Articles / NewsWINELINES
James Halliday, April 26, 2008Over the years, I have come across winemakers with degrees in atomic science, doctors with specialities ranging from oncology to plastic surgery, lawyers, bankers, accountants, sculptors, artists, and geographers, but Rory Lane is the first with a degree in ancient Greek literature.
He recounts that after completing his degree (at Monash University) and 'desperately wanting to delay an entry into the real world, I stumbled across and enrolled in a post-graduate wine technology and marketing course at Monash University, where I soon became hooked on ... the wondrous connection between land, human and liquid.'
Two vintages in Oregon followed, the first at the well-known Adelsheim Winery, the second with a rapidly growing negociant-style operation A to Z Wineworks, buying bulk pinot noir, blending and bottling it, and selling it for less than $20 a bottle.
Vintage work in Australia led him to the Grampians, and specifically shiraz. With his post graduate degree and experience in small batch winemaking, he leased a small factory shed, installed a couple of open fermenters, a one-tonne basket press and barrels.
The first vintage in 2004 resulted in a crush of two and a half tonnes, but, recounts Rory 'I drove thousands of kilometres ... between the "winery" where we (Rory and partner Anita McCarthy) made it in Mornington and home in St Kilda twice a day, and to my job in between, and then to the vineyard on weekends to check grape ripeness; the Volvo was slept in, kicked, sworn at but still much-loved - like Bordeaux, '82 was a very good year for 244 gl Volvos.' Anita, says Rory, still drives it.
The annual make has increased to eight tonnes (this vintage) or around 550 cases, up from 400 cases in 2006. Even if the wines were sold at Robert Parker blessed prices (and they are not) a real world job was needed. He spent two years as marketing manager for Shelmerdine Vineyards, but is now technical director for Australian Winemaking Equipment Supplies, dealing with technical queries from customers and equipment development.
This came of his self-perceived need to increase his own technical knowledge, more often the territory of large wineries than small (or, in Rory's case, very small). In typical Australian fashion, he threw himself in the deep end, and I have no doubt he will succeed.
My confidence stems mainly from the quality of the wines he has made, but also from his focussed and highly successful pursuit of the best grapes he could buy in the Grampians, told in detail on his continuously updated website (how rare is that?), at times with alarming frankness as he broods about problems in the fermenters or barrels (which all ultimately resolve themselves).
He accepts in a matter-of-fact way the loss of grapes from Moyston Hills prior to the '06 vintage (Langi Ghiran bought the entire crop) and simply persuaded Bruce Dalkin of Westgate Vineyard to up his allocation to four tonnes. (Westgate has shiraz dating back to 1969, and produces very high quality of its own.) Grapes from Concongella Vineyard further north, and Garden Gully, completed the intake in '06.
He also explains precisely how the '06 Westgate Vineyard Shiraz (see this week's From the Region) came into being. He starts with the proposition there are three ways his wine in barrel can go: into a single vineyard/reserve wine; into the main Grampians blend; or down the drain.
He tastes all the barrels with a clear idea of how he wishes the Reserve/Single Vineyard to be, and along the way 'culls the nasty barrels'. In '06 he had two to three barrels of Westgate old vine material which had 'an almost refreshing lightness to them - power without weight'.
He tried a blend with quite tannic Concongella wine which, however, detracted from the balance of the wine, and ended up with 7% Garden Gully which 'seemed to fill the middle out nicely and give more depth'. In the end wine from five barrels went into an exclusive three-barrel Westgate Vineyard Grampians Shiraz.
Anyone thinking of making 400 cases of shiraz (or any other wine, for that matter) would do well to carefully read the website (www.thestory.com.au) with a glass of the '06 The Story Westgate Vineyard Shiraz in hand.
He recounts that after completing his degree (at Monash University) and 'desperately wanting to delay an entry into the real world, I stumbled across and enrolled in a post-graduate wine technology and marketing course at Monash University, where I soon became hooked on ... the wondrous connection between land, human and liquid.'
Two vintages in Oregon followed, the first at the well-known Adelsheim Winery, the second with a rapidly growing negociant-style operation A to Z Wineworks, buying bulk pinot noir, blending and bottling it, and selling it for less than $20 a bottle.
Vintage work in Australia led him to the Grampians, and specifically shiraz. With his post graduate degree and experience in small batch winemaking, he leased a small factory shed, installed a couple of open fermenters, a one-tonne basket press and barrels.
