With the nights turning chilly, it is time to look forward to a glass of red wine and as the temperatures plummet then the bigger the better.
Shiraz is still the most popular grape variety in the country and rightly so. It its grown in all states and is widely available. Shiraz offers diversity in weight and flavours that might come as a surprise to some of you. Here is a quick rundown of what to expect from some top regions.
In NSW Hunter Valley, shiraz seems to grow better on red clay/loam soils close to the Brokenback ranges. Traditionally it produces wines with an earthy, medium bodied structure, sweet cooking spices and lighter red and blue fruit flavours. Staying in NSW, the Canberra District has some floral notes, especially coming from their renowned shiraz viognier blends made famous by Clonakilla. Looking at South Australia, both McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley wines display more rich riper fruit aromas and are generally more alcoholic and fuller bodied. In my book the best wines are blends, such as Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre (GSM). Clare valley has ripe blackberry, black cherry flavours, but in the cooler Eden Valley shiraz displays plum, black cherry and olives. On the palate the wine is elegant well balanced and tending towards medium bodied.
In the west I find Margaret River shiraz has some cool maritime influences and displays stemmy red fruits under a medium bodied structure.
Coming home to Victoria, we have the most diversity. In the cooler sites of the Yarra Valley shiraz picks up more rotundone, a compound that gives the key black pepper and herbal aromas found in cooler grown shiraz. In the ultra-cool Macedon Ranges and Sunbury regions you find white pepper and is as close to the Rhône Valley in style as you can get in Australia. Wines have good acidity and are medium bodied. Try Granite Hills Shiraz for example. Mornington Peninsula has got gentler red fruits as well as floral with underlying black and white pepper producing a pinot drinkers shiraz.
Staying in Victoria, the Grampians displays savoury ground black pepper, whilst Bendigo has a rich full bodied jammy plum flavour. Pyrenees sits between these two regions. Traditionally these three regions have also had some suggestion of eucalyptus. Heathcote region is a bit different as it spans over 70km north to south and has two distinct styles. The north being warmer akin to the riper black fruit Barossa style, whilst in the south, around the township of Heathcote, the wines have a spicy black olive note, whilst still remaining robust, full bodied, and deeply coloured.. Geelong sits in-between the cooler and warmer styles.
Clive Hartley is an award-winning wine writer, educator and consultant. Want to learn more about wine? Try his book the Australian Wine Guide (7th ed) – available for purchase from Paradise Books in Daylesford or through his website – www.australianwineguide.com.au
