Saddler’s Creek Wines owner Wendy Laureti hosts Wine Matters Podcast, in this episode she talks to winemaker Sam Rumpit and about Italian Varietals and how you taste these wines at the Hunter Valley winery.
Introduction:
Wendy Laureti introduces the podcast episode, welcoming listeners to Wine Matters.
Saddler’s Creek Wines winemaker Sam Rumpit joins Wendy to discuss alternate varietals.
Exploring Picpoul Blanc:
Sam introduces Picpoul Blanc, a recent and exciting addition to their collection, highlighting its texture and acidity.
They discuss the appeal of alternate varietals for those seeking something different from traditional wines like Chardonnay or Riesling.
Embracing Variety:
Sam emphasises the importance of embracing alternate varietals to avoid stagnation in the wine industry.
They discuss the historical significance of immigrants bringing new grape varieties to Australia.
Adapting to Change:
Wendy and Sam discuss the shift towards openness to trying new wines in recent years.
They reflect on the dominance of Shiraz and Chardonnay in the Australian wine industry and the need for diversity.
Experimentation and Innovation:
Sam talks about the role of experimentation in finding new grape varieties suited to Australian climates.
They discuss the flexibility and innovation allowed in Australian winemaking compared to stricter regulations in other countries.
Future of Australian Wine:
Wendy and Sam discuss the potential for new grape varieties to thrive in Australia’s diverse climates.
They highlight the excitement around experimenting with new varieties and the unique opportunities it presents for Australian winemakers.
Closing Thoughts:
Wendy concludes the episode by emphasising the importance of trying alternate varietals and experiencing the creativity of winemaking.
Sam shares his passion for experimentation and encourages listeners to explore new wines.
Outro:
Wendy wraps up the episode, thanking Sam for his insights and inviting listeners to join them for future episodes of Wine Matters.
Book an Italian Wine Flight at Saddler’s Creek Wines and explore the Italian varieties
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Why are alternative for Idols so hot right now welcome to the podcast wine matters I’m your host Wendy LTI The Accidental Winery owner of stus Creek Wines in this podcast I invite you to join me as I share with you what I believe is the true meaning of loving wine and that is
To bring people together I’m absolutely no wine expert though I am a wine lover I love to learn and explore all things wine How It’s Made and how it’s best enjoyed what I’ve discovered along the way is the more I learn is the more I enjoy and appreciate it so I’d like to
Share with you what I’ve learned along the way debuff some of the myths but most importantly I invite you along to learn with me to support our learning I’ll be inviting way more knowledgeable people than myself to share their expertise their love of wine and why
Wine matters to them I hope to introduce you to all the reasons to love wine and all the interesting and great people of the hunter Valley and the greater wine community so on that note let’s pour a glass of wine and talk wine matters cheers today on wine matters I have Sam
Sal Creek wine maker with me he’s the most passionate person I know about alternative varidol so who else but you Sam can talk about this topic with me I’ve been described a couple of times as an encyclopedia recently so uh fingers cross like you have you remember things
That um aren’t helpful most of the time you are very helpful so what are you pouring here love yeah so this is our most recent most exciting alternative varietal this is called a pick poool or ppol Blanc or F blunch or one of a whole variety of names that these cool
Alterntive varieties have absolutely love this one it’s a really cool wine I mean I went with the traditional style in a standard Hawk bottle um the brown glass is a little bit left of field but it’s cool um and we kept it as close to
Home as possible so a little bit of Oak ferment a little bit of tank ferment both go a long way to adding texture to this wine and if you’re after a crisp white wine not seon but you also don’t like chard you’re kind of fan of reing
This is the one that fits all the boxes right it’s just that beautiful acid line but it’s not harsh it’s got texture but it’s not overpowering it’s just a really pretty wine and that is probably the first and foremost reason why alternative Ral are so hot right now right because they’re
Different we are so used to having the same sh seon Shard cabinet whatever over and over again mom and dad bought another case of their dozen cabinet that’s the same now I’ll drink that for the next 10 years like it we’ve heard this we’ve all we all know people that
Buy wine by the case they don’t try anything else and they love it and that’s all they’ll drink it’s fine there’s no issue with that if you like your wine that’s great but alternative varietal are bringing something new to the white world especially in Australia most of these varieties are indigenous
To other countries they have grown evolved adapted to the climates there and from there they’ve come to Australia as what’s quite often referred to as suitcase cuttings now when a whole story about that we sure do well I mean it basically comes back to it’s you know our suitcase
Um single suitcase for Idol in the wine makers craft is all about a salute to all the immigrants that came over and they really transformed our wine industry absolutely they took us from sweet cherries to beautiful um table wins that we no question about it so if you talk about them coming
