The old butter and ice factory, Auburn 1979
In 1979, Jeffrey Grosset saw an opportunity: a disused building at Auburn in the Clare Valley was for sale. In 1981, Grosset Wines opened: and to phone the Winery it was necessary to dial ‘Auburn’ and be connected by an operator: the Rolling Stones began their ‘Tattoo You’ tour; the ‘Men at Work’ album was number 1; it was the year of the underarm ball; Collingwood lost another Grand Final; and Lleyton Hewitt and Paris Hilton were born. As they say, everything and nothing has changed.
The 2015 vintage marks the thirty-fifth release of Grosset Springvale (Watervale) and Polish Hill Rieslings. Over the years, these wines have shown a consistency of the bone dry (some now call it ‘ultra-dry’) style for which Grosset has become known. They also consistently reflect the different areas of the Clare Valley from which they come: Watervale and Polish Hill River. At a deeper level, the uniqueness of the Grosset sites within those locales is increasingly understood. In 1981 there was little thought given to those subtle but often significant differences that occur in wine due to the location of the vineyard, now often referred to as ‘terroir’. In 1981 these two wines were testament to a phenomenon poorly understood in this country at that time.
In thirty-five years these wines have achieved national and international acclaim, and have gone some way to entrenching the name ‘Grosset’ into the history of wine. Both are listed on the Langton Classification of Distinguished Australian Wines (as the highest rating rieslings in the country) and both are included in the ‘Top 5 Most Collected Australian White Wines’ (Wine Ark).
It’s nearly 35 years since James Halliday wrote ‘…if Grosset can’t make superb wines, I will give the game away. His three 1981 whites prove the point.’(National Times March 1982).
The third of the 1981 whites was not bone dry and Grosset has always believed there is a place for a third, very different expression of riesling: This is now captured in the Grosset Alea, named after the source vineyard. Its reputation as a serious yet very approachable wine with broad appeal is building.
In praising the Grosset Rieslings, Halliday emphasised that the other wines in the portfolio deserve ‘equal recognition’ saying of the Grosset range, “These are all benchmarks” (winecompanion.com.au October 2008).
The latest Semillon Sauvignon Blanc is a case in point. Just over the hill from the Springvale Vineyard at Watervale, is another planting belonging to Grosset. On poor non-calcareous soils the Semillon is planted with the aim of achieving flavour concentration from a variety whose quality is prone to being compromised if the vine is not made to struggle. This results in very intense and lively Semillon that is the core of one of most successful examples of this blend in the country.
Now, using that same variety and blending with a rare clone of Fiano, an indigenous variety from Southern Italy, a fascinatingly different wine, Grosset Apiana, has been created. This wine, together with the release of ‘Grosset45’ shows that the will and determination to innovate and excel continues unabated.
“It has not been just about applying the knowledge and experience” said Jeff. “The wines also mirror the evolution of our food, our lifestyle, our culture. These five new releases offer both unique beauty and great appeal.”
