France and Spain are belatedly waking up to the necessity of using varietal labelling, and the open-door policy of allowing non-traditional regional varieties to be planted. Thus Rioja has finally allowed the planting of sauvignon blanc and chardonnay to bolster the essentially flavourless white variety viura (known elsewhere in Spain as macabeo). But in a last ditch stand, the regulations provide that at least 51% of a white wine containing sauvignon blanc and chardonnay (also verdejo, maturana blanca, tempranillo blanco, and Turruntes (not Torrontes)) obscure Spanish white varieties unlikely to create waves.

This pales into insignificance compared with the recent approval of over 80 new varieties for Languedoc, in southern France, more of which anon.


Maree Collis and Ray Nadeson of the relatively little known Lethbridge Wines of Geelong have been announced as finalists in the 2009 Australian Gourmet Traveller Winemaker of the Year Awards. Each had PhDs in science, and were working at Monash University when they say ‘we found that our work was getting in the way of our wine’, and began the long job of finding what became the Lethbridge Vineyard, erecting the winery, and making their first wines in 1996. To supplement their income, they have also become contract winemakers for others in the region, producing as many gold and trophy winning wines for others as for themselves. Or, at least, that was the case until the 2008 Geelong Wine Show, where they had outstanding success. They can also look forward to appropriate recognition in the 2010 Australian Wine Companion, due out at the end of this month.


Campbell Mattinson and Gary Walsh’s Big Red Wine Book 2009/2010 has just been released. Published by Hardie Grant, it sells for $24.95 and gives in-depth reviews of more than 1000 red wines. The standard entry shows the price, region, alcohol, closure, value (rated out of five), auction prices (where appropriate) and a point score out of 100. For classic wines it also provides one-line pen pictures of up to 10 previous vintages. In addition, there are the usual lists, which in this day of the database can be pulled effortlessly out of the system, and are a very useful guide to the information contained in this 350-page book.