Wine

White Wine Trends

What’s trending in Australian wine? One of the most exciting wine trends in the Australian wine industry for 2024 is the recent rise in the popularity of textural white wines. Aussie wine drinkers will always love the classics – Shiraz, Cabernet, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc, but the good news is we’re becoming much more adventurous, seeking out different styles of wines much to the joy of our local winemakers. They’re chomping at the bit to share their favourite textural whites and the stunning expressions they worked hard to perfect.

When it comes to textural whites, the selection is broad and features varieties including Arneis, Albariño, Fiano, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Gruner Veltliner, Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Semillon, Roussanne, Marsanne and Sauvignon Blanc. 

So, what creates texture in white wine? How is texture achieved, and what does texture feel like on your palate? 

To answer these questions and more, we spoke with several Australian white wine experts including Marco De Martino of Tscharke Wines in the Barossa Valley, Daniel Chaffey Hartwig from Eden Valley’s Chaffey Bros, and Andy Bretherton from Juniper Estate in Margaret River. 

TSCHARKE WINES WINEMAKER, MARCO DE MARTINO

What is the importance of grape tannins (phenolics) and how do they build texture and a third dimension in white wines?

Texture in white wines does create extra dimensions and to me, this is always positive. I’m not saying that every wine should have chewy tannins and be so dense across the palate that one struggles to swallow, but even the freshest and most aromatic and fruit-driven Riesling can have a bit of texture to complement the primary characteristics. 

In our Australian wine industry, we too often use the terms “simple” and “quaffable” interchangeably when it comes to wine. I believe that a simple wine is the result of poor winemaking that fails to express varietal, region, terroir, and style. On the other hand, a wine can have extremely high drinkability and be ‘quaffable’ even when it has texture, phenolic drive, and depth if made well and all in harmony. 

Texture is therefore crucial for all great Tscharke wines, whether it is as simple as a fraction of CO2 (carbon dioxide) in a Riesling to keep the wine dancing on the tongue without looking spritzy, or a noticeable creaminess in our Grenache Blanc or a Chardonnay to give the wine gravitas and roundness.
 

How do you build palate texture?

Let’s touch on the ‘tools’ first; we have three main tools when it comes to adding texture to white and Rosè wines – skin tannin, stalk tannin, and lees. At Tscharke, we utilize at least one of those techniques in every white and Rosè wine we make. 

In the case of our softer textured white blend, Tscharke Girl Talk 2023, we use only sur-lie aging for texture; the grapes are pressed and fermented in stainless, with extended lees contact post-fermentation in tank, and the occasional stirring of the lees over the five months of tank maturation. This gives us a very fine texture, barely noticeable but adding a dimension or a ‘je ne sais quoi’ to an otherwise aromatic and straightforward wine style. The Tscharke Girl Talk 2023 is an exciting white blend of Savagnin (89%), Albariño (6%) and Grenache Blanc (5%), and pairs perfectly with all seafood dishes. 

For our Tscharke Grenache Rosé 2023, we use a combination of fermentation on stalks and lees aging to achieve the desired texture. Stalks because they have firm herbaceous tannins that add savouriness to a wine, and also because the use of skins in a Rosé is out of the question with regards to colour. 

We also produce a premium white wine from Grenache Blanc grapes with a combination of all the mentioned tools: skins and stalks in the tank for fermentation, plus sur-lie aging and weekly bâtonnage for 10 months. In this wine, the texture is much more noticeable and complex, where the skins and stalks contribute with fine yet firm tannins, and the lees help build mid-palate richness and creaminess.  

The use of these techniques is very dependent on temperature, time, and winemaker intervention. For example, cold temperatures extract less tannins and over a longer period than in hot ferments; the time spent on lees is directly proportional to the amount of texture they can add to the wine; how many times the winemaker intervenes to pump the wine over, moving skins and/or stalks through the ferment, or how many times the lees are stirred, will result in different levels of texture. 
 
Too gentle pressing and excessive fining are both issues that I believe result in wines that are mono-dimensional and lacking texture…you won’t find these at Tscharke! A winemaker who’s afraid of the slightest sign of bitterness in their wines cannot be chasing texture and depth, the blanket is too short, and you can’t achieve both at once. 

At Tscharke, we will never fine our wines, as we believe that’s just a sign of over-extraction in the first place, and that can be avoided with careful selection of pressing cycles, pressure and time.  We are patient ones at Tscharke, and we also are very attentive at every level of winemaking at Tscharke.

CHAFFEY BROS CO-FOUNDER AND OWNER, DANIEL CHAFFEY HARTWIG

What is the importance of grape tannins (phenolics) and how do they build texture and a third dimension in white wines?

We embrace and seek to build texture in our white winemaking as we feel it is a crucial part of the structure of the wine that makes it not only delicious but also more food-friendly. It has always struck us as a little odd that texture, that is tannins and phenolics, have always played such a large role in the structure of red wines and until recently winemaking convention dictated that you avoid or minimize them in white wines. Times are changing though and textural wines are now being sought out by sommeliers and wine lovers for their food friendliness. It’s refreshing that these styles are finally being rewarded instead of penalised by wine shows, wine writers and customers alike.

How do you build texture into Riesling?

To create a sumptuous and truly three-dimensional palate we build texture in our Rieslings, and other white varietals, by extending our whole bunch pressing process to allow more time for the pressed juice to be in contact with and interact with the skins. We also incorporate some of the light pressings rather than discard them as some winemakers do. We build texture further by wild fermenting some batches cloudy (rather than cold settling all the solids first) and achieve balance by stopping the ferment just before bone dry to leave a little residual sugar (3-4 grams per litre) even in our dry Rieslings. The final textural element is achieved by leaving our wines unfined (we don’t use animal-derived or synthetic fining agents) and instead rely on gentle careful pressing and handling and time-honoured techniques like cold settling over extended periods to achieve a balanced, textural and full-flavoured palate.

How do you build palate texture?

With other varietals such as Gewürztraminer, that we use in our Düfte Punkt Field Blend, we take the skin contact a step further and leave the juice in contact with the skins in tank for up to two days before it is blended with the other aromatic varietals and co-fermented. This maximizes the lovely spice and texture that Gewürztraminer can contribute to this blend of Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Kerner and Pinot Gris.

JUNIPER ESTATE HEAD WINEMAKER, ANDY BRETHERTON 

What is the importance of grape tannins (phenolics) and how do they build texture and a third dimension in white wines?

For me, grape phenolics in wine are important for many reasons. The feel of a wine is such an important part of the pleasure to be had from a glass of wine and when handled well phenolics add a gentle chew or bite and a mouthcoating texture that can be moreish and satisfying. It also helps to create ‘tension’ on the palate and drive length. The other reason is that it protects wine and ensures it has the ability to age.

How do you build texture into Chardonnay?

There are many ways to build texture in Chardonnay. The first is in the picking decision, and our style is to pick when the grapes are just ripe, ensuring a freshness of acidity and just ripe grape tannins. Next is at the press and the choice of how hard to press the grapes results in how rich and structured the wine will be. Oak choices are really important for texture – new oak adds an extra dimension of grip and weight to the palate, and combined with ageing the wine on yeast lees produces wines with depth and tension on the palate. When done well, Chardonnay with layers of texture and complexity is one of life’s great pleasures.

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