AAVWS: An alternative take on provenance, progression & hope
Forward-thinkers (l-r): Mark Walpole, Stefano de Pieri, Stefano Dini, Jenni & Bruce Chalmers
Provenance. It derives from the Latin “venire” (to come) prefixed with “pro” (forth). We tend to think of it more as “coming from”—a celebration of origin. Wine shows often have a provenance trophy, where an exhibitor enters three vintages of the same wine over a period of 10-plus years. The idea is to prove the pedigree of the source through a track record of excellence. A worthy undertaking, for sure. But the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show prompts you to look at things differently. An alternative take, it turns out, can be beautifully refreshing.
This was the second year AAVWS, which set out as the Sangiovese Challenge in 1999, has awarded this trophy. It was also the second time I’ve had the honour of judging in Mildura. As a show that eschews the established, often successful, grape varieties of long standing in Australian soils, you’re constantly aware of the record being written all the time. Provenance, then, doesn’t envisage an arrow pointing back to origin; instead, you see the arrow flying forward—coming forth. Humans naturally weave narratives to make sense of our experiences till the present moment, so the story lands in the now, complete and seemingly inevitable. This same tendency makes us think of the past as history rather than a present and future constantly unfurling.
Because of how it started, and the minds that conceived and nurture it, AAVWS is constantly aware of an unspooling future. We interrogate wines that don’t claim to conform to an Aussie prototype. It is a template-breaker, a future-maker. Written into the schedule are opportunities—a public dinner, Talk & Taste panel discussion, exhibitor tasting, long lunch and more—to dig into the possible meanings of what we’re seeing, and to think about where it might go to improve livelihoods and culture.
The U.S. election was decided during judging week against a backdrop of all kinds of global malaise. Of course, it’s natural to worry about the here and now, and how the global future looks from this vantage point.
But what AAVWS embodies is not optimistic escapism; it hope born of the human instinct to adapt and thrive. What happened before now doesn’t set the script for the future. That script is always being written, coming forth, not an arrow pointing back nor a milestone on a ready-made road. It’s a path we’re constantly beating. We should be mindful of how we go, enjoy the people we travel with, and go hopefully always.
The AAVWS feature dinner. Photo credit (all images): Roberto Pettinau
Aptly, the Chalmers family won the inaugural AAVWS Provenance Trophy in 2023 for their Fiano, entering the 2012, 2019 and 2021 grown on their site in Colbinabbin in the Heathcote region. Chalmers, a founder, sponsor and organising linchpin of the show, is Australia's foremost importer of Mediterranean vine varieties, and first brought Fiano into the country in 2002. Three years later, the first Fiano under the Chalmers label was produced.
The grape, whose most famous home is Campania in southern Italy, remains one of the most popular varieties Chalmers sells to other wineries. It’s made a highly successful home for itself all over Australia, notably in areas like McLaren Vale, whose warm, Mediterranean climate does few favours for the Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc once prominent there.
In the 2023 judging of the provenance class, a couple of revealing comments cropped up on the Chalmers Fiano bracket. Judge One (the names are anonymised in the AAVWS Show Results booklet) praised the “lovely, familiar flow of expression, acidity and phenolics through the wines”. Judge Three went a little deeper: “Look at a lineup like this and wonder why we didn't jump on the Fiano train sooner. A really strong trio that links up beautifully to tell a compelling story.” Yes, that's right; there is progression, an arc.
This year's winner was Freeman Vineyards for its 2004, 2007 and 2017 vintages of Secco, an equal-parts blend of Corvina and Rondinella. If you want to talk about strange odysseys, these two grapes hail from Valpolicella in the Veneto, northeast Italy. They'd hardly be considered A-listers even now—much less when Dr. Brian Freeman plucked them from obscurity to plant Australia's sole incarnations on his 560m-high vineyard in Hilltops, New South Wales. Like many in the AAVWS family, he has both led with and been led by curiosity, having previously spent a decade heading up Wine Science at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga.
Secco, which means “dry” in Italian, borrows from its homeland the tradition of drying a portion of the fruit (keeping with the community spirit, he uses a neighbour’s solar-powered prune dehydrator) and adding it to the fresh grapes during fermentation. The wine matures for two years in old oak barrels to mature, then spends a further two years in bottle before release. A singular vision and a unique, circuitous journey to the table—but, again, an inspiring example of provenance.
As some things celebrate how far they’ve come, others at AAVWS are taking their first baby steps.
You hear a lot of head-spinning, groundbreaking stuff at Talk & Taste, whose theme this year was “Cultivating the Future”. AAVWS stalwart Mark Walpole of Fighting Gully Road ran us through his painstaking—ultimately fruitless—solo effort to import his own Petite Arvine cuttings from Italy’s Val d’Aosta subregion into Australia. Realising he didn’t have what it takes to beat the bureaucracy, he wisely enlisted the help of his old friends at Chalmers and Tuscany-based vine consultant Stefano Dini to get the job done.
They did just that, and we got to taste the first micro-batch of this beautiful early-budding, late-ripening variety prized for retaining high acidity through a long growth cycle. This, together with its characterful aromatic aromas with sweet, mouthfilling citrus and peachy fruit, gives it hugely exciting climate-proof potential in Beechworth’s higher zones, where Walpole now has almost one hectare planted.
Those of us in the room got to hear about this one’s fumbled conception, touch-and-go gestation period and circumstances surrounding the birth. We were there to toast the emergence of the firstborn, and a joyous occasion it was.
I cannot wait to witness the coming forth of this story and many more of its kind.
