The Wine Idealist was started just over two years ago with the aim to learn, explore, narrate and be an advocate for natural, organic and biodynamic wines from Australia and New Zealand… Since November 2012, thewineidealist.com has slowly been changing into more than just a blog. Through interviews with many high profile winegrowers and … Continue reading A BRAND /NEW/ WEBSITE and MORE FROM THE WINE IDEALIST!
A great wine is nothing without a great vineyard, a vigilant viticulturist and a careful winemaker. Sometimes throughout history, some people have been blessed to be all three, but in the new world, this is rare. In most cases it takes a great team to make a great wine. “We all work together really well … Continue reading ‘No ‘I’ in Team’ – Domaine Rewa, Central Otago, New Zealand
What used to be a thriving town during the prosperous days of the early 19th century, Sutton Grange has now been reduced to a population of around 150 people, after a typically devastating Australian bushfire ravaged the town, burning down most of the area’s established civic buildings and homes, and leaving behind nothing but scorched earth on the land … Continue reading ‘A Little Island of Granite’ – Sutton Grange, Victoria
“There’s nothing sadder than having great fruit that you’ve toiled over for almost a year, pruning and shoot thinning and growing it to get it to perfection, and then something goes wrong in the winery and you have to throw all that fruit away,” says vigneron Lance Redgwell from Cambridge Road, in Martinborough. Thankfully, that hasn’t … Continue reading Raw Materials – Cambridge Road, Martinborough.
Arriving in Central Otago in 1857, the landscape would have been just as spectacular as it is today, but with an added layer of foreboding and isolation. Apart from any number of native Māori tribes, no one had yet fully explored the area and mapped or recorded its existence. Experienced surveyor, John Turnbull Thomson, who’d gained experience … Continue reading In Conversion – Surveyor Thomson, Central Otago, New Zealand
“Everyone has heard of the Garden of Eden,” says John Nagorcka, winegrower and farmer from Hochkirch Wines in Victoria, “but, you haven’t heard of the Garden of Monsanto, or DuPont.” John comes from a farming family, but moved away from the land to study radiology at university in Melbourne. He worked in the field for … Continue reading ‘Nature’s Farmer’ – Hochkirch Wine, Victoria
I bought a wall planner on Friday the 3rd of January, took it home and laid it out flat, on the living room floor. I started looking at dates over 6 months away which I thought would be suitable to host a wine event, which I’d created and co-organised last year called, “What’s In Your … Continue reading Cheers Newcastle! – What’s In Your Glass? 2014
Six bottles of perfectly good wine have been sitting at the bottom of the ocean at a depth of about 8 metres, in order to find out what happens when you submerge wine under water and age it for three months. Will the increased pressure cause the bottles to explode? If not, will they make it … Continue reading What’s In Your Glass? Salty Wine? – Newcastle, NSW
Enthusiasm is one of those emotions usually reserved for children and young people, as they set out on their adventurous life journey. Poised with limitless possibilities and potential, bound up with excitement and energy that promises to take them as far as they dare to dream. As the years roll on, however, time has a … Continue reading ‘The Young Turks’ – The Future of Australian Winegrowing
“If you really want to push the boundaries and express what you say you’re trying to express, ie. ‘that wine comes from that vineyard’, then you can’t be using chemicals,” says Duncan Forsyth, “otherwise… give me a break.” Duncan Forsyth is part ‘recalcitrant, insubordinate, revolutionist, and mischievous’ owner, winemaker and General Manager of Mount Edward, a wine … Continue reading ‘Secrets of the Subsoil’ – Mount Edward, Central Otago, N.Z.
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