Australia
Australia is very dear to my heart. My most important vintage was working in the Yarra Valley, my wife (to be) is from Australia and I spent two of my most treasured years in the country. It is such a diverse country when it comes to wine (even if global markets don’t always realise). Producers move so quickly to change with the times & trends. I got to drink many historic wines: Hunter valley Burgundy (made with early pick shiraz) from the 80’s, Yarra Valley Claret (12.2% alc, fully ripe, and still alive) from the 90’s & Clare Malbec from the early 2000’s. What I came to realise is there is such a rich history of vineyard plantings at modest levels of renown. I wish people understood its value doesn’t lie in its cheap bulk wine market but the farmers who first planted Malbec in Clare, or planted Semillon in Barossa or Cabernet in the Yarra. These are all sadly now not known, popular or represented, this makes me sad. The producers we have found represent viticultural history, make delicious wines & represent their regions perfectly. Our aim with Australia is to work with custodians of the land, in the truest sense of the word. - Gus
Cirillo Wines (Vine Vale, Barossa, South Australia) Est. 1970
Ancient Grenache Vines at the Cirillo Estate
Marco comes from a long line of farmers & his wife is a Lehmann, no less. Historically the grapes from his property were sold to Italian migrants for homemade wine, then to people like Torbreck. The property is historical. The grenache was planted in 1848. The semillon (in Barossa it’s pronounced Sem-i-lon) in 1850, which is most likely the oldest surviving Madeira clone (Semillon) vineyard in the world. A true custodian of one of the world’s great vineyards.
I met Marco in 2016. I knew he had this historic vineyard and had drunk the wines on many an occasion in Australia. When we first met, I saw his old press from the 50’s and knew this was someone I wanted to represent. Italian to his core, nothing bought, always mended. That is the sort of attitude that will help preserve what is one of the world's historic vineyards. He also makes one of the countries most best value wines, his ‘Vincent’ grenache, named after his dad. A wine that speaks of who he is: a farmer who wants people to drink his wines every single day. - Gus
Bannockburn (Geelong, Victoria) Est. 1974
Bannockburn’s remarkable Chardonnay
The Hoopers were one of the first families to plant vines here post the phylloxera years & one of the few still in operation. If you didn’t know Geelong was the first region, originally, planted with grapes in Victoria in the 1840’s by the Swiss. The wines have always pivoted to Burgundy in style and in recent years this has been matched by even more work moving towards organic farming & improving viticulture. Their wines are prized possessions on the secondary market due to their ability to age well. I remember first trying a 1999 Shiraz that was clean, bags of aromatics, not overblown, soft and maturing with calming elegance, this was in 2016. B`nnockburn are personal to both Rich & I because of Gus Pollard - his mother is Sally Hooper), Gus was a popular person in the London wine trade, having worked at 10 cases for 3 years. The stars aligned this year when I got to taste the wines with him in Melbourne (and realised how frickin awesome they were). - Gus
Delatite (Mansfield, Victoria) Est. 1968
David Ritchie’s parents originally planted the property on the advice of Jim Irvine (the merlot master) in the 60’s. The cool climate of Mt. Buller was perfect for aromatic varieties & by 1982 they enlisted the help of the Late Dr. Tony Jordan & Brian Croser. Brian’s contributions to the viticultural community have been well written but not so much of Tony - he helped establish Chandon, later pioneering grape growing & winemaking in China. Converting the farming to biodynamics in 2005 their focus is still cool climate varieties & showcasing classic examples of wines from the Alpine Valleys. When I first met David, I realised we were completely on the same page. He is constantly trying to get them more ethical, whether that is farming or having a carbon neutral winery. He sees that battle as constantly evolving which really gave me so much hope for the future. The Alpine Valleys are not very well represented, even though they are so cool, so are perfect for crunchy and fresher wines. - Gus
“Here at Delatite we use Biodynamic practices in the vineyard and winery. We don’t use synthetic sprays in the vineyard, we utilise the traditional Bordeaux mix as a spray and Biodynamic preparations 500 and 501 to promote healthy disease-free growth. In the winery we don’t use any enzymes or fining agents in juice or wine and we only use the wild yeast that comes from our vineyard for fermentation.
All of our fruit is picked by hand. In the case of our white wines the fruit is whole bunch pressed to retain the very finest most pristine flavours from our vineyard and in the case of our red wines the fruit is crushed to open topped fermenters where it is hand plunged three times a day during fermentation before being pressed.”
Fleet (South Gippsland, Victoria) Est. 2016
Lisa & Justin have strong pedigree: Lisa was one of Melbourne’s best sommeliers & wine buyers & is still is a big regular on the wine judging circuit whilst Justin has worked for a who’s who of Victorian wineries, finishing at Mount Langhi. They are currently buying in fruit but have bought a plot of land in their region of Southern Gippsland for vines. They have been adept at sourcing some truly quality grapes from Victoria. I’ve known them for years. Lisa does sales for my dear friend Mac Forbes two days a week. She transformed the sales side of the business for him. Justin I met whilst he was doing hospitality in between harvests. They are true friends who I firmly believe are already making some truly exciting wines from bought in fruit. The sky is the limit and am so excited for Lisa who is starting to study viticulture. Southern Gippsland will no longer be looked down upon but, with their work, be considered a truly perfect place to grow lighter wines in the Southern Hemisphere. - Gus