As you may have noticed from my previous blog, I had the chance to sit down for an hour with Justin Taylor last month at DISH Cooking Studio in Toronto. It’s always nice to catch up with the affable, gregarious Export Manager/Company Director at Australia’s Wakefield Wines.

Down Under, the company is actually known as Taylors Wines—Justin’s family founded it in 1969 in South Australia’s Clare Valley. But Justin has long been at home among Canucks. “Australians and Canadians always seem to get along,” he smiles. “We both have a similar sense of humour and don’t take ourselves too seriously. We listen for that ‘oot and aboot’ accent—that’s when we know you’re from Canada.”

How’s the 2022 harvest been?
“Very dry—like they put an umbrella over the Clare Valley. Lotsa heat but thankfully not too much extreme heat. I think it’s going be a good Cabernet season for us.”

 How has climate change affected you?
“We have been doing this for over 50 years in the Clare Valley and eight of our 10 hottest years have been in the past decade. The challenge for us as winemakers is going to be maintaining that Old World finesse and delicacy. Clare usually helps us accomplish that through a lot of sunny days and beautiful hang time, giving you that integrated tannin. To source some of that cooler-climate fruit, we recently purchased a vineyard (two hours south) in the McLaren Vale. It’s close enough that we can bring fruit back and crush it at our own winery. We have traditionally been a primarily Cabernet house, but (given the climate change), in time we could evolve into a Shiraz house.”

What trends are you noticing in the wine world?
“That we cannot get enough Pinot Noir, including for Pinot-based rosé. I’d love to start introducing more of our Pinot Noir to the LCBO, but if they say, ‘Yes, we love it,’ I’m not sure if we can get enough supply.

“On the white wine front, Sauvignon Blanc appears to have peaked around the world. Supply is a real interesting question. Europe is down in that department. New Zealand is down. We’ve had buyers out from the UK and they are looking for aromatic white wines. So they are saying, ‘If you can produce Riesling, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon, come back to us and we’ll purchase it from you.”

I often judge a winery by its entry-level wine quality. You’ve got a pretty good one with your Promised Land series.
“Our reds in this range even see a little oak. People don’t usually put this much effort into a $15 wine. We hear a lot from folks who say, ‘You’ve got to be kidding—that quality for this price!’ And when we have premium wines like The Legacy ($1,000) and our St. Andrews series, there’s a lot of premium juice flowing down through all the ranges. And when it’s been harder to sell the premium wines during the pandemic, you’ve got to find a home for that juice. Fortunately, though, the world is opening up—and The Legacy has done very well at duty-free shops.”

What is your most underpriced wine, considering the quality?
“In the ‘stupid value for money category,’ I’d say our Jaraman series, which is $25. I work with a guy named Neil Hadley, our General Manager heading up the global export team at Taylors Wines and Chair of The Institute of Masters of Wine. I watch what wines he takes from his staff allowance, and there’s a lot of Jaraman in his house!”

Summer is upon us here in Ontario. It drives me nuts that winemakers make and blend their wines at cellar temperature, then we drink whites straight out of the fridge, while leaving our reds at room temperature. You folks built a whole campaign around serving wine at the proper temperature.
“Our quick answer is to put your red wines in the fridge for an hour before you drink them, and let them sit out and come back to room temperature. And make sure you get the whites out of the fridge before you serve them. Experiment with it, enjoy it and see the difference you get a different temperatures. Our wines have a sensor at the back of the bottle that tells you the temperature of the wine bottle and indicates the optimum temperature to drink them at—white wines usually around 11-12°C; reds at 14-16° C. If your wines are too cold, they’ll be too tight. You won’t get that flavour profile across the palate. If they are too warm, then the acidity and fruit intensity are missing in whites and you lose that red berry flavour and acidity in reds. And for reds, you may smell too much of the alcohol when they’re too warm. Either way, the wines are out of balance. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s not the wine at its optimum.”

Give me a couple of fun wine pairings?
“I’ve got a bit of a sweet tooth and our Estate Merlot with some milk chocolate is really nice. And a couple of oysters with maybe a squeeze of lime paired with our Estate Riesling is hard to beat.”

People are travelling again. For those who want to do a wine vacation out your way, what do you suggest?
“The Clare is about elevation, sunlight, diurnal shift and its terra rossa soils over limestone. So you have a unique terroir. We’ve got more than 50 years of winemaking history of a family-owned winery. And you should cycle the Riesling Trail. If you start at the far end, it slips downward all the way, with Taylors being one of your last stops. Experience the hospitality of a lot of family-owned producers along the way. Just don’t get too buzzed to bike.

“For a great side trip, I have a lot of respect for (winemaker and entrepreneur) Chester Osborn in the McLaren Vale. He’s done so well, and he’s one of the most enigmatic, crazy guys in Australian wine. He’s really invested in creating an incredible building—the Cube. (A Rubik’s Cube-inspired five-storey building at Obborn’s d’Arenberg estate, which opened in 2017. It’s a giant piece of art but it also has tasting rooms, a restaurant and an art gallery.)

“And if you just want hospitality and to have that Crocodile Dundee experience, just go to the rising Sun Hotel in the Clare Valley and meet some of the locals. Enjoy your meal, a cleansing beer, drink some great wine and enjoy the hospitality. Just make sure you leave at a reasonable time before things get, well, too expressive.”