My report of the 2010 vintage in Australia, taken from the 2011 edition of The Australian Wine Annual.
If, for the last five years, Australian winemakers could have dialled up a vintage it would have been for a small, high-quality crop that provided consistently high standards of wine right across the country. Finally their wishes might have come true, for the 2010 season looks like it should deliver the best all-round results for Australia since the magical 2004 vintage. In the circumstances facing Australian wine, this is the very best imaginable outcome, and the best news this country’s wine industry has had for several years.
With only a few exceptions, where rain did intervene and upset the season, the 2004 vintage should produce first-rate wine across Australia’s length and breadth. The oversupply and the quest for quality were front of mind for growers, who were under pressure to keep crops small and to maximize potential. With the weather gods smiling over most of the country, it’s just a matter of turning that potential into something a little more tangible.
Early indications suggest that Australia’s 2010 wines will have in abundance deep flavours and aromas, elegance and structure. The growing season began especially well, with plenty of rainfall across most regions, cool conditions across most regions, with ample soil moisture and surprisingly generous water allocations across most of the riverland districts. All of this encouraged early vine growth, and despite a very significant heatwave experienced across much of southern Australia in November, flowering was generally quite successful. Rainfall in the latter half November helped ease any resulting moisture stress.
The season then continued warm, without ever becoming extreme in modern terms. It remained dry, however, with nighttime temperatures generally 1-3°C higher than usual. This set of conditions, with a slightly earlier budburst than traditional, caused an early start to harvest. This time around, unlike most recent seasons except 2004, the vineyards were in excellent health and canopy balance.
Australia’s national crush for 2010 was just 1.53 million tonnes, 12% less than the 1.73 million of 2009, itself 5% less than 2008. Supply, therefore, is edging closer to demand, which is good news in itself. Most of the reduction was with white grapes, whose overall harvest was 15% less than 2009, against a red intake only 8% down on the previous vintage. Reds account for 53% of the total crush, whites for 47%. In terms of individual variety, shiraz was down by 4% to 389,000 tonnes, cabernet sauvignon down by 14% to 213,000 tonnes, while merlot was also down by 14% to 109,000 tonnes.
Relative to cabernet sauvignon, the shiraz crop has increased to 48% of all red intake, with cabernet’s share declining to 26%. From a significantly smaller base, pinot noir’s intake increased by 26% to nearly 35,000 tonnes. Other red varieties to increase their intake in 2010 were durif to 4,700 tonnes, tempranillo to nearly 2,500 tonnes, malbec to 2,000 tonnes, muscat a petit grains to just over 1,000 tonnes and barbera to 340 tonnes. The grenache yield was adversely affected by the heat during flowering and consequently dropped by 36% to 9,900 tonnes.
With 315,000 tonnes and 44% of the overall white crop, chardonnay’s crop remained significantly higher than any other white variety, despite being 24% down on 2009. Semillon and sauvignon blanc shared second place for whites with 76,000 tonnes. Encouraged by the success of Kiwi sauvignon blanc, the Australian crop of this variety actually increased in this small vintage by a remarkable 15%. Darling of the café set, the pinot gris crop increased by 5% this vintage to 43,000 tonnes. Riesling enthusiasts will have 11% less to drink in 2011, thanks to an 11% decline in crop to 30,000 tonnes, an amount actually less than 10% of the chardonnay crop.
New South Wales
More than any other state, rain was a genuine factor behind the quality of most regions in New South Wales. While the Riverina was affected by some falls, and the usual heat stayed well at bay, it was a sound vintage for the many growers around Griffith. The Hunter enjoyed a first-rate white vintage, with possibly even better results than 2009 for semillon and chardonnay, but the rains arrived about a week before most reds were genuinely ready for harvest. Those picked early should be fine, and while some of the wines made from later harvested red grapes after the rainfall are acceptable, most will not be of usual standard. The quality Hunter reds will be of the typical regional medium-weight style.
Like most others, Orange experienced an early start to the season, but rain then helped to make it one of the shortest. While the better-managed vineyards avoided disease issues, the region experienced a very difficult season, especially for reds. Many of the higher altitude sites, however, experienced a substantial infection from botrytis. Some of the early-harvested wines, such as sauvignon blanc, have turned out pretty well. Cowra’s crop was sound, although significantly reduced after November frosts, while the Hilltops region and Mudgee also experienced a challenging vintages, from which the better-managed vineyards should still produce good wine. Tumbarumba was able to harvest some first-rate sparkling base material, which was harvested prior to significant rainfall.
