Grosset Wines
Encyclopedia
Grosset Wines is an Australian wine
ry based in the Clare Valley
wine region of South Australia
.
with an Agriculture
degree in 1973 and a Oenology
degree in 1975.
Grosset Wines was established by Jeffrey Grosset in 1981. The winery and subsequently opened cellar door operates in Auburn
inside a building previously used as a butter and ice factory in the early 1900s.
Grosset was the leader of an eventually successful movement in the 1980s to only allow the use of the word Riesling on Australian wines that were made specifically from the Riesling grape. Until that point a significant number of Australian wines with Riesling on their label were made from other grapes, including Hunter Riesling and Shepherds Riesling (both Semillon
), Clare Riesling (Crouchen
) and "Riesling" as a generic term for white wine, often in the form of very cheap Cask wine made from Sultana
or Pedro Ximénez
.
Jeffrey Grosset was also a driving force behind a decision in 2000 by Clare Valley Riesling producers to switch over to Screw cap
closures for their wines and to then promote the use of screwcaps across the Australian and New Zealand wine industries. The entire range of Grosset wines is now released under Screw cap. Jeffrey Grosset was a contributing editor to the book Taming the screw : a manual for winemaking with screw caps, released in 2005. Grosset has also established the Australian Closure Fund to encourage scientific research comparing various types of wine closures.
Jeffrey Grosset's partner, Stephanie Toole, has owned and run Mount Horrocks Wines, also in the Clare Valley, since 1993. Stephanie and Jeffrey were named one of wine's five most influential couples by Decanter magazine in December 2009. They have one daughter, Georgina.
Jeffrey Grosset has received a great deal of local and international individual recognition for his wine making, including being the first recipient of "Australian Winemaker of the Year" from Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine and the "International Riesling Winemaker of the Year" at the Riesling Summit II, both in 1998. He was noted in 2005 to be one of the world's "50 Most Influential Winemakers" by Wine & Spirits
and named as one of the "Top 10 White Winemakers" in the world by Decanter in 2006.
grape. Jeffrey Grosset has been described by James Halliday as "Australia's foremost riesling maker" and by Jancis Robinson
as "Australia's acknowledged king of Riesling".
The two Rieslings that were initially released from the 1981 vintage were "Watervale" from the 6 hectare Springvale vineyard and "Polish Hill" from the Polish Hill vineyard. Both have been produced every vintage since, making 2010 the 30th consecutive release of each wine. The Grosset Polish Hill Riesling was described by Robert Parker as "The finest riesling I have ever tasted from Australia". The Langton's Classification of Australian Wine places the Watervale Riesling at the second highest level of "Outstanding" and the Polish Hill Riesling at the highest level of "Exceptional".
A third Off-dry
style Riesling was released in 2010 with 16 grams per litre of residual sugar.
A Cabernet Sauvignon
, Cabernet Franc
and Merlot
blend is made from the Gaia vineyard and labeled with the same name, "Gaia". The first vintage released of the wine was the 1990. 70% of the vineyard is planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% with Cabernet Franc and 5% Merlot. The vineyard was planted in 1986 and is named after a theory
and set of books published by James Lovelock
about the balance of life on Earth. The Grosset Gaia Fund was established by Grosset in 2007 to support charities that focus on art, youth and the environment with a total of $1 million Australian dollars the target to invest from the sale of the Gaia wine for the first three years of the fund.
Grosset produces a range of other well regarded wines. A Sémillon
-Sauvignon blanc
blend with the Semillon coming from the Clare Valley and the Sauvignon blanc from the Adelaide Hills
. A Chardonnay
from the Piccadilly vineyard and a Pinot noir
, with both coming from vineyards in the Adelaide Hills. Under 10,000 total cases of wine are produced each vintage.
Jeffrey Grosset is also part of a collaborative project with Robert Hill Smith from Yalumba
, making an Eden Valley
Riesling named "mesh" each year since the 2002 vintage.
Australian wine
The Australian Wine Industry is the fourth largest exporter of wine around the world, with 760 million litres a year to a large international export market and contributes $5.5 billion per annum to the nation's economy...
ry based in the Clare Valley
Clare Valley
The Clare Valley is one of Australia's oldest wine regions, best known for Riesling wines. It lies in the Mid North of South Australia, approximately 120 km north of Adelaide. The valley runs north-south, with Main North Road as the main thoroughfare....
wine region of South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
.
