Wine show & tell: Behind the scenes at AAVWS
"More than just a wine show”, goes the tagline of the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show. The show—AAVWS to its friends (and it has many)—is happy to have the claim interrogated. After all, it’s had a quiet confidence all along that its supposedly niche subject matter deserved an audience way beyond the fringe.
The story of the show's genesis and evolution is a fascinating one, superbly captured by Max Allen in his 2023-published book, Alternative Reality. It chronicles the show from the seed planted in friendship between co-founders Bruce Chalmers, Stefano de Pieri and the late Dr Rod Bonfiglioli through to the present day. Over that time, a whole host of bright, open-minded, charismatic characters have breathed life and colour into it.
In November 2023, it was my pleasure to be invited to judge at the 21st edition of the show. Its unique atmosphere, content and camaraderie prompted me to put together a behind-the-scenes video, which I hope ties together the set-up and running of this special week and its broader context for the present and future of Australian wine.
Grapes into wine: Cooler-climate Cabernets
Cabernet Sauvignon is the world's most-planted wine grape. Mainstream popularity is not always a marker of quality, but in this case we are talking about a seriously strong leader: distinctive, intense, delicious flavour; pronounced aroma; deep colour; and architecture from tannin and acidity. Reigning supreme on the left bank of Bordeaux in southwest France, it heads up a crack team of grapes in formidable, ageworthy red wines, supported by Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. These blends are copied, with many notable successes, across the globe.I spent some time at the historic Yeringberg estate in the Yarra Valley just outside Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, during the 2024 harvest. At this 1863-founded domaine, fourth-generation winemaker Sandra de Pury and her viticulturist brother David compose one of Australia's most celebrated red wines. Known simply as the Yeringberg red, it is a five-way blend of these Bordeaux varieties. The making of this wine opens an insightful window onto the whys and wherefores of crafting a fine example of this universally adored style of wine.
I’m very grateful to the de Pury family and their harvest team for inviting me to hang around and helping put together the footage accompanying this video.
Mind your language! Parmi les vignes (Among the vines)
Mind Your Language is a new Vininspo! series in which we look at words and phrases taken from European languages and universally adopted in the English-speaking wine world. This gives a guide to pronunciation, precise meaning and application. With a look at the roots of words (etymology), a flirtation with the formation of words (morphology) and a bit of linguistic tongue-in-cheekiness, this also gives a chance to keep expanding our web of understanding as we navigate the incredibly rich global winescape. Not only that, it will also go some way to increasing comprehension for English speakers discussing wine with people with another mother tongue.
This short episode looks at various French terms that arise in and around the vines.
Geraldine McFaul on Mornington Peninsula wine
Geraldine McFaul is one of the most experienced and respected winemakers on the Mornington Peninsula. When she started out with Stonier in the mid-90s, the region's wine scene was still in its infancy. Yes, it was 20-odd years since the first vines went in - and good wines had been grown - but it had been a hit-and-miss, trial-and-error ride. Gerry was there as it finished teething, went through its growing pains and shot to global stardom - albeit on an artisanal scale, and thanks in large part to the phenomenal popularity of cooler-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
It was a pleasure to sit down with Gerry on the eve of vintage 2023 to talk about this evolution. The accompanying footage here was shot in the autumn once those wines were tucked away. And the video was published almost 12 months after the conversation took place - but I thought it was well worth sharing Gerry's generous wisdom with you.
Know your étiquette! Kamptal, Austria
Wine writer and educator Ed Merrison of Vininspo! takes a look behind the label of a prominent European wine to help you decipher clues as to what to expect when you open a bottle. This episode is a follow-up to our introduction to Grüner Veltliner. That snapshot came courtesy of the Wachau region; this time we go to the nearby Kamptal Valley and one of Austrian wine’s most revered ambassadors, Willi Bründlmayer. The wine is the family’s single-site bottling from the Lamm vineyard in Kammern.
Know your étiquette! Grüner Veltliner
Wine writer and educator Ed Merrison of Vininspo! takes a look behind the label of a prominent European wine to help you decipher clues as to what to expect when you open a bottle. This episode focuses on the Grüner Veltliner grape, the signature variety of Austria. We travel to the Wachau Valley to try a single-vineyard wine and see why this variety’s global popularity is on the rise.
WSET Level 2: What’s in it for you?
For many, this is where you'll first dip your toe into formal wine studies. And yet it's more than a toe-dip.
The Wine & Spirit Education Trust's Level 2 in Wine - subtitled "Looking Behind the Label" - is quite the plunge, exposing you to a broad array of wines and concepts.
I'm an accredited WSET educator and strong believer in this course.
It's where I started, and I really enjoyed it.
But this video isn't a sales pitch. Instead, it aims to give a sober account of the territory you'd cover if you, too, decided to dive on in.
