| The rise of the wines from down under
It used to be that anyone with a love for red wine and $15 in their pocket could walk into a wine shop and choose from dozens of tantalizing Californian wine labels. Each week, eager-to-please producers were launching a barrage of new labels and wine-thirsty Canucks were buying everything they could get their hands on.
The success of these wines was due to a number of factors. First, the labels were in English, making them easy to read and understand when compared with their European counterparts. Secondly, the wines were made in a style that was immediately delicious to drink: low in tannins, low in acid and possessing massive fruit. That's all it took and the Californian blitzkrieg was on. Today California's march has slowed to more of a saunter, with the occasional new wine appearing, but exorbitant prices have left all but the most insistent spenders searching for wine elsewhere.
Now that we are firmly entrenched in the new millennium, the California wine revolution of the 1990s seems as passé as Fraggle Rock and acid wash jeans. Yet many of Canada's wine consumers were weaned on this style of wine – where can we turn for affordable international styles of rich, ripe red wines with bursting fruit and a label we can understand (and remember)? For many the answer has been a look Down Under, to our friends in Australia.
On the surface it may seem strange that a country halfway around the world can provide us with cheaper wines than one directly south of us, but certain geographic and economic factors give Australia the pricing edge. Firstly, land prices in Australia are much cheaper than those in the U.S. (especially around Napa and Sonoma where many of California’s top wines originated). In Australia, most wineries are owned by one of four enormous companies, which have the added advantage of economies of scale and larger shipments. Australia has also been blessed with very dry, warm and predictable weather in many regions, allowing for greater crop consistency.
Another advantage is Roseworthy College, one of the most technically advanced wine schools in the world, which has made Australia a front-runner in quality wine production. Although the technology is not always applicable to the higher end wines, it has led to great improvement and consistency of wines priced from $10 to $20. The fastidious work by several Australian oenologists has paid off for the entire industry, making Australia a reliable source of well-made wines.
Advertising has not been left out of the loop and the boys from Oz have taken a page right out of California's handbook – the sleek names like Silver Oak and Stag's Leap were replaced by wacky and uniquely Aussie titles like Wild Duck Creek Duck Muck and Dead Arm Shiraz, catchy and outrageous names that have made buying Australian wine almost as much fun as drinking it.
The question now is are the Australian wines of today as good as the California wines we drank in the ’90s? It's a difficult question to answer as in any matter of taste, the answer is subjective. We can, however, take note of the very different styles. The focus of Australian wines today is power and concentration. The red wines are usually made from cabernet sauvignon, grenache or the ever-popular shiraz. The typical wine from Australia is high in alcohol due to the warm climate and has ripe fruit with forward, jammy qualities. The tannin levels vary depending on the fruit quality, maceration time and the use of oak, which is almost always American and delivers a characteristic vanilla quality. In contrast, the typical Californian cabernet is more restrained with more tightly knit black currant fruit. The best wines are concentrated but elegant, with more finesse than their Australian counterparts.
The big concern of Australian wine drinkers today is whether or not the prices will go the way of the Californians. With wines like Henschke's Hill of Grace and Torbreck's Run Rig selling for over $200 already, it will be hard for other popular cult wines to keep their prices in check. As with any commodity, the price will be dictated by supply and demand, and with the popularity of many Aussie trophy wines, I won't be surprised if the prices from Down Under start to raise an eyebrow or two up here. |
