Joshua Cooper
Macedon Ranges, Victoria
The following commentary, vineyard and tasting notes are written by Joshua Cooper.
2022 is a worthy follow-up to 2021, these two vintages are a pigeon pair in terms of style, weight and ripeness. Again, there was ever-present disease pressure due to cooler weather. This resulted in lower yields in some vineyards, though also provided enhanced aromatics, detail and freshness.
This is quite easily my most exciting release to date, due to the breadth and quality of the wines, as well as the inclusion of three very special new wines: Redbank, Greytown and the Williams Vineyard. Each has its own storied past and cellaring pedigree. Combined with the Balgownie 1970 Block bottling, they provide a fantastic snapshot of the landscapes of Central and Western Victoria through the lens of Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon.
Pleasingly the wines of last release, the 2021 vintage, have continued to find universal critical acclaim, while also being poured in Australia’s finest dining establishments and exported world wide to 15 different countries. I am also proud to have recently won the Best New Winery award in the 2024 James Halliday Wine Companion.
2022 Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Dash Farm’
Planted 1999, Dash Farms sits perched at over 450m above sea level on the Southern granitic slopes of Mt Alexander (Leanganook) looking back towards Mt Macedon and the Macedon Ranges. Like Ray-Monde, it sits just outside the Macedon Ranges GI. An extremely late ripening site for Cabernet Sauvignon, the fruit was harvested in late April.
Winemaking:
Hand harvested with strict fruit sorting in the vineyard, bunches were then 100% de-stemmed and partially foot crushed before loading into open fermenters where they remained for three weeks. The must was allowed to soak until natural fermentation commenced and then extracted with a combination of pumping over, delestage and pigage before basket pressing.
Elevage took place in a combination of new Stockinger 300l (30%) and seasoned thin staved Bordeaux coopered barriques for 12 months, before four months in stainless steel after assemblage. The only addition to the wine is a small dose of sulphur.
Tasting notes:
The mountainside nature of Dash Farm provides incredible freshness to the wine. Deep, inky purple with intense violet, seaweed and cassis, and graphite, sweet herb and spice attest to the cool nature of the site.
Only medium weight though remarkably intense, it presents as the most “Claret” style of the three Cabernet Sauvignon cuvées, full of small dark berry fruit with fine gravelly tannins. Incredibly satisfying in youth for its dark fruit and freshness, this cuvée will reward with additional complexity with medium term cellaring.
2022 Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Shay’s Flat’
The Shay’s Flat Vineyard is situated on an elevated and picturesque ridge in the heart of the Pyrenees. A distinctively Australian setting with the vineyard surrounded by wheat paddocks, native bushland and scrub, the 20+ year old vines are rooted deep into mineral rich shale, quartz and mudstone soils, growing powerful, yet detailed fruit. It is the second to ripen of the three Cabernet Sauvignon sites.
Josh has mentioned his distinct soft spot for the Cabernet wines produced in the 70s and 80s by the pioneering wineries of Central and Western Victoria, and believes many of which seem ageless even now.
Winemaking:
Once hand harvested the fruit was entirely de-stemmed, then partially foot crushed before transfer to open fermenters where it remained for three weeks. The must was allowed to soak until natural fermentation commenced and was then extracted with a combination pumping over, delestage and pigage before basket pressing.
Elevage took place in a combination of new Stockinger 300l (30%) and seasoned thin staved Bordeaux coopered barriques for 12 months, before four months in stainless steal after assemblage. The only addition to the wine is a small dose of sulphur.
Tasting notes:
Deep, dark garnet. Reticent on opening, aeration shows intense sour cherry and cassis, mulberry, lavender and black olive with a sweet mint top note and alluring graphite and terracotta complexity. A compact and powerful palate opens with time to reveal layers of deep dark berry and red cherry fruit, before a rumble of fine layered tannin and cleansing cherry pit acidity with a persistent trail of graphite, dark cocoa and Dutch liquorice.