Over with the single suitcase immigrants in the 1950s why are we only getting passionate about them now yeah well I think that’s one thing especially here in Australia and a generational thing people are adverse to change right people are adverse to change and only in the last let’s say 20
Odd years have people really been open to trying brand new things at least when it comes to food and wine and that sort isn’t it yes um just like cars people were tenative to adopt automatic cars people were tentative to adopt electric cars people are tentative to adopt new
Things that they can’t pronounce like wines right that’s scary I get that not many people can off the bat say stino Alano it’s tough they’re tough words and they intimidate people so they’ve been held back by themselves for a while and of course Australia being such a shz and
Chard dominant country those two grapes make up more than 60 or 80% of the Australian wine industry which is crazy that there’s so little variation but we need to evolve we sure do as simple as that if we don’t evolve the um the grape industry will come
Stagnant and we won’t be able to produce more and more exciting wines now these suitcase cuting that get B over and keep in mind they’re still being brought over to this day they just don’t exist yet um are very very important to evolving the Australian wine industry otherwise we
Have to go through 10 years worth of Customs to make sure that these are even allowed to exist I’m not endorsing bringing great VES into the country against the law but we wouldn’t have been able to build the wine industry we have now without it it’s just realistic
Um and these varieties like I said indigenous where they’ve come from they a have totally different or new flavor Styles in their wine or B are adapted to climatic conditions that the traditional varieties that we grow here simply are not about to say do you think they’ve
Got a um from a v vinicultural perspective do they have a more potential longevity than I think some do absolutely there’s no question about that they especially some place like the Honda Valley where we are you it’s unrealistic to think that French variety is going to be the lifeblood of this
Area forever now shz quite Hardy so is Shard they can last quite well regardless of your conditions but there are great varieties that do a better tastes different taste more exciting or age better or do all the things you want to better I’m not saying that sh is bad
I’m just saying that other things can do what they do better yeah shz isn’t bad at all but we love our shes so I I think our single suitcase varial have just taken off haven’t they absolutely in the market they’ve just taken off because they’re so good the other day you were
Talking about them when you did do a comparison like you said okay the nibio is like the stino is like um and we do that just so there’s a bit of familiarity because but really regardless of that they are Standalone and I think another thing that really carries these wines into the Forefront
Of the Australian wine industry at the moment is just how food worthy they all are how company worthy how just event worthy these wines are they can be brilliant you can open something exciting just for the sake of opening it or you can open something exciting because you want a special occasion you
Open something totally different because it goes so well with that food have friends over and say come try this new varal and EXC and I picked up this thing I can’t pronounce and now I want to drink it with you and I’m practicing and
I’m going to YouTube to say how do I say stino ex how do I say Alano and without that there would be no growth we we need people to endorse and love these new varieties but that only gets done when they’re made well yes now the thing that really really carries
These ones in new regions is the fact that they are phenotypically and gen genealogically different to what we currently have sharz Shard all those can be quite thin skins and in the hunter Valley that makes them quite prone to disease that’s bad we don’t want disease we want the cleanest healthiest freshest
Fruit we can prob possibly find now when we do that we can now start looking at alternate varieties that are here in Australia stuff like um the one that I’ve been looking at most recently negro Maro ripens quite late but because we get such hot weather in the hunter
Valley these days and so much rain that’s not a problem whereas Once Upon a Time 20 40 60 years ago in the valley that would have been really tough it also has such thick skins that it is very disease resistant and so because of that it makes itself a home in the
Hunter Valley that but it’s never been here before there’s never been any record of negom Maro here there’s never been any record of a whole bunch of alternative varieties that exist out there that could be better and so at this stage in the Australian wine industry it’s all about experimentation
Yes right that’s what’s so important but and having some courageous people out there that’s willing to step into that unknown a little bit absolutely and be a little bit creative and try these new alternate varials of course and but you can’t go into trying these varieties without with the expectation that it’s
Going to be exactly like what you’ve tried before example Monte neolo Claret uh ppol are not going to be the same in Australia as they are in Italy France Portugal wherever you’re getting these great varieties from they are different because we have a different climate it’s not the same it
