Maker:
Place of Changing Winds is owned and lead by the prolific Robert Walters Chief wine buyer at Bibendum and author of the award winning Bursting Bubbles: A Secret History of Champagne. It's a single site in the Macedon Ranges of Victoria that Walters and his team began planting in 2012. Walters had searched for almost five years to find the right location, which turned out to be in a hamlet called Bullengarook, on the southern foothills of Mount Macedon, about one-hour north-west of Melbourne. To the best of our knowledge, this area was called Warekilla by the original inhabitants, the Wurundjeri people. This means ‘Place of Changing Winds’, a characteristic of the site that still holds true today.
‘No compromise, no regrets’ is the motto here. Rob has drawn on his years of experience observing many of the great growers of the world and translating to his setting what he considered to be best practices. The methods applied are labour-intensive and designed to maximise soil and vine health and foster a strong connection between the plant and its environment—and thus realise an expression of place in the resultant wines.
The elevation is high (500-plus metres), and average rainfall is typically between 700 and 900mm. It’s a genuinely cool site with cold nights and a massive diurnal range, which Pinot and Chardonnay love. In summer, the range can often exceed 20°C or more, which leads to heavy morning dews and strong frosts. The soil is eroded quartz, sandstone and quartzite over clay and silt, as well as some eroded basalt from a rare form called mugearite. The bedrock is over 400 million years old and was mostly formed at the bottom of the ocean in the Ordovician Period. In simple terms, it is rocky, gravelly soil, historically known as Bullengarook gravel.
Vineyard:
The vines have been planted to a high density of mostly between 12,000 and 33,000 vines per hectare, with almost 45,000 vines over 3.1 hectares. No synthetic chemicals are used and the practice is adapted to these very high densities. It is certainly a different, much more labour-intensive and expensive approach, with more than one full-time person per hectare required in the vines.
Together with the Estate wines, Place of Changing Winds also produces some Syrah from the Heathcote region (about 130km north of the cellars) and some Syrah and Marsanne from the Harcourt area (from cooler granitic soils closer to Bullengarook). The team works closely with growers at both sites. These plots are managed organically (not certified) and to full POCW specifications. The approach has always been to produce reds of great finesse and drinkability—Syrah for Pinot lovers!
Place of Changing Winds was awarded the 2021 New Vineyard of the Year by the Young Gun of Wine Awards, and Best New Winery of the Year 2022 by the Halliday Wine Companion Awards.
Winestyle/Cuvee:
This comes from the same vineyard as the Harcourt Syrah. As always, the grapes were picked flavour ripe, pressed gently and sent straight to barrel (500- and 228-litre) and 220-litre Wineglobe for fermentation and aging. Malolactic conversion happened naturally. After 12 months in cask and Wineglobe, the wine was racked to tank for an additional eight months’ maturation before being bottled at the end of November 2023. It has the power and richness of previous releases, yet with good vibrancy thanks to Harcourt’s soils, the cooler year and the inclusion of good levels of Roussanne in the blend. It will certainly age, gaining more honeyed characters, but it’s delicious now.
Tasting:
Nose - Preserve Lemon, Herbal Detail, Minerality
Perfumed notes of preserve lemon, attractive lemon peel and pith and floral nuances.
Palate - Concentrated Flavour, Fleshy, Chalky
Vivid sense of hallmarks of the variety (bitter lemon, preserved lemon, herbal detail, minerality) great general sense of energy. It sits at medium weight.
Finish - Mouth Coating, Perfumed, Complex
It stains the palate gently, its perfume is inviting and ultra-pleasing, that it drinks with such ease belies its complexity
Some roussanne in the mix. The wine is matured in a mix of barrels and those alien-technology-looking, Wineglobe, glass, ovoid vessels. This is such a wonderful wine its success is in its concentration of flavour and texture (fleshy and chalky at the same time), its vivid sense of hallmarks of the variety (bitter lemon, preserved lemon, herbal detail, minerality) And a general sense of energy. It sits at medium weight. Its stains the palette gently, its perfume is inviting and ultra-pleasing, that it drinks with such ease belies its complexity. Wickedly enjoyable. - Mike Bennie, The Wine Front.
The Finer Details
Style - White Wine
Varietal - Marsanne, Roussanne
Country - Australia
Region - Heathcote, Victoria
Vintage - 2022
Bottle Size - 750ml
ABV - 14.5%
Other - Organic
