If ever an Australian wine region is searching for an identity, it’s that patch of dirt called Pemberton, Manjimup or the Warren Valley, depending who you’re talking to. For the purposes of this article at least, I will refer to the region in question by the name that has my vote, Pemberton. Even before it had ever made a wine, this region was feted before the wine drinker. Keith Mugford of Moss Wood thought it would do something really special with chardonnay. John Wade said to me it would be Australia’s best region for pinot noir. Other WA winemakers have said its cabernet sauvignon would be a world beater. And now we’re hearing about its shiraz. Until the emergence of a couple of new, small high-targeted brands such as Batista, Picardy and Bronze Wing from John Kosovich at Westfield, Pemberton’s reputation in eastern states has been entirely the property of medium-sized producers like Smithbrook and Salitage. Houghton, Capel Vale and Sandalford have used Pemberton fruit with great effect in multi-regional chardonnay and cabernet blends, but there’s been a dearth of fine Pemberton-dominant table wine on which this region can be fairly and squarely evaluated. Let’s look at what has happened on the commercial front. Keith Mugford no longer sources chardonnay from the region since he lost faith in its potential. Of the region’s other chardonnays, both Smithbrook’s and Salitage’s wines have been adversely affected by cropping levels well beyond their quality aspirations. Irrespective of their oak and malolactic creaminess when applied, the chardonnays of both companies have tasted thin and lean while young and have not stood the test of time. The best Pemberton chardonnay I have tasted was the 1996 from Bronze Wing but, quite sensibly, John Kosovich declined to put too much in the way of winemaking-derived complexity in the way of fruit from such an immature vineyard. Its pure, intense primary fruit of peach, cashew and melon suggests a fine future once the vines gain some age. But there’s hardly an area in Australia incapable of half-decent chardonnay. Only time will tell if Pemberton can do something different. Is pinot noir the answer? Nothing I have tasted to date would suggest that Pemberton can do anything the Great Southern region cannot. Again, the wines of Smithbrook and Salitage have been over-cropped. They have shown some true pinot noir fruit flavour, although recent wines have tended to be excessively spicy and constructed around too astringent and aggressive a tannic backbone to be compared with top-level New World pinot noir. Although their 1996 wines are their first releases, the pinot noirs from both Batista and Picardy do show some potential, although my concerns with the structure of Pemberton pinot noirs remains. Both wines were made at Bill Pannell’s Picardy winery, both reveal the stalkiness and aggression derived from perhaps an excessive amount of whole bunch fermentation, but both are clearly made from pinot noir. The Picardy wine is too green and stalky, but the Batista opens up to reveal intense dark cherr/plum fruit, even if there’s a slightly sunburned note. With just a single vintage of these wines released, the jury must still be out on Pemberton pinot. One person who wouldn’t be surprised if shiraz and cabernet sauvignon ultimately performed better is Brian Croser, who is using the 1998 vintage at Smithbrook, in which Petaluma Ltd has recently acquired a majority share, as something of an experiment. It’s Croser’s intention at the present time to persevere with the Smithbrook pinot noir and chardonnay wines, but he’s prepared to introduce a new premium label from the vineyard if shiraz and cabernet look better. Until then, Pemberton may, like McLaren Vale, be more sought after by winemakers looking for blending material than by consumers looking for the distinctive tastes and textures which only fine individual vineyard wines can ultimately deliver.
