There’s something going on in Margaret River. It’s niggly and it’s awkward and it’s causing some friction. It’s testing the resolve and attitudes of those who have invested in the region since its start in the early 1970s and has received at best a mixed response in the media. It’s something every wine region, like it or not, experiences sooner or later. And it’s called growing pains. It takes a very open mind for those who initially establish a wine region and develop an enviable reputation for its wines to watch without emotion as others, often newcomers to their district, buy untested and supposedly inferior land which they then develop with extensive vineyards. You can hear the familiar cries of protest: ‘They’ll ruin the region’s reputation’, ‘They’ll bring us all down to their level’, ‘They’re lowering our standards’, ‘They’re using our goodwill to promote their inferior wines’, ‘We need to protect ourselves against them’, etc, etc. It’s an argument very familiar to those in Coonawarra, a region whose distinctive red wines owe so much to a particular soil type, but which has been extended well beyond the limits of these soils. We’re still awaiting the definitive decision on where Coonawarra begins and ends. It’s upset many of the long-term growers in the region, whose vineyards on the true terra rosa strip would cost a fortune to buy today, but cheaper outlaying land which without any doubt produces inferior wine is still able to be sold under the Coonawarra tag. But which is more important in the quality wine market, the name of the region or the producer? The giant French region of Bordeaux is best known for its greatest Chateaux of Latour, Lafite, Mouton-Rothschild, Haut-Brion, Margaux and d’Yquem, yet of the total number of 54 appellations within Bordeaux itself, a substantial proportion make wine somewhat that is less than exciting. Yet Bordeaux’ name is hardly diminished and the prices demanded by its best chateaux continue their upward spiral. The market finds its way around the issue, paying most money for the best wine. Closer to home, there could hardly be a more geographically challenging wine region than the Hunter Valley. The area encompassed within the Lower Hunter Valley area is simply vast, yet vineyards tend only to be dotted here and there, carefully sited on the best slopes and soils. It would be dead easy to buy cheap land by the square mile and populate it with vines, as many have done before. But those vineyards have long been grubbed up and returned to pasture. Why? Because they were either too meagre in what they produced, or in the event they created a commercially sized crop, its wine was too ordinary to fetch anything like an economical return. In other words, the market has decided who much land can be planted in the Hunter Valley and anyone attempting to push the envelope too far is simply tempting fate. So, back to Margaret River, where Vasse Felix and Evans & Tate recently developed 140 ha and 226 ha (some owned, some through contracted growers) between them on different vineyard sites near Jindong, to the north and east of the region. Jindong’s a very different place to the more established clutches of Margaret River vineyards. It’s northern and more inland location makes it warmer and less influenced by coastal breezes. It’s too far north to receive the cooling southerlies on summer and autumn afternoons, it’s less cloudy than further south and there’s less rainfall. So its grapes ripen earlier, and differently as well. From what I’ve seen it would require an exceptionally cool season for Jindong grapes to develop the leafy flavours often associated with Margaret River cabernet sauvignon, especially from the vineyards south of the Margaret River township itself. Its fruit appears quite dense and rich and its shiraz, especially, ripens generously with appealing dark spicy plum and berry flavours. On the other hand, it’s less likely that the newer vineyards near Jindong will create the fineness, style and complexity associated with the cabernet sauvignon from the better red wine vineyards such as Moss Wood and Cullen near Willyabrup. That’s not to discount their value at all. At Evans & Tate I’ve already tasted 1999 merlots from both Jindong and the long-standing company vineyard of Redbrook located right in the centre of things at Willyabrup. In this case the Jindong fruit had more depth of varietal fruit and character. It’s too early to say what winemaker Brian Fletcher and his team will do to create the finished Margaret River Merlot wine for 1999, but the point is that they’ve every reason to be happily surprised with what Jindong has already produced. Jindong’s soils are very deep and fertile. Some are stony, some very sandy. Vines grow well and quickly there, even to the extent that I recently experienced the unusual sight of a shiraz vineyard being cropped at around 4 tonnes per hectare, from eighteen month-old vines! In such dry and free-draining conditions an irrigation supply is critical and Jindong is fortunately blessed with large supplies of quality sub-artesian water. Murray Edmonds, Evans & Tate’s viticulturist, is convinced that by restricting water supply and modifying pruning he can control crop yield to low numbers, increasing quality in the process for premium labels. Time will tell. While the company has tended to use it largely for its Barrique 61 Cabernet Merlot and Margaret River Classic blend, both priced around $20 and less, Evans & Tate has been sufficiently impressed by the standard of its Jindong fruit to have incorporated parcels into several of its premium Margaret River label wines. If there’s a danger, this is where it lies, since there is as yet no cellaring history behind Jindong fruit. How it ages and in what direction we shall wait and see. But this of course is the very point behind the extension of any wine region onto new, unchartered and typically, cheaper lands. Any company foolish enough to put any ordinary fruit into expensive and well-established brands is simply asking for a pummelling in the marketplace and that should be the end of the matter. Things do settle down, which has happened in Bordeaux, Coonawarra, the Hunter Valley and in dozens of other wine areas. I’ve tasted dozens of Margaret River wines made from vineyards within more established parts of the region that don’t even come close to the young vine wines I’ve tasted from Jindong fruit. Southcorp has bought Jindong cabernet it considers to be of Bin 407 quality, so it’s way too early to point doubting fingers at these new developments. I’m personally of the view that its fruit could consistently compete very effectively against areas like Padthaway in South Australia, making a valuable quality contribution in $15-$30 table wine, while on occasions wines from special blocks might go higher. I welcome these new developments which greatly extend the size, scope and focus of Margaret River. Their produce will introduce more people to quality wine and set them on the path towards purchases of the area’s best wines. Give me an acre under vine in Jindong than yet another in Mildura or Renmark, any day. Jindong Willyabrup Soils Sandy loams and gravels Granite derived bauxite gravels, ironstone Temperature Warmer days, cooler nights Cooler days, warmer nights Coastal Influences Continental Coastal Landform Flat plains Undulating ridges Rainfall/irrigation 800-850 mm, excellent water for irrigation 900-1000 mm, very poor soils for irrigation Prevailing winds Westerly South-west, southern. Best varieties Shiraz, sauvignon blanc Cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, semillon
