What do you do if you’re a well-established maker of Champagne but wish to expand and experiment? Emigrate, that’s what. Hence the highly successful outposts in California, New Zealand, Spain, Argentina, Brazil and Australia of the major Champagne houses, established by Louis Roederer, Mumm, Piper-Heidsieck and Veuve Clicquot, plus of course those of Moet et Chandon, the largest maker of them all. Domaine Chandon, whose wines are now sold under the Chandon label, has changed the face of Australian sparkling wine. Virtually since its launch in the late 1980s, an Australian-based maker has produced for the first time a consistent and comprehensive range of top-end sparkling labels based on classic Champagne ideas of variety and style. The company’s Vintage Brut quickly became the benchmark local fizz, while Chandon’s Blanc de Noirs (100% pinot noir and pinot meunier), Blanc de Blancs (100% chardonnay) and Brut Rose each helped to create and expand the Australian market for different expressions and flavours. Add to this collection the occasional releases of the deliberately sweet Cuvee Riche dessert style, other special releases like the Yarra Valley Brut and Tasmanian Cuvee, plus the emergent deluxe series of Prestige Cuvees (first released as the 1993 Millennium Cuvee), and it’s clear that Chandon has superimposed a spread of Champagne traditions on its approach to Australian sparkling wine. And while its first Non-Vintage release in late 1999 was somewhat below my expectations, the current release, being the third in the series, is right on the button. Integral to Chandon’s success in Australia has been its willingness to source grapes from a diversity of regions and sites. This is the typical approach of Champagne itself, which really comprises three quite distinct regions with entirely different characteristics of climate and aspect. Not surprisingly, Chandon has focused on the key Champagne grapes of pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier, but in 2001 it obtained them from around twenty-five vineyards, from regions as disparate as the Coal River Valley in Southern Tasmania, the Strathbogies, Mansfield, Murrindindi and Flowerdale in Victoria, plus Coonawarra in South Australia. The Yarra Valley remains its principal source of fruit, some of which comes from its 40 ha of vineyards on its home property of Green Point at Coldstream. Dr Tony Jordan, who is now responsible for winemaking at Moet et Chandon’s various worldwide operations and who established Domaine Chandon in the mid 1980s, today admits he initially under-estimated the Yarra Valley’s ability to create such diversity in its own fruit. ‘It’s a function of altitude’, he says, ‘and there’s enormous variation within the Yarra Valley itself, from the very cool sites like Hoddles Creek to the warmer, earlier-maturing sites in the lower regions like Dixon’s Creek.’ Chandon’s achievement has been to combine together the different elements of flavour and texture from these different varieties and regions to create complex wines of fineness and balance. If there’s a house stamp, it’s also in the creamy richness of Chandon’s wines, plus a balance of acidity that unlike some other premium Australian sparkling labels, is never too tart and green. My favourites amongst Chandon’s current releases are the creamy, nutty 1997 Blanc de Blancs, the firmly structured and generously flavoured 1997 Brut Rose and the toasty, savoury 1994 Prestige Cuvee.
