Australia Invites Seattle to Go Sideways Down Under with Victoria Pinot Noir

Coldstream Hills, Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia. Photo by Matt Turner ©Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation

You might not associate pinot noir with Australia, but that won't be for long, if Aussie winemakers have anything to say about it. During the month of June, they're pushing wine drinkers in Los Angeles and Seattle to give up Oregon pinots and try some from Victoria, a state in Southeastern Australia with a cooler climate, good for the persnickety grape. And yes, even though this is white- and rosé-drinking season, a light and supple pinot noir also goes well with most summer meals. I spoke with Mark Davidson, a longtime sommelier and market development manager with Wine Australia about drinking Australian wine and this month's pinot event.  Details on restaurants and retailers serving Victorian pinots after the interview.

What are the common perceptions (or misperceptions) of Australian pinots?

Most Americans, if they are aware of Australian pinot noir, they aren't that familiar with it. Without a doubt, New Zealand pinots are better known in the marketplace. (I can't speak about New Zealand, because we hate them—that's just a joke, actually.) When people think of Australia, they think of other things with wine—most likely shiraz is the first thing that comes to mind. I think the idea of Australian pinot noir is a great way to shift people's perception, which is kinda what we're trying to do right now, just to get people to think and understand that there's more to Australian wine than the cheap "sunshine in a bottle" or the steroidal shiraz that they've been accustomed to in the last couple years.

It's almost as if Australia's name was kinda ruined for a while, in terms of wine, because of Yellowtail and the subsequent race to the bottom for the cheapest possible wine.

Yeah, no question, everything goes through ebbs and flows, but in fairness, the kind of wines that got Australia to the dance, if you like, on the North American stage are those fun, varietally correct and clean, affordable wine--that's what got people excited. Then there was a little state where there were some importers bringing in the types of wine that were big and bold and high in alcohol. Those wines certainly exist, but they're not really that traditional in Australia. That got people excited for a short period of time, and then they got bored with those wines.

So then Australia was slotted as a two-trick pony: simple and fruity wines that were affordable, or these monstrous wines that were really big and over-the-top, and that's really not the full picture. While pinot noir is a relatively new thing to Australia, there's all kinds of styles and cool climate grapes that are not new at all and have been made for decades in Australia, but nobody knows about them. People like to compare [Australian pinots] to Oregon pinots. Obviously, the movie Sideways did a fantastic job in many ways of getting people in North America excited about wines other than cabernet.

So what should people know about a Victoria pinot?

Saying "Victoria pinot noir" is a sweeping statement--a lot like saying "California pinot noir," as there's a lot of different styles in California--but in general, Australian pinot noirs tend to be a little more restrained compared to what's coming out of California (again, a sweeping statement). The cooler climate areas tend to promote a slightly higher acid and a leaner fruit profile, so these wines are a little more restrained in their youth than you might imagine, if you have in your mind what "Australian wine" might represent, as in big full-bodied wines. So that's one thing across the board, "restraint" is a good word--as is "food-friendly"--to describe Victoria pinot noirs in general.

Any picks for people starting off trying Victoria pinot?

I'd go regional. Like for cabernet, California for sure, but Napa's the deal. It's always good to connect the region with the varietal they do well, and there are a few in Australia that do pinot really well. Put your money right now on Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula. They're the two areas starting to become really famous for pinot noir.... They're relatively well-represented in the marketplace. There’s certainly more to it than that, but that's a good place to start experimenting.

Another nice thing about these wines is that they're at a good price point, compared to, say, an Oregon pinot, which tend to start around $40.

For sure, and with this pinot noir promotion, what we did was go out with about 15 wines, ranging from $10 wholesale up to $50-$60. As is always the case with top-end pinots, they're never cheap. But three or four of the wines were between $10 and $12 wholesale, which is a fantastic buy--any pinot under $15 is something to get excited about. Because pinot isn't easy to produce, and it's never cheap.

And the event runs through the end of this month?

Yeah, what we wanted to do was garner a bit of enthusiasm for these Australian wines, so we approached two cities where people had been exposed to pinot noir, and we talked to a few of the restaurants and retailers and said, "Look, it's a great opportunity to get people excited about a different style of Australian wine, and pinot's a great way to do it." So they’re featuring these wines in June in Los Angeles and Seattle. We wanted cities that already had some exposure to pinots and other styles of Australian wines, instead of completely going in blind to cities that we hadn't done any work in. We had good established contacts, so we knew we'd be able to get people excited on the restaurant and retail level.

June event details:

·Portalis Wines (Ballard) will have Stonier available by the glass and Cooralook 2009, Yabby Lake 2007, Yering Station, and Bindi Composition available by the bottle.

·The Local Vine (Belltown) will have Cooralook 2009 available by the glass and Yabby Lake 2007, Yering Reserve 2006, Mac Forbes 2008, Giant Steps 2008, and Bindi Composition 2007 by the bottle.

·Canlis (Queen Anne) will have the Kooyong Massale 2007 by the glass and the Bindi Composition Pinot, Bindi Original, and Bindi Composition by the bottle.

·Purple Café and Wine Bar (Bellevue only) will have the Stonier 2005 by the glass and the Yabby Lake 2007, Kooyong Haven 2005, Bindi Composition 2007, and Little Yering by the bottle.

·Metropolitan Grill (Downtown) will have the Bindi Composition, Bindi Original Vineyard, and Kooyong Massale by the bottle.