Stuart Dudine created Alkimi Wines out of a quest to sculpt wine by choosing parcels of grapes which reflect his winemaking philosophy. In his words; 'To find vineyard parcels that perform exceptionally well where their roots lay, year in and year out. No matter the season, wet or dry, cool or warm.'
His love and passion of the Rhône sprung from his time working and extensively travelling in the Rhône Valley, where he experienced for the first hand the Rhône varieties and qualities of Marsanne, Roussanne, Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre. Stuart has also worked in both Victoria and South Australia which has helped him form a firm understanding of these varieties in Australia.
Stuart focus' his attention on Yarra Valley, yet he sources fruit far and wide in Victoria to ensure the best growing conditions for the specific varieties. He believes that the Yarra Valley has a great potential for the Rhône Valley varieties.
I am a winemaker and viticulturist from the Yarra Valley, crafting small batches of wine from the region's diverse sites. I also produce some cool climate shiraz from the Grampians. My winemaking, and my life, is inspired by the rhythms of nature and music.
Bird on a Wire Wines is a small wine producer in the Yarra Valley , Victoria, Australia. The focus is directed towards the quality of the single vineyard sites, selected for their suitability to each variety. Small production volumes and the winemaking techniques employed aim to showcase these vineyards. The care, skill and commitment of the growers results in the production of outstanding fruit and are paramount factors in helping Bird On A Wire achieve the end result.
[This winery may no longer be operating.] Chuan Wines are made with traditional values and ideas, backed up with scientific principles and checks where necessary. The aim overall is to simply have the 8 ideals of Elegance, Persistence, Poise, Complexity, Harmony, Clarity, Restraint and Honesty in mind, to be as pure and non-interventionalist as possible, and of course, to have fun.
Coombe Farm is part of Melbourne’s heritage, located on the original St Huberts vineyard in Coldstream, planted by Hubert de Castella in the mid-1800s. The property was purchased in the late 1880s by David Mitchell and was a fully operational vineyard and winery under his supervision. He was the stonemason responsible for some of Melbourne’s most renowned buildings, such as the Royal Exhibition Buildings in Carlton and Scots Church in Collins Street. David Mitchell was also the father of the world-renowned Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba, who built her retreat on the property in 1909 and named it Coombe Cottage, after a house she resided in while performing in Covent Garden. Coombe is still owned and operated by Melba's descendants, the Vestey family. Just 5km south of the 120-acre Coombe Farm vineyard is the Melba Estate. A unique gourmet and cultural destination. Situated among seven acres of stunning gardens, visitors are treated to a world-class dining experience featuring award-winning Coombe Farm wines, against a historic, picturesque backdrop. It is the perfect location for a wine-tasting, private event or wedding, a tour of the garden and gallery or simply an outstanding meal in the a la carte restaurant.
Our vineyard, located in the Yarra Valley, is on a fabulous site with great aspect for grapes and with wonderful views of the whole valley. View Hill is an isolated hill in the middle of the Yarra Valley on the north side of the Yarra River. It exists because it is a granite ‘plug’ from the late Devonian Age [370 million years ago], sitting above the surrounding softer sandstones and siltstones of the Valley.
We have been growing grapes here since 1996 and making small quantities of wine for nine years. From 2004 – 2008 we experimented with wine styles / alcohol levels etc (with all the vineyard variations of pruning methodologies – shoot and bunch thinning, leaf to bunch ratios, leaf plucking etc, etc) to arrive at the optimum grape outcomes from the vineyard to give our winemakers the best material to work with.
Dixons Creek Estate, formerly known as Graeme Miller's Dixons Creek Estate, is situated at Dixons Creek in the Yarra Valley and is a producer of fine Yarra Valley wines.
Since our foundation in 1986, we have carried parts of our French winemaking heritage into unique territory, crafting our own style of high quality méthode traditionnelle sparkling with a distinctive Australian signature. In the 1950s, Moët & Chandon designated an oenologist who would travel the world to find the best terroirs to make premium sparkling wines. This desire to share the magic of Moët & Chandon Champagne with the rest of the world saw the establishment of Chandon Argentina in 1959 and both Chandon Brazil and Chandon California in 1973. Moët & Chandon also saw the opportunity to produce exceptional sparkling wine in Australia and engaged Australian wine experts to find an ideal site for growing the traditional cool climate Champagne grape varieties of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. In the heart of the historic Yarra Valley grape growing district, a site with the perfect combination of cool climate and rich soil was found. Named “Green Point,” this has been the home of Domaine Chandon since 1986. A visit to our Yarra Valley winemaking home is a truly unique wine tourism experience where enthusiastic and knowledgeable wine hosts build understanding of the wonder of winemaking. For those who are food fanatics, a sophisticated and relaxed meal can be enjoyed in the Restaurant, matched by incomparable views of the glorious Yarra Valley.
