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Emerging wines are wines with an up-and-coming profile on the fine wine market. These wines comprise both the old and the new – wines with relatively long-term reputations and new marques that have captured the heart and mind of the wine enthusiast in a relatively short timeframe. Generally emerging wines comprise unique properties, both tangible and intangible, which carry with them a high perception of quality.
Emerging wines are neither classified wines nor are they cult wines. It is important to point out that the emerging category is not a classification. It’s more a vinous purgatory where market performance will in the end decide a wine’s fate. Only the most consistent performers eventually become classic wines and find their way into Langton’s Classification. A number of wines included in the emerging category are wines that missed the cut in 2000 for Langton’s Classification III. These are wines that are well regarded on the market but just don’t have the required track record of vintages to qualify for classification. Parker Coonawarra Estate First Growth is a very good example. Ironically, in many respects their zealous pursuit of quality has kept them out of the Classification, as they did not make the 1992, 1995 and 1997 vintages. Yalumba Octavius is another example.
Market attributes such as reputation, consumer demand, regional definition and limited production play a major role in successfully propelling emerging wines onto the fine wine market. This is happening in all the major established regions. Torbreck in the Barossa, Yering Station in the Yarra Valley and Balnaves in Coonawarra are good examples. Micro blends and wines perceived as limited releases are attractive propositions, especially if the wines are derived from highly regarded wineries. Penfolds Experimental Bins, Rockford Single Vineyard Shirazes and Noon Reserve Shiraz are examples. However, the strongest force in the emerging market is Australian Shiraz, particularly from recognized wine regions such as McLaren Vale and the Barossa.
‘Emerging’ also includes wines which have appeared on the market in recent years without much of a track record but which have made a strong impression with the buyer. Often these wines are vintage specific. A good example is Penfolds RWT Shiraz, a new Barossa Shiraz that has strong regional and producer provenance. Majella Cabernet Sauvignon and Clonakilla Shiraz-Viognier are other examples.
With the ever-widening international market for fine Australian wine, it is inevitable that both domestic and international markets drive emerging wines. In the last five years wines unheard of by the local market have become market forces in the US and Asia. Many of these wines have yet to convert into a meaningful market presence on the Australian market largely because so much of the wine is exported. However it is quite possible that wines like Henry’s Drive and Killibinbin could earn an established market presence in the future.
The unbridled enthusiasm of the wine critic-led American and Asian markets is sometimes met with derision by Australian wine commentators. However it should be pointed out that these markets don’t have to buy Australian wine. They have plenty of other countries to choose from. Indeed their participation in the market has challenged established ideas and entrenched viewpoints. While the order of things may change in the future, their support for fine Australian wine has been extremely important. It has brought excitement and opportunity as well as plenty of soul searching.
Over the next ten years it is highly likely that more emerging wines will derive from single vineyard sites. The concept of regional definition will in turn focus on issues of sub-regional definition and vineyard character. This will have a marked effect on vineyard valuations, which in turn could see the values of fine Australian wine increase. The Barossa is a very good example. Winemakers now frequently talk about the differences between northern, central and southern Barossa Shirazes. Margaret River also has a fledgling movement that attempts to define sub-regional characters. Even Coonawarra winemakers speak about the differences between north and south. As Australia churns out more and more commercial and brand-oriented wines, an understanding of sub-regional and vineyard differences will become a market imperative, especially for smaller producers.
The Australian fine wine market is in constant evolution. Some of the wines that seem to have so much potential today may well fall by the wayside in the future. It has happened before, especially when smaller wineries are taken over in mergers and the accountants start making the wine. In ten years time some of today’s emerging wines will have been classified or have become established labels. While wines that today we have never heard of will take their place as the fine Australian wine market develops and broadens internationally.
For a detailed listing of Langton’s selections of the leading Australian Emerging Wines visit Wine Investment/Emerging Wines on this site.
Andrew Caillard MW
Langton’s
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