International sommeliers rediscover the many flavours of Aussie wine
Misconceptions that the nation focuses on cheap bulk wine persist overseas.
Sommeliers from the world’s best restaurants are visiting Australia this week, tasting and discovering premium wines to bring back to their clientele and show that Australian wines aren’t black and white any more — or, rather, shiraz and chardonnay.
Vladimir Kojic is head sommelier at Gaggan, an Indian restaurant in Bangkok, ranked 23 in the world’s best restaurant awards last year. Of the 350 labels he has on the wine list, he says maybe 25 are from Australia.
“For me, when I think about Australian wines, if you had asked me five years ago it was black and white, like these big boys from the Barossa like cooked fruits, blueberry pie; when you wanted white you went to the Clare Valley with too much of the petrol,” he says.
“I think the last five years there’s been a revolution in Australia, especially what I’ve tried from Victoria.
“They’re doing not only black and white but all different colours … it’s quite amazing.”
He says he admires how open-minded people are in Australia and all the different grape varieties there are.
However, when people overseas think about Australian wines, they still think about shiraz.
“But I think sommeliers are slowly starting to change their mind and when sommeliers start to change their mind, their customers start to (also),” Kojic says.
He says he is looking forward to visiting Tasmania’s wineries the most while a guest of Wine Australia. “If you think about the climate it should have the best potential in all of Australia, but I don’t know too much about it,” he says. “Hopefully I’ll discover something very cool there and we’ll give it a try in the restaurant.”
Fahara Zamorano is head sommelier at Gwen in Los Angeles, which is owned by Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone and his brother Luke.
The wine list has a strong Australian showing that Zamorano says is due to great importers.
“I’m really lucky that the importers who are importing some of these Australian wines are wonderful people who have become friends, and the moment I started putting the list together for Gwen I had my few people who knew a lot more about Australia and Australian wine than I do, so I called them and started getting some information and chasing different producers.”
She says most American consumers aren’t too familiar with Australian wines. “Your savvy consumers, they know their Torbreck, their Tyrrell’s, but they may not know some of the smaller producers and they leave it in your hands.”
Zamorano says a lot of the best wine doesn’t even make it to the US, despite the smaller importers, and she is looking forward to seeing what Australians are drinking.
Australian sommelier Amanda Yallop, of Quay in Sydney, says there is still an international hangover about Australian wines with people remembering the mistakes of the past.
“There’s a cultural cringe and people think we just make bulk wine,” she says.
She says her role as a sommelier is to show the customer a wine that they won’t find unless they drive to the Yarra Valley or Mornington Peninsula.
Yallop says it is strange to say in this day and age, but Australia and New Zealand are still isolated in the sense that premium wines are still almost all snapped up by the local market.
She describes the visiting sommeliers as “gatekeepers” and says it is important for them to be aware of Australian wines that otherwise may be known only the local market.