A Hundred, Not Out.
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A Hundred, Not Out.
Yes, gentle Reader, today’s edition marks the hundredth issue of your favourite wine column.
Obviously, there’ll be a dizzying array of festivities to celebrate the milestone, but WineDown is feeling quietly reflective. Hundreds don’t come easily (ask any Indian batsman). A hundred runs... a hundred witty and pithy wine articles... a hundred years.
Crikey. Suddenly WineDown finds itself in some very lofty company.
Rare Old Vines
A hundred is a venerable age for anyone - or anything. Fewer than 1% of humans will see the milestone. Yet, depending on the site (and the variety), grapevines are quite capable of living for a hundred years at least. Here in Australia, we are blessed with some of the oldest productive vines anywhere in the world - thanks mainly to the phylloxera pandemic that decimated European vineyards in the mid 1800s. Ok – it’s a Bradbury-esque victory, but we’ll take it.
Barossa, Hunter, Langhorne Creek, Rutherglen, and Swan Valley are home to the world’s oldest known plantings of Shiraz, Cabernet, Mourvèdre and Marsanne. Yet, despite having been planted before your gran was born, these centenarians continue to produce spectacularly complex and intensely flavoured wines of great power, structure, and balance.
The X-Factor
Very old vines deserve our respect for a host of reasons. They have survived wars, depressions, droughts, floods, vine-pull schemes and the (often devastating) vagaries of fashion.
But to be clear: They’re not exceptional because they’ve stayed in the soil for so long. In fact, it’s the reverse: they’ve been allowed to stay in the soil for so long BECAUSE they’re exceptional. As youngsters, they yielded round and juicy fruit-focussed wines; in maturity, they deliver powerful, yet delicate layered complexity – and more than a bit of the X-factor.
Pretty Young Things
Vines are regarded as being in their adolescence until they’re about 20 years old, during which time they’re vigorous and productive – although they can be high-maintenance and need to be taken in hand from time to time. Spirited growth means an abundance of leaves and shoots, which require constant thinning to maintain canopy balance; and tender young vines are often susceptible to infestations and stress from heat, drought, or frost.
But youth is fleeting, and by 35 years – a span of time similar to one human generation – vines are generally referred to as OLD. (This seems a bit of a dig to WineDown, given that many may be less than half-way through their productive lives!) Be that as it may, these ‘old’ vines are regarded highly: better equipped to handle the rigours that nature throws at them, and still capable of quality yields.
Broad in the Beam
As vines age, they become appealingly chunky. In addition to providing structural stability, the thicker trunk allows better reserves of carbohydrates, giving the vine a jump start at the top of the growing season, and assisting it in times of stress. At the same time, roots penetrate more and more deeply into the soil (up to 10 metres deep in some centenarian vines), providing access to subterranean water, and enhancing the uptake of complex minerals and nutrients. While the diminishing vigour of Old Chunky means smaller berries and fewer bunches, its efficient framework delivers heightened levels of flavour. And with less vegetative growth, berries are naturally exposed to dappled light, which allows even ripening throughout the season.
Rare and Limited
Small yields mean that old vine wines are necessarily hard to come by. Penfolds Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet (not to be confused with Kalimna Bin 28) is a limited-edition wine that has only ever been released in 1953, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1996 and 2004. Planted in 1886, the Kalimna vines are regarded as the world’s oldest productive Cabernet Sauvignon vines.
Meanwhile, over at Wynns Coonawarra Estate, the Undoolya vineyard - planted in the 1890s by original Blockers from John Riddoch’s Coonawarra Fruit Colony - still contributes fruit for Wynns famous Black Label Shiraz. And just in front of the Gables, a few rows of decidedly gnarly Pedro Ximenez - planted in 1911 - welcome guests to the estate.
Happy Birthday, WineDown!
With this hundredth-issue milestone, WD is feeling suddenly and uncharacteristically grown-up.
Perhaps, instead of party poppers and fizz, WineDown should mark the occasion with something a little more... mature. Perhaps an explosion of intense, concentrated blackcurrant and dark chocolate flavours, with fine silky tannins in perfect harmony would be more apropos whilst awaiting one’s message from Her Maj...
Ooohh... where’s my credit card?!