Tall Poppy Syndrome
Following on from last year's newsletter,
I am very pleased to say that the International distribution of our Estate Vineyard Chardonnay, by Établissements Jean-Pierre Moueix, has been a great success. This has put the wine before a much wider international audience with some great reviews by overseas journalists – however I have some more to say about that below.
Although this chardonnay is now reaching a broader audience, we have not forgotten you, our loyal and faithful mail order clients. Even with the increased demand for export we will continue to make the majority of our production available for domestic customers.
Even better news is that the price from our winery is not going up, even with many people commenting that this is still well under-priced. I feel the prices of some wines are getting out of hand and there are many more expensive Chardonnays on the Australian market. On tasting some of these, we believe Giaconda Chardonnay offers comparatively better value and complexity!
My thoughts on the paucity of SOME Australian wine journalism and Tall Poppy Syndrome:
Recently I was informed... "In a blind tasting with Antonio Galloni and the international Vinous team, the wine of the night among serious global competition was Giaconda Chardonnay 2017, which everyone had marked as white Burgundy from an iconic producer."
A few years ago in Adelaide, industry professionals gathered to taste 43 chardonnay wines from renowned Australian and French producers. All were tasted blind and ranked and Giaconda Chardonnay 2017 was ranked first.
Yet local journalists' scores were as low as 95 pts!
Jane Anson, author of 'Inside Bordeaux' gave 100 points to Giaconda Chardonnay 2021 (along with 4 other international and 2 local journalists) and said "This is as good as Chardonnay gets and then some."
Local scores were as low as 97 points here in Australia.
James Sucklings tasted the 2019 Giaconda Nebbiolo and rated this wine alongside other producers such as Gaja; “Yum. This is real nebbiolo, with cherry, black-truffle, earth and walnut aromas and flavours. It’s full-bodied with a solid center-palate and chewy tannins. Powerful finish. Real deal here.” Score: 97 Points.
Again, local scores go as low as 90 points!
Enough said here, however it's disappointing to be the subject of the tall poppy syndrome and to be considered fair game for not playing mates to some very inflated industry egos. I'll let my wines do the talking instead.
However, there is still some excellent wine journalism to be found here in Australia and the wine consumer always has the final say. Giaconda wines sold out in the blink of an eye last release and this gives me confidence to keep focus on what we are currently doing in the vineyard and winery. Giaconda is now a world wine, to be judged by a much wider audience whom appears to greatly appreciate our style of wine.
A summary of the 2024 vintage:
This year saw an early season even though it was not at all hot. An early spring, with moderate weather and vines in excellent condition has made for very good quality fruit. It's early days yet, but the Chardonnay is powerful, refined and complex: the reds have excellent colour, body and tannin.
All of our reds have been fermented in terracotta amphorae this year. I really like these vessels as they do not give a lot of heavy extraction and require no artificial cooling - lovely natural ferments being the result.
Some comments regarding the 2022 wine releases:
Our new plantings of Roussanne are proving to love their new site on the Estate Vineyard. If you are interested in Rhône whites, then don't miss the 2022 Estate Vineyard Roussanne about to be released. This new wine follows on (and probably surpasses) our original 'Aeolia' Roussanne, which was produced up until the 2009 vintage. This new wine is an exceptional pairing with Asian food and will only grow in stature with more bottle age.
I should add that the current release represents another very good batch of wines, which demonstrates how complex each varietal can be when grown here in the foothills of the Victorian Alps. You can read more detail in the release tasting notes linked below.
View wine offer and read the tasting notes >
Sincerely,
Rick Kinzbrunner
Announcing our 'in-conversion organic' status
01 March 2018Words by Casey White - Vineyard Manager
My first vintage is all but complete here at Giaconda. When I set foot through the front gates last winter I was quite nervous, yet excited to be tackling such a prestigious vineyard. I had always been aware of the great wines produced from this property but did not understand what really drove this level of quality from a vineyard perspective.
Rick had set me the main task of looking after all the vines and continuing to produce beautiful fruit, but also to take the Estate Vineyard to a certified organic status. This is something I am passionate about, having developed some organic and sustainable viticulture methods in my previous role.
Our initial visit from the team at Demeter Australia involved inspecting the vineyard soils to assess the levels of organic rich humus. They were pleased to find beautiful soils that have tested absolutely free of chemical residues, are rich in humus, and could confidently see the vineyard has been managed with an organic approach for many decades.
It is pleasing to announce our 'in-conversion organic' status under supervision of the Bio Dynamic Research Institute (BDRI) certification process and that we will be fully certified in the very near future.
Getting my hands dirty in the vineyard and seeing how healthy the soil is, soon gave me an appreciation of all the years of hard work which has been put into this vineyard. The soil is alive with healthy microbes, which flows directly through the vines, the fruit, and finally the wines!