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This is the story of Gembrook Hill.

All the context is in the story. It’s a long article, addressing perhaps my frustration with the shallowness of much so-called storytelling around wine.

This is just a second-generation estate in a wine region whose modern era only dates back 60-odd years.

And yet there is so much richness of consideration, camaraderie, aspiration and endeavour wrapped up in it.

Please let me know your thoughts on the piece and this format of delivering it.

In the meantime, thanks for tuning into Vininspo!—I look forward to bringing you most podcast episodes when I get back from a short break.

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This is the story of Vaughn Dell and Linda Morice, written towards the end of 2024. If you’d prefer to read it, you can do so here.

All the context is in the story. It’s dear to my heart; I hope you’ll listen.

Please leave a comment to share your thoughts on the piece and this format of delivery.

In the meantime, thanks for tuning into Vininspo!—I look forward to bringing you most podcast episodes when I get back from a short break.

Please check out edmerrison.substack.com to see the original version of this story and for other wine journalism.

I got to know David Lloyd when he was living on his beautiful Eldridge Estate in Red Hill, a few kilometres up the road from where I live on the Mornington Peninsula. A fellow journalist on a trade magazine I’d been freelancing for suggested I contact him because I was scouting around for some vineyard experience. David was a good bloke, excellent winemaker and could do with a hand, he said.

This all turned out to be true. The reason David could do with a hand, I discovered, was that his wife, Wendy, was in the advanced stages of a cancer that went on to kill her. He—they both, actually—welcomed me warmly, although I’m not sure I was a tremendous help.

In this conversation, we talk at length about the quarter-century he spent as custodian of Eldridge Estate. Nat and Rosalie White, founders of Main Ridge Estate, were among David’s closest friends right the way through, and to this day, so it’s no surprise they feature prominently here. Lindsay McCall of Paringa Estate in Red Hill is also mentioned. The book I quote from is The Essence of Dreams by Andrew Caillard MW, which gives a detailed history of this Victorian wine-growing region. You can read more about Stephen Hickinbotham there. Hugely respected and fondly remembered, this winemaker was hugely influential in the peninsula’s early days and died in an air crash in the mid-’80s.

The peninsula talk includes some technical stuff—unsurprising given David’s scientific leanings. The bacteria that brought them here are responsible for malolactic conversion (aka malolactic fermentation, malo or MLF). This is the process, common to pretty much all red wines and some (usually textural) whites, rosés and sparklings, where the harsher malic acid is softened and rounded out as it is converted to lactic acid. The process can occur naturally and lowers the wine’s overall acidity. That wasn’t it for microorganisms; we talked about yeasts, and Petaluma founder Brian Croser’s (now of Tapanappa) name popped up.

We also talk about clones. It’s important to say that we’re not talking about some Frankenstein-like modification. Clones are just variations within a grape variety that have come about through genetic mutation. As an ancient variety with large, scattered areas planted—and with growers who have captured, selected and propagated certain mutations—Pinot Noir has a lot of them, and they have very slightly different characteristics. These will affect how the vine adapts to its surroundings and how that shows up in the wine. It’s interesting, but not something to get hung up on. But you can watch this nerdy little video on MV6, the signature clone of the Mornington Peninsula. Oh, and the Pinot clone David mentions in Santa Rita Hills, California—Musigny is one of Burgundy’s top grand-cru vineyards for reds, and Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé is a great grower.

The Coonawarra crew are Doug Bowen, whose wife Joy passed away last year, and Brian "Prof" Lynn of Majella Wines. Peter Gago and his wife, Gail, also feature. Peter is chief winemaker at Penfolds and, therefore, the man behind Grange, Australia's most famous wine. I've never met him and have only witnessed a highly stylised version of him at a distance through the lens of the super-slick Penfolds PR machine. I was fascinated to hear more about him from an intimate friend. The Gamay section includes a nod to Barry Morey of Sorrenberg.

Lastly, we talk about David’s friend Michael Twelftree of Two Hands in the Barossa, with whom David collaborates for the Odd Couple wines. I drank the Coal River rendition with my wife that night; it was delicious. (For more on that region, and Pinot Noir in general, listen to Steve Flamsteed, consultant to modern-era Eldridge Estate, on episode 11.)