A collaboration between the Yarra Valley’s Mac Forbes and leading sommelier Matt Dunne (2011 Sydney Morning Herald’s’ Sommelier of the Year) born from a shared belief in creating thought-provoking wines of individual character and expression.
Drake Samson turns Mac’s normal individual vineyard philosophy on its head, blending the best from specific vineyards to create a style perfect for modern Australian cuisine.
The Five Oaks winery and vineyard is only 50 kilometres north-east of the centre of Melbourne. It is located among the lush, rolling hills on the southern side of the Yarra Valley. The vineyard slopes gently westward, overlooking cherry and stone fruit orchards, with Mt Dandenong in the background.
The three-hectare vineyard was established in 1978 and, over the years, wines produced from the vineyard have won many awards.
Judy and Wally Zuk bought the vineyard and winery in 1995 and renamed it Five Oaks, after the five magnificent oak trees that grace the property.
Our Five Oaks wines have continued the award-winning tradition.
Young winemaker Dave Fletcher, uses his 13 years' experience and over 14 vintages in places including Italy, France, Northern America, Kazakhstan and of course Australia, to produce wines that are truly full of personality. With his travels, he has been able to capture the 'Old World' and 'New World' techniques and blur the lines between them to define his own wine production style, but what really separates him from the rest, is his focus on the single Italian grape variety, Nebbiolo. He is currently producing 4 Nebbioli, each from single vineyards, located in different regions and not solely from Australia but from Italy's Piemonte as well.
Giant Steps wines are a distinct expression of special, individual sub-regional vineyards, focusing exclusively on single vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir sites throughout the Yarra Valley.
Naturally produced wines made without compromise with the objective of each wine being a faithful expression of site and vintage.
Hillcrest is located in the heart of Melbourne's picturesque Yarra Valley, one of Australia's oldest wine regions. Planted in 1970, it was one of the pioneers in the re-establishment of the Valley, and it is this vineyard which provides the old-vine resource from which the rare Reserve, Premium and Estate wines are made.
We are a family run boutique Vineyard located in the heart of
Victoria’s first wine growing region, the Yarra Valley.
Hirsch Hill was founded by Brother’s Jack and Eddie in 1998.
They had a dream to cultivate their own award winning boutique wines.
Since the beginning, we have always been eager to embrace,
adapt and explore new innovative practices to ensure our wine consistently improves.
We produce high-quality wines that have 100% estate grown and hand harvested fruit, offering a unique taste from the northern end of the Yarra Valley region In 2012, we began working with one of Australia’s best winemakers, Rob Dolan. Rob’s knowledge and expertise on Yarra Valley wine’s is a huge reason as to why our wine has
been so consistently successful.
Today, the second generation of the Hirsch Family operates Hirsch Hill Estate, as we aim to improve each vintage from the last.
Gary Mills is the visionary, brains and hands behind Jamsheed. Originally born in Western Australia, Gary completed a Bachelor of Literature, before moving to Japan to study and work as an English teacher. Upon returning to Australia he had an epiphany during a brief stint as a Japanese speaking tour guide in Queensland, and began work in the vineyards of Margaret River.
His passion took him to the States for what started as a five week harvest intern at Ridge Vineyards in Santa Cruz and turned into a 2 year full time position under the tutelage of winemaker Paul Draper. From there Gary worked his way around California a bit and continued his journey to Oregon only to eventually head back home to Oz.
Jamsheed represents the past and future of creative wines from down under. These wines break the mold of conventional philosophy toward Aussie wines. Not because he is doing something abnormal, rather the opposite. Gary views terroir as the sole focus of his wines and the expression is the goal. This is certainly not a 'new' concept. Moreover, Gary strives for flavor, precision and balance in his wines...again, nothing new here.
Damian’s long held dream to start his own wine business has seen the Journey come full circle with his return to the Yarra Valley and the creation of Journey Wines. Damian sources the fruit for Journey Wines from a number of exceptional vineyard sites in the Yarra Valley, and makes the wines in the beautiful new winery at Medhurst Wines.
Levantine Hill Estate wines will only be produced in outstanding years when nature is generous and the grapes are impeccable.
Starting along the shores of the Yarra River at 75 metres and peaking at 225 metres above sea level, Levantine Hill Estate’s vines fan out over steep clay loam slopes at similar elevations to the Grand Crus vineyards of Chablis, France.