Might be similar it’s not the same I was about to say ask you that because when I’ve been in Italy and I’ve had a um nebiolo and then I’ve had Al nebiolo here it’s quite different absolutely I think something that’s quite often lost on people especially people that don’t
Have a formal wine educ um is that overseas especially old world countries France Italy all of those sort of places they have very strict rules on what can be done with the wine and how it’s made which is fine because it means that they are very consistent in their
Wi making going to tast like this because you have to do it this way it’s as simple as that in Australia we don’t have those rules we have the ability to experiment we have the ability to blend that with that we have the exactly we have the option to be
Innovative and so Australian wine will never be like anything else in the world because we’re Innovative they like you cannot take wine from our Winery and go anywhere else in the world and put our wine next to theirs and say that they’re the same it’s just not going not gonna happen I
Think that’s one of the most well for us being a boutique Winery I think we have wines on our portfolio that you just won get anywhere else in the world absolutely you know we have um chardes that is a blend of hter Valley and Lang horn Creek no there’s no one else in
Australia I mean even without new alternate varieties we’ve got our ppol we’ve got our Alano barbar Sago Neola cple couple more thing I think we have a malbe that we just Blended the other day but don’t talk about that not yet top secret we have some really cool things
That we’re able to experiment with and that’s so important to us and as wine makers you want the people that are making your wine it’s like if someone’s designing clothes or someone’s cooking do you want them to have the passion for because that’s what’s going to make it
Make it good right of course as wine makers being able to experiment with passion it always tastes better doesn’t it soon as you have passion it’s better there’s so much love put into it when you put love into something it is going to be high quality it’s a simple as that
So for anyone out there listening who wants to try some wine that’s had lots of love and passion put into it and are the alternative idals these are um on our tasting list at the moment they are released every you know whatever we’ve got they small batch quantities very
Small batch it’s very experimental very exper but they experimentally by not bad but um not in quality the quality is amazing in these wines I think a good way I I like to consider us as for runners you need someone to take the charge before everyone else is going
To have a crack at it and sure you get people that go to somewhere and say I just want whatever the normal thing is and that’s fine but there are people that want new and to get new someone has to be that forun someone has to bring in
These new varieties so people can experiment and try new things that’s what we mean when I think that’s it it’s Just Having the courage to step out of what you’re doing every day encourage to just go well you know what I’m going to try something different and sometimes it
Takes a couple of sips doesn’t it like to really adapt to the wine and they are so different I quite often call for example the Sagara my buzz word for it is it’s the kunoa cab or itally big tanic chewy if that’s your style of wine
You’ll love it but it’s not the same yes it’s by no means the cab sa it’s a totally different wine but it’s the style wise and so you really have to adapt you can have a style that you love and then adapt wine pallet to that yes
Yes which is very important to education for yourself and for everyone else we got a whole bunch of cool new varieties coming into sadders soon which is really exciting we’ve been looking at top working the Merlo now top working is wine making J and that just means I’m
Going to cut the head off the vine and graft it over with something else so we can grow a new species without killing the grape vine that way we don’t have wasted life that is the last thing I want for our grap Vines to die they’ve
Been there for the better part of 30 years I keep saying there but doing this allows us to try a new varietal try new varieties without being destructive which is very exciting I’ve done lots of research into what I think can grow well you can grow Greek varieties are looking
Very good Zin Maro there’s technically technically none in Australia there you go but there might be there’s none but there could be um our research this is none but Italian varieties especially stuff that’s down near the Mediterranean anything that gets hot humid weather is great for the hunter Valley at the moment because
That’s all we get we have two temperatures hot or too hot but also wet It’s just tough to grow grapes Once Upon a Time the hunter Valley was brilliant for growing grapes now Those Grapes that used to grow don’t grow as well so we need something to replace them because
That’s just simply the way the world is now that’s it you have to adapt if you don’t adapt climate change extinct as simple as that and so we’ve been out there looking at our great varieties looking at what we can find and I’ve come across a whole bunch I’m
Not going to say anything yet because if it doesn’t work I don’t want to look silly you’re never going to look silly Love I be being the encyclopedia that I try to be I don’t want what I want to happen to go wrong it’s as simple as that because then I’m proven
