Hi Everyone,
SPN.
Have you heard of it?
The acronym is Australian-wine-culture shorthand for a (usually dry and light-footed) blend containing more-or-less equal parts of Shiraz and Pinot Noir.
Wait – You ask – Aren’t these varietals polar opposites?
Yes.
The idea of blending these together might seem absurd, but the sudden explosion of SPN is arguably the most exciting and most commercially important thing to happen in the Australian wine industry in the last few decades.
SPN might be a new monkier, but the concept, while having disappeared from Australian winemaking culture for nearly a century, is hardly a new idea. In the 1940s and 1950s one of Australia’s most legendary winemakers made some of the country’s most sought-after and long-lived wines blending these two grapes.
No, we are not talking about Penfolds’ Max Schubert. The visionary who put this idea of ‘SPN’ on the map was the great Maurice O’Shea of Mount Pleasant fame. Before passing away at too-early an age in 1956, O’Shea regularly integrated large amounts of Pinot Noir into his Shiraz bottlings, thinking of the two in a dualistic and complementary context throughout much of his work (he referred to Shiraz and Pinot Noir as “shade” versus “light”). O’Shea, during his time, pioneered a light-colored, dry red composed of equal parts Pinot Noir and Shiraz which became the most iconic and sought-after example of its kind in Australian wine history and is today a bit of a Barbacarlo-esque unicorn for collectors: Mount Pleasant ‘Mount Henry.’
The key to this combination of Shiraz and Pinot Noir working together so well comes from the physiological ripeness timeline that one is forced to accept in most of the Australian continent: Pinot Noir is an earlier ripener and can reach both flavor and tannin maturity many weeks ahead of Shiraz, and when one seeks fully ripe tannins from Shiraz, the fruit can come across as too “jammy.” Combine the two grapes together, in the climate of any subregion in the continent, with the Shiraz picked earlier knowing that you’ll have a smaller proportion of “less developed” young tannins, and you’ll end up with a situation where the sum is almost always greater than either individual part, with a flavor profile that is curiously delicious, sending clear varietal notes of both grapes to your brain at once.
Old bottles of Mount Pleasant ‘Mount Henry,’ for those lucky enough to find them, consistently reported to be drinking spectacularly some 80 years later, serve as time-tested proof of the above.
So…
The local appeal of SPN in Australia makes sense for good reason…
Asian cuisine is more common in Australia than in any other Western country. Most Australians live within a few miles of the ocean. The blend of Shiraz and Pinot, grown and picked with co-elevage in mind, brings a red wine with enviable depth, a welcome freshness, and a tannin profile that plays well with (rather than fighting with) fresh seafood and soy-based pastes.
Beyond the local Australian market, the upcoming global appeal of SPN is inevitable.
One particular example of SPN, pulled just before dinner from a mountain of samples, made all of this clear as a gigantic proverbial exclamation mark on the family table last night…
Nova Vita’s 2021 ‘Project K – The SPN.’
It tastes something like this:
“A punchy, mid-weighted wine promoting effusiveness of fruit, a burst of sappy energy and plenty of crunch in a contemporary, semi-carbonic vein. Florals, red and purple berries, dried herbs and a slink of sweetness across the finish. 90 points.” – Ned Goodwin, Master of Wine 2/23
“Complex and engaging, yet vibrant and refreshing, the wine shows dark cherry, pomegranate, dried herb and rich floral aromas on the nose. The palate displays good weight and succulent fruit intensity, well supported by smooth texture and polished tannins. Upfront and juicy, offering fabulous drinking. A blend of Shiraz & Pinot Noir fermented with whole bunch. At its best now to 2029. 93 points.” – Sam Kim, WineOrbit 11/23
While many will serve this category chilled, we served yesterday’s Nova Vita at cellar temperature, and the wine was spectacular in both its freshness, texture, and depth, playing better with a spread of spicy grilled and steamed Asian dishes than any other wine we could think of bringing upstairs from the cellar.
The hype around SPN is well-deserved.
And to make things as easy and successful as possible for all involved, let’s divvy up Nova Vita’s 2021 SPN at around half of the price that other retailers are charging (this is Oddlots after all!).
Compare today’s wine at $23.99 retail on Wine-Searcher, compare to category peers in what is usually a range of $20-$40 retail, and laugh as you book yours at $9.80!
First-come-first-served.
