maxallen_dreamteam

Jeffrey Grosset established his winery in the Clare Valley nearly thirty years ago. Today he produces only around 9000 cases total of just six wines including a Sauvignon / Semillon, Piccadilly Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Gaia (a Bordeaux Blend). Most notably though, he also makes a pair of Rieslings that many consider to be Australia’s finest, Polish Hill and Springvale Watervale.

The Semillon for Grosset’s Semillon Sauvignon blend comes from the Clare Valley, which Grosset considers to give more pure citrus fruits as opposed to grassiness coming from Adelaide Hills, where the Sauvignon is sourced. There’s slightly more Semillon in the blend – 55% vs 45% Sauvignon. The 2009 that we tasted had a wonderful ripeness of aromatics giving a nice intensity of citrus fruits and no greenness while possessing a sophisticated subtlety on the medium bodied palate.

At about 8 hectares each, Grosset’s Polish Hill and Springvale Watervale vineyards are 100% estate owned, each producing single vineyard wines. “With our own vineyards now we can do a lot more in terms of shoot thinning and lowering of yields,” Grosset mentioned, cracking the screwcap off the 2009 of each Riesling. He went on to explain that Polish Hill River has a U-shaped bend with his Polish Hill vineyard going into the “U”. It’s located in the highest altitude, most southern part of the region with lower fertility soils comprised of hard rock and shale. In terms of grape growing, location is everything in this area. “Polish Hill is very difficult and has just a few producers. Other producers had warned it was unpredictable.” So Grosset looked to achieve consistency in ripeness by altering the training and trellising in his vineyard. “Springvale is much prettier,” Grosset said wistfully, taking a sniff of this vineyard’s wine. “It looks like a garden.” In contrast to Polish Hill, the soils here are predominately soft rock and limestone. “Springvale is typically more generous early, because of its soil type.”

Of the two latest Riesling vintage releases that we tasted, Jeffrey commented that, “2009 was more of a classic year – a cooler vintage than 2008.” He suggested the 2009 Rieslings could offer 6-15 years of ageing at least. Regarding 2008, he stated this was a hot year during which the vines had almost closed down. This resulted in a style that is somewhat uncharacteristic and he candidly confessed that with his many years of experience producing these Rieslings, “I can’t make a call on this for ageing.” The tasting revealed the 2009 Rieslings to be very fine indeed with all the tight knit, complex aromatic and mineral characteristics of a great vintage. The 2009s also have a wonderful backbone of natural acidity that runs the length of the palate and lingers nicely in the long finish. No acidification was required for the 2009s whereas an adjustment was necessary with the 2008s. The 2008s are more forthright and appealing now, by virtue of not just that extra year in bottle but the relative opulence of ripe, tropical flavours.

Regarding other recent vintages Grosset remarked, “2002 is written about being good but it seems a bit lean to us. 2001 and 2003 were very good for our wines.” We tasted his 2002s together. There was perhaps a bit of austerity to the 2002 Watervale yet the Polish Hill is evolving richness with age that is bringing a beautiful balance to what make have come across as leaness in its youth.

The Piccadilly Chardonnay is produced from grapes fetched from the Piccadilly sub-region of Adelaide Hills. Grosset considers this is a very cool, marginal climate resulting in musts that never necessitate acidification. He barrel ferments the Chardonnay, allowing 50% to go through MLF. The wine is left on its gross lees for 7-8 months. Grosset’s whites are unfined but are filtered. We tasted two vintages: 2007 and 2003. Sensitivity to the grapes and the vintages comes across in the glass with judicious use of oak and lees contact, allowing the fruit to take centre stage. Grosset mentioned that he keeps the barrel room at 15 degrees C, a relatively cool temperature that helps to promote balanced elevage expression. Both Chardonnays are very well constructed with the 2003 yielding a particularly seductive silken texture.

Grosset Pinot Noir comes from the central area of the Adelaide Hills, the coolest part. Only 300-600 cases are produced each year. This is a “traditionally” made Pinot, right down to manual foot plunging in small fermenting vats and elevage in French oak barriques without racking for around twelve months. The 2008 is an appealingly juicy, soft tannined example that only hints at the heat of the vintage with its precociousness.

Produced since 1990, Gaia comes from 23 year old vines planted, according to Grosset, “out in the middle of nowhere” - at the 570 metre triangle shaped summit perched above the Clare Valley. The wine is predominately Cabernet Sauvignon (75%) with a fair dollop of Cabernet Franc (20%) and a bit of Merlot (5%). “Cabernet Franc was a bit of a punt because not many grow it in this area,” Grosset pointed out. Yet he has been very pleased with the results. “Above all, we’re looking to achieve balance with this wine.” We tasted the 2006 and the 1996 Gaia. The 2006 is a fine grained, elegant, purely fruited expression of the classic Bordeaux blend. The 1996 was equally medium bodied and elegant, just starting to fade but giving some pleasantly mature Cabernet flavours.

