It’s all about a “sense of place” this year: wines, beers and spirits that taste uniquely of where they’re from.
Whether it’s a rare, single vineyard shiraz that expresses the particular terroir of where the grapes were grown; a traditional wine from the other side of the world made by a seventh generation farmer using ancestral techniques; or a small-batch, artisan-crafted local gin redolent of the aromas of the Australian bush, we’re looking for drinks that come with a compelling story, handmade by passionate people.
Bittersweet botanicals
Strawberry gum, lemon myrtle, quandong: native botanicals can be found in many of the local vermouths and other bitter, digestif-style drinks flooding the market right now. Victoria’s pioneer producer Maidenii continues to set the bar for Australian quality vermouth; Applewood Distillery in the Adelaide Hills produces a local take on Campari in its Okar amaro; and Canberra winemaker Bryan Martin has just launched his Outlandish Claims range of excellent “bitter tonics”.
In keeping with the theme, some of the country’s best wineries, from Castagna in Beechworth and Margan in the Hunter Valley to Crawford River in far south-west Victoria, have or will soon release “single vineyard” vermouths, with all ingredients from the base wine to botanicals estate-grown. If you want to immerse yourself in all this bitter beauty, check out Banksii, a new vermouth bar and bistro at Sydney’s Barangaroo, where local examples are poured alongside a remarkable array of vermouths from around the world, each offering a local take on the style.
Singular culture
While our bottle shops and wine bars are teeming with fresh young things – pale dry rosés, juicy whole-bunch fermented reds and cloudy sparkling pet-nats (a pétillant naturel is a naturally sparkling wine that finishes its ferment in the bottle) – up the pointy end of the market there’s a serious push for single vineyard wines that refuse to follow fads, instead taking classic Australian styles as their inspiration.
Steve Pannell’s stunning new Koomilya red wines, from a long-established McLaren Vale vineyard the winemaker purchased a couple of years ago, are a perfect example.
The 2014 Koomilya Shiraz ($70) is dark and rich, saturated with black cherries and licorice, while the 2013 DC Block Shiraz ($110) is more dense, structured, brooding. Both will age exceptionally well for decades and should head down the same path as the legendary Aussie “burgundies” and “hermitages” from the 1950s and ’60s.
Think local, drink global
Once upon a time “imported wine” meant mainstream classics: champagne and burgundy, or Marlborough savvy from across the ditch. Not any more. Adventurous importers are now scouring the furthest reaches of the wine world to bring back ever more obscure and achingly authentic bottles, preferably made from ancient, indigenous grape varieties using traditional techniques. Think amber-coloured wines from Georgia, fermented in clay vessels buried underground, as Georgians have done for 8000 years. Or Chile’s pipeño, a light, fresh red made from the país grape grown in 250-year-old vineyards, matured in large barrels made of native Chilean beech wood.
It's alive!
Wine isn’t the only fermented beverage that can express a sense of terroir in the glass. Beer, too, can be full of flavours and characters unique to where it was made, especially if the brewer has allowed the wild yeasts and bacteria of the brewery environment to get involved in the beer-making process. Some of Australia’s smartest brewers, such as Ashley Huntington at Two Metre Tall in Tasmania and Costa Nikias at La Sirène in Melbourne, are exploring this wonderful world of spontaneous fermentation to produce remarkably complex, distinctive beers: naturally soured ales with a deliciously food-friendly tang, yeasty saisons with rich and satisfying texture.
Spirits of place
The craft spirit boom shows no sign of slowing down, with new gins, whiskies, vodkas and rums popping up all the time. The best of these come from producers who go to great lengths to make distinctive, provenance-driven spirits. Think people such as Peter Bignell of Belgrove Distillery in Tasmania’s midlands, who grows his own grain and makes his sensational whisky in a copper still he made himself, maturing the spirit in barrels he sources from local winemakers. Or producers such as Kyrö Distillery in western Finland, whose beautifully unusual, perfumed Napue Gin ($85) is infused with local seabuckthorn, cranberries, birch leaves and meadowsweet. Very Scandi.
