The wine industry in Australia can be a parochial business, so kudos to an event in Victoria that is to put a spotlight on the wines of the Adelaide Hills.
For the first time, the International Cool Climate Wine Show on the Mornington Peninsula will showcase a wine region at its public tasting at the Rosebud Country Club on July 22 – and the cool-climate Adelaide Hills has been given the honour.
As part of the showcase, veteran Australian vigneron Brian Croser AO will present a masterclass on the emerging regions, focusing on its diverse topography; comparing its climate to famous French wine regions; and hosting a tasting of five-star Adelaide Hills wines.
“Much of South Australia’s winemaking fame has been rooted in warm regions of Barossa and McLaren Vale, so it’s understandable why many sommeliers look first to Victoria and Tasmania for their cool-climate Australian wine selections,” Croser says.
“Yet, when one looks at the relevant heat summation data, even the warmest parts of the Adelaide Hills are as cool as Bordeaux and Upper Rhone, and the cooler sites are comparable to Burgundy and Chablis.
“The Adelaide Hills firmly deserves its international cool-climate status.
“Having said that, Adelaide Hills is a diverse region, so I’ll be talking about which areas are best for growing certain cool-climate varieties, and I’ll be proving those points strongly with five exemplary wines as examples.
“These include DAOSA Blanc de Blancs Sparkling 2018, Geoff Weaver Sauvignon Blanc 2022, Tapanappa Tiers Chardonnay 2021, Ashton Hills Reserve Pinot Noir 2021, and Shaw + Smith Balhannah Vineyard Shiraz 2020.”
See https://www.internationalcoolclimatewineshow.com/upcoming-events
Alex Trescowthick, President of the Adelaide Hills Wine Region, who will also be attending the event says: “We greatly appreciate this opportunity to showcase our cool-climate credentials among our peers. Adelaide Hills is somewhat the ‘new-kid-on-the-block’ of cool-climate wine regions because its modern winemaking history only began in the late 1970s.
“Brian Croser was at the forefront of that vision by being the first to plant chardonnay in Piccadilly Valley back then. So it’s wonderful to have him present this masterclass which is borne from 43 years of expertise in the Adelaide Hills.”
Brian Croser has been a leading figure in the Australian wine industry since Moses was a boy.
His winemaking legacy includes the names of Croser and Petaluma, and his Tapanappa wines and he still lives on his original Tiers vineyard in the Adelaide Hills.
