Savaterre
The owner and winemaker of Savaterre, Keppell Smith, set up shop in 1996, spitting distance across the road from famed Beechworth producer Giaconda. “All I want is a wine with personality”, he said.
Cool climate Australia – tasting notes from around Melbourne.
When Wine Australia held a tasting in London during November of wines from Victoria that are available in the UK, I focused on pinot noir and chardonnay to explore cool climate expressions.
Castagna
Ex-film director Julian Castagna bought his vineyard land in Beechworth, Victoria, in 1997, planting shiraz, sangiovese and viognier, with nebbiolo following in 2001.
Plunkett-Fowles
Plunkett-Fowles arose as a merger of two family wine businesses in 2005, both located in the rather rugged, granitic region of Strathbogie Ranges, remote even though it is only around 130km north of Melbourne. The business is run by chief winemaker Sam Plunkett, and CEO Matt Fowles.
Pizzini Wines
The King Valley in Australia’s Victoria attracted several migrant families from Italy, who later moved into the winemaking traditional to their homeland. The Pizzini family were one of those pioneers of grape growing and winemaking, and they are renowned for growing several Italian grape varieties.
Ten minutes with … Tom Carson
Tom Carson is pushing the envelope when it comes to making pinot noir in Australia, and is a strong advocate of wines of place.
Elgo Estate
Strathbogie Ranges is a wine growing region to watch, not least due to a mere handful of pioneering producers. Elgo Estate, owned by Grant and Suzanne Taresch is one such property on an upward trajectory.
The next steps for Aussie pinot noir and chardonnay
On a visit to London earlier this month, Tom Carson, the winemaker at Yabby Lake in Australia’s Mornington Peninsula, hosted a tasting of Aussie chardonnay and pinot noir from some of the regions around Melbourne where these varieties are doing particularly well: Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula and Geelong.
Helm Wines
Helm Wines, in the Canberra District, produces the tastiest Australian rieslings that I’ve come across.
The coolness of Australian wine
No-one seriously disputes that Tasmania is properly cool climate, but a slightly more confusing picture is emerging on the mainland. And with ‘cool climate’ wines being cool, trendy and of different flavour profile than ‘warm climate’, it’s too easy to let the moniker roll off the tongue without paying due regard to proper climatic data.
