“It may have changed, but a winemaking degree is an absolute waste of time,” says Patrick Sullivan, “if you want to make wine, you’ve got to study viticulture.” Patrick Sullivan is a young Yarra Valley winegrower, and self-confessed producer groupie, who used to work in an abattoir after finishing high school. He moved to London … Continue reading Soul Juice – Patrick Sullivan Wine, Yarra Valley
Coming back bigger and better is a term usually reserved for rubbish sequels of big blockbuster films, and a bit of a cliché these days, but this is fact, not fiction, and Rootstock 2014 was bigger, and we were all excited to see just how much better it was going to be. Expanded over two … Continue reading The Rise of the Counter Culture – Rootstock 2014
– GO TO ROOTSTOCK! – Just about every Australian and New Zealand winegrower I’ve written about, here on The Wine Idealist, will be at this weekends festival. Taste their natural, organic and biodynamic wines and meet them all in person, along with an entire two days jam packed with international winegrowers, artisan food, beer and … Continue reading Go! to Rootstock, Sydney – 2014
Standing on the front porch of his home, the Settler gazed out in to the dark, breathing in the evening’s cool air. Sipping on his hot tea, he listens to cicadas as they cut through the night time silence in broad stereo sweeps. A soft breeze moves through the trees, lifting momentarily, stirring the cicadas … Continue reading Interrupted By A Thousand Candles – Yarra Valley, Victoria
Bloody good, if you ask me. In 2013 I had the distinct privilege of speaking to so many passionate winegrowers and makers throughout Australia (and New Zealand) all because I wanted to find out if more bottles like Castagna’s Genesis Syrah existed across this wide brown land. What I found was not only are there … Continue reading Happy 2014! – How Good is the Aussie Wine Scene?
Three scientists walk into a bar. A neuroscientist, a biochemist, and a cardiovascular physician. They order a bottle of red Burgundy, and after a few hours “spent solving the worlds problems”, and being enamored with the red juice inside, they decide to plant a vineyard, run it biodynamically, and make wine from it… haha! Having … Continue reading The Science of Winemaking – Lethbridge Wines, Geelong.
“Our universities teach us to make sound wine, rather than great wine,” says Julian Castagna, owner and winegrower at Castagna wines in Beechworth Victoria. “They (the universities) don’t want us to make mistakes,” he continues, “but the reality is, you have to make mistakes. You have to push the envelope to make anything that’s great…” … Continue reading This Is Australia… Castagna – Beechworth
May, 2012. Having quit my job at the BBC, and swapping it for a full time gig in a wine bar just down the road, I was asked by, my boss, to attend the first ever Real Wine Fair, in London. I was to attend, as a representative of the west London bar, Albertine, and report back, … Continue reading An Origin Story… Genesis – The Wine Idealist Is One Year Old
Driving along a rough dirt road, up towards the cusp of the Great Dividing Range, clouds streak and roll over lush green hills, casting some parts in shadow, making the silver rock boulders shimmer and shift colour from black to grey to comic book blue, and back again. It has rained recently, and all the … Continue reading Executing Organic Aspirations – Cobaw Ridge, Victoria
The rain is incessant, from Sydney all the way south, past the the New South Wales/Victorian border. After 8 hours of driving, the tedium that is the Hume Highway, coupled with the drizzly conditions outside, it’s a welcome sight when we arrive in Beechworth, as lush green hills slope and roll underneath giant granitic boulders, … Continue reading Simple Tools, Elegant Complexity – Sorrenberg Wines
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