JORDAN ESTATE 2023 WINE SAPERAVI (Riverland, SA)
These days the wine industry around the world is rather downcast and negative, what with global warming, declining wine consumption and the anti-alcohol lobby doing it’s darndest. However there is one microcosm of positivity, and that is Amateur wine making.
When one mentions amateur winemakers, most people shudder are regale you with horror stories of neigh-on undrinkable hooch made by swarthy Mediterranean, elderly blokes. Yes I came across quite a few of these in days of yore, however a decade ago a professional winemaker and dear friend asked me to assist him to judge wines at Adelaide’s Blackwood Winemakers & Brewers Club (BWBC). Hesitatingly I agreed and I was really surprised by the quality of the wines we judged.
Since then, I have become involved with the club, and subsequently also with Adelaide’s other amateur wine club Amateur Winemakers and Brewers of Adelaide (AWBA) – est 1972. For 5 years I judged at ANAWBS (the Australian National Amateur Wine & Beer Show) until Covid-19 killed it off.
Today amateur winemakers are in general skilled and dedicated individuals who make pretty darn good wine by any standards, with the occasional Gold Medal winner in most judging’s and almost no faulty wines. The criticism that can be levelled at some of the wines, is that they lack varietal typicity- but then again that criticism can be aimed at a considerable number of professionals who for example treat other red varieties as thought they were Shiraz or Cabernet, as is the case currently with many commercial Tempranillo wines.
The reason I am writing about this is that on Wednesday evening I was one of the judges at the BWBC’s annual 1-3 year old red wines competition where 18 out of the 21 entries scored 15 ½ or higher and the other three were slightly oxidised but had no other winemaking faults.
Here is an example for you, I am passionate about the Georgian red variety Saperavi, today in Australia there are forty wineries producing Saperavi, and all the ones I have tasted so far are to some extent or another in the Australian style-with a goodly amount of oak, until I came across an unoaked Aussie Saperavi which is the spitting image of the classy elegant Georgian Saperavi- unoaked, it could have easily been one of Tbilvino Saperavi.
The wine is the “Jordan Estate” 2023 Riverland Wine #saperavi made by electrician/ amateur winemaker Gavin Pennell. Since he started making wine in 2014 Gavin has earned a raft of medals for his wines, not just in Amateur Wine Shows but also in regional and wine shows such as the recent Southern Yorke Peninsula Agricultural Show where his Touriga/Shiraz and Saperavi won medals and the Fiano was awarded the Top White Wine of the Show.
So next time somebody says to you that a wine is amateur made, block out the images of old Greek or Italian men making plonk in their backyard and conjure up the image of a keen dedicated person (male or female) who despite having another professional vocation is an eager and committed wine maker- they just don’t have a full blown winery to work in.
An on that note of positivity I’ll say ciao until next week.
Have a great week, stay safe, always choose Australia wine and when possible enjoy emerging varieties.
Dan Traucki