David and Christine Fyffe were amongst the generation of 1970s winegrowers who played a significant role in the revival of the Yarra Valley. Now part of the Hardy Wine Company, Yarra Burn has turned 30 years of age. To celebrate the anniversary of what began as a small vineyard, single-regional brand whose wines exuded the terroir of their cool site near Yarra Junction and the typicit̩ of the region at large, the Hardy Wine Company has launched a mid-priced multi-regional brand called Third Light under the Yarra Burn name, whose wines will be sourced from the Heathcote and the Pyrenees. And the Yarra Valley as well. For several years I have loudly protested the use of non-Yarra fruit in Yarra Burn wine. Chief offender has been the Shiraz. Following the approach of several of its predecessors, the 2002 vintage incorporates fruit from Heathcote, the Pyrenees and the Yarra Valley, in that order. While I appear to be making no headway whatsoever on this issue, I firmly believe that it is misleading labelling practice for a wine to include fruit from other regions if the name of its brand is closely identified with a particular individual region. Any wine under the Yarra Burn brand should come from the Yarra Valley. The same for Barossa Valley Estate (whose wine does, incidentally, I believe come from the Barossa), or any such brand. If I was French, and a Bordeaux producer released a range called ‘Bordeaux Hills’ that included fruit from Burgundy and Alsace as well as Bordeaux, I’d be at least as upset. But that couldn’t happen in France, could it? So without in any way wishing an AOC scheme upon Australian wine, which is certainly something we could all do without, it’s clear to me that the laws pertaining to wine labelling need a significant amount of tightening up. How on earth is Australia going to build serious credibility in export markets, many of which are about to embark on a learning curve about Australian wine regions, when you can buy a Yarra Burn wine that has more fruit in it from Heathcote and the Pyrenees than it does from the Yarra? How can our export customers be expected to get their heads around that? What sort of a message does it send about the integrity of Australian labels, and the bond of trust some of the industry are attempting to forge with consumers and trade? On the page of the Yarra Burn website where it discusses the Yarra Burn Shiraz, it currently says: ‘Through very selective planting on the warmer, northern-facing slopes of our vineyards we’ve found that Shiraz not only ripens and matures quite readily in this cool region, it produces even more intense flavours of white pepper and spice.’ Really? Then why do they need the fruit from the warmer regions of Heathcote and the Pyrenees? This is precisely the sort of thing that Australian wine certainly does not need in any time, but especially in 2006. I would add that this approach is not a typical one for the Hardy Wine Company, which has done more to promote the quality and indentity of two emergent regions in Tasmania and Canberra than any other large maker. None of which makes it any easier to understand…
