CHAMPIONS
OF TERROIR
Our producers share a common cause: be they owners, growers, makers or a blend thereof, they are all custodians of remarkable vineyard sites. They – like us – celebrate the distinctive regions where their wines originate: champions of terroir.
There has never been a more exciting time in Australian wine than now. While Australia has a rich near-200 year history of viticulture and winemaking, on some of the world’s most ancient soils, the innovation currently taking place could not be more explorative. We’re truly lucky to represent producers who are, in their own dynamic ways, leading this evolution and blending the many lessons of winemaking history with scientific developments and great respect for the environments they farm.
NSW
GILBERT FAMILY Wines
ORANGE / MUDGEE
Gilbert Family Wines are now in the hands of sixth generation winemaker Will, who is evolving the family’s wines following extensive travel and work experience abroad, most recently with Benjamin Leroux in Burgundy.
Backing off on new oak usage, with longer, cooler fermentations, maceration times and elevage, alongside a plethora of alternate fermentation vessels creates more texture in the still and sparkling wines and expresses the purity of fruit, most of which is from a site 900m ASL in the cooler reaches of Mt Canobolas.
Lignée
HUNTER / ORANGE
Lignée is the collaborative project of Angus Vinden and Will Gilbert, producers who are breaking down barriers and challenging conventions, whilst respecting the traditions in their respective Hunter Valley and Orange regions.
For Lignée, Angus and Will are creating a range of delicious wines that blend their regional hero varieties, though not as you know them.
Mercer Wines (SWA certified)
MULTI-REGIONAL
After many years perfecting his craft in the world’s leading wine regions, Aaron Mercer returned to his homeland in the Hunter Valley to start Mercer Wines and share the best vineyards NSW has to offer.
Working with organic, certified sustainable fruit sourced from numerous sites around the state, Aaron aims to showcase NSW’s versatile climates and champion Mediterranean varieties. He employs minimal intervention winemaking techniques that result in delicious, affordable wines of high drinkability and a considered carbon footprint.
Fun fact: Aaron and AJ went to primary and high school together in Mount View where Aaron was AJ’s year 7 peer support leader.
Vinden WINES & the vinden headcase (organic)
HUNTER VALLEY
Established in 1998, Vinden Wines is now under the guidance of second generation viticulturist and winemaker, Angus Vinden. Since taking reins of the family property in 2015, Angus has tread a careful line: combining a modern, youthful approach to the business, while preserving the legacy of his father, Guy.
Meticulous viticulture, a gentle approach to winemaking and respect for the land and Hunter traditions result in a mixture of modern and traditional Hunter Valley styles. Vinden was named a ‘Dark Horse’ winery to watch in the 2018 Halliday Wine companion.
Ba-Ba-Rumba
HILLTOPS
Ba-Ba-Rumba is a Prosecco-specific project and collaboration between AJWM and Aaron Mercer.
Prosecco fruit, simply fermented into both a Dry and Petillant style, creates a light, bright, tasty, varietal fizzy. Some things aren’t meant to be complicated; Ba-Ba-Rumba just makes you feel good.
SA
DAVID FRAnz
BAROSSA VALLEY
David’s earliest memory of his winemaking journey was being told by his father (the great Peter Lehmann) that he must first understand the origins of great wine: the vineyard. So began his career as a vineyard labourer. Since, David's learnt and honed his craft with the utmost respect for the sites and vines he tends.
Dave does things a bit differently to many in the region, pushing the boundaries of technique and style. The results are truly original wines with his signature flare.
DubStyle (organic)
MCLAREN VALE
DubStyle is the adventurous creation of Inkwell’s Dudley Brown and Dr Irina Santiago-Brown. Riffing on the Jamaican musical style of dubbing (creating a second version of a track with the vocal removed for remixing), the pair create ‘dub’ wines from some of McLaren Vale’s best vineyards.
Grapes are chosen for their fresh texture and flavour, and fermented wild at Inkwell, to produce delicious new tracks.
Inkwell (Regenerative Certified Organic – Australia’s first)
MCLAREN VALE
Inkwell, under the impeccable guidance of Dudley and Dr Irina Santiago-Brown (contributor to the Oxford Companion to Wine 6th edition), is producing what many consider ‘modern McLaren Vale wines’: estate-only fruit with no additions other than minimal SO2 at bottling, made from meticulously, organically grown fruit, picked early.
