Pinot Mastery
Pinot Noir producers can say what they like about their particular clonal selections, vineyard management and winemaking regimes, when it comes to making decisions on picking their precious parcels of fruit, nature itself usually has the final word. And the word on everyone's lips during past two vintages in Tasmania has been 'rain.'
"Yeah, we've certainly had a couple of interesting years," says winemaker Tom Wallace (pictured).
The Brown Family Wine Group's man on the ground in the Tamar Valley has become used to having an eye on the weather around this time of year.
"I reckon 2019 was probably the last vintage in Tasmania when you had any real choice in making calls on when to pick," he adds.
"More often than not, we've been basing our decisions on avoiding rain events. In many respects, 2020 and 2021 were typical Tasmanian vintages. Vintages pretty much controlled by nature and the weather.
"Fortunately, we've been able to produce some very good wines, despite the seasons being far from ideal."
Few vineyards crews enjoy working outdoors when it's raining.
But that's not the major reason for occasionally having to suspend picking during vintage. Steady downpours in late summer and early autumn can often cause Pinot Noir berries to swell with water at an alarming rate.
That not only brings a corresponding dilution of fruit flavour and a drop in natural grape sugars. There's a genuine risk of fruit splitting among clonal selections that have especially thin skins.
Picking Pinot Noir when it's out of condition is what gives the variety such a bad name among diehard fans of big bold Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon wines. The resulting wines invariably lack colour, flavour and texture.
It's far better for vineyard managers to wait until weather patterns improve and for swollen berries to have had a chance to dehydrate a little before resuming picking.
That's easier said than done if there are diminishing hopes that the weather will improve significantly, especially during late April and May.
"Vintage 2021 for Tamar Ridge and Devil's Corner was pretty much the opposite of 2020," Wallace continues.
"This year, the months that preceded harvest were generally much cooler and wetter than normal. Fortunately, the weather eased throughout March and April. We had a good harvest period in the north of the State, with lower than average rainfall and some warm, sunny days.
"Our Hazards Vineyard on the East Coast copped around 120mm of rain during the last week of March. But we had close to 90 percent of our fruit off our vines by then. Our wine style focuses on producing Pinot Noir wines with around 13 percent alcohol. Leaving our fruit to hang on the vine for an extended period just isn't what we're on about.
"This vintage was my twelfth in Tasmania. Over that time, we've developed a really good understanding of our vineyards in the Tamar and on the East Coast. That allows us to identify certain blocks – and even certain rows – that are performing better than others as we head towards vintage.
"We're also looking to pick relatively early in order to create that more elegant, prettier style of wine. We're trying to capture the freshness and brightness of Tasmania's cool climate. To create wines that are great to drink but will age and give you years of love."
Talk is cheap, but there's no doubt Wallace is achieving what he says he's trying to do for the Brown Family Wine Group's flagship Pinot Noirs in Tasmania.
The company's Devil's Corner Pinot Noir is the number one Pinot Noir in the country by volume and value. In current figures, that translates into an incredible 684,200 bottles of Devil's Corner, with annual sales topping $13.5m. (Aztec National Scan Data, MAT 02/05/21.)
Those may be workhorse statistics, but Wallace has shown he and assistant winemaker Anthony De Amicis (pictured) are capable of producing thoroughbred Pinot Noir wines as well.
On May 24, the Brown Family Wine Group announced its Tamar Ridge Reserve and Devil's Corner Resolution wines from the 2018 vintage were awarded gold medals at the Global Pinot Noir Masters 2020.
The company's Tamar Ridge Estates Pinot Noir from 2018 was awarded a bronze medal at the same event.
Organised by The Drinks Business, the Global Pinot Noir Masters was held on March 4 at London's prestigious Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair. All wines were judged blind by a panel of wine industry luminaries, comprising Masters of Wines, Master Sommeliers and senior wine buyers in the UK wine trade.
According to Patrick Schmitt MW, the event proved why so many consumers persist with Pinot Noir.
"That's because, when it's good, it delivers a combination of fragrance and texture quite unlike anything else on the planet," he noted.
"We had stunning wines from a broad sweep of places, including Australia, California, Canada, Chile, England, France, Italy, New Zealand, Romania and South Africa.
"There was something else we realised following this year's competition. That was Pinot's impressive versatility.
"Pinot can make delicious traditional method sparkling wine. It can also make wonderful pure expressions of rosé and red wine. And in terms of the latter, the stylistic range is broad, from a pretty light redcurrant tasting result to something richer, sometimes slightly jammy. Or at the top end, something smooth and seductive – sometimes gently tannic – but the ideal partner for fine-grained, toasty oak.
"If one was to draw a generalisation about this grape, it is that quality is most closely connected to the individual producer rather than the climate or soil of the vineyard.
"Where conditions are good enough to successfully ripen Pinot Noir, the quality relates to how attentively it is managed in the field and the winery. That takes sensitivity and experience. And even when both these are apparent, weather conditions during the vintage can easily spoil things, along with small errors in the cellar.
"Looking across the top scorers, it is exciting to see how many regions are represented, proving that you don't need to default to Bourgogne for great Pinot Noir."
Amen to that.
First published 29 May 2021: tasmaniantimes.com