Kim Chalmers
Vine nursery owner
What’s the best thing about your job? The versatility. Every day is different. Working across nursery propagation, grape farming, winemaking, marketing, travel and research and development. It’s never boring.
What’s the most common misconception about your job?
That Chalmers is a large company. We have made a significant impression on the Australian industry but we are still a small family business.
What has been your greatest moment, professionally?
Presenting to 1,000 professionals at the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference in 2016, about hot-climate grape-growing and winemaking, and climate change. I followed the director of Germany’s Geisenheim institute, which was terrifying, but my story resonated. It felt like a turning point.
Why do Italian grapes in particular work so well in Australia?
Most vineyards here were established with just a handful of the famous French varieties, despite our continent’s diverse wine-growing regions. Imagine if Austria and the Algarve grew the same varieties? The success of Italian varieties across Australia has been down to clever viticultural decisions about what to grow where, connecting to our places more intuitively and choosing grape varieties which have the viticultural characteristics to thrive in that environment. These diverse varieties, from Mediterranean ones such as Nero d’Avola or Vermentino to cooler-climate ones such as Teroldego or Ribolla Gialla, are offering growers the opportunity to express their unique sites better.
Which grapes are you excited by? Falanghina and Pecorino are working really well so far, after we introduced them in 2015 – high-acid, textural whites are in demand. We recently imported Nerello Mascalese, after a 12-year process of sourcing and importation. At the moment we have just one mother plant, but there are 50+ producers waiting for vines.
What’s the key message as regards these varieties?
We are making Australian wine. We happen to use grapes that originated in Italy. But the wines made from them are guided by what we see in the fruit, not by any preconceived tradition of style. Barossa producers don’t get asked why they grow French grapes when you’re talking about Shiraz. We don’t compare their wine to a St-Joseph, because Shiraz has been adopted and considered as Australian now. The same goes for Arneis or Aglianico.
What are the main challenges involved in bringing the vines in?
Sourcing clean, healthy, quality clones overseas, strict importation conditions and long quarantine periods before plants are released all add complexity to the process. But no pain, no gain. Strong biosecurity is a good thing. In the end we can take that one mother plant and create hundreds of vines and the first wines in about three years. From the selection of a new import to the first wine being made in Australia takes on average about five years.
How should Australian wine-growers be thinking about climate change?
Be worried. Act now. Reduce emissions. Be sensitive to your site’s conditions; design your vineyard architecture and choose your varieties and rootstocks for the lowest environmental impact and best wine quality. Great wine can be grown anywhere with the right ingredients and cultural attitude.
Kim Chalmers is a managing director of her family vine, grape and wine business in Victoria, Australia. Starting her career as a composer, Kim returned to her viticulture roots in 2005 working to import, promote, propagate and sustainably grow grape varieties new to Australia. The Chalmers family has imported more than 50 grape varieties over the past two decades, helping shape the modern face of Australian wine.