After Coldstream Hills was acquired by Southcorp Wines in 1996, I attended the London Wine Trade Fair and managed (solo) a small table which offered the new-release wines of Coldstream Hills and Wynns Coonawarra Estate. Lunch was out of the...

MMAD Vineyard is the venture of four men, two of whom are Masters of Wine, and two are highly regarded winemakers with many years of fine wine experience. The name is derived from the first letter of the Christian name of each: Martin Shaw, Michael...

In 1982 nurseryman turned vigneron Garry Crittenden planted two hectares of vines, and in so doing doubled the size of overall plantings on the Mornington Peninsula. It has been suggested he also introduced barbera, nebbiolo, dolcetto and...

Delamere Between fly fishing for trout and wine tasting in the Tasmanian Wine Show and cellar doors over a 50-year span, I've come to know Tasmania pretty well. Were it not for the intrusion of a corporate law practice I fancy I might have spent...

With the wisdom of hindsight, Seppelt's decision to establish a vineyard in Henty in 1965 is fact bordering on fiction. According to Dr John Gladstones it is the coolest region in Australia, the Tasmanian East Coast next coolest. It is a region...

When starting a new winery from the ground up a key decision is whether it should include its own vineyard or rely on contract-grown grapes. Similar decisions include part own-vineyard, part contract-grown, or whether to postpone a final choice for...

Warren Randall, owner of Seppeltsfield, must have some of the Seppelt family DNA in his blood. Joseph Seppelt was only 20 when he inherited the family's cigar and liquor business in Silesia, and with wife Johanna, three children and 13 neighbouring...

The present Holm Oak property in Tasmania's Tamar Valley gained its name from a planting of oak trees in the 1930s, intended to provide oak for tennis racquets. It came to nothing, and 50 years later 2ha of cabernet sauvignon and 0.4ha of pinot...

Talk about the odd couple. I cannot imagine how it would be possible to come up with two varieties as radically different as Hunter Valley semillon and Central Otago pinot noir. They are grown and made in two countries thousands of kilometres apart...

The annual challenge and the opportunity that confronts most winemakers worth the name explains why each accepts the gruelling vintage hours, and the inadequate pay. The challenge is to make greater wines than ever before, and if the growing season...