WINE producers face an uphill battle to market an obscure variety previously thought to be the trendy Spanish drop albarino.
Nine months after CSIRO admitted Australia's albarino plantings were, in fact, the little-known French variety savagnin blanc, this year's vintage has started to appear in bottle shops.
While most producers have elected to bottle their wine using the varietal name, at least one has opted for a generic moniker to avoid confusion with the popular sauvignon blanc and to pay homage to the wine's Spanish style.
Crittenden Estate winemaker Rollo Crittenden said his savagnin bore no resemblance to the sherry-style product made by the French with the same grape variety, but he was "determined to make the most of a tricky situation".
Crittenden has downplayed the varietal name savagnin under its Los Hermanos label, and called its 2009 wine "Tributo a Galicia" - Galicia, in north-west Spain, is the traditional home of albarino.
As a concession, the sailboat depicted on Crittenden's colourful, Spanish-influenced label has been christened "Savagnin" on this year's vintage.
"We decided to have a bit of fun with it," Mr Crittenden said.
"The original label was reminiscent of old Mediterranean sardine cans. If you have a look at some of those old cans, a lot of them had quirky, in-jokes on them, so we're kind of continuing on with that theme."
Mr Crittenden said choosing a generic name, rather than using the varietal, allowed the winery to incorporate some "real" albarino down the track, if it chose to do so.
He said this year's wine was released about two months ago and had been "very well received".
But Arnie Pizzini, from Chrismont Wines in the King Valley, said marketing this year's drop was "a much harder road to hoe".
"It's a whole new marketing strategy - it's another variety altogether that no one's heard of," he said.
