Now regarded as one of the most esteemed figures in Australian wine, Iain Riggs AM worked his first vintage in 1973 at Bleasdale Vineyards, Langhorne Creek. Nine years later, Riggs migrated north to the Hunter Valley to begin what would become a four decade stint as Chief Winemaker at Brokenwood.
In 2018, Iain Riggs was named as a Member of the Order of Australia for his significant service to oenology as a winemaker.
When asked how much the Australian wine industry has transformed over his soon-to-be fifty-three vintages of winemaking, Riggs tells Drinks Trade that the change has been “dramatic; absolutely dramatic.
“When I started in 1972, fortified was a very, very big part of the wine industry/wine sales; and red wine dominated white wine sales by a big measure,” he added.
“By the end of the 1970s, it had completely flipped on its head: white wine sales dominated red wine sales, fortifieds were on the way out, and people were putting whites in the fridge, drinking them cold. It was what Australia should have been doing for a very long time before, but it took the '60s and '70s to have a new generation come through and say, well, we don't want to drink port when it's 40 degrees outside, and we don't want to drink red wine, we want to drink nice cold white wine.”
This resulted in Australian red wine sales entering into a slump from around 1978 through to the early 1980s, explains Riggs, after which quality red table wine started to make a comeback.
“The decade of the '70s [was] pretty ordinary climate-wise/weather-wise, but the decade of the '80s was fabulous for the wine industry; ‘82, ‘84, ‘86, ‘88, ‘90, and the red wines just improved out of sight, so we got back into more balance. Then, of course, Chardonnay boomed and the Sauvignon Blanc boom came on, so people were finding all these new (and at the time quite exotic) wine styles.”
The boom of Australian wine exports that followed this was what went on to consolidate Shiraz as the most planted grape variety in Australia. According to Riggs, this boom started in the UK, before taking off in the US and, more recently, China: “Of course all those countries were after our red wine,” he said.
Interestingly, Chardonnay overtook Shiraz as the most crushed grape variety in vintage 2024 for the first time since 2013. Similarly, the amount of white wine grapes also surpassed red wine grapes for the first time in ten years.
Iain Riggs attributes this changing crush ratio to challenging conditions in Australia’s key global export markets.
“That’s an interesting fact that the downturn in sales in the Northern Hemisphere, UK, USA, Canada, and China, has meant that our Shiraz production has gone very, very quiet,” he said.
Variety and regionality
Whilst the National Vintage report and the historical trends outline an overarching image, it’s important to recognise that some grape varieties have only achieved widespread export popularity from certain regions.
Riggs identifies Hunter Valley Shiraz as a style that “never resonated in the Northern Hemisphere in those boom times,” and thus one that will likely prove more immune to the fluctuating export markets.
“Hunter's style of Shiraz is very much medium-bodied, 13.5% alcohol, they're not black-coloured, and therefore they don't take heaps of oak,” he added.
“I think those styles will always find favour, and I wouldn't be surprised if sales of those medium-bodied reds start to take off over the 15% alcohol, big blockbuster wines that the Barossa and McLaren Vale is known for. You can see that in Grenache already. The popularity of Grenache is going through the roof.”
How has production changed over time?
Over his five decades making wine, Iain Riggs believes that winemaking approaches have evolved in some varieties much more than in others.
“We're making much finer Chardonnays these days. Semillon - from the first Simeon I made here in the Hunter in 1983, it really hasn't changed that much. It's probably a bit less skin contact, a bit finer, and a bit more suited to long-term bottle age, but they've always been lower alcohol, about 10.5% to 11.3%, and that really has never changed.
“The reds in the Hunter, I don't think we've changed stylistically since I first started in 1983, mainly because this region, the soils and the climate doesn't allow you to make a different style.”
Why are Australia’s top varieties unlikely to change?
After retiring from Brokenwood ahead of the 2024 vintage, Iain Riggs is now focusing on his own label, Riggs & Wiggs, on top of his new role as Bleasdale’s Chairman.
Riggs & Wiggs currently have six available wines, all of which champion the Hunter Valley’s more established varieties of Semillon, Chardonnay, and Shiraz.
“We have very distinct varieties, being Semillon-led and Shiraz and Chardonnay. But also a lot of the younger winemakers are innovating with Barbera, Albarino, Pecorino, etcetera, all the newer Mediterranean varieties.”
Riggs identifies versatility as a key factor underpinning the success of Australia’s most planted varieties.
“Shiraz, because of its versatility, can be grown in every wine region in Australia, as can Chardonnay, whereas I think some of the new varieties probably can't,” he said.
“The best thing about Bleasdale is their strength in Malbec. Langhorne Creek is just such a superb region for Malbec, so they've almost cornered the market in that variety, but it's going to take a lot of tonnage to challenge Cabernet and Shiraz production-wise.
“I just can't see enough regions planting, say, Tempranillo or Mencia or Sangiovese to challenge Shiraz, but they'll certainly make an impact. They offer the consumer certainly a lighter style of red compared to Shiraz and Cabernet.”
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Using alternative grape varieties in Australia's warmer wine regions
Last year, Drinks Trade spoke to Kim Chalmers of Chalmers Wines and Jim Markeas of Mallee Estate Wines about the growing importance of alternative varieties.
Kim Chalmers: “A great example straight up would be that, in the last three years, we have had unsold grapes left of Shiraz on the vine and not much unsold of anything else, so there's a commercial aspect. But for us, the most important aspect of why we grow what we grow is about wine quality and about sustainable viticulture and less inputs. If we can grow a grape that has thick skins and is quite drought tolerant and high acid, then we're not watering as much, we're not spraying as much, and we're also not adding acid in the winery; so we're actually reducing our inputs, which reduces your impact on the environment and all the rest of it. And it's our belief that those grapes also make better wine.”
Jim Markeas: “One thing that it does do [is] it makes the Australian wine segment very exciting. Not only are we excited about new varieties and things like that, but the people behind these varieties that are making them and making these wines all have unique stories.”
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