Kim Chalmers wears many hats, not least in a family business that serves as vine nursery, grape supplier and wine estate with vineyards in two separate geographical indications (GIs). She’s also wife to a winemaker and mother of two daughters, as well as serving on numerous committees. “History is made by those who turn up,” she says—and she turns up every time, full of enthusiasm.

Bruce and Jenni Chalmers are the green-fingered parents who started growing all kinds of things in New South Wales before hitting upon grapes when the wine industry was booming. The nursery has since moved from Euston, NSW, to Merbein, just outside Mildura in Victoria. This rural city at the junction of Australia's two longest rivers, the Murray and the Darling, is a character we discuss in this episode.

Kim works in the business alongside her Netherlands-born winemaker husband, Bart Van Olphen. That’s one dynamic double act; another is Kim and her sister Tennille. As well as the nursery in Merbein, the family owns a large, diversely planted vineyard in Colbinabbin, in the Heathcote GI in central Victoria. We don’t talk much about the vineyard, which is an east-facing sloped site comprised of the famous red Cambrian soils of the area. The lower vineyard is deep, red clay-loam, while the higher vineyard is complex rocky terrain of ironstone, dolerite, green basalt and jasper. It is home to more than different grape varieties and supplies about 40 producers with grapes.

This vineyard is the source for most wines produced under the Chalmers label, which we do discuss. We also mention Sandro Moselle, the former winemaker at Port Phillip Estate on the Mornington Peninsula, where the family wines were made until the winery was built in Merbein in the 2010s.

On the subject of the vine selection and importation through the nursery business, Kim mentions Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo (VCR) and explains how this extraordinary cooperative operates. In a similar vein, she talks about Gruppo Matura, a collective of Italian winemakers and agronomists collaborating to further Italian wine, both at home and overseas. Hugely influential winemaking consultant Alberto Antonini is a driving force behind this group, while Kim often refers to Stefano Dini as a brother; he has spent a lot of time with the Chalmers family and has done fascinating, effective work on their behalf. Kim and I recorded a bonus segment on this side of the business, which I hope to publish soon.

Kim sits on the board of Wine Victoria and, like me, on the committee of Melbourne Royal Wine Awards. She is also a spearhead of the Alternative Varieties Wine Show (AAVWS), which takes place each November in Mildura. We talk at length about AAVWS, whose seed was planted as the Sangiovese Challenge in 1999, the brainchild of three people mentioned in the interview: Bruce Chalmers, restaurateur Stefano de Pieri and the late plant virologist Dr Rod Bonfiglioli. I have been fortunate to serve as a judge these past three years under the chair of judges, Leanne Altmann, the much-admired Melbourne sommelier that Kim mentions. Also namechecked are AAVWS president Corrina Wright, judge Kerri Thompson (KT) and regular entrant Richard Leask of Hither & Yon in McLaren Vale. For another perspective on AAVWS, please listen to Jeff Porter, 2023’s international judge, who was my guest on episode 6.

There’s no challenge too steep for this brainiac entrepreneur viticulturist who likes to do things differently—and he’s certainly not done with redefining world-class New Zealand.

Ambition is something Steve Smith can’t get enough of. He saw it in revolutionary viticulturist Richard Smart, who taught him to think. He saw it in Robert Mondavi and other doyens of the Napa Valley. He saw it in Sir George Fistonich, who wanted to turn a winery in receivership into the most decorated in New Zealand. And he would have seen it in himself long before—aged just 36 and having never run a business—he built Craggy Range from greenfield to world-renowned grandeur. His latest venture, spearheaded by Pyramid Valley, has limitless aspirations, and Steve wants to see Aotearoa get her mojo back and aim ever higher.

I met Steve for the first time when he visited me on the Mornington Peninsula recently. He was in my neck of the woods at the invitation of Rollo Crittenden, who generously put his Dr Allan Antcliff Viticulture Award toward luring Steve to speak to the local vignerons’ association.

