Writer Steve Leszczynski was awarded the Fellowship for the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show in Mildura. What he saw – and tasted – was all positive.
In The Week That Was last week you said, “Make Australian Wine Great Again.”
Can I suggest that you jump in your Maserati and head to Mildura for a looksy?
If the fuel budget is already blown for the month, pick up the phone and have a chat with the Chalmers family.
Bruce or his crew would be more than happy to talk to you about the work they are doing with disease resistance, varieties capable of conserving water and varieties suited to the ever-changing Australian landscape.
Winemaker Bart van Olphen is even investigating whether rootstocks impact the flavour profile of the wine.
In the vineyard they are even using 40 percent less water than others in the region.
Failing that, have a yap with the incredibly humble yet determined Mark Walpole from Fighting Gully Road.
He is doing extraordinary things for cool climate alternative varieties over in Beechworth.
I was fortunate to be awarded the Fellowship for the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show held last week.
The work this community is doing is quite compelling.
733 wines were judged from 212 exhibitors and 64 regions were represented, not to mention the 110 varieties that came across the bench.
What an incredible set of numbers!
Sure, some varieties are hard to pronounce, but with the aid of the Muppets Mahna Mahna jingle, the name of these varieties roll off the tongue (fact!).
Give it a go with Falanghina.
I even managed to get a few hundred people in the room singing along at the awards lunch!
I guess you had to be there…
Sure, there are things not going well in the industry at the moment, there is no shirking that.
It is always easy to find the fault and the negatives.
But push the curtains back and there is plenty of joy and radiance out there, if you want to look for it.
Photo: Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show.
• This letter first appeared in our weekly newsletter The Week That Was.
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