Strangebird on the loose - Petit Verdot

Juliane from Granite Ridge Wines is here this week to tell us a little bit about Petit Verdot.

'Petit Verdot means 'the little green one' - it is a late ripening variety with intense colour and high tannins.  Its home is Bordeaux, France where it is used as a small component in the Bordeaux blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec.

We first became interested in planting the variety after tasting a straight Petit Verdot from Maclaren Vale in the late 1990s.  We planted ours in 1999 and have found it suits our climate and is relatively trouble free to grow.  It grows in a loose bunch and has small berries with thick skins, which means that it is fairly disease resistant and can cope with our summer rains.  Our vines crop vigorously and we thin the bunches to keep the yield down.

 We make a 100% Petit Verdot and also use it in our red blends. It produces a beautiful dense, dark wine with aromas of violets, spice and leather and some wonderful flavours of dark berries, plums and cherries.  Our current release is the 2009 Petit Verdot.'

 
The Stanthorpe State High School also introduced Petit Verdot to its vineyard some years ago and this fruit was the basis of the Banca Ridge 2013 Petit Verdot that won the first Gold medal received by QCWT and the SSHS.

Strangebird on the loose - Malbec

Malbec is grown by a few wineries on the Strangbird Trail - Ballandean Estate, Golden Grove, Bungawarra, Whisky Gully and Summit Estate.

A rich dark purple with blackberrry and violet notes, Malbec loves high elevation. In lower elevations, Malbec grapes struggle to produce the acidity they need to create great tasting and long lasting wine. High elevation areas with a wide diurnal temperature shift, typified by hot days and  cold nights,  make the grapes produce more acidity 

http://winefolly.com/review/what-is-malbec-wine/
 

Jeff Harden from Bungawarra says that in his vineyard, Malbec in relatively small quantities was planted  by previous owners about 1982, for use as a blender with Cabernet Sauvignon as was traditional in France in the Bordeaux blend.  A few years ago, he realised his biggest, healthiest vines were by now  those Malbec - it clearly liked it here, so he budded some of my other vines across to Malbec (using buds from my existing Malbec to keep the clone pure).  His first 100% Malbec wine was made at last in 2012 - a huge, peppery/berry wine ideal with barbecues and game.

Strangebird on the loose - Graciano

Graciano is a Spanish red wine grape that was developed initially in Rioja where it is considered a  ‘noble’ vine.Graciano is a challenging, low-yielding variety that is often made into a Gran Reserva because of its great lasting ability. This wine is characterised by its deep red colour and strong aroma and ability to age well. Graciano thrives in warm, arid climates. Locally, it is grown by Savina Lane.'Graciano was growing here when we bought the vineyard and we are thrilled with the spicy notes and and silky mouth feel with a medium body red', says Brad from Savina Lane.

 Savina Lane Reserve Graciano 2012 won Gold at the 2014 Australian Alternative Varieties Show in Mildura Victoria. Here's what the label says:


GRACIANO RESERVE 2012
Elegant spice notes with aromas of raspberry and plum. Intense mulberry, blackberry and vanilla flavours deliver a powerful finish backed with superfine grainy tannins.
From the Rioja region of Spain, Graciano thrives in our small vineyard at 850m on the cool border plateau of the Granite Belt. Perfect with all red meat dishes, especially venison and lamb. Serve around 18°C Alcohol: 14.2% Cellaring: 2024
 

Fringewine blog on-line @ http://fringewine.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/graciano-rioja-spain.html has this to say about the variety:

‘Graciano is thought to be native to Rioja, where it is used to provide color and aroma to blended Rioja red wines... Typically, it makes up less than 15% of the blend when it is used at all. It can also be found in neighboring Navarra. Graciano was once very widely grown in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France where it was known as Morrastel (which can be confusing, as Morrastel is a Spanish synonym for Mourvedre) but it was uprooted in the late 20th century in favor of hardier, more productive varietals, especially something called Morrastel Bouchet which was a cross between Graciano and Petit Bouschet developed by Henri Bouschet. There is some grown in Australia, where it is known as Morrastel (though some of this may be Mourvedre as well), and some grown in California, where it is known as Xeres. It is thought that Portugal's Tinta Miúda may actually be Graciano.’

Are you confused yet?

Graciano is good with red meat, in particular, venison and lamb, or other stronger tasting or gamey meats. Check out an award winner at Savina Lane.

Strangebird on the loose - Barbera

Congratulations to Mark Ravenscroft. An article featuring Mark and Raven's Croft Wines appeared in the October-November edition of Queensland Smart Farmer.

'Most of my wines are made as natural as they can be. I use only the best quality grapes, thereby ensuring minimal use of sulphur. I also use a lot of wild yeast fermentation and do not add any powdered tannins. No animal products are used and my wines are therefore vegan friendly' Mark told Peter Scudamore-Smith.

The new Strangebird and wine trail map has been released at the Brisbane Good Food and Wine Show, so the Information Centre staff have been finding out a bit about some of the alternative varieties. 

Alternative varieties are defined as those that represent not more than 1 % of the total bearing vines in Australia This week we asked Peter from Boireann and Sam from Golden Grove to tell us about Barbera.

'Barbera is an Italian variety from the Piedmont region. It makes a deeply coloured wine with intense flavours. It is high in natural acid but low-ish in tannin consequently it is a good match for some food that would also go with white wine. It is a great match also for Italian dishes that don’t necessarily involve meat. We decided to grow Barbera because it’s Italian and we love all things (wine and food) Italian. We also have other Italian varieties - Sangiovese and Nebbiolo' says Peter.

'I decided to plant Barbera because of its Italian origin- I was looking at Italian varieties and decided to plant this one. There were a number that I could have chosen. The performance of this variety looked impressive and I was not wrong.It has performed really well for us here at Golden Grove' says Sam.

Wine-searcher (online @ http://www.wine-searcher.com/grape-27-barbera) reports that Barbera-based wines were a favourite with Savoyard army officers, who considered the wine a ‘sincere companion’, which helped them maintain their courage in battle.