Ours was a long, involved conversation, and most of the context can be found in the chat itself. We spoke in some detail about Steve’s roughly 10-year stint at Villa Maria, which makes wines from multiple regions. The next big project was at Craggy Range for the Peabody family, who still own the estate in Hawkes Bay on New Zealand’s North Island. Chris Pask and Alan Limmer (Stonecroft) are mentioned as pioneers of the Gimblett Gravels Wine Growing District, while other notables are Trinity Hill and Te Mata, maker of the famed Coleraine Cabernet blend.

Te Muna is the Martinborough site that Steve mentions for Sauvignon Blanc, and the Larry who is mentioned is Larry McKenna, the legendary Prince of Pinot who made a global name for the Escarpment winery.

That same winery was the former employer of Huw Kinch, who is the winemaker for Pyramid Valley, the Waikari-based (North Canterbury) jewel in the crown of Steve’s current venture with investor and environmentalist Brian Sheth. They bought Pyramid Valley from Claudia Weersing and her late husband Mike, hugely admired boundary-pushers for biodynamic farming, terroir winegrowing and natural wine (for some discussion on that last term, please visit episode 12 with Christina Pickard).

Kinch and his family live on the Waikari property, while his viticulturist counterpart, Nick Paulin (ex-Felton Road), lives in Lowburn, Central Otago, where Pyramid’s Snake’s Tongue Pinot Noir is grown. As Steve says, their roles are not so neatly divided; both are involved in the vines and wines. For more on Central Otago, you can listen to episode 8 with PJ Charteris, while Steve namechecks wines he enjoys from here: Burn Cottage, Valli, Prophet’s Rock and Felton Road.

Finally, when Steve speaks of Pyramid Valley being a twin-based estate, with a foot in North Canterbury and a foot in Central, he refers to the precedent set by Paul Draper of Ridge Vineyards in California, which has homes at Monte Bello and Lytton Springs.

Tim Shand is not one to follow the flock. In a world where yes-men get ahead and homogeneity wins widespread acceptance, his contrarian nature hasn’t always gone down well. But an impulse to challenge conventional wisdom and see through mediocrity has made him stand out from the crowd in the long run—and earn a shot at fulfilling a prodigious potential.

I got to know Tim well when he was chief winemaker at Punt Road in Victoria’s Yarra Valley. Among notable achievements there, he won the highly prestigious Trevor Mast trophy for best Shiraz at Melbourne Royal Wine Awards for a grape supposedly grown in the wrong place on a workmanlike vineyard. He also turned the estate’s second label, Airlie Bank, from a routine quaffer line into a range of great-value, characterful, overdelivering wines that would get wine-buyers properly excited. In this conversation, we talk about how.

Another storied wine was the 2012 Giant Steps Applejack Pinot Noir, which came within a whisker (there wasn’t quite enough produced to qualify… or was there?!) of being the first Pinot Noir to snag Australia’s most famous wine trophy, the Jimmy Watson. It was named best Pinot but missed out on the Jimmy to a Pinot it had bested in its own class. Go figure. Tim put that wine together while working as 2iC to Steve Flamsteed, my guest on episode 11. Tim references the Innocent Bystander cellar door and brand (now owned by Brown Brothers) that was the little sibling to Giant Steps (now owned by Jackson Family Estates), a single-vineyard Yarra project led by serial drinks entrepreneur Phil Sexton. Tim also mentions Dave Mackintosh (Arfion), Timo Mayer (more about him in this article) and Dave Bicknell of Oakridge.

Hardys is a brand of what was formerly BRL Hardy and has now been subsumed (via Constellation) into the newly created Vinarchy group. Former podcast guests Steve Flamsteed and Anna Flowerday worked at Hardys and talked about their peers. Industry legend Paul Lapsley was was chief winemaker back in the day, and other names Tim drops are Kerri Thompson (Wines by KT; read about her here), Larry Cherubino (Cherubino), Simon Osicka (Paul Osicka) Ross Pamment (Houghton), Sue Bell (Bellwether), Mark O’Callaghan (Wine Network Consulting), sparkling guru Ed Carr (House of Arras) and Pete Dillon (Handpicked, which now owns Arras). Tim spent another vintage at McWilliams in Griffith with Adrian Sparks (now chief at Mount Pleasant), Andrew Higgins and Sam Brewer.

