In Search of The Holy Grail

There is an old song with the words “do what you do do well boy, do what you do do well” and some Australian wine producers should take this to heart when working out what grapes to plant.

There is increased plantings of lesser know grape varieties in Australia and that’s healthy. Viognier and Mourvedre are two that come to mind and their acceptance by consumers is growing rapidly.

If no one ever experimented, there would never be any great discoveries so experimentation is positive. Unfortunately there is a difference between experimentation and hitting your head against a brick wall.

For a long time there have been winemakers all over Australia planting almost every possible grape variety in ever region of this country, and beyond a certain point, its sheer madness. To produce good wine, let alone great wine, the grapes must have the right soil and climate.

Planting Pinot in the Barossa for example is crazy, its simply to hot for this grape variety. Likewise, growing Shiraz in the Southern Highlands of NSW does not exactly produce great wine, it’s just to cold and in most years the grapes don’t ripen properly resulting in thin green wine. That doesn’t mean that the Southern Highlands can’t produce good wine, it just means that it can only produce certain varieties of good wine.

If you take Cabernet Sauvignon for example, it is no coincidence that the very best examples of this wine come from Coonawarra and Margaret River. If you have a look at Semillon, the best brands come from the Hunter. In the case of Riesling, it’s no coincidence that Clare produces the best. It’s simply a case of horses for courses; some areas are perfect for certain grape varieties.

Pinot is a particularly difficult grape to grow, a very fickle variety and it takes a great deal of talent to produce good wine from this grape. You can be the most talented winemaker in Australia but if the growing conditions are not right, then no matter how good you are as a winemaker; you will never be able to produce good Pinot. There is a lot of extremely ordinary Pinot in Australia and very few good Pinots, let alone great examples. Why? Wrong clone variety, wrong climate in the vineyard, wrong area and finally inexperience with this fickle grape variety.

Pinot is usually more expensive and doesn’t have the value of other red varieties but that’s not because the producers are trying to rip you off. Yields per hectare of good Pinot are much lower than other varieties, so the grapes cost a lot more to produce.

So, why are their so many devotees of this elusive grape who are so extraordinary passionate and defensive about their beloved Pinot? The subtly, elegance and quality of a truly great Pinot is something wonderful, but it’s also something that’s not easy to obtain. It’s a bit like the search for the Holy Grail.

It’s just a pity that so many Australian winemakers insist on starting the search for the Holy Grail in the wrong spot. Eventually Australia will produce more high class Pinot, but we have a long way to go before that happens.

Ric Einstein ©