Cool valley, hot new wines

Drive through the Coal River Valley on a 40-degree summer's day and it's hard to believe that this part of southern Tasmania is regarded as a cool climate wine region by Australia's grape growers and winemakers.

Sure, the valley is indeed cooler than a great many of the other 64 wine-producing regions of the country. What makes it so well suited to growing northern European wine grape varieties is the remarkable sunlight intensity and low rainfall that provide vineyards there with superb growing and ripening seasons. 

In 2019, for example, total annual rainfall at Campania, near Richmond, amounted to just 369mm. That's barely 3mm more than Tanunda in the Barossa Valley. Coal River Valley sites like Frogmore Creek's Roslyn Vineyard typically experience more global solar radiation during the months of December and January – and much of February – than vineyards around Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley.

"The long ripening period that results from these and other factors makes this valley just about perfect for producing red wines," says Frogmore Creek senior winemaker Alain Rousseau. 

"They're wines with tremendous colour, aroma and flavour."

Indeed, the former Loire Valley native reckons the Coal River Valley might have developed a reputation to rival that of Bordeaux or Burgundy had the French settled this part of Tasmania two centuries ago. One might also consider whether the valley's landscapes would still be dominated by Pinot Noir had it experienced colonial settlement by Italy or Spain?

When Coal River Valley pioneers George and Priscilla Park established Stoney Vineyard at Campania in 1973, the couple's planting choices included Shiraz and Zinfandel, in addition to the Bordeaux red varieties that were to develop international reputations 20 years later under the ownership of Swiss immigrants, Peter and Ruth Althaus.

So what else might do well in these parched, black cracking clays?

Alain Rousseau and John Bown with Single Block wines.

When Frogmore Creek purchased Campania's Roslyn Vineyard in 2009, it wasn't long before the company's ownership and senior winemaker decided the quality of the wines being produced from the rugged 45ha site warranted further investigation.

"We set ourselves a challenge to see what else this part of Tasmania could grow in the future," Rousseau recalls.

"We also felt our wine club members deserved opportunities to enjoy drinking small volumes of handcrafted wine they wouldn't otherwise be able to buy. Besides that, we were also thinking ahead to the kinds of special wines we could offer our guests in our Cambridge and Hobart waterfront restaurants."

With a decade of vineyard development now behind it, the Campania site has evolved into something that has only passing resemblance to the property the company purchased. Roslyn's original matrix of 27 different vineyard blocks – largely planted to Bordeaux red varieties – has become even larger and more complex.

In 2019, the company made discretely different reds from a dozen varieties planted on the site – Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Barbera, Gamay, Shiraz, Sangiovese, Tempranillo, and Dornfelder.

"Essentially, when we first took over the property, we had far too much Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot for our own winemaking needs," Rousseau explains.

"We commenced a vine grafting program that introduced new varieties to our blocks, while also reducing the amount of time we would need to wait until they began producing grapes for the winery.

"We haven't just concentrated on new red varieties. We've added whites, too. We also have some new clonal selections of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that we believe will perform better than our original plantings. In total, we've got around 65ha of vineyard in production. Later this year, we're planning to add another couple of hectares of new Pinot Noir clones."

Vineyard challenges and discoveries are seldom far from discussion. In making changes at the top of the Campania site - around 200 metres above sea level - work crews soon found themselves excavating massive bluestone boulders from below the ground.

"You find red soils all around the top of the hill, too," Rousseau notes.

"It's amazing. It's a different kind of soil entirely to the rest of the vineyard. That was already unusual in itself. There are light sandy loams at the bottom, with heavier black clay loams just metres away. It's made irrigation on the site very challenging. 

"We've already concluded this location now produces our best Pinot Noir out of all the blocks we manage. And it will probably only get better."

Recent months have seen the winery put finishing touches to a very smart selection of red wines made from single varieties that will be released periodically under Frogmore Creek's existing Single Block Series. This writer believes its best offerings are likely to include the 2018 Barbera, 2018 Cabernet Franc, 2018 Gamay and 2018 Shiraz.

In addition to being particularly well-suited to contemporary Australian cuisine, fresh and fruity Barbera has a certain versatility when it comes to soil types and vineyard management. It doesn't seem to mind heat or wet weather, and the variety's loose bunches offer some defence in the face of botrytis bunch-rot. 

"Barbera and Tempranillo vines are ripening very well on our Campania site", Rousseau says.

"The Barbera especially appears to have a really exciting future. It makes a beautiful wine here – dark in colour and with wonderful flavour ripeness and good natural acidity."

Mmm... Sounds cool.

First published 17 January 2020: tasmaniantimes.com