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A Lifetime in Wine
by Gurvinder Bhatia
(Wine Tidings, July/August 2003)
John Duval has had a lifelong association with Penfolds. The company purchased grapes and cuttings from his father and grandfather?s farm on which he grew up. While studying Oenology at Roseworthy College, Duval tasted the 1966 Bin 620 Coonawarra Cabernet-Shiraz. The wine so impressed him that he decided that he would work for Penfolds upon graduation. Penfolds (and its parent company Southcorp) is the only winery for which Duval had worked - until his recent retirement as Chief Winemaker. While Duval will remain on with the company as a consultant, he plans to turn his focus on his own label. It will be quite a change for a winemaker who has spent his entire career according to the ?Penfolds? Philosophy?.
Duval?s basic beliefs prior to joining Penfolds were congruent to the company?s ideology - developed by the Penfolds red winemaking team led by Max Schubert. During his studies, Duval realized that great wines start in the vineyard. Attention to detail in the vineyard was critical to the production of a quality wine. This belief is an integral part of Penfolds? philosophy - the company owns a number of vineyards, but also purchases a large number of grapes. Penfolds encourages its growers to produce quality fruit by paying them by the hectare rather than by the weight of the grapes grown. The company follows the practice of identifying superior quality parcels in the vineyard and keeping those grapes separate during the winemaking process to maximize blending options. Multi district, multi varietal blending to a style is the cornerstone of Penfolds? desire to maintain a consistency of style for each of its wines. As described by James Halliday, the Penfolds style consists of ripe, sweet fruit, oak influence and pronounced yet round tannins.
While the Penfolds? philosophy is practiced for a core group of the company?s wines, considerable evolution has occurred over the years to which Duval has contributed greatly. Duval says that he has not tried to radically change the Penfolds style, but instead fine tune the style in some of the wines. Under his direction as Chief Winemaker, Duval and his winemaking team introduced Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay in 1995, the company?s first premium white wine. Although the first vintage was roughly an equal blend of McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills fruit, subsequent vintages are predominately grapes from Adelaide Hills. This seemingly steps away from the company?s multi district philosophy. Duval, though, explains that Adelaide Hills has many microclimates from which Chardonnay will differ noticeably, thus achieving the same multi district-like result from within a single region.
Other examples of Duval?s fine tuning include the increased use of French oak, the introduction of Bin 407 Cabernet with its use of both American and French oak, the use of riper grapes for Bin 389 since the mid-1980s, and the development of Barossa Shiraz RWT. Filling a gap between the ultra-premium and ultra-priced Grange and the company?s other Shiraz, RWT is perhaps Duval?s proudest achievement, but the biggest departure from the Penfolds philosophy. RWT, or ?Red Winemaking Trial?, is 100% Barossa Valley fruit aged in French oak. The elegant, luscious style is in contrast to the muscular, meaty, muti district, American oak aged Grange. The opportunity to be creative with Barossa Valley RWT seems a natural transition for Duval from Penfolds to the development of his own label.
After 29 years with Penfolds/Southcorp, John Duval says it is time to make a wine for himself. He will most certainly produce a Barossa or McLaren Vale shiraz, but he insists that his style will not radically change. Rather he is looking forward to experimenting. Duval has always enjoyed fine Bordeaux, but is discovering the wines of Burgundy, Rhone and California Syrah, Spanish Tempranillo and Italian Nebbiolo and Sangiovese. Now on his own, his creativity is no longer constrained by a steadfast company signature. Perhaps complete freedom will result in distinctively quality wines produced according to the John Duval philosophy. |
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