The word is out. The wines are on the shelf, as for that matter, are some very well-deserved medals and trophies. There is no longer any need for the Australian cringe over our pinot noir. We can, have and will make it, and make it properly. Out the window have flown the Roseworthy-taught Australian techniques of red wine making, off the agenda the theories of flavour protection and desires for absolute control over the wine making processes. Into the picture comes the traditional answer, loaded with risks, there for all to see for the last two centuries. Until quite recently, pinot was treated in the vineyard and winery just like any other red grape. However the traditional Australian winemaking techniques that were fine for cabernet sauvignon and shiraz, were found wanting for pinot noir, creating thin, insipid light dry reds without much varietal character. Colour problems were often straightened out with the addition of up to 20% shiraz or cabernet sauvignon, the legal maximum in a wine labelled varietally as ‘pinot noir’. That the 20% limit is unspeakably high in any case, especially for pinot, is another vile and damning story. Like its Burgundian cousin chardonnay, pinot noir needs to be built up, using a variety of viticultural, fermentation and maturation techniques to develop complexities of flavour and texture. And, as we get better and better at it, we may even out-do the French in our consistency – the climate of our best areas for pinot noir being far more reliable and consistent than the fickle weather of Burgundy. The fact remains, no matter what anyone says, that pinot noir is unquestionably the raciest, sexiest, most desirable grape of all. Life without pinot would be less fun, without risk and unpalatably bland. Pinot is chancy, fraught with danger and unreliable, just like most of the other better things in life. Once hooked, when you strike a good pinot noir, it’s as good as a ‘great’ anything else. Pinot noir should be persevered with, nurtured and understood. One day we will all be grateful. Give me a bottle of Bannockburn, Mountadam, Wignalls or Diamond Valley and I am already. Most winemakers agree that the role model for good pinot noir dry red is Burgundy, but that’s about as broad as saying you want to record a track that sounds like the Beatles or that your favourite car is a Toyota with four wheels. French burgundies are about as variable and as inconsistent as any wine can be. Many are ordinary, thin and diseased. A small proportion are unquestionably, but inconsistently brilliant. There are roughly two types of quality Australian pinot noir, and both generally come from cooler climates. The first is the earlier-maturing style of a lighter colour, a finely integrated and lighter tannic structure (although the best examples do have genuine phenolic extract) with fresh berry-like flavours and obvious oak influence. The second category are ultimately the better wines. These include the deeper-coloured pinots given the full dose of traditional treatment in the winery. It may take time for their full depth of colour to emerge. They take longer to come together, can be very tannic and tough when young, but are always the more rewarding. Most important is their length and grip of tannins, integrated to match their depth of fruit with considerable skin and even stalk contact. Examples? Take Bannockburn, Tarra Warra, Mountadam and my nomination as Australia’s leading maker of pinot noir, Mount Mary. As Australian pinot noirs evolve, the style is generally seen to move from the former to the latter. It is quite understandable that winemakers are taking time to learn about canopies and cropping levels, how their own fruit reacts to certain techniques and which vineyards produce the flavours and qualities they aim for. After all, the Burgundians have been at it for centuries, haven’t they? Surely we can afford our own a decade or two. A look at the most recent releases of Coldstream Hills, Heemskerk, Diamond Valley and Wignalls illustrates this transition perfectly. All of a sudden, where there were just two or three top Australian pinot noirs, there are now more than enough to fill a cricket team. The pinots of Bannockburn, Bass Philip, Coldstream Hills, Diamond Valley, Giaconda, Heemskerk, Leeuwin Estate, Moorilla Estate, Moss Wood, Mountadam, Mount Mary, Pierro, Piper’s Brook, Tarra Warra, Tyrrells and Wignalls are a very different, but highly expressive indication of what this most temperamental of red grapes can achieve in Australia. None are cheap, but they’re all excellent value against French wines of comparable quality. Yet the paradox of pinot noir continues. Winemakers lose their hair, their sleep and their minds trying to get it right, but when they do, no Australian will buy it from them. Possibly because the grape is still tagged with the ‘trendy new arrival’ image, certain pinots quickly find a market niche and grab all the available attention from the rest. Scotchman’s Hill is a fine case in point. Its pinot is released quickly, made well and sold at a very reasonable price, yet it’s certainly no Mount Mary or Giaconda. In Melbourne at least, it has completely stitched up the market for this particular grape. We will have to wait for general consumer acceptance, until the variety of pinot noir itself, and not just a few isolated but very drinkable and affordable examples, capture the public imagination. There’s no doubt that at the heart of the problem lies the extremely touchy and tentative quality of some very pricey Australian pinot noirs of questionable form. Recession aside, we antipodeans get justly uppity if we feel we’ve been taken for a ride. Wine makers, retailers, restaurateurs and writers can all be accused of promoting the virtues of certain pinot noirs well beyond their worth. You can’t on one hand say the Australian public is one of the most wine-wise on the planet and on the other try and pull something of that magnitude over them. But the pinot noirs are better now, more affordable, and well worth another try.
