admirer of the Burgundian way with wine, uses home-made gadgetry such as a giant fan - he's a qualified engineer - to mitigate Jack Frost's lethal blanket. He is on a mission to produce wine fit to compare to Burgundy's best. Visiting Dublin with his wife (and sales manager), Chris, Best emphasises his care, his attention to detail, his rigorous growing, hand-picking and selection processes and, then, his blending of the finest barrels. With such fastidiousness, and with the skills he has honed over the years, it is not surprising that his wines have such personality and impact. His 2007 Pinot Gris (€23.95) has great weight and huge zingy fruit with pinch-me acidity, his 2007 Reserve Chardonnay has made The Best of Wine in Ireland (see below) and his Pinot Noir (€31) and Shiraz (€30) are richly complex and delicious.
On the case
Each October, Terroirs, in Donnybrook, Dublin 4 (www.terroirs.ie), offers a special deal on wine from a Bordeaux property. This year a case of Château Mirambeau Papin 2003, Bordeaux Supérieur, is for sale at €165, or €13.75 a bottle (the normal price is €22.50). This is a big, fleshy blend of Cabernet and Merlot from one of the warmest vintages in recent years. It is drinking quite well now, although it will open out more over the next two years.
8 top bottles for 2008
The Best of Wine in Ireland, John Wilson and Pat Carroll's annual guide to which bottles are exceptional, what they cost and where you can get them, has named its wines of the year for 2008.
Best whiteLa Chablisienne Les Vaulorents Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume 2002, Burgundy.
Best redMarchese Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva 2001, Tuscany.
Best New World whiteMuddy Water Sauvignon Blanc 2006, Marlborough/Nelson.
Best New World redRockford Basket Press Shiraz 2002, Barossa Valley.
Best value whiteTramoya Verdejo Rueda 2005, Spain.
Best value redCono Sur Pinot Noir 2007, Chile.
Sparkling wineBollinger Special Cuvée Champagne NV, France.
Dessert wineChâteau Court-les- Muts Saussignac 2001, France.
The Best of Wine in Ireland 2008 is published by A&A Farmar, €12.99