A vineyard of note in the Upper Yarra Valley, now making small batches of wine with Franco D'Anna. Our approach begins with sustainable practices in the vineyard and no tricks or fancy stuff in the winery - straight from vine to bottle with minimal intervention. The wines truly express what goes on in the vineyard, season to season.
Varietals include Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc.
Mandala has been a dream in our family for generations. We always wanted a place to grow grapes, make wine and share it with our friends and family. So it was a dream come true when we planted our first ten acres of Pinot Noir ‘rootlings’ in Yarra Junction in 1999. Things were going well and we were ready to expand. But it’s Nanna who sent the dream to mum one fateful night; She saw the rolling hills, the dams, the vines and a place to sit at the end of the day taking in the endless view. One year later in 2006 the time was right and the dream became a reality. We moved into Dixons Creek and together with the Yarra Junction vineyard Mandala was born.
We are a small producer of hand crafted, single vineyard wines.
We believe that wines are made in the vineyard and therefore try to interfere as little as possible.
The red wines are unfined and unfiltered to show the true expression of the land.
Mount Mary grows and produces premium single estate wines in limited quantities, under three labels: Mount Mary Vineyard, Marli Russell, and Reflexion.
Right back in our humble beginnings, we recognized the potential for making great wine on the rich, diverse soils of the Yarra Valley. Today, the wines produced from our premier vineyards capture the dynamic spirit of the Yarra Valley. Our winemakers use traditional methods, expert hands and meticulous care, to craft award-winning wines that emanate freshness, balance and length with every sip.
Based in the Yarra Valley, Out of Step Wine Co. produces small quantities of premium wines from vineyards selected for their ability to yield grapes of outstanding quality.
In the winery we employ minimal intervention winemaking.
We believe that this approach allows the wines to be truly expressive of the variety, vineyard, season and combination thereof.
Paynes Rise Wines in the Upper Yarra Valley is a boutique winery specialising in small batch wines produced from carefully selected fruit from their vineyard in Seville, Victoria.
Paynes Rise vineyard is incorporated into the 1860's homestead and property of Seville's first settler, Thomas Payne. The cellar door gives visitors the opportunity to wander through the original house and outbuildings.
Rob Dolan has been a Yarra Valley winemaker for over 20 years and is recognized as one of the great characters of the wine industry. Rob has an outstanding winemaking record and has played a pivotal role in the evolution of the Yarra Valley.
His first experience in the Yarra Valley was as senior winemaker at Yarra Ridge winery, one of the success stories of the 90’s being the benchmark chardonnay and pinot noir of their time.
Dave Mackintosh is a kiwi, born and raised in Napier, Hawkes Bay. He is known around the traps as "Dave Bro" (no relation to Alan Brough from Spicks and Specks). Dave Bro is very clever with a paint brush and spray can and his art works hang in some of Australia and New Zealand's finest lounge rooms. He is sporting mad and has been known to support The Warriors, Hawthorn, The Tall Blacks and Melbourne Victory but his true passion is for The All Blacks. He has his own wine label Arfion, was nominated for Young Gun Winemaker of the year and has achieved the rare winemaker feat of producing a son on only the second attempt. Kudos.
Steve Flamsteed is an Ozzie born and raised in Toowoomba, Queensland which may explain his penchant for rum & coke and rugby union. He is a generous man who consistently donates a six pack of beer to Dave whenever the Wallabies play the All Blacks. He works at Innocent Bystander, drinks a lot of coffee, plays drums rarely and cooks a mean cassoulet. His biggest regret in life is his failure to pass the entrance exam to a French clown school.
Together the Kiwi and the Ozzie maketh SALO
Adrian Santolin grew up in Griffith, NSW and has worked in the wine industry since he was 15. He moved to the Yarra Valley in ’07 with wife Rebecca, who has worked in marketing roles at various wineries since ’00. Adrian's love of pinot noir led him to work at wineries such as Wedgetail Estate, Rochford, De Bortoli, Sticks and Rob Dolan Wines. In 2012 he was able to buy 2 tonnes of pinot noir from the Thousand Candles Vineyard, and began producing his own wine. In 2013 his range expanded to include a chardonnay, with the fruit souced from Yarraland vineyard at Chirnside Park.
Adrian's winemaking style is focused on minimal intervention and his wines are a fusion of old world technique with a new world twist. Fermented using natural yeats and kept for up to 12 months in a selection of French oak barrels, his small batch, handcrafted wines are all made from select single vineyard sites within the Yarra Valley.
