Decanter World Wine AwardsChardonnay is Australia’s best variety, says Jefford
- Wednesday 6 October 2010
Writing in the November issue of Decanter magazine, Jefford says the variety should be held up as Australia’s example of how to express varietal and regional characters across a broad range of climates.
Chardonnay’s success, he suggests, could help other varieties become more consistent.
‘After tasting a few thousand Australian wines over the past 18 months, I’ve no doubt that it’s Chardonnay, not Shiraz or Cabernet, which is Australia’s most consistently successful variety.’
‘Since the early ’80s, it has been grown in nearly every region of Australia with some success, and some regions have emerged as being highly suited to the variety.’
Jefford recently returned from a year researching in terroir in Australia.
He attributes much of Chardonnay’s success to Australian winemakers who, he says, are world leaders in making Chardonnay.
‘Australians are adept crafters of wines - their theoretical knowledge of the processes involved is unmatched, and their tasting skills refined.’
‘There is no variety that responds better to craft than Chardonnay, and the greatest Australian examples are perfect syntheses of grape, place and intellectual understanding.’
The Decanter columnist has previously lambasted Australia’s handling of other grape varieties. In the July issue of Decanter magazine, he issued a controversial warning to Australian vineyard owners, suggesting that Shiraz was ‘ill-suited’ to the Barossa.
‘The past quarter-century will eventually be viewed as lost time: a period during which many of Australia’s greatest terroirs underperformed, with sometimes ill-suited varieties lingering for too long in the wrong locations.
‘An example of the latter – and I accept that this will seem heretical to many – is Shiraz in the Barossa and McLaren Vale.’
Jefford is currently writing a book on Australian wine, focussing on terroir, due to be published in 2012.
You can read the full article in the November issue of Decanter magazine – out now.
Have your say!
Luke
October 13 13:14
Sam - Tri Nations Wine? You mean the one where NZ has won the last two, Australia the previous six?
...
James Tilbrook
October 11 15:52
Oh, come on Bob! Where have you been? Here's just a few fantastic Chardonnays, all cool climate grown and all 13 to 13.5% alcohol - the same as white Burgundy(hardly "picked too early"!): Shaw and Smith M3, Ashton Hills, Eileen Hardy, Yattarna, Bin 06A, Bindi, Curly Flat, Giaconda, Savaterre, Coldstream Hills, Toolangi, Yabby Lake, Kooyong, Leeuwin, Cullen,
Brookland Valley. I could mention another 50 or so in the top league. All are from Margaret River, Adelaide Hills, Macedon, Mornington Peninsula, Yarra Valley, Beechworth, Orange, Tasmania.
Hervé Lalau
October 10 18:24
There's one thing you can't reproach Australians with, and Mr Kennedy in particular, it is their excess of politeness. Even if I did not agree with Mr Jefford, I would not say his taste buds are rubbish - and how are yours, Mr. Kennedy, so full of self-confidence?
We need some tolerance as much as we need good wine, wherever it comes.
Bob Kennedy
October 08 08:35
Jefford's taste buds are clearly rubbish. Aussie Chardonnay *was* good, but nowdays it's a crap immitation of Sav Blanc, picked too early and thus far too acidic - and I'm a proud Australian saying that! Conversely BV Shiraz ranks as world leading as evidenced by the demand for the best of it at extreme prices. I might buy Jefford's books as a guide on what to not buy ie. anything he likes.