Rutherglen and the North-East is the reason I can’t drive to Sydney in a single day. On the maps of Victoria and New South Wales it appears as the watering hazard about half-way there. But the visit is well worth the slight fade off the highway to have a look, but don’t expect to get back onto the fairway that day. A relic from Australia’s winemaking nineteenth century, Rutherglen and the North-East have preserved traditional varieties and styles, and in many cases, the techniques of the past. The wineries of Stanton and Killeen, Booths, Bullers, All Saints and Morris are magical to visit for this reason. Many Rutherglen wineries are ancient by Australian standards, but in some cases their National Trust Classifications could well be extended to include some of their liquid contents. But it would be patently untrue to suggest that Rutherglen had turned its back on progress. Behind many of the rustic, earthy facades hide sophisticated equipment and some equally-sophisticated wine. Campbells and Brown Brothers lead the region’s larger wineries, and innovative winemakers like Chris Pfeiffer, John Gehrig and Harry Tinson will secure the region’s name for table wines on the top shelves of many Australian wine racks. North-East Victoria has maintained a name for full-bodied, flavoursome table wines (principally red), spicy, sweet, tarry ports and the greatest examples of the `muscat’ style of fortified wine made anywhere on this planet at least. Although most of its reds have been based around the Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon varieties, rarely-heard names like Durif, Blue Imperial (Oeilliade) and Cinsault crop up in Rutherglen with pleasing regularity to rip the lining from the mouths of the any L-plate drinker who insists on opening them before the mandatory ten-year incubation period. “It’s beside the point that these might not be recognised as premium varieties, or even that they make the best possible wine from that vineyard”, states Howard Anderson, Winemaker and General Manager of Operations at Jolimont, one of the North-East’s newest labels. “They are great cellar-door lines which continue to generate interest within and outside the region.” With the possible exception of St Leonards’, Rutherglen isn’t regarded as a premium white wine district. It is a hot area and doesn’t have the inbuilt advantages of flavour and complexity that competing cool-climate vignobles like Geelong and the Yarra Valley take for granted. Despite a climatic handicap that would deter many from planting a white vine at all at Rutherglen, some full-bodied, soft whites of characterz and depth are made there every year by people like St Leonards, Campbells, Morris and Pfeiffer. Whereas the whites from cooler regions are intense and aromatic, the North-East’s are luscious and rich, and can often be full-flavoured and quite buttery. With its consistency in climate, especially in the late ripening period, the region can make some excellent late-picked whites, with or without the use of Botrytis. “When you combine the effects of naturally-honied late-picked fruit and the concentration of noble rot, the results are sheer magic”, enthuses Anderson. North-Eastern reds have been the yardstick against which all other heavy red Australian wines have been measured, but there has been a noticeable trend to `lighten them off’ to make them more approachable for short-term drinking. “It’s really and economic necessity”, Howard Anderson explains. “We can certainly still make a fuller-bodied red, but we’re limited by the amount that we can sell. These wines really do need age before sale, and like most other wineries in the district, economic constraints have forced us to put our product on the market as soon as we can. Therefore we have to make the lighter styles.” “Our modern reds aren’t all that light, however. They have softer tannins and less extraction but retain the North-Eastern character. It’s important that we pursue wines with that North-Eastern richness and intensity. We can achieve that with both reds and whites.” Anderson gives the credit for this development in style to recent improvements in vineyard management and new possibilities in fermentation and extraction techniques. 0But don’t despair if you were weaned onto the North-Eastern heaviweights. Thanks to the likes of Baileys, Stanton and Killeen, Campbells (get with the Bobbie Burns) and most other North-Eastern producers, they’re still around – even if they don’t enjoy the high profile of years gone by. Its reputation as a leading producer of Australian fortified wines is extremely important to Rutherglen’s future. They might not be the most profitable items to sell, but they serve as a unique shop-window for the district. Rutherglen fortifieds are bigger, riper and more intense than those from other regions. Anderson is confident that the next decade will see an upsurgence in the popularity of muscat and tokay in the marketplace, as more people discover them. I hope that salvation is near, for I can’t see how several winemakers can afford to eat, with the current prices of their fortifieds. This issue must be of huge concern to the local vignerons. Some of the best muscats and tokays are available at under $10 from the cellar-door, at which price the wineries would barely cover their holding costs – let alone the wine, label and rest of the package. It is a consumer’s field day – for the time being – but a headache for the industry. “We must get the price up”, says Anderson. “Then we could encourage better blends and the retention of older material for base wines. There’s no incentive to develop vineyards specifically for these styles at the moment. They’re only acting as flagships for our companies, and they’re not making any money.” “Our region’s strength is its flavour”, says Howard Anderson. “Sometimes it can nearly be too intense. Take the dry sherries for example. Rutherglen stock is often blended to that from other regions to give base wines more depth and character. Some of Australia’s most successful sherries have been made in this way.” I urge you to try Rutherglen’s wine. But don’t drink it alone. The reds, the whites, and the fortifieds – they must have food as well.