History
Jeffrey Grosset graduated from Roseworthy CollegeRoseworthy College
Roseworthy Agricultural College was an agricultural college in Australia. It is north of Adelaide and west of Roseworthy town. It was the first agricultural college in Australia, established in 1883. It is now part of the University of Adelaide....
with an Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
degree in 1973 and a Oenology
Oenology
Oenology,[p] œnology , or enology is the science and study of all aspects of wine and winemaking except vine-growing and grape-harvesting, which is a subfield called viticulture. “Viticulture & oenology” is a common designation for training programmes and research centres that include both the...
degree in 1975.
Grosset Wines was established by Jeffrey Grosset in 1981. The winery and subsequently opened cellar door operates in Auburn
Auburn, South Australia
Auburn is the name of a small town in the southern edge of the Clare Valley, in the Mid North of South Australia.-History:Often considered the Gateway to the Clare Valley, Auburn was originally settled by William Tateham, who lived in a dugout along the Wakefield River and was first named...
inside a building previously used as a butter and ice factory in the early 1900s.
Grosset was the leader of an eventually successful movement in the 1980s to only allow the use of the word Riesling on Australian wines that were made specifically from the Riesling grape. Until that point a significant number of Australian wines with Riesling on their label were made from other grapes, including Hunter Riesling and Shepherds Riesling (both Semillon
Sémillon
Sémillon is a golden-skinned grape used to make dry and sweet white wines, most notably in France and Australia.-History:The origin of the Sémillon grape is hard to determine. It is known that it first arrived in Australia in the early 19th century and by the 1820s the grape covered over 90 percent...
), Clare Riesling (Crouchen
Crouchen
Crouchen or Crouchen Blanc is a variety of white grape. It has its origins in France, although it is now rarely grown there. Instead, it is more commonly found in Australia, where it is often referred to as "Clare Riesling", and in South Africa, where it is often called "Cape Riesling", "Paarl...
) and "Riesling" as a generic term for white wine, often in the form of very cheap Cask wine made from Sultana
Sultana (grape)
The sultana is a type of white, seedless grape assumed to originate from the Turkish, Greek, or Iranian area...
or Pedro Ximénez
Pedro Ximénez
Pedro Ximénez is the name of a white grape grown in certain regions of Spain, and also a varietal wine, an intensely sweet, dark, dessert sherry...
.
Jeffrey Grosset was also a driving force behind a decision in 2000 by Clare Valley Riesling producers to switch over to Screw cap
Screw cap (wine)
A screw cap is a metal cap that screws onto threads on the neck of a bottle, generally with a metal skirt down the neck to resemble the traditional wine capsule . A layer of plastic , cork, rubber, or other soft material is used as wad to make a seal with the mouth of the bottle...
closures for their wines and to then promote the use of screwcaps across the Australian and New Zealand wine industries. The entire range of Grosset wines is now released under Screw cap. Jeffrey Grosset was a contributing editor to the book Taming the screw : a manual for winemaking with screw caps, released in 2005. Grosset has also established the Australian Closure Fund to encourage scientific research comparing various types of wine closures.
Jeffrey Grosset's partner, Stephanie Toole, has owned and run Mount Horrocks Wines, also in the Clare Valley, since 1993. Stephanie and Jeffrey were named one of wine's five most influential couples by Decanter magazine in December 2009. They have one daughter, Georgina.
Jeffrey Grosset has received a great deal of local and international individual recognition for his wine making, including being the first recipient of "Australian Winemaker of the Year" from Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine and the "International Riesling Winemaker of the Year" at the Riesling Summit II, both in 1998. He was noted in 2005 to be one of the world's "50 Most Influential Winemakers" by Wine & Spirits
Wine & Spirits
Wine & Spirits is an American wine magazine. With offices in New York and San Francisco, the magazine publishes eight issues annually.In addition to publisher and editor-in-chief Joshua Greene, among the contributors are Tara Q. Thomas, Patrick Comiskey, Patricio Tapia, Peter Liem, with additional...
and named as one of the "Top 10 White Winemakers" in the world by Decanter in 2006.
