Settling down into a delicious glass of wine last night, I couldn’t help thinking how much times are a-changing with Australian red. It was a truly brilliant wine to be sure, but not red as we knew it. Because I was drinking a super-Tuscan blend grown in Bendigo, Victoria, made by a Frenchman. Having just spent three days tasting about four hundred new release wines, many of which are reds from 2008, it is becoming more and more obvious that it’s simply unrealistic for drinkers of Australian reds to stay with their tried and true. Sure, Europe is experiencing one of its coldest winters in memory, but the Barossa Valley is not. It’s summer again down here, and already growers are looking anxiously at short-term weather reports. So far things are sort of ok, although heat has already wiped about 20% from South Australia’s river region crops. A few more days of blast furnace-like heat from the north and South Australia’s warmer regions will chalk up another troublesome, challenging, withering vintage. If that happens, wine growers and makers will settle back into compromise mode to retain as much quality as they can from their better vineyards.Starting with the first of the recent run of hot seasons in 1997, the warmer South Australian regions have been confronted by hot, early fast-ripening vintages in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. Not for a minute am I suggesting these vintages are wipeouts Ð although 2000, 2003 and 2007 come pretty close Ð but two things have certainly happened. One is that they have produced less red wine of genuine quality. The other is that most of the better wines do reveal some of the more ultra-ripe flavours of currants, prunes and raisins, even if only at the very end of the palate. These characters are likely to become more paramount as the wines age in the bottle.In other words, unless this process of climate change or whatever you want to call it slips into reverse Ð as some people are honestly expecting it to at some stage Ð the map of Australian wine is in for a change or two. In the 25 years I have been writing about wine I have seen the Macedon Ranges go from completely marginal to totally reliable in its ability to ripen grapes. Tasmania has moved from being unable to ripen grapes three years out of five to being able to overcook them at least once in five years. The Yarra Valley was once a cool climate region, while today I’d only describe its most altitudinous sites that way. Heathcote, once considered cool, is possibly turning into the Barossa and Lord only knows what the Barossa is morphing into.Counter-intuitive perhaps, considering it’s such an environmental battleground, but Tasmania is actually a viticultural beneficiary of global warming. Twenty-five years ago its potential with pinot noir was patently obvious, and now it’s being realised. While I once upset legions of Tasmanians by suggesting all they needed was more expertise in the vineyard and winery, it’s actually become easier to grow grapes there. And given that there is also more expertise in Tassie today, its pinots have improved out of sight. It’s a happier story in other parts, such as Western Australia’s better wine regions, southern Victoria and Tasmania, where new opportunities are dawning year after year. If you want confirmation of this, do your level best to track down a bottle of Paradise IV Dardel Shiraz 2007, a silky, savoury, complex and mouthfilling shiraz of drop-dead gorgeousness from the Moorabool Valley near Geelong. It’s the future of Australian shiraz, the new leader of the pack that includes stellar examples from less-feted shiraz regions whose makers includes the likes of Seppelt, Clonakilla, Clayfield, Best’s, Dalwhinnie, Lethbridge, Pyrette (Bindi), Vinea Marson, Thomas, Mount Langi Ghiran and Sutton Grange. Incidentally, the wine with which I began this rant was from Sutton Grange Ð the 2008 vintage of its remarkable ‘Giove’ blend of sangiovese and syrah (shiraz), biodynamically grown and made by the brilliant Gilles Lapalus. It’s shortly to be released for around $50 per bottle, which makes it less than half the cost of anything near its quality from Italy.Wine change is occurring on more than just the climate front. Finally, Australians are taking more seriously the opportunities presented by grape varieties from Italy and Spain, for just a couple of decades ago our vineyards were almost exclusively populated by those from France and Germany. Patently sensible, really. Don’t be at all surprised if tempranillo comes close to knocking shiraz off its perch over the next few decades. Recent wines by Tim Adams, Penfolds and Mr Riggs from the Clare Valley, McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills capture the wild, briary, dark-fruited, tarry and dark chocolate qualities sought after with this variety. Makers like Arrivo, Pizzini, Joseph and Vinea Marson are proving that nebbiolo might be settling comfortably into regions like the Adelaide Hills, King Valley, Clarendon (McLaren Vale) and Heathcote, while Margan, Coriole and Dal Zotto are achieving convincing results with barbera in the Hunter Valley, McLaren Vale and King Valley. Top-drawer sangiovese is part of the scene at Beechworth, McLaren Vale, King Valley and Heathcote, where makers like Castagna, Coriole, Pizzini and Vinea Marson are regularly kicking goals.If the climate continues to change, you will probably find it harder to buy decent examples of the reds you used to expect from Australia. With a little luck and good management, however, it’s actually possible you might just be drinking better. Just don’t be surprised by what they’re made from and who they’re made by!
