Savagnin on a roll

WINE ... with David Bray

Savagnin. Unless you are well into the business of Australian wine you quite likely haven’t even heard the name. I think you will hear plenty, quite soon. And it’s an interesting story. There about 30 places making wine in Australia from savagnin. Most, if not all, of them were caught up in the plant naming mix-up that rocked the CSIRO last year.
They thought they had planted the popular white Spanish varietal albarino, sourced from the CSIRO grape vine collection through various vine improvement associations. But DNA testing revealed the planting material was actually a clone of savagnin blanc, or traminer, originating from the Jura region of eastern France.
CSIRO had imported the ‘albarino’ clones from the Spanish National Vine Collection in 1989. When the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation directed last year that all albarino would have to be DNA tested to prove its identity before labelling, grape growers decided to go with the name savagnin. The mix-up held up the bottling of last year’s vintage and even forced some growers to relabel their wine.
There are now about 160 hectares of the grape stretching across Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland.
Some of the new wines have scored good reviews and won medals on the Australian wine show circuit.
Three that shone at the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show in Mildura last year are Alba Toro Savagnin from Allinda, the Coolangatta Estate Savagnin 2009 and Crittenden Estate’s Los Hermanos Tributo a Galicia (Savagnin).
I like one writer’s view that “it seems most growers are taking the positive approach that they are spearheading a new trend among Australia wine appreciators, presenting a Spanish style white from a grape that is traditionally treated as an unfortified sherry – vin jaune (yellow wine) – in France”.
Your reporter first came upon wine made from the savagnin grape at a trade tasting a few weeks ago. It carried the Pindarie label, was nicely named La Femme and I liked it a lot: fruity, floral and very drinkable. Pindarie is a family owned and operated business on the western ridge of the Barossa Valley.
Tony Brooks and Wendy Allen are the couple concerned. After jackarooing on properties around Australia, Tony graduated from Roseworthy in 1985 then managed sheep feedlots in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Jordan.
He believes the land should be looked after in a sustainable manner and has planted thousands of native trees and shrubs. New Zealand-born Wendy met Tony at Roseworthy, worked for 12 years with Penfolds, finishing up a senior viticulturist. She completed a graduate diploma in wine business in 2001.
The winery notes tell us La femme is designed for early drinking and is a perfect summer wine, well suited to spicy Asian dishes and simple seafood delights. As well as this little lovely, Pindarie specialises in “premium red wine, tempranilllo, sangiovese and shiraz”. I hope to see them soon.