GENIUS IN A BOTTLE
Despite a long history, Victoria’s Grampians has remained an under-the-radar wine region. However, with a handful of boutique producers gaining attention and making great drops, that just might be about to change.
Boutique producers are bringing the Grampians wine region into the spotlight.
DRINK GRAMPIANS
It has been a full-circle experience for winemaker Adam Louder. Born in Ararat at the foothills of the Grampians in southwest Victoria, Louder grew up in the shadows of Mount Langi Ghiran and, in 1998, kickstarted his wine career as a cellar hand at the vineyard of the same name.
Fresh out of high school, and off the back of a few years working odd jobs at Best’s Great Western winery during holidays, the teenage Louder worked under legendary Australian winemaker and cool-climate specialist, the late Trevor Mast. Stints in the Margaret River, Napa Valley and Bordeaux followed before Louder was back on home turf, lured by a longstanding penchant for Grampians shiraz. “I’d missed working with shiraz and in this region so that was really the drawcard to move back here,” says Louder.
“I’ve had a lot of great wines all over the world, but the one that’s always resonated has been pretty much Mount Langi’s shiraz. It’s a really age-worthy shiraz.”
And now, it’s his age-worthy shiraz. Louder rejoined the team at Mount Langi Ghiran in 2016 and in 2018, two decades after his cellar-hand debut, he assumed charge as chief winemaker. Louder, now 40, has continued Mast’s legacy, as did Dan Buckle and Ben Haines before him. Integral to that legacy is the spicy pepper flavour for which Mount Langi Ghiran shiraz is renowned.
IN WITH THE NEW
The Grampians wine region, located a three-hour drive west of Melbourne, is concentrated around the towns of Great Western, Halls Gap, Ararat, Moyston and Buangor. It is best known for shiraz, but delivers across the cool-climate spectrum, including riesling, and pinots noir and gris.
It is also one of Australia’s oldest wine regions, with production dating back to the 1860s when two young butchers turned their attention from bovine to grapevine. They weren’t the first to plant cuttings in the Grampians, but brothers Joseph and Henry Best were arguably the most influential. Joseph was first, planting in 1865 what is now Seppelt Great Western, renowned in particular for
its sparkling wines as well as its National Trust-classified underground cellars. Henry followed, planting his first vines in 1868.
Today, this vineyard is one of two estates under the famed Best’s Great Western label.
Mount Langi Ghiran is another stalwart, its first vines planted in 1870, although it wasn’t until the vineyard was replanted by the Fratin brothers in 1963 that the estate prospered. Louder says that while the region’s wine history is significant, the injection of fresh faces in recent years has been a boost.
“People do still come [to the Grampians] to … go to Seppelt or Best’s and see the really old, old cellars and big pieces of winemaking history,” he says. “But it’s not just the old ones that have been there forever. There is new, exciting stuff happening here. It’s good for the region. It gives tourists other reasons to come out. There’s a bit more of a younger vibe out here now.”
One of the young labels creating interest is Black & Ginger, a two-man show starring winemaker Hadyn Black and business partner Darcy ‘Ginger’ Naunton.
Launched in 2015, Black & Ginger was a side project until 2019, when Black pulled up stumps at Best’s to work full-time on the already burgeoning enterprise.
“We really just wanted to make wines that we want to drink,” he says. “They’re a little bit lighter in style than some of the other stuff around here, not as full-bodied and botanic. They’re still quite fruit-driven, but they’re a little bit fresher and they’re ready to go straight away.”
As well as the region’s trademark shiraz, the Black & Ginger catalogue includes a highly fragrant graciano, a