When did you realise you wanted to become a winemaker?

This is always a fun one to answer because being 6th generation, people think you’re born into it, but I felt no pressure to become a winemaker. Subconsciously though, it has all come from my upbringing. Living on the Morris of Rutherglen site with the winery and vineyard metres away from my home, to being a young boy chasing my dad around the cellar, to the smells of the red ferments during vintage and the fortified in the shed during summer months, all led me to become a winemaker.

Please tell us about your career so far.

I studied Viticulture and Winemaking at La Trobe University and Melbourne Polytechnic. I worked vintages at Rutherglen Estate (De Bortoli) and overseas in the Rueda region of Spain and then Chapoutier in the Rhone Valley. In the acquisition
of Morris of Rutherglen by Casella Family Brands, I moved up to Yenda to complete the seven vintages at Casella Family Brands before moving back to Morris of Rutherglen.

What do you love most about being a winemaker?

I really enjoy the vintage period of being a winemaker as it is the time that really shapes the wine, with the build-up and excitement of waiting for the grapes culminating in a reflection of a particular year. Then being able to show the wines you have made and hopefully seeing the enjoyment in the faces of those that are tasting.

What is your favourite wine, and what food do you typically pair it with?

This is a tough question as there’s a few options. I would probably have to stick with one of my tried and true, being a good bottle of Morris durif with a nice eye fillet steak wrapped in prosciutto.

Is there a specific process you follow when developing a new wine?

Although I employ a simple everyday winemaking philosophy of ‘It’s easier to get it right the first time’, when developing a new wine, you really do have to dive into the winemaking kit bag and not just do it the same way as everything and everyone else. Whether on the vineyard side or on the winemaking side, you will invariably find that some things work and some things don’t.

Is there any vintage you’re particularly proud of creating? Why?

At this stage of my winemaking career, I would have to say my first official vintage being 2014. It was merely just the excitement and following through blocks and batches from vineyard through the entire process for the first time. I think sometimes it can be the more challenging vintages you can be prouder of when you see the final wines, because you know how much time and effort you put in to get a wine to that stage. Hopefully 2024, being my first vintage at Morris of Rutherglen, will be one I can look back at fondly in the future.

How does the local climate/soil affect the wine you make?

Rutherglen’s warm summer days and cooler nights create conditions for wine production that really suit the wines made here at Morris of Rutherglen. The conditions help deliver wines with great intensity of fruit, while also helping keep the freshness that you need to create great red wines as well as our fortified wines. These conditions also greatly help our fortified stocks through the ageing process.