Savoury, succulent and textural: Jane Faulkner on pecorino

Every so often, I become super excited about a grape variety and the subsequent wines made from it. This time, it was the savoury, succulent and textural pecorino that made me sit up and take note – and not only the examples from the grape’s country of origin, Italy. While still in its infancy, the examples coming out of the Hunter Valley, McLaren Vale, Heathcote and more are impressive. 

Up in Queensland’s Granite Belt, the fabulous Mike Hayes, winemaker at Balancing Heart in Ballandean, fell for this exceptional white while undertaking a Churchill Fellowship in 2013 to discover which varieties in Italy and elsewhere might be suitable to mitigate climate change back at home.

“It’s a no-brainer for Australia,” he says. “Because pecorino has high acidity and thick skins, it can cope with variable, warmer weather, and has less disease pressure.” Most importantly, he adds: “It’s an ideal variety because it has consumer acceptance. It has everything going for it – the acidity, the fleshy mid-palate; it’s an ideal food wine or it can be enjoyed on its own as a conversation wine.” 

Mike Hayes, Balancing Heart.

While waiting for his pecorino to bear fruit – the vines were planted only 18 months ago – he sourced some in 2024 from a Riverland grower, Bassham. Mike fermented it on skins for 15 days to build more texture and to add depth of flavour. It’s labelled Phototropism & Ephemeral to describe the variety, and it’s a beauty. 

And credit to the Chalmers – the name synonymous with pioneering Italian varieties in Australia – who brought in the first two clones of pecorino via their nursery business in 2015. In 2018, they added half a hectare of each pecorino clone, totalling 4600 vines, to their Heathcote vineyard. Of all the whites from Chalmers, none has me more enthusiastic than their rendition. The ’24 Pecorino (their fifth vintage) was certainly the finest I’ve tasted from them. 

“It’s just the grape,” says Tennille Chalmers, one of the directors of the family business. “It’s really happy in the vineyard and translates so easily into a beautiful wine that has so much character. We don’t do anything to it in the winery and still it comes out balanced. It has texture, body, truckloads of acidity, and it’s so complete in the glass.”

Kim Chalmers in the Chalmers Nursery.

Despite the fascinating history of this ancient variety, which hails from the Marche and Abruzzo in Central Italy, and the derivation of its name meaning ‘little sheep’ (yes, there’s also a sheep milk’s cheese called pecorino), its revival as a singular wine has been recent. Italian wine authority Ian D’Agata mentions the first varietal was bottled only in 1990 and the first producer to put pecorino on the label was Cataldi Madonna in 1996. Since then, it has been gaining traction, and deserves to – it is one of Italy’s greatest white wines. 

It has the potential to be one of our great whites, too. According to Tennille, Chalmers Nursery has sold 40,000 vines since 2019 to more than 30 producers or growers. One of the early adopters, and the first in Langhorne Creek to plant it in 2021, is Greg Follett from Lake Breeze. He’s been very pleased with the results since the first vintage in ’23. 

“It was about thinking outside the square, and wanting something new and different, but that would work here and fit into out stable of wines,” says Greg. “We wanted to complement our range of whites, including vermentino, and pecorino has a richer mouthfeel yet lovely acidity.” He’s made a small batch, about 800 bottles, of a skin-contact pecorino – 16 days all up. It’s not yet released, but I’ll keep you posted. 

Glenn James and Jo Marsh from Billy Button.

Another fan is Jo Marsh of Billy Button Wines. No surprise, really, given she has been a huge supporter of Italian varieties thanks to her band of growers based in the Alpine Valleys, especially the intuitive and innovative Bri Lewis of Greenacres Vineyard fame. He planted two rows – the first commercial crop in ‘22 yielded 400kg of fruit, enough for Jo and husband Glenn James’ first foray with the variety.

“Early on we were thinking, shit this is looking really good,” she says. So much so, it made the Silver Xenica label, which is Jo’s pick of her favourite white and red from each vintage. 

“It’s hard to single out a fruit character. It’s not fruity but it has intense little bursts of flavour,” says Jo. “It’s also not the most delicious grape (to eat off the vine) and you wouldn’t know its quality until you start making the wine and it reveals just how flavourful and amazing it can be.” 

In 2023, Jo and Glenn made their first pecorino under the Billy Button label, amusingly called Not The Cheese. What a wine! It won best of show at the North East Victorian Wine Challenge (for the record, I chaired the show that year). Unfortunately, there was no follow up in ’24 due to frost and hail wiping out the crop, but, in good news, a ’25 has been made and it’s looking very, very good.

If you haven’t tried this variety before, I suggest grabbing a few bottles from different producers and putting on a pecorino party. And yes – it does match brilliantly with pecorino cheese.