with Clive Hartley

Shiraz on the nose

‘Man the barricades!’ and prepare to defend Australian shiraz. In the recently published National Vintage Report for 2024 white grapes increased to 51% of the national crush and was higher than red grapes for the first time in a decade. 

A decline in shiraz production was the cause, it has decreased by a whopping 48,000 tonnes. Barossa and Clare valleys in South Australia were amongst the worst hit areas, but it is a wide- spread problem.

I’ve been talking to vignerons in other states and some shiraz vineyards were not picked this year as buyers couldn’t be found for the grapes. Chardonnay was the largest produced grape variety, overtaking shiraz which declined by 14%, making the 2024 the smallest crush since 2007 (Winetitles Media).

So, we need to come out and support our most famous red grape. Let’s face it, with the temperatures currently hovering around zero it is a great time to drink red wines.

To enjoy the best locally grown shiraz you should try Granite Hills. It is the epitome of cool climate shiraz. Alternatively, look at the wines Glenhope Vineyard are producing, such as their Granitic or Ferrosol Shiraz (both $38).

If you want to taste Crozes Hermitage, but not travel there, then go for the 2021 Sutton Grange Syrah ($65), it is savoury with struck match notes as well as green peppercorns and black cherries.

I also recently positively reviewed the ‘growers range’ of wines from Place of Changing Winds, which source fruit from Heathcote and Harcourt.

Take a trip to nearby Grampians and Pyrenees and you have a plethora of wines to choose from. Best’s Bin No 0 is a classic and their 2021 is outstanding, displaying cassis, blackberries, cinnamon and nutmeg aromas.

Refined and elegant on the palate makes it approachable to drink now. Staying in the Grampians, Mount Langi Ghiran Hollows Shiraz 2018 at $30 a bottle is good value and has savoury flavours and soft tannins.

Their Cliff Edge Shiraz 2020 ($35) is also a decent drop and has cedar, dried herbs and plenty of rotundone, the compound behind the smell of white pepper. In the Pyrenees region, Summerfield have a reputation for producing some good full-bodied traditional reds, and Taltarni do a meaty, vanilla-driven Old Vine Shiraz.

In Sunbury, if you haven’t tried Craiglee Shiraz then you are missing out. Also, local winemaker Jean-Paul Trijsburg sources fruit from Sunbury to make his 2021 Syrah ($30). The wine has lifted green peppercorns and spice on the nose.

Clive Hartley’s Australian Wine Guide (7th ed) is available for purchase from Paradise Books in Daylesford or via his website – www.australianwineguide.com.au

Pepper in Shiraz
A cool climate is not the growing conditions you imagine suiting a grape like shiraz. It is more at home in hot regions like the Barossa or Hunter Valley. Classic Australian wines are full bodied, rich, alcoholic with ripe jammy, dark black fruit aromas. However, when it is grown in chilly regions it develops more of a savoury medium bodied palate with distinctive pepper aromas. Ask winemaker Llew Knight from Granite Hills about pepper – he’s an expert.

Llew has clocked up over 50 vintages and there are not many cooler places to grow shiraz in Australia than the Macedon Ranges. He has been studying the influence of rotundone, the compound responsible for the pepper aroma in shiraz. You might think that the smell of pepper comes from underripe grapes, but research has shown that rotundone increases as the grape ripens. Underripe grapes just smell of green stalks or green capsicum and winemakers try to avoid them at all costs.
Rotundone is a strong compound and extremely low concentrations (such as 16 ng/l) can be detected by the olfactory region of the brain, but only by some people. Research has found that roughly 20 per cent of the population are anosmic to the smell. It is also found in other varieties including gamay and grüner veltliner.
Wine companies are pretty liberal in using pepper in the descriptions of their wines. Probably this is because they want to associate their wine with the French ones from the northern Rhone Valley where you find the aroma occurring more often. They will often choose to call their wine syrah and not shiraz if they think it is more of a French style. The Grampians region is another area that extols the virtues of pepper in its reds and Mount Langi Ghiran has been at the centre of research with the Australian Wine Research Institute.
Coming back to Granite Hills. The vineyard is on granite-strewn pasture at 550 metres. The first vintage of shiraz was in 1978 and the current vintage for sale is the 2018. The wine is a classic with plenty of white pepper. You can also purchase a magnum of 2001 vintage to see how the wine ages.

Clive Hartley is an award-winning wine writer, educator and consultant. Want to learn more about wine? Try his Australian Wine Guide (7th ed) now available for purchase from Paradise Books in Daylesford or via his website – www.australianwineguide.com.au