Know your étiquette! Wachau Federspiel Riesling
Austria has a very rich wine-growing heritage, and it has made incredible strides in spreading its story over the past few decades. Domäne Wachau is one of the estates that has helped get the message out. Here, I pick up a bottle of Domäne Wachau’s Riesling from the Bruck vineyard to help you decipher the not-so-hidden symbols on a $40-bottle of single-site wine from this special, and highly picturesque, region.
Len Evans Tutorial: Why apply for the greatest wine school on earth?
The Len Evans Tutorial is a wild 5-day ride of intense judging and insane wines. Dubbed "the most exclusive wine school on earth", it has a serious purpose: To propel the Australian wine scene onwards and upwards. Wine writer, educator and 2022 scholar Ed Merrison of Vininspo! explains why anyone with the slightest inclination should strive to take part.
Grapes into wine: Making Chardonnay
Chardonnay is the world's most-loved white grape. It is the most widely planted grape across the planet's wine regions, and is responsible for the world's most sought-after and expensive whites. Ed Merrison of Vininspo! visits a vineyard and winery during harvest to track the grapes from vine to wine to show how a top single-site wine might be made.
Grapes into wine: Making Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir has to be the most romanticised black grape on the planet. Ed Merrison of Vininspo! visits a famous Mornington Peninsula vineyard during harvest to bring you this step-by-step guide to how the grapes become a top-quality, single-site wine.
Grapes into wine: Making Pinot Gris
Pinot Gris is a monumentally popular white wine. Ever wondered how these pinky-purple grapes become an elegant, medium-bodied, cool-climate white wine? Here’s how it happens, from harvest to glass!
The joy of MV6
Clones are among the top turn-offs in wine talk. However, you will notice that they crop up (sorry) a bit with Pinot Noir - and MV6 is never far from vignerons’ lips when you’re on the Mornington Peninsula. So what is it, where did it come from and why should we care? Ed Merrison of Vininspo! attempts to answer that with the help of this grenade picked from the Scorpo family's north-facing, 1997-planted block in Merricks North that makes the Eocene single-parcel wine.
Know your étiquette! Manzanilla sherry
After our high-speed chase through the streets of Jerez de la Frontera, it’s time to chill by the coast to visit Fino’s dry-sherry sibling: Manzanilla.
This lightly fortified, ultra-refreshing wine has a lot in common with Fino. Both are “biologically aged” - by which we mean they mature under a veil of flor that protects them from evolving oxidatively. The difference is that the maturation process for Manzanilla takes place exclusively in the town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda.
Once again, Valdespino is the model - this time its Deliciosa bottling - and once again this is a wine intended for drinking upon release. A versatile aperitif and food wine, it’s mercifully easy to find in Australia, and very well priced.
Know your étiquette: Fino sherry
¡Viva España and it’s truly unique vino! We’re off to Andalucía and the vineyards of Jerez today to look at Fino.
Buckle up because it’s a pretty fast ride. Sorry about that - there’s just so much that’s unusual about crafting dry #sherry that it’s hard to cut a long story short. I’ll do a less breathless follow-up on Fino’s sibling Manzanilla soon that should help some of this info stick.
But for now I’d leave you in the capable hand’s of Valdespino, a member of the prestigious Grandes Pagos de España family of winegrowers seeking to highlight the singularity of Spain’s scattered gems.
Know your étiquette: Fantasienamen and the Rheingau
We go a little off-piste this week, with a look at something that sits outside the boundaries of the typically prescriptive German labelling laws. Fantasienamen - fantasy names - are what the Germans call fancifully titled cuvées. Now, what’s in the bottle here might be a dry Riesling lover’s fantasy, but there’s nothing weird about it. In fact, this is a fine example of what the best vineyards of the prestigious Rheingau region conjure from this grape variety.
It comes from one of the country’s pace-setters with site-specific dry Riesling, the Georg Breuer estate in Rüdesheim. And Theresa Breuer happens to be a wonderful person with talent to burn.
Know your étiquette! Dr Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Grosses Gewächs
Wine writer and educator Ed Merrison of Vininspo! takes a look behind the label of a prominent European wine to help you decipher clues as to what to expect when you open a bottle. Having discussed the VDP and its Grosses Gewächs classification in somewhat abstract terms, this episode looks at something concrete, or should we say slaty? It’s Dr Loosen’s 2021 Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling GG.
Know your étiquette: Côtes-du-Rhône Villages
The Rhône Valley is home to some of France’s most important appellation contrôlée wines, both in terms of prestige (think northern Syrah crus such as Côte Rôtie and Hermitage, and southern Grenache-based crus such as Châteauneuf-du-Pape) and production.
Côtes-du-Rhône can be a little uneven in quality, but find a good one and you’re onto a winner in terms of value and drinkability. Australian drinkers are au fait with the concept thanks to the rich heritage here of Shiraz and so-called GSM blends, as well as the current strides we’re enjoying with stupendous varietal Grenache.
We take a Rhône overview with the help of a tasty Côte-du-Rhône Villages wine from one of the region’s icons, Paul Jaboulet Aîné.