Grapevine: A diamond in the rough

How does a winery select the grape varieties to plant on their chosen piece of dirt?

For the most part it comes down to what is in favour now, and what is their local region renowned for. Both well-reasoned approaches, and yet, often they are looking a little too broadly.
If the variety isn’t suited to that very piece of dirt, the wines may be acceptable, but rarely will they be distinct or unique. Thus, finding either the right piece of dirt for your varieties or finding the varieties for your specific piece of dirt is likely to produce the best results.
Mark Gifford and his co-founder Tim Markwell of Blue Poles took the first route.
Both are geologists by trade, uniquely qualified to find the perfect unplanted plot in a region that has already been scoured and planted to many Bordeaux varieties. Across the thousands of kilometres around Margaret River, they found the 50 acres they wanted, comprising iron rich gravel over clay in just the right proportions for their needs. Unlike many wineries around them, their needs were not to make the finest Cabernet or Chardonnay in Australia; there are plenty of vineyards doing that already. It was a bottle of La Conseillante that solidified in their minds, the potential for Merlot to produce wines worthy of the highest praise.
Merlot is often the subject of derision from wine lovers, and growers, for its propensity to produce soft, jammy, often bland, often flabby wines of little complexity or interest. This of course can be a vicious circle. Growers with little regard for the grape, give it little regard in the vineyard, resulting in poor quality fruit going into ultimately poor quality wine, confirming in their mind that Merlot isn’t worth much attention.
Yet you only have to look at the most sought after wines in the world – notably Chateau Petrus, which is more than 90 per cent Merlot – to see that in the right hands on the right sites it is truly capable of producing world-class wines of complexity, finesse and the structure for long-term development. From the ground up, Mark and Tim have focused on producing high quality Merlot fruit, suiting their viticultural practices to Merlot instead of just using a one size fits all approach carried over from the rest of the varieties planted, as many do.
Their pursuit is to go after juicy plum fruits, instead of over-ripe, jammy flavours. The wines have a line of acid that gives the wines a freshness, the wine flows across the palate with great consistency and persistence with no holes or spikes. They show complexing flavours of tobacco, and a subtle gravelly feel to the tannins which is always a favoured trait among great claret styles.
At $28, the Allouran, a blend of their Merlot and Cabernet Franc, is a bargain.
2016 was a slightly drier than average year but a burst of rainfall in January followed by moderate temperatures resulted in a vintage kicking off early.
More of a savoury, structured rendition this vintage, showing that Merlot isn’t just a soft easy going variety, this is an elegant, medium-bodied wine with fine, gravelly tannins that are persistent but not as assertive as you would find in, say, Cabernet.
Flavours are mainly red fruits – cherry, plum with some mulberry too. Clove and oak spice are there too as is a hint of dried herb. It’s one for the decanter or a big glass to sit with for a few hours.