New plot no dark secret

There was a time when all you needed to know about buying red wine in Australia was whether you liked to drink 'claret' or 'burgundy.' These days, most of our table wines are labelled according to grape variety. And just three red grapes rule the roost, according to the Winemakers Federation of Australia. 

They are Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

That trio accounts for nearly half the red wine crush each vintage. Get to know what each of those should look, smell and taste like and your red wine-buying might be as easy as A-B-C. 

That noted, Grey Sands Vineyard owners Bob and Rita Richter concede that a fair number of consumers today still continue to be daunted by the prospect of purchasing a bottle of wine. Most are happy just to take a safe and dependable wine-buying path when they front up to their local liquor outlet.

But for the couple who started their small, family-owned business after travelling around Europe for three years during the 1980s, sticking to mainstream Aussie Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot is a bit like limiting yourself to a diet of meat-and-three-vege.

"There's a word, 'vinosity', that describes what I look for in a wine," Bob explains, making his way down vine rows on the 2.5ha Glengarry vineyard site.

"Essentially, it means character or personality. I think that many Australian wines these days simply do not have vinosity. They represent little more than the technical movement of pure grape juice to grape juice with the addition of some alcohol."

The choices the couple made when they established their vineyard in 1989 were largely determined by their experiences overseas. They planted Shiraz and Merlot in the property's sandy loam and black, cracking clay. There's some Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris nearby, along with a handful of lesser, largely experimental grape varieties.

Now that winter pruning is done, the couple have been preparing for the vineyard's latest additions – a plot of several thousand carefully selected Pinot Noir vines, and around half a hectare of Malbec.

The latter is the red Bordeaux grape responsible for the 'black wines' of Cahors in France. Also known as Cot and Auxerrois, it's a small, thick-skinned variety that gives tremendous intensity of colour to its wines. It also provides firm tannins and plenty of structure, so red wine blending with a little Merlot is no dark secret among French vineyards.

"Malbec is a variety that performs really well in a cool climate," Richter says.

"We don't plan to have it produce a straight (100%) Malbec wine. We'll blend it instead with some Merlot that's already established. We have two plantings. Where the soil is basically grey sand over clay, Merlot from that block produces a lighter, more aromatic wine than our other Merlot block. That's planted on darker, heavier clay. We'll keep that darker fruit separate to produce a 'straight' Merlot wine."

The couple's thinking appears to be on safe ground. Recent DNA research overseas has revealed that Merlot and Malbec share a parent and are indeed siblings in the same family of vines.  

Malbec was once a member of Bordeaux's 'famous five' red grape varieties. It could be found up and down the Gironde estuary. Today, pockets of it can be found east of Bordeaux - in Cahors - as well as in the Loire Valley to the north. But it's no longer regarded as the strong, silent type. The variety has largely fallen out of favour in its homeland because of its susceptibility to poor flowering and fruit set, seasonal frost damage, and periodic outbreaks of rot and downy mildew. 

During the 1960s, there were almost 10,000ha of Malbec in France. Nowadays, it's less than 7,000ha. Conversely - or perhaps perversely - Malbec has become the centrepiece of Argentina's booming wine industry, with around 25,000ha planted there.

It seems highly likely that Malbec has been in Australia for almost two centuries. Malbek - a once common alternative spelling for the variety - was listed among the many hundreds of varieties catalogued by James Busby on completing his voyage to Sydney in 1832.

Likewise, Malbeck (sic) appears in a list of varieties being grown in Hobart's Government Gardens in 1857.

Fast-forwarding to the 1970s finds small additions of Malbec being planted at Heemskerk Vineyard - at Pipers Brook - and at Bream Creek Vineyard, overlooking Maria Island.

How the variety fares at Grey Sands will be a fascinating plot to watch unfold.

A recent overseas trip left the Richters greatly encouraged by Malbec's progress at Esk Valley in the Hawkes Bay region of New Zealand's North Island. Vineyards there enjoy a sunny, maritime climate. Warm summers and mild autumns enable the mid-season variety to ripen slowly and develop great intensity of aroma and flavour. The wines look and taste great.

Roll on Tasmania's 2008 vintage.

First published 21 September 2005: The Examiner