Category Archives: About wines

- Short history of Riesling

Short history of Riesling…

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The history of the Riesling vine can be traced back to Germany and the year 1435. The first documented evidence comes from the cellar log of Count Katzenelnbogen at Ruesselsheim on 13th March 1435, when Klaus Kleinfish purchased six Riesling vines for the sum of 22 solidi. There are other supposed ‘first plantings’ but without the documented evidence: Wachau in Austria in 1232, Westhofen in Rheinhessen in 1402 and Alsace in 1348. An undocumented tale of Riesling from the 14th century has the Cistercian Monks at Eberbach disappointed in their light Rheingau reds compared to the French reds. Their instruction to their growers to remove all plantings other than the white vines ensured the spread of the Riesling vine. In 1464 the St Jacob Hospice in Trier purchased 1,200 ‘Ruesseling’ vines. 1490 sees another reference to ‘Ruessling hinder Kirssgarten’ (Riesling behind the cherry orchard) and a ‘Rissling wingart’ at Pfeddersheim in 1511 shows that Riesling was starting to spread.

The name Riesling seems a bit harder to clarify. ‘Russ’ means dark wood and this along with the grooved bark gives the resultant root word ‘rissig’. Another likely reference relates to Rieslings poor flowering in cold weather which is described by the German words ‘verrieseln’ or ‘durchrieseln’. Hieronymus Bock refers to Riesling in 1552 and also in a later version of his book on herbs in 1577 he mentions Riesling growing in ‘the Mosel, the Rhein and the environs or Worms’. In 1716 the Prince-Abbey of Fulda purchased the rundown Benedictine Abbey in Johannisberg in the Rheingau. 294,000 Riesling vines from Ruedesheim, Eberbach, and Floersheim were planted during 1720 to 1721 to replace the neglected plantings. Clemens Wenzeslaus, Elector of Trier, on 8th May 1787 proclaimed at all inferior vines be dug up and replanted with noble (Riesling) varieties.

By the end of the 19th century Riesling was the dominant variety in the Rheingau and was significant in the rest of Germany. The early 20th century saw Riesling declining in Germany with only 57% of the Rheingau planted to Riesling in 1930. This trend was reversed during the rest of the century and now Riesling is treated as a national treasure. The push is now to think of Riesling in Germany as you do Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Burgundy or Cabernet Sauvignon in Bordeaux. The first reference to Riesling in Australia is in 1820. William Macarthur planted 20 acres of vineyards at Camden Park near Penrith in NSW. The commercial plantings included: Pineau Gris, Frontignac, Gouais, Verdelho, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Grenache and Mataro. October 1837 sees Johann Stein and 5 other ‘vinedressers’ arrive in Australia from Germany under a 5-year contract with William Macarthur and successfully introduce Rhine Riesling into Australia. Penfolds Wines purchases ‘Minchinbury’ in 1912 and expands the vineyards to over 400 acres of old and new varieties including: Verdelho, Riesling, Cabernet Riesling, Pinot Noir, Hermitage, Traminer and Pinot Blanc. Then we come to the 1970’s where the combination of the new invention called the wine cask and sweet fruity styles such as Gewürztraminer, Gewürztraminer Riesling, and Rhine Riesling ensured the Riesling boom in Australia. Incidentally, Angoves first introduced the wine cask in 1965.

The legend of sweet Riesling is generally accredited to Schloss Johannisberg in the Rheingau who ‘accidentally’ created their first ‘Spatlese’ or late harvest in 1775. The legend goes that the messenger bringing the official order to start picking was robbed on the way. By the time he arrived the grapes had rotted, been infected with Botrytis and were given to the peasants. The peasants brewed their own wonderful wines and the rest is history. It’s the Riesling grapes ability to develop high sugar levels while maintaining acidity that produces white wines that age very well. Riesling is produced from dry to very sweet. The sweet, botrytis affected wines are rated in ascending order of sweetness as: Auslese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese.

Riesling means different things to different people. In Australia the word Riesling has traditionally referred to any sweet wine variety. Stricter labelling laws now ensure that when you see Riesling on the label you do get Riesling. Riesling has suffered the unfortunate association with sweet, white cask wine. Only the last ten years or so has seen Riesling coming back into fashion as a crisp, clean white winedrink. The lime and citrus flavours in the cooler climate Rieslings make a wonderful summer drink.

A true Riesling in California is referred to as a Johannisberg Riesling. Gray Riesling and Emerald Rieslings are different varieties and Sylvaner is commonly called Sylvaner Riesling, Franken Riesling, Monterey Riesling and even Sonoma Riesling. Parts of Europe have a Welschriesling or Italian Riesling but this is a different variety. South Africans have Cape Riesling, Clare Riesling, Paarl Riesling and South African Riesling which are all really Cruchen Blanc. Weisser Riesling is what you have to look for to find a true Riesling. Even in Rieslings homeland Germany, Schwarzriesling is in reality the variety Müllerrebe (Meunier) and the variety Rulander is called Grauer Riesling. And to confuse matters even more, there are several Riesling hybrids of which the most famous is a cross between Riesling and Sylvaner called Müller-Thurgau. Other names that Riesling answers to in Germany include: Johannisberger, Klingelberger, Riesling Renano, and White Riesling.

