The Future of Wine

The Australian, Max Allen, June 2009

Australia's wine industry is evolving fast as consumers' tastes develop and new regions and grape varieties come on-stream. So what will we be drinking in 10 years' time? Can anything knock sauvignon blanc and shiraz off their perch? And which winemakers are looking for opportunities in climate change, where others see only threats? Max Allen talks to six people who are shaping the future of Australian wine.

FUTURE GRAPES
Kim Chalmers, Chalmers Wines, Murray Darling and Heathcote
A decade ago, pinot grigi owas an obscure alternative grape in Australia. Now it's this country's fifth most-planted white variety, thanks largely to the efforts of the Chalmers family. Through their vine nursery business and own wine label, the Chalmers have been passioante advocates of alternate grapes such as pinot grigio, sangiovese and tempranillo. Kim Chalmers' interest in
alternatives stems from concern about global warming: "We believe drought-tolerant grape varieties from the southern Mediterranean - white grapes like vermentino and reds like nero d'avola - are better suited to hotter, drier conditions than chardonnay or merlot."
Chalmers is excited about a new vineyard the family is establishing on the prized Cambrian soils of Heathcote in Victoria. Although there will be some shiraz, there will also be sangiovese, lagrein, sagrantino and, on the highest, rockiest bit of the property, aglianico. "It's a red grape from
Campania with an amazing savoury quality," she says. "It's going to be awesome."

FUTURE WINE
Louisa Rose, chief winemaker, Yalumba, Barossa
Whatever the Next Big Thing turns out to be, Louisa Rose will probably be the one who makes it. Yalumba has been at the forefront of introducing new wine styles to Australian drinkers over the past decade: perfumed white viognier and slinky, supple red tempranillo. Soon, look out for crisp, dry whites made from other Mediterranean grapes, such as vermentino and fiano, and in a few years - if Rose gets her way - sauvignon blanc-like whites made from drought-tolerant verdejo. Yalumba also leads the industry in environmental performance: reducing carbon emissions, increasing biodiversity and exploring organic viticulture. As well as looking to the future, it has been celebrating its 150-year-old Barossa heritage by developing an Old Vine charter, and releasing reds from ancient shiraz and grenache plants.
This inspirational formula works because Yalumba is a family-owned business. "We're not trying to keep shareholders happy," says Rose. "We have the freedom to play with new wine styles because we are creating our own future."

FUTURE REGION
Adam Chapman, chief winemaker, Sirromet Wines, Queensland
Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, Margaret River ... Granite Belt. While this southern Queensland region might not yet have the same cachet as other areas, it is emerging as one of the most exciting wine destinations in the country, thanks to winemakers such as Adam Chapman.
Australian wine drinkers are becoming more discerning and looking for more distinctive wines that tell a story about where they're from, their terroir - the combination of country, climate and culture that produces unique characters in the wines grown there. With its cool, high-altitude, stony, sandy-soil vineyards, the Granite Belt has terrior in spades. Sirromet's winery and restaurant is at Mount Cotton, outside Brisbane, and manages to balance commercial appeal with
environmental responsibility: all the winery and kitchen waste is composted in a large worm farm
before being spread out on the vineyard. Earlier this year the winery launched a range of wines called First Step in lightweight, low-energy plastic bottles. The shape of things to come: more innovative green packaging like this.

FUTURE VINEYARDS
Toby Bekkers, general manager and senior viticulturist, Paxton, McLaren Vale
One day, most of Australia's best vineyards will be farmed organically, without chemicals. A big call? It's already happening. Paxton is one of McLaren Vale's most highly respected grape-growing businesses, managing 120 hectares of vineyards. Since 2004, Toby Bekkers has converted most of those vineyards to the rather controversial biodynamic principles of organic farming of organic farming - burying cow horns, following lunar cycles, that kind of thing. The company has also signed up for the 1% For The Planet environmental network, and is in the process of attaining carbon neutral status.
This conversion has been enormously influential: the long list of other well-known McLaren Vale producers now heading down a similar green path includes Gemtree, Wirra Wirra, Chapel Hill and Kangarilla Road. For Bekkers, adopting biodynamics is about emphasising the individuality, sustainability and integrity of the fruit he grows. "My gut tells me the 'farmers market' mentality is going to keep growing," he says. "People want to know more and more about what they're putting in their mouths."

FUTURE SCIENCE
Dr Leanne Webb, climate change researcher, CSIRO/University of Melbourne
Two years ago, Leanne Webb stood up in front of 1000 winemakers at the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference and explained how climate change is going to affect them: regions we now consider cool will become warm, she said, and warm regions could become too hot to grow wine grapes at all. "I think I gave them a bit of a fright," Webb says now. "But what we've seen in the 2008 and 2009 vintages with the heatwaves - these extreme events are projected to become more frequent and the industry needs to start planning for it."
A huge amount of research is underway into how the Australian wine industry can adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. Webb has spent the past few months visiting heat-affected vineyards, finding out which viticultural management practices held up best to the scorching sun.
She's also working on how climate change might alter winery design: "Vintages are becoming more compressed. Grape varieties that used to ripen four weeks apart are ripening closer together. Winemakers have to change the way they think about everything."

FUTURE SHOPPING
Grant Ramage, liquor merchandise and marketing manager, Coles Myer Liquor Group
Grant Ramage is one of the people you can thank for the bottle of New Zealand sauvignon blanc in your fridge. As one of the people who decide which wines are stocked in the Liquorland, Vintage Cellars and 1st Choice stores across the country, he has a lot of influence over your wine-buying habits. Who better to ask about what we'll be drinking next? "One of the biggest trends over the last few years and one that we think will continue is increased diversity," Ramage says. "We know Vintage Cellars customers in particular like to drink serious, foodie wines ... people want more textural, savoury characters."
To satisfy this demand, Ramage and his team have been shipping more wines from Europe: spicy Cotes du Rhone; slurpy reds from Spain; floral whites from France. This increased exposure to global wines is encouraging Australian makers to experiment. "If you look at the success of Marlborough sauvignon blanc, it has a profile of flavour that does something for people," he says. "If we can turn chardonnay around a little to deliver some of that flavour, it could be a big move."