Tasting Notes

TAKE ME TO THE RIVERLAND

Ricca Terra Farms are blazing new trails in the Riverland wine region.

HOW CAN I DESCRIBE Ashley Ratcliff to readers who have never met him? I’ll no doubt fail abysmally, but here’s an attempt.

Ashley is a youthful 40-something-ish; down to earth but clever; gregarious, but in a measured, gentle kind of way; thoughtful, upbeat, energetic and – so it seems – ready to challenge conventional wisdom.

Which is what he and wife Holly have done with Ricca Terra Farms: they have made the Riverland sexy.

Not so long ago that would have seemed an impossible task.

Winding back the clock only a decade or so, Riverland wine was the polar opposite of sexy.

Despite the fact that it is our country’s largest wine region – in terms of geographical plantings, production and number of makers – it has empirically been focussed on the low end of the market.

High volume brands at low cost.

And it has done its job well, punching out heaps of tasty (but generally uninspiring) wine into the Australian and overseas markets.

But because it is hard to craft Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and even Shiraz into something special when they are grown in a place as warm as the Riverland, there was very little scope for Riverland wines to rock the conventional boat.

Too arid, too hot.

Ricca Terra has changed that focus, with an ever-evolving collection of wines that rely less and less on the classic French varieties; more and more on the lesser-known grapes of Italy, Spain and Portugal.

And Ashley has altered his land management to use less irrigation, improve his soils and –in the process – makes his vines happier.

In retrospect (like so many things) it seems obvious. WORDS TONY HARPER

It makes sense to plant varieties that are suited to the conditions, rather than stuffing conventional varieties into a hole they don’t fit.

But it takes both intellect and courage to take that step; to trailblaze.

And viticulture is very different from growing cabbages or potatoes, making beer or crafting chocolates; it takes years of effort and expense to establish a vineyard and get the vines mature enough to gain a meaningful harvest.

And then … it’s a once a year harvest … so winegrowers don’t have the luxury of brewers, for example, who can trial a new beer recipe every month, week, day, until they get it right.

For winegrowers … it’s annual.

Will the public want a Riverland Fiano, or is that a ludicrous idea?

But in a relatively short time, Ricca Terra has succeeded brilliantly at convincing us that, given the right grapes and a caretaker who understands his vines and land, the Riverland can make wines that are not only tasty, and interesting … but also meaningful.

Bullets Before Cannonballs for example; my favourite of the whole Ricca Terra family.

It’s a red based on Tempranillo (Spanish), Shiraz, Lagrein (northern Italy) and Lambrusco (also Italian, but perhaps not what you think), morphed into a bright, juicy, savoury-meetssucculent delicious thing.

It doesn’t fall down the Beaujolais/Gamay/hipsterred rabbit-hole of juicy fruit and no backbone.

This has backbone … and oodles of flavour.

There’s Ricca Terra ‘Arinto’ (a well known variety in Portugal, but just a newcomer to Australia), fermented and aged in seasoned barrels.

It’s a grape that loves heat, thrives on it, retaining freshness and acidity in conditions that would make Chardonnay melt.

There are maybe half a dozen Australian producers playing with the variety, and the Ricca Terra version, at least in my experience, is by far the best: bright, textural, hints of herb, hints of lemon, but medium-weight rather than lean.

Delicious. I picture it with a plate of grilled sardines, a bowl of mussels perhaps … something sea-foody.

And ‘Juicy June’, the Ricca Terra play on Beaujolais and the light, bright almost-reds that are currently so popular.

But rather than Gamay, Ricca Terra makes the wine from Negroamaro (indigenous to southern Italy) and Grenache (southern France).

Juicy June is light in colour, she is as juicy as her name would lead you to believe, she is crunchy, fresh and bouncy, she is simply delicious.

The Ricca Terra story isn’t confined to the Ricca Terra brand.

Plenty of grapes from the vineyards are sold to other producers and appear in some wellknown bottles.

And Ricca Terra has a couple of sibling brands – 22o Halo that sits as a kind of gobetween for people new to emerging varieties, and Terra do Rio, which is dedicated to Portuguese varieties.

Let’s leave Ricca Terra for a moment, and fastforward to 2050.

It’s less than 30 years from now, and a year by when our politicians will need to have made good on their emissions policies.

Me … I don’t think it’s anywhere near soon enough or radical enough to save our species and our planet in the long term. But that’s another story.

For now, let’s just imagine the global viticultural landscape.

We are close to two degrees warmer across the planet.

Our polar caps have diminished, exacerbating the problem.

The Champagne region is too warm to make that wonderful, bubbly wine that created and kept its fame for nearly three centuries.

Tasmania is producing delicious Shiraz, just like the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale once did, until they became too hot.

They are now growing Nero d’Avola. England is the new Champagne (just too wet to do it gracefully), Chablis is the new Burgundy, and Burgundy is growing Grenache.

So … let's thank Ashley and all the like-minded people that decided Australia could benefit from looking ahead, and looking abroad to what varieties can cope best with our arid, warm climate, and the challenges that the following 28 years will bring.

Is it the answer? Not for global warming.

But if, in your dotage, you would like a glass of Australian wine that has panache, I reckon the likes of Ashley Ratcliff should be toasted with a glass of something unfamiliar, for now, but bound to be more familiar in an alarmingly short time.