No Chardy-pooper

What's happening with Tasmanian Chardonnay? Jeremy Dineen laughs when he hears the question. Or perhaps it's more of a nervous chuckle. You see, the talented winemaker from Hood Wines is way too polite to be a Chardy-pooper.

But get him talking about Pinot Noir and he'll admit it's been spectacularly successful in Tasmanian vineyards. 

And Chardonnay?

Well, he muses, with the exception of wines from Stefano Lubiana, Chardonnay often excels at being mediocre.

Ouch.

You don't have to look far to find reasons, he adds.

It's not that vineyards have the wrong Chardonnay clones planted, or that makers have been using the wrong winemaking techniques. It's more a matter of fruit quality. The trouble is that glamour grape Pinot Noir gets all of the attention from vineyard owners. Meanwhile, its poor white cousin is often left to languish on the vine.

"Everybody concentrates on making top-quality Pinot Noir. They admit that they need to reduce crop loads; that they ought to do this and that. But then they turn around and think that Chardonnay can be allowed to just look after itself. It can't.

"To make really great Chardonnay, you have to do the same things that you do to make really great Pinot. Site selection is critical. Then you have to make sure that it too has low crop yields; that it also gets good fruit exposure; that in general it receives the best of care in the vineyard."

Such a mantra is music to the ears of committed viticulturists like Tony Scherer, co-owner of Hood Wines since late 2003. (He's also proprietor of the organic vineyard of Frogmore Creek in the Coal River Valley.)

"This guy is something else," he says of the young bloke who took up work with the contract winemaking business in 2002.

"He came here as an admirer of Andrew Hood's Wellington Chardonnays, and he's really stamped his style on all our wines over the past couple of years. Both winemakers prefer their Chardonnays not to go through malolactic fermentation. Jeremy just likes to see them a little richer and creamier."

What goes unsaid is that Scherer is even more impressed that Dineen recognises the value of good viticulture. Chardonnay wine quality is not something determined by you-beaut barrel work and winery additions.

"Tasmania is such a special place," Dineen says.

"The climate is different from everywhere else in Australia. We have this long ripening season that gives us such beautiful, delicate flavours. There's a sense of purity to them. Our cool growing conditions give great support to the natural acidity our Chardonnay is born with, and that gives the wines some backbone and age-ability.

"Every season is different in Tasmania, so you're constantly having to think things through.. it's like having to reinvent the way you make wine. That keeps things interesting...

"The fact that Hoody has more than 30 clients nowadays means it's almost like squeezing 30 different vintages into each year. It puts you on a steep learning curve."

As much as winemaking might seem a creative process – the work of an artisan – the analytical side of Dineen's personality sees him taking an active interest in what's going on in the company's own vineyards. He says trials currently underway at Frogmore Creek have been designed to establish which of the three main trellising systems used on the Penna property is most likely to produce optimum growing conditions for Chardonnay.

Meanwhile, back in the barrel room, the Hood winemaking team is also directing greater financial and human resources to more intensive winemaking techniques. That largely entails the use of a greater variety of top-quality French oak, and certain hands-on treatments like the regular stirring of yeast lees while the new wines are still in wood.

Scherer reckons Dineen's year in the barrel room and laboratory at Mitchelton Wines during 2001 provided him with some invaluable experiences.

"Jeremy's knowledge of oak maturation is second to none," he says.

"We couldn't be happier with our Chardonnays."

That should come as no surprise to those already aware of the results at the recent 2005 Tasmanian Wine Show. Hood Wines took out the award for Most Successful Exhibitor, no doubt helped along by trophies and gold medals won by Wellington and Frogmore Creek Chardonnays. Both made during Dineen's second vintage with the Coal River Valley operation.

So what's happening with Tasmanian Chardonnay? Plenty.

First published 2 February 2005: The Examiner