Distributed by www.santolinwines.com.au
It is known that ‘great wine is made in the vineyard’ and we set out to select an exact location that delivered every advantage of a cool climate, undulating topography and ancient soils. We then wanted to bring some focus to our endeavour. After being resident overseas for many years, we found the elegance & honesty of Northern Italian wines and food is what inspires us.
So we found our hidden gem, located down a county lane in the dress circle Warramate foothills of the Yarra Valley. It is from here we set out to make wine with the charm of the Piedmonte region of Italy but the provenance of the majestic Yarra Valley.
In 1996, Mike Fitzpatrick found his ideal site - a vineyard planted in 1982 just around the corner from Coldstream Hills and Yarra Yering. At first, Mike sold the fruit to renowned local wineries. Then in 2004, while running his Melbourne based finance company Squitchy Lane Holdings, Mike assembled a team of wine industry professionals to grow, make and market a range of wines from Squitchy Lane.
It was Hubert de Castella that founded St Huberts in 1862. He came to the colony of Victoria in 1854 at the invitation of his younger brother Paul, (who had bought Yering Station) and had been there since 1849. Hubert and Paul were some of the many Swiss settlers that were attracted to the colony, thanks to Governor Latrobe and his wife Sophie.
By 1876 St Huberts vineyard was over 200 acres with 70 acres of Hermitage, 20 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and 10 acres of Marsanne.
Of the original St Huberts property the only trace of the cellars is a hole in the ground, however a brick section of the stables are still standing and the stables have been transformed into a reception venue.
There are currently 21 hectares (52 acres) under vine.
Steels Gate was established in 2009. Based in Steels Creek Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia, the vineyard hosts non irrigated 25-30 year old vines. The vines are cared for by hand and the grapes carefully hand picked at the perfect harvest time.
We have extensive vineyards in the renowned Heathcote and Yarra Valley regions in Victoria, Australia, and our state-of-the-art winery enables us to fashion our wines with respect to terroir and tradition.
Tarrahill is a boutique winery in the Yarra Valley.
Our philosophy is simple: grow quality fruit and make premium wines with minimal intervention.
In the vineyard we apply biodynamic principles to have healthy soils and healthy vines. Sheep graze the vineyard when the vines are bare.
In the winery we take care to make sound wines without additives or complicated processing. We try to make wines which retain the intensity and flavour of our grapes and which will continue to drink well for many years. Our wines are vegan friendly.
Tarrahill is family-owned and makes all its wine from the grapes grown at its single vineyard.
Tibooburra Vineyard, which is located at Yellingbo in the Upper Yarra, was established in 1996 on north and north-westerly slopes next door to the original site of Chateau d'Yves, a vineyard which thrived in the district in the 1890s and into the early 1900s.
Wine from Chateau d'Yves used to be transported by horse and cart past Tibooburra's back gates. It was the passion of Belgian bacteriologist and chemist Auguste de Bavay, a contemporary of Louis Pasteur. De Bavay revolutionalised the yeast cultures and fermentation techniques of the Foster Brewing Company in Melbourne.
Chateau d'Yves is long gone now but Tibooburra's plantings comprise: Pinot Noir 9 hectares; Chardonnay 9 hectares; Sauvignon Blanc 6 hectares and Shiraz 7 hectares.
When Leon and Rita Tokar purchased the property of Tokar Estate in June 1995, the land was covered in thistles, tussock grass and snakes. The plan was initially to produce grapes for their own consumption only – “to play at making wine ourselves, for ourselves”.
However, the fabulous positioning of the site coupled with the extremely fertile soils made it an ideal location to undertake a modest planting of Pinot Noir. With that, Leon Tokar’s vision was born and in 1996 the Vineyard itself was establishedin the Yarra Valley, with 30 acres under vines and producing premium fruit by 1998.
Yileena Park is a family owned Cellar Door, Winery and Vineyard located in the beautiful Yarra Valley just one hour drive north east of Melbourne.
The vinyard was established in 1998 and comprises 5 acres of Pinot Noir, 5 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and 2.5 acres of Merlot. It is situated on a north facing slope at the base of the Christmas Hills which keep it cool and protected. And the grey loam soil surfaced over a rock studded clay base make it ideal for growing premium wine grapes. The vineyard is pruned to produce between 1-2 tones of fruit per acre which allows the vines the opportunity to completely ripen the fruit. Our watering system is an American Sub-surface drip irrigation type, which delivers the water and organic liquid fertilizer directly to the vine’s roots. It allows for excellent control over our watering which we judiciously monitor.