A true artisan approach to all they do results in wines that speak of the special piece of land they tend with much TLC. Full flavoured yet fresh, pure varietal expressions from Australia’s leading region for sustainable viticultural innovation.
J&S Fielke
ADELAIDE HILLS
Jemma and Steve Fielke craft high quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in tiny volumes, from two old vine sites the cool upper reaches of the Piccadilly Valley and Lenswood. While only the third release under their own label, they are already turning heads. Their complimentary skillsets and vast experience in the region (Jemma formerly viticulturist at Rockford; Steve winemaker at Tappanappa) make for a perfect pairing.
Farming without systemic chemicals and no additions in the winery aside a sprinkling of new oak and SO2 at bottling, the wines are pure and textural, with striking personality.
VIC
dalla mia finestra
YARRA VALLEY
Dalla mia Finestra's evolution has been a natural one, beginning with a long-standing fascination with wine and a love of the picturesque Yarra Valley.
The first Finestra vines were planted by Bruce and Jo-Anne Lang in 1989 on the same gentle northerly slope as the adjacent Yeringberg vineyard. After years of tending the vineyard and soaking up advice from friend Dr Bailey Carrodus, the first estate wines were produced in 2003.
The approach at Dalla mia Finestra embraces low-intervention viticulture and winemaking: producing small quantities of wine with a focus on quality.
Even Keel
MORNINGTON & TUMBARUMBA
Even Keel celebrates the strengths of Australia’s leading cool climate wine regions in NSW and Victoria, with a small production of genuine, refined wines made from special parcels of fruit grown in Mornington Peninsular (Polperro young vines) and Tumbarumba.
Sam’s beginnings in the wine industry were in Canberra and he still heralds the Tumbarumba region as one of unsung quality, particularly for cool climate Chardonnay. As well as this, Sam utilises his young vine and declassified parcels from the five single sites he runs organically at Polperro Estate.
FIGHTING Gulley Road
BEECHWORTH
Mark Walpole (former GT Wine Viticulturist of the Year) is an out and out Italo-file, responsible for much of Australia’s Italian vine material thanks to his management of Brown Brothers’ famous nursery program in the 90s. We have Mark to thank for so many of the King and Alpine Valleys vineyards we know and love today.
Fighting Gully Road and Smith’s Chardonnay Vineyards sit at atound 550m ASL in the southern end of Beechworth, overlooking the Murmungee Basin. Mark tends an impressive mix of both varietal and clonal sections (ten different clones of Sangiovese alone), producing pure expressions of Beechworth: Chardonnay, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Tempranillo and Verdecchio to name a few.
Moon (organic/biodynamic)
NAGAMBIE LAKES
Grown on the banks of the Goulburn River, MOON wines have developed something of a cult following and justifiably so.
Little, if any, intervention is key to the pure, savoury, layered wines that Greta Moon and Mike Boudry produce. Never fined and rarely filtered, these are wines with weight, structure and complexity.
Pipan steel (organic)
ALPINE VALLEYS
Paula Pipan and Radley Steel’s modus operandi is simple: to produce Australia’s best Nebbiolo. Few vineyards in the country have been this thoroughly planned with a single focus and though the site is still in its infancy, it has a long, bright future ahead.
Three different clones are close planted on granitic sands, north-facing at 400m ASL, deep in the foothills of Victoria’s Alpine region. Long slow fermentations, extended time on skins, two years in large neutral cask and two years in bottle before release results in finely framed, varietal expression of Australian Nebbiolo.
Polperro Estate (organic/biodynamic)
MORNINGTON
Polperro is winemaker Sam Coverdale’s single vineyard Red Hill label, now farmed on five unique single sites with meticulous care. Reflecting Sam’s belief that great wines are grown, not made, these wines receive the same treatments once in the winery, with a hands-off approach to show off the individual microclimates.
Predominately old oak, long, cool and gentle natural fermentations and long periods of elevage create pure Mornington expressions of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris, sans any additions other than a touch of SO2 at bottling and not always, depending the year.