The clarity and length of flavour and added depth and quality of tannin mark this as a very special wine, the best yet from this site.
2022 Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Redbank’
Another vineyard which needs no introduction to lovers of classic Victorian wines. Still farmed and managed by founder Neill Robb, much like Balgownie it has been a bastion of quality since establishment. The wines also enjoy a similar track record of cellaring.
The vineyard has been dry grown since planting, with vine roots now stretching deep into the hillside soil - largely composed of shale and mudstone, with a iron rich surface layer of ochre red loam, essential for its water holding capacity.
Winemaking:
Once hand harvested the fruit was entirely de-stemmed, then partially foot crushed before transfer to open fermenters where it remained for three weeks. The must was allowed to soak until natural fermentation commenced and was then extracted with a combination pumping over, delestage and pigage before basket pressing.
Elevage took place in a combination of new Stockinger 300l (30%), Spanish stoneware jars and seasoned thin staved Bordeaux coopered barriques for 12 months, before four months in stainless steal after assemblage. The only addition to the wine is a small dose of sulphur.
Tasting notes:
Impenetrable garnet. Subtle and restrained, though incredibly distinctive. Redbank slowly reveals layer after layer - cassis, new leather, warm terracotta, fig and blood plum. The most elegant of Black Holes of aroma and flavour. Fine and layered tannin coats the mouth, carrying inky, ferrous complexity and blood plum fruit. Redbank eloquently evokes the iron rich red loams, shale and wild scrub of this part of the Pyrenees.
2022 Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Balgownie’
Balgownie Vineyard is a name that should need no introduction to lovers of Victorian wine. An icon of the 70s and 80s, it has produced some of the most remarkable mature Australian wines.
Established in 1969, 200m above sea level near the banks of Myers Creek in Maiden Gully on Ordovician shale, quartz and ironstone rubble, thanks to current winemaker Tony Winspear it now supplies me a small amount of old vine Cabernet Sauvignon from some of the earliest plantings from 1970.
The first to ripen of the three Cabernet Sauvignon sites, these old vines and special place deliver fruit of extreme concentration and complexity. Harvest occurred around three weeks earlier than Shays Flat.
Winemaking:
Once hand harvested the fruit was entirely de-stemmed, then partially foot crushed before transfer to open fermenters where it remained for three weeks. The must was allowed to soak until natural fermentation commenced and was then extracted with a combination pumping over, delestage and pigage before basket pressing.
Elevage took place in a combination of new Stockinger 300l (30%) and seasoned thin staved Bordeaux coopered barriques for 12 months, before four months in stainless steal after assemblage. The only addition to the wine is a small dose of sulphur.
Tasting notes:
Deep, dark garnet. A wine which immediately makes one sit up and focus. Refined and complex with iron, sweet cassis, cedar spice, violet and rose, air reveals infinite nuance and detail. The palate is flooded with wave upon wave of Cabernet fruit, braced by a strict but not overbearing tannic structure, finishing with sweet violet and cassis and a wave of perfume. The most refined of the six Cabernet cuvées, but also the most concentrated and finally balanced. A very worthy follow up to the 2021 vintage and a wine that displays my most prized characteristics - effortless complexity and power without weight.
2022 Syrah/Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Greytown Old Vines’
The Greytown Vineyard was planted in the northeastern corner of the (now) Heathcote region in the 1950s by European migrants, importantly planting was carried out in the traditional manner, sans irrigation and as a field blend. In this case Syrah vines interspersed with an unknown proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon. The aim being to harvest the site as a whole, capturing a more nuanced expression of place and season. Amongst the oldest plantings in the area the vines have found a happy home in the deep alluvial soils.
Stylistically inspired by the Syrah-Cabernet blends of the South of France, especially one of Josh’s inspirations - Domaine Trevallon.
Winemaking:
Once hand harvested the fruit was entirely de-stemmed, then partially foot crushed before transfer to open fermenters where it remained for three weeks. The must was allowed to soak until natural fermentation commenced and was then extracted with a combination pumping over, delestage and pigage before basket pressing.
