White Misfits: Top 50 “Other White” Wines
Other white. It might sound like a census category but it’s actually one of the most interesting, if smaller, segments of the wine spectrum. This is the hiding place of Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier, Verdelho, Chenin Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Arneis, Fiano, Gruner Veltliner and a few others. Some obscure, some trendy, some classical. Most playthings of winemakers desperate to escape the economic necessity of producing mainstream sellers like shiraz and chardonnay.
But what is today’s project could become tomorrow’s provider. As Australian wine buyers creep up the quality curve in line with increasing consumption there’s every chance that they will also start experimenting with the lesser-known varieties. Pinot gris, for example, has come from nowhere to become one of Australia’s fastest-growing varieties in recent years.
The lesser-known varieties have lots to offer the adventurous drinker. While old stagers like riesling and semillon often need years in the bottle to show their true colours, varieties like verdelho and viognier can deliver distinctive flavours and heavily perfumed bouquets to the more impatient connoisseur.
Winemakers entered nearly 1000 bottles comprising alternative white varieties in Australian and NZ wine shows last year. The biggest number of entries were for viognier none of which made it into our Top Six, ironically. This might be to do with the variety’s flighty temperament. Viognier loves sunshine but heads for the “stickies” if struck by hot weather. Not the ideal grape for Australian conditions, perhaps, but one that was rescued from approaching extinction by South Australia’s Yalumba. The irony just keeps coming.
Second place goes to vermentino – a Mediterranean grape favoured for its refreshing acidity – then another Italian on the make: Fiano. Two big names in Australian wine’s Little League, the Teutonic twins of gruner veltliner and gewürztraminer, don’t appear until further down the list with single-digit shares.
If “other white” is the ultimate proving ground for the paradigm that a niche is only as good as the size its market, it’s also perhaps one of the most democratic segments at the wine shows. The mice come out to play in this category and often get the cheese while the big producers focus on high-volume varieties.
Evidence is provided by our Top Six wines – four of which are small or relatively small wineries and one of which hails from across The Ditch. Better still, a Queensland winery even managed to barge its way on to the top table with the 2015 Symphony Hill Barrel Fermented Gewurztraminer taking out fifth spot in this segment. Go the Mighty Maroons!
Our list of the Top 50 “Other White” wines as judged by Australian and NZ Wine shows follows:
| 1 | Mountadam Gewurztraminer 2016 |
| 2 | Tahbilk Marsanne 2012 |
| 3 | Aravina Estate Single Vineyard Vermentino 2015 |
| 4 | Eternity Rutherglen Rutherglen Estates Arneis 2016 |
| 5 | Symphony Hill Wines Barrel Fermented Gewurztraminer 2015 |
| 6 | Villa Maria Cellar Selection Hawkes Bay Arneis 2015 |
| 7 | Leveret Estate Viognier Hawke?s Bay 2015 |
| 8 | Campbells Wines Marsanne Viognier 2015 |
| 9 | Tahbilk Marsanne 2015 |
| 10 | Topper?s Mountain Wines Gewurztraminer 2015 |
| 11 | Nautilus Albari¤o 2016 |
| 12 | Savina Lane Wines Qld Classico Fiano 2015 |
| 12 | Flame Hill Vineyard Fiano 2016 |
| 14 | Paul Conti Wines Chenin Blanc 2016 |
| 15 | St Huberts Rousanne 2015 |
| 16 | Bremerton Special Release Fiano 2016 |
| 17 | Blank Canvas Marlborough Gruner Veltliner 2013 |
| 18 | Angove Family Winemakers Alternatus Fiano 2016 |
| 19 | Tahbilk 1927 Vines Marsanne 2011 |
| 19 | Tahbilk Roussanne 2015 |
| 21 | Tahbilk Marsanne 2011 |
| 22 | Esk Valley Hawkes Bay Verdelho 2015 |
| 23 | Vigna Bottin Fiano 2016 |
| 24 | Whistler Wines What The Fronti (WTF?) 2016 |
| 25 | Berton Vineyards Metal Label Vermentino 2016 |
| 26 | Nepenthe Winemaker Select Gruner Veltliner 2015 |
| 27 | Serafino Bellissimo Fiano 2016 |
| 28 | ArtWine In the Groove Gruner Veltliner 2016 |
| 28 | Nepenthe Winemaker Select Arneis 2016 |
| 30 | Centennial 2015 Reserve Gris |
| 31 | Tahbilk Marsanne 2016 |
| 32 | Esk Valley Hawkes Bay Verdelho 2016 |
| 33 | Hahndorf Hill Winery White Mischief Gruner Veltliner 2016 |
| 34 | Coriole Fiano 2016 |
| 35 | The Yalumba Wine Company Eden Valley Roussanne 2015 |
| 36 | Symphony Hill Wines Gewurztraminer 2016 |
| 37 | Hahndorf Hill GRU Gruner Veltliner 2016 |
| 38 | Tahbilk 1927 Vines Marsanne 2009 |
| 39 | Hahndorf Hill GRU 2 Gruner Veltiner 2015 |
| 40 | The Little Wine Company Lw Vermentino 2016 |
| 41 | Lillypilly Vermentino 2015 |
| 42 | Trentham Estate Wines The Family Vermentino 2015 |
| 43 | Tahbilk Marsanne 2013 |
| 44 | Calabria Private Bin Vermentino 2016 |
| 45 | Nepenthe Winemaker Select Viognier 2015 |
| 46 | Seppeltsfield Barossa Valley Vermentino 2016 |
| 47 | Hahndorf Hill Winery White Mischief Gruner Veltliner 2015 |
| 48 | Millbrook Winery “Estate” Viognier 2016 |
| 49 | Tahbilk Viognier 2015 |
| 50 | Nepenthe Winemaker Select Arneis 2015 |