And it’s not just the vines that have different names. The wine itself has many names in different countries including: Italy (Riesling Italico); Austria (Welschriesling); Hungary (Olasz Rizling); Rumania (Riesling de Italic); Bulgaria (Italiansky Rizling); Yugoslavia (Laski Rizling); Czechoslovakia (Rizling Vlassky) and Russia (Risling Italianski).
Notes

  1. Recent DNA fingerprinting has in fact determined that the grape was created by crossing Riesling with Madeleine Royale, not Silvaner (Ed)
  2. Reproduced with permission from Peter Svans at The Gurdies Winery

Source: Uncork Australia website

- Short history of Shiraz

Short history of Shiraz…

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If you live in Australia you drink Shiraz and if you live in other parts of the world (especially near Avignon in Frances’ Rhone Valley) you drink Syrah. Same grape, different name. Legend has it that during the 13th century Crusades a French knight called Gaspard de Sterimberg discovered wonderful grapes near Shiraz in Persia. And, as winery people tend to do, he ‘liberated’ some cuttings to plant back home at his Hermitage (farm) in the Rhone Valley. The city of Shiraz is the provincial capital of Fars and is around 935 km from Tehran. Shiraz lies at an altitude of 1,600 meters that makes for mild winters and moderate summers. An ideal climate for grapes. The Shiraz region had some of the world earliest vineyards. Greek amphorae have been unearthed in Hermitage but this could work both ways. It could have been the Roman legions who brought their own wines with them as we know wine was grown in the Rhone Valley during Roman times. Unfortunately, DNA testing by Dr. Carole Meredith of the University of California has shown that Shiraz is a native of the Rhone Valley and not Persia. It was a good story while it lasted. Syrah accounts for the majority of wines coming from the northern Rhone Valley. Two of the worlds most famous Shiraz appellations are in the northern Rhone Valley: Hermitage and Côte-Rôti. The southern half of the valley is the origin of the Rhone blends, traditionally a blend of Shiraz, Mourvedre and Grenache grapes.

Australia and France seem to be obsessed by the grape. About 40% of all red grapes planted in Australia are Shiraz. France has somewhat less than this but is still way in front of any other country. The first cuttings of Shiraz made it to Australia, probably with James Busby in 1832 and were incorrectly labelled Scyras which is a popular northern Rhone Valley variety. The cuttings first reached South Africa from Europe. They were then picked up by the first fleets when they took on provision in South Africa and made it to Australia. Recent DNA testing by Carole Meredith at UCD and Jean-Micel Boursiquot of France shows Shiraz as a cross between Mondeuse Blanche and Dureza grapes. Dureza is from the northern Ardeche region west of the Rhone Valley. Mondeusa Blanche comes from the Savoie region and the earliest recorded plantings of Shiraz in France date back to 500BC. Grosse Syrah and Petite Syrah is another divergence of the Shiraz branch. The only difference being berry size. Petite Syrah tends to produce dry, dark wines with lots of tannins, spice and black pepper.

Petite Sirah (that’s an ‘i’ and not a ‘y’) is a completely different grape. In the 1880’s Dr Durif in France was promoting a mildew resistant variety that he naturally called: ‘Durif’. It was planted in the United States and somehow the naming didn’t make it across, it was incorrectly labelled Syrah. Phylloxera wiped out a lot of the grapes in the late 1890’s and it wasn’t till the 1970’s that Californian Syrah was correctly identified as Petite Sirah. DNA testing in 1991 confirmed the Durif label for Petite Sirah.

Australian Shiraz is made in two different styles. The big, full, rich, tannin laden wines and lighter fruitier ‘drink now’ styles with lots of blackberry and raspberry. You’ll often find a bit of Grenache in with some of the cheaper and nastier ones just for a bit more flavour. But this is just a small portion as there are some fantastic examples around. The Hunter Valley in NSW produces Shiraz that has a trademark ‘sweaty saddle’ characteristic while the Barossa Valley produces a more peppery and herbaceous style with less fruit nose and more tannin. The cooler climates produce rich fruit driven wines with lots of pepper.

Shiraz grapes are used to create the world famous Grange Hermitage. Now called Penfolds Grange as the name Hermitage was a casualty in the great France versus the rest of the world naming debate. Max Schubert created Grange in 1952. He pioneered the use of refrigeration to control the rate of fermentation and hence the flavour extraction from grapes and the use of new oak barrels to store and mature wines. Both these practices are now standard for premium red wines but were revolutionary in their day. And, it took more than 10 years for Grange to be accepted as a great wine. It was universally criticised when first released and only Max’s determination to see it succeed kept it alive. Imagine the loss to the wine world had Max listened to everyone and given up.

Shiraz is a very vigorous growing grape. It produces large bunches of anywhere up to 130 berries per bunch. They are long and loose bunches with very good disease resistance. Shiraz does very well in our cool climate and thrives in warm spring weather to produce a strikingly peppery wine.

And one final legend on Shiraz grapes, from Cyrus Kadivar, The Iranian: One ancient Persian legend says that Jamshid, a grapeloving king, stored ripe grapes in a cellar so he could enjoy grapes all year long. One day he sent his slaves to fetch him some grapes. When they did not return he decided to go to the cellar himself only to find that they had been knocked out by the carbon dioxide gas emanating from some bruised fermenting grapes. One of the king’s rejected, distraught mistresses decided to drink this poisoned potion, only to leave the cellar singing and dancing in high spirits. The king realised that this fruity liquid had the wonderful and mysterious power to make sad people happy. When Alexander overthrew the powerful Persian Empire he entered Darius’s palace in January 330 BC. During one of the conqueror’s orgies soldiers raided the wine cellars. In a drunken moment Alexander ordered the destruction of Persepolis.