Appellation Wines

In Melbourne, the seasons blur into one another. Year after year, the same rhythms, the same routines. It wasn't until I started farming — really farming, hands in the soil, eyes on the sky — that I understood what a season actually means. No two vintages are the same. No two years unfold the same way. A winemaker may never be bored.

My heart skips a beat every January as the vintage ahead begins to reveal itself. The anticipation of what's coming, and the slight apprehension of the unknown — that particular mix of excitement and uncertainty is one of the things I love most about this life.

My Appellation Wines live in that space.

Each year, opportunities arise to work with parcels of fruit from across Central and Western Victoria — fruit that arrives with the natural ebb and flow of each season, from growers I admire and vineyards I'm still getting to know. These wines are my chance to follow my curiosity: different varieties, different regions, different techniques. Sometimes that means picking early for a sparkling — one of my favourite styles. Sometimes it means working with a variety or a grower entirely new to me. The wines that result speak of Place, People and Play, and they wear that lightly.

Lately, I've been working with terracotta amphorae — ancient vessels that sit closer to inert than oak, carrying a freshness through the wine that I find quietly thrilling. It's the kind of discovery that the Appellation range makes possible, and more often than not, what I learn here finds its way back into my Core Wines too. Everything feeds everything.

If my Core Wines are the ones you return to year after year like old friends, I hope my Appellation Wines are the ones that surprise you — that take you somewhere unexpected, open a door you didn't know was there, and leave you genuinely curious about what comes next.
That's the invitation. I hope you'll take it.