Varietal versatility
Corrina Wright is a sixth-generation grower and the first generation of her family to make wine under their Oliver’s Taranga label. She revels in growing Shiraz ‘for collectors’ (in 2015, the family was McLaren Vale’s first recipient of Penfolds’ Triple Crown Grange Growers perpetual trophy) and making wines ‘for the cool cats’ from alternative grape varieties.
McLaren Vale’s ability to offer such varietal versatility has its foundation in a highly stable Mediterranean climate, whose long growing season, says Wright, experiences ‘no high highs or low lows’. Vintages are pretty consistent.
Up and down, like the undulating hill and vale landscape, 16 retractable umbrellas atop the d’Arenberg Cube signpost McLaren Vale’s winning combination of high sunshine hours (they provide shade for the glass construction) and moderating winds. Without these winds, says Kay Brothers’ winemaker Duncan Kennedy, ‘it would be hot as hell in summer’.
McLaren Vale is 45 minutes’ drive south of Adelaide at the top of the Fleurieu Peninsula. Gulf St Vincent is its western border, Adelaide lies to the north, and the southern Mount Lofty Ranges (foothills of the Adelaide Hills) are the eastern and southern extremities.
Geology cocktail
Maritime and gully winds whistle through the region’s vineyards. Aside from lowering the temperature, these winds – together with the dry growing season (McLaren Vale is in the rain shadow of the Adelaide Hills) – reduce disease pressure. It explains why a large
region’s champions of organic and biodynamic viticulture. A restored old creek planted to more than 50,000 native trees is at the heart of Gemtree’s Wetlands Eco-trail. The energy-neutral business’ certified biodynamic range includes a Savagnin and a Tempranillo, as well as more familiar varieties.
Bekkers