Cracka Wines

The simple art of finding those special wine labels can needlessly bring on a mild anxiety attack in many inexperienced wine drinkers as they search for the best Australian wines to serve at home. I have seen it happen – the wine drinking equivalent of a fish out of water. The plethora of grapes, countless regions, and abundance of labels leaves our shopper flat-lining, sweating and sometimes almost trembling with fear, all of which in an ever increasing world of grapes, wine regions and labels, is completely understandable. So how do you find that killer wine on the shelf? And what makes a wine truly great - grape variety, region or even vintage?

The first trick is to understand what a fine wine tastes like. First comes aromatic complexity illustrated by a wine that smells and tastes of something more than simply fresh fruit? It might be tar, roses, thyme or earth with top wines showing layer upon layer of complex aromas and flavours. And then a quality wine also has a pleasing texture and fruit length, and that is not intensity or power rather how long the flavour lasts after swallowing. Poor wines disappear as soon as they hit the back of your throat. They leave no lasting impact, and normally fade into the recesses of memory never to be thought of again. Compare that with complex wines that are seductive and so long that you can almost cover a couple of city blocks before the flavour fades.

So how does one find these gems, these jewels? A great wine merchant is an ideal place to start – somewhere with an interesting range of wines and staff who take pleasure in guiding your wine drinking habits according to personal taste. These venues are not always easy to find but worth their weight in gold.

Failing that there is always the option to find some personal favourite wine regions through trial and error. One of the magic aspects of wine is how the area where grapes for a wine are grown has a dramatic impact on how that wine tastes. So every wine from a particular region will taste, at least in part, similar to those from nearby vineyards. And for some of those special places there is a strong natural affinity with a particular grape or two resulting in spectacular wines. Sangiovese and Tuscany, Tempranillo and Rioja, Chardonnay and the Adelaide Hills and Pinot Noir and Martinborough are just a few examples, although there are plenty more. So choose a wine from one such region and you are cutting the odds of hitting gold significantly into your favour.

Last, and probably least important is vintage. In countries such as Australia and New Zealand, vintage, or the year a wine is created, is much less of an issue than it might be in France or Italy where the weather is generally much more unrelaible. While there is the odd dog vintage, 2008 Hunter Valley or 2006 Margaret River for reds certainly stand out, most are fairly good and unlikely to disappoint and in good years represent some of the best Australian wines.

So next time you find yourself at a loss in the search for a decent bottle of wine, try some trusted regions with their best suited grape and you are likely to hit a winner. Some other wine labels worth considering include: Clare Valley and Riesling, Margaret River and Chardonnay, Central Otago and Pinot Noir, Waiheke Island and Cabernet Sauvignon.

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