SALO
YARRA VALLEY
salo n. /sar-low/
Dirty, uncouth, a wee bit slutty
Created by two great minds in Victorian winemaking, Steve Flamesteed and Dave ‘Bro’ Macintosh, Salo wines are gritty, textured and packed with personality.
Steve and Dave use techniques that lie well outside the textbook approach to winemaking, resulting in complex, provocative and excitingly modern expression of Chardonnay.
TILLIE J WINES
YARRA VALLEY
After years travelling the globe honing her skills in both vineyard and cellar, Natalie returned to her birthplace in the Yarra Valley to establish Tillie J Wines in 2019.
Tillie specialises in her passion of Burgundian varieties: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Aligote from various sites in the cool upper reaches of the Yarra and King Valley. Made from vineyards tended mostly by Tillie herself, they make for expressive, pure and modern examples of these Yarra varieties. Recent years have also seen Tillie expand into the Heathcote region, where she continues to push boundaries with her whole bunch expressions of Grenache, which continue to impress us all.
WA
Cloudburst (organic)
MARGARET RIVER
Situated in Margaret River’s Wilyabrup sub-region, Cloudburst is the labour of love of Will Berliner, producing exceptionally detailed expressions of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec from his minuscule vineyard.
Behind the intensity, elegance and power of Cloudburst wines is Will’s very deliberate hands-off approach. Close planted, dry grown, organically managed and with zero mechanisation or synthetic input, nature is given the space to bear fruit as intended.
TAS
Haddow & Dineen
TAMAR VALLEY
Haddow & Dineen is a collaborative winemaking project from cheesemaker Nick Haddow, of Bruny Island Cheese, and winemaker Jeremy Dineen, of Josef Chromy.
Nick and Jeremy make small batches of intensely Tasmanian wines, with grapes sourced solely from a tiny single vineyard in Yorktown near the mouth of the Tamar river. Haddow & Dineen wines are made to the ethos of ‘maximum consideration,’ rather than 'minimal intervention’.
RIVULET
MULTI-REGIONAL
Keira O’Brien has had a hand in the production of dozens of the Emerald Isle’s brands as winemaker at Vintage Tasmania. She continuously provides her intimate knowledge of many of Tassie’s vineyards and its emerging sense of regionality.
Rivulet wines aim to reflect the unique Tasmanian places the wines come from and are made with texture, precision and purity in mind.
ITA
Cascina Delle Rose (organic)
BARBARESCO, PIEDMONT
Operated by brothers and third generation custodians, Davide and Riccardo, Cascina Delle Rose is a five hectare organic estate high in the Alban Hills in the Rio Sordo Valley of Barbaresco. Calcareous soils on steep hillside vineyards are tended by hand by the brothers, although this is Davide’s area of expertise, with Riccardo managing operations in the cellar with a less is more approach.
Purity and freshness is at the fore of Dolcetto and Nebbiolo. Only stainless steel is utilised in the village wines, while large old (steamed only) Swiss and Slavonian casks are used for extended maturation of their two Cru wines: the muscular 'Rio Sordo' and more ethereal ’Tre Stelle’, the former of which they are the only producer to make a single Vintage/Cru wine from.
Giulia Negri (ORGANIc)
SERRADENARI, LA MORRA, BAROLO
Situated in the ‘Serradenari' Cru of La Morra, Giulia's vineyards are the highest plantings in the Barolo region at up to 546 MASL, and is one of the last remaining truffle forests and grape growing operations in the Langa Hills.
Magnesium and limestone rich sandy soils are unique to Serradenari, though not so common to the wider region. These coupled with traditional winemaking; long maceration and elevage times in botti-grandi, minimal handling and movement in the winery, result in elegant and finely framed yet powerful Barolo wines delicious young and with long lives ahead of them for those patient enough wait.
AND...
The Envied Cellar
The Envied Cellar is one of the country’s greatest collections of fine and rare wines, by friend and former sommelier James Dossan.
The Envied Cellar works with many of the worlds finest and rarest wines, some having ‘Unicorn’ status, many of which are not imported into Australia
James works only with known and trusted private collectors thus guaranteeing provenance, with each bottle is still being individually inspected. All wines are bought at time of release, perfectly cellared for the duration of their life and only moved once purchased. No wines originate from the secondary market.
