Wine industry professionals are often asked to predict the next big trend or which region has great wines they might not have tried. What started as quiet murmurings among pinot noir lovers at tastings has now become shouts above the din, as more people are looking towards Gippsland and beginning to realise there’s something special happening in this largely undiscovered region in Victoria’s south-east.
You could say this is our final frontier – there are not many genuine cool-climate regions left in Australia that are untapped the way Gippsland is.
“There is no question in my mind that the greatest vineyard in Gippsland hasn’t even been planted yet – the Holy Grail is still out there,” says Marcus Satchell from Dirty Three Wines. And he would know, born and bred in Gippsland (with brief winemaking stints in other places), there are very few sites in South Gippsland that Satchell hasn’t been involved with in some way. But how does this happen to a region with so much potential and evident quality of fruit? Satchell explains, “when vineyard expansion was happening in the ’90s, Gippsland just got overlooked – we weren’t as established as other cool-climate regions, like Tassie, which had already done all the hard work of branding and marketing by the big companies. Now it’s on us (myself and the other producers) to push the region forward.”
It’s a region with intent – they’re not financiers looking for a side project or an investment property; it’s families who have gone all in to connect with the land and make something out of it. “This is what we’re betting all our hopes and dreams on. We’re all in on this one,” explains Justin Jenkins, who alongside wife Lisa, is the owner and winemaker at Fleet Wines. “This is what blew me away when we got into wine – a great opportunity to establish something new in a region that is so underrepresented,” says Justin.
Lisa adds, “When you look at Yarra Valley – they’re almost maxed out on space, similar to Mornington, they’ve reached their peak, and there’s no more land to be carved out. We feel like we’ve just got into the place before the cusp of the big boom.” This intention to “do things right” sees Lisa and Justin planting their first vineyard in September 2021 as organic from the outset. A process that began two years ago by re-building the soil biodiversity and microbes and creating an ecosystem and habitat around the vineyards using native trees and plants.
Dan Sims, CEO and founder of wine events and media company Revel (and new Gippsland resident), thinks part of Gippsland’s charm is the building energy. “When you travel down there you can’t help but think something’s emerging, it’s coming of age – all the pieces are on the board, and it’s all about to come into its own,” says Sims. “It’s why we had to move down here, to be a part of it.”
Gunaikurnai people are the traditional owners of Gippsland and have five recognised major clans. In dreaming time, the first Gunaikurnai came down from the mountains in Victoria’s northwest carrying his canoe on his head. He was known as Borun, the pelican. Alongside his wife Tuk, the musk dusk, they are the parents of the five Gunaikurnai clans.
Bottles to try
2021 Dirty Three Wines ‘All The Dirts’ Pinot Noir, $48
In comparison to Marcus Satchell’s single-vineyard pinots, All The Dirts is about representing a “snapshot of Gippsland”. The 2021 vintage is made with pinot noir from across four different sites and each one adds another layer of juicy red fruits and savoury complexity to the wine.
Made with a blend of pear and apple fruits, this cider is crafted the same way you would make Champagne. But instead of grapes, you’ve got bright acidity and floral characters from the orchard fruits with delicate bubbles.
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