New generation looks south

It's been 12 years since Richard Angove worked his first vintage with Tasmanian Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The fifth-generation winemaker had been out of the country for the previous eight harvests. Returning to South Australia then brought with it additional cause for celebration.

Angove topped the 2017 Advanced Wine Assessment course conducted by the Australian Wine Research Institute. He was well and truly ready for broader horizons.

"I just loved what I saw and tasted in Tassie back in 2008," he recalls of his short stint as a fly-in vintage assistant at Tamar Ridge Wines.

The Kayena winery above the tidal estuary of the Tamar River provided a welcome alternative to the heat and the dust of Angove's Riverland stamping grounds. The celebrated wine family established Renmark's first winery and vineyards there back in 1910. That paved the way for today's Riverland GI, Australia's largest wine-producing region. 

Close to a third of the country's total wine grape crush takes place there each vintage. It's home to more than 100 different grape varieties and well over 900 growers.

"I'm a sucker for really good cool climate Pinot and Chardonnay," Angove says.

"I can remember working here and thinking, 'Wow, I'd love to be able get my hands on some Tassie fruit of my own.'"

With the seeds sown for a new cool climate-based wine business, Angove finished his vintage assignment and headed to McLaren Vale for a fresh start at Angove Family Winemakers. A multitude of winemaking, sales and marketing roles brought a vast array of new challenges and experiences. 

The years soon rolled on by. Today, he's joint Managing Director of his famous family's company, alongside his sister Victoria.

"Somewhere around 2014, I struck up a conversation with Jeremy Dineen at Josef Chromy Wines," Angove recalls.

"I told Jeremy I'd really like to find some good growers in the north of the State that would enable me to buy some fruit and establish my own Tasmanian wine brand. I knew there was strong industry demand down there for quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Tying up a small but reliable volume each year was going to present a real challenge.

"Jeremy's efforts to help out finally paid off in 2018 when he introduced me to Markus and Tony at Goaty Hill, not far from Tamar Ridge. Everything else went from there."

Within a matter of weeks, Angove hatched plans for bringing to fruition his bold Tamar Valley wine initiative. In mid-March, the outstanding 2017-2018 growing season delivered small but high-quality press loads of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to the busy contract winemaking operations of Josef Chromy Wines, outside Launceston. 

Its close proximity to the project's vineyard sources allowed fruit to be processed quickly, ensuring its precious aromas and flavours were carefully extracted and preserved for the long and carefully managed journey into wine.

Angove reprised those vintage arrangements in 2019 and 2020.

Cost-effective processing and pneumatic pressing at Josef Chromy sees sparkling wine grapes and table wine Chardonnay being chilled and transferred to transportable wine vats for a 90-minute highway journey to Devonport's Spirit of Tasmania ferry terminal.

An efficient freight service across Bass Strait is augmented by an additional 700km road haul to Renmark. Angove's modern, temperature-controlled production facility then takes over the labour-intensive processes of barrel fermentation and oak maturation.

Angove says his Pinot Noir follows much the same route after primary fermentation is completed under the watchful eyes of Dineen and his Relbia-based team.

"Having a Tamar Valley focus allows us to fit neatly into Jeremy's planning and production scheduling," Angove says.

"The supply chain out of the Tamar Valley into South Australia is really good nowadays because there are so many truckloads of Jansz juice that utilise road freight and ferry services during vintage. Our juice or new wine arrives in perfect condition, allowing us to take full control from there."

Bottle-fermented sparkling and table wines derived from Angove's small, quality-driven project in the Tamar Valley are marketed under the Lost Farm Tasmania brand.

Lost Farm has special significance for the Angove family. It evokes memories of a period in South Australian history when many vineyards around Adelaide fell victim to urban encroachment and government housing policy.

"Back in the 1970s, the State Government – through the South Australian Land Commission – compulsorily acquired about 100 acres of our original Angove family vineyard at Tea Tree Gully," Angove explains.

"It happened before I was born. But I can clearly remember my grandfather always referring to it as 'the farm.' At the time, it was home to our best vineyards. The family lost ownership of their vines and they were eventually pulled out after the land was re-zoned from agricultural to residential use.

"While I was developing my Tasmanian brand, I decided I didn't want it to have close connection to the Angove Family Winemakers brand. I thought that would be too confusing. Nevertheless, it was really good to be able to have use of the Lost Farm brand because it gave a nod to my grandfather and this precious little bit of family history.

"It's a sad but true story. I like the authenticity it brings to the table."

Tasmania's national and international reputation for world-class wine and viticulture received another boost back in July with the launch of a new South Australian wine brand called Corryton Burge. The Barossa Valley-based venture begins a fresh chapter in a wine family history dating all the way back to 1855.

Business owners Amelia and Trent Burge are sixth generation members of the Burge family grape growers and winemakers who've made Tanunda their home base over the years. Their Corryton Burge label takes part of its name from the historic Corryton Park Homestead owned by Helen and Grant Burge, parents and mentors of the talented wine siblings.

The Burge elders established their own successful wine brand during the late 1980s. Grant Burge Wines was eventually sold to Accolade Wines in early 2015.

The couple's Eden Valley homestead was built in 1845 and was planted with vines some six years later. Today, it represents the heart and soul of the Burge family's rich South Australian history.

Trent Burge says the new brand markets its wines within two portfolio ranges – one named Kith, the other Kin. The latter honours Burge family connections and includes a 2019 premium Pinot Noir labelled Cornelian Bay Tasmania. Sourced from the Coal River Valley - between Cambridge and Richmond - the wine reflects Helen Burge's childhood upbringing in Cornelian Bay, a riverside suburb on Hobart's western shore of the Derwent.

"As a proud Tasmanian, Mum always wanted to create a Burge wine from her home state in order to honour her heritage and this other side of our family history," Burge says.

"Our fruit is purchased from growers under contract. Its first fermentation is carried out at Frogmore Creek winery. We keep a close eye on it to ensure it's within keeping of the style we're keen to create.

"When the wine is ready for oak maturation at our Tanunda winery, we work with another company in the Barossa Valley to transport it there. We basically fill up a road tanker in order to keep costs down. It's a similar concept to that used in Tasmania by a growing number of South Australian companies."

Beautifully labelled and packaged, Corryton Burge wines already have national distribution through Oatley Fine Wine Merchants.

"We've got a couple of other things in the pipeline with regards to Tasmanian products," Burge adds tantalisingly.

Better watch this space.

First published 5 September, 2020: tasmaniantimes.com