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Rain proves only a hiccup in search for new taste

Esther Han
Esther Han

Ambition: Richard Harkham, pictured with a chardonnay, aims to make orange wine with his semillon grapes next season using an Italian method that includes sealing the grapes under beeswax.
Ambition: Richard Harkham, pictured with a chardonnay, aims to make orange wine with his semillon grapes next season using an Italian method that includes sealing the grapes under beeswax.Peter Stoop

Heavy rain in the Hunter may have destroyed Richard Harkham's semillon grapes this season, but not his resolve to make the state's first orange wines.

The "natural" winemaker hopes to use an ancient Italian winemaking method on his semillons next harvest to make orange wine, joining a small but growing breed of Australian vintners taking the organic philosophy to the extreme.

"I'm going to take the semillon, destem it, leave the skins, and like they did in the old days, raise them in clay amphoraes covered in beeswax for six months," said Mr Harkham, from Harkham Windarra Winery. "I've fermented white wine on skins for a few days before, but never for months.''

Winemakers: Richard  Harkham and his father Terry Harkham hand wax the corks of their Aziza's 2013 Shiraz at their Pokolbin Winery.
Winemakers: Richard Harkham and his father Terry Harkham hand wax the corks of their Aziza's 2013 Shiraz at their Pokolbin Winery.Peter Stoop
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Orange wine is the newest trend within the organic wine movement, which advocates minimal intervention in the production process.

"My wines have no enzymes, acid, sulphur or fining agents," Mr Harkham said.

A few wineries, mostly in Victoria and South Australia, have cropped up in the past three years spruiking orange wines.

But most of the brands increasingly stocked at hip wine bars and high-end restaurants are from the old-hands, Italy and Slovenia, where it has been made for thousands of years.

Sommelier Nick Hildebrandt, of Bentley Restaurant and Bar, said that his 600-strong wine list had 10 orange wines, and eight of them were from Italy.

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Not one venue stocked orange wines five years ago, he said. Now there are at least half a dozen including 121BC and Love Tilly Devine, both on the fringes of the CBD. "It's very much a niche market. You either love or hate the wine," he said.

Sommelier Richard Hargreave at Momofuku Seiobo began pairing orange wines with food two years ago, wooed by its ability to "handle many flavours".

"One of my favourite matches was with the smoked-eel dish," Mr Hargreave said. "The Dario Princic Bianco Trebez wine made in the orange style was sweet but salty, and with the eel, made a beautiful, complex marriage of flavours."

He dismissed its ''fad'' label.

While sections of the wine fraternity have turned their noses up at the pricey orange plonk, Iain Riggs, managing director of Brokenwood Winery in the Hunter Valley, welcomed the newcomer.

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"They have a place in the wine industry and it gives consumers a broader spectrum of choice," he said.

NSW wines are on show during March at the NSW Wine Festival. For more details, visit nswwinefestival.com.au.

Esther HanEsther Han is a homepage editor at The Sydney Morning Herald. She was the overnight homepage editor based in New York City, and previously covered state politics, health and consumer affairs.

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