South Australia
As this books goes to print, South Australian winemakers are still celebrating a textbook season, easily the best since the classic 2004 vintage. It’s quite possible that Coonawarra’s 2010 quality might even surpass that of its 2004 wines. The only danger experienced in this resurgent region is that some growers might have been tempted to keep their fruit on the vines for too long in a bid to capture real hung fruit characters. It’s likely they came unstuck in doing so. Otherwise, Coonawarra revelled in the warm days, especially with its signature cabernet sauvignon, producing pristine, slightly minty blackcurrant flavours and silky smooth tannins.
Without sweltering under the heat of recent seasons, fruit was able to ripen more slowly and evenly in all South Australian regions. This was especially evident in the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and Eden Valley, where expectations across all varieties are extremely optimistic. Yields are however down with chardonnay and grenache, whose yields were affected by the early heat wave during flowering. Reds from all regions are concentrated and deeply coloured.
McLaren Vale winemakers are especially excited with the purity of varietal character amongst their shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, tempranillo and sangiovese. The wines already display a 2004-like balance, despite the darkness of skins and their firm levels of tannin. Look out for a long-term vintage!
2010 will become known for slatey, elegant but full-flavoured rieslings from the Clare Valley, whose shiraz has also excelled. Their hallmark depth of spice and mint are supported by ultra-fine tannins. Affected by rains, the later-harvesting region of the Adelaide Hills did experience some issues, which might adversely affect the longevity and structure of its 2010 reds. The warmer river regions have produced some delicious, vibrant white wines, with generous flavours and refreshing acidity.
Tasmania
2010 was a stunner of a vintage in Tasmania, despite some rains early in the ripening season. Under clear skies, any vine health issues quickly cleared up, and the vintage ripened under fine conditions. While yields across the state were still slightly low – although higher than those of 2009 – Tasmania has produced some exceptional pinot noir and chardonnay across the length and breadth of the state. The pinots show great colours, fine acid balance and deep five spice flavours. Southern Tasmania also enjoyed an exceptional season for juicy, pear-like pinot gris, as well as its more Germanic expression of riesling. It’s also been an outstanding vintage for sparkling base wines.
Victoria
A long, slow ripening season in Victoria has produced a truly exceptional white wine vintage, and quite possibly an excellent red season as well. More than with whites, red wine quality will significantly depend on how long growers and makers waited before harvest. In 2010, it was a case of early is better than later. With good spring rains and regular precipitation during the growing season, the Yarra Valley produced some excellent pinot noir, superlative chardonnay and some outstanding base wines for sparkling production. For the same reasons, it should be a classic vintage in Mornington Peninsula. The cooler sites in the Macedon Ranges and Geelong also experienced ideal conditions, although some rain late in the season did cause harvest at some later-ripening cabernet, shiraz and chardonnay vineyards to be delayed for some weeks.
Throughout western, central and then into northeastern Victoria, conditions were excellent. Look for some very fine and elegant shirazes and cabernets, plus sweet-fruited chardonnay, viognier and pinot noir from Beechworth. The King Valley experienced an excellent season – pinot gris and sangiovese especially – while in the fullness of time we should be able to enjoy some classic fortified base wines from Rutherglen. The river area of Sunraysia produced good crops, but now face the challenge of finding a market for them.
Western Australia
2010 delivered a near-perfect white vintage across WA, and almost as fine a season for reds – not a bad situation for what is proving to be Australia’s most consistent wine state from a climatic perspective. There was sufficient heat during the ripening season to bake shiraz to a small extent, while some cabernet crops were certainly left out to ripen for too long. While modest falls of rain challenged the later-ripening red varieties, this did not pose much of a threat to the top vineyards. So look out for another top performance from WA’s high-end red makers.
Perhaps the star region in 2010, Margaret River will produce some brilliant semillon and sauvignon blanc and some of its finest chardonnay yet. Across the state, especially in the Great Southern, early indications suggest that the finest reds will be based around the cabernet sauvignon variety.
