New Sensation: Aussie Wines Without Excess!

2/7/19 -

In South Australia, amidst the record-breaking heat and monolithic rows of commercial-zeal, there is a new pulse in one of the world's most maligned wine regions. In modest sheds built on parched hills, some of Australia's magic is reemerging. It's not the flashy, ambitious sort of the early aughts; it's a discreet sea-change that's gaining momentum despite the humble deflections of those now in the spotlight.

As outsiders, it's easy to draw comparisons between Australia's natural wines to the "glou-glou" we love so well from France: low tannins, no sulfur -- the wines share the celebratory "drink now" joie de vivre that we have certainly embraced at Chambers. But where are the Baudrys of Adelaide? The Lapierres of Margaret River? The Aussie New Wave might argue that they aren't trying to to be the Down Under counterparts. But Australia has terroir, after all. From the aromatic eucalyptus oils vaporizing in the midday sun to the smoky wild herbs and oxidized soils - it's there. And, now there's actually a group of uncompromising people who take the time to care about that more than growing a brand. Indeed, Penfolds and Cullen would say Australia absolutely does have terroir (but it requires an arithmetic intervention to interpret those virtues).

It's a stark contrast between someone making humble wines in their shed versus an enormous estate. Australia is vast and it's impossible to know what everyone is or isn't doing in the vines or adding in their cellars. Nor is it important when there is transparency. Whatever category we assign the following wines; whatever the winemakers lack in certain inherited "know-how," they more than make up for in their pursuit of making honest wines from organic fruit. Which is to say, when they declare there is nothing added to their wines, they mean nothing added. They're not omitting the multiple doses of sulfur, the tiniest bit of tartaric acid, or Champagne yeast inoculation hiding behind the unassuming, homespun label.

The wines offered today represent a tiny subculture of winemakers who have access to and/or domain over the grapes they use from specific sites in the Adelaide and one singular wine from Margaret River. It's an exciting cross-section for natural wine enthusiasts and connoisseurs alike. Amanda Bowman