Elevage took place in a combination of one year old Stockinger thick staved 600l (30%), Spanish stoneware jars and seasoned thin staved Bordeaux coopered barriques for 12 months, before four months in stainless steal after assemblage. The only addition to the wine is a small dose of sulphur.
Tasting notes:
Glistening purple, the two varieties combine wonderfully lending the pepper, spice and plushness of Syrahs fruit, with the strictness and refinement of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Aromas of cracked black pepper, sweet new leather, baking spices, lavender, thyme, and a sprig of mint fill the glass. Australian garrigue. Sweet and fleshy black cherry fruits are ensconced in layers
of fine pliant tannin, with the firm backbone and sense of freshness and refinement only Cabernet Sauvignon can bring.
A wine entirely unique to its place and landscape, old vines, co-planted with great foresight in a cooler pocket of the region.
2022 Syrah/Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Old Vine Cuvee’
This is a blend of four vineyards 45% Greytown, 37.5% Balgownie, 15% Redbank and 2.5% Williams Vineyard. The detail from Josh explains that Greytown is a 1950s co-planted site of shiraz and cabernet from the northeastern side of Heathcote, Balgownie is the prized 1970s block from there which features in another Josh Cooper wine with stunning results. Redbank is the 1970s planted cabernet as nurtured by legendary Stuart Anderson (ex-Balgownie) and Neill Robb, while the dash of Williams Vineyard makes for an interesting inclusion off a site also planted in the 1970s, that ended up in notable wines under the Flynn and Williams brand. The wine spends time in one year old oak of two sizes and styles.
Tasting notes:
Glass-staining deep purple, the aromatics are strikingly redolent of the Australian landscape, scrub and wild herb, sunbaked red earth, cocoa, pepper and spice complexity engulf dark, perfectly ripened blackberry and cassis fruit. Violet floral top notes lend a sense of airiness to the otherwise saturated aromas.
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A new super cuvee from Josh Cooper, a star winemaker who has firmly planted his reputation in a relatively short while, but with aplomb. And a focus on cabernet, which for a young fella seems antithetical, but high quality Claret is his guiding light.
It’s a very elegant, old school-good school feeling wine. I think the first comment, and first reaction, was that toasty, spicy oak is a strong influence in the wine, but not untoward per se, just a bigger player than expected in comparison to other Josh Cooper cabernet releases. It feels a little gritty in a way, good, and the extension of flavour is superb, dark cherry, cassis, violet floral notes with liquorice, dried herbs and faint eucalyptus are in the mix. Fruit tannins are lithe, drawing the wine into a composed, medium weight, flow and pucker. It’s a wine that feels like it perhaps would be best in a year or two, or released as such, to find that immersion of woody spice in a better place, but you can readily appreciate a wine of elegance, grand scent and flavour, and of course promise. It’s pretty darn great. 94+ pts. Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
2022 Pinot Noir ‘Doug’s Vineyard’
(Allocation Only)
Doug’s Vineyard is situated on the outskirts of the township of Romsey in the Macedon Ranges. Owned by the Newnham family, it was planted 20 years ago to predominantly MV6 and smaller amounts of 114 and 115 clone pinot noir.
A cool hamlet, the vines sit at around 500m altitude, atop a North and North East facing hillside on red rocky volcanic basalt soil, moderating vigour and providing amazing intensity to the fruit, ripening small, beautifully formed clusters at low sugar levels.
Winemaking:
Once hand harvested in the cool of morning, with careful sorting in the vineyard, grapes were transferred to open fermenter with 20% as whole bunches and the remainder de-stemmed. The must was then allowed to soak 4-5 days at its cool ambient temperature until fermentation commenced. Thereafter the grapes were gently extracted by a combination of pumping over and pigage by foot.
