Top Australian multi-regional blends

Fine wine is virtually synonymous with single vineyards, estates and individual regions. But not in Australia, whose winemakers are famously free of constraints.

Take the iconic Penfolds multi-regional blend Grange. Creator Max Schubert attributed a visit to Bordeaux with sparking ‘the idea of producing an Australian red wine capable of staying alive for a minimum of 20 years’.

During the plane journey home, Schubert reasoned: ‘If I was careful enough in the choice of area and vineyard… I’d be able to make the type and style of wine I wanted.’

Scroll down for Sarah’s top 18 Australian blends

His rationale still informs Penfolds’ approach today, no matter how improbable the logistics. Take Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay 2017, made with grapes from three states – New South Wales (Tumbarumba), South Australia (Adelaide Hills) and Tasmania. While all the source vineyards were cool climate, distance-wise this equates to blending grapes from Bordeaux, Jerez and Emilia-Romagna!

At the other end of the price spectrum, multi-regional blending provides the consistency of quality and style, and economies of scale, that underpin volume brands.

Invariably labelled ‘South Eastern Australia’, big players have considerable latitude with these wines, given that this zone encompasses New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and parts of Queensland and South Australia.

My brief for this tasting was to explore the middle ground (£8-£40) which, if London’s annual Australia Trade Tasting is a guide, seems to be diminishing. Multi-regional blends represented just 15% of the wines shown this year, reflecting the rise of single-vineyard, estate and regional wines – sometimes directly at the expense of multi-regional blends.

The usual suspects – big, established companies with huge networks of vineyards and growers – produce polished mid-priced blends aplenty, if not always fireworks.

Cherry-picking on a smaller scale, Wakefield’s smart, relatively new Jaraman range limits itself to local Clare Valley fruit and grapes from another stellar region.

Meanwhile, boutique producers sometimes find fruit from elsewhere irresistible – my recommendation from Gundog Estate draws on Canberra District to flesh out the mid-palate and leaven the savouriness of its Hunter Valley Shiraz.

How to buy

Generally speaking, it pays to seek out examples from regions and/or producers reputed for the varieties in question, though judicious blending from less salubrious regions can produce great bang for buck.

New-wave Australian multi-regional blends might feature Iberian and Italian grapes.

Another fresh approach focusses on drinkability. Wild & Wilder’s co-founder Giles Cooke MW makes ‘seasonal wines’ from ‘experimental batches and excess barrels of premium stuff’.

Lethbridge Wine’s Ray Nadeson makes 47 different wines and enjoys being creative in the moment for his Between Five Bells range, ‘playing around with unconventional flavour and textural combinations as each component evolves’. Let the brainwaves keep coming!

Sarah’s top Australian multi-regional blends:

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