Australia’s wine revolution part 2: He who thinks Australian, drinks Australian

On Tuesday, I blogged about Australia’s rosé revolution, but one aspect of the Australian wine industry’s wider struggle to re-define itself to the world.  Australian winemaker Steve Pannell’s campaign “All for One, Drink Australian Wine” calling for a national celebration of Australian wine may seem like a jokey jingoistic Foster’s beer ad tagline, but there’s a serious message behind it.

It has hit a raw nerve Down Under that exports are decreasing and imports increasing – Pannell’s campaign has won support from high profile winemakers and writers (931 last count).  On the other hand, it has come under fire with accusations of protectionism. But if you’ve met Pannell (pictured), a gifted and passionate winemaker, who has worked numerous vintages overseas for the likes of Domaine des Comtes Lafon, Burgundy, Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Bordeaux and G.D. Vajra, Barolo, you’d know different.  As he told me, he’s not against “benchmarking” against the world’s best wines.

What’s more, the campaign simply asks Australia’s winemakers and drinkers to pledge to drink only local wines from Jan 1st, 2011 until Australia Day, January 26^th.   He’s making a point, not laying down the law!  Last, but by no means least, where he observes currently, “Twitter traffic is all about foreign wines,” it’s Pannell’s fervent hope that the All for One website and facebook will encourage people to share and talk about their favourite Australian wines. 

He’s especially keen to provoke discussion about the issues facing Australian producers and drinkers, including what’s been dubbed “a cultural cringe” about making or talking up aspirational wines  – “we don’t value our land of origin…we’re a net importer of wines over AUS$20.”  Pannell’s comments echo a recent conversation I had with Mount Langi Ghiran winemaker Dan Buckle, who told me “we’ve been downplaying wine for the last 30 years – ‘it’s only a drink, don’t take it too seriously,’” a strategy which Buckle points out simply doesn’t work for fine wine. 

When I spoke to Pannell, he was particularly irked that, whereas Australian fine dining menus have been strongly influenced by the locovore movement, the same cannot be said of wine lists.  So for Pannell, the ideal outcome for his campaign is for producers to “go into the 2011 vintage with the idea fresh in our minds that if the wines we like to drink aren’t out there, we can make them. Let’s take a risk. Let’s push the boundaries and most importantly let’s make more wines better suited to the food we eat, the climate we live in, the way we live and the people we are.”

And it has to be said that cutting edge cooler climate wine regions and a fresh generation of winemakers are much more focused on making such wines. Take Mornington Peninsula producer David Lloyd’s Eldridge Estate Gamay, which typically sells out before the next vintage is available.  He told me his decision to launch it with a Twitter campaign had been influenced by a visiting American food writer’s observation about having trouble buying local wines in restaurants and himself being “so staggered by the way sommeliers are taking up with Beaujolais.” Lloyd says “I thought they needed reminding of good local product that’s out there.”

In my experience, Australian winemakers are skilled boundary pushers and, during my recent travels Down Under, I saw plenty of evidence of this, not least because I was mostly focused on cutting edge cool climate regions.  Pannell himself is a great example with his Adelaide Hills Nebbiolo, but his comments about making the style of wines people evidently want to drink today applies just as much to Australia’s classic varieties and warmer regions.  His McLaren Vale Grenache is a case in point.  He believes that most of the work to be done to achieve a style better suited to food and Australia’s climate is in the vineyard – “it’s about getting even ripening and reducing alcohol levels.”  In the winery, because McLaren Vale naturally gives a big mid-palate, Pannell’s approach is to “retard” its natural tendency to fullness by fermenting the wine relatively reductively (rather than oxidatively, which fattens the wine) at temperatures up to 35 degrees.  Only after the malolactic fermentation does it go into large old 500 litre barrels.   He doesn’t add tannin, he doesn’t acidify.  It’s a lovely wine, floral, textured and spicy with well defined red fruits and a fresh finish.  Pannell’s description of this new style of Grenache, “warm climate Pinot Noir,” captures it well.

In the cooler climes of Victoria and New South Wales, Shiraz producers are also chasing the elegance and lift of Pinot Noir.  When I met Buckle and Alex McKay of Collector Wines in Canberra District, both referred to making Shiraz in a style more like Burgundy in the context of Australian wine.  And to be clear, it’s about chasing a style of wine that sits with a region, not simply replicating European wines.  Indeed, Pannell is quick to point out he’s not suggesting winemakers make Chardonnay or Pinot Noir in the mould of Burgundy, in the same way that he’s not trying to make Barolo in Adelaide Hills.   He says, “we have to make wines that taste of where we come from because that’s all we’ve got…our place, not our varieties.” 

In fact, focusing on “our place,” Pannell is dubious about the current reliance on northern French varieties and questions why southern French, Spanish and Greek varieties are not more widely planted.  As he sees it, they’d be “easier and more exciting to work with” plus, he adds, Australian winemakers have the benefit of “less expectation of style and more freedom.” So why not take full advantage?  As Pannell’s own vinous output demonstrates, get your site and variety right and you can make wines with no added tannins, no acidification and judicious use of oak, which makes for a lighter palate print.   And that’s worth shouting about!   

Incidentally, Max Allen’s book “The future makers,” provides an excellent insight into how Australia’s most progressive winemakers are tackling the challenges that lie ahead on the ground.  I strongly recommend it.