The infamous Bordeaux chapter came about through advice from Brad Greatrix, who makes wine at English sparkling house Nyetimber with Cherie Spriggs. The late Paul Pontallier was in charge of Château Margaux at the time. Véronique Drouhin in Oregon was instrumental in making connections (Domaine Drouhin is an outpost of Burgundy producer Joseph Drouhin), including with Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac, who is married to Napa-born vigneron Diana Snowden Seysses. The wine at the centre of an anecdote there is from the Monts Luisants 1er Cru vineyard in Morey-Saint-Denis in Burgundy.

Back in Margaret River, Tim was appointed chief winemaker at Voyager Estate in mid-2022. He was hired by Alexandra Burt, who represents the second generation of the Wright family to own and operate this organic-certified domaine. It was Alex who lured philosopher A. C. Grayling to Voyager Estate earlier this year; Professor Grayling was my guest on episode 10. He gets a solid mention here, as do other leading lights close to Voyager’s home: Leeuwin Estate, Xanadu and Stella Bella, whose Luminosa Chardonnay, crafted by Luke Joliffe, is referenced.

Lastly, Tim talks of catching up with Rob and Genevieve Mann of Corymbia the day we spoke. The Manns were visiting Voyager Estate with Andrew Marks of Gembrook Hill and his partner, Sophie—you can hear more about their friendship and accomplishments here.

His 19th-century forebear sold a bank to buy vineyards, so deeply did he believe in the beauty and promise of a red slab of ancient slated desert sand above the River Rhine.

Make no mistake: Johannes Hasselbach is fully invested—even if there was a time when he might have wondered what on earth his great-, great, great, grandfather was thinking when he sold the family bank in 1890 to buy vineyards in Germany’s Rheinhessen.

Carl Gunderloch, from whom this esteemed estate in Nackenheim takes its name, must have been utterly captivated by the Roter Hang, an east-facing red slope of compacted desert sand from the Permian era.

And while Johannes didn’t initially see himself following in his footsteps, he has taken to the role of being a devoted servant of the majestic Rothenberg vineyard and its grand-cru siblings, Hipping and Pettenthal, in a deep-thinking, full-blooded fashion.

Johannes was called to the winery in sudden and partly sad circumstances, when his younger sister—the heiress apparent—found love abroad and his father was subsequently taken ill. Fritz Hasselbach was a giant of German wine and is fondly evoked here. Fritz died in 2016, but not before he had put Gunderloch and Rothenberg firmly in the German premier league, not least for the sweet wines that won him a hat-trick of 100-point reviews in Wine Spectator. (Many may be familiar with Gunderloch’s everyday quaffer, Fritz’s Riesling, named in his honour.)

If a quest to do Carl Gunderloch’s vineyards justice is a constant, much of this conversation revolves around change—generational, stylistic, climatic, technological—and, as such, provides a wonderful window onto the decision-making of an ethical farmer seeking the ultimate expression of that unique confluence of factors the French call “terroir”.

Even that concept is subject to a twist here, when Johannes and I talk about his Wurzelwerk project, in which he swapped grapes with his friend, Theresa Breuer, and his brother-in-law and sister, Alwin and Stefanie Jurtschitsch. The vineyards in question were Rothenberg in Rheinhessen, Nonnenberg in the Rheingau and Heiligenstein in Austria’s Kamptal. Two other experiments we discuss are Al’s Wär’s Ein Stück Von Mir and Virgo. The former is an “ahead-of-its-time-old-school-wine”, the latter was a fascinating rendition of Rothenberg with the grapes picked, crushed and fermented—and the wine raised—in the vineyard. The idea was to give the site the ultimate opportunity to chuck all of its DNA at the resulting wine.

There is inevitably talk of the VDP, a prestigious, private body of provenance-obsessed German growers, for whom Johannes serves as Rheinhessen’s regional president. We also mention Prädikat wines, which come with their own classification system. Both of these are further elucidated—and, trust me, it is interesting, relevant and understandable—in a bonus episode for paid subscribers (with an accompanying Substack post).

