David Lowe of Lowe Family Wines. Lowe Family Wines
David Lowe doesn’t believe chardonnay has a future in his region, Mudgee. He’s spent years and a lot of energy looking for a substitute.
This involved many trips to Merbein on the Murray River where he scoured the extensive vine nursery of the Chalmers family, searching for grape varieties that might be suited not just to Mudgee, but to a hotter and more humid climate. He wanted a grape that would produce a wine with a similar texture and mouth-feel to chardonnay.
Lowe is always looking to the future. His vineyard has been certified organic and biodynamic for a long time, and he’s been mindful of climate change for many years.
“Chardonnay ripens too early,” he says. This means the grapes are ripening in summer heat instead of cooler autumn weather, as they used to do. Later ripening means higher natural acidity, more aromatics and finer texture.
“Our chardonnay is also full of trunk disease, which means the yields are plummeting. It’s time to ditch chardonnay in these (warmer and more northern) areas.”
He is currently selling a vermentino, grown in his own vineyard, and a pecorino, sourced from the Chalmers vineyard at Merbein. Vermentino is a southern Italian white grape that is better suited to warmer conditions than chardonnay. Pecorino (not to be confused with the cheese) is also a southern Italian white grape, which has “big bunches, tough skins and small berries,” says Lowe.
“It ripens later than chardonnay.
This Article was originally published on The Real Review