Wines
Grosset is best known for its range of wines made from the RieslingRiesling
Riesling is a white grape variety which originated in the Rhine region of Germany. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling white wines. Riesling wines are usually varietally...
grape. Jeffrey Grosset has been described by James Halliday as "Australia's foremost riesling maker" and by Jancis Robinson
Jancis Robinson
Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, MW is a British wine critic, journalist and editor of wine literature. She currently writes a weekly column for the Financial Times, and writes for her website jancisrobinson.com...
as "Australia's acknowledged king of Riesling".
The two Rieslings that were initially released from the 1981 vintage were "Watervale" from the 6 hectare Springvale vineyard and "Polish Hill" from the Polish Hill vineyard. Both have been produced every vintage since, making 2010 the 30th consecutive release of each wine. The Grosset Polish Hill Riesling was described by Robert Parker as "The finest riesling I have ever tasted from Australia". The Langton's Classification of Australian Wine places the Watervale Riesling at the second highest level of "Outstanding" and the Polish Hill Riesling at the highest level of "Exceptional".
A third Off-dry
Sweetness of wine
The subjective sweetness of a wine is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of sugar in the wine to be sure, but also the relative levels of alcohol, acids, and tannins. Briefly: sugars and alcohol enhance a wine's sweetness; acids and bitter tannins counteract it...
style Riesling was released in 2010 with 16 grams per litre of residual sugar.
A Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...
, Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone - as in the Loire's Chinon...
and Merlot
Merlot
Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...
blend is made from the Gaia vineyard and labeled with the same name, "Gaia". The first vintage released of the wine was the 1990. 70% of the vineyard is planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% with Cabernet Franc and 5% Merlot. The vineyard was planted in 1986 and is named after a theory
Gaia hypothesis
The Gaia hypothesis, also known as Gaia theory or Gaia principle, proposes that all organisms and their inorganic surroundings on Earth are closely integrated to form a single and self-regulating complex system, maintaining the conditions for life on the planet.The scientific investigation of the...
and set of books published by James Lovelock
James Lovelock
James Lovelock, CH, CBE, FRS is an independent scientist, environmentalist and futurologist who lives in Devon, England. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the biosphere is a self-regulating entity with the capacity to keep our planet healthy by controlling...
about the balance of life on Earth. The Grosset Gaia Fund was established by Grosset in 2007 to support charities that focus on art, youth and the environment with a total of $1 million Australian dollars the target to invest from the sale of the Gaia wine for the first three years of the fund.
Grosset produces a range of other well regarded wines. A Sémillon
Sémillon
Sémillon is a golden-skinned grape used to make dry and sweet white wines, most notably in France and Australia.-History:The origin of the Sémillon grape is hard to determine. It is known that it first arrived in Australia in the early 19th century and by the 1820s the grape covered over 90 percent...
-Sauvignon blanc
Sauvignon blanc
Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape variety which originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French word sauvage and blanc due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in South West France., a possible descendant of savagnin...
blend with the Semillon coming from the Clare Valley and the Sauvignon blanc from the Adelaide Hills
Adelaide Hills
The Adelaide Hills are part of the Mount Lofty Ranges, east of the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It is unofficially centred on the largest town in the area, Mount Barker, which has a population of around 29,000 and is also one of Australia's fastest growing towns.- History :The...
. A Chardonnay
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...
from the Piccadilly vineyard and a Pinot noir
Pinot Noir
Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...
, with both coming from vineyards in the Adelaide Hills. Under 10,000 total cases of wine are produced each vintage.
Jeffrey Grosset is also part of a collaborative project with Robert Hill Smith from Yalumba
Yalumba
Yalumba is a winery located near Angaston, South Australia in the Barossa Valley. It was founded by a British brewer, Samuel Smith, who emigrated to Australia with his family from Wareham, Dorset in August 1847 aboard the ship 'China'. Upon arriving in Australia in December, Smith built a small...
, making an Eden Valley
Eden Valley, South Australia
Eden Valley is a small South Australian town in the Barossa Ranges. It was named by the surveyors of the area after they found the word "Eden" carved into a tree. Eden Valley has an elevation of 460 metres and an average annual rainfall of 716.2mm....
Riesling named "mesh" each year since the 2002 vintage.