It's time to try the first wines of the 2021 vintage
Wine rant
Beaujolais Nouveau Day was a stroke of marketing genius. Back in the 1950s, French wine distributors started competing to see who could be the first to sell bottles of this barely-finished-fermenting fruity red in the bistros of Paris, just weeks after the harvest in Beaujolais, south of Burgundy.
By the 1980s it was a global phenomenon. I remember as a young sales assistant in a bottle shop, having to dress up in a comic French costume (stripy top, beret, fake moustache, baguette) on the third Thursday in November – the celebration's official day – to unload Beaujolais Nouveau air-freighted from France.
Maybe this is why I love celebrating the appearance of the first wines of the vintage: over the past few weeks I've really enjoyed drinking the 2021 rieslings and rosés and pet-nats and light reds that are hitting shelves and fridges around the country, bursting with freshness, begging to be enjoyed in the early spring sunshine.
I'm not suggesting bottle shop workers dress up in some ockerversion of Beaujolais Nouveau garb (cork hat, singlet and stubby holder, perhaps?) but I would like to see a bit more of a fuss made about these new wines, especially as 2021 was such a good vintage in so many regions – a blessing after the disasters of 2020.
Wine for now
One of the absolute standouts of my recent tastings of 2021 vintage rieslings was the Pewsey Vale Eden Valley Riesling ($20): so refreshing, like biting into a cool, crisp Granny Smith apple.
It's a reliable, great-value favourite that will also age beautifully in the cellar for 10 years or more. pewseyvale.com
Wine from Tuscany
Like many winemakers in north-east Victoria (and elsewhere in south-eastern Australia), Mark Walpole lost his grape harvest to smoke taint in 2020.
So, he called a mate in Tuscany and secured a few barrels of deliciously fragrant, charmingly juicy 2019 Chianti that he's bottled here under his Fighting Gully Road label, for $32 a pop. fightinggullyroadwines.com.au
Wine newcomers
Trait Wines is a name to watch in Margaret River. A couple of years ago, Theo Truyts and Clare Trythall – he's a South African winemaker, she's an emergency medical consultant – took over a near-abandoned 30-year-old vineyard and have done a fine job bringing it back to life.
The first two Trait whites are the 2020 Field Blend ($33), a gorgeously complex, pretty mash-up of chardonnay, chenin, savvy blanc and semillon, and the seriously rich-but-fine, age-worthy 2020 Chardonnay ($89). traitwines.com
Wine in pouches
The latest winery to jump on the eco-friendly packaging bandwagon is Trentham Estate, on the NSW banks of the Murray River near Mildura.
Three's a Crowd, its new range of colourfully designed 1.5-litre wine pouches, produce 90 per cent less waste and have only 20 per cent of the carbon footprint of glass.
The wines – a crisp pinot grigio and a juicy pinot noir – are available through First Choice Liquor for $16 a pouch. trenthamestate.com.au
Wish list
Who Domaine A
What 2015 Tasmanian Pinot Noir
Why A delicious, bold, earthy pinot released with six years' bottle age, from a great, mature vineyard.
When Now to 2030.
How much $75
Where domaine-a.com.au
Max Allen is an award-winning journalist and author, who has written about wine and drinks for close to 30 years.