Australia makes great Shiraz and Chardonnay but there are 140 grape varieties grown in Australia and the average wine drinker can only name about dozen of these. In November the annual Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show celebrated its 10th Birthday!  This show was initiated in 1999 by 3 icons of the Australian wine scene and began as the Sangiovese Awards and turned into the Australian Italian Wine Show in 2000.Following the success of these shows the first Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show was held in Mildura in November 2001. The initial concept has evolved to include all alternative wine varieties (which are usually marginalised at mainstream shows) and now attracts over 600 entries from throughout Australia and New Zealand.The show aims to provide an alternative to the mainstream wine shows, a dedicated forum for alternative or emerging wine varieties and to encourage alternative, more cutting edge judging procedures.The Show is run by a group of passionate people including Chief of Judges, Max Allen and forces in the Australian wine industry Louisa Rose elected Chairman in 2009, Bruce Chalmers, Kathleen Quealy and Mark Walpole. Along with the committee this group is committed to exploring the growing, making, marketing and drinking of these exciting new wines. These local or alternative varieties are also quite eco-friendly being quite drought hardy they don’t require the set up of costly irrigation systems or time consuming trellising techniques. Alternative varieties are a great option for wineries conscious of reducing their carbon footprint.

In December the Qld chapter of Sommeliers Australia conducted a blind tasting of 15 Australian wines made from ‘alternative’ grape varieties. This tasting was conducted for two reasons the first; to taste and profile these interesting wines that are becoming more and more common in our fine wine retailers and wine bars and second; to share our own experiences of how the public respond to these wines and how to get the average punter to order a glass of one of these unusual and often difficult to pronounce varieties.

The tasting began with the following 7 white wines from all around Australia. As the tasting was conducted blind (covered bottles, so the wines identity remained unknown until after tasting and ratings were conducted) I will list the wines in order of preference as agreed by the group of Sommeliers present.

1. DeBortoli ‘DBHV’ Hunter Valley Vermentino Bio-Dynamically Grown
2. Yarraloch Yarra Valley Arneis
3. Chapel Hill McLaren Vale Savignin Bio-Dynamically Grown
4. Quealy Mornington Peninsula Tocai Fruilano
5. Bream Creek Tasmania Schonberger
6. Kabminye Barossa Valley Kerner
7. Sam Miranda King Valley Petit Manseng

The general recurring comment on the whites was of an obvious savoury  minerality and lower than normal alcohol levels 12.5% rather than 14%  separated these wines from  more common grape varieties like Chardonnay or Pinot Gris. The comments made were that the wines were light, savoury and refreshing, great styles for our Queensland climate and for the many bistro’s and wine bars popping up all over Brisbane.
The 6 reds tasted blind also in order of preference were;

1. Crittenden  Mornington Peninsula Barbera
2. Tscharke Barossa Valley Montepulciano
3. Lowe Family Mudgee Zinfandel Organically Grown
4. Domain Day Mt Crawford Saperavi (2003 vintage only aged wine in line up)
5. D’Arenberg McLaren Vale Sagrantino
6. Point Leo Road Mornington Peninsula Lagrein

The reds were all given very favourable responses, with comments made about the savoury elements of the wine high lighting the bright fruit quality. Quite a few different styles of red in this line up in terms of body and weight of the wine but in general all showed good balance and concentration without showing any jamminess or heat on the palate.  Again these wines were referenced against many food styles Spanish tapas menu’s, Mediterranean dishes, game dishes and cheese plates seemed the ideal choices.
This led us to conclude that the best way to get Jo Public wine drinker to try these exciting new wines would be to offer a special glass price with a recommended dish, something changes on a weekly basis or give a choice of three dishes would be the ideal way to boost sales and show support for these interesting local styles.
These wines are definitely better suited to hand sells so be sure to educate your staff with a tasting and quick story about the wine that they can pass on to your clients and be sure to let your staff taste the wine with the dishes the wines are being paired with.