My Rare Ozzies book was published at the end of 2019.
It contained information about 120 or so wine grape varieties I describe as ‘rare ozzies’. The basic criterion for inclusion was that there should be less than ten producers of that variety in Australia. I selected the varieties at the start of 2019, by the time the book was published a couple of the varieties had disqualified themselves, but I included them anyway.
It is worth looking at which varieties are becoming less rare - more producers are now using them.
Here’s three varieties that are taking themselves out of the rare category.
Albarino
No surprises here. From the very early 2000s many Australian growers and wineries decide that this was a variety that could be the next big thing. Alas most of the ‘Albarino’ vineyards in Australia turned out to be Savagnin.
Some growers responded by removing or grafting over the Savagnin. Others, impressed by the quality of the wine being produced, persisted and continued making fresh crisp light to medium bodied white. My database has 70+ producers of Savagnin.
A third group started again with ‘real’ Albarino, and there vines have been coming into production over the past few years. I have 19 producers listed with this variety.
There will be more about the Albarino/Savagnin stuff up in the October 14 session of Taste and Talk
Arinto
This is a Portuguese variety with a huge potential in Australia. It is certainly a recent arrival on an upward trend. Two years ago there were just seven producers listed in Vinodiversity’s database. At last count there are seventeen.
What makes this variety so exciting? Firstly in the vineyard it is well adapted to warm to hot climates. The grapes maintain their acidity for longer than most varieties. This is critical for making quality wines.
Secondly, Arinto wines are delicious. They are well structured and display a range of attractive citrus aromas and flavours.
These factors have generated considerable excitement among winemakers and savvy consumers. Maybe Arinto will follow the trajectory of Fiano which now has about 160 Aussie producers after barely a decade and a half in Australia.
Mencia
This is another Iberian variety, this time a red. There were ten Aussie producers of Mencia two years ago now there are sixteen. Mencia probably has a role in the slot of medium red bodied wines displaying plenty of middle palate fruit. “Gamay with bulls horns” is a description that I love about this variety.
Taste and talk sessions
The next session will be on October 7th with the theme Workhorse Varieties.
The slide presentation for last week’s session Rare Ozzies Revisited is now available in PDF format.
You can find the details of upcoming Taste and Talk sessions here.
I’d love your suggestions for future topics to discuss in our Taste and Talks.
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