Many American wine professionals would argue that just about all of the wines from Australia are undervalued. Even getting U.S. consumers to buy well-known and once highly popular Shiraz can be an uphill battle. But many would also argue that the battle is well worth it.
That’s certainly true of the wines from Gippsland, a large yet little-known wine region in southeast Victoria that’s home to mainland Australia’s coolest terroirs. “The proof is in the pudding with the quality of wine they’re putting out from Gippsland,” says Jane Lopes, the co-founder of Australian wine import company Legend Imports, pointing to the wines from two of the region’s pioneers, William Downie and Patrick Sullivan. “I would put their Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs up against top Burgundy and top U.S. wines, and feel confident they’d come out favorably, especially for the value they represent.”
Despite its relative obscurity, Gippsland is producing some of the country’s most exciting wines from two of the world’s most popular grape varieties. While you can find high-quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from many regions around the world, Gippsland is offering a truly unique take on these consumer-friendly varieties—and, in the process, “changing the overall perception of what Australian wine is,” says Simi Grewal, the cofounder of Decant Bottle Shop and Bar in San Francisco and Napa Valley.
A brief history of Gippsland
“There was really nothing vineyard-wise in Gippsland until the late 1970s,” says Downie, who is the founder and winemaker for his eponymous winery. Unlike other Australian regions that had vineyards established during colonization, Gippsland never saw that kind of activity early on. Then, between 1978 and 1981, several wineries were established. “And a number of those [wineries] made real headway,” adds Downie, pointing to one of the region’s best-known producers, Bass Phillip, which was established in 1979.
But the region declined in the 1980s and ’90s, until, in 1998, “there was a big wave of vineyard establishment all across southern Australia, and that included parts of Gippsland,” says Downie. “Quite a few of the vineyards that still exist today were planted around that time. But from about 2010, things declined again—until the recent few years.”
Part of the issue was that investments were going elsewhere. “What happened, probably in the last 10 years, is that Tasmania has gone nuts with plantings,” says Marcus Satchell, the founder of Dirty Three Wines. “The expansion of cool-climate viticulture mostly happened in Tassie.”
The reason for this was twofold. “We didn’t have a big player that made a name and made a brand around Gippsland,” says Satchell. Plus, Downie adds, “A lot of people went to Tasmania because it’s a pretty easy place to grow grapes. [Unlike Gippsland], it doesn’t rain very much. It’s quite dry, but it’s cool.”
Despite being continuously overlooked, Gippsland is now inching towards its moment in the spotlight thanks to several dedicated winemakers that are proving the quality potential of the region. “It feels like we’re finally at the point where we’re turning into a proper wine region,” says Downie. “There’s been more vineyard establishment in the last five years than at any point in the region’s history, which is still not a huge amount of vineyard, but definitely getting us to the point where there is a critical mass of activity and some of the wines make it out of the region and around the world.”
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