From sports to Hollywood blockbusters, everyone loves a good comeback. So it’s quite possible that someone somewhere is already working on a script based on the renaissance of Grenache in Australia.
Certainly, there would be no shortage of potential writers. A Grenache Masterclass at London’s 67 Pall Mall in October, comparing some of Australia’s finest Grenache wines with examples from around the world, demonstrated why people are getting so excited about the grape’s potential Down Under.
Twenty years ago, Grenache looked practically dead and buried in Australia. Now, however, connoisseurs want to buy Australian Grenache-based wines, sommeliers want to offer them on their lists, and winemakers want to make them – if they can afford it, that is, since Grenache costs twice as much as Cabernet Sauvignon on the open market. It’s a turnaround of which Lazarus would be proud and the tasting provided the perfect opportunity to hear directly from some of the Australian winemakers that have helped make it happen.
‘For many of us [in McLaren Vale], Grenache, not Shiraz, is the driver of our business,’ says Julian Forward of Ministry of Clouds. Some see parallels between the grape’s boom in Australia and the mid-noughties explosion of Pinot Noir in California. One major difference is that Pinot was a relatively new arrival in California, with a slew of new plantings taking place thanks to the increased interest that followed the film Sideways, whereas Grenache has been in Australia for a long time.
Today, Grenache represents just 1% of all Australian plantings, a far cry from its status as the most-planted red grape in the country 70 years ago
The first Grenache cuttings arrived in Australia from southern France in the 1830s and settled in quickly. A Mediterranean grape, it loved the hot, dry conditions; it ripened easily and was prolific. This made it perfect for making fortified wine, which, happily, is what everyone in Australia was drinking at the time.
The move to drier table wines from the 1960s onwards, however, was bad news for the variety’s prospects in Australia. As fortified wines disappeared, so Grenache went with them. Today, it represents just 1% of all Australian plantings, a far cry from its status as the most-planted red grape in the country 70 years ago. There was, however, nothing inherently wrong with Grenache; it was perfectly capable of making great wine, people just needed to figure out how.
The renaissance of Australian Grenache
Some say the revival of Grenache began in 2011. It was a poor vintage for Australia in which winemakers had to pick their crop early or face its destruction by inclement weather. Grenache, as a low-value, low-interest variety was typically left until the last minute. That year, it was picked four weeks sooner than usual and winemakers were astonished by what they tasted.
These were not big, sweet, jammy wines with head-spinning alcohol levels; they were pure, precise, even poetic. And they formed an exciting template for a new style of fine Australian wine.
‘Grenache delivers what Pinot Noir promises,’ says Corinne Wright of Oliver’s in McLaren Vale. It’s a line that is repeated in Oz time and again, as is the idea that it’s ‘warm-climate Pinot Noir’. Not everyone is happy with the comparisons but there’s an element of truth in them.
The best Australian Grenaches manage to be satisfying, complex and almost perfumed, without sitting heavily on the palate. The word ‘ethereal’ gets used a lot.
‘Everyone wants to talk about flavour and aroma but all the great wines have amazing texture,’ says Toby Bekkers of Bekkers wine. ‘It’s easy to capture ripeness and generosity; the key [to great Grenache] is to wind that back.’
Making the most of old vines
There are, perhaps, two key elements to Grenache’s renaissance. One is having access to old bush vines. These gnarled, twisted plants, growing in clumps rather than trained on wires, produce naturally lower yields and result in nuanced wines.
And while a lot of Grenache was pulled out in the late 20th century, enough of these denizens remain to make an impact. There are wines being made with 70-, 100- even 150-year-old vines. Twenty years ago, this fruit was available remarkably cheaply but now it commands a premium.
‘If you want to buy Blewitt Springs Grenache, then you have to join a very long queue,’ says Giles Cooke MW of Thistledown Wines, somewhat ruefully, as the tasting was winding down. Plantings of Grenache, which stopped falling a few years ago, are now starting to increase.
A new approach to Australian Grenache in the winery
It’s perhaps no surprise that the wineries able to get hold of this precious old-vine fruit are treating it with sensitivity, even reverence, in the winery.
Whereas Grenache would previously have been ‘beaten up’ in the winery (as one winemaker put it), with lots of time on skins to extract maximum tannin and colour followed by ages in oak, now winemakers are looking to show off the purity – even delicacy – of the fruit. This typically means less time, if any, in oak barrels, with fermentation taking place in concrete or ceramic eggs.
There’s a growing and careful use of whole-bunch fermentation to add sappiness and spice
There’s also a growing and careful use of whole-bunch fermentation to add sappiness and spice. It’s a technique that’s become increasingly popular with makers of Pinot Noir and is finding favour with Grenache for similar reasons.
‘For us, adding some whole-bunch fermentation gives a fresh, herbal note,’ says Wirra Wirra’s Paul Smith, ‘it provides a lovely structural line down the middle of the wine.’
The best examples of Australian Grenache, from McLaren Vale and the Barossa, are wines that complement modern tastes and cuisine; they wear their complexity lightly and with charm. While they are not exactly cheap – most come in at the £30-50 range – they represent good value for money in the company of red Burgundy and Barolo, two styles with which they are frequently compared.
It’s worth remembering that some of these Grenache vines have been in the ground since the earliest ships landed in Australia. With the country’s Grenache revival firmly underway, it seems they are destined to remain there for some time yet.