When I asked Grosset about his philosophy of winemaking, he smiled modestly commenting, “We haven’t modelled this on anything. We just want to do the best we can.” He went on to explain, “We’re back to an aboriginal philosophy that if you hurt the land you hurt yourself. This is what terroir is about.” One cannot help but appreciate the soft-spoken, unadorned respect for vine, vineyard and nature so eloquently communicated by Jeffrey Grosset and so beautifully reflected in his wines.

Matthew Jukes spends several months every year visiting wineries Down Under but it's in South Australia where he feels most at home. Here he names his favourites estates and a star wine to try from each

Jeff Grosset is a true legend in the world of wine. Not only did he spearhead the global push for a conversion to screwcap closures a decade ago but he also bottled sub-regional Clare Rieslings very early on; this is now very much the vogue. His Polish Hill, …and Springvale Rieslings are among Australia’s most collectable whites and they are as delicious on first release as they are at 10 years old. His phenomenal, single-vineyard red, Gaia, is a fascinating conundrum of flavours, too – one for the connoisseurs.

DECANTER (UK) April 2010

‘ ONE OF THOSE SPECIAL YEARS’

…and if Australia’s Riesling king Jeffrey Grosset said that about the 2009 vintage in Clare and Eden Valleys, you better believe it, says Tyson Stelzer.

When the Clare and Eden Valleys were hit by a record heatwave in early 2009 – 12 days over 35°C – some commentators were quick to write off the entire Riesling vintage before the grapes even started ripening. How is it then, that some vintners made wines to rival the greatest of the decade while others got theirs so wrong?...

Winemakers faced the dilemma of harvesting grapes with ripe flavours but lower sugars and higher acidities than usual. Should they harvest on intuition, when the flavours were right, or by the book, on acid and sugar measurements? This was the decision that would make or break the vintage. Those who followed the recipe spoilt the broth.

Jeffrey Grosset describes his decision to pick his Springvale vineyard in the Clare Valley three or four days early as ‘a bit controversial’. He explains that ‘ if we were picking on analysis we would have picked later, but the flavours were right’. These fruit flavours tend to come early in the cool conditions of the very best years, and ‘2009 was one of those special years’. He names 1985 as the closest comparison: ‘a cool year that has aged well’…

Grosset advocates that 2009 was not a year where a winemaker would want to work by analysis or recent history. With no rain threatening the end of harvest, makers could pick as late as they wished. This proved to be a mixed blessing, with some waiting for sugar levels to rise to usual levels, thereby making wines lacking in tenacity, displaying overripe tropical fruit flavours…

The best 2009 Clare and Eden Valley Rieslings are classic keepers. Discerning buyers will be rewarded with some of the most compelling wines of the decade – and some of the best value

Summary from Guy Woodward's Blog (Decanter's (UK)editor):

Guy Woodward on the Road

http://www.decanter.com/specials/290712.html

In the Clare Valley Wednesday 28 October 2009mary of Guy

...Jeffrey Grosset, my first port of call, is operating at a somewhat different end of the market (to Blue Nun). The creator of the renowned Polish Hill is in no small way responsible for the region's stellar reputation with the grape, but even he's not impervious to market conditions. He told me how he had been summoned to the UK by his agent David Gleave of importer Liberty Wines, which has a strong Australian list. Such is Gleave's concern at the challenges faced in selling premium Australian wine, he wants as many winemakers as possible to get out and about in the trade next year.

Grosset is a compelling character. We drove around come of his sites, looking at the difference between Polish Hill and Watervale. He asked me what I wanted to talk about. I told him regionality, the Australian dilemma, the world market, Riesling around the world, etc. Too much detail about soil types and clones would be wasted on me, I said, and were more appropriate for Andrew Jefford, the Decanter columnist who is spending a year out here studying terroir.

Half an hour later, he finished his first stream of consciousness on geology, vine age and topography. I must admit that I have been known to glaze over on such topics. Not here. Grosset's commitment to his craft is mindblowing, and it is easy to see why he is held in such awe by his Clare counterparts...

Max Allen Weekend Australian Magazine June 27-29 2009

‘Imagine you were asked to select a Dream Team of Australian wines – a dozen bottles of modern classics to show some international wine-lovers the best that this country can produce. Which wines would you choose?

The wines that would have represented the latter half of the 20th century are mostly multi-regional blends – Penfolds Grange, Eileen Hardy Shiraz, Wolf Blass Black Label, St Hallet Old Block. I wouldn’t have any of these in my 21st-century Classic Selection. Sure, they’re all impressive examples of the winemaker’s craft. But I’d rather field a collection of single-region, single-vineyard wines that taste more of where they’re from than how they’ve been made.

It’s this taste of terroir - the unique combination of country, climate and culture – that makes wine truly fascinating.

I would kick off with Jeff Grosset’s pair of single vineyard rieslings, Polish Hill and Springvale, each fabulously unlike the other thanks to the land the vines are anchored in. …’