Early on, Johannes mentions vintages he worked overseas with his (now) wife Marie. These were Jackson-Triggs in Canada’s Okanagan Valley, Martinborough Vineyard in New Zealand, and Jim Barry in Australia’s Clare Valley.

Finally, among the growers Johannes cites as sharing his conception of a vigneron’s role are Philipp Wittmann (Rheinhessen), Cornelius Dönnhoff (Nahe), Tement and Wohlmuth (Südsteiermark/Southern Styria, Austria) and Vino Gross in Slovenia.

From McLaren Vale to Marlborough, straight-shooting natural farmer Anna Flowerday has walked the walk with “vine Jedi” husband Jason—all the way to the title of NZ Vigneron of the Year.

“Wines made with cowshit not bullshit” went the famous tagline at Te Whare Ra (TWR), the Marlborough estate Anna runs with her husband, Jason. It’s apt in so many ways: the indelicate language, the allusion to the use of manure in biodynamic viticulture and the disdain for dissimulation in the way people present their wines.

Te Whare Ra is a Māori name meaning ‘house in the sun', and the vineyard was originally planted in 1979. Anna and Jason purchased the land in 2003 and have developed it into a humming 11-hectare site of predominantly loam over clay soils.

Anna is a straight-talker, and one happy to voice and stand by her beliefs. She is a fierce advocate for organic viticulture, and TWR is certified by BioGroNZ. She champions her region of Marlborough as loudly as anyone. She has organised and spoken at a string of industry conferences, including a star turn at the Terroir Conference in Shanghai in 2017, where she shared the bill with global luminaries Aubert de Villaine of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, legendary consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt, Château Ausone owner Pauline Vauthier, and Rhône royalty Philippe Guigal. She is also thoroughly at home in the cellar door in Renwick, where she loves to encourage curiosity in all-comers and won’t shy away from difficult questions.

She is, as this episode shows, what we used to call “natural”. Like the aromatic whites that make up the lion’s share of the TWR range, her candour is refreshing, too.

I have known Anna for over a decade and have had the pleasure of seeing her and Jason in their element on the farm. I used to work for her Australian importer (whose co-owner, Patrick Walsh, appeared on episode 4), and refer here to an interview she gave in October 2014.

The conversation for this episode took place during the week she and Jason were named New Zealand Vigneron of the Year by The Real Review, a prominent wine ratings website in Australia. We talk about the implications of this accolade for their small business.

From her McLaren Vale childhood, she mentions Corrina Wright (née Rayment) of Oliver's Taranga and Malcolm and Richard Leask of Hither & Yon. The mentor she cites in her early hospitality role is Peter Morelli of Red Ochre Grill.

Of Jason Flowerday’s history, the wineries he’d worked at in the Clare Valley (where Leasingham, then a brand of Hardys, is located) were Skillogalee and Crabtree. He was initially in Australia with NZ company Selaks (which also appears in my story on Kiwi-born Clare-dweller Col McBryde).

Several names crop up going back to Anna’s days at BRL Hardy, including the inspirational higher-ups at the time, Peter Dawson and Tim James, who now make wine together in Tasmania under the Dawson James label. Stephen Pannell (Pannell Enoteca) and Glenn James (Billy Button) were the seniors then, and he talented group of namechecked peers include Pannell was group Red Winemaker then and Glenn James was group White Winemaker and then yeah was like Sue Bell (Bellwether), Larry Cherubino (Cherubino), Kerri Thompson (Wines by KT), Rob Mann (Corymbia), Fran Austin (Delamere) and Cynthea Semmens (Marion's Vineyard). Tintara is the name of a brand and historic winery in McLaren Vale.

A discernible warmth always manages to seep through Christina Pickard’s writing, and it does nothing to lessen the import of her output, which is serious, considered and searching. The affection is infectious.

Christina is based in the Hudson Valley in her native New York State, and her primary role is as writer-at-large for Wine Enthusiast, where her beat is Australia, New Zealand, the UK and New York.

The two of us met years ago when she was living in Perth and writing for various magazines, including Decanter, Gourmet Traveller WINE and Halliday Wine Companion. Her years in WA made the wines of Margaret River and beyond ripe for discussion; for more on this area, make sure you check out episode 3 with our mutual friend, Erin Larkin.

