Australia has suffered through a severe drought, which one wine industry leader called “one of the most devastating things we’ve gone through,” but it looks as if the industry is on the road to recovery.

Adam Torpy, chief executive of Taltarni, one of Australia’s leading producers, visited the United States recently and stopped at the offices of Clos du Val, its sister winery.

He said rainfall this year will be nearly three times that of last season, and that’s replenishing the wells. “ I’m not saying that it’s a drought-breaker, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed,” he said.

Torpy was touring the U.S. marketplace to talk about Taltarni’s portfolio of wine but doesn’t need much help in getting the wines distributed. He uses the same distribution network as Clos du Val and said the wine is actually on allocation.

The two wineries are part of a recently-formed sales and marketing company called Goelet Wine Estates, which also includes two other wineries in Australia, and Domaine de Nizas in the Languedoc region of France. Torpy also serves as GWE’s president of sales and marketing. 

Portet is co-founder

Taltarni was co-founded in 1972 by John Goelet and Bernard Portet, who also co-founded Clos du Val and all the other wineries. As they did in locating the Napa Valley property, they searched all regions in Australia for the best available property and found a ranch of about 1,700 acres in the Pyranees region. About 250 acres are currently planted to wine grapes. The vineyard is about two-and-a-half hours drive north of Melbourne in the central part of the state of Victoria, in an area that is about 37 degrees latitude, comparable to the Santa Cruz Mountains region in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s hot during the day and cool in the evening, he said. The name Taltarni means “red earth” in Aborigine, which is typical of the soil there, Torpy said.

Taltarni leases another 80-acre vineyard just to the east of Pyranees, known as Heathcote.

Goelet Wine Estates also has two wineries, Lalla Gully and Clover Hill, in Tasmania, the Australian island state just south of Victoria, with about 80 acres under vine and another 130 acres ready for planting.

“We decided to invest heavily in Tasmania,” Torpy said. “Water is not an issue there, but frost is. Every four years or so we have a frost.” The area leans toward cool climate grapes, and the volcanic soil hosts sparkling wine varietals — chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier — along with sauvignon blanc, pinot gris and riesling.

“We’re going to focus on riesling and pinot gris for export,” he said.

Passionate about Tasmania

“I’m passionate about what we’re doing in Tasmania,” Torpy said. “We’re pioneers in that state, and we proved the point with our sparkling (wines). Now we’re showing it with still (wines).”

Clover Hill, which produces two sparkling wines, is more restaurant focused, and one of the wines ($30), made of 60 percent chardonnay, 34 percent pinot noir and 6 percent pinot meunier, tasted very crisp and clean.

Torpy is very enthusiastic about the 2005 riesling produced by Lalla Gully ($20), which is made in a somewhat different style than American producers. Hints of lime and lemon come through and it finishes clean and dry.

A wine that he enjoys talking about is the non-vintage Taltarni Brut Taché ($20), a sparkler that he calls the winery’s signature wine. It’s 52 percent chardonnay, 41 percent pinot noir and 7 percent pinot meunier, and has a salmon-pink color, which is induced by adding a touch of red wine at the disgorgement stage, which Torpy calls “staining the wine. Normally we use shiraz, but occasionally we use cabernet sauvignon,” but said they have to be careful of the heavier tannins in the cab.

About 30,000 cases of the Taché are produced each year using Methode Champagnoise with 12 months aging on the lees.

Torpy recalled that the producers of Burgundy’s La Tache took exception to the use of the name, “but they lost the case,” he added.

‘Out of the mainstream’

The 2006 Taltarni sauvignon blanc ($13) was less herbaceous than many similar wines and was focused on acidity. Torpy said the winery is developing a fume blanc, with 40 percent of the wine aged in oak — “it gets the wine out of the mainstream.”

A 2005 Three Monk blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot ($16) was put into screw capped bottles “to retain freshness,” Torpy said, and it has paid off: “It’s our most rewarded wine in the past three years and it’s our most popular wine. We’re promoting it as a grilling wine in the U.S.”

Two shirazes were included in the tasting — a 2003 Pyranees Estate ($20) and a 2004 Heathcote Vineyard ($35). The Pyranees wine comes from the oldest vines in the vineyard, and Torpy said “we haven’t changed anything in 30 years,” and called it “the best representative of shiraz in Australia.” He called the Heathcote “an elegant Barossa,” and said it was made for aging.

A star of the tasting was the 2002 Cephas ($40), a blend of shiraz and cabernet sauvignon that is aged for 18 months in French oak. Torpy said only 500 cases were produced, with only 15 of those making their way to the U.S.

Expanding market

Taltarni wines can be found in 36 states now, and Torpy is looking forward to an anticipated growth of 25 percent in this market in the next few years.

Yields can be slightly increased by a replanting program that has seen nearly 50 acres a year replaced. He expects the program to be completed by 2010.

Australia produced an oversupply of wine for several years, and Torpy acknowledged that there is still a backlog, albeit smaller than a few years ago. The frost and drought decreased production, and he predicts that by 2009 the Australian industry will be back in balance.

He said many wineries are still in trouble but said that rather than discounting, Taltarni added value and has a good marketing program.

“The future looks good for medium-sized wineries,” he said, “and more high end exports will be coming out of Australia. We’re developing a premium message about (our) wine.”

He said the volume of low-end wine exported will ease and he doesn’t see the market remaining as price competitive as it has been. Cleanskins, which are bottles shipped without labels, will be a thing of the past.

Torpy started in the wine industry working for a small distributor in Australia, joined Hardy’s and went to London to build the U.K. market, came to the U.S. where he introduced a South African brand, started an import company in Lexington, Ky., to bring Australian wines into the U.S., and two years ago accepted the position of chief executive with Taltarni.

Global experience

“I was exposed to many different aspects of global distribution,” he said, and is using that experience to take Taltarni to other markets. At present, in addition to the U.S., the winery exports to Canada, Europe and most major markets in Asia. “We’re big in Hong Kong,” he said. “China is still developing, and Macao offers endless opportunities.” He said he is also looking at India as a possible market.

Because the Taltarni winery facility is off the beaten path, “It’s difficult to get tourists there,” he said. “We have a new café in the winery,” and we want to give people a good experience while they’re there.”

He added, “If we could have the traffic flow like Clos du Val — Oh, boy!”

Locally some of the wines are available at Copia, Bounty Hunter, JV Wine & Spirits, V Wine Cellar, Cal Mart in Calistoga, St. Helena Wine Center, Bay Leaf Restaurant and Hardesters Market in Hidden Valley.