menu7. Climate Controversies and Varietal Views: The papers of the Seventh University House Wine Symposium
Kiaran Kirk
The Seventh University House Wine Symposium opened with the focus firmly on climate change. Brian Schmidt, a vigneron with a passion for Pinot Noir (and who was, later that year, awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics), introduced the first speaker of the day, Professor Andy Pitman. Andy is Professor in Climate Science at the University of New South Wales and Director of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science. He presented data showing climate change trends and he emphasised the need for planning for climate change and for investing in adaptation, noting that there is no ‘silver bullet’. He also spoke passionately about the nature of the climate change debate. Andy’s other commitments precluded him from providing a written paper for the proceedings, but aspects of what he covered in his symposium talk are included in articles posted on the ARC Centre’s website (<http://www.climatescience.org.au/articles/peerreview.html>). In the best traditions of academic meetings, Andy’s talk generated a lot of discussion that continued throughout the symposium and beyond. The following evening, in his talk at the symposium dinner, James Halliday, the foremost observer of and commentator on the Australian wine scene, took the opportunity to respond to aspects of Andy’s talk and to take issue with the extent of human-induced climate change. This in turn led to further discussion and debate in articles in The Canberra Times, both by Brian Schmidt (who urged people to read the Australian Academy of Science’s report The Science of Climate Change (2010)) and by wine writer Chris Shanahan (2011), as well as on Brian Croser’s Tapanappa Wine website blog (2011).
The second speaker at the symposium was Leanne Webb, a research fellow at the University of Melbourne and CSIRO, whose work is in the field of climate change adaptation, with a particular focus on the wine industry. In her article for these proceedings, Leanne focuses on climate projections for Australia, and the Canberra District in particular, discussing the likely magnitude of the temperature increase, and the possible consequences in terms of rainfall and extreme temperature events. Leanne then goes on to provide a thoughtful analysis of the likely impacts of climate change on grape growing and wine production.
In his interesting historical piece, Brian Johnston, a former CSIRO researcher and advisor and the co-author, with Janet Johnson, of the book Wines of the Canberra District: Coming of Age, describes the early efforts of various property owners who grew grapes in the Yass–Gunning area following the opening up of pastoral land for grazing in the early 1820s. The last of the original wineries in the region closed in 1908 and it was not until 1971 that the first of the commercial vineyards that now make up the Canberra District were established on the Murrumbateman and Lake George sites.
In the intervening 40 years, two varieties have emerged as particular strengths of the Canberra District: Riesling and Shiraz. In his article, Brian Croser, a doyen of the Australian wine industry and a speaker at the Third University House Symposium in 1979, first reflects on the history of the Canberra District, as well as that of the University House Wine Symposium itself, before turning his attention to Riesling—‘the noblest white’. He charts the German origins of the variety and its history in Australia, he discusses the effect of climate and soil type on Riesling wine, and describes the combination of Riesling and Canberra as ‘a compass point…in the biologically complex and variable world of fine wine’.
In his article, Dan Buckle, the winemaker at Mount Langi Ghiran, counters with the proclamation that ‘[i]n this country, Shiraz is king, at least so far’, whilst noting in his historical overview of the variety that ‘in France [Shiraz] has never had the noble, aristocratic status of Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon, and this indeed might be part of the reason this variety fits so well with Australia’. He highlights the large geographical expanse of Shiraz plantings in Australia, he draws a distinction between the falling prices for ‘commodity’ Shiraz-grape prices and the rising reputation (and price) of Australian Shiraz in the fine-wine market, and he rails against the recent tendency by some cool-climate winemakers to refer to the variety as ‘Syrah’.
Although Shiraz and Riesling have emerged as the two pre-eminent varieties of the Canberra District, as Brian Johnston highlights in his article, many other varieties have been planted in the Canberra District, with a significant number of them gaining substantial recognition and success. As well as the expected mainstream varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and so on), recent years have seen the successful production in the Canberra District of wines from a range of other grape varieties, including Viognier, Sangiovese, Gruner Veltliner and Tempranillo. In the first of two articles on ‘Emerging and Alternative Varieties’, Libby Tassie, a viticultural consultant with a longstanding interest in alternative grape varieties, discusses the reasons for planting alternative varieties (potential climate change not least of these) and the challenges and choices involved. She emphasises the need for more comparative information and for more regional trials to determine the best fit for these new varieties. In his piece on the same topic, Nick Stock, one of Australia’s most highly regarded and prolific wine commentators, recognises the importance of ‘varietal exploration’, but sounds a cautionary note. He warns (with characteristic forthrightness) against the trend of ‘lesser producers in a region [failing] to make wine of sufficient quality in that region’s most established/famous/successful/important/celebrated styles and so [taking] refuge in [the] obscurity [of alternative varieties] as a means of staying out of a competition they cannot win’. And he emphasises the importance of staying focused on producing great wine, not just different wine.
In the final paper of the proceedings, Brian Walsh, another of the most senior and most highly regarded figures of the Australian wine industry and currently the Director of Strategy and Business Development at Yalumba, considers the question ‘is it better to have an average wine from an exceptional single site or an outstanding wine from a combination of sites’. He reflects on the concept of terroir, on the history of inter and intra-regional blending in Australia, and on the history—perhaps under-celebrated—of single-site wines in Australia. As he notes, ‘many great fine [Australian] wines have been and will continue to be made’ both from grapes from a combination of sites and from grapes from single vineyards. Both approaches are well represented in the wines now produced in the Canberra District and both have been rewarded with very considerable success.
References
Australian Academy of Science, 2010, ‘The Science of Climate Change: Questions and Answers’, http://www.science.org.au/policy/climatechange.html
Croser, B., 2011, ‘7th ANU University House Wine Symposium’, May 22 2011, http://www.tapanappawines.com.au/blog/may2011/7th-anu-university-house-wine-symposium
Shanahan, C., 2011, ‘Chilly climate at ANU Wine Symposium’, Canberra Times, 15 June 2011, http://chrisshanahan.com/articles/2011/chilly-climate-at-anu-wine-symposium