The wine was then pressed after a total of three weeks on skins and transferred to two new (Laurent “Magic Cask” thick stave, blonde toast) seven young (2-4yo Laurent “Magic Cask”) and ten old (6-10yo) oak Burgundian piece for lees ageing for 12 months, followed by four months in stainless steel on fine lees before racking and bottling, unfined and unfiltered. The only addition to the wine is a small dose of sulphur.
Tasting notes:
Pale ruby. Classical and very typical of Doug’s Vineyard, a very elegant and ethereal release. Fragrant and subtle with raspberry, and red cherry fruits complexed by sous bois and the typical exotic spice of Doug’s Vineyard. Structured by silky tannin and fresh acidity and offering great charm in its youthful vigour, medium term aging or decanting will greatly reward.
2022 Pinot Noir ‘Ray Monde’
(Allocation Only)
The Ray-Monde Vineyard was established in 1988 by the Lakey family in South Gisborne at 400m above sea level on the southern edge of the Macedon Ranges GI, to which it once belonged. The gently North-East facing 5ha of Pinot Noir form a small part of the 230ha grazing farm now managed by John and Tristia Lakey, on which sheep, cattle, chicken and more are reared, with an emphasis on sustainable grazing and re-vegetation.
Like Captains Creek, this is another true mixed farm, and Josh mentions how privileged he is to be able to purchase their fruit.
The vineyard is unique for the area, being planted gravelly ironstone and basaltic clay soils, with very little top soil and a huge amount of “Bluestone” rock just below the surface. This lean soil together with vine age results in incredibly concentrated grapes, with thick skins and ripe stems even at low sugar levels. Typically, ripening occurs around a week earlier than Doug’s Vineyard.
Winemaking:
Once hand harvested in the cool of morning, with careful sorting in the vineyard, grapes were transferred to open fermenter with 20% as whole bunches and the remainder de-stemmed. The must was then allowed to soak 4-5 days at its cool ambient temperature until fermentation commenced. Thereafter the grapes were gently extracted by a combination of pumping over and pigage by foot.
The wine was then pressed after a total of three weeks on skins and transferred to a single new (Laurent “Magic Cask” thick stave, blonde toast), single one-year-old Stockinger 300l and three old (6-10yo) oak Burgundian piece for lees ageing for 12 months. This was followed by four months in stainless steel on fine lees, before racking and bottling, unfined and unfiltered. The only addition to the wine is a small dose of sulphur.
Tasting notes:
Bright garnet. Ray-Monde is filled with the aromas and flavours of black cherry, kirsch, violet, and spice. Medium bodied with long, fine, silky tannin, it is a very “gourmand” wine, yet fantastically fresh and brightly lit. Approachable in youth due to the beautiful balance, the tannic presence and quality suggest it should also age gracefully, gaining additional complexity along the journey.
2022 Chardonnay ‘Dash Farm’
(Allocation Only)
Planted 1999, Dash Farms sits perched at over 450m above sea level on the Southern granitic slopes of Mt Alexander (Leanganook) looking back towards Mt Macedon and the Macedon Ranges. Like Ray- Monde, it sits just outside the Macedon Ranges GI. Ripening for Chardonnay occurs around a week earlier than Josh’s family’s vineyard Cobaw Ridge.
These lean granite soils and high altitude confer both concentration and freshness at low sugar levels.
Winemaking:
Once hand harvested with careful sorting in the vineyard, the bunches were partially crushed by foot and very gently pressed. Overnight settling then occurs before transfer to a combination of new Stockinger 300l oak and Burgundian piece for fermentation and lees ageing for 12 months.
This is then followed by four months in stainless steel on fine lees, before racking and bottling, unfined and unfiltered. The only addition to the wine is a small dose of sulphur.
Tasting notes:
Pale with a green edge, Dash Farm offers glass filling aromas of crushed rock lemon and grapefruit rind, jasmine and spice. Flavours carry through to a dense and powerful palate with savoury complexity and a fine acid line.