Some of the lesser-known Australian mentions go the way of William Downie and Patrick Sullivan in Gippsland, Victoria, and—on the subject of natural wine—James Erskine of Jauma and Anton van Klopper of Lucy M. On the subject of “natty” wine, in this conversation, we’re working with a definition of no additions in the winemaking process, including eschewing protective additions of sulphur dioxide (SO2). Pét-Nat is Pétillant-Naturel, a style of sparkling wine associated with this movement where the wine is bottled and sealed before the first fermentation is complete, leading to a cloudy wine with trapped CO2 from the ongoing fermentation creating the fizz. For more on natural wine—the concept, perceptions and positions—this is an excellent read from Simon J Woolf.

Central to Christina’s London experience was Vinopolis, the wine-centric commercial visitor attraction in Southwark, which operated from 1999 to 2015. English wine also features in our chat—and pops up in our bonus segment on sparkling wine—and a couple of relative big-hitters, Gusbourne and Chapel Down, are namechecked here alongside Tim Wildman MW’s more leftfield Lost in a Field project.

That brings us to the relatively obscure world of hybrid grapes, which Christina explains. These are the result of the crossing of two different Vitis species, such as the “European” grapevine, Vitis vinifera (to which all those famous mainstream grape varieties you know belong), with native North American species such as Vitis laubrusca, riparia, rupestris or berlandieri. (As an aside, grafting vinifera onto rootstocks derived from these species has been vital in giving the former resistance against pests like phylloxera or otherwise adapting it to inauspicious growing conditions.) The idea of quality wine from these hybrids and heritage varieties is the source of renewed curiosity—but most people, including me, have a lot to learn!

Steve Flamsteed grew up in a full and lively household and succumbed to the pleasure of feeding people at a young age.

Infected by punk energy from a young age, this lifelong devotee of good music has never lost the instinct of providing for—and feeding off—others.

At the same time, a man whose curiosity led to a career-seeking quandary because cheffing, cheesemaking and wine all called with equally seductive siren voices.

And though he chose wine, you feel the fusion of these things fuels his every move.

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Steve is best known to most people for his 20-year stint as winemaker at Giant Steps, whose single-vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir program was part-funded by the fast-growing wine brand Innocent Bystander.

Steve joined serial drinks entrepreneur Phil Sexton—the man behind WA winery Devil’s Lair and the beer labels Little Creatures and Matilda Bay—right at the start, creating a multi-faceted drinks brand alongside a high-end label pushing the Aussie envelope with cool-climate site expression. Innocent Bystander has since been sold to Brown Brothers and Giant Steps to US group Jackson Family Estates. Mel Chester now makes the wines for the latter.

The Beaujolais estate Steve works at is Domaine Saint Charles, where he met Dean Hewitson, who runs his Hewitson label out of the Barossa Valley. Milawa Cheese Company is where Steve worked with founder David Brown in Victoria’s King Valley. And I hope Steve whets your appetite for what I hope will be more Beechworth in the show. The names he mentions are Giaconda, Savaterre, Sorrenberg and A. Rodda.

Steve is the third alumnus of Roseworthy Agricultural College to appear on the podcast. Meg Brodtmann (episode 9) and, especially, PJ Charteris (episode 8) shine a light on this storied Australian institution. While he was there, he mentions sharing a flat with Dave Bicknell and Nicky Harris, a husband-and-wife team these days making wines under the Bicknell FC label, while Dave is better known as the winemaking force behind Oakridge in the Yarra Valley.

And we didn’t talk about the exceptional Yarra Valley Chardonnay Steve makes with his friend Dave Mackintosh under the Salo label (not much of it around, but do seek it out; it’s a brilliant wine). We did, however, mention his Decades project from Tasmania, and I hope you’ll be tempted to see what Steve does with that vineyard after hearing what makes this warm, intelligent, sensitive soul tick. You can here more about it in our bonus episode.

Finally, Steve mentions a couple of things that are piquing those interests. One is the mezcal and tequila family of drinks deriving from the agave plant; the other shoutout goes to Lachlan Barber and the salty, briny wonders he's importing from his Sydney-based company, Cortez Trading Co.