Western Australians delight in explaining what a disproportionate amount of Australia’s best wine they make. If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times. Trouble is, they’re right. Margaret River chardonnays, cabernets and shirazes, Great Southern rieslings, cabernets and shirazes; classic styles all. But almost without fanfare WA has uncovered another benchmark. Hardly an overnight sensation, the WA classic dry white has truly arrived, losing nothing in comparison to established Australian icons like Clare and Eden Valley riesling or Hunter Valley semillon. Based around semillon, sauvignon blanc and other white varieties, the WA classic crosses regions, winemakers and varieties alike. Fragrant and fruit-driven when young, suggestive of melons, gooseberries and tropical fruit, it invariably sports a distinctive light grassy note which although spurned by many wine professionals is eagerly sought after by the drinking public. The palate is mouthfilling and intensely packed with racy fruit. It usually has excellent length and finishes with crisp, lemony acids. The cheaper, earlier-drinking styles typically contain a high proportion of less distinguished varieties like verdelho and chenin blanc, while the premium examples are based more solidly around the tried and tested semillon and sauvignon blanc combination. Sauvignon blanc usually provides the intensity and the high notes; semillon the length and finish plus short to medium term cellaring potential. If given oak through fermentation or maturation, the treatment is light and unobtrusive. The wines generally look their snappiest in the first blush of youth but some, especially those with a high proportion of semillon, easily take five to eight years cellaring in their stride. It’s possible to trace the WA classic white blend back to the first Houghton White Burgundy, made in 1937 by Jack Mann with the unsung variety of chenin blanc from the equally unfashionable white table wine region of the Swan Valley. Sandalford have made a dry white wine from Swan Valley verdelho since 1940, but it was forty years later that its Margaret River plantings of the variety attracted national attention for their varietal intensity and affordable price. Another link in the evolutionary chain was the astonishingly grassy, herbaceous wines of the early 1980s, exemplified by from the semillon from Chateau Xanadu, which ably confirmed that the new breed of WA white could hold its own in the premium market. Moss Wood’s early unwooded semillons were also quick to win admirers. In 1982 Moss Wood fashioned a silky-smooth and opulently structured wood-matured alternative which became the benchmark for other makers like Evans and Tate, Sandstone, Killerby and Peel Estate. Sadly, from 1993 Keith Mugford decided that all Moss Wood semillon would be made in the unoaked form. The new generation of WA wines presented an appealing array of flavours and unfamiliar intensity of palate to those in the 1980s seeking dry white alternatives to riesling and the emerging spectre of heavily-oaked chardonnay. These were the forerunners to the popular modern benchmarks like Cape Mentelle Semillon Sauvignon, Madfish Bay white, Evans and Tate WA Classic, Moondah Brook Verdelho and Xanadu Secession. Historically speaking, there’s little doubt that the seeds of the idea to blend together a broad mix of fruity, crisp and herbaceous varieties were also sown in the huge success of the Wolf Blass Classic Dry White, the first Australian wine to be labelled as such. Developed before chardonnay’s takeover of most Australian wine regions, this Wolf Blass wine was so skilfully engineered by its makers and marketers that despite its modest chardonnay content, it was able to challenge varietal chardonnay wines head-on. Its success quickly spawned a legion of imitators. While imitation might once have been an intention, WA’s point of difference is the definition and freshness of fruit generated there by even relatively neutral grape varieties. With the release of its first Margaret River Classic (now labelled as WA Classic for obvious reasons), Evans and Tate was first to commercialise on a large scale this apparent synergy between these grape varieties and WA growing conditions. Of course wineries in other states continue to make dry white blends based around semillon and sauvignon blanc. And there’s no disputing that the white wine producers of Bordeaux who blend semillon, sauvignon blanc and muscadelle were eons ahead of the Sandgropers as well. But to generalise for a moment, there are significant differences between the WA Classics and these other wines. Although there have been distinct improvements responsible for making cleaner, more flavoursome and more consistent wines, the typically lean, steely white wines of Bordeaux remain a disappointment to those who admire its reds. McLaren Vale and Barossa wines such as Richard Hamilton’s St Hallett’s Poacher’s Blend, Grant Burge’s new Virtuoso blend and Peter Lehmann’s semillon are broader on the palate but lack the raciness of flavour of the WA wines. Most Victorian variations are typically tighter, leaner styles with obvious cool climate origins. The Forerunner – Houghton White Burgundy In 1997 Houghton will harvest the 61st vintage of what for many remains the definitive dry Australian white wine, Houghton White Burgundy. First made in 1937 when Jack Mann successfully attempted to develop a new concept for the Houghton wine company, it has been the symbol for WA wine ever since. While dry white table wines are commonplace on contemporary dining tables, back then most Australians preferred sweet sherries and port, provided they drank wine at all. The first vintage won a gold medal at the Melbourne wine show and the second repeated the success, prompting one of the judges, WW Senior, to liken it to the great white burgundies of France. A name was instantly conjured and for many years Houghton White Burgundy was the only WA wine regularly found in eastern state markets, and certainly the only WA wine regularly exported. It’s a measure of his ability that Jack Mann was initially able to make such an impressionable wine entirely from chenin blanc. It wasn’t until the 1950s that muscadelle was introduced to the blend, introducing softness and complexity. Much of the flavour resulted from Mann’s innovative practice of leaving skins in contact with the free run juice for 24 hours prior to fermentation, to ‘enhance flavour without loss of refinement’, as Mann is quoted in Mike Zekulich’s Wines and Wineries of the West. Zekulich also makes the very interesting observation that while Houghtons White Burgundy has traditionally received great recognition for its ability to develop great richness and complexity through bottle age, Jack Mann was keener for it to be drunk young and fresh, often poured over a jug of iceblocks. Less of an iconoclast than a far-thinking promoter of wine as a daily beverage, Mann’s great hope was for wine to supplant beer as Australia’s national drink.
