A warm-region variety has conquered its cool-climate cousins in the Adelaide Hills show, reports TONY LOVE.
GEOFF Hardy stalks his impressive acreage of vines at Kuitpo on the very southwestern edge of the Adelaide Hills wine region. Just to the west - way below him, it seems - is McLaren Vale. But he knows better than to lump himself in with that mob - and it's all because of the thermometer he keeps a constant eye on.
Kuitpo, he says, is 2 1/2 degrees colder and three weeks later in ripening than the Vales but just one degree warmer than Lenswood, for instance, which can only ever be associated with the colder Adelaide Hills region. These numbers, and the rigid practice of low cropping and open vine management that allows fruit the full rays of the sun, means that Hardy can successfully grow Shiraz in what is designated the cool-climate Hills. The variety is usually associated with far warmer districts, but last week the Geoff Hardy K1 2001 Adelaide Hills Shiraz was scored the top wine of the region's annual wine show.
On its way to that trophy it also won its varietal class and best red of the show, with international chair of judges Robert Joseph declaring that the shiraz class was the region's strongest this year. This realisation and the trophy choice called into question the capacity for the Hills to comfortably call itself a cool-climate region, Joseph said. "Maybe parts of the Hills are warm enough to ripen shiraz successfully, which means it's not really a cool-climate region," Joseph said. The best scored shirazes went to producers at the far-flung edges of the geographically large region, with Paracombe winery in the north and Longview vineyards in the south both doing well. Joseph suggested the region might have to think about breaking into subregions, some specialising in cool-climate varieties like sauvignon blanc and pinot noir, others choosing to produce varieties better suited to warmer Hills sites.
Hardy, like many Hills producers, agrees that the region has many micro-climates within its borders. "Some are able to produce phenomenal shiraz while other areas, like Lenswood and Piccadilly, cannot even contemplate the variety," Hardy says. Several of the wines Joseph based his comments on came from 2001, one of the hottest summers on record and therefore able to support the Shiraz variety better. But the 2002 vintage, the coldest on record in the region, has already turned out several cracker shirazes that suggest the variety will be increasingly site-driven.
Despite his warnings, Joseph did predict an undoubted potential for the region. "It's one of the most beautiful areas in Australia and one of the most beautiful wine-growing areas in the world," he said. "It produces world-class wines and will continue to do so."
by Tony Love
