CHAMPIONS
OF TERROIR
Our producers share a common cause: be they owners, growers, makers or a blend thereof, they are all custodians of some of Australia’s most remarkable sites. They – like us – celebrate the distinctive regions where their wines originate: champions of terroir.
NSW
COURABYRA
TUMBARUMBA
Courabyra is the dream of vignerons’ Cathy and Brian Gairn. They planted Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Muenier in 1993 in deep decomposed granite soils of the New South Wales Snowy Mountains at 720 metres elevation.
Long elevage Sparkling wines are Cathy’s primary focus with a minimum of four years secondary fermentation in bottle, ten plus in exceptional vintages . As well as this, a small selection of still wines are made showcasing Tumbarumba’s unique and diverse cool climate.
GILBERT FAMILY Wines
ORANGE / MUDGEE
Gilbert wines are now in the hands of sixth generation winemaker Will, who is continually evolving the family’s wines following extensive travel and work experience abroad, mostly recently with Benjamin Leroux in Burgundy.
Backing off on new oak usage, with longer cooler fermentations, maceration times and elevage, as well as 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 a project between Angus Vinden and Will Gilbert, two producers breaking down barriers and challenging convention all whilst respecting traditions in both the Hunter and Orange/ Mudgee.
Lignée sees them create a range of delicious wines blending their regional hero varieties together although not as you know them. Magnums only and made in limited quantities.
MAKER MASTER MERCHANT (organic)
MULTI-REGIONAL
Maker Master Merchant is more than a concept, not just a brand. It is an ideal that metastasized intuitively, borne of a desire for poised, savory and eminently drinkable wines from as close to our backyard as possible.
Subsequently a meld of wine folk; Aaron Mercer, Ned Goodwin MW and Andrew Jamieson, each bearing unique skills gave birth to the name. Each with familial ties to the most historic of wine regions. Each with a reservoir of experience that one can trust. After all, the Hunter and the vinous reaches of the Great Divide serve as our backyard. The vineyards, organically certified and articulated with a gentle hand and little flourish, deliver our desire for quality, unrivalled value and wines that speak of the holistic confluence between us and those places where we work and thrive.
Mercer Wines (SWA certified)
MULTI-REGIONAL
After many years working in and travelling the world’s leading wine regions perfecting his craft, Aaron Mercer returned to his native homeland in the Hunter Valley to start Mercer Wines and share the best vineyards NSW has to offer.
Working with organic fruit sourced from numerous sites around the state, Aaron aims to showcase NSW’s versatile climates and champion Mediterranean varieties, whilst using 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 is 2015, Angus has tread a careful line combining his modern and youthful approach to the business, whilst preserving the legacy his father Guy created before him.
Meticulous viticulture, a gentle approach to winemaking and respect for the land and Hunter traditions, result in a mixture of both modern and traditional Hunter Valley styles. Angus was also named a ‘Dark Horse’ winery watch, in the 2018 Halliday Wine companion.
Ba-Ba-Rumba
TUMBARUMBA
Ba-Ba-Rumba is a Prosecco specific project, and collaboration between AJWM and Will Gilbert. Prosecco fruit, simply fermented into both a Dry and Petillant style. Light, bright, varietal fizzy and tasty. Some things aren’t meant to be complicated, rather just make 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 others in this region, and pushes the boundaries of technique and style. The results are truly original wines that carry 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 (organic)
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. Whilst only being 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 void of systemic chemicals and zero additions in the winery aside a sprinkling of new oak and So2 at bottling, the wines are pure and textural, with striking personality.
Juxtaposed
BLEWITT SPRINGS
Juxtaposed is the juxtaposition of Dr Wes Perason's life. In his day job, Wes heads up sensory sciences at the Australian Wine Research Institute, an environment where all is and must be controlled.
In his ‘fun life’, Wes works with truly remarkable, ancient bush vine Grenache vineyards (the Smart & Wait vineyards) in the cooler reaches of McLaren Vale’s Blewitt Springs. A hands-off approach allows fruit of immense concentration and purity to shine.
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 once the vines were fully ready.
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 & CANBERRA DISTRICT
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 Canberra and Tumbarumba.
Sam trained as a winemaker early in his career and still values these unique climates for their merits, particularly with Chardonnay and Syrah.
FIGHTING Gulley Road
BEECHWORTH
Mark Walpole (former GT Wine Viticulturist of the year) is an out and out Italo-file and responsible for much of the Italian vine material in the country through his tenure at Brown Brothers in the 90s, managing their famous nursery program. Mark’s responsible 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 boats an impressive mix of both varietal and clonal sections (some 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 & 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 afoot.
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 drops.
TILLIE J WINES
YARRA VALLEY
After four 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.
Tiny quantities of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from various sites in the cool upper reaches of the Yarra, made from vineyards tended by Tillie herself, make for expressive, pure and modern interpretations of these regional champions. When not working her own sites, Tillie works as a viticulturist at local heroes, Giant Steps.
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.
The duo 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 530m ASL, 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 tradtional 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.
