So… I just published something I've been working on for the past year.
It's a 14-minute documentary about a grape variety called Tarrango that most of you have never heard of. And honestly, a year ago, neither had I.
But the story kept nagging at me: Australian scientists designed this grape in 1972 for Australian conditions. It worked. We loved it. Then we sent it to Britain to see if it was actually good. When the UK market moved on, we abandoned it.
Now the climate crisis we were warned about has arrived, European varieties are failing in our arid areas, and this grape we designed specifically for this moment? Less than 50 hectares planted nationwide.
With the help of Brown Brothers, we ended up making our own Tarrango just to understand it properly. Got to interview Dr. Peter Clingeleffer who helped create it. Blind-tasted it with sommeliers, journalists, wine professionals. The whole journey.
It became a film about cultural cringe, climate change, and whether we can believe in ourselves.
I'm really proud of it. And nervous about putting it out there. But here we are.
14 minutes. Make a coffee. Let me know what you think.
by BrendoVino
17 Comments
Just watched this morning. So interesting! Would love to get some of that Pink Zinc Drink over here in NZ!
I drank quite a few bottles of that back in the 90s. Lightly chilled. Pretty easy going
Hey dude, I really admire you going after this interesting story and can see how much effort you put into telling it. It’s the kind of storytelling I love and think wine could use more of it! If you’d ever like any help with scripts or just someone to bounce ideas off of – send me a msg. Cheers
I’m a simple man. I see the BottleShock folks, I upvote. Another well done video.
I’d have called them chazzwazzers.
I’m sure you worked hard on a YouTube clip, but I want an article to read. I’m gen X, not gen Z!
Well done! Great subject, well handled, lots of great points and questions.
Hope it works out well for you all down there. Keep up the good work!
I was only thinking about the Tarrango the other day.
In 1991 one of my teachers left before the end of the year. We heard he was interested in wine, so the class pooled some funds and, as a newly minted 18 year old, I bought him a bottle of Jamiesons Run Shiraz Cab and a Brown Bros Tarrango with what was left over.
I bought the Tarrango because I’d heard about its Australian origins on the radio and thought it might be interesting.
I remember the teacher being quite happy with the Jamiesons Run – which had won the Jimmy Watson a year or two earlier, but somewhat less impressed with the Tarrango.
First came across Brown Brothers Tarrango in the late 90’s, still buy a case most years, served slightly chilled it’s my favourite wine in a warm summer day.
Incredibly captivating and interesting watch!! Really well put together. Your enthusiasm is so contagious.
Are there any truly native vines there a la Muscadine and other new world species?
Just watched it – great subject, fairly well treated. I won’t highlight the good things because I’d be writing an essay, just the quibbles (and I recognise that you made certain choices for the sake of improving flow and narrative):
* I know why you’re using ‘European varieties’ and form your Fiano comment alone I know you know it’s not a great term. But the problem isn’t that they’re European, the problem is that they’re the cool/moderate climate European. Obviously septentrional varieties (Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay) are not best suited for most of Australia, but using the adjective ‘European’ unnecessarily discounts things like Nero d’Avola, Alicante Bouschet, Tintilla, Antão Vaz, Encruzado … if you really want acid, Uva Cão. I’d (have) suggest(ed) you make it clear it’s a climate thing, ‘cooler climate varieties’ rather than a ‘European grapes by and large don’t work’. Verdelho and Viognier certainly seem like they’re working out just about alright.
* There’s a sense of a suggestion that intentional pre-PIWI crosses were unsuccessful in Europe – Zweigelt and Alicante Bouschet are both very successful and widely planted in places they were meant to grow. Others still were successful for a time and purpose – e.g. Scheurebe, Müller-Thurgau – and are themselves going through a renaissance, being redefined as quality varieties after decades of making uninteresting high-volume wine.
* Parker’s effect feels overstated, at least when it comes to most of Europe. <13% reds only really fell out of fashion because they’re now kind of hard to find, what with climate change pushing ABV on e.g. red Sancerre from 11.5-12.5% 20 years ago to routinely breaking 14%. At least in the UK, a key market for Australian wine throughout the recent decades, more people kept listening to Jancis than to Robert.
* If anything the bigger and more lasting effect started before Parker and continues after him: the international variety movement that made sure post-WW2 plantings across the New World as well as parts of Europe were so heavily dominated by a handful of (ofter burgundian and bordelais) French varieties. An unintentional side effect of otherwise very sensible varietal labelling exacerbated the issue, cementing a small set of varieties in the consumer consciousness. The drive for generous reds is certainly not why Australian Garnacha plantings, a grape that does well in heat and makes some of the most exciting Australian reds today, plummeted to something like a quarter of their peak while Pinot Noir (the grape responsible for some of my other favourite Aussie reds) plantings exploded 20-fold in the same period. It is, indeed, more down to more basic economics and other market trends.
Now, back to Tarrango! I am all for you flooding the market with inexpensive yet tasty Aussie quaffable red that don’t need acidification! It’s a grape I have hitherto known only as a theoretical example and I never knew it was any good as its decline happened right around the time I was getting into wine. Luckily a quick search reveals one can get a hold of Brown Brothers’ Tarrango for about £15 a bottle – I’ll need to hunt one down! Diversity is a large part of what makes the world of wine great and exciting. We also need to better adapt to the growing environment and I am as supportive of Tarrango as I am of PIWIs, at the very least for the larger volume, lower priced production.
I am curious, did you happen to find any remaining unirrigated/dry-farmed Tarrango vineyards at all? Any semi-abandoned ones, perhaps somewhere where that was the alternative to grubbing up. You’ve speculated about the economic unviability of it but it would be interesting to know just how interesting/complex a wine it has the potential to produce.
Will watch tonight after I get home from the winery.
Great, now you can cover Taminga, Tyrian, Sienna all that the CSIRO have bred to suit Australian conditions.
The future is bright!
That was phenomenal. Just subscribed and looking forward to checking out more of your content!
Great video! I really enjoy learning about new old things. Any chance of Pink Zinc Drink making it’s way to the states?
Great video, very informative! Thanks for sharing.