The first vintage in 2004 resulted in a crush of two and a half tonnes, but, recounts Rory 'I drove thousands of kilometres ... between the "winery" where we (Rory and partner Anita McCarthy) made it in Mornington and home in St Kilda twice a day, and to my job in between, and then to the vineyard on weekends to check grape ripeness; the Volvo was slept in, kicked, sworn at but still much-loved - like Bordeaux, '82 was a very good year for 244 gl Volvos.' Anita, says Rory, still drives it.
The annual make has increased to eight tonnes (this vintage) or around 550 cases, up from 400 cases in 2006. Even if the wines were sold at Robert Parker blessed prices (and they are not) a real world job was needed. He spent two years as marketing manager for Shelmerdine Vineyards, but is now technical director for Australian Winemaking Equipment Supplies, dealing with technical queries from customers and equipment development.
This came of his self-perceived need to increase his own technical knowledge, more often the territory of large wineries than small (or, in Rory's case, very small). In typical Australian fashion, he threw himself in the deep end, and I have no doubt he will succeed.
My confidence stems mainly from the quality of the wines he has made, but also from his focussed and highly successful pursuit of the best grapes he could buy in the Grampians, told in detail on his continuously updated website (how rare is that?), at times with alarming frankness as he broods about problems in the fermenters or barrels (which all ultimately resolve themselves).
He accepts in a matter-of-fact way the loss of grapes from Moyston Hills prior to the '06 vintage (Langi Ghiran bought the entire crop) and simply persuaded Bruce Dalkin of Westgate Vineyard to up his allocation to four tonnes. (Westgate has shiraz dating back to 1969, and produces very high quality of its own.) Grapes from Concongella Vineyard further north, and Garden Gully, completed the intake in '06.
He also explains precisely how the '06 Westgate Vineyard Shiraz (see this week's From the Region) came into being. He starts with the proposition there are three ways his wine in barrel can go: into a single vineyard/reserve wine; into the main Grampians blend; or down the drain.
He tastes all the barrels with a clear idea of how he wishes the Reserve/Single Vineyard to be, and along the way 'culls the nasty barrels'. In '06 he had two to three barrels of Westgate old vine material which had 'an almost refreshing lightness to them - power without weight'.
He tried a blend with quite tannic Concongella wine which, however, detracted from the balance of the wine, and ended up with 7% Garden Gully which 'seemed to fill the middle out nicely and give more depth'. In the end wine from five barrels went into an exclusive three-barrel Westgate Vineyard Grampians Shiraz.
Anyone thinking of making 400 cases of shiraz (or any other wine, for that matter) would do well to carefully read the website (www.thestory.com.au) with a glass of the '06 The Story Westgate Vineyard Shiraz in hand.
FROM THE REGION
The Story Westgate Vineyard Grampians Shiraz '06 (96 points, $38 ex website) has a spotlessly clean bouquet, followed by a palate with perpetual movement as the lively, spicy flavours wash back and forth, and a wonderful finish and aftertaste; it is more elegant than the Grampians Shiraz '06 (95 points, $20) albeit it with less power, a trade off I'll take any day. The Grampians is lusciously dense and rich, with a velvet cascade of black fruit flavours supported by a fine net of ripe tannins and well-handled oak. Both wines are screwcapped, and both will coast through to 2026. They will be released in May, along with the few remaining cases of the '05 Grampians Shiraz (91 points, $20) with blackberry, plum and chocolate fruit in a medium-bodied palate tied together with ripe tannins. Available through website (www.thestory.com.au), Randall's (www.randalls.net.au, ph (03) 9686 4122) and Boccaccio Cellars (www.boccaccio.com.au).
James's artilces appear every week in The Australian
The Story Westgate Vineyard Grampians Shiraz '06 (96 points, $38 ex website) has a spotlessly clean bouquet, followed by a palate with perpetual movement as the lively, spicy flavours wash back and forth, and a wonderful finish and aftertaste; it is more elegant than the Grampians Shiraz '06 (95 points, $20) albeit it with less power, a trade off I'll take any day. The Grampians is lusciously dense and rich, with a velvet cascade of black fruit flavours supported by a fine net of ripe tannins and well-handled oak. Both wines are screwcapped, and both will coast through to 2026. They will be released in May, along with the few remaining cases of the '05 Grampians Shiraz (91 points, $20) with blackberry, plum and chocolate fruit in a medium-bodied palate tied together with ripe tannins. Available through website (www.thestory.com.au), Randall's (www.randalls.net.au, ph (03) 9686 4122) and Boccaccio Cellars (www.boccaccio.com.au).
James's artilces appear every week in The Australian
