The Old Dog

The U.S tends to do things big. The ongoing senate stand-off over the gargantuan national debt ceiling is testament to the fact that when the U.S does something, it does it on a grand scale.

And so it was with Australian wine. The clamour with which the U.S wine drinking cognoscenti displayed all the elements of a mania – extreme excitement, boundless energy and some irritability. Wines with the right scores simply flew (despite their sometimes leaden weight) and importers and distributors fought for the rights of the lucky few. Encouraged by the reverential treatment, some producers even had the audacity to favour the less critical Americans over their stalwart Brit partners.

It was not unusual at the time to receive Australian suppliers who, having spent time in the U.S, were somewhat taken aback to have to convince sceptical U.K buyers that they were anything but jonny-come-latelys.

The sad truth is that even the luke-warm approval of UK critics for Australia’s premium wines turned to apathy and in the U.S the reversal of fortune was more spectacular. With all the grace of Vanessa Feltz dancing the tango, U.S importers and distributors turned toes on Australia and fled what they saw as a sinking ship.

The intervening years have not been kind to Australia, but they have been cathartic. Forced to leave the comforting shores of the UK and U.S, Australian wineries have found a wealthier and more valuable market in the Far East and are no longer totally reliant on the traditional markets.

So, with news this week that the tide is slowly turning for Australian wineries in the U.S, are we to believe that Australia is finally back on course?

Well, the signs seem to signal that this is the case. The global supply and demand cycle is in Australia’s favour for once. Strong like no other currency (except the Canadian$) the Aussie $ is on the slide and forecasts suggest that we might get back to $2:£1 for the first time in many years. This can only improve the quality v value relationship in export markets.

Coupled with this, supply from the larger than expected 2013 vintage is bountiful in warm climate areas and poor in some of the premium regions such as Barossa. This can only be a good thing as it will polarise the price of cheap, irrigated, warm climate fruit from that which has quality, provenance and character.

Elsewhere in the world, the supply situation could play into the hands of the Australian wineries. A generally poor vintage in Europe in 2013 will yield large quantities of mediocre wine in some areas and in others, a mercifully small harvest of below par wine. Chile has just suffered its worst frost for 84 years and the other countries still have the feel of one-trick-ponies. All seems to be going the way of the Australian for once – let’s hope this doesn’t carry through to sport…..

More than all of this though is that the quality and diversity of Australian wine, while always commendable, is now utterly brilliant. Brilliant not only in quality but in subtlety, nuance, experimentation and attitude. Less of the please-all styles of yesteryear and more of the sod-you if you’re not going to buy it we’ll at least make the wine we want to make. And in adopting this attitude, they have, unwittingly set the foundations for the great comeback.

The condescending, used to talk about the more interesting wines of the marginal climates, the quirky, off-beat stuff found in Beechworth, Canberra, Tasmania and such like. Damning with faint praise, the criticism might have had some validity but it ignored the fact that some of the most passionate, life-long experimenters were right at the heart of the industry, working in some of the most established regions.

Nowadays, the roll-call of those willing to push the boundaries and proudly sell wines with a new Australian identity are too numerous to mention (though obviously our very own thousand candles and Domaine A spring to mind) Some of the most controversial wines are being made in that heartland of the traditional Australia, Barossa and, as the standard bearer for Australia in export markets, it is this region that once again is at the forefront of the resurgence of Australia.

As we invest ever deeper in this region with our Thistledown project, I for one am confident that this is one dog who can teach the wine world a few new tricks