DAN'S WINE BLOG

2024-10-11

As with most weeks, some plusses and minuses of the wine world for you.

DARK DAYS

The French government is currently looking at how to fund the removal of 30,000 hectares of vines across the country- that is 4% of their total vineyard area.

When said quickly it doesn’t sound too ominous but to put it into context here in Australia Western Australia has 11,387 hectares of vine in total, Victoria has 19,340 hectares in total & NSW has 34,000 hectares.

So the French are looking to rip out the equivalent of all the vines in WA & Victoria or 88% of all the vines in NSW- That is massive!! Sacre blue!!

SWAPSIES

In order to broaden horizons and prevent becoming parochial, the Adelaide Hills Wine Show and the Mornington Peninsula Wine Show have organised (what is believed to be a first in Australia) a Associate Wine Judge “swapsies”. The exchanges will engender fresh perspectives and approaches to each show’s judging, as well as enhancing dialogue and collaboration between the two cool-climate wine regions. At the same time providing opportunities for growth and development of the people involved. Great Idea guys!!

BRAVO

The Adelaide Hills wine region is already doing things pretty right, as for the 3rd year in a row Adelaide Hills wines have won the “Best Wine of Show” at the ICCWS (International Cool Climate Wine Show) in Melbourne.

The trifecta was collected by – Sidewood Estate 2023 Mappinga Chardonnay – Best Wine in Show + Best White Wine in Show and the Best Red Wine in Show went to the Vinteloper 2023 Pinot Noir.

NEWS FLASH

Since first seeing the Riesling dryness scale at the 2015 CIRC (Canberra International Riesling Challenge) I have been championing the addition of the dryness scale to all white wine varieties that can be made ranging from dry to sweet, such as Riesling.

I applaud the few Aussie wineries like Pewsey Vale, Colmar Estate and Robert Stein Wines have added the dryness scale to their back labels so as to indicate the level of sweetness or dryness of the wine. We have all done it, opened up a wine expecting it to be dry and it turns out sweet or vice-versa. Most disappointing and never to be bought again!!

A recent study in the USA by the Penn State School of Hospitality Management has found that the visual sweetness scale aids novice wine drinkers in selecting wines suitable for their palate and thus makes them more likely to be repeat purchasers. The probability of buying an unsuitable (to their palate) wine is much lower than if there is no clue as to whether the wine is dry, semi-dry or sweet.

So come on you white wine makers- find a bit of space on your back label and add the dryness scale for the sake of new consumers.

Speaking of the CIRC the judging is happening now in Canberra with the results and awards to be announced ?next Friday the 18th followed by a public tasting On the Saturday 19th from 11am at the Albert Hall Yarralumla. If you are going to be in Canberra on the day, I strongly urge you to go along as it is the biggest international Riesling tasting in the world, with entries from (usually) nine of the top Riesling producing countries in the world. Alas a bout of RSV is keeping me away this year.

If you are going to be in Canberra on the day, I strongly urge you to go along as it is the biggest international Riesling tasting in the world, with entries from (usually) nine of the top Riesling producing countries in the world.

Tickets available on line only and include a Riedel tasting glass and the results catalogue. Tickets are at https://rieslingchallenge.com/category/public-events

Well another week slides past, so keep safe, hale & hearty and always #chooseaustralianwine and when possible enjoy #emergingvarieties.

Cheers

Dan T