The King Valley has got to be Australia’s premier wine region for weirdness. They’ve got mtsvane and saperavi - they’re Russian grapes, and tannat and petit manseng - from France’s south-west, are looking really promising.

Growers up these ways made the early running in the mid 1980s with Italy’s front row varieties like barbera, nebbiolo, dolcetto and sangiovese. Now they’re moving into some really interesting - and definitely unusual - Italian territory, latching on to sagrantino, marzemino (both red grapes) and white grapes verduzzo, pinot grigio and arneis. And then there’s the Spanish too, notably tempranillo. ‘Let’s give it a go’ seems to be the King Valley winegrower mantra.

According to Shayne Cunningham, one of the most experienced winemakers in the area through his work with Miranda’s High Country label and now Gapsted Wines, growers have relished the media interest and, more recently, show success in unusual varieties. Perhaps too much so.

“ For one gold medal they might read about in the paper 10 people might plant 10 acres in response to that - but we only needed four acres in the first place,” says Cunningham. “That was one of the biggest messages of the first Mediterranean and Unusual Varieties Seminar that growers of the Alpine and King Valleys organised two and a half years ago.”

Cunningham, a definite fan of the weird and the unusual, doesn’t want to pour water on the King Valley growers’ enthusiasm but he and they live in a commercial world.

The only biggish wine company to source varieties like barbera and sangiovese from the valley is Brown Brothers, while the producer who arguably started the whole Italian thing rolling, Garry Crittenden with his ‘i’ range of Italian varietals, only takes around 25 tonnes of fruit each vintage.

And while the pioneering Peter Read at Symphonia Wines, Myrrhee, tries hard to get the wine world passionate about petit manseng, tannat and saperavi these are niches at best; exciting niches, but they stand small against valley stalwarts like cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, merlot, chardonnay and riesling.

In 2001, the valley (including Alpine Valleys and Beechworth) crushed 4321 tonnes of cabernet, 2777 tonnes of merlot, 2511 tonnes of shiraz and 3387 tonnes of chardonnay. By comparison, just two tonnes of nebbiolo, one tonne of dolcetto, 32 tonnes of tempranillo and 183 tonnes of barbera were crushed the same year.

Here, in volume and reputation, it is cabernet sauvignon, not barbera that rules. But the balance may be shifting. The big red, which soaks up from the King Valley soils some of the richest and deepest colour of any Aussie cabernet, is going through a time of challenge with both shiraz and in particular, merlot, nipping at its heels.

Shayne Cunningham sees it as a time of “cleansing” where the market’s lessening demand for cabernet will force growers to re-assess their situation. “The cabernet that is on river flats here, with its lush growing conditions, will disappear,” he suggests.

Cabernet grape prices this year, which ranged from $300 to $2000 a tonne, will also sort growers out. “The $300 people will be forced out of business and the $2000 people will keep it [cabernet] in,” he says.

Well-known grower/producer Fred Pizzini of Pizzini Wines, Whitfield, agrees. “If I was getting $300 I would be grafting [the cabernet] over tomorrow! I could very comfortably graft cabernet over to riesling. That’s one variety we don’t have enough of.”

This varietal ‘cleansing’ process extends to shiraz and merlot. Which one will do best in the region? Merlot is seen as probably the area’s most consistent performer while King Valley shiraz has that X factor, something that excites with each passing year as the age of the vines kicks in.

For the Dal Zotto winegrowing family at Cheshunt, the merlot versus shiraz debate is an enjoyable one. They grow both and make both wines well.

Patriarch, Otto Dal Zotto, hails from the Veneto region in Italy’s north-east, an acknowledged and popular performer with the variety. It seems only right then that the Dal Zotto merlot is probably what first put the family of grapegrowers turned wine producers on the map. Its merlot is teasingly Italian in structure, firm astringent tannins drying the finish and making it almost obligatory to open a bottle over a meal of something equally savoury and red.

But, Otto Dal Zotto’s baby - his passion, his obsession - is shiraz. A call into the new winery cellar door in Edi Road during the week will find him in the vineyard, obsessing.

Otto’s son and assistant winemaker, Michael, who is studying for his Bachelor of Applied Science, says shiraz needs the extra attention that his father gives. “It probably takes a little bit more work,” he says. “Merlot grows really well in the area whereas the shiraz takes more effort.”

Like many other valley grapegrowers, the Dal Zotto family, including six sons (three of whom are involved in the wine business), turned from tobacco farming to winegrapes in the mid 1980s. They remain primarily grapegrowers today with 60 per cent going off their 16.1-hectare Cheshunt vineyard into other producers’ wines, but not the shiraz. That is kept for the Dal Zotto label…of course.

Out of the King Valley - In the wake of the Italians comes:

Petit Manseng: Originally hails from south-west France where its attributes - peachy, spicy flavours and high acidity - are the cornerstone of great Jurancon sweet wines. Gapsted Wines released its first 2001 petit manseng this year, believed to be the first commercial release of the variety in Australia.

Saperavi: A red wine that by all accounts demands ageing with some examples still (apparently) looking good at 30 years of age. The grape has grown in the Crimean coast of Russia, Moldova and Bulgaria and now also in the King Valley by Peter Read of Symphonia Wines. Gapsted took Read’s fruit in 2001 to make a full-flavoured, soft tannin, varietal style.

Tannat: Another south-west French variety that tastes almost exactly like it sounds - sturdy, deep, dark, red and tannic. A major contributor to the wines of Madiran. In Australia, it is finding its feet at Peter Read’s Myrrhee vineyard in the King Valley.