He’s a quietly spoken and measured man, but there’s nothing shy or retiring about John Parker. When, back in 1991, he released the inaugural 1988 of Parker Coonawarra Terra Rossa First Growth (to give the wine its full title) for the then princely sum of $29 per bottle, people sat up and took notice. Just as he knew they would. What I didn’t know was that Parker’s inspiration was more Roman than French. ‘It’s a term that goes back to Roman times when Roman emperors would classify their wines. That’s why the full name is “Terra Rossa First Growth”. I got the idea while watching a wine television series on which a lady who owns a property right next to Domaine de la Romanee-Conti introduced a wine by saying: “This is my First Growth”. We were always aiming at the premium market and when we saw how good the 1988 vintage was I felt confident enough to use the term’, he says. Given the absurd extent of the EU’s present stance on the Australian use of terms such as ‘Superior’, ‘Vintage’ and ‘Reserve’ (see page 4), I’m relieved to learn that there have been no objections from the EU concerning the naming of this wine, especially since it’s presently sold in the UK, Germany, Switzerland and even France. Here, if ever you wanted one, was a statement in a bottle. Just while the leading Coonawarra cabernets like Petaluma, Lindemans St George and Katnook Estate were nervously approaching the $30 mark, which only Wynns John Riddoch had well and truly left behind, out came this new and assertive wine, with its princely nomenclature and rather strident price-tag. While some crowed rather haughtily about the use of the term ‘First Growth’ on an Australian wine, others just let the wine speak for itself. And it did. I remember taking to it with the sort of interest more typically associated with a Foreign Legionnaire on discovering a daiquiri bar amid the rolling sands of Saudi Arabia. And then, following up from a vintage which many neighbours in Coonawarra chose to ignore, came a remarkably good wine from 1989 which needed absolutely no excuses whatsoever. Here, then, was a label you could count on, agree or disagree with its French connotations. Since then John Parker has released wines from 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1996. Wine which fails to make the cut for the ‘First Growth’, which has from time to time been part of the vintage or else the entire crop, is sold under Parker’s second label, Terra Rossa Cabernet Sauvignon. While this wine has yet to set the world on fire, it’s hardly intended to. When in 1985 John Parker initiated what was originally ‘The Abbey’ vineyard in Coonawarra, it was anything but his initial foray into the wine industry. After becoming one of the first Australians to operate a commercial cotton business, he established Hungerford Hill in the Hunter Valley in 1968, which was floated in 1969 with himself as chairman and chief executive. Furthermore, in 1970 he was part of the purchase of Reynella, in which he had a stake until 1976, and was also involved in the establishment of the gargantuan Buronga winery near the Victoria-NSW border. Colin Haselgrove, then Reynella’s managing director, suggested that Parker purchase the Hungerford Hill block in Coonawarra in 1971. Having lost control of this vineyard in 1983 following a hostile takeover offer from the owners of the Coonawarra Machinery Company which owns Katnook Estate, he set about developing The Abbey Vineyard as four 50-acre parcels. Parker retained full ownership of one until a recent illness, which saw him sell 23 acres to James Fairfax. He still owns the western end of the original Parker block which has produced the core of most First Growth wines, and which he believes to be the ‘prime piece of real estate’ on the development. Today the 27 acres of Parker vineyard comprises 65% cabernet sauvignon, 25% merlot, 5% cabernet franc and 5% petit verdot, a recent addition. Parker is nothing less than passionate about his wines. ‘When we planted 100 acres of cabernet in 1971 (at Hungerford Hill) we nearly doubled the area of cabernet in Coonawarra. So I’ve been looking at these wines for nearly 30 years’, he says. ‘They’re coming along much as I expected them, with the possible exception of the 1993. The 1988 is exceptional, while the 1990 has bacony overtones which are unusual for Coonawarra and more reminiscent of a Pauillac. It’s soft and silky, a wine with hidden depth of tannins that will hang around. 1991 is my favourite. It has a huge backbone and gets better and better. We wouldn’t make a wine like the 1993 again with what we now know. It has that green sort of nasturtium character which can taste like asparagus in extreme.’ Although I think its star has dimmed in recent years, Parker has always enjoyed the 1994 wine and continues to. We’re both happy to agree that the 1996 vintage is an absolute stunner with stacks of potential. There will be no 1997 ‘First Growth’, since it didn’t make the grade, but the 1998 is a blockbuster just biding its time. The ‘First Growth’s’ production looks like settling out around 2,500 cases. The 1996 vintage produced 2,700 cases, while the as yet unblended 1998 wine could even make 3,000. Although recent wines, the 1998 especially, are riper and more robust than earlier vintages, Parker believes this to be more of a vintage thing than a premeditated change to winemaking approach. Personally, while I’m overawed by the depth and power of the sample I have tasted of 1998 ‘First Growth’, if I have a lingering doubt it relates to how the wine will ultimately deal with an alcoholic strength above 14% when it really meets its future challenge as a mature wine. Only time will tell. But if ever there was an Australian cabernet with the grunt (and poise) to handle it, then this Australian cabernet is that Australian cabernet. Although its first pruning of the year is mechanical, the entire property is painstakingly hand-pruned afterwards, a process which carefully controls bud numbers to very low levels and removes unfruitful shoots. Parker says he maintains the vineyard ‘regardless of cost’ to produce very small berries and unlike several Coonawarra vineyards, there’s no dead wood left behind after pruning to create future problems. The fruit is mainly machine harvested, but only after a careful manual selection process to drop any seconds quality bunches onto the ground. Parker’s approach to water is to use it sparingly; indeed the cabernet has not been watered for the past two seasons. Few vineyards of only 50 acres can boast eight electronic measuring probes able to measure soil moisture at depths of 20cm, 40cm, 80cm and 1.6 metres. This provides Parker with a constant detailed moisture profile of the entire vineyard which is then electronically communicated to Chris Cameron in the Hunter Valley who then remotely controls any irrigation required. So a bare minimum of water is applied through the growing season; nil in fact for the last two years. Even though the vineyard appeared to be bone-dry, the moisture probes showed that the subsoils weren’t entirely dried out, so the water was held back. The results are in the barrels: wines of rare character and natural concentration. Since 1996 Parker’s wines have been made at the Balnaves winery under the control of Pepper Tree chief winemaker Chris Cameron. The well-known Ralph Fowler, who worked for Parker during the Hungerford Hill days, deserves full credit for the wines until 1994, but he parted company with Parker having fermented the 1995 vintage. Under Parker’s direction the wines are never filtered and are only rarely pumped. Parker goes to ‘extraordinary length’ to source the best oak, moving from a predominance of American oak in the earlier vintages to the present mix of around 80% French, nearly all of which is fine-grained cooperage from central France, made by both Dargaud et Jaegle and Seguin Moreau. The American component is also sourced from Seguin Moreau. John Parker is convinced there’s still plenty to do before he’s satisfied that his ‘First Growth’ has fulfilled its ultimate potential. It is already well set as one of Australia’s best and most important wines and with this attitude behind it should continue to move from strength to strength.
