Shiraz and Regionality

The concept of regionality has been on the mind for a while. It is the catchcry of the industry Down Under, a central platform for the marketing boffins seeking to reinvent Australia's identity as a wine producing nation.


It's a good one too. The idea that Australia is one big, homogenous, vinous blob is absurd in the extreme but nonetheless it is a theory being perpetuated by a few detractors in the global market. One way to change that perception is to show how regionality manifests itself in the final product.



Whether there are enough people out there to whom this point of difference matters is another question altogether. The industry, and those around it who are passionate about wine, always tend to overestimate the level of interest that the average wine drinker has in learning more about wine. For most, it's a drink; an alcoholic beverage.


There are two questions which are primarily asked by the unengaged wine drinker; 'What does it cost?', and ' Is it any good?' To further demonstrate how far we have to go before regionality is a relevant component of the buying process for the majority of consumers, examine the fact that in the Netherlands, a significant emerging market, 94% of bottled wine sold sells for under 6 euros a unit. It simply isn't possible to make a regionally specific, varietally distinctive wine in Australia at quality orientated yields and to get it to retail in an overseas market at this price.


But that's where the market is at the moment, whether we like it or not. We may have unique, individual wines that speak of their origins right across the 60+ growing regions of Australia, but we also need a heck of a lot of people to start trading up as well if we want to sell them at prices where everyone makes a dollar. Patently, there is some work to do.

Nonetheless, and to sate my own curiosity, I thought I'd take a look at a range of Shiraz from five different Australian wine growing regions to refresh my own thoughts on the notion of regionality,



Warramate (White Label) Shiraz 2007 $42 (Yarra Valley, Victoria)



From 37 year old vines grown in the Yarra Valley. Quite an elegant, refined Shiraz. You'd pick the cool climate origins- the pepper, spice and dark cherry elements dropping a hint, and then the savoury, medium weight palate and low-ish alcohol confirming first impressions. Lovely line and length here and delicate tannins, not a bruiser but it is a wine you keep coming back to for another glass. (And like most good wines, it is even more impressive on the second day, filling out and becoming more complex) 93 points, 2011+



Picardy Shiraz 2007 $25 (Pemberton, WA)


The nose on this wine, year after year, always challenges. Smoky, meaty, peppery, spicy, showing a little reduced, becoming more floral and clovey with air. Yet again though, the flavours of this wine are bright and delicious, with lingering red cherry and red plum flavours that have some meaty, savoury complexity in the background. It is a versatile, interesting, and quite elegant Shiraz that drinks beautifully now but will age over the medium term. Another top wine from Picardy. 93 points, 2009+



Torzi Matthews Schist Rock Shiraz 2008 $17 (Eden Valley, SA)



There is a great honesty about the Torzi Matthews wines- they're packed with flavour but not contrived, and always excellent value for money. There's some Eden Valley floral perfume here, and lots of rich, luscious, dark fruit with chocolate and spice overtones. At the price, it's a bargain. 90 points, 2009+


Pepperjack Barossa Shiraz 2008 $24 (Barossa Valley, SA)


There are some truly delicious, flavour packed wines from the 2008 Barossa vintage. It was a vintage in two parts- before heat wave, and after. Just about everyone seems to be saying that they picked before the heatwave. The proof in 2008 will be in the prune pudding.



The aesthetes amongst us would probably ascribe a degree of 'dead' fruit to this wine. Certainly, it is very ripe, lush and concentrated. That said, I reckon a majority of consumers would find it intoxicating because of this very point. Meat and poison, as they say. Blackberries, prunes- sweet and rich, but the wine doesn't show overt alcohol and despite the fruit sweetness finishes dry and spicy. 89 points, drink 2009+


Mitchelton Shiraz 2007 $20 (Nagambie, Victoria)


2007 was a difficult vintage in most of South East Australia. Parts of Victoria (and Coonawarra) got smashed with frost, and then later by heat. Yields were very low, especially in the Pyrenees, Great Western, and Nagambie, where Mitchelton are based.

Rich colours, with typical regional spice and dark fruits on the nose. The troubled year though shows through on the palate, the dark cherry and plum flavours hitting a wall of drying, slightly stressed tannins. It works quite nicely with food at this stage, but might be a better early drinking option than a cellaring proposition. 88 points, 2009+