Wineries

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Special wineries 2011

The principal requirement for inclusion in this group was a first-time five-star rating. This year outposts such as Queensland's Granite Belt and New South Wales' Southern Highlands and Hilltops stand shoulder to shoulder with the Hunter and Barossa valleys, Rutherglen, Langhorne Creek and the Mornington Peninsula.

• Centinnial Vineyards

  
  The Southern Highlands is centred around the towns of Moss Vale (where I spent my childhood during the Second World War), Bowral and Mittagong. It is a beautiful region, and Centennial Vineyards is one of its showpieces. The climate is unpredictable, so Centennial does not hesitate to source grapes from Orange. Winemaker Tony Cosgriff is especially talented, providing high-quality, cool-climate wines with a common core of finesse and elegance. Another feature is value for money.

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• Chateau Francois

  
  The annual production of this off-the-beaten track winery is very small, but Don Francois sells limited quantities of several back-vintages of beautiful estate-grown Semillon at ludicrously low prices. A few days before writing this I had a glorious bottle of the 2003 Semillon ($14) that was unbelievably fresh and long. Forty-year-old vines are part of the package, as is Don's skill making the wine for almost as long.

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• Chateau Tanunda

  
  Owner John Geber (a former South African) is every bit as much a cricket tragic as a wine tragic, weaving the strands together in tireless promotion, first with Cowra Estate but since 1998 with the historic Chateau Tanunda winery. He was among the early movers in understanding the benefits of making single-vineyard Shirazs that reflected the 'Terroirs of the Barossa Valley' (adopting that phrase as an integral part of the branding process), and producing a series of exceptional wines from the '08 vintage.

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• David Franz

  
  David Franz is one of Margaret and Peter Lehmann's sons. He has dabbled with tertiary courses in graphic design, architecture and hospitality business  management before backpacking with wife Nicki in various parts of the world. Impending fatherhood forced him back to Australia and, almost incidentally, into small-scale winemaking. The genes are strong, it seems, for the wines are excellent.

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• Drayton's Family Wines

  
  The death of quietly spoken Trevor Drayton in 2007 caused by an explosion at the winery was a horrific event, following as it did the deaths of Reg and Pam Drayton in the 1994 Seaview air disaster and the '79 death of Barrie Drayton, overcome by chlorine fumes at his winery. Winemaker William (Will) Rikard-Bell was working with Trevor at the time, and suffered terrible burns that very nearly took his life. However, in '09 he was married, and made the brilliant gold-medal and trophy-winning Reserve Chardonnay instrumental in the winery's five-star rating.

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• Grove Estate Wines

  
  I have visited the Grove Estate vineyard on a number of occasions in the last 20 years, and have always been impressed by every aspect of the site. The founding partners' intention was to simply sell the grapes from the 55 ha of vines (10 varieties, including four Italian), but in 1997 they decided to hold back some grapes for Grove Estate Wines. The quality has always been very good, but it has been the Nebbiolos made in '06, '07 and '08 that have propelled Grove Estate into the front line, none more so that the gold-medal and trophy-winning '07 Sommita Nebbiolo.

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• Lake Breeze Wines

  
  Successive generations of the Follett family have lived at Langhorne Creek since 1880. Up to the 1930s, they were broad-acre farmers; they then diversified by establishing vineyards and selling the grapes until '87 (a time of grape surplus), when they decided to have part of the grape production vinified. The wines have always been good, especially at the modest prices most are sold for. A high percentage of the portfolio are medium-bodied, supple and elegant red wines attesting to the quite cool, maritime-moderated climate.
  

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• Ocean Eight Vineyard & Winery

  
  This is the second venture of the Aylward family (Chris, Gail and son Michael) who established Kooyong in 1996, and quickly gained a high reputation for the wines made for them by Sandro Mosele. In 2003 they sold Kooyong to Giorgio and Dianne Gjergja, retaining a 3.6-ha planting of pinot gris at Shoreham, where the winery is situated. They also purchased land at Tuerong, planting 7 ha of pinot noir and 3 ha of chardonnay, providing high-quality grapes, pinot noir to the fore.

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• Summit Estate

  
  Owned by a syndicate of 10 professionals who live and work in Brisbane, this is another face of the thriving Granite Belt region. With the talented Paola Cabezas Rhymer as winemaker, you find the QC Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Petit Verdot Malbec and the Alto Spanish Collection Monastell Garnacha Shyra Tempranillo Cabernet Tannat (both from 2008) as flagships, the labels not only suggesting a food match but providing detailed recipes. Wine education courses, contract winemaking and wines from other wineries being sold make this a must-visit destination.

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• Taminick Cellars

  
  The address of 339 Booth Road, Taminick via Glenrowan puts you on notice: James Booth may have obtained his wine science degree from Charles Sturt University as recently as 2008, but his great grandfather Esca Booth established Taminick Cellars in 1904, and planted 9 ha of shiraz (and other varieties) in '19. This blend of old and new is a potent one, with a fresh and lively '08 barrel-fermented Chardonnay ($12), an '08 co-fermented Shiraz and Trebbiano ($18) called Ianus, an alternative spelling of Janus, representing the new, fortified wines the old.
  

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