Orange vigneron showcases Austrian grape variety

The Orange wine region is pretty cold - and has several vineyards at significant altitudes.

It makes sense, then for an Austrian grape variety like gruner veltliner to thrive.

Orange's Stockman's Ridge has just released two new grüner veltliners grown by owner Jonathan Hambrook and made by local winemaker Will Rikard-Bell.

The label is is championing grüner veltliner with the release of their 2022 Stockman’s Ridge ‘Signature’ Grüner Veltliner and 2022 Stockman’s Ridge ‘Rider’ Grüner Veltliner.

Two excellent wines, but made in contrasting styles.

Grüner veltliner is intrinsically linked to Austria, where it accounts for around 30% of all wine grape plantings.

In Australia plantings are small, albeit increasing, with over 60 winemakers currently making a grüner. The movement has been led by Hahndorf Hill in the Adelaide Hills. 

The Stockman’s Ridge grüner veltliner vines were planted on the north-western slopes of Mount Canobolas at 800 metres elevation in 2012.

With the vineyard maturing, Hambrook is hoping to shine a spotlight on its potential.

“Orange’s long, cool ripening and high sunshine hours is perfect for this variety,” he says.

“It’s an exciting new variety for the region and one that has a great history growing in the colder, high elevation climates.

“After we planted the vines, we had years of drought. As a result, the vines sent their roots deep in search of moisture.

"Over the past few vintages, we have experienced good vintages and the deep-rooted vines are now producing excellent quality and yields. This has allowed us to experiment with different styles.”

The 2022 Stockman’s Ridge ‘Rider’ Grüner Veltliner is fresh and vibrant, crisp and lean on the palate and unoaked to showcase varietal character.

In contrast, the 2022 Stockman’s Ridge ‘Signature’ Grüner Veltliner was harvested riper to create a fuller, more mouth-filling style.

It was matured in seasoned French oak with regular lees stirring for three months to add textural interest. A small component underwent malolocatic fermentation.

“We are gaining valuable experience with this variety and foresee a great future for it," says Hambrook.

"Riesling andcChardonnay are excelling in the region, and it was logical that grüner veltliner would also succeed. Time will be the judge, but all the indicators so far are positive.”

The "Signature" retails for $40 and the "Rider" is $35. See https://stockmansridge.com.au/

Meet Australia's trendsetting gurus of gruner

The wine business is a global business nowadays, as evidenced by Larry Jacobs and Marc Dobson from Hahndorf Hill winery in the Adelaide Hills.  

Here you have two South Africans, firmly settled in Australia, working with a range of grape varieties from Austria and exporting to countries including Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and the UK. 

If you are looking for gruner veltliner, blaufrankisch, zweigfelt, even St Laurent, in Australia then you have come to the right place. 

Jacobs was a former intensive-care doctor who gave up medicine to become the founder of Mulderbosch Vineyards in Stellenbosch, South Africa. 

Dobson is a former Rand Daily Mail journalist and advertising copywriter from Cape Town. They are two of the nicest people in the business, as I was reminded by a recent visit. 

Having built Mulderbosch into an international brand, Jacobs sold up and moved to Australia with Dobson in 1997. Falling in love with the cool-climate Adelaide Hills, they bought and  developed Hahndorf Hill Winery.

Blaufrankisch, a red variety, has been grown at Hahndorf Hill for a quarter of a century. Zweigelt is a more recent arrival with St Laurent the newcomer. 

Much of their focus is on the vibrant and spicy white grape gruner veltliner, which many experts see as the "next big thing" in the wine industry. Huon Hooke has described them as "the gurus of gruner." 

"We believe the Adelaide Hills offers the perfect terroir for this grape," says Jacobs (above). "This is a variety that thrives on the dynamic pull between warm days and cold nights during the growing season.

"The Adelaide Hills wine region is defined as being a premier cool-climate region, not because it has particularly cool days during the growing season, but because of the cold nights. We live in a region with one of the biggest diurnal temperature variations, which is ideal for Austrian varieties."

The first vintage of Hahndorf Hill gruner veltliner was released over a decade ago and Hahndorf Hill is today one of the leaders of a group of producers in the Adelaide Hills. Today the pair produces no fewer than four different styles of gruner each vintage.

Visit the cellar door to try something different or to enjoy a wine and chocolate matching. The staff are as charming as the wines.  

See www.hahndorfhillswinery.com.au.