Wrong okay so we we’ll wait and see but there’s some really cool varieties out there um that have a whole lot of potential to grow in the Hond Valley they have a whole lot of grow all over Australia New Zealand and Tasmania are very lucky they still have cool climates
So they can grow all the traditional varieties but those newer Italians Portuguese Greek Georgian all that will struggle a bit more so we are at a very interesting turning point in Australian history uh for wine at least where we are able to grow wine from basically every country that has a grape that’s
Amazing isn’t it which is absurd there there’s we have such an array of regions that cover such an array of climates microclimates practices that we’re allowed to have that means we can then go into our wine making with fresh thoughts fresh ideas and take these new varieties that shouldn’t be growing
Anywhere else in the world other than where they come from and grow them here which is amazing like over in France if you’re if you’ve got your Vineyard you have to grow your fruit in this specific way in Australia we can plant our Vines we can mess with them we
Can shoot them and bunch them and leaf them that means removing bunches removing shoots removing leaves to we we can physically alter the microclimate within a grap Vine by going out there by hand with a pair of sick tear and your brain and changing it to adapt the plant
To grow the fruit you want to grow yeah I think that’s what I hear and I think that’s why it’s so exciting because what I’m hearing from you Sam is what we heard last week when we’re in Adelaide there’s just such enthusiasm for the potential of um what we can create and
What can be innovated in our wine industry like they’re just they’re drinking great they’re fantastic and they’re different Y and I mean we we do have cool varieties on the way we do we something we do have something coming up toward end of this year absolutely we’ve
Got um new varieties that we one that we’ve done before one that we haven’t now for anyone that love SS for a long time they will have missed our Monty for the last three years they that was a big fan favorite and now we get to make one
Montano is such a beautiful great variety that has had a home in a shy for about 40 50 years now which is quite surprising considering most people only heard of it in the last five or 10 years um but so where was that grape being put then maybe just blended into other
Varietals or there’s lot bizarre isn’t it that all of a sudden they all come back out again absolutely there’s a lot of wineries out there that do use these things for blending um I had a wine the other day that’s called the 60s block which is a block planted in the 60s that
Was all every single row was a different variety just to see how it grows and they just Harvest it all together and put it into one wine and sell it because they could but it’s been a lot of experimentation to get to the point where in Australia we can figure out how
This great variety grows grows best there’s step after step after step to making it perfect and that’s where our ability to evolve is so important because we can keep changing what we’re doing until we get it right yeah which is really cool we also have um new
Varieties from the Adela Hills which is really exciting um we got Alano barbar artino a while ago from the Adelaide Hills from the same Vineyard we’re getting a new variety called Nero diava which is another volcanic variety which I love super stoked to be seeing it come
In um I’ve been kicking and screaming as has Frank um to see this variety appear and so now it’s finally happening I cannot wait wait oh it’s going to be exciting lots of good things ahead basically so if you haven’t tried an alternate for Idol um I encourage you to
Do it I encourage you to come visit us and try ours of course I think they’re amazing and they’re Sensational and of course like we’ve said before you get up close and you know you get to chat to our team and he can really tell you all
About the experience from um grape to Glass essentially so we got the four varietals right now with more on the way more on the way but right now you can have the nebiolo the Aliano the Barbara and the stino so please come in we’ve got a fantastic tasting in this sador at
The moment that’s a feature tasting so come along um and get to experience these great absolutely don’t forget alternative varieties are the future of Australian wine they sure are stop chees where you go love what why does wine matter to you wine is important to me
Because it gives me the ability to be cre cretive and a professional I I get to experiment I get to try new things I get to push forwards wines that I think are cool that I think fun that I think are interesting and force them upon
People which is my favorite thing to do is to make people try things that they’ve never tried before especially when it comes to varieties or styles of wine making we have what we call the Tantrum wine it’s a story you have to ask about when you come to the cellador
We have um we have new varities like the pick poool there’s three of those in the valley and every single person makes it differently we have um Saga which is one of the rarest varieties in the world getting the opportunity to play with these things is why I love wine and wine
Making let you be creative and live your artistic life that’s it amazing thank you Sam until next time honey thanks buy why matters