Tussock Jumper - a label leads to ...
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
"Jump around the wine world"
Last night we had this rather nice - not wow I guess - but very pleasant bottle of wine. We think somebody gave it to us. Thank you whoever you are because it's led me to a rather interesting concept in the wine world.
I always look at the back of wine labels - partly to find out what I'm supposed to be tasting because I really don't have a disciminating palate. Our friend Stephen George - a more than reputable winemaker - - in the Adelaide Hills - used to get me to taste his wines as 'the ordinary' sample of the wine drinking public. Which did not offend me in the least, because it let me off the hook of saying what I could taste.
In this instance I was told I should be tasting apple, pear and pineapple. Well maybe, As I say I am hardly an expert on this. Mind you maybe I'm only ever tasting wines that taste fine, but not really distinctive. Just occasionally. Maybe if I tasted a Montrachet Grand Cru white burgundy I would taste all sorts of things.
Enough of my poor wine tasting skills. On to the wine and what I discovered. I do like to read these back labels, and this one was particularly intriguing, because the name was so non Italian, even though the label proudly describes this as a genuine Italian pinot grigio. How come? My first reaction was that it was perhaps a kind of home brand thing. And indeed as I turned the bottle around to look at where it came from, there in large print at the bottom was "Imported and distributed by Liquorland" which is part of Coles.
However in bold print we are told that this is a 'Pinot grigio D.O.C delle Venezie' - so officially Italian. But which vineyard? Well this is not named though it does tell us that it was bottled in Salgareda/Italy. Salgareda is indeed in the right region - just a little north-east of Venice. I've now checked wine bottling in Salgareda and with the help of that other note - 'Bottled by C.V.B.M SRL I now know that the wine comes from Bosco Viticultori - which seems to be part of a co-operative Vi.V.C Cantine. Voilà - the picture shows what is described as the bottling hub.
But let's go back to that label telling us that this wine comes from Tussock Jumper wines because this is a whole other story.
Here I will give you the story - as published on the website GRAPE:
"Tussock Jumper Wines, founded by Peder van Arkel and a team of wine experts, aims to simplify the exploration of global wines. They began with a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc featuring a sheep label that highlights the local terroir and the spirit of travel.
After receiving positive international feedback, the brand expanded by partnering with small farms across 11 countries, offering more than 25 wines from 15 regions. Each wine showcases a regional animal ambassador dressed in a red sweater, and an augmented reality app enhances consumer interaction."
The number of wines and regions seems to change slightly from time to time.
So I went looking for Peder van Arkel but couldn't find him. If I belonged to social media sites, or Linkedin I might, but whilst searching Tussock Jumper Wines I did find another company - Wineforces - whose founder and CEO is Gert Jan van Arkel - so a brother? And Tussock Jumper wines, is obviously a large part of the business, although separate from its main focus which is to:
"create new international and innovative brands in the wine sector to respond better to an increasing international wine consumer demand."
Both of these men are Dutch, but have been living in France for many, many years, and indeed both companies are headquartered in Arradon, France - in Brittany.
On the Tussock Jumper website there is a long list of companies to whom they distribute their wines, which includes Coles, and Carrefour - the two that I really recognise - but it is obvious that the companies come from all around the world.
A few more things of interest. That label. Each label features an iconic animal of the country it represents - Australia - as shown here has chosen the koala. Our Italian pinot grigio features a wolf. The jumper came from the idea of jumping around the world:
"one distinctive and easily recognizable quality mark: the iconic woolly red jumper, proudly displayed on every bottle.
This allows you to jump from wine to wine, depending on your mood or dining plans, with complete confidence and without worry — always assured of quality, character and enjoyment."
The tussock part of the name is the name of a kind of grass which is found around the world in wine-growing areas. Which sounds like it's a specific type of grass whereas I always thought it referred to small clumps of grass. But it is also symbolic:
"The Tussock symbolizes our connection to nature and our commitment to protecting it."
So whilst we are on grass they now have a few wines that are organic and these - like this one for a pinot grigio - have the animals in a green jumper and standing on those tussocks on top of a green band with green labelling.
And whilst we are sort of on green - I see they also have a non alcoholic wine as well - a New Zealand sauvignon blanc and a Spanish moscato.
Which is all good stuff and:
"Furthermore, they donate a portion of their sales to marine conservation initiatives through the 1% for the Planet organization." GRAPE
On their website it suggests that who this 1% is donated to might change every year and this year it's to The Ocean Cleanup which is dedicated to clearing the world's oceans of plastic.
I'll end with just a short note on their single Australian wine - a shiraz - of course - from South Eastern Australia, which doesn't really tell us much does it?
And there is no way for me to find out because Australia is one of it's Greener Grass selection. What is that?
Well in spite of the statement that
"Tussock Jumper Wines adheres to a “bottled at the source” policy to ensure authenticity and supports local economies."
It turns out that our Australian wine is not bottled here, which is why I cannot find out which vineyard it comes from. Why is this so?
The website tells us:
"Environmental studies show that transporting bulk wine from distant regions is reducing the carbon footprint significantly. Tussock Jumper has always been using “the bottled at the origin” stamp for its wines in order to guarantee the high quality standards of all Tussock Jumper wines. With the same quality guarantee Tussock Jumper has now started to bottle some of the wines from distant regions in Europe. These wines are brought under our quality stamp “Greener Grass Selection”.
So our shiraz is bottled in Europe - and moreover you don't seem to be able to get it here. Liquorland, who I think are the only stockists in Australia, do not stock it. Well it wouldn't make sense to send it in bulk to Europe to be bottled, and then send it back would it? That definitely wouldn't be environmentally sound. Liquorland don't have the New Zealand sauvignon blanc either - it also has the same Greener Grass label - but they do have the French sauvignon blanc.
All interesting stuff really.
YEARS GONE BY
August 8
2025 - Piri piri chicken
2023 - Nothing
2021 - Missing
2020 - Missing
2019 - Nothing
2018 - 'Lite' and easy
2016 - Sausage stew from Yugoslavia
Everywhere you look, ther are things to discover and new worlds to explore. The world of wine we inhabit here in Melbourne, Australia is just a smudge on the wide world of wine! 😜